KL Dragons: Just Short of a Win

I just returned from MABA Stadium where I watched the KL Dragons suffer a season ending loss to the top seeded Philippine Patriots in the ABL (ASEAN Basketball League). Although the Dragons have been effectively eliminated from the playoffs, they scored a moral victory and secured the hearts of basketball fans in KL. Only four days prior to tonight’s contest the Patriots ran the Dragons off the court with a 30-point victory in the Philippines.

This evening in front of a sellout home crowd, a pumped up and gutsy Dragon’s team lost by just 5 points. In fact the Dragons lead the Patriots for most of the game, and only lost their advantage late inside of the fourth period.

Chris Kuete had a standout performance finishing the game with a double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds). While Jamal Brown did an excellent job of defending against the Patriot’s big man and leading scorer, Jason Dixon, until Jamal fouled out of the game with about 2 minutes left in the fourth period.

The Dragons took a 10-point lead going into half time. But it should have been by a lot more, if not for a number of erred passes and ill advised shots taken near the end of the second period. However, the Dragons maintained the lead until about the 3:23 mark in the fourth period. That’s when the wheels fell off the wagon. The Dragon’s inexperience as a first year team including their coaching staff showed by their inability to effectively manage the clock and run a 2-minute drill to be able to close-out the game with a win. It’s the primary reason why the Dragon’s lead over the Patriots wasn’t greater at half time, and why they lost the lead completely and never gained it back in the final period.

With that said, Congratulations to the KL Dragons for an exciting finish to their 2009/2010 debut season. I look forward to seeing what Dragon’s coach, Goh Chen Huat, has in store for fans, myself included, next season.

Shooting the breeze with Jamal Brown after the game.

Like other movie theaters around the world, Malaysian cinemas run a series of commercial ads and public notices right before the feature presentation. Without fail there always seems to be an ad for KFC. The latest series of advertisements has a little girl attempting to cook dinner for her mom and dad on several occasions, but each time she fails miserably. Then mom comes to the rescue by whisking the family off to KFC for a bucket of fried chicken.

At some point the announcer chimes in with “do something good for your family by taking them to KFC”. So let’s examine how much ‘good’ there is in a typical KFC meal to see if we should reward the actress who plays mom with a mother-of-the-year plaque, or report her to Richard Simmons for aiding and abetting a heart attack.

1. Two pieces of original recipe fried chicken (1 breast + 1 wing) adds up to roughly 500 calories, which includes 25 grams of fat and about 200 mg of cholesterol. This is almost half the daily recommended allowance of fat for the entire day. But the chicken is a source of protein and iron.



2. A side of coleslaw is around 200 calories, because of its sugary added content, and approximately 10 grams of fat. However, it's a source of vitamin A & C.



3. Mash potatoes with gravy adds another 125 - 150 calories to the meal and a few more additional fat grams.



4. Now wash all this down your throat with a medium soda containing 175 calories, all from sugar, with no nutritional value.

The grand total for this single meal is a 1000+ calories. It's also high in fat (the bad kind), and sugar as well.

Ooh my gawd, what kind of mother feeds her family that crap, and doesn't have the decency to save me not even one piece of chicken!

Mass Comunication

If building substantial muscle mass and strength is one of your primary fitness goals, then compound movements should comprise 70% of your workout. Single jointed exercises such as bicep curls hardly contribute to developing over-all muscular strength and size.

You don’t have to be a fitness guru to understand the tremendous advantage performing a deadlift has over doing a bicep curl. A simple comparison of the muscles worked during each exercise pretty much drives the point home.

Muscles exercised during a deadlift:

1. Splenius cervicis
2. Levator anguli oris
3. Serratus
4. Teres major
5. Illiocostalis
6. Intertranvesarii laterales lumborum
7. Longissimus
8. Serratus posterior inferior
9. Quadratus lumborum
10. Piriformis
11. Superior gemellus
12. Bicep femoris long head
13. Semitendinosus
14. Trapezius
15. Rhomboideus major
16. Teres major
17. Latissimus dorsi
18. Gluteus maximus
19. Bicep femoris, long head
20. Quadratus, vastus lateralis

Muscles execised during a bicep curl:

1. Biceps brachii
2. Brachialis

Need I Say More

Gym Myth: More Protein, Means More Muscle

To date NO scientific evidence has shown a constant, linear increase in muscle mass or performance related to the ingestion of protein. Thus chronic intake of protein (more than 30% of total caloric intake) does not equate to increased fat-free mass. Generally, 1 - 2.0 gm of protein per kg/wt is sufficient for athletes and exercisers depending on goal, activity, protein source, and total caloric intake.

