Archive for July, 2009
JAYSON NOCOM (1986-2009)
MANILA-JRU stalwart Jayson Nocom has died at the age of 23 earlier this morning. He died due to a tragic motorcycle accident.
Nocom has been one of Coach Ariel’s most trusted forces alongside James Sena and Marvin Hayes, he played in JRU from 2006 to 2009.
Copyright, 2009, Pepeton Conde (Never steal this, pls. ask permission via comment)
Houston Rockets superstar Tracy McGrady has changed his number from his usual #1 to #3 due to some marketing purposes.
McGrady, a former HS sensation used to wore #3 before switching to #1 during his NBA career, wherein he played for three teams: Toronto, Houston, and Orlando.
His previous number, #1 will now be won by NBA champion Trevor Ariza. His jersey change has something to connect with Adidas’ marketing campaign which is evovles around him.
WALTER CRONKITE
Former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite died Friday night in New York City due to cerebral vascular disease.
Cronkite, 92, has previously anchored the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, being started as a newspaper journalist in the 1930s before getting better throughout the succeeding years and became CBS’ anchorman. He covered the deaths of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, the World War II, and the 1969 Apollo landing. He retired in 1981 and was later replaced by Dan Rather.
And now that’s the way it is!
Another shocking news! One of Converse’s most popular endorsers has left Converse for Jordan Brand. Who is he? Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade.
He ended his six-year tenure with Converse, which is incidentally owned by Nike, although he still has 4 years left in the contract. He said that Converse was not doing some businesses lately on him, and that’s why he moved to Jordan Brand.
Jordan Brand, owned by Nike and Michael Jordan, one of the greatest Basketball players ever, insisted that Wade is a good addition to the brand, which is being endorsed by likes of Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony.
by JA Conde
A new team has crowned in the 2009 Motolite-PBA Fiesta Conference, San Miguel Beermen edged out the defending champions Brgy. Ginebra Kings, as they won their 18th title, and their second Fiesta, defeating them with an 90-79 victory yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.
With an attendance of 20,541, which included former pro Tito Varela and Bongbong Marcos, this game was truly fantastic for Gabe Freeman and company. For San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen, this was his third title in the pro ranks, despite winning a few titles as an assistant, and was never drafted,
During the game, it was really San Miguel who dominated the game, thanks to the leaderhip of veteran guard Olsen Racela, and the plays of Danny Ildefonso, Marc Pingris, and Gabe Freeman. Ginebra, on the other hand, lost its magic shooter in Sunday Salvacion due to a hard hit on Freeman, Noel even felt very pressured about the game, which made him lost his momentum which led by his missing shots during the entire game.
Finals MVP is Jonas Villanueva. He averaged 11 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. The Finals MVP award is sposored by Fern-C.
BOXSCORES:
SAN MIGUEL BEER (90)-G. Freeman, J. Villanueva 15, J. Pingris 12, D. Ildefonso 10, M. Cortez 9, M. Pennisi 8, A. Washington 5, D. Hontiveros 2, R. Racela 0, D. Pena 0.
BRGY. GINEBRA (79)-A. Helterbrand 25, E. Menk 12, R. Tubid 10, R. Reavis 9, D. Noel 8, C. Lanete 6, W. Wilson 5, C. Baguio 4, B. Mamaril 0, S. Salvacion 0.
QUARTERSCORES: 25-15, 45-37, 70-60. 90-79
One silent morning of July 8, 2009 in the Philippines seems to be very unusual, as most Filipinos were awaken just to watch something, something very historical and nostalgic to see, and it was actually the memorial service of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, which was staged at the Staples Center last Tuesday morning.
As we see it, most of the Jackson family were there, and had their own memorial service at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park at Hollywood Hills, California, and later moved to Staples Center as thousands saw a glimpse of the King of Pop before a concert was held live at the said center, thanks to the organizer of Jackson’s comeback concert, AEG Live, and the concert was very fruitful and worth remembering! (FYI, his casket was custom-made which costs $25,000. That casket is called “Promethean”.)
And so here are the highlights:
1) We have seen some performances of Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz who covered one of Jackson 5’s earliest hit song “I’ll Be There” (In which Carey covered seventeen years ago, and even managed to be #1 in the Billboard while doing the version).
2) Some of Michael’s most important friends began to appear, from LA Laker greats Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson talking about him being a humanitarian, Pastor Lucious Smith talked about his life and has defended him from Jackson’s latest sexual accusations, Martin Luther King’s kids talking about his life again, and Brooke Shields also talked about Jackson, who according to her, is a good friend.
