2014 fiba world championship: gilas pilipinas versus croatia

having been absent in the international basketball scene for almost 4 decades, filipino fans started the gilas pilipinas campaign with modest expectations but high hopes. making it to the world cup is an achievement itself and seeing the local PBA heroes side by side with the world's best is simply unbelievable.

but nobody expected what happened in their first game versus croatia...

croatia, who is ranked number 16 in the world, is expected to top the group b of the group stage. in fact, some websites bpredicted at least a 31 point victory over the philippines. but with pure heart and guts, the gilas pilipinas forced the game into overtime at 71-all after 4 quarters before eventually losing after the 5 minute additional time, at 81-79.

nobody expected this to be this close, i think this is the biggest surprise of day 1. gilas pilipinas made a statement last night that they might have been a virtual unknown entering the  tournament but they will fight with all heart. that was really an impressive debut by the philippines.

here are the game highlights from the fiba youtube channel:

philippines will be going against greece tomorrow early morning at 2am, then argentina at 11pm (manila time).

video is from the fiba youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOwuJtXXe04&list=PLCXERy73Oiz_dZlx-PgDDaW7393y6ngL8

meet the cast of the 25th season of the amazing race

cbs announced the new cast of the silver season of the amazing race. this season 11 teams of 2 will be racing around the world and they are:

• adam and bethany, married surfers
• dennis and isabelle, dating couple
• brooke and robbie, couple / professional wrestlers
• keith and whitney, engaged couple
• kym and alli, friends / cyclists
• lisa and michelle, sisters / realtors
• maya and amy, friends / scientists
• michael and scott - friends / firefighters
• misti and jim, married dentists
• shelley and nici, mother & daughter
• tim and te jay, dating couple

notable contestants are bethany, the one-armed surfer who survived a shark attack; and whitney and keith who previously appeared in survivor south pacific and eventually became a couple after the show.

here is the meet the cast video from the official youtube channel of the show:

the show also had its first public starting line in las vegas earlier this year. they will also introduce a new twist, "the save". this will be awarded to the first team to finish in the first leg and will allow that team to save themselves from elimination. the show will also have a new timeslot (fridays 8pm) and will premiere on september 26 (september 27 in the philippines).

ps - rumors is that they will be having 2 legs in the philippines! this is only the 2nd season that they will have pitstops in the philippines. the last time they were here were legs 11 and 12 in season 5 where they went to manila, cavite, laguna and palawan.

image is from : http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/photos/1002236/meet-the-cast/ 

video is from : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQK4imtNQmg

official song of the 2014 fiba world cup - sube la copa

here is the official video of the official song of the 2014 fiba world cup; sube la copa by huecco:

the video features gabe norwood, japhet aguilar and ranidel de ocampo of gilas pilipinas.

2 days to go before the return of the philippines to the world basketball scene! laban pilipinas!

video is from huecco's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP6g7GJdPhk

cast of survivor san juan del sur revealed

the new cast of survivor san juan del sur has been revealed by cbs in their official website. the season will be using the blood versus water theme again and will also feature the comeback of the exile island.

the show will feature 9 pairs of castaways with existing relationships, they are:

• dale and kelley wentworth - father & daughter
• drew and alec christy - brothers
• val and jeremy collins - married
• john rocker and julie mcgee - dating
• jaclyn schultz and jon misch - college sweethearts
• josh canfield and reed kelly - dating
• baylor wilson and missy payne - mother & daughter
• nadiya and natalie anderson - twin sisters
• wes and keith nale - father & son

here is a sneak peek on the new castaways from the survivor youtube channel:

notable castaways this season are former professional baseball player johnny rocker, broadway stars and gay couple josh and reed and of course, natalie and nadya who was also casted in 2 seasons of the amazing race.

the show will have its special 90 minute season premiere on september 24 (september 25 in the philippines).

individual videos of the teams can be viewed at the survivor you tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivorOnCBS

image is from http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/photos/1002211/meet-the-cast-survivor-san-juan-del-sur/

video is from https://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivorOnCBS

daniel matsunaga is the new pinoy big brother all in big winner!

after 119 days inside the big brother house, brazilian japanese model hunk daniel matsunaga was declared as the pinoy big brother all in big winner at the pinoy big brother big night at the resorts world hotel and casino. he bested 18 other housemates for this edition.

for this edition, the show enforced the power of one, which means one sim can only vote once for a housemate per day (either vote to save or vote to evict). the housemate with the highest net votes (vote to save minus vote to evict) will be the big winner. here is the final tally of votes:

dubbed as the hunk of the world, daniel got 11.69% net votes. the second big placer is maris racal of davao, who got 3.10% net votes. maris rallied from behind since she was ranked third when the initial standings was shown at the start of the show. jane oineza placed third and vickie rushton placed fourth.

daniel now becomes the 11th big winner after nene, keanna, kim, bea, ruben, ejay, melai, james, slater and myrtle. he is the only big winner without filipino blood but he definitely showed his big filipino heart during his stay inside the house.

images are from the official pbb facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPinoyBigBrotherAbsCbn

luis gabriel moreno wins gold at the 2014 nanjing youth olympic games

luis gabriel moreno, a 16 year old archer from quezon city, gave the philippines its first youth olympic game medal. he teamed up with china's jaiman li to capture the gold medal in the international mixed doubles event in archery.

they were able to beat the duo of malasian muhamad zari zulkefeli and german cynthia freywald in the gold medal match in 3 straight sets, 38-37, 38-35, 37-33. from the 3 sets, they already gained 6 points which sealed the gold medal for the asian archers.

both li and moreno exhibited great performances during the final match, only scoring 10's and 9's in all 3 sets. here is the awarding ceremony for the event:

moreno is the grandchild of entertainment icon german moreno and was the flag bearer of the philippines during the opening ceremonies of the games.

hope with this win, he will be given more support and international exposure. he is definitely an archer to watch in the next few years.

mabuhay ka gab moreno! laban pilipinas!

video is from pinoy headline's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSqH9vscrJo
image is from their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TeamPhilippines?fref=nf

finally! UP ends 27 game losing streak!

the university of the philippines fighting maroons men's basketball team finally ended their 27 losing streak which spanned 2 years. with their first win in the season, the fighting maroons were able to subdue the adamson falcons with a 77 - 64 win at the sm mall of asia arena.

it was mikee reyes who top scored for the maroons with 28 points and jr gallanza added 24 markers. in celebration of this win, a bonfire will be held tonight at the up diliman sunken garden.

hoping this will be the start of a winning streak. more wins for the maroons!