i'd rather die than be green.

a friend shared with me this video link, which eventually became one of my most hated videos. (see, i can't even come up with any other BAD videos except for this one.) i'm not sure if this is simply because having spent all 4 years in the ateneo, i've been brainwashed. or if this is simply a truly fucking stupid song and video. i showed this to many of my ateneo friends. and i elicited the same reaction, which somehow confirmed that i was right about the video. that the video was indeed pathetic, stupid, and pathetic and stupid. i know lasalites aren't stupid. at least not all of them. but this one just went tooo far. sadly, this fucked up creation just made my image of dlsu people worse. though i believe lasalites wouldnt even care.

dont these people have anything decent to do? or anything to do at all? that instead of doing something productive and enjoyable, they came out with this. and please, check your lyrics first before you even shout out to the whole world how proud you are to be green. if i were to live my whole life again, i'd still want to be a lasalista pa rin. WOW. you wanted to be green that badly??? again na nga, pa rin pa rin. anak ng teteng.

mga loyolalista daldal ng daldal... at least we don't talk trash like what you're doing now.

wag kang magtataka kung bakit binaril si rizal [bakit nga ba?] atenista kasi. wow, you've just taught me something i've NEVER KNOWN about philippine history and rizal. he was shot because he was an atenista? what about he was shot because he was smart enough to fight back with intellectual masterpieces, i.e., noli me tangere and el filibusterismo (just in case your history teachers taught you that he wrote a song for mary)?

and by the way, these are the reasons why these lasalistas are proud to be green (based on the song):

year 2005, di ka pa rin nag-iba. ang galing mong pumorma, bolero pa rin. i think i went to the wrong school. i like making porma and i know some atenistas who are good in making bola. we shoudlve gone to dlsu's center of porma and pambobola. we would've graduated summa cum laudes. just imagine their loooong history of being boleros and making japorms, i'm sure by now, it's one of their centers of excellence.

pagdating sa basketball, la namang binatbat. dribble ng dribble, di naman makashoot. shame on you blue eagles. shame on you. could you ever try to be like the archers? get suspended for a year! c'mon. play FAIR! bring in players who shoot well. no need to enrol them. what matters is we win. UNDERSTOOOD?

pagdating sa entertainment, lasalista'y angat. daym, that's why the school's got lotsa bimbos and jocks. they dream of one day becoming artistas as well. artista wannabes, sugod to DLSU!

megastar, boldstar, star for all seasons, lasalista lang pala ang hinahanap nila. aww, isn't that wonderful? even TF kings and queens now run after lasalistas. iba na talaga noh?

si gary, si randy,... ilan lang sa dami ng mga lasalistang sikat. i can't wait for DLSU to sponsor ABS-CBN's Star Circle Quest. if that happens, I'd audition. For sure, my dreams will come true. haaaay. i am such a frustrated actor.

si michael de mesa at cocoy laurel, pati na si mike enriquez, kilala ng lahat. are you sure they would still recognize your school and would still be proud for being green after they listen to this song? if i were them, i'd swear i'd hate having been part of this institution because of you.

bayaran man ako, i'd still say to you, i'd rather be green than be blue. that's a wise move. you'd earn more nga naman being artistas. congrats, you've got an inch of your brain left pa pala.

for you to feel the sincerity of their words, watch this video. it's my special present for all of you.

Rules of the Barclays Premiership Competition

THE LEAGUE COMPETITION

1. Each Club shall play 2 League Matches against each other Club each Season, being the Home Club in respect of one such League Match and the Visiting Club in respect of the other.

2. The winner of a League Match shall score three points. Each Club participating in a League Match which is drawn shall score one point.

3. The results of League Matches shall be recorded by the Secretary in a table containing in respect of each Club the following information:

3.1 the number of League Matches played in that Season;

3.2 the number of League Matches won, drawn and lost as a Home Club in that Season;

3.3 the number of League Matches won, drawn and lost as a Visiting Club in that Season;

3.4 the number of goals scored in League Matches by and against that Club in that Season;

3.5 the number of points scored in that Season.

4. The position of Clubs in the table shall be determined by the number of points scored in that Season, the Club having scored the highest number of points being at the top of the table and the Club having scored the lowest number of points being at the bottom.

5. If any 2 or more Clubs have scored the same number of points their position in the table shall be determined on goal difference, that is to say, the difference between the total number of goals scored by and against a Club in League Matches in that Season, and the higher or highest placed Club shall be the Club with the larger or largest goal difference.

