Shock and Awe: Azkals lose but Pinoy football wins

Let me go straight to the SHOCK part first. The Azkals (Philippine men's football team) lost 4-3 to the United Football League All Stars in an exhibition match held on June 5, 201,1 Sunday, at the University of Makati Football Stadium.

Playing without a sense of urgency and with defense loose as sand, the Azkals allowed two goals from Eric Dagroh, an Ivory Coast national playing for Kaya FC (41' and 75'), Mark Hartmann of Loyola Meralco (52') and a last minute go-ahead goal by Sudanese and UFL top striker Izzeldin El-Habbib of Globe Smartmatic.

Chieffy Caligdong scored the game's first goal on the 10th minute, while Simon Greatwich and Ian Araneta each scored catch-up goals.

Now we go to the AWE part.

Three years ago when you said "jampacked stadium" in the Philippines you'd probably assume that it described either:

a. a basketball game or
b. a sold-out concert

Add "football game" to that list now. And it's about time! Imagine a Pinoy crowd 10,000+ strong coming out to watch a friendly. Who would have thought?

Football die-hards, casual fans, families and groupies. They all gave Pinoy football some good lovin'. Some even brought flags, wore scarves and colorful wigs and blew vuvuzelas. Eat your heart out South Africa!

Security personnel were well-distributed around UMak to keep the crowd orderly.

It was also a great venue to reunite with friends and former teammates...

UFL All Stars whoop it up during the Awarding Ceremonies. It was a well deserved win.

At the end of the day, I went home with a smile on my face, knowing that football is now alive and kicking in the Philippines.

Feast your eyes on this Lego Sandcrawler!

Now this is a masterpiece that would make a Jawa's jaw drop!

This is the handiwork of Marshal Banana, which took nine months to prepare and build. Talk about passion!

Details and Facts (from the Youtube page LEGO Sandcrawler MOC)

Facts:

Minifigscale: 96 cm long, 100.5 cm long (lowered main ramp)

Weight: approximability 20 kg

Part count: over 10'000

Powerfunctions: 4 xl motors, 5 m motors, 4 receivers, 4 batterypacks, 22 Lego LED-lights

Powered radio-controlled Functions: 

- driving: forward reverse

- stearing

- main ramp: up and down

- crane: up and down, in and out

- conveyer band: forward and reverse

Other features: 

fully interior on three floors in the front half of the model and a detailed cockpit (removable roof) second crane in the back of the workshop, lighted smelter.

Building and planning time: 9 months

Rancho Cucamonga goes Star Wars-Gaga

From his blog Pinoy in America, my friend Third Paran brings us highlights of the Star Wars Day held in Rancho Cucamonga, CA last May 28, 2011. In his entry "The Force in R.C.", Third shared photos and gave this account:

"Stormtroopers invaded the city’s library courtyard this weekend, but there was no cause for alarm as Han Solo was there, along with Chewbacca, New Republic pilots and Obi Wan Kenobi. Alas, there was no sign of Luke Skywalker. But there was an army of young jedis in training, so the future looked safe.

As you may have guessed, it was Star Wars Day in Rancho Cucamonga." (Read the full article and view more photos here)

That's Third, with the glasses, and Stephen Stanton, the voice of Capt. Tarkin on "The Clone Wars," 

Artoo powered navigation. Now that's one heck of a ride! Third identifies the "pilot" as Jon Paulson (aka Major Tag Greenly) who is a member of "Rebel Legion," a provider of Star Wars costumes and props. Check out www.sunriderbase for more info.

Rancho Cucamonga could've been a nice planet or spaceport name in the SW galaxy, dontcha think?