from my manila standard article on 12/25/09
Merry Christmas to you! I really appreciate the time you take to read my column. I hope you’ll have the greatest Christmas ever, filled with happiness and love. So what are you doing today? In between parties, why don’t you come by and watch the PBA Christmas game in Cuneta Astrodome?
Yes, the PBA stages its 7th Christmas game day in its 35 year history. Commissioner Sonny Barrios shared the importance of continuing on with this tradition because it’s a great family treat! And what a treat it has been! Here’s a look back at the PBA Christmas game days past.
The Big Dome went wild as Coca Cola won its 2002 All-Filipino Cup title against Alaska, 78-63. They survived a grueling semis series against San Miguel and had an astonishing 3 game winning run after getting hammered in the series opener by the Aces to clinch the championship. That was the franchise’s maiden year. They hope to relive the glory of that yuletide game by winning over the vaunted Bgy. Ginebra Kings in the 2nd game tonight. Burger King and Purefoods go up against each other in the 1st game.
The PBA didn’t have a Christmas game in 2003, but the double header of ’04 was one to remember! The San Miguel Beermen pounced on the decimated Red Bull squad who were missing Davonn Harp that conference thanks to some Department of Justice ruling that stated he had falsified documents. The 2nd game then pit All Filipino defending champs Talk and Text and eventual champions Bgy. Ginebra. There was little love on the hard court as the two rivals who eventually waged war for the title, went on a shootout, led by the 33 pts of JayJay Helterbrand and 39 points of Jimmy Alapag (still his career high). Ginebra won 108-102.
It was no surprise that they scheduled Ginebra for another December 25 game in 2005. It was reliving the 90s rivalry as they battled the Alaska Aces and won 96-89. But the next year, 2006, the Gin Kings had a gloomy time as the Talk and Text crew ravaged them 115-104. During that 2006 game day, the Lina Franchise Air 21 played on Christmas for the first time, but was defeated by 4 points by the San Miguel Beermen who eventually finished 2nd place after the eliminations but ended the tourney at 4th spot, behind Purefoods, Redbull and Alaska.
Speaking of Alaska, they were the curtain raisers in the Yuletide game of 2007 and had an astonishing 100-77 victory over Red Bull. But the fans went home horse as they screamed to their hearts delight during the Ginebra-Purefoods thriller. Well, for the Ginebra fans, they were silent in the 1stquarter as they were down by 19 points. But the never say die spirit of the Baranggay haunted the Giants as pushed them to their limits and won the game 100-98.
Last year, it was the Rain or Shine who tested their skills against the (Christmas) seasoned Ginebra. But I’m sure they’d rather forget that lackluster game as they were held to 58 points, their all-time lowest output in franchise history. Not that Ginebra was sparkling either. They won by 5, making that also one of their lowest recorded outcomes. But that ’08 Philippine Cup Christmas game day will be remembered more for the Air-21 game against Talk and Text. It was a high octane, high scoring duel that went down the wire. It took a buzzer beating shot by Ranidel de Ocampo against his former team that gave Talk and Text a 109-18 victory.
Thanks to the one and only PBAologist, keeper of the PBA encyclopedic knowledge, Fidel Mangonon III (www.twitter.com/fmango) for sharing the results of Christmas games past.
Will see you all at the games later! Hit me up on www.twitter.com/patriciahizon. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Locker Room
This is where REAL TALK happens
EYE ON THE TIGER
“I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try.” Tiger Woods himself wrote this statement on his official website. He added that he’s taking an “indefinite break from professional golf” and asks for “privacy for (his) family”. That’s an arduous request from one of the biggest sporting icons of our time.
Tiger’s favorable rating has been plunging with the shocking disclosure of his extra marital affairs. News of his endorsements veering away from him have been filling the sports and entertainment news. He’s not the only one who stands to lose money. The forecast is that there will be a significant drop in the number of viewers and advertisers in major events like the Masters, the PGA Championships and the US Open because of Woods’ quandary.
Sporting giant Nike who centered its global golf business around Woods for his reputation and play is standing by their endorser. Nike is not distancing itself from the 33 year old who is the world’s first billionaire athlete. But Tiger’s $100 million annual endorsement compensation will surely take a dip.
Technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture cut its deal with Woods while Gillette shaved off Woods’ exposure in its marketing campaigns. Other brands that are evaluating their strategies are AT&T, Electronic Arts Inc, Tag Heuer. The companies are having a hard time capitalizing on him. There are a slew of other brands that are still in limbo and are not just affected by Tiger's infidelities , but are affected by his leave of absence from professional golf.
I’ve had many conversations about how Tiger can bounce back from all this. I say years from now, we’ll all look back and see this as a glitch in his matrix. But right now, with all the media hype surrounding this issue, Tiger will have to make major moves to have some semblance of normalcy and to regain his place in the sun. And I’m not talking about moving to Sweden.
Well, one thing that his camp is highlighting is that he has been chosen as the Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press. This decade, he has amassed 12 major championships among the 64 worldwide titles and was Player of the Year eight times. The only way I can see him recover is if he goes back to golf and starts winning again.
Look at what happened to Kobe Bryant. The sexual assault allegations of 2003 tarnished his reputation and some of his endorsements were also terminated as sales of his replica jerseys fell significantly. But a championship, an MVP plum, and just recently some sick buzzer beating, game winning moves have made us forget his dark past. Even though Kobe’s and Tiger’s situations are different, Tiger can take notes on how the Black Mamba recovered. He fought. He worked. He won. He got back on top.
From being a living legend of golf to being an infidel husband, Tiger’s star has lost its luster for now. It may take time till he eases back into the game and that’s just unfortunate. He’s the greatest golfer of our time and golf aficionados like myself will miss him in action. For now, he has to pay the penalty for getting in this hole. All eyes are on Tiger.
Tiger’s favorable rating has been plunging with the shocking disclosure of his extra marital affairs. News of his endorsements veering away from him have been filling the sports and entertainment news. He’s not the only one who stands to lose money. The forecast is that there will be a significant drop in the number of viewers and advertisers in major events like the Masters, the PGA Championships and the US Open because of Woods’ quandary.
Sporting giant Nike who centered its global golf business around Woods for his reputation and play is standing by their endorser. Nike is not distancing itself from the 33 year old who is the world’s first billionaire athlete. But Tiger’s $100 million annual endorsement compensation will surely take a dip.
Technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture cut its deal with Woods while Gillette shaved off Woods’ exposure in its marketing campaigns. Other brands that are evaluating their strategies are AT&T, Electronic Arts Inc, Tag Heuer. The companies are having a hard time capitalizing on him. There are a slew of other brands that are still in limbo and are not just affected by Tiger's infidelities , but are affected by his leave of absence from professional golf.
I’ve had many conversations about how Tiger can bounce back from all this. I say years from now, we’ll all look back and see this as a glitch in his matrix. But right now, with all the media hype surrounding this issue, Tiger will have to make major moves to have some semblance of normalcy and to regain his place in the sun. And I’m not talking about moving to Sweden.
Well, one thing that his camp is highlighting is that he has been chosen as the Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press. This decade, he has amassed 12 major championships among the 64 worldwide titles and was Player of the Year eight times. The only way I can see him recover is if he goes back to golf and starts winning again.
Look at what happened to Kobe Bryant. The sexual assault allegations of 2003 tarnished his reputation and some of his endorsements were also terminated as sales of his replica jerseys fell significantly. But a championship, an MVP plum, and just recently some sick buzzer beating, game winning moves have made us forget his dark past. Even though Kobe’s and Tiger’s situations are different, Tiger can take notes on how the Black Mamba recovered. He fought. He worked. He won. He got back on top.
From being a living legend of golf to being an infidel husband, Tiger’s star has lost its luster for now. It may take time till he eases back into the game and that’s just unfortunate. He’s the greatest golfer of our time and golf aficionados like myself will miss him in action. For now, he has to pay the penalty for getting in this hole. All eyes are on Tiger.
SEE GAMES?
FROM MY MANILA STANDARD COLUMN 12/11/09
The South East Asian Games celebrates its 50th year in Vientiane, Laos, a first time host of the biennial regional meet. There are 25 disciplines in the 25th staging of the games where 11 participating countries have gathered over 4,000 athletes from the 9th till the 18th of December. It’s unfortunate we won’t get to see the games on television.
The government run National Broadcasting Network has been covering the games for decades. In fact, program manager Bobby Arias says the network has been broadcasting the games since the early 80s, and at the very least, they’d send a news team to give regular updates. This year, the Philippine audience will have to find an alternative way of keeping track of our contingent’s battles in Laos.
