I write basketball. I'm pretty sure most of you know that already. If my posts here in my blog aren't evident of that then I don't know what I'm writing about then. When it comes to basketball, the written output that most people LIKE to read are those that are filled with emotion. Output that gives them vivid images of what happens. I myself do like articles that are filled with emotion. Those are the types of articles which allow me to create vivid images of events that happen in sports. Those are the types of articles which keep me awake because I keep on playing in my head the events that those articles portrayed. When I started out as a "writer", I was like that. I wrote articles that were based off emotion. As my EIC in Humblebola told me once, myself style of writing was #PUSO. At first it was tough to swallow, but hey, it is true. I am a very #PUSO writer. That is the reason why I have a bunch of open letters regarding basketball right? But when ...

#joloisgold, but he still has some things to work on. (Photo Credit: Leo Lopez, Fabilioh) One September morning as I was chatting with one of my close basketball-watching friends, our conversation started to circle around Jolo Mendoza. When I first made mention of his name, he said something about Jolo which still sticks in my mind 'till this day. "Ahh Jolo Mendoza. Shet. That kid was born to play." I agreed with his sentiment. As our conversation rolled along, I made mention of some of the things which separates Jolo from his batch mates. Of course, his shooting is a given. His offensive wizardry was part of our conversation as well. But more importantly, it was his maturity and composure for a player his age which really impressed the both of us. Sadly, against the De La Salle Zobel Junior Archers, his maturity for the game wasn't exactly on display. "I think I got a bit frustrated early, which was wrong for me as the veteran for a team," mentio...

It was a struggle for Shaun Ildefonso and the Blue Eaglets against the Junior Archers. (Photo Credit: Joji Lapuz, Fabilioh) The Ateneo Blue Eaglets this year were hyped up to be one of the deepest and most talented in recent memory. Heck, some idiotic "sportswriter" *looks at mirror* even claimed that the Season 78 Ateneo Blue Eaglets are better than the San Beda Red Cubs. The freakin' San Beda Red Cubs. What is this guy smoking?! Yesterday, the hype train was put to a stop thanks to Aljun Melecio's 42 point explosion against the Blue Eaglets. After that loss, Ateneans (inevitably) panicked. " Kala ko ba magaling 'tong Eaglets? Anyare?"  "BAKIT KAYO NATALO SA LA SALLE" " The boys should be boxing out and looking for the open man! Clearly the coach is doing something wrong!" Aaaaaaaand more. The once supposedly superior Eaglets were then surrounded with worry and doubt. They lost. This team's supposed to be some kin...

He's ready to make himself known. (Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines) Entering the UAAP Juniors Season, when the question "Who's the player to watch out for?" came out, almost everyone would answer Jolo Mendoza. Why not? Jolo made himself known during the FIBA Worlds U17 competition, plus, he scored 30 points to grab Finals MVP honors in front of a national audience. When it came to High School basketball players, Jolo Mendoza was the forefront of the discussion. After his 42 point explosion last November 14, 2015, Aljun Melecio is looking to join that discussion of HS basketball players to watch out for. But he still acknowledges that Jolo is a really good player. " Alam ko naman na, sobrang galing ni Jolo. Gusto ko lang ma- challenge yung sarili ko na gusto ko maging (ka)- level niya," the team captain of the Junior Archers shared. If anything, Aljun proved that he is on the level of Jolo, as he won their individual showdown for that game. In reality, ...

Memories of the championship are still fresh in the minds of the Blue Eaglets. (Photo Credit: Mon Rubio, The Shaded Lane) Memories of the Ateneo Blue Eaglets winning the UAAP Season 77 Juniors Basketball Championship is still very much ingrained in the heads of the current Blue Eaglets. Why wouldn't it be? That championship was the first for the Blue Eaglets after 4 years. For Jolo, Shaun and the rest of the Blue Eaglets during that time, that championship meant a lot for them. For Jolo, it was his first championship after 3 years of being ringless in the Juniors Division. For Shaun, it was his second championship his whole life, with the first being with La Salle in the SBP. Point is, that championship meant a lot to the Blue Eaglets. That championship is still fresh in the heads for not only the Ateneo community, but the rest of the basketball community as well. Then, as the popular saying goes... Walang forever.  After Boracay, the partying, the celebrating, it was ba...

