Hoping the rain would stop today

It has been a very unpleasant week! Rain consume my always busy days. Knee deep flood is the order of the day and wrong predictions by PAG-ASA weather bureau come handy. Add to it was the SONA address by P-Noy... Oh GOD! please give us a meaningful days ahead of us, not this kind of negativity.

MJ & Kobe: Comparable Statistics

MJ and Kobe’s stats if only we look closer with a little objectivity it would appear a little identical.

· Kobe’s tallied (5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assts and 25.0 pts career average) playoffs stats 6.1 boards, 5.3 assts and 31.9 points.

· While MJ (6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assts and 30.1 pts career average) have 33.4 points, 6.4 boards and 5.3 assts playoffs average.

There is indeed a little discrepancy in their tallies since MJ was the main man for his team while Kobe’s first two years were a development and the subsequent years, he was mere a subordinate of Shaq. MJ in his playing years was the focal point of the offense while Kobe was just the second option. MJ was never relegated as the 2nd option while Kobe waited as the no. 2 for a long time with Shaq at the helm. When you’re the main man the play of the team is at your mercy and will thus create multiplying effect on your statistics, naturally.

Comparative Statistics of Kobe:

With Shaq: 21.3pts 4.9rebounds 4.1assts

W/out Shaq: 29.4pts 5.7rebounds 5.3assts

MJ’s career: 30.1pts 6.2rebounds 5.3assts

Michael Jordan playing career is history while Kobe’s career is still in the process of making its own destiny and historical significance and who knows, the minute difference between their stats might tally or wipe out by the awesome demonstration of basketball aptitude that Kobe had been displaying so far.

Federalism, anyone?

Countless times, the Senators have been showcasing themselves as the branch of government that is a large amount free and sometimes conventional. Certainly, it has excessively emphasized that independence every so often, particularly its conflicts with the other branches of government, the executive and the judiciary.

For apparent motivations, the senate has been so unenthusiastic to the initiative of shifting to a unicameral parliamentary method of government. Senators some time ago have taken the stance that any alteration to the present Charter has to be made through elected members of a Constitutional Convention. Unfortunately, last Wednesday, no less than 12 senators put their signature on a resolution suggesting to call together both Congress into a constituent assembly. The document, to the surprised of everyone was authored by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, put forward a federal structure of government that eliminates the present centralized form where the sole power emanates in the “Palace by the river” where a number of corruption scandals and in the minds of those outside the corridor of power has brought about blemished progress.

Our senators have work log jams that have been significantly put away by these current investigations. They put down essential pending bills like the cheaper medicine law which until now is on the backburner. I wonder how the public would interpret this turnaround from the senators. A nice explanation is that federalism would be a little sort of middle ground for charter change who in the past has been espoused by the GMA administration. It cannot be denied that modifications and changes should be effected on the current Charter and that a few of them should have done a long time ago. Unfortunately on the past proposals the senate needs to be phase-out and as expected these senators do not want to be omitted, as well.

Debates and discussions on important concerns that will impinge on the lives of Filipinos should be left to professionals and to those proficient enough. The nation is dismayed with a replicate of the comical and sometimes hilarious roundabout in those sterile and fruitless Senate hearings and we also recognize with certainty how our legislators can fall short in conducting themselves worthily.

The country cannot avoid but feel suspicious; the shocking turn around by these senators cannot be straightforwardly disregarded.

Power Forward Pau Gasol started the first round with playoff highs 36 markers and eight dimes and had 16 caroms in Sunday’s (Monday at Manila) game, as the Lakers seized control early on in the third canto and hammers the Denver Nuggets 128-114.

Lamar Odom netted 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Luke Walton added 16 for the Lakers, who come into the match having won eight of their last nine regular-season games to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Game 2 will be played Wednesday night at Staples Center before the best-of-seven series shifts to Denver for the third and fourth games.

Nugget’s Anthony had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Nuggets and Allen Iverson also had 30 points before picking up two Ts with 2:10 before the end of the fourth Q, calling for instant discharge from the game. Denver had a 50-32 record, its best in 20 years. Denver hasn’t gained a playoff series since 1994.

