Tough road for US
Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker will all be playing when the United States looks to defend…
Waking up in these Covid games
There is this man in a photo taken by Yuichi Yamazaki of a Japanese man carrying a placard…
Higher pay, ground Beneath their Feet
READING about the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) plan to increase the contracts of rookies… am not sure if…
Is football coming home?
AFTER Harry Kane scored England’s third goal against Ukraine, four things popped into my mind. The first was,…
Litany of sorrowful miseries
I’D like to say, “well, there’s always next year” but I don’t think I can. Yes, the New…
Camarines rises, Cordova falters in Wesley So Cup
GIVEN a gift horse in the mouth when the Camarines Soaring Eagles lost both matches last Saturday, the…
Missed communication
OFTEN in sports, we hear the words “mentally tough” thrown in more so when the competition is intense.…
The magic of books
I LOVE the smell of newly pressed books. Like a new-born baby, I slide my fingers on the…
A whole lotta questions
WHAT is all this secrecy? Why can’t people be more forthright and honest instead of not saying anything?…
Crossroads reflections by a soccer player
IF there is anything this ongoing pandemic has taught people is at any moment, your life can be…
Antipolo sends Laguna reeling in ‘Wesley’ Cup
THE Antipolo Cobras passed a test despite splitting their double header on Wednesday night in the virtual Professional…
Cordova still unbeaten in Wesley So Cup
THE Cordova Dagami Warriors caught the last bus to the playoffs of the All-Filipino Conference of the Professional…
Cebuano squads score near sweep
THREE of four Cebu-based teams of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines scored contrasting opening day victories…
Déjà vu in opener
IT must have been close to déjà vu for the Iloilo Kisela Knights. Up against the Palawan Queen’s…
Malaysian IM loads up with Caloocan PCAP side
THE Caloocan LoadManna Knights loaded up for the upcoming Wesley So Cup of the Professional Chess Association of…
Hamilton’s 100
I REMEMBER when Roger Federer surpassed Pete Sampras in terms of Grand Slam wins. I wasn’t in total…
Over ramen
THE Yasai Ramen was begging for me to sink my chopsticks and spoon into its finely arrayed vegetables.…
Tugging at Superman’s cape
SOMEONE is tugging at Superman’s cape and he isn’t going away. I love the way Max Verstappen has…
Missing the point
THE events that transpired at the VisMin Cup bubble last April 14 leave more questions than answers. As…
Is there anything to learn from sports bubbles?
THE enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has pushed back a lot of things from business to work to even…
New heroes for PHL sports
ON the eve of the 450th anniversary of the founding of the province of Laguna (July 28, 1571),…
Is there anything to learn from sports bubbles?
THE enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has pushed back a lot of things from business to work to even…
New heroes for PHL sports
ON the eve of the 450th anniversary of the founding of the province of Laguna (July 28, 1571),…
Monster bash in NBA
THE Brooklyn Nets have been accused of buying a championship with their already star-studded roster receiving more reinforcement…
Glued to my tube
IT’S good to see Season 3 of Formula 1: Drive to Survive on Netflix. If I was a…
One year later
TODAY, March 15, 2021, is the first year anniversary of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus that…
So, citizenship blues
I LOOK at this whole episode of many being upset with Super Grandmaster Wesley So’s accepting American citizenship…
Never shut up
You have seen football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and basketball star LeBron James exchange—and that is putting it mildly—words…
How do you take losing?
AS a youngster who played football and other sports…not well. That is actually an understatement. I fumed and…
Deciphering Liverpool
AFTER its crushing 3-1 loss to Leicester City that only served to reinforce that Liverpool’s title reign as…
CATCHY DEBUT | Cinema Lumiere’s first EP is from several international indie labels
This is music that you must listen to in this time of pandemic. It’s wistful boy-girl harmonies set…
Time to talk
THE United Kingdom, reeling from Brexit and the new Covid-19 strain, organized Time to Talk 2021 last February…
MONSTER GROOVE | Butch Vig on Jamir Garcia’s final song with Project E.A.R.
