SLINGERS TROUNCE AIR 21 IN OPENER OF SINGAPORE CHALLENGE SERIES

well air21 doesn’t have their star who is gary david, huhu.. looking for the nxt game

Congratulations Siingers on the win! Eric Sandrin had a nice dunk!

the slingers played well last night even though the game became really physical going through the middle of the first quarter. the filipinos lost their composure when the slinger took the lead and even lost their concentration when they lost their cool. homer se and kramer were both really eying on eric sandrin and really wanted to get physical…i should know, im a filipino….i understood what they were saying… but it was good that the slingers didn’t give in to their emotions…even though eric was really being “beaten up”. the game became more of a basketbrawl early on the last quarter…and homer se was ejected out of the playing area…good thing, cooler heads set in.

am looking forward for sundays rematch…expect it to be a much “heated” one as Air21 will try to get even with a win…

congratulations to the Slingers, obviously they have new faces in the team and they have played well this time against one the philippines professional team. But I disagree to Kiko’s elaboration of Homer and Kramer’s attitude towards Sandrin and I doubt he understand fully what the two Air 21 guys are up to. If you play basketball you dont need to hear from them what the two guys plans are. The word “strategy” is the most appropriate word and not “I hear” which applies to all games and not only in basketball. Its is quite simple, “Kill the best, and then play with the rest”,……sounds harsh I hope Kiko did not take that too literally. By the way Pare, Pinoy ako and I play basketball….

Nice to see the good win for the boys - unfortunately with the stat sheet up on youe web page it is impossible to read - I printed it out - same thing
Can you put it in another format so we can read it
Thanks
Sally and Wayne Daniel

What a surprise, Air21 was crushed by the Slingers…
Air21 will look for a revenge on their remathc.
Go Air21… ^_^

Have not seen the game personally though but from what everybody is saying –it was very intense… Well as Kiko have said, expect a lot more heated game next Sunday. : )

while there’s no excuse for the actions of homer se (as a representative of the pba and air 21) let’s not point the rough play only to air 21 but obviously sandrin and the others know how to get their cheap shots in as well (the refs should do a better job and it seemed like there was some bias)… the problem seems to be that air 21 players chose to be affected by it instead of playing smartly, they took too many shots from the outside while in the last 5 minutes arwind santos proved he can play inside instead of settling for jumpers… what’s up with de ocampo just satisfied shooting jumpers, you’re a big man right??? what about canaleta? what’s up with the loose balls and taking more threes than driving and slamming the ball through the hoop?

good game for the slingers… they deserved to win… i’m impressed with the quality of players now (sandrin, vergara, etc.) wow, even pathman contributed! new view, gotten used to him being on the bench hehehe… great effort for everyone!

Wow the Slingers scoring over 100 points?

This should be interesting, see you on Sunday.

geez thought I was watching Ginebra with Sonny Jaworkski & Rudy the destroyer Distrito. Come on guys show some class there was not need for that. Air21 got out of their game plan after the first quarter it became 1 on 1 basketball sometimes 1 on 3 with no defense. Great all around game by the Slingers.

As a Slingers fan, I think trying to defeat Air 21 is not an easy task. The Slingers should not rest on their laurels and think that this Sunday’s match is going to be a ‘breeze through’. True the Slingers did outplay Air 21 this time round and with the latter’s bitter lost, I am really looking forward to this Sunday’s match up. I’m pretty sure Air 21 will give the Slingers a run for their money.

So yeah the game did get physical and there were loads of confrontations, but thank God that team fights did not break out. To be honest, I am grateful that there are such games available here. We don’t get much professional basketball matches, or at least I think.

A big welcome to Air 21 to Singapore and hope you all enjoyed your stay here. See you all on Sunday, its good to just watch good ‘ol pro basketball…

Chad I also play basketball and even was once a “dummy” reserve for the junior teams in one of the UAAP schools….well, killing the best and taking the rest doesn’t mean to say that you are going out there to “fight it out and brawl”. you can trash talk…pero kung mapikon ka, talo ka…so thats what happened to Air21…they lost their compuser, and gave in to their emotions and lost the game big time…one more thing, you dont have to hurt so much that it can cause an injury to the other player…what if sa you gawin yon in a game? if you are playing basketball, what if someone gives you a cheap foul…that could really hurt you…anyway, lets just enjoy the game this sunday…and on the 30th.

aiyoh, you are very correct with all the things you said.

