Streak Shooter

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. This film hasn't been shown yet in the Philippines as this was being written. ONE Saturday afternoon, I took advantage of my day off from my supermarket work to catch the newest boxing movie Creed 2 starring Michael B. Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed, the opponent of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. As the title suggests, this is the sequel to the 2015 movie that launched a new look to the Rocky franchise which Stallone started in 1976 where the latter played the underdog Philadelphia boxer whose Cinderella story spawned numerous sequels through the years. In this new movie, Adonis Creed (Jordan) is enjoying his reign as world heavyweight champion with the help of Rocky (Stallone) as his trainer. He is also having a good time in his romantic relationship with his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson of Thor: Ragrarok ) who is also enjoying a steady career as a pop singer. The couple eventually start a family and Bianca gives birth to a bab...

IF there is one thing that ABS-CBN Sports should do in order to improve its coverage of the NBA games, it's that it has to add more weekend games on its flagship station Channel 2. At present, the NBA on ABS-CBN is only on Saturday mornings. The first half is delayed but the second game comes in live with the usual Taglish commentary coming from PBA legends Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc. On Fridays, Sundays and Mondays, ABS-CBN airs its NBA telecast on its sister channel S+A which used to be the old Studio 23 that aired a number of canned shows in the 90s. As I have posted many times on this blog, ABS-CBN should add one Sunday game on Channel 2 aside from its regular Saturday games.  Here are the reasons why ABS-CBN should add a Sunday game on Channel 2. 1. It's better than a Tagalized Disney movie. The Sunday morning time slot on ABS-CBN is usually reserved for kids who stay at home with their families. But a big problem in that time slot is the K...

Boom Gonzales and Ronnie Magsanoc covering an NBA game for ABS-CBN (photo courtesy of Pong Ducanes of ABS-CBN Sports) THE continuing conflict between ABS-CBN's Skycable and Solar Entertainment over the telecast of NBA games in the Philippines isn't over yet. Days after Skycable restored NBA Premium and Basketball TV in their lineup of channels, we just got a Facebook message from someone who requested anonymity informing us that Solar has again pulled the two channels out because of confidential reasons as requested by the courts following the carriage fees case filed by both parties last year. In case you still don't know yet, in 2010 Solar,   which holds the rights to air NBA games in the Philippines, and Sky Cable inked an agreement allowing the former to air its NBA channels with carriage fees. Four years after, NBA Entertainment entered into a Television License Agreement with Solar and ABS-CBN, where both networks were given rights to air NBA games.  Solar...

MANY listeners of the government radio station Radyo Pilipinas have noticed that Mon Tulfo has not been heard on his morning radio show Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo for the past few days. His sons Bon and Patrick have been pinch-hitting for their dad in his absence. Many listeners say that Bon sounds like his dad while Patrick has done radio work in the past for DZRJ AM and now has his own program on DZME 1530 khz. In my own observation, Mon's absence is due primarily to the fact that he is busy attending to his own public service concerns in his office in Greenhills, San Juan. He has also been preoccupied with writing his column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His brothers Erwin and Ben Tulfo are also active in government media. Erwin is no longer doing news for PTV 4 but he still has his 10 am radio show on Radyo Pilipinas after Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo. Ben, for his part, still has his Bitag Live at 8 am on both PTV 4 and Radyo Pilipinas as well as his Bitag New Generation on...

WITH the new NBA season a week old, there have been a lot of surprises taking place on the floor. The biggest news so far this young season is how the Los Angeles Lakers have gotten off to a bad start in the LeBron James era, losing three straight games including an overtime heartbreaker against the San Antonio Spurs in their most recent game. Prior to the Spurs game, the Lakers also bowed to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets in a game that saw the ejection of Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo following a fight with Chris Paul during a heated moment in the fourth quarter. The Lakers' bad start has led many to believe that it will be a struggle for them this season even with James on board. Against the Spurs, LeBron missed two free throws in the dying seconds of overtime that led to the game-winning shot by Patty Mills. Then LeBron missed a long jumper at the buzzer that sealed the Lakers' loss. In fairness to LeBron, the Lakers are still a flawed t...

AS THE NEW NBA season has already started, many NBA fans in the Philippines got a piece of good news: Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV, the two channels that show NBA games, were reinstated on Skycable after the two channels were suddenly removed from the cable giant before the start of last season's playoffs. The announcement may not have come at a better time when many Skycable subscribers were already considering changing cable providers as a result of the court charges filed against each other for alleged non-payment of carriage fees worth millions of pesos. Because of the BTV and NBA Premium pullout, Skycable subscribers had to contend with watching NBA games on ABS-CBN Channel 2, ABS-CBN S+A and Fox Sports. But all those three channels don't show NBA games everyday because S+A and Fox have other sports coverages while Channel 2 has its other daytime shows. Apparently, huge public pressure may have played a major role in Sky's decision to bring back NBA Premi...

