The National University (NU), promised a never before seen opening ceremonies as it hosts the 75th Season of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Arena.

In a special press conference, Coach Edmund “Junel” Baculi, Jr., Athletics Director for National University eagerly announced that the National University is gearing up for more exciting games in the 75th season that will hopefully improve the attendance on all games.

“We want students and schools to take part in the action. We don’t want to limit the excitement to the players,” Coach Junel mentioned.

“We wanted to hold off our hosting to 2012 ensure that we were prepared. The opening ceremonies will be so fantastic, that the enthusiasm will just rub off the audience,” said Mr. Nilo Ocampo, Director for Purchasing and Alumnai Affairs of the National University, also current Vice President of the UAAP 74th Season.

The National University was supposed to host the 74th Season but traded with this year’s host, Ateneo de Manila. It is National University’s first time to host the UAAP since they were acquired by the SM Group of Companies. Accordingly, the opening ceremonies will be done at Mall of Asia Arena, SM’s latest project.

Mall of Asia Arena will be a premium venue with a full house capacity of 20,000. It is expected to be a venue that will cater to both entertainment and sports events for both local and international artist and/or athletes. Mall of Asia will practice world class standards of operations and have the most premium facilities when it opens in May 2012.

The Philippine Football Team, popularly known as the Azkals, made the country prouder earlier today when they beat the Sri Lanka Red Braves 4-0 during the 2nd Leg of the 2014 World Cup Brazil Qualifiers. The win will make the Philippines advance to the 2nd round of qualifying matches.

The Philippine Azkals showed the entire world the kind of football (soccer) we Filipinos are capable of — defensive yet attacking when there is a chance.

Since I was with my wife and son, I opted not to be at the grandstand as weather forecasts suggest that rain will ensue during the afternoon today. Instead, we stayed at the National Sports Grill in Greenbelt 3, Makati City — where the crowd is, if I may say so, even wilder than those who are watching it live at the Rizal Memorial Football Field in the City of Manila. Proof? Watch the video clip I captured when Chieffy Caligdong broke the ice and gave the Azkals their very first goal in the match:

The Azkals will be meeting the Kuwait national team later this month for two (02) legs as part of the next round qualifying matches.

Go Philippine Azkals! You made us Pinoy football fans realize that the FIFA World Cup is not just a dream anymore. WE BELIEVE!

Tomorrow, yet another Sunday, we pray that a miracle happens: the Philippine Azkals need a 2-1 lead over Indonesia in order for our boys to advance in the Finals of the cup.

Mabuhay Philippine Azkals!

To the RP government: Go SOCCER! Forget basketball. Our gold lies in football.

Was excited to see the events of the Opening Ceremonies as they unfold “live” at C/S (Solar Entertainment channel), but got dismayed with the number of commercials during gaps. Luckily, I found another channel covering the ceremonies, just minutes behind the one aired at C/S. But, seems to be that the lucky day is not favoring me: the CCTV channel just went off the air. Got pissed, turned the television off and headed on to the net. Justin.tv is still not covering the ceremonies, but the pictures are already online at the official Olympics website and at Yahoo!News.

Now, I remember 16 years ago, I was just 11 years old then when Barcelona in Spain played host to the 1992 games. Because of the timezone difference, my dad woke my brother and I up at around 2AM just for us to catch the opening ceremonies. It was the first time that I had actually watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony. And who can forget the dramatic lighting of the cauldron by archer Antonio Rebollo? For those who were still very young to comprehend or remember the 1992 Olympics, here’s what happened during the final torch relay and ceremonial lighting of the cauldron:

Alright, Manny is a great athlete, I have nothing against him, but is it really necessary to kick Miguel Molina out of being the flag bearer? Another thing, Manny is NOT even on the official Philippine delegates list to the Summer Olympics, thus making the butts of the Philippine Sports officials off their seats trying to get him in the list to Beijing. Shame on you PGMA!

This makes Solar Sports the exclusive rights to air all of the premier basketball leagues Pinoys love: NBA, PBL, and PBA games. Not to mention exclusivity in airing the 2008 & 2012 Summer Olympics (China and London) and 2010 Winter Olympics (Canada).

Read on the details at http://www.pba.ph/content/view/2133/1/

Congratulations to the Sta. Lucia Realtors!