6. If any 2 or more Clubs have scored the same number of points and have the same goal difference the higher or highest placed Club shall be the Club having scored the most goals in League Matches in that Season.

7. Subject to Rule B.29, if any 2 or more Clubs have scored the same number of points, have the same goal difference and have scored the same number of goals in League Matches in that Season they shall be deemed to occupy the same position in the table.

THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

8. The Club which is at the top of the table at the end of the Season shall be the League Champions.

9. The League Champions shall receive a trophy which it shall return to the Secretary in good order and condition not later than 3 weeks before the final League Matches of the next Season.

10. The League Champions shall further receive 21 commemorative medals to be presented by the Club to its Manager and to such of its Players and Officials as it thinks fit provided, in the case of a Player, that he has that Season played in a minimum of 10 of its League Matches. Additional medals may be presented with the consent of the Board.

RELEGATION

11. Subject to Rule B.27, the bottom 3 Clubs in the table at the end of the Season shall be relegated to the Football League.

12. If any Club ceases during the Season to be a member of the League, the record of the League Matches in which it has participated that Season shall be expunged from the table and the number of Clubs to be relegated at the end of that Season shall be reduced so as to maintain at 20 (or, if less, as near thereto as may be) the number of Clubs in membership of the League at the beginning of the next Season.

13. If any Club ceases to be a member of the League other than by reason of relegation after the end of the Season but before the Board has fixed the dates of League Matches for the next Season, the Board may invite the relegated club which attained the highest position in the table referred to in Rule B.18 at the end of the previous Season to rejoin the League.

PLAY-OFFS

14. If at the end of the Season either the League Champions or the Clubs to be relegated or the question of qualification for other competitions cannot be determined because 2 or more Clubs are equal on points, goal difference and goals scored, the Clubs concerned shall play off one or more deciding League Matches on neutral grounds, the format, timing and venue of which shall be determined by the Board.

Fantasy Premier League 101

Prizes

1st Prize: The Fantasy Premier League champion will win a VIP trip to a Barclays Premiership game featuring a team of your choice. The prize includes 2 nights' hotel accommodation, pre-match meal, match tickets, all transfers and £250 spending money.

Monthly Prize: To be confirmed.

Pick your squad

With a budget of £100 million, choose a squad of 15 players made up of:

• 2 Goalkeepers
• 5 Defenders
• 5 Midfielders
• 3 Forwards

No more than 3 players can be selected from a single team.

Scoring

The players in your squad score points based on how they perform in Premier League matches.

No matter which team you support you'll soon find yourself cheering on every player who's in your team.

Create and join leagues

Ever said to your friends, "I could do better than that"? Well this game is your chance to show friends and colleagues just how much you know about the beautiful game.

You can compete in up to 10 private leagues.

Other leagues

All registered teams are entered in the overall league, a country league and a league for supporters of your favourite Premier League team

You can also choose to be added to a public league with other game players.

Choose your team each Gameweek

Each Gameweek, pick a first 11 from your squad of 15 and sit back as they earn real-time points for actions such as clean sheets, assists and goals.

Captains

Choose a captain from your starting team who will earn double points for your team.

Prioritise substitutes

Your substitutes are there in case one of your starters doesn't play. It's up to you to prioritise the order they come on.

Make transfers

If your players aren't performing on the pitch, you always have the option of transfers to bring in new players.

One free transfer per Gameweek

With one free transfer each Gameweek there's always a chance to tinker with your squad. Be careful though, extra transfers deduct points from your total so are probably better saved for injury or fixture list emergencies.

Market driven player prices

Player prices vary during the season dependent on the popularity of the player in the transfer market. So there's room for the shrewd manager to use transfers to increase their squad's value.

To get straight to the action, login / register here and start picking your team now.

The English Premier League

Because the league is coming up soon, i decided to look at almost each team's squad profile. just to get a feel as to who i should be rooting for. some people have said that chelsea, liverpool, and man utd are the teams to beat. arsenal is also strong. and i saw why:

arsenal has got the following players:
german goalkeeper jens lehmann, england's ashley cole and theo walcott
switzerland's philippe senderos, spain's francesc fabregas
czech's tomas rosicky, sweden's fredrick ljungberg and sebastian larsson
holland's robin van persie, france's thierry henry
and togo's emmanuel adebayor

chelsea also have good players:
portugal's paolo ferreira, england's john terry, joe cole and frank lampard
ghana's michael essien, holland's arjen robben
germany's captain michael ballack, argentina's hernan crespo
cote d'ivoire's didier drogba and ukraine's andriy shevchenko