Protein use greater than 2.5 times the RDA (recommended daily allowance) range of 15 - 30% of total caloric intake can have several negative effects, two of which are:

• Calcium depletion - for every gram of protein consumed above tissue maintenance, between 1 and 1.5 mg of calcium is excreted.
• Fluid imbalance - protein requires approximately 7 times the water for metabolism than carbohydrate or fat.

Protein supplements are a convenient and timely way to supply the body with the much needed nutrients it needs to help recover after a hard workout. But the bulk of dietary protein needs should be satisfied by healthy food items. Also, the combination of protein supplements and natural food sources of protein should still not exceed 30% of one's daily total caloric intake.

Update: KL Dragons lose their first play-off game.

The Philippine Patriots return the flames of the KL Dragons by besting them in game 1 of their play-off series 77 - 43 at Ynares Sports Arena.

It is very difficult for any first year squad to beat a number 1 seed on their home court. The Dragons will have a chance to even up the series, when the team returns to KL for game 2 next Wednesday @ 7 P.M.

Without having seen the game, judging by the scoring stats per period, the Dragons appear to have had a slow start and weak finish. The Patriots outscored the Dragons 18 to 6 in period 1, and then outscored them 25 to 13 in period 4 to fanatically close out the game.

BURN IT UP!

These are the standings of the teams in the ABL (Asean Basketball League) at the conclusion of the 2009/2010 regular season.

1 Philippine Patriots 11 - 4
2 Singapore Slingers 10 - 5
3 Satria Muda BritAma 8 - 7
4 KL Dragons 7 - 8
5 Brunei Barracudas 6 - 9
6 Thailand Tigers 3 - 12

Congratulations, the KL Dragons have secured a play-off appearance with their fourth place finish. They will play a best of 3 series against the Philippine Patriots starting January 31 in the Philippines, then February 3 in Malaysia, and if need be, the teams will return to the Philippines for game 3 on February 7.

It's a bit odd to see a team under 500 going to the play-offs. But it's understandable considering that there are only 6 teams in the entire league.

I hope the ABL has plans to expand the total number of teams in the near future, otherwise the interests of fans and sponsorship will fade fast.

I thought the estimated $40 million each fighter stood to earn would be enough incentive for Mayweather and Pacquaio to work-out their differences concerning the discombobulated blood testing negotiations. I was wrong.

Both Mayweather and Pacquaio have opted to face other opponents on separate dates. On March 13, Pacquaio will defend is WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey. Then Mayweather squares off against Sugar Shane Mosley on May 1.

Between these four fighters, Clottey is the weakest link. Although he is a world champion and a solid competitor, Clottey is nowhere near being a pound-for-pound best boxer. He is just too predictable; he presses forward with very little lateral variation. Also, his jab routinely goes on vacation. Pacquaio's hand speed and angled retreats should manage Clottey's bull-rush. Expect Pacman to break away on the score cards half way through the fight.

Mayweather will be facing a more talented opponent than Pacquaio, Sugar Shane Mosley. Who is arguably the 3rd best pound-for-pound boxer. Sugar Shane is fast, agile and strong. Thirty-nine of his 45 victories were won by KO. My only negative comment about Sugar Shane is that he rarely uses his jab as a weapon; he tends to paw with it instead. If he does this against Mayweather, he is going to be repeatedly countered hard by Mayweather's turtle shell peek-a-boo shots.

I predict that both Pacquaio and Mayweather will come out of their bouts on top, but it won’t be a cake walk for either one. The difference is Pacquaio is facing a tough battle; Mayweather is in for a war.

If the two best boxers in the world are victorious in their upcoming matches, there is still a chance boxing fans could be treated to a Mayweather vs. Pacquaio super fight in the future.