Pacman gobbles up the Hitman

Manny Pacquiao's KO over Ricky Hatton is so quick that Pac's mother did not have time for her fainting spell. You see, Aling Dionisia usually have fainting spells over his son's bouts. Nauna pang mahimatay si Hitman. Another thing, Aling Dionisia have not finished praying the Rosary when the fight ended. It was that quick.
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Martin Nievera's version of the National Anthem is too pretentious. Why can't he sing it as it was originally intended? Sir Tom Jones' simple rendition of God Save the Queen is simple yet classy, easily upstaging Martin's pa-artsy rendition. Martin's camp even had the gall to flash the logo of the National Historical Commission, implying that it has official blessing. The NHI blasted Martin's version and deplored the use of its logo. Kyla's version is still the best to date.
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Manny Pacquiao suffered a bit of public outcry over his malintended plan to transfer to ABS-CBN2. But given the way GMA7 handled the telecast, the public wouldn't have minded at all. There were too many commercials. It looked as if viewers were watching a show of commercials, with the actual fight as the commercial. Even the introduction of the fighters was split so more commercials can be inserted. The fight lasted a just total of six minutes but the telecast lasted up to 3pm. Go figure how many commercials were there.
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Manny is now introduced as coming from Saranggani. He cannot beat the Antoninos-Custodios in General Santos City so for political expediency he moved to his wife's hometown where he will run for congressman unopposed. Pretty wife, gifted athlete, unimaginable fortune, shoo-in for congress. Some guys have all the luck.
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Pacman's last four fights were held in four different weight classes. Early last year, he earned a hard fought win over Juan Manuel Marquez at 130 lbs. In the middle of the year, he wrested David Diaz's lightweight (135 lbs) belt. Then late last year, he jumped to 147 lbs to retire Oscar dela Hoya. His KO win over the Hitman is fought at 140 lbs. Bob Arum, a Harvard-educated lawyer turned boxing promoter, lost no time in declaring Pacman as the greatest fighter ever. Self-fulfilling prophecy?

Pols watching Pacman can bring swine flu to the Philippines

With the upcoming Pacquiao-Hatton fight, expect a lot of congressmen and other top officials to throng to the US to watch the event. I hope the government bans their travel in the light of the swine flu scare. It is best for these politicians to stay at home. They will save a lot of precious dollars and will not have the chance to contract the swine flu virus. Going there gives them the chance to bring back the virus here. We suffer enough from the pork barrel funds misuse, we do not need another pork-related disease.

Popoy's summer workshop

I registered Popoy for the McDonald' Summer Kiddie crew workshop. The Php650 fee covers the following: a cap, shirt, and a meal for the 5-day duration of the workshop. Popoy and his cousin, Dindin, will join the other kids in the worskhop in the McDo branch in Puregold-Agora. The workshop has three main activities per day - values formation lecture, some on-the-job training and art workshop. With a fun mix of learning activities, the kids will be taught how to man the counter, greet and serve guests and bus tables. There will be art activities like puppet-making. These activities are designed to promote positive values like hard work, friendship, team work, self-confidence and cleanliness while having fun.

This McDo program is noteworthy. I see that McDonald's competes with Jollibee not only with its products but on corporate responsibilities as well. This can only mean better service for everybody. Good job, Ronald.

Lechon is best Pig

Sometime in February, Anthony Bourdain featured the Philippines in his show No Reservations. In that episode he ate Cebu lechon and blogged “that of all the whole roasted pigs I've had all over the world, the slow roasted lechon I had on Cebu was the best,” placing it over the Bali and Puerto Rico versions.

Time magazine took the cue from Bourdain and featured the lechon in its April 23 issue. The magazine glowingly salivated: "A pig is roasted for hours over a fire of open coals, slowly rotated on a bamboo spit, lovingly basted and meticulously supervised until its flesh is so tender, moist and succulent that it can be sliced with the edge of a plate, and its skin so crisp it can be punctured with the tap of a finger. You could call it the Platonic ideal of a pig, but it's doubtful if Plato, or even an entire faculty of philosophers, could have imagined anything so exquisite."

Notwithstanding swine flu, this Pinoy food is among the most missed by my batchmates based abroad. I am sure we will have lechon again in our planned reunion. We'll take our chances.

NBA predictions

I am busy this week watching the NBA first round playoffs, among other stuff. With the Suns out of it all, I was rooting for the Celtics to win again but with The Big Ticket sidelined for the playoffs I switched allegiance to the Cavs.

I am still anti-Kobe though I still predict a Lakers-Cavs finale. The Lakers are the heavy favorites in the West. Kobe is playing a much controlled game. Perhaps he is put on a leash by Phil Jackson, to preserve him for the final push where he his pent-up desire to take over the game will be unleashed. Or perhaps, he is not that young anymore. There is a better chance for the West teams to upset their top seed than for the East teams. The Nuggets, barring another post-season bad luck for George Karl, stands the best chance. They are followed by the Mava snd the Rockets. The greatest thing going for the Lakers is that they are all healthy at this time. Tex Winter suffered a stroke but expect Phil Jackson to make that a rallying point.

In the East, the Celtics cannot ride on emotions to make it all the way. I believe emotions can only sustain the charge for only three games max, after which, the body will not respond and the other team's pride and emotion will in turn carry them through. So emotions can carry the Celts, net of Garnett and Powe-less, past the young Bulls but they will be tested to the hilt and further weakened by the second round. The Cavs on the other hand are healthy with the King James not even in his primest.

The expected Lakers-Cavs setto is very evenly matched. The Cavs cannot be trumped in the forward position with King James on their side. The middle decidedly goes to the Lakers with Gasol, Bynum, Odom. The guard position again goes to the Lakers. The coaching, too, shows advantage for the Lakers with Phil's nine rings waiting for the tenth so each finger will have one. So in the Lakers-Cavs finals, the Lakers will be the heavy favorites. But I am still rooting for the Cavs. Because I am anti-Kobe.