The Junior Archers consider themselves as brothers more than just teammates. (Photo Credit: Karen Navarozza, ArcherPride.com) This summer was a memorable one for the De La Salle Junior Archers and team captain Aljun Melecio. The Junior Archers were crowned as the champions of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Tournament, where they edged out rivals Ateneo Blue Eaglets and the NU Bullpups. For Aljun, he won the MVP award in the same tournament in a virtual landslide, over players like Jolo Mendoza, Shaun Ildefonso, John Clemente and Justine Baltazar. Despite all of these accolades which they have collected over the summer, Aljun and the Junior Archers know they have no reason to gloat.  After all, the Ateneo Blue Eaglets are the defending champions in the UAAP tournament, not them. Plus, memories of last season's early exit still haunts the team until now. "It was really tough losing against NU during the stepladder match," Melecio lamented. But the scoring guard ...

I'll be really honest. When Bo Perasol came in as head coach for the Ateneo Blue Eagles, I had my doubts. Sure, he had his background as the head coach of the Powerade Tigers, but other than that, he hasn't done anything particularly amazing when it's come to his coaching career. So when Bo Perasol came in as coach, one question circled around my mind. Why Bo? 2 and a half seasons after, still, one question circles around my mind. WHY. BO? These past 2 and a half seasons has been so frustrating for Ateneo Blue Eagles fans such as I. It's not just because Ateneo hasn't won any championships. I'm pretty sure the community has had worse. There were the Dark Ages, and the drought which the Blue Eagles had from 2003 - 2007. So why the frustration? It's because of how the Blue Eagles got those wins. Sure, Ateneo won 11 wins last year, and they have 4 wins out of a possible 7 so far this year, but at what cost? Games where your best player bails you out...

This post was written by my classmate Randy Manalac. Go follow him on Twitter @randymanalac!  Game 5 was considered a critical game in the series because whoever would win the game, that team would win the momentum for the rest of the series as well. We saw why Stephen Curry is the reigning regular season MVP, especially in his 4 th quarter performance. Despite a triple double from the leader of the Cavaliers, LeBron James, here are a few points to take note of, in terms of what went wrong for the Cavs in Game 5: 1       2 nd game in the Finals where LeBron’s teammates were nowhere to be found. This is the second game in the Finals where LeBron James has performed spectacularly, but he wasn’t able to close out a win, due to the lack of a supporting cast. Although Iman Shumpert nearly made a series-changing basket in the final seconds of regulation in Game 1, the Cavs had shooting woes in that overtime period. How long did it take them to get a bucket to ...

Dear Filipinos, Our country has been dominating the competition in the SEA Games and the SEABA for quite some time now. Us Filipinos and our Southeast Asian neighbors pretty much know that whenever we have these competitions, it's practically a given that the Philippines will end up with nothing less than a gold medal. A silver medal is considered a disappointment. Heck, a win not more than 15 points can be considered a disappointment. Pinoys expect nothing but excellence and dominance from our national team every time we face our Southeast Asian neighbors. It's pretty much the standard already, and Pinoys expect that the standard doesn't change. DOMINANCE. DOMINANCE IS A MUST. But, as the popular saying goes, the only constant thing in life is change. Filipinos learned that the hard way on June 14, 2015. The Gilas Cadets survived Thailand 80 - 75 in the semifinals of the SEA Games. (Photo Credit: Karl Decena, Interaksyon) A Shocking Revelation  The...

