USA Men’s Basketball, will they do it this time?

Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian, on American soil in 1891, invented basketball. Soon, basketball would be played across the globe and would be governed by the International Basketball Federation or FIBA, which stands for Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur formed in 1932. The A for Amateur was later on dropped (1989) due to the entry of professional NBA players, although FIBA is still in use but not as an acronym.

The US Men’s Basketball Team would dominate international competitions whether FIBA sanctioned tournaments or the Olympics through the years. Basketball was incorporated in the Olympics in the 1936 Berlin Games and the USA since then has won 12 gold medals followed by the Soviet Union with 2, Yugoslavia with 1 and Argentina with 1. Having beaten by the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Summer Games, the US formed a new team composed of professionals from the NBA for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games and was dubbed as the “Dream Team.” Great stars such as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan lead the team and would be followed by other professional players for the 1996, 2000 games and onwards. Looking at the records from the FIBA website (1950~2006), USA shares the top spot with the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in terms of gold medal count but leads in the total medal count with 10. The first ever appearance of NBA players from the US in the FIBA World Championships was in 1994 when Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dominique Wilkins, Dan Majerle, Reggie Miller, Shawn Kemp and others suit up to form the successful “Dream Team II.”

The dominance of US Men’s Basketball has declined and it started in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when they managed to win against Lithuania just by two points in the semifinals and a ten-point margin to win the gold against France. Now, it’s a big question mark having failed to conquer the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2005 FIBA Americas and 2006 FIBA World Championships even though they have fielded NBA players. The world has finally caught up with the Americans as many would say. To some more technically incline with the game, it’s due to difference in styles or game play where there’s the European, American and even Asian brand of basketball. Over the years, the European style has evolved or matured into a team-based pass the ball game play having mastered the amateur rules. In the defense side, they have mastered the zone defense as opposed to Americans one-on-one defense. Some would argue however that the poor performance of the team in international games is due to non-fielding of players that are considered the best of the crop and the fact that other nations teams have played together longer.

The Americans are no longer in the number one spot of the sport worldwide but they have remained to be a team to watch. Such is the case of the new team that is competing in the on-going FIBA Americas, which is considered to be the youngest NBA sponsored team to ever compete internationally. For the first time, Kobe Bryant would be playing in his much-awaited international debut. They definitely have a lot to prove especially under Mike Krzyzewski whose best record in the FIBA World Championships are two “bronze medals” (1990 and 2006). I happened to watch their first game against Venezuela (a young team) which they won by a big margin and I was a little intrigued on how would they fair with other teams especially Argentina (Manu Ginobili is not in the roster). The team exudes quickness, agility and tremendous athleticism and looking at the roster, everything seems to be in place. They have centers that are quick that I think is capable of guarding the rim and the shooting department that is not evident from previous teams is filled up well this time. They pass the ball more and their defense is much better now. I am not a fan of Kobe Bryant but his debut is turning out to be way better than expected, he shares the ball more and provides leadership on the floor. LeBron is explosive as ever and Michael Redd delivers from outside as expected. I just hope they won’t choke in the finals, and their second stringers perform at par with the first.

Although some big stars are in the injured list, my favorite Dwayne Wade, the team for me is solid enough. It may be early to say that this team will go all the way but I hope they continue to play together not just in the FIBA Americas but also in the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. They are already showing greatness at this point probably a little less than the first Dream Team. But the question in my mind still linger… will they make it this time?

Cool Quentin Tarantino!

The coveted director who rose from being a video shop clerk was in Manila for the Cinemanila International Film Festival and eventually, to receive his “Lifetime Achievement Award.” He’s the second Hollywood celebrity that visited the Philippines in just two months. The first is Josh Hartnett who did a shoot in Mindanao for a part of the movie “I Come With the Rain.” Many admired Quentin’s decision to grace the event amidst typhoons that are expected to reach the main land.

On the day he was to receive his award in Malacañang, heavy traffic was building up due to heavy flooding near a mall in Sta. Mesa. His ride, which is a limousine, was not able to negotiate the traffic for two hours. As they are going to be late for the ceremony, Amable Aguiluz suggested that they take a “pedicab.” So they took a pedicab separately, since they wouldn’t fit in just one, until they reached Nagtahan where they hitched a car (the owner of the car must have thanked the rains on this one) to the palace.

Quentin’s pants and shoes were soaked wet that prompted Mr. Aguiluz to buy new shoes. To replace his wet pants was a pair of jogging pants (looks black on TV) with white lining on the side (which could have been fine if not for the stripe). I guess Mr. Aguiluz was not able to buy new pants due to Quentin’s big frame or was it just a mental lapse? And so not acting like a prima donna / fashionista, he wore his “barong” and went on with the ceremony that was caught by the evening news. But here’s the kicker, to think that flooded Manila was not embarrassment enough, the president of the Philippines was late for the ceremony! Later when Quentin was asked about the joy ride (more of a boat ride), he just took it as an inevitable experience.