AS WE have posted in this blog, government FM radio has changed dramatically under the Duterte administration because of the two new stations FM1 87.5 and FM2 104.3. Both stations are part of the newly-organized Philippine Broadcasting Service under Director Bong "Sonny B" Aportadera, who was appointed by Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar primarily because of their close ties to the president being natives of Davao City. As you can see in this photo, the PBS and PCOO released the results of a recent car survey showing both FM1 and FM2 making it to the top 10. It's strange though that the other stations in this survey belong to the CD market where they play mostly love songs and OPM hits. In other words, the masa market. A separate survey that came out months ago showed that FM1 and FM2 are also giving the other contemporary pop music stations like Monster RX, Magic 89.9, 99.5 Play FM and Mellow 947 a run for their money. It's not surprisin...

DON'T expect big changes in the way the NBA games will be televised in the Philippines now that the new season is underway. The NBA's Philippine TV franchise holders, Solar Entertainment, will continue to air majority of the games daily in the morning over its channels Basketball TV and NBA Premium TV. Unfortunately, most cable TV subscribers, especially those who have Skycable, still don't have those two channels because of the ongoing court dispute between Solar and the NBA's free TV holders, ABS-CBN Sports. The case has been going on for more than a year now and no resolution is in sight. This is sad considering that it was Solar that tapped ABS-CBN to be the free TV broadcasters of the NBA starting in 2011 after the Wilson Tieng-owned company severed ties with RPN 9 which is now CNN Philippines. The dispute between ABS-CBN and Solar stems from the charges they have filed against each other regarding the payment of carriage fees to Skycable, which is a sist...

(photo from Rick Olivares' Facebook account) "Always give it your best and bring your own sunshine to the workplace. And do your best to help the poor and needy; hope goes a long way in these difficult times we live in." THIS quote comes from a friend and former sportswriting colleague back in Manila, Rick Olivares, who recently lost his pet dog and has been very emotional about it. Rick's suffering is a proof that dogs are like humans in the sense that animals need care the same way we need to care for our relatives especially when they get old. I am saying this because I can sympathize with Rick in the sense that I am lucky being in the United States now thanks to my mother who worked for many years to have my petition approved by the US Embassy. My mom and my sister Winnie both left for the US in 1986 and I was left behind to continue my high school and college studies in the Philippines, as well as my career as a sportswriter back there. My mom later...

(photo courtesy of Spin.ph) THE statements of Northport team owner and Congressman Mikee Romero about the emergence of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League as a threat to the PBA should be a concern to the pro league. It cannot be denied that the PBA has been losing its popularity in recent seasons due to lack of public interest. Too many lopsided games and the proliferation of sister teams have turned off a lot of companies wishing to join the PBA as expansion teams. The PBA is currently dominated by the MVP and San Miguel Corporation groups who each have three teams. Independent squads like Rain or Shine and Alaska haven't made the semis in the last two seasons. Having covered the PBA for many years for Scoreboard Magazine, DZSR Sports Radio, PNA, Bagong TIKTIK and Hataw before I left for the US, I really feel sad for the PBA because of the way the league has been drawing lesser crowds in Mall of Asia Arena and Smart Araneta Coliseum. That's a waste of rental ...

A BRAND-new Sunday variety show will be launched by GMA 7 this month. Titled Studio 7, it will be aired Sunday nights on the Kapuso Network at 7:30 pm before the news magazine show Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho. It will replace the singing contest The Clash which ended last week. Studio 7 will be hosted by GMA's top singing stars Christian Bautista, Mark Bautista, Julie Anne San Jose and Kyline Alcantara. Young stars Rayver Cruz and Gabbi Garcia will also be part of the new show, as well as the finalists of The Clash. Judging by its time slot, Studio 7 will be up against formidable competition on Sunday nights such as The Kids Choice on ABS-CBN and the PBA games on ESPN5. Studio 7 is GMA's attempt to revive the Sunday musical variety show format on primetime which the network first tried in the 80s with The Penthouse Live with Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez. ABS-CBN last tried it with Sarah G Live in 2011. It will be a big gamble on the part of GMA to put up Studio 7 ...

IN a sudden move that caught many people by surprise, Summit Media announced that it was shutting down its magazine division. Affected by the closure were the popular magazines FHM, Cosmopolitan and Yes, all of whom were leading in terms of circulation. In a statement, the Gokongwei-owned company announced that it would shift to digital media which explained why it had to close down its magazine division. As a result, FHM and Cosmo both ended up online through their respective websites, plus their respective social media accounts. Summit also owns other websites such as Philippine Entertainment Portal, which provides showbiz updates; and Spin.ph, which is a standalone sports website. Actually, a similar sports website, philsports.net, came out in the early 2000s and yours truly was one of the writers but it failed to catch on because at that time, internet wasn't easily accessible. Both FHM and Cosmo were at the height of their popularity when they both closed do...

THE NATIONAL Football League has began its new season here in the United States and although it has been wrought by controversies between the league and President Trump, it still remains very popular among American sports fans. In the Philippines, ESPN5 is in its second season as the NFL's broadcaster and the games are aired on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings (Sunday, Monday and Thursday night here in the US). But it seems that many Filipino fans aren't really interested in the NFL. Here are four possible reasons: 1. Most Pinoy fans prefer basketball. NFL football lasts for close to three hours and consists of 15 minutes per quarter compared to basketball which has only 12 minutes per quarter. In addition, NFL rules are more complicated compared to basketball. And since Filipinos aren't physically big compared to Americans, basketball is the perfect sport because it highlights the agility of Filipinos. When it comes to football in the Philippines, people refer...

