By Agence France-Presse

Reigning Masters champion Tiger Woods had a relaxed dinner with loved ones on Tuesday instead of the Masters Champions Dinner he was once scheduled to host Tuesday at Augusta National.

The Masters has been postponed to November by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with Woods, a 15-time major winner and five-time Masters champion, among those staying home to try and slow the spread of the deadly virus.

So instead of hosting past Masters winners at Augusta National, Woods had a meal at his South Florida home and tweeted a photo of himself with his “guests” — girlfriend Erica Herman, his daughter Sam and his son Charlie.

“Masters Champions Dinner quarantine style. Nothing better than being with family,” Woods tweeted.

Masters Champions Dinner quarantine style. Nothing better than being with family. pic.twitter.com/xPK769CWCf

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 7, 2020

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Woods was wearing his Masters green jacket with a red shirt, his typical final-round shirt, and the Masters champion’s trophy, a replica of the course’s famed clubhouse, on the table in front of him.

Food was only seen at the edges of the photo but it looked to be the same meal Woods said in February that he planned to serve at the Champions Dinner.

“Being born and raised in SoCal (Southern California), having fajitas and sushi was a part of my entire childhood,” Woods said of his menu plans in a Masters conference call.

“I’m going back to what I had in 2006. So we’ll have steak and chicken fajitas, and we’ll have sushi and sashimi out on the deck, and I hope the guys will enjoy it.”

There was no sign of another treat Woods had put on a prior menu — milkshakes. He included those in 1998, the year after his first Masters and major win, to wash down his menu selection of cheeseburgers.

“I’m debating whether or not to have milkshakes as deserts because that was one of the most great memories — to see Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead having milkshakes that night in ’98.”

With the Masters rescheduled for November 12-15, Woods could have the chance to host a true Champions Dinner at Augusta National on November 12.

Woods, 44, has not played since February, when he finished 82nd at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. He skipped the Players Championship due to a back injury.

“There are a lot more important things in life than a golf tournament right now,” Woods tweeted last month after the PGA Tour shut down due to the deadly virus outbreak.

“We need to be safe, smart and do what is best for ourselves, our loved ones and our community.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Detroit great Al Kaline, who spent 22 years with the Tigers and led them to a World Series title in 1968, died Monday at the age of 85, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Free Press said a close friend of Kaline’s family confirmed he had passed away at his home in suburban Bloomfield Hills.

The cause of death was not immediately given.

Kaline, whose storied tenure with the club earned him the nickname “Mr. Tiger,” notched 3,007 hits with 399 home runs in a career that saw him gain 18 All-Star team nods and 10 Gold Glove Awards.

A Baltimore native, Kaline joined the Tigers at 18, straight out of high school in 1953 and never spent a day in the minor leagues.

He was just 20 when he won the American League batting title in 1955 — the first 20-year-old to win a Major League batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907.

Kaline was sidelined for part of the 1968 season with a broken arm, and when he returned was used mostly as a pinch-hitter or at first base rather than at his usual outfield position.

After the Tigers clinched the AL Pennant, manager Mayo Smith started him in the World Series and Kaline batted .379 with two homers and eight runs-batted-in as Detroit beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Former Tigers star pitcher Justin Verlander paid tribute to Kaline on Twitter on Monday, calling Kaline “a kind and generous man who meant so much to so many.

“I hope you knew how much I enjoyed our conversations about baseball, life, or just giving each other a hard time,” Verlander wrote. “I am honored to have been able to call you my friend for all these years.”

The Tigers retired Kaline’s number six in 1980, the same year that he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

At that time, Kaline was just the 10th player in MLB history to make the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.

Kaline’s association with the Tigers continued after his retirement in 1974 as he joined the club’s television team.

In 2002 he was named a special assistant to the Tigers, a role he was set to continue in 2020.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Prese

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is aiming to circumvent coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions by staging an event on an Indian reservation in California later this month, US media reported on Wednesday.

The New York Times reported that UFC chief Dana White planned to hold UFC 249 at the Tachi Palace Resort Casino in central California on April 18, sidestepping state guidelines that have brought sports to a standstill.

The casino — which has been closed since March 20 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — is on land belonging to the Tachi-Yokut Tribe.

Indian reservations typically operate independently of the states in which they are located, outside of local government or US federal government control.

By staging the event on tribal land, organizers also evade the requirement to obtain sanctioning from the California State Athletic Commission.

