FEBRUARY NEWS ROUND-UP
Photos courtesy of respective owners.
by JA Conde
Okay, I’m officially back. Since there were a few news headlines that have been circulating around the newspapers this month. Here’s a brief recap of all the headlines we have heard for the past few days.
NATIONAL
Angelo Reyes, an asset of Arroyo Administration, has died of apparent suicide. He had done this in front of his parent’s wake, as he had shot himself in the chest using his left hand. His remains had been cremated a few days ago at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig.
SPORTS – NBA
Ray Allen has broken the 3-pt. record of Reggie Miller, in terms of all-time number of three-pointers. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Miller has 2,560 threes during the entire career, while Allen has five more. He duplicated the record last February 10 vs. L.A. Lakers.
Coach Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz has resigned as their head coach. After 22 years, the longest-tenured coach in professional sports had ended his everyday routine—–to coach players. One source said that it was because of Deron Williams, whose tension grew with Sloan for the past five-and-a-half years. Jazz great Karl Malone was vocally upset about the news.
SPORTS – PBA
The Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters have defeated the San Miguel Beermen during the 2010-2011 PBA Philippine Cup last February 2. The final score was 95-82. The Finals MVPs of the series were Jason Castro and Jimmy Alapag. The Texters’ third title is the third for the team (Coincidentally, all the titles of the Tropang Texters were Philippine Cup titles. And those happened thrice—-2003, 2008-09, 2010-11) and is “the second grandslam” of business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan. The first grandslam happened in 2008. This is also a PBA record, for Coach Chot Reyes, as he earned his mark as the first PBA coach to win 2 titles in three squads. The first two teams were Purefoods (1993 All-Filipino and 1994 Commissioner’s Cup) and Coca-Cola (2002 All-Filipino Cup and 2003 Reinforced Conference). Congrats and cheers to the Texters!
SMB’s loss also marked the final game of Olsen Racela, whose number was retired by the Beermen during the third game of the final series. After the sixth game, he hung up his sneakers and jerseys as an end of an era happened at the Big Dome.
Speaking of the Final series, the PBA and Solar TV have agreed to air the PBA games on Studio 23. This must be an ironic dream, that have happened today. We might remember ABS-CBN bidding for the PBA coverage and eventually losing to Solar. Apparently, games will still be replayed on Basketball TV. Aside from the PBA rights, the ABS-CBN Sports have also sealed their rights to air the NBA games. The 60th NBA All-Star Game this Monday will serve as a debut telecast of “the NBA on Studio 23” with Boom Gonzales and TJ Manotoc manning the commentary desk.
And lastly, the Chua franchise, the Barako Bull Energy Boosters have taken a leave of absence in the PBA after taking participation in the league eleven years ago. In the meantime, the Smart Gilas-Philippines, the Philippine team takes over the Barako Bull franchise. Most of their holdovers were taken by other teams, most notably Marlou Aquino of Meralco.
SPORTS – BOXING
Ooh, have you noticed something lately about Manny Pacquiao? His hair is long! Yes, it is long! Oh yeah, the news referred Cong. Pacquiao’s new style as “the Bieber hairstyle”. I don’t think it looks like Justin Bieber, I mean Bieber’s hair isn’t that long as it is. Maybe I can refer to it as a hairstyle of Joe Jonas, and not Bieber. He even said that he wouldn’t cut his hair since he wants a new style (Check out 3:50-4:25). And yeah, here’s a poll regarding the topic.
And to wrap up the article, here’s my treat to all of my readers:
(BONUS: I’d like to promote my sneaker website, KIXNATION. Better than ever, now on Facebook and Twitter.)
ON COURT, OFF COURT 
