Case in point: Here’s a video of the Boston Celtics jockeying for position (um, making sure that they don’t step on Pacquiao) in a photo shoot while chanting like boxing fanatics. "The Boston freaking NBA champions Celtics!" 

Thanks to kamasupra for the heads up.

"LAS VEGAS — Although Manny Pacquiao is the new 135-pound
champion, he’s no mere lightweight.

"At any weight, in any ring, the Filipino phenomenon looks like
the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

"Packing five new pounds of power in his usual stunning hand
speed, Pacquiao captured a title belt in his fourth weight class
Saturday night, stopping David Diaz in the ninth round to claim the
WBC lightweight championship at the Mandalay Bay Events Center." [read more]

Pacquiao dominated the match from the first round. I felt sorry for Diaz early on with all the blood gushing out of his face. But Diaz is a real fighter and kept holding on for as long as he could. In the end, Diaz was no match for Pacquiao’s speed. In the words of Diaz, Pacquiao is just so f@$#ing fast, Shiyeet.

Congratulations to Pacquiao! Hats off to Diaz for putting up a good fight. And kudos to both boxers for displaying good sportsmanship.

"…Once Woods tried out four drivers that Nike was experimenting with
and told the lab guys that he preferred the heavier one. The
researchers thought the clubs were the same weight, but they measured
and Woods was right. The club he’d selected was heavier by the
equivalent of two cotton balls.

"But inevitably, it is his
ability to enter the cocoon of concentration that is written about and
admired most. Writers describe the way Earl Woods, his lieutenant
colonel father, dropped his golf bag while Tiger was swinging to
toughen his mind. They describe his mother’s iron discipline at home.
“Old man is soft,” Kultida Woods once said of her husband. “He cry. He
forgive people. Not me. I don’t forgive anybody.”

"Tiger was the
one dragging them out on the course to practice. At age 6 months, he
was put in a baby chair and had the ability, his father claimed, to
watch golf for two hours without losing focus." [read more]

So now the question is: Is Tiger Woods the best athlete ever?

My answer: A great athlete is someone who could make people care about a sport which they don’t even like. I don’t like golf. But Tiger Woods makes me care about it.

The wisdom of the crowd turned out to be right. 60% of us predictified that the Sox would win the championship. Nice. The Denver “altitude” had no effect on the Sox. Hah!

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox
and to all their die-hard fans. As for the Colorado Rockies, they put up a
good fight in Game 4, but not good enough. Too bad they won’t be
singing that Colorado Rockies song. Better luck next season.

As much as I would like to cheer on the Colorado Rockies, the "Curse of the Bambino" had already been lifted, and my gut tells me that the Red Sox will do a repeat of their 2004 World Series Championship. After all they did a repeat already of their postseason comeback, this time against the Cleveland Indians. So momentum and adrenalin are on their side.

Serendipitously, I just signed up for a web service called Predictify. So one of my first predictions is on World Series – Red Sox Vs. Rockies. Check it out, make your own prediction and see if the wisdom of the crowd will be correct.

If you don’t care about sports, you can try to predict who would win the Iowa Democratic Caucus. My prediction is Hillary Clinton.

Here’s Mike’s jaw-dropping winning performance.

Those guys are amazing. They keep stretching the limits to the extreme. Soon, the 1080 will be just another standard trick in the extreme sport of BMX freestyle riding.

My deep respect goes to Hank Aaron for displaying humility and upholding baseball’s tradition.

I don’t like boxing. But my dad is here right now and our country’s pride, Manny Pacquiao, is fighting. So I closed my eyes and ordered the HBO Pay Per View Boxing Event. Putragis! $50 pala ang hinayupak! Ah well. Just this once, for my dad, and for my country peeps.

Godspeed Manny. Make our kababayans proud, entertained, and distracted from their problems for a while.

UPDATE: 11/18/2006, 9:06PM PST: Man! It only took 3 rounds! Pacquiao’s the man! Congratulations Manny! Good try Erik. There’s going to be a big party in the Philippines for sure. Magpakanton naman kayo!

Btw, according to my father, whenever Pacquiao has a big fight, the crime rate on our country drops down to ZERO coz all the muggers sit down and watch the fight (i would think even the police too). so for a brief moment, a sport like boxing gives our country a moment of peace and solidarity, right before the mania, and the inevitable spoofing.

“I make it very, very clear that my purpose in raising Tiger was not to raise a golfer. I wanted to raise a good person,” Woods told Golf Digest magazine about his book, Training a Tiger: A Father’s Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life.”

This makes me miss my parents even more. I’m not a golfer, I’m not a champion, I’m no one special, but I think they did a good job in raising a good person. I hope.

I love my folks.

Congratulations to the Steelers! Tough luck, close calls, crucial errors… That was a nerve-racking game. What a great season. Better luck next year.

Now on to the Super Bowl Ads… My picks: GoDaddy, Careerbuilder, Burger King, Hummer (aka little monster gas hog)…. and I’m just glad I saw Macgyver again!