3) Well there are also some music personalities, aside from Carey and Lorenz, also paid tribute, there is Usher (he even cried), Stevie Wonder, Queen Latifah, Lionel Richie, and yes, even Jennifer Hudson.
4) Of course, who could ever forget his family? One of the most heart-warming moments of that service is that Paris Katherine Jackson mader her first public appearance and told everyone that Jackson was a great “father” to her and really loves his father, some of his siblings even made statements, and one of them, Jermaine, made a rendition of MJ’s favorite “Smile”, which was popularized by comedian Charlie Chaplin.
5) And the main event, the service is not that great without some montages of his videos and his home, Neverland. Also, the ending was really amazing, thanks to the song “Heal the World” and “Man in the Mirror”, which are some of MJ’s well-known songs which are mainly about brotherhood and peace.
And this wrapped up a peaceful one.
JAY-JAY HELTERBRAND (PHOTO BY JUN MENDOZA OF THE STAR)
by JA Conde
Nobody has expected this, but perhaps, he must be the greatest among the basketball players in the land today, and that’s how you’ll describe this flashy 6-flat guard of Ginebra in Anthony “Jay-Jay” Helterbrand who recently won the PBA’s most prized individual player award yet, the Most Valuable yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum. He is expected to join the elite circle of past MVP awardees such as Ramon Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Robert Jaworski, and Alvin Patrimonio.
Helterbrand, who averaged 17.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 5.0 apg, also defeated Arwind Santos of Burger King and Don-don Hontiveros of San Miguel Beer with a total of 3,220 statistical points which also included the counted votes of the PBA, the coveror (Solar), the coaches, and his fellow players.
And here are the other winners for the said awards night yesterday which paid tribute to the first PBA commisioner, Leo Prieto, which includes a video tribute and some messages from his successors and Robert Jaworski:
Motolite Energy Player of the Year: Willie Miller (Alaska)
Sportsmanship Award: Ryan Reyes (Sta. Lucia)
Rookie of the Year: Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
Most Improved Player: Jonas Villanueva (San Miguel Beer)
All-Defensive Team: Wynne Arboleda (Burger King/Air21), Ronald Tubid (Ginebra), Billy Mamaril (Ginebra), Arwind Santos (Burger King/Air21), and Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola).
Mythical Team 1: Jay-jay Helterbrand (Brgy. Ginebra), Mark Cardona (Talk ‘n Text), Jay Washington (San Miguel Beer), Arwind Santos (Burger King/Air21), and Asi Taulava (Coca-Cola)
Mythical Team 2: Willie Miller (Alaska), Don-don Hontiveros (San Miguel Beer), Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine), Kelly Williams (Sta. Lucia), and Jay-R Reyes (Rain or Shine)
(NBA Personalities live in Manila update: WNBA player Sue Wicks and Miami assistant David Fizdale will join Spoelstra on July 27)
2008 FILE PHOTO: KG AND SHEED
Now that Rasheed Wallace went out of the Pistons roster, the one who gave his biggest achievement, the NBA title, he’s about to play for another team, and that’s the Boston Celtics.
Yesterday, the Celtics acquired him via free agency, after dealing with contract negotiations lately with the Pistons, and even managed to convinced him to give an extension.
Wallace, now 35, previously played for Washington, Portland, Atlanta, and recently, Detroit. At Boston, he’ll join superstars such as best buddy Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
-JAC
KOBE BRYANT
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA
by JAC
Yes. It’s true, in the succeeding days of July, two of the most popular basketball personalities in the world will visit our country and they are Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and LA Lakers’ superstar and recently the NBA finals MVP Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, now 32, has won a title with the Lakers recently last June, and has previously been here in 1998 and 2007. This 2009 tour is sponsored by Nike, and it will happen on July 21, although there are still no official updates, just keep updated here instead.
Spoelstra, 38, in the other hand has held several positions at the Miami Heat franchise since 1995 until taking over as its head tactician after an aging and sluggish Pat Riley wrapped up his NBA coaching career. This would be his second visit here since his first few years of life, he will be accompanied by a WNBA legend who’s name has still yet confirmed although there are rumors that Cynthia Cooper will come here. Spoelstra’s purpose is to do a series of basketball clinics , he will also visit his hometown as his family will throw a party, and his last stop will be in Zamboanga. His tour will exist from July 25-29.
And that’s it! Get excited basketball fans and cheers for them!