According to the top honcho of NBN Sports Edgar Reyes, the Laos Sea Games Organizing Committee has asked for a $300,000 for rights fees which is approximately P13,914,000.00. That is just to have the rights to air the games on free tv (it’s a different cost for cable tv). “There’s still the cost for operations and production, International Broadcasting Center booking which is necessary to access the coverage of the host broadcaster, satellite expenses which cost $20 (US) per minute as compared to $12 (US) per minute in 2005 and 2007, and other expenses” shared Reyes. Two years ago in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, P12 million was spent for everything (including airfare, accommodations, food, talent fee, etc.) as there were no rights fees charged.
This is actually the first time that broadcasting rights fees are being applied to cover the SEA games. Arias shared that in the ’95 Chiang Mai and ’97 Jakarta edition of the games, the POC charged a million pesos to the network as part of their fund raising for the athletes. But there was never a real fee that needed to be paid outside the operations and production costs.
Unofficially, Vietnam had the broadcast rights fees waived because they struck a deal to do the production for some of the events, Cambodia paid only a third of the cost, and Thailand being the main supporter and partner of the Loas SEAG Organizing committee didn’t need to pay. As of a few months ago, Brunei was only going to send a news team according to sources from Radio Television Brunei.
If NBN was to send a news team, they were told that they can only report from outside the playing venues and they would not have access to video footage. The network is still working on ways to get footage of the games after and air it at a much later date.
It would’ve been difficult to sell the games to the sponsors considering they are only playing 28 sports as compared to 43 two years ago. They added fin swimming and shuttlecock kicking (very similar to our traditional “sipa”) as new events, and have 5 non-Olympic sports (billiards and snooker, golf, karate, wushu and sepak takraw). The biggest problem is that basketball is not part of the calendar. It’s always one of the most sought after events especially because our RP Men’s team is the defending gold medalist.
I asked Solar Sports, if the SEA Games where in their radar. Kayen Zialcita, SVP for Brand Development and Marketing shared that “the South East Asian Games has traditionally been a property of NBN and is not a Solar Property”. With that said, we are all looking forward to the airing of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February and London 2012 on Solar Sports.
It’s unfortunate that we missed the beautiful trio of Camille Alarilla, Janice Lagman and Rani Ann Ortega reign in the Poomsae Taekwondo competitions. I wanted to see our two time Olympians Antonette Rivero and Tshomlee Go in action. Also, we’ll miss the debut of 17 year old Christine Patrimonio who according to her proud father will be donning the national colors for the first time. How I wish I’ll hear our national anthem played in the National Sports Complex (a newly built sports center that seats 20,000) as our tankers led by Miguel Molina break records in the swimming pool. So much controversy happened in boxing 2 years ago, that I’m aching to see our boxers “reach for victory” which is ABAP’s battlecry.
Well, keep cheering for our athletes who still need to feel the love and support of a country, grateful for their effort and sacrifices. Go Philippines! Go Pinoy! For reactions and thoughts please visit www.twitter.com/patriciahizon
The South East Asian Games celebrates its 50th year in Vientiane, Laos, a first time host of the biennial regional meet. There are 25 disciplines in the 25th staging of the games where 11 participating countries have gathered over 4,000 athletes from the 9th till the 18th of December. It’s unfortunate we won’t get to see the games on television.
The government run National Broadcasting Network has been covering the games for decades. In fact, program manager Bobby Arias says the network has been broadcasting the games since the early 80s, and at the very least, they’d send a news team to give regular updates. This year, the Philippine audience will have to find an alternative way of keeping track of our contingent’s battles in Laos.
According to the top honcho of NBN Sports Edgar Reyes, the Laos Sea Games Organizing Committee has asked for a $300,000 for rights fees which is approximately P13,914,000.00. That is just to have the rights to air the games on free tv (it’s a different cost for cable tv). “There’s still the cost for operations and production, International Broadcasting Center booking which is necessary to access the coverage of the host broadcaster, satellite expenses which cost $20 (US) per minute as compared to $12 (US) per minute in 2005 and 2007, and other expenses” shared Reyes. Two years ago in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, P12 million was spent for everything (including airfare, accommodations, food, talent fee, etc.) as there were no rights fees charged.
This is actually the first time that broadcasting rights fees are being applied to cover the SEA games. Arias shared that in the ’95 Chiang Mai and ’97 Jakarta edition of the games, the POC charged a million pesos to the network as part of their fund raising for the athletes. But there was never a real fee that needed to be paid outside the operations and production costs.
