Thank You Spurs

As you can see from the date of my last post, it's been a while since I posted an entry. All in all, it's a combination of me having busy with school and laziness to post a new entry.

It has not been a great year for me in terms of sports. First, the USC Trojans lost to Texas in the Rose bowl. Two, The Colorado Avalanche got swept by the Mighty Ducks in the Western Semis. Now, the Spurs lost to the Mavs in game 7.


I'll focus this entry on my beloved Spurs.

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I just came back from my friend's place watching the Spurs-Mavs Game 7. What a heart-breaking lost for the Spurs. After Manu Ginobili nailed the 3pter to give the Spurs a 3 point lead, I thought the Spurs have the game in the bags already. Sadly, Dirk Nowitzki was able to force the game into overtime and win it from there. So here it is... I send my congratulations to the Mavs for making this an epic series. It's just that the Spurs didn't come out on top this time. :(


Being a die-hard Spurs fan, I always predict the Spurs to win at the start of the season. Sadly, I think the signs that the Spurs can't win it all are there all year long. Although the Spurs finished with the 2nd best record in the NBA, the team as a whole was riddled with injuries. Tim Duncan played the whole year with plantar fasciitis. Manu Ginobili has been battling with numerous ankle sprains. Add to that, the new players signed for this year didn't pan out as expected. Other than Tim Duncan, the front court is really thin. Nazr and Rasho haven't really improved from the 2004-2005 Season.

Being the optimist as I have always been, I believe that this lost does not equate to an end of an 'era'. If you look at the Spurs roster, the core is signed for atleast till 2009. Duncan, Parker, Manu will be back. I believe Finley is signed for the next 2 years. I seriously think that the Spurs only need a couple of roster moves and it will be back on top next year.

First, I think Nick Van Exel is gone. The Spurs can either decide to officially make Beno the back up point guard or sign another veteran point guard. Second, The front court problems can be solved by either letting Nazr Mohammed go as a free agent or by signing and trading him to another team. Third, the Spurs have multiple draft picks stashed away in Europe. By recent scouting reports, some of these draft picks have been doing really well. Luis Scola and Javtokas have been doing really well in Europe. Both of these guys are athletic power forwards. If the spurs is able to sign these guys, then it will definitely add depth to the spurs frontcourt. Remember last February, the Spurs almost made a deal for JR Smith but it just got nixed because it didn't make the Trade deadline. I don't see any reason for the spurs to not jump start this deal this summer again.

Hopefully at the end of the summer the Spurs will have a roster like:

C: Rasho, Scola/Javtokas, Another Bigman
PF: Duncan, Horry, Oberto
SF: Bowen, Finley
SG: Manu, JR Smith
PG: Parker, Beno, Another PG


Whatever happens, GO SPURS GO! Thank you for the wonderful 2005-2006 ride.

Goodbye World of Warcraft ? for now....

*note: a digression from my usual Spurs/NBA ramblings

As you may or may not know, I have been playing World of Warcraft since open beta. I have been known to be very passionate and competitive in the things I do, in real life. So, it come as to no surprise that these very traits have also seeped in to my "virtual" life. Gremir is the name of my alter-ego in world of warcraft. He is a level 60 warlock. With Gremir, I have already achieved and accomplished lots of things. To name a few, I pride myself to be the 2nd warlock in the server to reach the maximum level 60 and the first lvl 300 enchanter in the server.

World of Warcraft is a very fun game. I think it is one of the best games I have ever played. I literally have spent days and nights playing the game trying to improve my character's equipments, exploring new contents and killing high-end bosses/dragons. I am also very thankful that I made new friendships through this game.

As I said before, some of my competitiveness and passion have seeped into my gaming life, to a point that it can be considered an obsession. I have spent the past 4-5 months trying to be the one of the best warlocks in game.

The question is how can you be the best warlock in world of warcraft?

Considering that WoW is very gear-dependent. I would say that the best way to be on top is by having a very good stats (hp/int/sta) + knowing how to use (micro-manage) your character properly. I can say that I pretty much have already nailed the latter. But how can you have good stats? The only way to achieve good stats is by getting better equipments, which means raiding high level instances.