2009 PBA-MOTOLITE FIESTA CONF. FINALS
(Sorry if I posted this very late, Game 3 is on Sunday, by the way)
by JA Conde
Another crowded finals! Two of the most popular teams in the league take centerstage as they battle for one crown, the import-laced conference or more popularly called, the Fiesta Conference.
This finale is the the fourth time they will face each other, their previous encounters include the 1989 Reinforced, and 2001 & 2007 All-Filipino. And here’s the recap of both teams:
GINEBRA- The defending champions started the season really bad, even managed to moved to 9th place due to the bad play of Rod Nealy, who almost led Ginebra to the semis two years ago with a 12-6 record, and he was later departured. Uichico later found David Noel, who was one of the most popular slam-dunkers in the US and came from one of the US’ greatest basketball progams ever in UNC Tar Heels. Prior to Ginebra, he played for the Milawaukee Bucks in the NBA before moving to NBDL, but his life became better when he came in here, and had impressed everyone, even managed to win in the 2009 PBA Slam Dunk Contest. And Ginebra began to move on without Nealy and they began to make upsets which led to an 8-6 record and a #2 seed in the semifinals, wherein they faced the young Rain or Shine team led by Jai Lewis, fellow slam dunker Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado, but RoS got the edge early in the series until Ginebra bounced back and won the series in 6 games.
SAN MIGUEL- Nobody expected them to be very competive as they are during the Fiesta Conference, but the what-ifs and doubts did not care for the Beermen team as they started the conference very strong with an 8-0 record, thanks to import recruit Gabe Freeman (Originally, they recruited Nate Carter, but due to contract negotiatons, they got Freeman instead), who didn’t gain much attention like Tiras Wade of Talk ‘n Text. But some losses to Coca-Cola, Rain or Shine, and Burger King made them moved on, as they lost Freeman, who spent free time, and was later replaced by Chris Williams, who only played for them once vs. Sta. Lucia, they later ended up having an 11-3 record. And the coaching staff later thought of who would be their import, is it Williams or Freeman? And they chose Freeman as they faced the changing Burger King Whopper franchise led by Shawn Daniels and Arwind Santos, but SMB defeated them in 6 games.
And now here are the team rosters for the 2 teams
GINEBRA
Junjun Cabatu (R)
#1 Chico Lanete
#2 Billy Mamaril
#3 Cyrus Baguio
#4 Rafi Reavis
#5 Macky Escalona (R)
#9 JC Intal
#10 Junthy Valenzuela (INJ)
#13 Jay-jay Helterbrand (C)
#16 Paul Artadi
#18 Doug Kramer
#22 Chirs Pacana
#27 Willie Wilson
#30 Eric Menk
#34 David Noel (I)
#47 Mark Caguioa (IN)
#71 Ronald Tubid
#80 Sunday Salvacion
#98 Homer Se
HEAD COACH: Jong Uichico
ASST. COACHES: Allan Caidic, Juno Sauler, Art dela Cruz, Johnny Abbarientos
TEAM MANAGER: Samboy Lim
TEAM OWNER: Danding Cojuangco
TEAM GOVERNOR:
SAN MIGUEL
#1 Mike Cortez
#3 Jonas Villanueva
#4 Dorian Pena
#5 Bonbon Custodio
#7 Don-don Hontiveros
#10 Danny Ildefonso
#15 Wesley Gonzales
#16 Marc Pingris
#17 Olsen Racela (C)
#18 Lordy Tugade (INJ)
#21 Samigue Eman (R)
#23 Jay Washington
#25 Gabe Freeman (I)
#27 Froilan Baguion (R)
#34 Mick Pennisi
#41 Kenneth Bono
#42 Danny Seigle (INJ.)
#88 Chris Calaguio
HEAD COACH: Siot Tanquingcen
ASST. COACHES: Gee Abanilla, Pido Jarencio, Biboy Ravanes, Freddie Abuda, and Alton Lister
TEAM MANAGER: Hector Calma
TEAM OWNER: Danding Cojuangco
TEAM GOVERNOR:
(Updated list)
PREDICTION: Ginebra in 7 fruitful games
Again? Yes, firstly because both of them are very competitve as we see, but Ginebra has the slight edge, we all know Coach Jong for his pressure, and he can motivate players in the game, while for Coach Siot, he would sometimes force to pressure himself and use the wrong kind of players. Sorry if I was biased, no offenst to all, this is just my opinion.
Cheers!
ON COURT, OFF COURT 