cmon guys lets jst cheer for the filipino players minsan lng tyo mkapanood ng mga pba players dito kng batikusin pa nten kla mo di nyo kababayan. lets be proud of our own talent be proud to be pinoy. hayaan na lng nten yng iba jan na walang mgawa kng di mangbatikos kala mo kng cnong mgaling di mo alam kng coach o player PR na ata e.hihihi. sorry bato2 sa langit ang tamaan guilty.

cmon james, get real man, how could someone be proud of a team which instigate fight. buti pa yung harbour center, they fought hard and concentrated on their play…para ka nang taga Air21, pikon…hehehehe…laging talo, asar talo.

sorry bro, pero its not about being kababayans…its about clean play…i would say ako pinatatamaan mo, yeah, im guilty, pero you are all wrong dude, and i can see the bad side of a filipino attitude in you…i have to be frank on this dude. the fact that you started writing in our language makes you so unfair to other readers here and it shows that you are pissed off….

tell you, my filipino colleagues also were all pissed with Air21…they said that they wasted their money…they came there to watch a ballgame, not a brawl.

and one more thing dude…yes, magaling ako, im good, i did coach a school’s team before (way back early 90’s) and yes, was a PR for basketball player too. happy? :):):)

im not being particular with air21 what im saying is lets just support our kababayans. kya ako sumulat in tagalog kc nkakahiya kc tyo tyo pang mga pinoy ang ngtitirahan.

I’m so proud of Pathman. Scored 5 points and 2 rebounds in 6 mins. Woohoo! Go Pathman, do Singapore proud.

it has been a while since i have seen the court scene and with a few new faces from both teams, it was more than convincing to drag myself to the indoor stadium on a wedsneday night as the “new cosmopolitan” Slingers are back! Good start for Air21 on the first quarter even though the score eventually marked a dramatic leap for Slingers. It wouldnt sound so nice on papers though if Slingers will loose on that opening game, all the more that football-oriented singaporeans wont give basketball a chance on their TV channels or page in the papers (if there’s any). But I really commend on how DARREN NG played and overall performance not to mention the points he delivered and Pathman’s 5-point contribution as well. I olmost leaped from my seat to finally see Harris had his shot though his rebounds were effortless due to his towering height , but dude, i wanna see more actions from you! =). And finally…ERIC SANDRIN, you can pass for Air 91 or Fedex! too much air hunnie…relax lah! i used to have this huge crush on you but hell, u will never pass for a second and never been a fan of US anywey..i thanked Kramer and Homer for all those olmost intentional kicks…kudos for Sunday !

james, im a very eager supporter of every Philippine national team…i support both Air21 and the Slingers in the spirit of sportsmanship…if you played in competitive sports representing your school or your region, you will know what im talking about…coz i played in national games (PRISAA, SCUAA, CAACUP) during my school days…hindi ko tinitira ang Air21, am just criticizing their unsportsmanlike behavior…Sandrin may have shown some unsporsmanlike behaviour, but at least he didnt give in to his emotions of “fighting” back or intentionally physically hurting the other team.

Air21 is a great team in its own right, its a young, dynamic team…but they should concentrate and focus on their game…in all honesty, skillwise, they can beat the Slingers…its just they have to focus well on their play…i’ve seen them play in the PBA…and they are good.

Hi guys from my point of view. These are the factors why Slingers dominated the game:

- Air 21 just came off from a championship game in the PBA and I’m sure they were very tired, didn’t have any practice after it, they also need to have time for themselves and their family.

- Slingers is hungrier than AIr21 why? they need to prove themselves, they were signed to compete to a Pro League and they need to show something to the owner, it is not a small amount, owners invest a lot of money and the players are aware that anytime they will be replaced or not to be given any contract extension.

- Slingers played very well, they played as a team, very unselfish. Unless Air21 can do some adjustments they would probably bounce back on sunday and give a quality game which I doubt because they don’t have time to do it as they have a lot of enagagements here.

- About Jason Castro, every player has a dream to play in the PBA, every player who strarted and learned basketball wants to reach that dream. For him, there was a very good opportunity to play abroad and to play for a professional team and at the same time will expose him to international basketball. I am sure that the decision came not only from him but to those people around him, like his manager and his family. The package was so good that is really hard to let it pass, definitely he consulted his manager and family. About the comment of telling him that he is very UNPROFESSIONAL, guys do you think he can back out to a vaild contract just like that, of course not, there were some details in the contract thet we don’t know, there are some legalities into it, one of it maybe is to play in the NBL, Castro became interested to play because of the exposure in that league and since Slingers backed out, the contract becomes void. So please THINK before you judge.