“It has a monster groove.” That is how noted American producer and drummer Butch Vig described the song…
A week of racism, violence
I KNOW violence and racism in sports is nothing new. I detest both, but even in this time…
Soundtracks, sports memories
THIS past Sunday morning, the first record I spun was an old one I had—Chuck Mangione’s “Fun and…
Cycling in this pandemic
THE days of a tight lockdown might be behind us—more so with a vaccine on the horizon—people have…
#NonoyStrong
AFTER a long bout with cancer, former Ateneo and national team captain, and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) player…
2020 Brewskies Awards
EVERY year end since 2006, I have handed out my own personal column awards called, The Brewskies. Sort…
Barbie Almalbis-Honasan pens song for Aspins
Singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan has just released a new single on all streaming platforms titled, “An Aspin’s Song.” The…
‘Teach Your Children’
WHEN I first heard “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in 1980, years after it…
Urban Bandits’ Pinoy punk classic, ‘Independence Day’ turns 35
Mga kapitbahay! The punk rock classic album Independence Day from the Urban Bandits that dropped like a dirty…
Addio Paolo Rossi.
IN the space of three weeks, Italy, already hit hard by the Covid-19 virus, was rocked. The first…
Rigodon atop football tables
I AM massively enjoying this Premier League 20-21 season. Every weekend, we see the top of the table…
Bubble experience
BEFORE the National Basketball Association (NBA) Bubble, when the latter word came to mind, I thought of that…
Following Maradona
There’s a reason why I root for Boca Juniors and Napoli. My friends know I am a massive…
A matter of survival
WITH professional sports now being played, or are in the process of getting off the ground—Premier Volleyball League…
A flood of memories
A CROWD of people stood in front of the waters. They stood in an almost parochial silence. The…
Crossing the Delaware
AS American president-elect Joe Biden gave his historic speech in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, this past Sunday…
PFF taps futsal legend Dutchman Hermans
LEGENDARY Dutch national futsal team player and multi-titled coach Victor Hermans has agreed to help develop the Philippine…
Football stays on, for now
Great Britain is headed towards another lockdown after a new surge of Covid-19 infections. While I understand trying…
Leeds could steal show
WITH Manchester City fading, Manchester United dropping close to the relegation zone, and Liverpool looking vulnerable, the stage…
SYNTH POP REDUX | One Click Straight’s fine ‘backtrack’ mess
One Click Straight’s debut EP under Island Records Philippines, “Sumaya. Sumigaw. Huminga.” Is a nod to the synth…
Philippine futsal making waves
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic may have put a stop to many things, but Philippine futsal like its older…
Podcasting
I AM currently doing three podcasts—Cold Brew which is my anything goes podcast about music, sports, lifestyle and…
Fifteen strong
BusinessMirror celebrated its 15th year of publication last October 8 and I am proud to be associated with…
For teachers
MOST people know me as a sportswriter and a sports analyst. Some even know that I once held…
A dream that is 10ACT
THE swell folks at 10ACT (pronounced as “tenacity” Sports recently donated face masks to Covid-19 frontliners at the…
Do you need to say it, LeBron?