I am so grateful to be part of a guild that I can call family and have already killed one of the hardest boss in game. I have been part of most of the "instance-raiding" with hopes of improving my gears and helping advance the guild as a whole. However, I can honestly say that recently WoW hasn't been that much fun for me but has somewhat become an unhealthy obsession. Countless days of farming Scholomance only to get nothing. Weekly MC runs only to not have any warlock epic drops. That + what is happening to the guild lately + passing lots of good gears to a certain warlock and then to just find out that he left the guild. Lately, I have been having this huge burden on my chest and frustrations.

With grad school starting for me this week and work, I know I won't be able to join instance runs anymore because of schedule. So...I have taken this opportunity to not renew my WoW subscription and take a break from WoW. I won't say just yet that I have quit WoW. What I do know is that the day I play WoW again is the day it becomes fun for me again.


I would like to take this opportunity to say my farewells to all of the friends I made in-game.

State of the Spurs

The other night, the Spurs just won their Western Conference Finals Series against the Phoenix Suns. Congrats! They don't play again til June 9th. damn.... 5 more days of waiting, 5 more days of just reading NBA news and articles.

Well, all these free time got me thinking about the current state of the spurs. This is their 3rd NBA finals appearance in the last 7 years. I, as a fan, am truly blessed to see my Spurs become perennial title contenders from years of just being a perennial playoff fodder.

I remember during the 90's when the Spurs were always hot (like the current Mavs) during the regular season but would lose steam in the playoffs. The lowpoint was during the 1996-1997 season where the Spurs just managed to win 21 games. I was kinda disappointed but little did I know that year would also mark a change (for the better) for the Spurs. A change that would eventually give the spurs that boost.

That was the year, when Gregg Popovich became head coach and also gained more control of the Spurs operation. The Spurs drafted Tim Duncan the next year. Furthermore, Popovich and his staff has established a wide network of scouting system overseas that enables them to scout and draft hidden gems. Since 1997, the Spurs have never drafted higher than 26, yet they continuously were able to draft good players. ie. Tony Parker was the 28th pick in the 2001 draft. Manu Ginobili was drafted even lower. He was the 56th pick in the 1999 draft. The Spurs also hold the rights to some of the players (Luis Scola, Robertas Javtokas to name a few) doing really well in Europe now.

With that said, I thank Gregg Popovich and his staff for drafting and acquiring the right type of players for the Spurs.

Groundhog day

hmm... since everyone seems to have a blog lately, I might as well take a shot at it.
I'm not really much of a writer or even a talker but all of my friends know that I'm a die hard Spurs fan. That said... I'm dedicating this post to Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan - (Groundhog day, per Charles Barkley)

No Love

He's not really been given much love by the media, other nba fans ever since he came to the NBA. The media, especially from Fox Sports' Best Damn Sports Show and ESPN's NBA fast break, have always branded Duncan as a boring person. They have singled out his in-game personality as somewhat lacking of emotions. By just listening to them speak, it would seem that Duncan has done squat in the NBA.

In his 8th year in the league, the truth is TD has already accomplished more than what other great players have accomplished. TD has won it all: rookie of the year, all star MVP, 2 x finals MVP, 2 x MVP, 7 time all star, 2 NBA titles, to name a few. In order to really appreciate how Duncan is, one has to look at the bigger picture, ie the team as a whole and not just his stats.

TD vs KG?

A common discussion among nba fans is the argument whether TD or KG is the better player. There is no doubt that Kevin Garnett is a good player. Year in and year out he has produced spectacular stats. KG-backers will surely bring up KG's superior stats to argue that KG is the better player. Other than KG, there is no other player in the league today who averages 20+pts 10+ rebs and 5+ assists per game.

TD's stats are good too but not as good as KG's. However, stats are not the only defining factor that makes a player great or not. Consider this: Since Tim Duncan came into the league, his team never had a record lowe

the lakers

you know why I hate the lakers?

1) they have fake fans ( fair-weather)
2) kobe is cocky
3) shaq has no talent at all.. dominant? maybe but that's only because of his size
4) Phil jackson is the ultimate coat-tail rider
5) malone sucks. He's very dirty.
6) Devean George. He looks like a goomba.
7) Fisher thinks he's the shiznits. but he's not

Spurs Rule

The Lakers sux