(photo courtesy of Judith Caringal's FB page) ONE of the Philippines' most underrated sports broadcasters has just called it a career. Enrico "Rick" Yap Santos retired from the government-owned Radyo Pilipinas 2 918 (formerly DZSR Sports Radio) on Friday after more than 30 years as production supervisor and station manager. His last broadcast came when he did the 3 pm sports news roundup on his station. Santos began his broadcasting career in government radio way back in the 70s during the time of the National Media Production Center during the Marcos administration. After the EDSA Revolution in 1986, Tito Rick became part of the fledging DZSR or DZFM Sports Radio which initially was on 738 khz before moving to 918 khz, trading frequencies with Radyo ng Bayan (now Radyo Pilipinas 1). During his long career with Sports Radio, Santos was sent to cover a lot of sports events like the Asian Games, SEA Games, Olympics, boxing bouts and his favorite event, the Ma...

THE Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) under the Duterte administration has been getting a lot of flak lately because of some major booboos, including the case of Undersecretary Mocha Uson and the big mouths of the Tulfo brothers over Radyo Pilipinas. But if there's one thing that PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar has done right, then it has to be the way government FM radio sounds a little better thanks to the two new stations FM1 on 87.5 and FM2 on 104.3 (the former Business Radio). Surveys have shown that both stations are giving their private counterparts a run for their money because of their music choices, plus the fact that both stations are run almost similar to the Tiger 22 stations like Magic 89.9, Wave 891, Jam 88.3 and the old 99.5 RT. Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) director Bong "Sonny B" Aportadera and his deputy, Carlo Jose, both came from the Tiger 22 group and what they have done with their former company is what they are do...

THROUGH the broadcasting might of ESPN and the efforts of writers Jackie MacMullan and Raef Bartholomew, the documentary Basketball: A Love Story currently being shown on the ESPN2 channel is a must-view for the hardcore hoops fan. This documentary is based on the book of the same name written by the two which they first revealed when they appeared as guests on the show The Jump hosted by Rachel Nichols. After watching the first few episodes, I couldn't help but observe some similarities between American and Philippine basketball especially since it was the Americans who helped introduce the sport to Filipinos in the early part of the 19th century and which explains why the Philippines is really a basketball-crazy country despite obvious height limitations. First, if you observe the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics, it holds similarities to the Crispa vs Toyota rivalry that dominated the PBA in the 70s. The Toyota squad was the glamour squa...

SUNDAYS is normally a day for people to relax at home and watch some television so the two giant networks ABS-CBN and GMA 7 are trying to out-rate each other even more with the kind of programming they offer to the viewers on the Lord's day. Most of the time, both stations air dubbed movies on three time slots that are considered dead, meaning that people are usually not watching TV: the 10 am slot where people go to Mass, the 3:30 pm slot where they are usually taking siesta or going out to the mall and the 10:30 pm slot when people are already asleep and preparing for work the next day. Occasionally though, viewers can watch the occasional monthly special on either ABS-CBN or GMA. And based on my observations, the Kapamilya network gets the jump on the Kapuso network because of the quality of specials being aired. In the 10 am slot, ABS-CBN usually airs beauty pageants and awards presentations but one Sunday special that stands out is G Diaries, which airs on the second ...

PHILIPPINE basketball has lost a great voice in Rolly Manlapaz who died at age 53 (not 58 as I previously posted earlier) due to ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. So many tributes have been posted on social media for Manlapaz who started his career as a coliseum announcer (or barker in everyday lingo) in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association in 1998. Prior to his MBA stint, Manlapaz was a radio DJ who was known by his monikers such as Harry Nolan and Jellybean. He played New Wave on DWXB, dance music on 89 DMZ and classic hits on DZRJ FM. When the MBA folded up, he moved to the PBA where his ad-libbing style got the ire of some PBA officials. He was even castigated for saying in public the quotient system that Talk n Text needed to win over Red Bull to make the semifinals of a PBA Invitational tournament in 2003. Manlapaz was eventually suspended but made his way back to the pro league in 2012 when Boyet Sison left for greener pastures. Manlapaz was the barker when ...

A few days ago, I went to Target while I was on my lunch break from my supermarket duty to buy the eagerly awaited book Basketball: A Love Story, written by veteran sportswriter Jackie MacMullan and Pinoy basketball author Rafe Bartholomew, best remembered for his book on Pinoy hoops Pacific Rims which came out in 2010. The book contains interviews with well-known basketball personalities related to the NBA, Olympics, women's basketball, US college basketball and even how NBA players back then reacted to being victims of racism. The third author of the book, Dan Klores, turned the book into a documentary series that was shown on ESPN2 in the US a few days after the book was released. All the episodes can be viewed here in the US via the ESPN+ streaming service available on the ESPN App. As I write this, I finished reading the first 118 pages of the book and I was able to discover some things that I never knew, such as how women's college basketball took off with the Im...