Sana makabawi Air21, let us hope for at least a quality game. Hindi naman nila gustong mapaya ang mga pinoy dito. Slingers is a very strong team. Bawi yan pinoy pa…… Cheers Guys……

peace to all! yup, it’s not about putting people down, being supportive doesn’t mean condoning wrong actions / attitude, we’re disgusted by the action of the person, not the person himself. it was great to see homer se play in the 1st quarter… during the game, i was peeved to see sandrin get away with pushing and elbows but what did he do afterwards? he walked over to the other side and shook hands with air 21 players… i read up a bit and found out he went to nba camp and played with the globetrotters, you don’t get to at least that level without knowing a few tricks man, but hoops is not all brawn, it’s also a psych game… it pisses me off that air 21 players didn’t play up to their potential… we expected a good game, we believe in the capabilities of the players just for the mere fact that their pinoys… kobe canaleta, don’t just look the part man, act like it… arwind, even if you made 3s what would pump up your team would be the alleyoops, and the undergoal play even with 2 giants guarding you then all your teammates would be shooting the lights out of the stadium… wrong insinuations with negative intent just because a comment doesn’t support a crooked view, that’s bad, but calling players out and challenging them to get their heads straight and play up to their potential, that’s not crab mentality man, that’s what’s needed… homer se kicking sandrin in the back - bad; homer se not running away - good; air 21 players building a wall to protect se and keep the sides apart - good; well air 21, you’ve got another game to redeem yourselves… do your best!

Did you see how one of the air 21 players offered a hand to sandrin when he fell but then withdrew it when sandrin responded?

Saw that but Sandrin is just an arrogant fool himself, btw I agree on what Johjoh said about Air21, they just had a championship run back in the Philippines and probably still jet lag from the flight. And as for Jason Castro, I wished he did stay for the Slingers so at least us pinoys will get a recognition internatiolally but instead he followed his dreams and I wish him the best of luck.

If your Pinoy, you should know yourself that if u play ball in pinas its always a dream to play in the PBA.

As for you KIKO, you said you support both Air21 and the Slingers coz of the spirit of sportsmanship. Well Hello, I lived here in Sydney most of my life and I was going for the Sydney Kings here in Australia but when Talk n Txt came here to play them. I realized that I I should be going for Talk n Txt not for the Kings. Sorry bro maybe Im still loyal to pinoys compare 2u.

BTW in the NBL, Slingers is not a threat to any club here in Australia coz its just another win for any team. Lets just wish them the best of luck.

One more thing to add, its kinda good for the Slingers that this whole incident between my man HOmer Se and Eric Sandrin happens. If your one of the promoters of the game this is good publicity and for sure a lot of people would want to watch the next game. Its like a sequal to the first game hehehehe. BTW Darren Ng when your contract for the Slingers is finished, u can always sign in PBA. Im sure teams there will be interested.

Hi KC…I understand what you mean.

I was routing for Air21, but I won’t tolerate what Homer Se did to Eric Sandrin…that was totally uncalled for. I’d love to see Air21 win this Sunday…but they should really focus on their game…

We went there to watch a good basketball game….and we deserve to see Air21 play its championship brand of play. They can do better than what we saw last Wednesday..

I’ll say it in tagalog…kampi ako sa Air21 pero, nakaka-inis kasi nga di sila naglaro ng maayos…yun lang naman gusto kong iparating…I like KG Canaleta a lot and I love the way he gives showtime with his fabulous dunks…that’s what I wanted to see…but, we never did.

How i wish i can see Eric play again.. While he was in Brunei he took alot of hits from the Philipino team and could see he got frustrated. He lost his cool and couldn’t play his best anymore. I hope he will learn to keep his cool, he is such a gifted player. Good skills, height and he is actually a very good shooter. Eric pls come back to Brunei next year i really admire the way you play.

well evrything is well said all of us has different points of view and opinions. for kiko sorry bro kng ntira kta i know its a constructive criticism but not to much bro. im happy to hear that you support air21. filipinos will always be filipinos even though theres a lot of critics when it comes to the game i knw they will cheer for their kababayan. knowing air21 im sure they’re bounce back on sunday cgurado babawi yan pinoy pa. laban kung laban. so see you guys on sunday. im calling out all the filipinos out there let us all come out on sunday and support our kababayans. mabuhay ang mga pinoy!

