Not a Good Year for Sports

… if you’re me.

I'm a big sports fan and I feel I was heavily cursed this year. It was like fate decided to pick on me and doomed all the sports teams I root for. To all those who hang out with me, you know I'm a die hard fan of the Boston Red Sox and DLSU basketball. I'm also into our local company basketball league, the Sacramento Kings of the NBA and fantasy basketball.

How about those Pacquiao victories over Hatton and Cotto? Yeah, those two felt good. It made me happy that a Filipino is one of the greatest boxers in history however, I'm just not passionate about boxing because:
1. I can't take up boxing since I'm heavy enough to fight Mike Tyson.
2. I don't want a sport that highlights your weight.
3. I find it weird when two shirtless guys hug each other during the fight in front of thousands of people.

Meikkolodeon
Our ABL (the basketball league at our company) basketball team had a tough start in the season before gaining momentum, finishing the season strong, making the playoffs and making our senior manager buy us lots of boxes of pizza and donuts.



… and then? Our first game in the playoffs was against this tall team who abused our obvious flaw: we were a team of small guards. We only one had one true big guy in Tholitz and he wasn’t available for that game. In fact, the team was so small the guy they depended to rebound couldn’t even jump over a bottle of coke (guess who).

… the kick on the crotch. I only scored two points the entire season. I had video clips of almost all our games and I didn’t even have that shot, the only one that went in, on video. Oh, I also had severe conditioning problems... take a look at our team picture above. I played the least minutes in the team and yet I looked like I just came from a 21K marathon

… on the bright side. Kudos to Don who coached the team, scored the points, laid out the game plan and played defense. Being the coach was his toughest task. Can you imagine the team being tired in the 4th quarter in desperate need of scoring help then him looking at the bench for help and seeing no one but me gulping a big bottle of Gatorade. It’s like you being mugged, you reach out to your pocket for any defensive weapon you may have and find out you have nothing but cotton balls.

De La Salle Green Archers
DLSU fielded a young team this season who were supposed to blend in with our veterans. We still believed in the team since every year we fielded weak teams on paper and yet do surprisingly well in the season and in the playoffs.

… and then? Bader Malabes happened. La Salle had two quick losses then a couple of good games in the first round of the season. The second round was so horrible that I wished we were just suspended.

… the kick on the crotch. Simon Atkins.

… another the kick on the crotch. Ferdinand. (No first name, he’s like “Madonna” or “Cher”)

… another the kick on the crotch. James Mangahas.

… another the kick on the crotch. Peejay Barua.

… another the kick on the crotch. Franz Pumaren leaving the DLSU program to be replaced by his brother Dindo.

… the final kick on the crotch. This:

… on the bright side. The veterans will be graduating. Those who will stay can opt to just leave unless they work hard during the off season. We also have lots of Malabes jokes and that funny video of Hitler finding out that La Salle was eliminated.

Holy Cows
This was my 2009 fantasy basketball team. I started off slow due to key injuries but made key pickups from the waiver wire. I was also able to manage the games played well and I ended up playing all games until the end of the season.

… the kick on the crotch. Amare Stoudemire, his scratched cornea and me without any other centers in the team.

… another kick on the crotch. I dropped the only two point guards I had – Jameer Nelson (who later was named to the all-star team) and TJ Ford.

… on the bright side. I finished first… tied with Don. I was one turnover away from the title and my prediction on the last day was wrong. I played the last game safe and ended up tied at first.

Sacramento Kings
It’s a rebuilding team in the NBA but they can train their young stars. Kevin Martin has been unstoppable at times and Jason Thompson fast became a good draft pick. Garcia and Hawes were becoming solid players.

… and then. The team finished last in the league. Thompson fizzled out an got tired while Martin got injured.

… the kick on the crotch. Beno Udrih, with a game as unusual as his last name.

… another kick on the crotch. Despite having the worst record in the league, the Kings didn’t get the #1 pick in the lottery which would have been the promising Blake Griffin.

… the final kick on the crotch. The LA Lakers, Sacramento’s archrivals, won the NBA title.

Boston Red Sox
The team started strong even running a good streak against the Yankees. We had too many good pitchers, too many relief pitchers and for the hitting, we even added Victor Martinez. Big Papi also came out of his hitting slump and became the Papi of old.

… and then? The team slumped at the worst possible time. Matsuzaka and Wakefield got injured. Our two big game starters (Beckett and Lester) lost close games and the final game was lost when our invincible closer suddenly became mortal.

… the kick on the crotch. Boston lost most of the games in the latter part of the season against the Yankees.

… another kick on the crotch. Manny Ramirez.

… another kick on the crotch. Kat Castrence, Jhon Magtalas and Lure Sese.

… another kick on the crotch. The hated Yankees cleanly won the World Series.

… on the bright side. There’s one?

Basically, it's a year where Ateneo, the Yankees and the Lakers are all champions in their respective leagues. You know what really concerns me now? All of them are poised to repeat the next year...

Yikes!