San Antonio Spurs, Tagalog, Matt versus Tom, Gasoline prices, and the Secret Lives of Security Guards.

It's been a few days since San Antonio Spurs won the 2005 NBA Championship. If you're not really a San Antonio fan, the general feeling is that of apathy. Tim Duncan claimed the Finals MVP, as he should have. He is the game's best player in fundamentals. A good guy really, choosing to finish his 4-year college education in Wake Forest before making himself available for the draft. Coincidentally, the season before, Spurs pre-Duncan franchise player, David "The Admiral" Robinson had been injured and as a result, the Spurs had the worst record of any team for that season. The worst record, meaning the best chance to pick first in the next draft through the lottery system. So two years after picking Duncan, the twin towers already had a championship ring (albeit Charles Barkley insists that they put an asterisk next to the feat, since they accomplished it in the protracted 98-99 lockout season). 2003 and 2005 were the real deals and now there are talks of a Spurs Dynasty with solid core of Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Mohammed and various contributors in Bowen, Horry, and Barry as well as rising rookie star Beno Udrih.

The NBA, from a business point of view shudders at the thought of a Spurs dynasty because of the relatively small market at San Antonio.

But they did deserve to win, more than anybody else. More than Detroit, whose bench was not as deep as last season and who figured in the November brawl but climbed back to the top. More than Phoenix, who reintroduced the old school 80s high-intensity, run-and-gun game that was certainly more fun to watch. More than Miami, who has both the game's self-proclaimed Most Dominant Player Ever (Shaq), and fast-rising superstar (Wade) along with a host of veterans and young talent. In fact they probably would've won last year's too, if it weren't for those pesky Lakers (and that dog too!)

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Shame, shame, shame on me. I was reading, or sorry to say, trying to read Manuel L. Quezon III's article in the Inquirer last Thursday. My Tagalog is not as good as when I was in school. I don't read a lot of Tagalog material since I graduated and so I found it hard to read in relatively straight Tagalog. I'm not talking about vernacular Tagalog but rather academic Tagalog. Maybe I also need to blog in Tagalog.

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Crazier and crazier. Tom Cruise has finally flipped out on U.S.Television in an interview with Today's Show's Matt Lauer. You see, Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, and they don't believe in psychiatry or psychiatric help. I'd hate to repeat all the articles written about it so just read up.

Then there's Katie Holmes who, you might have heard, will be converting to the said religion. Yes, it's technically religion, and protected under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment disallowing U.S. Congress to create laws that would prohibit freedom of religion (among others). So anyway, it's a little peculiar that Katie had about two weeks in April where no one knew where she was, and then ended up with Tom Cruise after. Hmmm....

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"Lost" becomes another one of those things you can discuss while eating at McDonald's.

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Yikes, gas prices might yet increase because of the Expanded VAT law. It's at around P30.00/liter for now.

Why do the world prices for oil keep increasing? One big factor is the increasing demand for oil from China and the U.S.

I think they should introduce Compressed Natural Gas powered buses in the metropolis, and hybrid vehicles. I mean, this is the year 2005! In ten years, there should already be flying cars!

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Ever wondered what security guards do to pass the time? During weekends for example. Let's say you list the top 100 things that he might probably do.

Where would "reorganizing his deck of Magic: The Gathering cards" fall on your list?

In mine, it's at #99, with #100 being "doing my programming work for me."