White has repeatedly voiced determination to continue holding UFC cards, insisting that the circuit can continue safely with events held without spectators.

On Monday, White told ESPN that he had secured a venue for UFC 249 and further events but did not state where. White also said he had secured the use of an “island” to stage fights.

“This place where this fight is going to be on April 18 I have locked up for two months, so I’m going to continue to pump fights out,” White said.

“I’ve got an island. The infrastructure is being built right now. We’re going to do all of our international fights on this island. We’re going to start cranking. The UFC will be back up and running, internationally and here in the states.”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has already postponed three events after officials were unable to find venues to stage fights amid restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Greek basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers donated 10,000 surgical masks to the Athens suburb of Zografou on Wednesday to help fight the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

“The municipality of Zografou wants to express its great gratitude to the Antetokounmpo family for offering 10,000 masks to the residents of the city as a measure of protection against the Covid-19 virus,” a statement from the municipality said.

The gesture from the family, “in addition to the substantial offer to the citizens of Zografou, proves the close bond that the Antetokounmpo brothers have with the city that remained for several years their home,” it added.

Milwaukee Bucks standout Giannis, last season’s NBA MVP, and his brothers Thanasis, Kostas and Alexis grew up in poverty in their early days in Greece where their parents had arrived from Nigeria as immigrants.

They grew up selling merchandise in the streets of the capital in order to help their poor family, but basketball changed their lives and Giannis signed a $100 million four-year contract with the Bucks in 2016.

“I thank from the bottom of my heart the Antetokounmpo brothers for their generous offer which acquires even greater dimensions because it takes place during these difficult times for the entire planet,” said Zografou mayor Vassilis Thodas.

“With their offer they confirm that they have not forgotten the city and when the nightmare of the coronavirus is over, the municipality will honour Giannis and his brothers accordingly,” he added.

The municipality announced that the masks donated by the Antetokounmpo family will be immediately distributed to employees in the region and to vulnerable groups.

On Wednesday the Greek government announced 52 new coronavirus cases in the country, bringing the total to 1,884. Greece has so far reported 83 deaths from the virus.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

If and when the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season shut down in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Portland star Damian Lillard wants the Trail Blazers to have a chance to play their way into the post-season.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this week that the league is considering multiple scenarios for finishing out a season that was halted on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

But with much of the United States still under stay-at-home orders in a bid to slow the spread of the virus, he said that he didn’t think any decisions would come until May — well after the NBA playffs were to have begun on April 18.

One solution to a restart would be to go straight into the playoffs, but with his Blazers one spot out of the post-season Lillard said Wednesday he wants a chance to advance.

“I think it’s only right to play it out,” said Lillard, whose team trail the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference by 3 1/2 games but have a much easier remaining schedule.

“Not only are we the ninth seed, we have one of the easier schedules in our final 15, 16 games and the team in the eighth spot has the toughest,” he said.

“We’re looking at that like how can you just go straight into the playoffs when we’re in the position that we’re in and they’re up against what they’re up against?

“I think you’ve got to play it out.”

That said, Lillard acknowledged that with players unable to train as usual it will take some time before they’re ready to produce late-season form.

“Typically we would at least have access to some form of training,” he said, adding that for most working alone in home gyms or going for runs outside aren’t enough “for us to be ready to do what we do at the level we do it at.

“There could be a lot of bad basketball,” he warned.

Lillard was speaking from home in an interview with broadcaster TNT’s Ernie Johnson that was live on the NBA’s Twitter site.

He’s staying in touch with coaches and teammates by text and Facetime. Some, he says, are optimistic the season will resume, others are worried that the stoppage could affect the coming free agent market and some just miss playing.

“It’s a weird situation,” Lillard said. “I’m training and all this stuff, and in my mind I’m almost like, I’m just going to use this as a head start for next season … We really don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

China’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of basketball legend Michael Jordan in a long-running trademark dispute, ending an eight-year legal battle with a Chinese sportswear firm that illegally used his name.

Upholding intellectual property rights is one of the core disputes of the US-China trade war, and a phase one deal signed in January saw Beijing pledge to improve protections of intellectual property.

The landmark ruling, made late last month, prohibits the Fujian-based Qiaodan Sports from using the Chinese translation of Jordan’s name, Qiao Dan.

The retired Chicago Bulls player and six-time NBA championship winner has a huge following in China, a country that has legions of avid basketball fans.

