Lionel Messi, A Coward?

I think not!

Wonderful video from aranFE.

Thoughts on The Gilas 12 Vs Chinese-Taipei

The twelve men who will play for Gilas Pilipinas versus Chinese-Taipei has just been revealed.

Coach Chot Reyes has named Jayson Castro, Andray Blatche, JuneMar Fajardo, Terence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, Troy Rosario, Japeth Aguilar, Matthew Wright, Gabe Norwood, Roger Pogoy, Jio Jalalon, and Allein Malicsi to our twelve man lineup.

Left out of the lineup are Baser Amer, Carl Bryan Cruz and Gilas Cadet Troy Rike.

Here are three thoughts on our lineup:

Thought #1 No surprises here.
The twelve named were the most obvious choices. Baser Amer is still new to the program and has not proven he should be picked over Jalalon (who wouldn't have been picked either had Kiefer Ravena been available), Carl Bryan Cruz is basically Matthew Wright-light, and Troy Rike is only with the team to further expedite his entry to future Gilas lineups.

The NBA Awards: Three Thoughts

Early this week, the NBA revealed their awardees for the 2017-2018. Here's an abbreviated list featuring several high profile categories:

Most Valuable Player: James Harden
Rookie of the Year: Ben Simmons
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert
Most Improved Player: Victor Oladipo
Sixth Man of the Year: Lou Williams
Coach of the Year: Dwayne Casey

Here are my three thoughts to ponder on:

Thought #1 There were no surprises.
Everyone who won were the same players whom most people thought would win. Case in point: James Harden. Everyone was of the opinion at the beginning of this year that he would be the 2018 MVP. And he won despite the fact that Russell Westbrook made history again by being the ONLY player to average a triple-double (25.4pts, 10.1 reb, 10.3 assists) for two seasons (and back-to-back seasons too!). Lebron James also had better overall stats than James Harden but still, being the favorite for most of the year seemed to work  out for James Harden.

The Tragedy That Is Argentina Football.

Stale offense. A passive midfield. A disinterested defensive line.
Who are these guys? One thing is for sure...this is NOT Argentina football.

But maybe we shouldn't be so surprised. After all, this is the same team that won a ticket to the World Cup on the last day of qualifications and they needed a superhuman effort from superstar Lionel Messi to book that.

So what exactly is going wrong for Argentina? Here are three things to consider:

Thing #1 Capable Goalkeeping.
Everyone is missing Sergio Romero right now. Goalkeepers are normally the most confident (bordering on arrogant) players on the field. They need to be, given the importance of the position.