Nike’s AsPac media summit on as skies clear

PORTLAND, Oregon — With the extremely bad weather in Bay Area in California improving a bit Tuesday morning, attendance is now almost complete for the Spring 2006 Asia Pacific Basketball Media Summit to be hosted by Nike at the Nike World Headquarters here.

Among those who have registered for the summit is the Philippine delegation headed by Nike Philippines marketing and communications assistant manager Mae Dichupa and also made up of Studio 23’s Jinno Rufino, Chickoy Antonio of Sports TV, and this writer.

The selected sports media from the Asia-Pacific region have gathered here and would be briefed on Nike’s basketball history, endorser LeBron James’ overview, Nike footwear designs and basketball silos, among others.

Also in attendance are representatives from China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.

However, all the agenda and the itinerary in the three-day event were nearly scuttled by the powerful storm that lashed California’s Bay Area Monday, throwing into disarray all flight bookings in the area and nearby airports.

Hardly spared was the Philippine delegation that took almost two days to reach Portland from Manila.

Strong gusts in San Francisco forced the Philippine Airlines flight PR104 Monday to divert to Oakland. However, the passengers were not allowed to deplane and had to endure a seven-hour stay inside the plane in Oakland before they were cleared to fly again to San Francisco.

Missing their 8:40 p.m. flight to Portland the night before, the Philippine delegation had to wait for at least five hours Tuesday morning in San Francisco to get the booking for its final destination.

Scores of deaths were reported on TV as a result of the storm.

"It’s quite an adventure," sighed Dichupa after the nightmare, including terrifying moments of being tossed up in the air by turbulence spawned by the storm.

"The next time I travel, I would check the weather condition not only from the place where I would come from but also my destination," said Rufino.

At presstime, the South Korean delegation was still stranded in San Francisco even as the rest had their welcome dinner at Masu Japanese restaurant here Tuesday night.

Nonetheless, the media proved enthusiastic, looking forward to an interview with LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant Wednesday then watching the Lakers-Portland Trailblazers game later in the day.

Another highlight of the three-day media summit is the introduction of a new line of LeBron James basketball shoes.