by the way for everyone’s information im not a air21 fanatic i jst know the team very well coz ive been watching pba since birth and i support them coz i support philippine basketball and bcoz i am a proud filipino. obviously as you can see in my username i am a die hard fan of purefoods since birth also and a die hard fan of james yap, i even got his autograph on my replica jersey of him. im really happy when i hear the news that they’re playing here its like a dream come true coz i always watch their game live nung nsa pinas pa ko i cant believe na im gonna watch them play again here in singapore.

they loss because air21 did not play their “A” game. october 4 will be the opening week for the PBA. they do not want to have injury in the upcoming season. Less Gary “D” the pure energy.

still air21 the best team in the PBA w/o fil-ams.

Amen Big game James, Im a Ginebra fan but if any PBA team will be playing overseas against different nationality ofcourse we go for PInoys. What Homer Se did to Eric was a foul play but Bball is Bball its either you play the game and get hit or if you dont want to get cheap shots go play chess or something dba.

big game james…purefoods fan ka? apir…i was a Tanduay fan (Ramon Fernandez… grabe, ang tanda ko na talaga.) those were the days of Hubalde, Israel, and my favorite import, David Thirdkill…then in 1988, Purefoods was formed with Lastimosa, Codinera, Al Solis, (from Shell), Jack Tanuan etc….Patrimonio joined later due to his PABL team didnt release him yet…then there were Fernandez(as playing coach) and other remnants of Tanduay…well, those were the days…they bacame my favorite team…but Allan Caidic would remain to be my favorite player.

Maui girl learn how to spell first off secondly Eric Sandrin is an amazing bball player. I’ve followed him since he was in high school and he’s the best player on the team its just unfortunate that they don’t look for him more… I mean check out his stats 6/7 FG and he still scored 24 points… Slingers should be happy to have a player like him… as for an almost intentional kick, how is it almost? Did you see the game? I can play it back for you in slow motion if you’d like! Geez!! At least Sandrin kept his composure after the rough play I know a lot of players who would have retaliated! Good luck Slingers

Hell yeah bro those were the days but I’d go for Ginebra

i agree with you kc sbi nga nla kng ayaw mo msaktan wag ka mglaro db? being physical is a part of baketball, what homer se did is really foul pro di nmn cgro cia gaganti kng di cia tinitira dn cgro nauna lng napikon c homer se, knowing homer se upon watching him he is really a hot headed player, sbi nga lna ulit ang pikon talo. apir kiko hehehe, pro di ko na cla naabutan, ana naabutan ko na sa purefoods is alvin, jerry, jolas, asaytono and glen capacio, tanda na ni jack tanuan non and he was playing for shell, as for ginebra fans grabe dmi tlg nla til now from jawo to caguiao never say die tlg. yan ang pinoy attitude never say die, noon man at ngayon philippine basketball and filipino talents is really one of the best in the world. sana lng gumanda program nten sa sports and more exposure in international competitions specially in basketball, lets bring back the days when we are the best in asia and we used to beat china. so who’s watching the game tomorrow?

ive jst read in the pba web site last week that purefoods coach ryan gregorio was considering al vergara to be part of their team as free agent. he was supposed to join the team in their trip tp qatar but his passport was not ready. i was surprise now he’s playing for the slingers. what happened? well im happy foe al at least theres a filipino in the team. by the way purefoods won their game in qatar and all of them were amazed to james. the team had a new line-up with the addition of 5 new players. so wats next for the team is singapore they’ll be leaving the country on the 29th. so slingers get ready.

Big Game James. Al Vergara didnt make it to the line up of Purefoods, so as a free agent, he can be signed up by any ball clubs. As a free agent of purefoods, he is considered a “reserve” but doesn’t have a contract with them. Had a short chat with Al and he said that he was lucky to get this opportunity to play for the Slingers as he wasn’t able to get a contract with Purefoods. His pay here is more than the pay of a regular rookie in the PBA, which I guess is a good start for him as a professional basketball player.

Slingers wants a filipino player so they can attract more pinoy crowd in their games. Slingers know that pinoys are die hard fans and they know if they have a pinoy player, a lot of pinoys would watch home games

KC, you are correct, and also Philippines has such a big pool of natural and talented point guards. And I think that is what the Slingers needs, for them to step up their game.

