Killers!

Another hoops break...

Yes, that is Volleybelle Michelle Gumabao. 

She is grace, beauty, and then some. 

On one hand, you have one of the best Uaap Volleyballers ever. On the other hand, you have one of the best looking Uaap Volleyballers ever. 

And that's the way it is.

Credit to Fhm.Com.Ph and Toby's for this photo.

MC

Just Because.

And for our "just because" picture for the day, we have former La Salle Volleybelle Michelle Gumabao, featured here in promotional poster at Toby's Arena in Sm Aura. 

Most of Michelle's photos dressed in official La Salle UAAP Volleyball garb portray a "tweetums", "sweet pea" sort of lass. Here we see an intense, inherently gorgeous belle who, in many ways, transcends her sport. 

Beauty and grace. Period. 

It's true, it's very true.

Mc

NBA- Guarantees?

In my mind, Jason Terry- fondly known as "Jet", will always be a Dallas Maverick. Sure, he's with the Brooklyn Nets now, with fellow thirtysomethings Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson, and Andrei Kirilenko. He's got a Russian Billionaire-out-of-a-James-Bond-flick to help back up his bravado. "Jet" may have met his match recently, though. In a event at Chelsea Piers, Knicks guard JR Smith said that was positive that the Knicks would win the NBA Title this coming season. Back in 2010, Jason Terry, then a Mav, went so far as to tattoo an image of the Larry O'Brien trophy on his bicep to show how sure he was that Dallas would win it all. Terry was a perfect foil to Dirk Nowitzki's quiet, more unassuming leadership style in those days. Had the Mavericks had 2 vocal leaders, they might have ended up like, err, the Lakers of the early 2000s. Jason Terry has responded to Smith saying that the Knicks could maybe win the "Rucker Park title", referencing the popular Harlem, New York basketball court (155th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard) which has produced many an NBA cager (Satch Sanders, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kenny Anderson, Rafer Alston aka "Skip 2 Ma Lou", etc). The Nets and Knicks have been going at it in the media over the past summer, sparking the reigniting a rivalry that, in recent years, has resided on the mellow side of things. Either the Nets, or the Knicks, have been downtrodden at one point or another in the NBA standings over the last few seasons, so much so that the rivalry hasn't been all that competitive. So maybe Jason Terry isn't a Maverick anymore, but to Mavs fans like myself, he'll always be the feisty guard who torched the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals when Dirk Nowitzki had gone cold. Pair that with DeShawn Stevenson's "You Can't See Me" waves from Game 6 and what you get is an indelible image of swagger that, unlike JR Smith's claims- has, as of now, been backed up. The Knicks certainly have the tools to win, but to "win it all"? I don't know. It seems a bit premature for that. Newsflash- The Miami Heat are still intact. And so are Terry's Brooklyn Nets. MC

UAAP: Protests, Protests, and More Protests.

I feel that every school, or any team, in any league, has the right to protest any ruling put forth which it feels is detrimental to its chances at victory. Get this, though. Recent UAAP news has become awash with reports of the UE Red Warriors' protest of the Ateneo Blue Eagles' latest 77-72 victory over the said team from Recto due to suspended Eagles' mentor Bo Perasol's purported presence in the "immediate vicinity" of the two teams playing at the Mall of Asia Arena last September 7th. While UE MIGHT have a point, lets have a look at things from another perspective. Basketball games are won on the hardwood and amongst players, not amongst suits. La Salle's forfeiture of their 2005 title to FEU due to issues revolving around the falsification of players' papers is another story, because forging documents in any arena is a downright slap-in-the-face directed towards those in authority. This recent snafu between Ateneo and UE is a little more subjective. What exactly does "immediate vicinity" mean? Does that mean the bench? The dugout? Upper Box A? Upper Box B? Why should the UAAP Board take away Ateneo's win if it didn't get involved during similar incidents involving UE's Ralf Olivares and Charles Mammie, and La Salle's Thomas Torres? I think that the ruling in and of itself is inconsistent. Write me a law that is clearer then rescind Ateneo's triumph. Every game matters to the high heavens at this point, and to yank a critical win away from any team at this point on the premise of a hazy rule would be tantamount to tarnishing the credibility of the UAAP's top brass. In a similar manner, why the Jerie Pinggoy rule? This writer realizes that the UAAP is perhaps "trying to discourage" the proliferation of players with "inadequate paperwork" through the bloodstream of its league. But would forcing a player to sit one year really deter the falsification of any sort of paperwork? Or would it just delay the development of a legit cager, or, a future "illegal"? Maybe. Or maybe not. The UAAP should move on from this incident and just play out round 2 and the Final Four. Allowing UE to get a win for Coach Perasol's purported violation would create a precedent for something that has already become way too prevalent. The integrity of the league has been compromised by the tendency of a select few to bend the rules towards their satisfying their twisted whims. Sports isn't about taking shots at one another. It's about making shots for one another. It's about a team effort, not gang warfare. It's about bringing the best out of each other- not being opportunistic and "making the best of a situation." MC