Sports: 2011 NBA Championship: A DejaVu from 2006

Call it dejavu with a twist. This year’s 2011 NBA season is not deprived of plots and subplots as Miami vs Dallas will surely be barnburner. This is a rematch of an epic 2006 finals wherein Miami down 0-2 bounced back and won 4 straight games to capture their first Larry O’Brien trophy.

There are a lot of things to look out for this year’s NBA finals since a lot are at stake.

Miami – Is this the year where they start their reign as Kings of American Basketball? Will the experiment work? James, Wade and Bosh
Will they fulfil their promise of winning multiple championships together?
Will Eric Spoelstra win his 1st ever championship ring as a head coach?

Dallas – Is this the year where Dirk Nowitzki, Jsaon Kidd, Shawn Marion, and the rest of the Dallas mavericks win their 1st ring?
Is Tyson Chandler the missing link that they have been waiting for?
Will Rick Carlisle finally win his 1st championship ring as head coach?

A lot are at stake and pressures are high. Which team will step up to the plate and claim this year’s championship? Hold on to your seats as this will be one exciting series.

Dirk is on mission and you can see it in his eyes, though I can’t help but root for Eric Spoelstra who is Half-Filipino. Plus the fact that it’s the trio of Lebron, Wade and Bosh. So as for my thoughts as to who will win it?

Hate to say it but Dallas in 6.

Here is the game schedule:

US TV coverage by ABC

Game 1: Mavs @ Heat - Tue 5/31 9:00p ET
Game 2: Mavs @ Heat - Thu 6/02 9:00p ET
Game 3: Heat @ Mavs - Sun 6/05 8:00p ET
Game 4: Heat @ Mavs - Tue 6/07 9:00p ET
*Game 5: Heat @ Mavs – Thu 6/09 9:00p ET
*Game 6: Mavs @ Heat – Sun 6/12 8:00p ET
*Game 7: Mavs @ Heat – Tue 6/14 9:00p ET

* If necessary


Philippine Free TV Coverage ABS-CBN Channel 2

Game 1: Mavs @ Heat - Wed 6/01 9:00am
Game 2: Mavs @ Heat - Fri 6/03 9:00am
Game 3: Heat @ Mavs - Mon 6/06 8:00am
Game 4: Heat @ Mavs - Wed 6/08 9:00am
*Game 5: Heat @ Mavs – Fri 6/09 9:00am
*Game 6: Mavs @ Heat – Mon 6/13 8:00am
*Game 7: Mavs @ Heat – Wed 6/15 9:00am

* If necessary

Tech News: Twitter and Facebook rule Philippine mobile users

According to a recent survey made by TNS, an international media research firm, Twitter and Facebook saw an increase in their popularity last year among Filipino mobile device users, thanks to cheap and unlimited data services.

The international media research firm also mentioned that a total of 91 percent of mobile device users in the Philippines this year access sites such as Facebook. This is a good 54% increase in penetration for the same population last 2010.

And it’s not just Facebook that got the interests of Filipino mobile device users, microblogging sites like Twitter saw a 17% increase in 2011 from 4% last 2010.

An estimated 73% of mobile phone users use their devices to send personal messages. Filipinos also use their mobile devices to enjoy digital music, video calling, bluetooth functionality, and as a planner for their calendar functions. This just shows that Filipino’s are putting their mobile devices into good use

While majority of Filipinos continue to use the short messaging service (SMS) on their mobile devices, the levels have been declining as social networking steps into the picture.

I wouldn't be surprised if the trend continues to go up every year, as mobile service providers continuously find ways on how to better incorporate data services packages into their mobile plans and services.

Local Events: Havaianas Always Summer: Race to Hawaii Final Results

The results are in, last April 16, 2011, 1 lucky pair have punched their way for a 6 day/5 night, all expense paid vacation for two to the land that inspired Havaianas - Hawaii!

Michael Balcita and Bernard Rebollido of Team Rosa from Baguio City prevailed out of the 20 pairs that trekked their way to Boracay. The triumphant cousins were the only team to finish all the challenges without incurring a time penalty. They will now travel in style with luggage from American Tourister

Of course before reaping the fruits of their labor, Team Rosa and the other competing teams have to complete and accomplish sets of fun and unique tasks that included identifying the ingredients of the delicious mystery shakes provided at the famous Jonah’s Fruit Shake and Snack Bar (A Taste of Boracay), digging into the sand to find secret summer items (Summer Search), spotting certain individuals roaming around the beach (Spot Me), discovering famous Boracay landmarks (Sea the Signs), and even inflating a bright yellow and green Havaianas Flip-Float (Havaianas Flip-Float Challenge).