liverpool is just as star-studded as the first two:
australia's harry kewell
england's jamie carragher, stevie G and peter crouch (though i still hate this guy)
spain's luis garcia and xabi alonso

finally, man utd has got:
england's gary neville, rio ferdinand and wayne rooney
portugal's ronaldo (though if i'm not mistaken he's leaving for real madrid)
holland's van nistelrooy and van der sar, korea's ji-sung park
serbia/montenegro's nemanja vidic

other good players are scattered all over the EPL:
tottenham hotspur has england's paul robinson, jermaine defoe, michael carrick and aaron lennon
newcastle united has michael owen
fullham with US' carlos bocanegra and teammate brian mcbride
everton keeps australia's tim cahill and portugal's nuno valente

and now that fifa worldcup fantasy sports is over, it's now time to play the english premier league fantasy sports. this is wild!!!

BasketBitterness

I'm posting my reply to Howie Severino's 6/12 blog entry about football (yep, the guy from GMA7 maintains one):

the more i read your comments, the more i realized how philippines is such a place of hopelessness. for me, the economy in general is the only aspect of filipino life that provides a gleam of hope. the quality of life doesn't. while some may pinpoint that only given the right reforms and enactment of laws, the quality of life of every single filipino could improve, i think this could only take place on a miniscule level. perhaps i can say i've given up hope on the country even climbing up and improving so much to find its way out of the third world. in the same manner, politics also doesn't. i've given up on the idea of having a clean, corrupt-free, truly-democratic type of government. it has already become idealistic for me to even think that we could soon arise from the pit of impoverished life.

the most recent hopeless case i have encountered would be the hopeless case of football becoming the country's SECOND or even THIRD national sport. i never dreamed of football surpassing the overpopularity of basketball. i know that's just impossible. neither could it surpass boxing, i believe the second national sport. while many of you have pointed out that we can actually excel in football, even in the international arena, i guess i've already given up on the idea that this country would even pay close attention to the potential of our people, more so the beauty of the game. i think we have become real shadows of the americans. impossible to be detached from them. it's as if we would find ourselves wherever they are, whatever they do.

maybe as filipinos watch basketball games, whether the nba or the pba, they also have that dream, consciously or subconsciously, that one day we will emerge as one of the world's best. okay, maybe some don't. but i suppose it only becomes logical that we embrace the sport where we could do better at. in the same way that, as an analogy, students take a course in college in accordance with what they want to become in the future, also given that they are qualified to be there. isn't it logical that we embrace the sport which can help us boost our love for the country even more? isn't it logical that we embrace the sport which would and could bring back the spark to people's nationalism? if some are proud enough that philippines is one of the best in asia, wouldn't it be better to see that we're one of the best in the world in another sport?

i am not saying we ditch basketball. that would be plain stupid. i guess the only thing i'm asking for is that we set aside our narrow-mindedness and veer away from being single-focused. basketball and boxing are not the only sports. i think i appreciate boxing better than the former. simply because we are known for it worldwide. and it makes sense. even if it's the victory of only one person that brings people together, it still is indubitably a relevant matter. just imagine how passionate and proud each filipino could be to see 23 people emerge as victors in a sport almost the whole world loves. i myself would start being proud of being a filipino if that time comes.

i wrote a couple of entries in my blog about football and why we should love it. here are the URLs:

1
2
3

now tell me, am i reproachable for being bitter about basketball?

zidane classic

thanks to my friend meanne for providing this link. i love watching this over and over and over again.



LOVE. LOVE. LOVE this!

for the love of the game part3: a sweet finish for the azzuris; a sweet finish for me.

with 194 teams, 910 games, 1,365+ hours (or 82,000+ min) of playing time, and more than a billion people who watched the games...

the world cup couldnt have ended in a better way. italy won on a shootout; 5-4 against les bleus. the team lifts their 4th world cup trophy. shotstopper gianluigi buffon wins lev yashin award, given to the cup's best goalkeeper. miroslav klose won the golden shoe award, given to the highest scorer of the cup. prince poldi won gillette's best young player. and mockingly the best reason to celebrate? france lost. zidane thrust his head onto materazzi's chest. ribery, henry and the respectable idiot were all out during overtime. and trezeguet missed the shootout, the only one from his team. long live deustcheland. long live ingerland. viva italia. viva azzuris.



