» The Final Score: Ninoy is History’s MVP
Jaworski ruled the PBA and made one team larger than life. Ninoy, like Gandhi before him, carried a nation on his shoulders, took the biggest shot of the game and won for his people a championship for all time.

» The Final Score: RP Basketball and Deep-Fried Tempura
Many of us want every Filipino athlete to be a Manny Pacquiao; world champ, world-class. In the same way, we want our performers to be Charice Pempengco or Ariel Pineda; US-certified, You-Tube guaranteed, Oprah-approved.

» My ‘Twist of Fate’
Growing up in a family of wrestling fanatics, it has always been my dream to watch WWE live and meet my favorite wrestling superstars in person. Never have I imagined how the stars will align to make this a reality. And how soon!

» Tyson seems destined to live a tragic life
There's a picture stuck away in a box somewhere in my house of a younger Mike Tyson standing behind my son, his arms draped over him and a huge smile on his face. The picture never made the family album, was never brought out to show around when friends came over. Brian never asked me to have it framed.

» On top of the world
A few days after waking up from La-La Land, British champion Ricky Hatton still could not figure out what Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) hit him inside the ring. Even seasoned sports journalists were thrown off and were lost for words in describing the kind of power-punch Manny Pacquiao launched from “Mars" that rocked Hatton’s glass-jaw in the second round that sent him to dreamland.

» Courtside: Fighting mood
Stan Van Gundy seems to be in a fighting mood these days. Three weeks ago, he saw fit to unleash an unsolicited comment virtually questioning Shaquille O’Neal’s manhood even though he knew he would be making himself vulnerable to some deadly return fire; as far as he was concerned, he needed to stand up for his man Dwight Howard, and darned if much of the fallout went his way as a result.

» Courtside: Arenas
I love Gilbert Arenas, so I can’t help but be elated over news that he’s about to make his long-awaited season debut. As far as I’m concerned, the NBA needs all the star power it can get in order to hurdle challenges brought about by increasing — and, imperative for fans these days, less costly — sporting alternatives. LBJ, D-Wade, the Kobester, and Shaq aside, Agent Zero can certainly spice things up.

» Courtside: Southwest Division
Shane Battier wasn’t just downplaying the significance of the Rockets’ victory over the Spurs the other day when he told members of the media in the aftermath that it "doesn’t really mean much right now."

» Courtside: Golf’s best player
Believe it or not, not all armchair pundits think Tiger Woods can resume his march to glory as golf’s best player of all time. Just the other day, for instance, I came across the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, which included a Rick Reilly piece wondering if the World Number One still has the legs, both literally and figuratively, to dethrone Jack Nicklaus as the sport’s preeminent personality. Needless to say, the article made much sense, and pointed to contentment borne of financial stability and strengthening family ties as the principal hindrance to indefinite success.

» Courtside: One for the ages
There were 11 seconds left on the game clock when head coach Eric Spoelstra reminded his charges that the Heat still had a timeout left to call. The set-to was tied, and although the Bulls had the ball, he hitherto saw enough wild-and-wooly action through nearly 58 whopping minutes to understand that there was to be no predicting the turn of events, and that a timely gesture to the referees for a stoppage of play could well spell the difference between victory and defeat. And so he was emphatic in his orders: call for a break as soon as practicable.