Why is Manny Pacquiao, the big celebrity that he is right now, is so much attached to sabong (cockfighting)?  Here are a number of thoughts.

First, sabong is, like boxing, a fight.  The blood in the vessels of Pacquiao has so much sensitivity to the blood flowing in the arteries of cocks.  There’s the very close analogy of a fighting fowl and and a boxing champ, and for Pacquiao, the analogy can’t get any closer.  In the cockfighting ring, there’s no such thing as a unanimous decision.  The outcome is always by way of “knockout” so to speak, a thing so familiar with the PACMAN.  In fact, it’s not just so familiar; it his his trademark as a fighter.  As much as possible, Manny likes to maim, cripple, or smother his opponent almost to merciless submission much like what a winning rooster does to its dying adversary.

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There is a Russian juggernaut in women’s tennis.  Four of the top 10 in the WTA ranking are from Russia.

From the bottom, the name Svetlana Kuznetsova, a 19-year-old lass from St. Petersburg, Russia will appear.  She was the 2004 US Open Champion and is currently at rank 10.  Her total earnings in her young career is $4,883,657.

Next is Elena Dementieva, a native of Moscow, Russia.  This 25-year-old pretty lady has never won any Grand Slam event but has reached the 2004 Finals of the French Open and the US Open where she lost to fellow Russian wonder, Kuznetsova.  She has a career earnings totalling to $6,884,563 and is currently no. 8.

At no. 4 spot is Nadia Petrova from Moscow.  Her career money has reached $4,295,270.  She like Dementieva has yet to win a Grand Slam title but has won several tournaments. 

The highest ranked among them is the beautiful and popular Maria Sharapova at no. 3.  Born is Siberia, Russia, Maria rose from the ranks when she won the 2004 Wimbledon Open.  Her total career earnings is $5,625,201.  Because of her gorgeous figure and goddess-like profile, she gets to make it big in the advertising world.  She is the endorser of a lot of female stuff from perfumes to apparel.

It may not be long before we see another Russian get to the top 1 spot.

Up to this point, the issue of showing the movie version of the controversial The Da Vinci Code novel of Dan Brown is still a hot topic among Filipino leaders.  Everyone itches to say something to make the showing of the movie such a very big deal.  No less than Malacañang’s Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has given his bias against the movie.

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The following is a sample speech for a debate on the issue of 2-year compulsory nursing service for Filipino nurses.

ARE THERE NO BENEFITS WHEN YOU SERVE YOUR COUNTRYMEN? IS IT WITHOUT VALUE WHEN YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE SOLUTION OF A BIG PROBLEM? IS PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE USELESS IN THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF A PROFESSIONAL?

MY COMRADE ON THE NECESSITY ISSUE CEMENTED OUR CLAIM THAT THERE IS A NEED TO REQUIRE FILIPINO NURSES TO RENDER AT LEAST 2 YEARS OF NURSING SERVICE BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE COUNTRY. IN HIS ARGUMENTATION, HE MADE MENTION OF OUR PROPOSAL AS A WIN-WIN SOLUTION TO THE HEALTH CARE PROBLEMS OF OUR NATION. ALLOW ME, DEAR AUDIENCE, TO USE THAT AS MY SPRINGBOARD IN SHOWING TO YOU THE BENEFITS OF OUR PROPOSAL.

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There’s nothing wrong with it really and it’s the only thing they can do if they opt to stay in the house of Pinoy Big Brother.  I’m referring to the eviction nominees who were given chance to make an appeal to their supporters.

Here is a descriptive of the nominees for the coming eviction night on Saturday:

Fred - rule-breaker

           Joaqui - impervious tenant

                        Jam - the crying mother within

                                   Clare - clearly soft-spoken

They have made their appeal and things just now rest in the hands of their supporters.  Who are the next two evictees?!  My meditation points to Joaqui and Clare this time. 

Say something.

Four teen housemates are staying tough in the Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition: Kim, Matt, Mikee and Gerald. Of the original twelve (12) housemates since day 1, they are the most relaxed in terms of eviction. They are not included among the nominees.

Meanwhile, things are not seemingly going well for the Chickboy Joaqui as he is one of four nominees for two evictions this coming Saturday. Teenage mom Jamilla is starting to feel the tension with the tenants because she is also candidate for eviction.

Surprisingly, teenstar wannabe Olyn is hanging on tight. After being nominated on a couple of occasions, she finds a breather right now from the heart-pounding nominations.

