Asian gold

Don’t look now but the 18th Asian Games is just around the corner and the Philippines is aiming to improve its shameful finish in the 2014 Incheon Games.  This year’s Games fires off on August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia.  In the last Asian Games, the Philippines fielded 159 athletes and brought home a single gold medal, in men’s BMX (I don’t even consider this a sport). The country also won three silver and 11 bronze medals.Chef-de-Mission Richard Gomez, Ormoc City mayor and a sportsman himself (volleyball, rowing  and fencing) said, the Philippines is sending close to 260 athletes to Jakarta. Well, at least we are sending a team that includes Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, who could deliver a gold medal. Asian jiu-jitsu champion Annie Ramirez, is also another medal prospect. Besides Diaz and Ramirez, taekwondo jins Samuel Morrison, Jenar Torillo and Arven Alcantara, decathlete Aris Toledo and pole vaulter Ernest Obiena are expected to fare well in their respective events.  Also in pole vault, Fil-Am Natalie Uy could also figure in a podium finish.  Uy, 24, a former varsity from the University of Michigan has a personal best record of 4.3 meters. The 2017 Sea Games winning mark is 4:10m while the 2014 Incheon Asian record is 4.5m.  Fil-Am Jordan Clarkson of the Cleveland Cavaliers was not given the  green light  to join the Gilas Pilipinas Team.  The country placed seventh in a field of 16 teams in the 2014 Incheon Asian.  The Philippines is a four-time Asian Games gold winner but my breakfast buddy Sam P. said the inclusion of 45-year-old Asi Taulava is a wrong decision.  Taulava will be too slow for the young seven-footers of China.  Kobe Paras and Ricci Rivero could be a better option.  May the force be with you guys, please bring home the egg este… the bacon.

Did you know?

Ben Simmons even before he appeared in a preseason game, the first pick of the 2016 NBA draft, signed a sneaker deal with Nike reportedly worth $20 million.  Nike won Simmons endorsement in a bidding war with Adidas.

LaVar Ball, the trash-talking father of rising star Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers, told ESPN that the world’s top shoe companies passed on his son because he (LaVar) demanded a co-branding venture with his own apparel line, Big Baller Brand.  Even before his son was drafted, he went on a self-promotion tour and said Lonzo is a better player than Golden State’s Steph Curry and further said that his son was the best player in the world (although he conceded Lebron James might win one-on-one).

“Mura’g nabuang ni si LaVar”. He told USA Today, “Back on my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan.” LaVar played one season of Division I college ball, averaging 2.2 points per game at Washington State.  Nike executive George Raveling called LaVar “the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years.”

NOTES: Happy Birthday to my breakfast and basketball buddy Jing Jing Rama who turned a year older last Sunday.  Jing Jing could still drain treys during basketball games.