Unofficially, Vietnam had the broadcast rights fees waived because they struck a deal to do the production for some of the events, Cambodia paid only a third of the cost, and Thailand being the main supporter and partner of the Loas SEAG Organizing committee didn’t need to pay. As of a few months ago, Brunei was only going to send a news team according to sources from Radio Television Brunei.
If NBN was to send a news team, they were told that they can only report from outside the playing venues and they would not have access to video footage. The network is still working on ways to get footage of the games after and air it at a much later date.
It would’ve been difficult to sell the games to the sponsors considering they are only playing 28 sports as compared to 43 two years ago. They added fin swimming and shuttlecock kicking (very similar to our traditional “sipa”) as new events, and have 5 non-Olympic sports (billiards and snooker, golf, karate, wushu and sepak takraw). The biggest problem is that basketball is not part of the calendar. It’s always one of the most sought after events especially because our RP Men’s team is the defending gold medalist.
I asked Solar Sports, if the SEA Games where in their radar. Kayen Zialcita, SVP for Brand Development and Marketing shared that “the South East Asian Games has traditionally been a property of NBN and is not a Solar Property”. With that said, we are all looking forward to the airing of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February and London 2012 on Solar Sports.
It’s unfortunate that we missed the beautiful trio of Camille Alarilla, Janice Lagman and Rani Ann Ortega reign in the Poomsae Taekwondo competitions. I wanted to see our two time Olympians Antonette Rivero and Tshomlee Go in action. Also, we’ll miss the debut of 17 year old Christine Patrimonio who according to her proud father will be donning the national colors for the first time. How I wish I’ll hear our national anthem played in the National Sports Complex (a newly built sports center that seats 20,000) as our tankers led by Miguel Molina break records in the swimming pool. So much controversy happened in boxing 2 years ago, that I’m aching to see our boxers “reach for victory” which is ABAP’s battlecry.
Well, keep cheering for our athletes who still need to feel the love and support of a country, grateful for their effort and sacrifices. Go Philippines! Go Pinoy! For reactions and thoughts please visit www.twitter.com/patriciahizon
PBA AND TWITTER
From my Manila Standard Column Game Winner 12/04/09
I’m a heavy twitter user. For those of you who are not familiar yet, it’s a 140-character micro blog known as tweets which can be read by ones subscribers or followers. These text-based posts have changed social networking as we know it, enabling the users to exchange information and ideas to potentially millions around the planet straight away.
Twitter is used as an information tool, a business and technological support, and even a way to release pent up emotions. It can be a window to someone’s life at the moment– intimate and instant. It can be used for social responsibility or to increase public awareness. In the political landscape, it’s been a medium for propaganda and a platform for integrity.
One of the many benefits of twitter is that it allows personalities such as Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Al Gore, and even the grand daddy of the NBA twitters Shaquille O’Neil and a long list of other NBA players connect with millions of admirers from all parts of the globe.
There are a number of PBA players that use twitter too. Alaska Aces have Joe de Vance, Brandon Cablay, LA Tenorio and even Coach Tim Cone. Talk and Text has Jimmy Alapag, Nic Belasco, Harvey Carey and Jared Dillinger. Gin Kings Paolo Bugia and Erik Menk, as well as their assistant coaches Allan Caidic and Juno Sauler tweet their 2 cents worth. In-laws and fellow Realtors Lamont Waters and Kelly Williams, Coca Cola’s Wesley Gonzales and San Miguel’s Dondon Hontiveros are on the list as well as Elastopainters’ Asst. Coach Richard Del Rosario and Gabe Norwood.
These PBA personalities tweet about practices, upcoming games, results, post-game take, and even personal views on just about everything – from video games, food, newest kicks, and family. You can learn so much by following these tweeps.
Coach Tim Cone had tweets about the salary cap, Gonzales made known his transfer to Coke, Hontiveros shared his 5,000th point milestone, and Williams proudly announced the birth of his son Charles. Norwood and Dillinger tweeted about their experiences with the national team, while Alapag has recently tweeted about their amazing comeback from a 30-point hole against Burger King and also their loss the next game to Rain or Shine.