The Supreme Court decision overturns two previous verdicts in favor of the Chinese firm.

However, it still allows the firm to continue using its logo of a silhouetted basketball player — which has similarities with the “Jumpman” logo used by Nike to promote its “Air Jordan” line of sports shoes.

However the Supreme Court referred the case over the use of the logo for retrial by the State Intellectual Property Office.

In 2016, Jordan won the right to his name in Chinese characters, but the Supreme Court upheld the firm’s right to use its trademark “Qiaodan” in Romanized English.

Qiaodan Sports said in a Weibo statement Tuesday that the ruling “would not impact the normal use of [its] existing trademarks, nor would it affect normal business operations.”

Founded in 2000, the sportswear franchise operates more than 5,700 stores nationwide.

It has also applied for nearly 200 similarly named trademarks including different Chinese spellings of “Qiaodan,” “Flying Power” and “Qiaodan King”, according to the verdict.

In 2017, the sportswear brand New Balance was awarded $1.5 million in copyright damages by a Chinese court over its famous “N” logo, which was illegally copied by a local sports shoe firm.

The verdict — a rare victory for a Western brand in a Chinese intellectual property infringement case — was announced shortly after US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping investigation into China’s record on intellectual property.

The UN said this week that China became the world leader in international patent filings last year, unseating the United States which had held the top spot for more than four decades.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

LeBron James says the abrupt shutdown of the NBA season due to the worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has left the Los Angeles Lakers feeling like they still have something to prove.

The Lakers were in the midst of a revival season, having made the playoffs for the first time in seven years, when the league suspended the 2019-20 season on March 11 after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

At the time of the postponement, the Lakers were in first place in the Western Conference and had the second-best record in the league behind Milwaukee. If the season doesn’t resume, James says there will be a void.

“Closure? No. But to be proud of what we were able to accomplish to this point, I’ll be able to look back and say we did something special in that small period of time,” James said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.

“Just the ups and downs not only on the floor but off the floor everything that we’ve had to endure as Laker faithful.”

James said he’s having trouble coming to grips with the scale of the pandemic, which has so far killed more than 14,700 people in the US, including almost 200 in his home state of Ohio.

“How do you assess what’s going on over the last three weeks or however long this pandemic has been going on? It’s unnatural,” James said.

“It’s something that’s never happened before. Some of you guys are older than me, probably never seen this happen before. You just kind of take all the information you have on a day-to-day basis.”

He has been spending his self-isolating time practicing basketball with his son Bronny and talking on the phone with teammates and Lakers coach Frank Vogel.

“I got a couple friends that have their own indoor facilities,” James said of his training sessions with his son. “They strip it down, wipe it down. It’s pretty much me in there along with my son. It’s just us.”

He wants to return to basketball but says it will be up to the experts to decide when.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this week he doesn’t expect a decision on whether they can salvage the season until at least May.

“Once they allow us to resume some type of activity, I would love to get things back going,” James said. “If it’s Las Vegas or somewhere else that can hold us and keep us in the best possible chance to be safe, not only on the floor but off the floor as well. Those conversations will be had.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Nick Giongco

Ricky Vargas, president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), Thursday appealed to “certain individuals and entities” to allow middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial to fulfill his Olympic dreams before signing him up for the pros.

“I appeal to everyone to please allow this young man to first fulfill his goal — that of participating and doing well in the Tokyo Olympics to fulfill a life-long promise of a son to his father, and to do his country proud,” said Vargas in a statement.

“When the Olympics come to a close, we assure everyone that ABAP will not stand in the way of whatever path Eumir may wish to take in his boxing career.”

Marcial has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after topping the Asia-Oceania Qualifying Tournament held last month in Amman, Jordan.

“Eumir Marcial is a national treasure in the making. Please allow him to take the path towards being one with no distractions (including media hype) which threaten to occupy his mind if these incredible offers persist. He just cannot afford it.”

Since Marcial has been making waves the last few years, several well-known promoters from the US have expressed their desire torecruit the heavy-handed Filipino puncher.

One of them, according to insiders, is Hall of Famer Shelly Finkel, who briefly served as Manny Pacquiao’s manager during the mid-2000s.

“Recently, however, with mind-boggling amounts being floated around, Eumir has been constantly pressured to deviate from his avowed mission,” said Vargas.