WOW!! blow me out! Kiko is a great achiever and a “sportsman”! By the way are you the same Kiko from the “Blue Eagles”? Anyway C’mon kiks Im sure you know damn well shit happens also in UAAP, NCAA and other leagues in the Philippines. If you think what Homer and Kramer did was very bad then you should not address that issue in the slinger website! Take note ”
Slinger Website” You are a filipino and so are we and now most likely singaporean are laughing their heart out of us! I doubt you know what this guys felt in the court if they were bad mouthed and given a poor judgment by the lousy referees so dont simply judge the two Air 21’s of their behaviour. Im sure we filipinos dont go to other country to just pick-up a fight! Is just that “shit happens” Anyway big game james and KC….I salute you men!

Its just I dont Understand what Kiko says about sportsmanship?? like what Chad said “Shit Happens”. Just shows how much pinoys are more pasionate than Singaporeans. Btw why dont Slingers have local players?? As far as Im concern they are not a Singaporean team but they are an Australian team.

Got nothing against the Slingers but its just weird when you say SINGAPORE SLINGERS team and when you see them in the court you ask yourself. Where are the SINGAPOREAN PLAYERS??? Why are they all white???

It seems like none of you have watched the slingers play the last 2 years. They played in the Australian NBL and had intentions to play there again this season. Hence naturally a lot of their players are australian in order to compete in that league, also as per the league rules, two imports are allowed and hence they had signed two american imports - Sandrin and Kirkland. Thus the makeup of their team is what it is now. Also, they are a commercial team so they can sign anyone they want, to be competitive, its not that they are the national team of s’pore or anything.
Finally, regarding sportsmanship, of course there is a big difference in the physical play when playing the filipino teams. I have watched most of the slinger games for the last two years in the NBL and not once was there a fight like the one that happened on wednesday. So, its not a case of ’shit happens’, there is definitely a physical and rougher side to filipino style of basketball.

walaweh air21 lose again well losing is part of a game lets accept it seems like the slingers is really a strong team, what important is we give them a good fight i jst hope my purefoods is going to beat the slingers on the 30th. yah i agree with kc were are the local players of sg? bout being passionate of pinoys in basketball we are really die hard for this sport, jst look at it this is the slingers site but most of the people who commets are filipinos, where are the singaporeans? well theyre playing football lah. and lastly regarding al vergara im happy for him, go al make all yhe pinoys here in singapore proud. queation: is darius rice of the slingers is also the 1st import of purefoods last conference? did he play against air21? if he is, walaweh slingers are really strong. well we will see on the 30th coz im gonna watch the game i bought my ticket already.

I don’t think its called a physical or rougher side. Argentinians and Americans play very physical basketball, but they don’t get into near brawls every game like the filipino teams. I think it is the lack of sportsmanship and the unwillingness to admit defeat despite being the lousier team.

Marquin Chandler of Purefoods played for the Singapore Slingers in their maiden season in the NBL where the Slingers finished in the top 7.

really? well chandler is one of the best import of purefoods lately but he is a hot headed player, talent wise he is really good.

Singapore Slingers would go a long way. They have one of the best coaches in basketball, and being an assistant coach for the Australia’s Men’s Basketball Team to the Beijing Olympics, you would see that the Slingers means business in basketball. I believe the lineup now, despite being young, is more dynamic and has a better combination than the two previous line-ups. But the the first line-up, they really performed well in the NBL. The second year, I feel that they didn’t blend well as a team. But this season, am more excited about the line-up as these will be the future of Asian basketball and who knows, one of them might play in the NBA or the 2012 London Olympics. I mean, most of them are Australians and they have always qualified for the Olympics.

Philippines has yet to prove themselves of being again the dominant team in Asia. They were number one in Asia before the PBA was established. I hope that they pursue their program of developing a team that would qualify in the 2010 Olympics. Its a very big ambition at this point, but it can always be achievable as they have been qualifying in the Olympics in the earlier days, but a lot of hard work and dedication has to be put in by the players to achieve this goal.

Philippine Basketball are known to be Physical even the earlier days ,even the American Imports in the PBA are complaining over that but I guess that’s the Tradition that has been passed from generation to generation so they just have to live with it that, International teams should expect that and turn it to their advantage, and the Slingers has done a good job on it….Filipino should learn to channel their agressive plays to scoring more points and playing defense effectively…