MILWAUKEE Bucks ace Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Most Valuable Player for the second…
The gutting of the Tigers
THE gutting of University of Santo Tomas’s (UST) men’s basketball team is nearly complete. Word is Mark Nonoy…
Missed chances in this UST fiasco
WE never seem to learn do we? The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Sorsogon Bubble while directly the…
‘Cobra Kai’
I AM having a blast watching Cobra Kai, the Web series sequel to the successful Karate Kid films…
Facing this pandemic
I WAS going to write about the upcoming UEFA Champions League Finals between two of the richest clubs…
College hoops blue chippers
I WAS invited last Saturday evening on Benny Benitez’s show Bull by the Horn where we discussed college…
A time to help
AN out of work basketball referee from Cagayan de Oro reached out to me on my messenger asking…
MLB misreads signs
MAJOR League Baseball (MLB) is fending off trouble from so many fronts. First, because of the fallout from…
Football organization isn’t rocket science
I LAUD the attempts of Global FC and the new United City FC in sorting out their respective…
All along the watchtower
WHEN I returned to journalism as a profession in 2006 after a long sabbatical, one of the first…
Ceres and BlackWater: Signs of turbulent times
IN the last two weeks, we have read of the news that Ceres-Negros Football Club and BlackWater Elite…
The Magnificent Seven
THE December cold bit right through the jackets. The Philippine men’s national football team was in some ways…
That lost 2010 home match effect
“IF the question is, ‘did the home game in Panaad, Bacolod (in February of 2011 against Mongolia in…
Dream fulfilled after 30 years
I AM in tears as I write this. It’s 30 years of hope in my heart that has…
Thoughts on PHL Football
I have been doing several webcasts one of which is Usapang Football where we talk individually to players…
Unforgettable 2010 Suzuki Cup takeaways
Ten years ago (this coming December), the matches played by the national men’s football team changed the fortunes…
Reminiscing with Manotoc
THAT laugh. Hearty and a tad high-pitched. It’s still there. As is the sharp wit and keen eye.…
Gearing up for a return
THE English Premier League announced that its two-day testing of players, coaches and staff from all participating clubs…
My Web-based journalism show
TODAY, Monday, I will be doing the first in a series of Web interviews with my colleagues in…
Remembering Ric-Ric Marata
A FEW days ago, I wrote an op-ed piece about why it was best for Kai Sotto to…
Usapang Toyota
AS a kid in the 1970s (I was in high school and college for the 1980s), the Philippine…
The Isiah Thomas Dream Team omission
I CERTAINLY believe that Isiah Thomas should have been on the 1992 US Olympic Men’s Basketball Team. But…
Webinar on Cone, Triangle Offense
LAST Saturday evening, I was one of the moderators of the Hoop Coaches International webinar that featured women’s…
The waiting
The English Premier League should be over now. At least in theory had there not been a lockdown.…
My all-time Bulls team
With The Last Dance upon us—and I know the entire world will be riveted to this 10-part documentary—I…
Dissecting ’90s Chicago Bulls
BY April 20, The Last Dance, the 10-episode documentary of the Chicago Bulls’ 1997-98 season will be on…
Reflections during lockdown
WHEN this lockdown, this pandemic is all done, I know it will change the way we live. It…
A chance in a billion
I HAVE followed the career of Indian basketball player Satnam Singh ever since he was selected 52nd overall…
The Olympic question
I was reading into the International Olympic Committee’s stand on their not yet postponing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics…
In this time of lockdown, quarantine
THE world has almost stopped thanks to this pandemic. And it’s frightening. The last time I felt this…
My fave ‘Drive to Survive Season 2’ moments
No sooner than Formula 1 Drive to Survive Season 2 was on Netflix, I binge watched it. I…
A world of dishonesty
Triple Olympic champion Sun Yang has been banned from all swimming competitions for eight years for missing an…
TESTING THE WATERS
Japanese death metal band Hydrophobia is keenly looking to make a splash on Philippine shores this coming March…
Awesome Chris Panzer
Chris Panzer, like those German World War II tanks of yore, rolled over Filipino-Australian Robbie Eagles, to defend…
A world of controversy
THE sports world is still reeling from the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal when English football club Manchester City…
VINYL DUB POWER
Filipino dub artist Red-I’s second full length album, Word Sound Power, is now out on vinyl via Japan-based…
A different Blue Eagles
I MUST say that I was impressed with the way the Ateneo Blue Eagles took down reigning National…
Much ado about shirt sponsors
LIVERPOOL Football Club (LFC) recently signed a multiyear agreement with Nike as its official kit sponsor beginning the…
A calling
I sometimes pick out and mentor kids in different basketball teams. I pick out the struggling players and…
Eye Openers
San Pablo City hardcore band Barred opened the local music scene’s vinyl record account for 2020 with the…
Kobe, The King uniting Lakers nation
When I look at the outpouring of grief and messages of hope and inspiration that the world has…
Liverpool’s campaign in perspective
ONE of the biggest stories in sports these days is Liverpool Football Club’s pursuit of its first Premier…
Loving this NBA season
Why am I enjoying this current NBA season? Because everything has been turned upside down. Over at the…