But what caught me most of his stay in the country is his comment about piracy. When asked by a reporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer regarding Filipinos buying his movies for 25 cents, he said ‘As long as they’re seen by people, I don’t care. I’m f$#&ing rich!’ Spoken as an artist and not a greedy businessman.

Click the link to view the actual report from ABC 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IguBD0j8hZA

Initial D

When it comes to animation, you have to give the Japanese the title of being the best. There was a time animation was plainly two-dimensional art but they pushed the boundaries and made it appear as if it’s three dimensional with the likes of “Macross.” They pretty much made anime series for all sorts of genres from giant robots (Gundam, Voltes V, Daimos etc), martial arts (Ghost Fighter, Dragon Ball Z, Flame of Recca etc), sports (Captain Tsubasa, Slam Dunk etc) and there was even a series about cooking (though I forgot the title). Anime as a word that the world would later accept has varying concepts and themes but present in all forms would be the attention to details the Japanese are known for and the manner they tell a story.

                                    

At the same time I was learning how to drive two years ago, a new series invaded Philippine TV through Animax. Although it is a bit delayed to reach our shores (as usual), “Initial D” as the title explores the fascination of Japanese with street (drift) racing in mountain passes composed of uphill and downhill segments. It started out as a comic book (manga) before it was adapted to anime, later on a video game and a movie. One element that made it more interesting is the use of “J-Pop” for its soundtrack. You cannot help but notice the sense of speed it brings during races. Although it’s in Japanese, which I don’t understand, I can’t help but appreciate the beat by the band “Move.”

The series revolves around a teenager named Takumi Fujiwara whose name alone which sounds like the first syllable of “tachometer” gives you a hint that it’s about cars and racing. A simple, most of the time quiet kid working as a part time gasoline attendant by day and helps his father Bunta, a famous street racer in his time, with the family business by delivering tofu. The car he uses is a “Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex” also called “Panda” because of its black and white color scheme. My first reaction seeing the car was that it’s outdated compared to the cars available in video games like Gran Turismo 4 and the ones you see in Top Gear and the horsepower is ancient compared to present ones.  As each season rolled out (1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Stage), modifications to the interior and exterior of the car made it look sinister and viciously fast. 

For fans of GT4, there’s actually a Trueno that can be bought with the same color scheme used in the anime (but without the sign of the tofu shop on the side) designed by Shuichi Shigeno, the creator of Initial D himself. The good thing about the Trueno is that it has a front engine rear drive configuration (FR) so it’s suited for drift racing.

 

                                                                    

Takumi got into racing to save his friend Iketani, who is the leader of the Akina Speed Stars, from humiliation by assuming the top driver of the group after he figured in an accident before his race against Keisuke Takahashi of the Red Suns. However, Iketani didn’t expect that Takumi would be the driver as they were expecting his father Bunta whom Iketani asked earlier to drive for them.He won his first race to the surprise of Iketani and his best friend Itsuki, unknown to them he has mastered the course since he had driven through Mount Akina for the past five years. He would go on to beat a lot of top drivers from other teams and develop driving skills and race tactics mostly during each race. He went up against modern cars like the Mazda RX-7 FD, Civic EG-6, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (4WD), Nissan Skyline R32 (4WD) but always ends up ahead. Takumi joined the “Project D” team (4th stage) headed by Ryusuke Takahashi (Keisuke’s brother, top driver of the Red Suns which he beat during the 1st Stage) together with Keisuke as the teams two top drivers with the former specializing on the downhill battle (term used for race) and the latter for the uphill battle.

Initial D is not just all about racing, drifting and all you can possibly experience as a teenager (teenage love and disappointments). Underneath it all, it is about the relationship between a father and his son. Bunta schemingly passed on to Takumi what he treasures most aside from his family and he did this without asking his son directly. By making Takumi deliver tofu everyday early in the morning to a hotel crossing Mount Akina through dry, wet and snowy weather, he eventually developed his son’s driving skills. After each delivery, he observes the condition of the car, tires etc and to test his son’s skill, he tries different engine and suspension settings without even telling Takumi. Although Takumi’s skill is so far superior against his peers, he has yet to beat his father.

Initial D is not your typical anime so don’t expect cute animals/characters chasing each other around with ironically the protagonist pounding the hell out of the antagonist (and they say cartoons are just for kids) but there are funny moments mostly by Itsuke. There’s a lot of technical stuff about cars that are discussed, in the same way Slam Dunk explains techniques in basketball, by Ryusuke with each race that relates to tactics.  If you’re into cars and racing, you’ll definitely like Initial D but don’t even try to imitate Takumi’s driving or try drifting without proper training.

                                                                                                                       

Cable TV Schedule

Premier Telecast (Philippines)

Monday… Crime/Suspense (C/S): Heroes at 9 PM and Jericho at 10 PM
Tuesday… Crime/Suspense (C/S): Standoff at 9 PM and 24 Season 6 at 10 PM
Wednesday… AXN: CSI Night from 9 to 12 PM
Thursday… AXN: 24 Season 4 at 9 PM and C/S: Prison Break Season 2 at 10 PM
Sunday... Channel 2: Going Bulilit at 7 PM