“The numbers being thrown around are just too staggering (they run into the tens of millions of pesos, even before he throws a punch) that would give anyone pause.

Finkel, 75, was Pacquiao’s chief handler when the then world super-featherweight champion fought Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum in July 2006 and Erik Morales for the third time in Las Vegas in November of the same year.

During his heyday as a manager, Finkel also managed Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and the Klitschko brothers Vitali and Vladimir, among others.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Nick Giongco

A few national athletes have started showing signs of discomfort over the lockdown imposed by the government as a measure to battle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Dr. Karen Trinidad, who heads the sports psychology department of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), told the Manila Bulletin that abut two or three have experienced difficulty sleeping and felt anxious.

Trinidad said what they are feeling right now is not a red flag.

“They are anxious because they don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Trinidad said.

Given that there is no certainty as to when the lockdown and the lack of activity are going to end, Trinidad said athletes tend to feel uneasy as they remain under quarantine.

“We have advised them to continue their training even if it is just for 30 minutes because they have to be active,” said Trinidad.

Aside from the usual training routine, she is also encouraging athletes to spend some time watching movies and even indulge in art and music “to help their mood.”

The government was supposed to either lift or loosen the lockdown on April 12 but given the rise in COVID-19 cases, it has been agreed that it would be beneficial to everyone to extend it until April 30.

“They are not used to this. They’re always on the go and what we will be advising the NSAs in the coming days is for the athletes to reach out to us if they feel they need guidance,” said Trinidad.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Gregorio “Joy” Dionisio, Mariwasa-Noritake and Toyota made history 45 years ago today when professional basketball was born in the Philippines.

Dionisio became known as the first player to score a basket in the Philippine Basketball Association while Mariwasa and Toyota beat separate rivals in the opener held before 18,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum.

Like any start-up organization, the PBA started off humbly after nine ballclubs decided to break away from the MICAA and form Asia’s first play-for-pay league.

Concepcion-Carrier and U-Tex were on the losing end of the inaugurals while Crispa, Royal Tru-Orange, 7-Up, Tanduay and CFC Corporation paraded their players and muses in the short opening ceremony.

Founding president Emerson Coseteng and commissioner Leo Prieto led the rites while Mia Montemayor, named as Ms. PBA, made the ceremonial toss between Mariwasa import Cisco Oliver and Concepcion-Carrier’s Ramon Lucindo.

“A brief opening ceremony unfurled before action on the hardcourt, under a professional set-up this time, and brought the nine competing teams led by their skippers and muses marching before a highly appreciative crowd,” wrote Danny Santillan, who covered the game for this publication, then known as Bulletin Today.

It didn’t take long for those in attendance to witness the first basket courtesy of Dionisio, who donned the jersey of Concepcion-Carrier. The breakthrough basket, however, was a footnote in most of the newspaper accounts.

Carrier was one of the first stop in Dionisio’s nine-year playing career. He wound up winning two titles with Crispa while also suiting up for U-Tex and Galerie Dominique.

Oliver, known for his famous Alaska commercial in the 70s, was a standout performer in the first game scoring 48 points to power Mariwasa-Noritake past Dionisio and Concepcion-Carrier 101-98.

“The six-foot-six Oliver, alternately harassed by Jaime Noblezada and Roy Deles, put in the last two of his 48 points — hit two charities off Ramon Lucindo’s sixth personal foul — to seal the victory for Noritake, 99-92, with one minute and four seconds left,” said Santillan in his game story.

Former Crispa star Adriano “Jun” Papa supported Oliver with 17 points. Noblezada and Olympian and future PBA champion coach Jimmy Mariano had 24 and 17 points for Concepcion while Dionisio had 10.

Ompong Segura led the charge for Toyota, which bucked the loss of Robert Jaworski on six personal fouls to top the Danny Florencio-led U-Tex 105-101 to cap off the doubleheader.

Segura, who finished with 23 points, played seven seasons as pro, mostly with Toyota. He also suited up for Mariwasa, U-Tex and Manhattan.

Florencio scored 29 points to kick off a PBA career that enabled him to join the 25th and 40th anniversary teams. He later played for 7-Up, Toyota and Galerie Dominique.

It was the first of 338 wins for Toyota, which later engaged Crispa to a bitter rivalry that lasted until the Delta Motors franchise’s disbandment following the 1983 season.

The successful opening day became the initial step the PBA took in order to become an institution in the local sports scene.

Source: Manila Bulletin