“The challenges were really fun and challenging and we had a hard time accomplishing everything,” said Balcita and Rebollido. “We’d like to thank Havaianas for everything. We really had a great time.”

“We’d like to congratulate Michael and Bernard for winning the Havaianas ‘Always Summer: Race to Hawaii’ contest,” said Anne Gonzalez, Managing Director of Havaianas Philippines. “We’d also like to applaud the rest of the Havaianatico participants for living the fun-loving and happy spirit of summer every day.

Here are some pictures taken from the event.

Upon arrival, the finalists—who were stylishly clad in their Havaianas flip-flops—were greeted with special summer essentials from David & Goliath, Hawaiian Tropic, Sony, and Havaianas

After 100 summer-loving two-member teams from all over the Philippines took part in the regional leg of the Havaianas “Always Summer: Race to Hawaii” last April 9 in Bonifacio Global City, Metro Manila, the twenty teams with the fastest times were flown to Boracay, courtesy of Seair, to go through a series of fun and exciting challenges and to find out which 2 Havaianaticos would come out on top

Fun and exciting challenges, unique to Boracay, await the contestants, such as searching for famous landmarks by the shore or digging through the sands to find secret summer items. Teams are sure to keep cool under the sun with hydration stations provided by Powerade Sports Drink and Viva! Mineralized Water – both of which advocate an active & healthy lifestyle for Filipinos.

Although some of the contestants breezed through the challenges in the regional leg, this wasn’t the case for the final round in Boracay. One of the unique tasks they had to accomplish was the inflation of Havaianas-shaped floats in the Havaianas Flip-Float Challenge.

All 20 teams in the Havaianas “Always Summer: Race to Hawaii” contest had to accomplish a fun game called “A Taste of Boracay” where they to identify the ingredients of the delicious mystery shakes provided at the famous Jonah’s Fruit Shake and Snack Bar.


The Havaianas “Always Summer: Race to Hawaii” contest is one of the highlights of the Havaianas “Always Summer” campaign, a year-round celebration of summer. Havaianas believes that summer never goes out of style and that Filipinos can live out the spirit of summer every day, all year round, with a positive attitude and a sense of enthusiasm.

For more exciting details about the recently concluded Havaianas “Always Summer: Race to Hawaii” contest, visit http://www.havaianassummer.com/
or follow our Havaianas Philippines Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/havaianasphilippines and celebrate a stylish summer to the fullest with your favorite pair of Havaianas flip-flops!

Sports: Manny Pacquiao shuts out Shane Mosley

Manny Pacquiao scored a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley after a sell out crowd of 16, 412 at the MGM grand garden in Las Vegas Nevada last May 7, 2011. Almost all of them ended up disappointed not because of Manny but with Sugar Shane Mosley. He never put up a fight after getting rocked and dropped at the 3rd round. The look in his eyes were already a tell tale sign that he will try as much as possible to move away from the power punch and avoid getting KO'd for the first time in his career. Shane Mosley was able to recover and used his leg power and bicycled instead all the way to the 12th round except maybe for the "knockdown" that Mosley was credited for during the 10th round. In fact it was more of a push rather than a knockdown, though Kenny Bayless admitted after the fight that he mistakenly called it as a knockdown and apologized to Freddie Roach and Manny, but then again after that KO Manny was so angered that he tried to bulldoze his way to Mosley and knock his senses out, but then again, Mosley was back pedalling too fast for Pacquiao to catch.

Manny Pacquiao, disappointed as well said during one of the post fight interviews that he was expecting Mosley to fight toe to toe for at least 5 of the 12 rounds. But none of those expectations happened and the result was a marathon instead of a boxing match.

Shane Mosley after this fight should consider retirement since he clearly showed that he no longer has it. Freddie Roach sums it up best when he said that "Shane did not try to win the fight, He tried to survive, and when you get to that point in boxing, it's time to retire"

All in all it was an okay fight to say the least not because Manny did not knock Shane Mosley out, (a fight that we all get accustomed to) but because Mosley was thinking of not getting knocked out.

Well at least Paris Hilton said that the fight was amazing, really?

Go figure :)