The Brilliant Chino Trinidad and Quinito Henson

Note: I wrote this three years ago and posted on my Multiply account just after the Pacquiao-Diaz fight. The fight were covered by Chino Trinidad and Quinito Henson. I sure did hope then that the referee would also call a stoppage to their ultra-dramatic radio play-esque broadcast.

Someone mentioned to me that Joe Cantada was the best of all the local Sports Commentators. He need only to mention two Cantada trademarks phrases to convince myself that he really is in a class of his own.

“There is still an eternity of basketball left”
“This is going to be another cardiac finish”

Yesterday’s Diaz-Pacquiao lightweight action was covered by Nonito Donaire and two other men who are going overly dramatic over the intangibles of the fight: Quinito Henson and Chino Trinidad.

Just as Pacquiao is shoe-shining Diaz’ face with a series of combinations, here goes Chino Trinidad with a combination of his own monologues that could rival not the punches of Pacquiao, but the narration of Ate Charo in Maalaala Mo Kaya only with too much zeal.

“Bilib talaga ako sa PUSO ni Diaz”,
“Grabe ang PUSO ni Diaz”,
“Ibang klase ang ipinapakitang PUSO nitong si Diaz.

Ladies and Gentlemen the brilliant Chino Trinidad.

And to complement him is the winner of Bikini Bottom’s Squidward Look-Alike Contest Quinito Henson. Mr. Henson is a walking sports encyclopedia who became known for his deep arsenal of sports facts and analysis. Hands down he is the book smartest of all sports journalists locally.

While Manny Pacquiao has cemented his position as the planet’s Pound for Pound king with his obliteration of Diaz, Mr. Quinito Henson has also solidified his position as one of the world’s Pound for Pound bests when it comes to stating the obvious.

It is wishful thinking to expect that the next brawl would be covered by the HBO guys and not these two men who has been robbing us of precious intelligent technical knowledge of the games.

I got a hard bound book titled ESPN 25 which I dug up in Buy-the-Book for just 99 pesos. I envy the people of America that they have ESPN giving their sports a culture of their own. The sports journalists are very creative with coming up with their game descriptions.

“Puttin’ the Biscuit in the Basket”
Three ball, corner pocket.”
That ball has been voted off the island!”

Missing Marlboro

The Marlboro Tour days were long gone. The names that so frequently occupy the sports pages during those days barely make it to today’s sports sections. Espiritu, Davadilla, Guieb, Domingo, Dolosa et al. These cyclists, these athletes, with their aerodynamic helmets, wind glasses and heat-oppressed faces, I admit I had a hard time recognizing their faces.

But I don’t mistake their respective names with somebody else’s. Not to a college ball player. Not to some up-and-coming boxer. Not to anyone’s. Doing so gravely betrays the time spent of repeatedly looking at the television coverage’s leader board updates thus leaving a mark in my then young and shallow collection of athletes ‘names.

Comparing these local sports heroes to today’s generation of cyclists is a popularity mismatch.

I completely understand that Marlboro is just the major sponsor of these twin-wheeled races and even with its support withdrawal, the race is continued to be staged each year since. Of course, there were a few major sponsors that filled the void left by Marlboro but none were able to salvage or even relish the great success of the previous partnership.

And each of the succeeding editions of this summer sport spectacle also continued to decline not only in stages but also in the public’s immediate awareness. There were fewer columns and smaller photos of the event in the papers today dedicated to the cycling event. No TV station broadcast the races either. To sum it up, I think the tour is sadly drifting into oblivion if it had not already.

Honestly speaking, I haven’t followed any of the races anymore. The last time I truly and religiously followed it was in 2004 when Enrique Domingo had all but won the tour only to fade in the last stages. It was won by Lloyd Reynante. I even had the effort to cut newspaper clippings of it which to this day still steadily sits in an old clear book.

The yearly tour will continue. It will strive. But matching even its most recent of glory days isn’t in the horizon. It hasn’t passed the time trials yet. Soon, another summer would end without it making a significant buzz.

The Playoffs: Bulls Lead Series; Red Wings Forces Game 7

Chicago is on the verge of making it to the Eastern Conference Finals after staving off Josh Smith and the Hawks in Game 5 of their series with a 95-83 win.