right after italy won, as they were celebrating in the field, dancing some lame moves, the camera kept focusing on trezeguet. and i would admit, i loved every moment of it. he must have felt miserable, sorry, and ashamed of his mistake. being the reason that they lost. the reason that all their efforts to inch their way up from a weak and unconvincing group stage performances, all of a sudden, became futile. with one missed kick. his kick. i say, that's the second best moment of the night. of course, the best one was italy winning. and the third? oh my, oh my, i would love to see the red card being flashed right on zidane's face. over and over again. i feel bad that materazzi had to suffer the big blow of zinedine's head. but looking back, i thought he somewhat made a hero out of himself for saying whatever he said to the guy that made him so friggin mad, he had to act in such an uncivil way, thrusting his head onto him. i didnt know who materazzi was until recently seeing his contribution to the team- whether scoring or... getting the opponent mad. hehehe. he scored for the team when they went up against the czechs. and that win caused them to advance to the second stage. and this time he did again, twice. one was the equalizer, the second one from the shootout. he became our hero last night, the most important match for the azzuris.

here's a video of his magnificent saving goal in the first half.



the end of the world cup also means the end of fifa world cup fantasy game for me. i wish i couldve done better. but i think i did fairly well for a starter, especially with my second team, which i set up a halfway through the first stage. my first roster, called gerengtaly [from germany, england, and italy], collected 392.5 points, placing me as 104,089th player. klose was my last captain. (stupid, i wasn't able to assign henry or fabio [cool name] cannavaro as my captain. i wouldve ranked a bit higher.)



and on my starting line up are the good players. at least i had the chance to make some transfers for good players, in exchange of the bad players i had. apparently, having the bad players were due to my inability to understand the game rules at first. i'd rather not explain my stupidity here. anyway, that mistake led to my forming my second team, which ill show in a while. for now, here's my starting lineup. followed by the bench players.




towards the second or third stage, i already had several nonfunctional players. rosicky, barnetta, frei, and al kahtani. frei and barnetta wouldve contributed more, if only ukraine didnt beat them in the round of 16. oh well. so much for a starter. my second team's called, germany's 3 brazilian lions. thinking about it, it shouldve been germany's 3 italian lions. just to be consistent with the first one. i guess i was somehow swayed by the sheer popularity of the brazilians that i attached their team to my team name. this time, i wish i had made the transfers towards the end. shouldve saved them for the semis and the final. next time, i shall do better.

despite being formed at a later date, i still managed to inch my way up. i collected 473.5 points, ranking me as the 70,757th. i thought that from 350,000 and up to 70,000 was already a big feat. as i grew more familiar with the teams and the players after every game, after every stage, i earned more and more points. the largest gain was about 60-70 points, if im not mistaken. at this final stage, i only had two azzuris, toni and captain fabio. again, the furstration holds up in the end, as i found myself with 0 chances for a transfer. goodness, i shouldve transferred at this stage, for the more important players. anyway, whats done is done. the game is over and i played fairly well. not to forget that i had the very good players from the different teams- klose, lahm, schweinsteiger, and prince poldi from germany; lampard and beckham from ingerland; again toni and cannavaro from the azzuris; henry and vieira from les bleus; ronaldo and kaka from brazil (though both didn't give me much); and raul, torres and villa from spain, the underachievers. i had the good players both from the lineup and from the bench. i wish i had this thing for real. and God, i love the World Cup. i love football. (i just had to blurt this out.)





i guess this ends my journey with world cup. i will try to upload the best world cup moments for me. of course, expect the excessive display of biases. pictures of germany, england and italy surely will be there. perhaps a lot of them even. i will miss the world cup. 4 long years of wait is like 4 loong years of college. time goes by fast but 4 years is still 4 years. at least there's the EPL coming up next month and euro2008 in, well, 2008.

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going back to the figures above, remember the 194 teams who played? guess where the philippines is. 191st. we should be ashamed of ourselves for such a humiliating ranking. the moment i realized this, i kept telling myself, i would start loving this country [more] and feeling more proud the time it competes even for a slot in the top 64, whatever you call that qualification match. this is just plain stupid.

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next up, the english premier league. starts on aug.19. and for the record, this is the longest blog entry i have made to date.

Football's Coming Home Video.

A tribute to my beloved england team. as if loving the song itself wasn't enough, here's the video. of course, thats aside from the 5 england shirts that im keeping in my closet. and then i still have one more which i'll be getting from my friend next week. she just came back from london. love you belai for getting me the shirt!!!!



INGERLAND.