A few months back, the NBA has sent out a guideline that prohibits players, coaches and other team personnel to access Twitter, Facebook and similar social media sites from 45 minutes before the opening tip till after they’ve fulfilled their obligation to be available to the media after the game. There are no such rules in the PBA and honestly, there’s no need for it as of the moment. These personalities on twitter know their boundaries and are responsible enough.
Commissioner Sonny Barrios simply sees it as “a powerful tool in terms of interacting with the fans”. And fan interaction is one of the many things the league is seeking to improve on. “The NBA had to take a stand when it started getting in the way of playing. But how can we avoid a non-positive aspect of twitter? Do we have authority to impose ‘traffic rules’ on that?” Commissioner Barrios added that the PBA would like to be as liberal as possible but still with certain parameters in mind.
The PBA and the teams should encourage MORE players to get into tweeting. They can harness more fans, drum up excitement, publicize information, play up rivalries, and increase their marketability. Players need not go through mainstream social media to get their messages across to their fans - the lifeblood of the league.
Imagine being able to ask Coach Tim about being on top of the standings, or asking Belasco about the inconsistencies of the team. Catch the tweets about Menk’s pre-game rituals, or just exchange jokes and frustrations with Gonzales. Twitter has made the superstars more human, more reachable, more accessible, and honestly more likeable.
I’m a heavy twitter user. For those of you who are not familiar yet, it’s a 140-character micro blog known as tweets which can be read by ones subscribers or followers. These text-based posts have changed social networking as we know it, enabling the users to exchange information and ideas to potentially millions around the planet straight away.
Twitter is used as an information tool, a business and technological support, and even a way to release pent up emotions. It can be a window to someone’s life at the moment– intimate and instant. It can be used for social responsibility or to increase public awareness. In the political landscape, it’s been a medium for propaganda and a platform for integrity.
One of the many benefits of twitter is that it allows personalities such as Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Al Gore, and even the grand daddy of the NBA twitters Shaquille O’Neil and a long list of other NBA players connect with millions of admirers from all parts of the globe.
There are a number of PBA players that use twitter too. Alaska Aces have Joe de Vance, Brandon Cablay, LA Tenorio and even Coach Tim Cone. Talk and Text has Jimmy Alapag, Nic Belasco, Harvey Carey and Jared Dillinger. Gin Kings Paolo Bugia and Erik Menk, as well as their assistant coaches Allan Caidic and Juno Sauler tweet their 2 cents worth. In-laws and fellow Realtors Lamont Waters and Kelly Williams, Coca Cola’s Wesley Gonzales and San Miguel’s Dondon Hontiveros are on the list as well as Elastopainters’ Asst. Coach Richard Del Rosario and Gabe Norwood.
These PBA personalities tweet about practices, upcoming games, results, post-game take, and even personal views on just about everything – from video games, food, newest kicks, and family. You can learn so much by following these tweeps.
Coach Tim Cone had tweets about the salary cap, Gonzales made known his transfer to Coke, Hontiveros shared his 5,000th point milestone, and Williams proudly announced the birth of his son Charles. Norwood and Dillinger tweeted about their experiences with the national team, while Alapag has recently tweeted about their amazing comeback from a 30-point hole against Burger King and also their loss the next game to Rain or Shine.
A few months back, the NBA has sent out a guideline that prohibits players, coaches and other team personnel to access Twitter, Facebook and similar social media sites from 45 minutes before the opening tip till after they’ve fulfilled their obligation to be available to the media after the game. There are no such rules in the PBA and honestly, there’s no need for it as of the moment. These personalities on twitter know their boundaries and are responsible enough.
Commissioner Sonny Barrios simply sees it as “a powerful tool in terms of interacting with the fans”. And fan interaction is one of the many things the league is seeking to improve on. “The NBA had to take a stand when it started getting in the way of playing. But how can we avoid a non-positive aspect of twitter? Do we have authority to impose ‘traffic rules’ on that?” Commissioner Barrios added that the PBA would like to be as liberal as possible but still with certain parameters in mind.
The PBA and the teams should encourage MORE players to get into tweeting. They can harness more fans, drum up excitement, publicize information, play up rivalries, and increase their marketability. Players need not go through mainstream social media to get their messages across to their fans - the lifeblood of the league.
Imagine being able to ask Coach Tim about being on top of the standings, or asking Belasco about the inconsistencies of the team. Catch the tweets about Menk’s pre-game rituals, or just exchange jokes and frustrations with Gonzales. Twitter has made the superstars more human, more reachable, more accessible, and honestly more likeable.
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