Hooping it up in Lala Land

LOS ANGELES — The flight was a breeze from Manila. I hardly felt the 11-hour trip. Because Philippine Airlines flies direct to this bustling metropolis–also known asTinseltown or Lala Land or the City of Angels, you enjoy the comforts of an uninterrupted, no-stopover journey.

Nike Philippines sports communications manager Rely San Agustin, Bulletin/Tempo writer Tito Talao and I left Manila at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. We arrived in L.A. close to 5:30 p.m. the same day. That international dateline continues to haunt weary travelers who find it difficult to shake off jet lag until after a week.

As usual, the PAL flight was smooth and breezy. The crew was excellent and the food, above par. We sat in economy and were treated like first-class passengers like everyone else in our section. We were given pouch giveaways and a snack box aside from a sumptuous dinner and breakfast.

Rely heads Nike’s P.R. group in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Aside from the Filipino contingent, he brought in four other journalists. Representing Singapore are Kwok Ka Hui of the Chinese tabloid Lianhe Zaobao and Celestino Galape, a graphic journalist from the English tabloid The New Paper. The Malaysian newsmen are Daryl Goh of the tabloid Menara Star and Cheng (call me Jordan) Yin Yap of the Chinese Press Berhad.

Gulapa, 43, is from Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. He moved to Singapore in 1988 and has lived there since. Gulapa earned a fine arts degree at the University of Santo Tomas in 1981. He is married to Delphine, a Singaporean, with two children. He still carries a Philippine passport but is now a Singapore permanent resident.

Gulapa’s column in The New Paper is called "Planet Cel." He is an illustrator and sometimes uses basketball themes to express his opinion on issues. His Filipino idols in illustration are Hal Santiago, Alex Nino and Nestor Redondo.

"An illustrator is a realist," he explained. "He is different from a cartoonist whose goal is to make people laugh."

Gulapa said Singapore has a population of four million, including one million expatriates and 80,000 Filipinos–only 5,000 of whom are professionals and the rest, domestic helpers.

Gulapa flew in with a colored illustration of LeBron James. It took him eight hours and two sittings to finish the work. "I’m hoping to give it to him, if he’s nice to me," he chuckled. "Maybe, in exchange, he’ll agree to pose for a photograph with me."

Kwok specializes in Chinese martial arts but sometimes dabbles in basketball reporting. She said soccer and badminton are the most popular sports in Singapore and wondered by they were not in the initial list of 22 priority sports recommended by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) for the Southeast Asian Games calendar in 2005. I assured her that POC president Celso Dayrit only suggested the priority sports as a starting point for discussion when the Southeast Asian Games Federation convenes in Manila early next month.

Solar Sports, which has the exclusive rights to telecast the NBA in the Philippines, is represented here by its president William Tieng, executive vice president Peter Chanliong, vice presidents Ronald Tieng and Ralph Roy, producer Erick Tam and broadcasters Chino Trinidad and Andy Jao.

Solar Sports is highly regarded by NBA officials who rolled out the red carpet for the visiting executives. The broadcasters occupy the second row at courtside and the Solar bigwigs are NBA commissioner David Stern’s special guests in the VIP lounge where they watch the action at the Staples Center.

Rely, 29, graduated at the Ateneo with a business management degree in 1996. He’s played football since Grade 4, saw action for the Blue Eagles squad that won the UAAP title in 1996 (the first Ateneo football crown since the Celso Lobregat era in 1968) and capped his career as a goalkeeper on the national squad in 1998. Incidentally, Rely’s Ateneo champion coach was the late Chris Monfort and his teammates included Vincent Santos, Domeka Garamendi and Blue Avelino.

Rely has worked the last six years for Nike, first as Auty Villarama’s assistant in sports marketing and now as PR head under marketing director Colo Ventosa. He’s traveled for Nike to the US, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

To facilitate our mobility here, Rely rented a Chrysler Town and Country van. The problem is the traffic in downtown LalaLand, particularly during rush hours, is almost as bad as the congestion on EDSA when Megamall holds its Midnight Madness sale. The entire Philippine delegation is booked at the Marriott Hotel on South Figueroa street.

NBA All-Star merchandise isn’t cheap. A cap sells for $25 and a short-sleeve T-shirt for $20. A collared All-Star shirt, in black or white, goes for $40. A baseball-type All-Star shirt–with an NBA name at the back and number–is a shocker at $95. With the peso plunging against the dollar, you’ll think twice before bringing out your wallet.

It was estimated that the economic impact of the All-Star extravaganza for L.A. is roughly $30.3 Million. The All-Star Game marks the first time in 20 years that it will take place in Southern California.

The Staples Center hosted the Grammy Awards the weekend before the All-Star Game and also hosted the ESPN X Games IX and the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Lala Land regularly hosts the Academy Awards and is the only city in the world to host the Olympics twice–in 1932 and 1984.

"The NBA All-Star Game is the kind of event that the sports and entertainment capital,Los Angeles, was built to host–world class," said Mark Liberman, president of LA Inc. The Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Thousands of visitors will travel to L.A. and experience the NBA Jam Session and the activities around the game."

Over 125,000 fans are expected to go the NBA Jam Session, a basketball traveling carnival, in a 350,000 square foot, roofed site at the Los Angeles Convention Center beside the Staples Center.

A total of 325 international media delegates from 41 countries are here to cover the All-Star Weekend. The global coverage includes a record 54 TV networks and websites with 20 establishing commentary positions. Solar Sports is one of the NBA’s international partners providing local language commentary at courtside.