One thing for the Hawks: If you're against a powerhouse team built mostly with former Utah Jazz starters and inserted them into an already potent team that is the Chicago Bulls, someone in your team who goes by the name of Jamal Crawford should score more than a paltry 2 points.

Another opportunity for the NHL and its fans to witness a Game 7 after a team trailed 0-3 in a series. The Detroit Red Wings coursed through a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks. After Jeremy Roenick called out Patrick Marleu "gutless" on live television, the Sharks went out of their way to prove that it isn't just Marleu, but the whole team-at least in this Game 6 battle.

Oklahoma Thunders-Memphis Grizzlies’ Game 4

The Game 4 of the Western Conference Semi-finals between the Oklahoma Thunders and Memphis Grizzlies seems to know no concept of ceasefire unless the second-coming of Christ calls everything to a halt.

There were 3 overtimes and this isn’t just your regular season game. This is the NBA Playoffs. A series round where in the entire history of the Grizzlies’ franchise had never been a participant before.

In the end, the heroics, the big shots, and the toughness lasted more for the Thunders. Any lingering hope and luck for the Grizzlies ultimately succumbed and left the team.

All because of the terrifying scowl of Mr. Perkins.

Playoffs Bullets

Unlike many sports nuts in the country, there are two playoffs that I follow during this time of the year: The NBA Playoffs and the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I know it does not rain snow in this tropical country. I know rivers in this country never turn into smooth and slippery ice every December. I know that there is only a .000001% chance that the guy next to me in a jeepney ride knows who Alexander Ovechkin is. But I enjoy hockey.

• The Dallas Mavericks complete their mission to humiliate the Lakers sweeping them 0-4 inthe series with a 122-86 win. The Mavericks sank 20 three-pointers. Despite the margin of loss, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom managed to find a more ignominous way to decorate Phil Jackson's last game by displaying their thuggery.

• The Atlanta Hawks evens up its series against the Chicago Bulls 2-2 with a 100-88 win at home.

• The proud franchise of Detroit Red Wings refuses to surrender it's series against the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks won the first three games before the Red Wings answered with two straight making it 3-2. The Chicago Blackhawks almost did the feat of coming back from a 0-3 series and win only to lose in their Game 7 match with the Vancouver Canucks during the first round. 4-3 was the score.
  

Talk and Text keeps Grand Slam hopes alive; Eulogy for the Kings

Chot Reyes finally giving Gilbert Lao some minutes

Last night, after everyone had finally concluded that Shane Mosley is indeed 390 years old, the sporting nation witnessed the PBA crown it's Commisioner's Cup Champions-Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters as they completed a come-from-behind win at the expense of the proud Ginebra team.

The championship kept the Texter's hope of winning the coveted Grand Slam. The last team to win a Grand Slam was Alaska in 1996.

This was a tough loss for Ginebra. If the game was only three quarters long, we would have a Game 7 come wednesday. But the Texters are just too pesky, too strong, and Ginebra too shaky in the end that the series was decided in game 6.

Willie Miller was actually having a fiery game for Ginebra sinking pull-up jumpers and tough fade-aways and JC Intal made sure that the raining isn't only outside Araneta but also inside as he dropped a barrage of threes during the game helping Ginebra build a large lead.

The two rookies, Rob Labagala and John Wilson were providing surprising performances given the game on the line.

John Wilsom reminds me of then rookie, Sunday Salvacion, during one of Ginebra's 2004 championships. Salvacion was the revelation in that final's series. Plus, both were former NCAA MVPs. Rob Labagala did a nice job but were firing fastbreak dishes that turned into turnovers. He could have sealed the game during the end of the regulation had the prayer he threw up trickled into the basket. A few more gasps from the Ginebra faithfuls and the ball would have been sucked into the basket.

Only that it did not and the Gin Kings eventually lost the game and the series in overtime.

The Gin Kings management, I expect, has a lot to do in the short off-season if not up to the next conference. Even if Ginebra made it all the way to the finals, their brittleness showed.

Roundup

• Andre Ethier extends his hitting streak to 30 games. A single in his first-at-bat sealed his entry into territory thirty. 56 games is a long way to go and I’m fancying that he’ll not reach 40 games. Somewhere along the way, Jim Joyce will call him out on first base in the bottom of the 9th of a so-far hitless game.