English Premiere League starts on August 19. im not sure if we have star sports here. i hope we do. so my newly found fanaticism for football doesn't end with world cup. or actually, if ever i dont get to see EPL, fifa world cup 06 in PS2 is just waiting for me. nyehehe.

for the love of the game part 2: football is relatively more. in a couple more senses.

2. the second reason why i've come to love football was because of the endless possibility of anyone becoming the game's hero. you have your key players, alright and you always expect them to be the team's scoring machine. however, the beauty of the game is, you don't know who would score next. the unpredictability as to who would catch the ball creates for the player nearest to (or even far from) the net the chance to kick the ball in or do a header and then become the game's hero. ala-chamba is what some might call it. but whether it really is ala-chamba or not, it is the very reason why people love the game. score could come in at any unexpected, nerve wracking moment, from just about anyone. the previously unheard of player suddenly becomes the hero of the match for letting his team win, 1-0, over their opponent. a hero is made out of a single goal precisely because of the very nature of the game. the extremely difficult manner by which a person could score, whether due to the lack of an opening or the very good tackling skills of the opponent, always seems to be in search of some stroke of luck to hit one of the players. a goal could come in as fast as the blink of an eye. and the slowly dying crowd could easily come back to life as one partakes on the team's never-ending creation of football history, hopefully leading the team to advance.

3. there is real challenge; there is real requirement for skill. passing the ball in itself carries a challenge because the opponent can easily tackle the ball if the man handling it isn't skilled enough to keep the ball with him. again, the idea of using the feet to score already requires so much work. the structure of the feet per se makes it difficult for one to move them as freely as one does with the hands. any kid playing bball can easily dribble and pass. and whether they know how to play it tight or not, they can still pretty much create a good simulation of the game. however, any kid [attempting] to play football might not even get past someone who is blocking him. neither can he make a decent pass. this could be made worse by two kids who do not know how to play it. even a rough simulation could be impossible.

i am not ditching basketball as the easier sport, although it mightve been implied with some of my statements. i know that basketball, all in itself, requires a totally different set of skills. the only point im driving at is that, personally, football is better for me for reasons stated above. or even more. any fan is free to post teir own reasons for loving the game. i do believe, however, the bulk have already been tackled in this and previous entries. anyway, the way we answer to our own biases makes our own POVs problematic from the eyes of the other people. the very reason why basketball fans would disagree with my thoughts about football or even curse me for even attempting to compare the two and why football fans would be eclectic for my defense of [our] favorite game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

and so my two bets for the world cup are already gone. england's case came more as expected, having seen how poorly they played in their first several matches. many people would say that their arses were only saved by continuous streak of luck to have reached that far. it feels very disappointing that they did not play to their potential until that one last game they had with portugal, to which they underservingly lost. critics, english or not, have been blaming sven for his unpopular decisions of bringing in the squad the more amateur, but nevertheless good though not contributory, player/s, and not the more deserving ones. to make things worse, the loss was followed by the resignation of both the coach and the team captain, becks. while this may seem the most logical step for england, we all wonder if it had to end this way- the team losing yet again on another shootout to yet again a former opponent, Portugal; criticisms raining down on the supposedly top 2 figures of the team, sven and becks; key players falling short of their display of potential; and the disgruntled feeling everyone is left with as to the blurry future of the team.

on the other hand, deutscheland's confident and powerful play came to an end last night as the azzuris saved themselves just minutes before the game wouldve been decided with a shootout. my self-created tag line, germany never disappoint, no longer applies. last night's result was not simply a disappointment. it was an upset. an unexpected exit from the strong contenders. despite this, i still have faith in the team. they are still my team. perhaps the better line for germany would be, the hope lives on with germany. their games have been the most interesting games in the world cup. i dont know if in euro2008 or the next world cup, klose-podolski tandem would still be reigning. they have been most instrumental to the success of the team although i am also giving credit for the excellent performance by the rest of klinsmann's squad- friedrich, frings, lahm (the wonder kid), neuville, schneider, schweinsteiger and of course, captain ballack.

it doesnt really matter anymore who else reaches the finals. portugal or france. my teams are out. actually it does matter. england's undeserved exit was caused my portugal; rooney's red by the dick ronaldo. so portugal don't deserve to be in the finals, underdog they may be. so yes, i am rooting for an italy-france finals. and then and italy win. i dont know why italy. i just like them better than les bleus.

and after july 9, my body clock shall be fixed once again. no more 3 am games. no more extra times at 5am. and no more shootouts at 530. my body can finally get rest as early as 1, 2 or 3am. but i will surely miss the cup once it's over.

---end of part2---