Of the four nominees, my bets to stay are Mommy Jam and Clare. Give your comments.

No, definitely. Manny Pacquiao is a different breed of fighter compared to Rodel Mayol.

The frustrating loss of Rodel Mayol in his bid to capture the WBC miminumweight title from Eagle Kyowa of Japan could be largely attributed to poor training. The fading stamina of Mayol going to the fight’s homestretch was a clear evidence of lapses in his training regimen. Although he was all gassed up in the first six rounds, it was also in those six rounds where his power resided. His training was only good for six rounds when he was supposed to last for 12 sapping championship rounds. The knockdown in the final canto was more a case of trying to buy time instead of a power hit by the champion.

Even the champion, Eagle Kyowa, was probably not in tip-top shape but his training was obviously more superior to that of Mayol as he had the fresher legs and harder hits in the crucial moments of the fight.

The thing with championship fight is that protagonists should make it a point to be in superb shape founded on excellent training. Champions are especially wary of their challengers because they have everything to lose if their challengers are better prepared than they are. It’s a given that challengers will pour everything out for them to snatch the titles from the champs.

The preparations done by Mayol and his team may have been better than the ones they had in earlier fights, but in terms of adequacy and quality, those preparations were not enough. Ask Kyowa to find out why.

Erik Morales, in his loss to Manny Pacquiao, admitted to poor training going to the fight. Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, has been consistently trained by Freddie Roach in all his A-1 battles. He was in superb condition in the Morales rematch and that’s not even a championship fight.

Will Manny be duplicating the Mayol case? With Freddie Roach keeping an eye on PACMAN, I doubt a duplication. What may be duplicated is the consistent annihilation of Mexican greats by Manny. Oscar Larios will have to learn it in the ring what it is to trade punches with the Great PACMAN come July 2.

There is concern aired by some fans of Manny Pacquiao that his next opponent, Mexican former champ Oscar Larios, is a dangerous opponent. Well let’s have a little look at history from Ringside Report.

The first three years of Manny Pacquiao’s career (1995-1997) he fought an amazing 23 times, with only one of those being a loss. The last time Manny won a decision was on September 13, 1997; which moved his record to 21-1, 13 KO’s. Since that time, “Pac-Man” has had 23 fights-two draws and a loss to Morales. That leaves twenty victories. All twenty of those have come by way of stoppage. If that does not sound impressive enough, or you think maybe his competition was not that good, the combined win/loss record of those twenty contestants is 590-72-14. For all of us statisticians, that is an 87% win ratio.

We don’t have to talk about Larios’ records to see if Manny Pacquiao can beat him. Manny’s records tell what will happen to Larios.  Needless to say, Manny has confirmed that he’s going to train in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym.  Larios should prepare seeing stars in the morning of July 2.

A lot of friends have criticized the PBB Teen Edition to be the worst ever edition.  These are the things they say.

“There’s just a bunch of immature youngsters who’s only dream is to make it big in the cruel world of showbusiness.”

“I pity the youngsters and their families for exposing so much of their backgrounds only to be pissed off and doing the same pissing off to the others.”

“It’s predictable.  You can just close the TV set and guess that this housemate will fall for this and that other housemate, or you just tell your friend that this guy or girl will get jealous because of that other guy or girl.  And it happens.”

“There is not much variety in the way drama unfolds in the house because of their homogeneity in age and even in their backgrounds.”

“Only youngsters can relate to the situations.  The mature and oldies willl really find nothing so interesting in the way the teen housemates are making things.”

What can you say PBB fans?

The two Los Angeles NBA franchises might just square it off in the ongoing NBA Playoffs.

The Los Angeles Clippers have stamped their entry into the second round with a 4-1 record against the Denver Nuggets.  This is the first time the Clippers get past the first round.  In their three first round qualifications in 1992, 1993 and 1997 they never got the chance to reach the 2nd round.  In their series with the Nuggets (3rd seed), they are in fact the underdog (6th seed) but coach Mike Dunleavy had concocted the perfect mix of players to make them a contender in the current NBA Playoffs.

If the the other Los Angeles team, the Lakers, get rid of the Phoenix Suns, they will set up an all-LA semi-final showdown in the Western Conference.  The Lakers are just one game away from making the scenario with their 3-1 lead in their series against the Suns.  They seem to have a magic number in 99 because in all of their wins in the series, they scored 99 and in the one game they lost they scored 102 while giving away 107 points.  If they can limit the Suns to score below the century mark today, then they’re on their way to meet their neighbor in the semi-final round.