The Lakers led 97-78 toward the inside of the fourth Q; an 11-2 run by Denver made it 101-91 with 8:17 remaining. The Nuggets drew within nine twice down the stretch, but that’s all they can get since Bryant wouldn't permit them to get any closer by continuously hitting at crunch time.

Kobe's lock for the MVP plum

Kobe Bryant hasn’t constantly been the finest person, the best teammate, the topmost ambassador for the National Basketball Association. This is the explanation so many voters are insearch for someone else to vote for the Most Valuable Player. For this, Bryant can fault himself. This is the price paid for tantrums and bad tempers within him.

Nonetheless, Bryant is an MVP material and will always be one. MVP plum are in no way won at once in the NBA. As sportswriter Mark Heisler’s unofficial survey in the Los Angeles Times illustrated that the MVP race seems narrowing down to Kobe Bryant and NO’s point guard Chris Paul. Sooner or later, Paul is going to get the title and a championship ring. There isn’t a NBA player in the association that I be keen on more to talk with and whom I enjoy watching than CP3.
It is easy to predict that before Paul and LeBron James and maybe Dwayne Wade reach 29 years of age, will in all probability have MVP trophies. Kobe’s wait has been extensively long enough.
There are those who strongly believe that KB24’s enormity will forever rip the voting parameter, and there will be those who will insinuate tall story, that Kobe will in no way be named MVP. In those years when Tim Duncan, Nash and Nowitzki were getting their MVP titles, the Lakers at the same time was destroying Bryant’s chances for three straight years by letting themselves into a mediocre kind of basketball.

Bryant doesn’t need the Lakers to conclude with the best record in the regular season. Joe Dumars is right: No more taking Bryant for granted.

Oh Lozada… my Lozada!

If Lozada is thriving in his brand new role, why the oust-Arroyo movement appears to have lost steam and simmered down? In spite of complaining on the adversities that he and his family had to undergo while he spouted a mouthful of allegations on the Broadband deal; it is perplexing to spot JLo still enjoying his current job as an opponent of the present administration. While Lozada’s actions are element of the exploration for the truth concerning the exploits of our uppermost political leadership, spectators state that the holy Catholic mass is at this instant being exploited as a podium to put on view his potentials for an elective office.

In offering a further analysis, the Pulse Asia survey rating is the phase blot in Lozada’s “abbreviated carnival” with the public. As of now, Lozada can still fascinate his listeners with his story on the defective Broadband deal. Possibly an additional preference would be for Lozada to go into merchandise brand modeling like some publicity aware wannabes are doing right now. Lozada experienced a gigantic obstruction when authoritative Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal emerged with an important instruction of not allowing the celebration of the Holy Mass in his ecclesiastical districts where Lozada may possibly exploit the pulpit to convey biased testimonials critical of government. University of Santo Tomas, where JLo is an alumnus, University Rector Rolando de la Rosa cautioned that the people that 2010 is just around the corner and if they so desire changes in the government which is an express rejection of Lozada’s plea for Mrs. Arroyo’s acquiescence from office.

LA down Sacramento

LA downed by a dozen points and one in the third canto and in no way had the advantage before Kobe Bryant made his move and brought the whole band there in the concluding minutes of the game ahead for good.
KB24 tallied 34 points, half of those were in the fourth quarter, and Gasol made some good adjustments from a small number of lackluster performances to make 31markers as the Hollywood team prevail for the 12th time in 13 games to remain at minute distance with the Spurs ahead of the Western Conference fight for primacy.
Bryant as always, assumed responsibility when needed the most, thrust his Lakers to a critical fourth quarter uprising in which they outscored the Sacramento, 36-18 (Bryant nearly matched the total 18 pts. output of the entire Kings in the 4^th Q). His 17 points in the quarter included two free throws with 4:06 to play that gave the Lakers a 101-100 lead, their first of the game.

Kobe Bryant time and again proves his passion and intensity, his desires alone can move heaven and earth in order to attain primacy for his ball club. I hate to pronounce it but this clutch thing is for KB24 alone and not those pretenders out there.