CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER

We are still three months away from the happiest day of the year but for cage aficionados, Christmas comes early this October as the basketball season officially kicks off its 2009-10 campaign. So what makes October the month to watch out for? Well, four important dates are being marked up and eagerly awaited by basketball-crazy fans.

The 2009 NBA pre-season games will start on October 2 (Manila time) with the Denver Nuggets visiting the Utah Jazz at the Energy Solutions Arena. The pre-season games will last until October 24. A selected game of the day shall be shown live daily over BTV and CS9.

The much-awaited opening day of Asia’s first regional pro basketball league, the Asean Basketball League (ABL) finally takes off on October 10 with the Jakarta leg. Six teams namely the Philippine Patriots, Singapore Slingers, Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Brunei Barracudas, Thailand Tigers and Satria Muda BritAma will see action in the maiden season of the ABL.

The Patriots franchise is being co-owned by Harbor Center’s Mikee Romero and ABC-5 top honcho Tonyboy Cojuangco. Each club will enlist at least seven homegrown players, three ASEAN imports and two international imports. The Patriots to be coached by veteran Louie Alas will play its home games at the 3,000-seat capacity Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. Curiously, another Filipino mentor Geraldo Ramos will be calling the shots for the Barracudas. Additionally, two prominent veteran Pinoy pros are being tapped as ASEAN imports in Don Camaso (Barracudas) and Al Vergara (Slingers). This early, another Philippine franchise is being eyed by telecommunications bigwig Manny V. Pangilinan and set to see action during its second season on 2010-11.

The ABL season runs from October until March of next year. ABL games shall be covered by ESPN Asia and the Patriot games shall also be aired live on ABC-5.

The Asia’s first play-for-pay loop, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) open shop for its 35th season on October 11 with the Philippine Cup. It will be another exciting season for the PBA as top-notch rookies and free-agent transferees makes the season unpredictable as ever. The PBA games can be seen live over CS9 with replays at BTV.

And finally, last but not the least, the 2009-10 regular season of the World’s most prestigious and glamorous pro league, the National Basketball Association (NBA) unwraps on October 28 (Manila time) with a quadruple bill featuring the Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards at Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets at Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers. The regular season wars will last until April 15 (Manila time) of next year. NBA games can be seen live daily over BTV with primetime replays and likewise over CS9, ESPN and StarSports during weekends.

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As it is the season of greetings, I would like to say hello to my sister Sonia Dones-Martin, who is now back in Melbourne, Australia after taking a quick 3-week vacation to be with us, to my bro-law who is also an NBA addict Arnold Montenegro, to Joanna Policarpio of Emerald Headway, my suki of various NBA magazines, to my fave godfather Quinito Henson for a job well done in covering the recently-concluded World Amateur Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy, to my boss Louie Carlos, officemates who are basketball-crazies like me in Mar Reyes, Engr. Ely Rosales, Mon Aratas and Colbert Bautista, to Batch 82 of my alma mater Saint Augustine School in Tanza, Cavite, to my friend and schoolmate Tabby Giongco, to my friend Docs Tecson of ADFORMATIX, to my cousin and best bro Jun Abutin of Phoenix, Arizona and lastly but certainly not the least, to my lovely wife Lorna for always being there for me. MABUHAY KAYONG LAHAT AND MERRY BASKETBALL CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!