Once again, this post will be pretty straightforward. Carry on. Photo Credit: Getty Images 1. He keeps on giving, but he receives no recognition for it.  I don't even mean that he doesn't receive awards for all the work that he does. In fact, he already does have a bunch of awards for all the work that he has done (4 MVPs, 2004 ROY, 2 Finals MVPs and counting). But the problem is, he can never seem to receive the recognition that he deserves FROM THE PUBLIC. So it's like, the teachers like him, but the problem is, his classmates don't because he's a kiss ass to many. Gets a triple double? Writers will praise him, but casual fans will burn him to the ground. Wins MVP? Still gets criticized as if he killed somebody. 2. He started out young. LeBron entered the NBA when he was only 18 years old. That means he already had a job when he was 18 years old. He had a contract with Nike before he could legally drink. In short, he received a grand opportunity at...

This will be a very straightforward post that aims to answer some questions regarding the Eagles so let's just get it started. 1. This team seems more capable of going all the way compared to last year's team. I'll be very frank. Last year's team had no business being the #1 seed. The talent that the team had last year was nothing compared to the depth that NU, La Salle, FEU, UE and hell even UST had. That's not to say that Newsome and Elorde sucked. I'm just saying that last year's team isn't as deep as others. This year, that isn't the case. Quite literally, anyone from the team can be an immediate contributor. Need threes? Get Arvin or Von. Need someone to set hard picks and points in the paint? You have Apacible, Ikeh and Gotladera. Need clutch? Kiefer. And many more. 2. Ball movement was a thing of beauty. Lots of Ateneo fans complained that the only play Ateneo had last year was "GIVE THE BALL TO KIEFER AND GTFO". Well, that wasn...

Disclaimer: I don't specialize in Boxing, so, if my analysis is bad, I apologize. Just trying this out. I waited for this fight ever since I was a 12 year old kid who had hopes of watching The People's Champion Manny Pacquiao go face to face against Floyd "Money" Mayweather.  Finally, after so long, the match happened. Am I happy with the result? Of course not. I wanted Manny to win. Was I satisfied with the match? As a fan who wants a boxing match with hellacious pace, no. But as a fan who knows that boxing is so much more than just attacking, I'm pretty okay with it. Do I have lots of stuff to say about the fight? HELL YES.

4 long years. It’s been 4 long years ever since the Ateneo Blue Eaglets brought the Juniors Basketball Championship to Katipunan. It’s been 4 long years ever since the Blue Eaglets experienced glory in the UAAP. It’s been 4 long years of waiting. 4 long years of losing. 4 long years of trying to hold in the tears every time the Blue Eaglets would be eliminated from contention for the championship. 4 long years of keeping confident that somehow, this drought will come to an end eventually. It did come to an end, and oh boy, the story that unfolded before our very eyes as that drought ended was simply amazing. An Offseason of Change The Eaglets were determined to bring the title back to Katipunan. (Photo Credit: Philip Sison)  After losing a heartbreaker of a Finals series against the Hubert Cani led NU Bullpups, for sure, something had to change. Some people were starting to have doubts with the coaching acumen of Joe Silva when it came to these...

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object once again. Mike Nieto vs. Mark Dyke, ladies and gentlemen. (Photo Credit: Mon Rubio, UAAP) Season 76. Last year, the Finals of the UAAP Juniors Basketball season also had Ateneo and NU as its main protagonists. Ateneo had standouts Thirdy Ravena, Jme Escaler and Aaron Black to lead the Katipunan based High School, while NU had (ironically) current Atenean Hubert Cani and JP Cauilan to lead the charge of the Bullpups. For that Finals series, NU possessed a thrice to beat advantage after sweeping the competition, while Ateneo had to go through the rigorous step ladder format in order to reach the Finals. To cut it short, Ateneo fell short in the end for both games. and ultimately. NU became champions.  Shift to Season 77. This year, the Finals of the UAAP Juniors Basketball season has Ateneo and NU as its main protagonists. Ateneo has standouts Mike Nieto, Matt Nieto and Jolo Mendoza to lead the Katipunan based High...