• Ageless wonder Nicklas Lidstrom scored two goals in the first period for the Detroit Red Wings against the San Jose Sharks giving his team a 4-3 win and avoid a humiliating series sweep. Series is now 3-1 in favour of the Sharks.

• The Boston Bruins avenged their 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs grand meltdown against the Philadelphia Flyers by completing a 4-o series sweep and destroying Chris Pronger’s dream of robbing pucks in the finals. The Flyers came back from a 0-3 series deficit against the Bruins last season and sealed it with a Game 7 win after being down 3-0 in the game.

• Happy Birthday Willie Mays!


• I don’t know anything about this man and I don’t usually pay attention to Golf but they say this guy’s a legend so R.I.P.

Game 6 Western Conference Semi-Finals starring Europeans

Dirk Nowitzki is obviously tired. Tired of all the losing, the choking, the coming-up shorts and just about everything that has happened to the Dallas Mavericks in each and every edition of the postseason. It was in 2006 when he lead the Mavericks in the franchise’s first-ever finals appearance which ended in an awful collapse. The following year, he won the coveted Most Valuable Player award as he anchored the Mavericks towards a regular-season ending record of 67-15-the best in the league. The same year, in which the Dallas Mavericks were in the short-end of a historical upset, losing to the eight-seed Golden State Warriors during the first-round of the playoffs. Each frustrating exit only compounds Nowitzki’s advancing age as the window of opportunity slowly closes.

Peja Stojakovic may just well be feeling the same during the precarious stretch of the fourth quarter. His hey-days are well behind him. He is no longer the feared net-scorcher that he once was. The repeated post-season losses in Sacramento still hurt him.
Those two Europeans bonded by upsets, hard court heart-aches and desperation.

Those two Europeans drilled crucial daggers in an almost scripted pattern. Those two Europeans sank the Lakers in a crater 0-3 hole no one had even predicted prior to the series. Maybe, the upsets had expired on them but the stigma never ceased.

One of Dallas’ half-court set during their run was to give Nowitzki the ball around the perimeter, make a move composed of endless fakes and jab steps, if the double team comes, pass the ball to the trigger-ready Stojakovic and wait for the ball to find the bottom of the net.

Those two Europeans.

This brings to another European. Pau Gasol.

Gasol’s softness is never a kept secret. There is not a short supply of roasting aimed at Gasol with regards to his toughness since the Playoffs began, if not since his career began.

Apart from his ambidexterity, flawless footwork and Jesus Christ beard, Gasol’s on-court repertoire also includes being eaten alive on defense, sprawling everywhere on the floor and tumbling down just as much.

Pau Gasol isn’t the one to blame in their three straight losses against Dallas. But his lack of toughness is part culprit. In the great lineage of centers the Lakers’ team had paraded over the years which boast legendary monoliths like Wilt Chaimberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’neal, Gasol’s name can’t be put in the same sentence with these aforementioned greats if toughness is the subject.

Dirk Nowitzki isn’t the only reason why the Mavericks are dominating the Lakers. But his game is slowly sending Phil Jackson to retirement and in the most ironic way-a sweep.

Hail Mary's Resurrection

Almost a year of hiatus and futility.

This blog started when I got bored with my work (which is just about the first day of my first job) so it is just fitting to resurrect it when I again got bored of my job(the next and current one).

There has been a deluge of sporting spectacles that has happened since the last post that I managed to put up here on HailMaryAttempt but I haven't written anything about it. Worse, the last post before this was about Tennis. I guess I just had to pat myself in the back and resort to the peaceful thought that at least the last post was not about some championship cockfight.

Fast forward to today, I'll not just be a spectator. I'll be blogging again. I'll be praising winners. I'll be laughing at classless losers. And I'll still be spontaneously vomiting every time I lay my eyes at Kronum.

In this resurrection attempt, I'll also be including the local sports scene like the PBA, college basketball, and boxing.

It's stupid for me to start blogging again when the NHL and NBA respective seasons are on the verge of conclusion but I expect the offseason will produce some hilarity that ranges from drunk athletes to ridiculous trades.

One year isn't that long for futility. Thank goodness for the Cubs!