Pinoys in NBA office

DALLAS — Marketing manager Carlo Singson isn’t the only Filipino working for the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Singson, a Kellogg graduate school of business graduate, is based in Hong Kong and operates out of NBA Asia, Ltd.

During the recent NBA Finals, I met two Filipinos who work for NBA Entertainment in New Jersey.

Robert Soria, 30, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Filipino parents who migrated to the US in 1970. His father Mario is an accountant from Iloilo and a University of San Agustin graduate. His mother Rosario is a nurse.

A bachelor, Soria went to school in Florida and joined the NBA in 1999. He’s a production coordinator who is involved in project management for TV and events.

Soria said although he was born and raised in the US, his parents made sure he grew up the Filipino way, embracing Filipino customs, traditions and values. As for Filipino food, Soria said he gorges on pansit palabok and lechon.

Soria said his job gives him the opportunity to observe NBA players up close.

"I’ve seen players in the locker room before a game doing their pre-game rituals and I’m not sure if too many people know about what they do behind closed doors," said Soria. "Like Jerry Stackhouse, for example. He never fails to grab a handful of gummy bear candies and eats them before a game. Gummies happen to be my favorite, too. Then there’s Jason Terry who puts on five pairs of socks before lacing up his basketball shoes."

Soria said there’s a Pinay working in events and administration for NBA Entertainment. She was born in the US and is from Virginia. Karen Barberan, 33, is another "kabayan" employed by the NBA and happens to be Soria’s girlfriend. She stayed behind in the NBA’s New Jersey office to monitor the Finals action. Christine Baluyot, 23, was assigned to work at the Finals like Soria. The Filipina, born in the US and a California native, is a production assistant with NBA Entertainment.

By the way, Soria plans to visit Manila for the finale of the NBA’s "Madness" tour next month with Philadelphia 76ers guard Andre Iguodala and charmers from the San Antonio Spurs’ Silver Dancers squad.

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More than 156 international reporters and broadcasters from 20 countries covered the Finals in Miami and Dallas. The games were beamed live via satellite to 205 countries in 46 languages.

There were 38 international TV broadcasters on site. Solar vice president for production Erick Tam, play-by-play announcer Vitto Lazatin and I were listed in this category. We were featured thrice on the world TV feed. I got special mention with my name and country on screen as the only Asian writer in the NBA Blog Squad. The only other Blog Squad writer in the Finals was George Eddy, an American who played basketball in the French league in the 1970s and is now a naturalized French citizen.

The NBA said over 400 hours of the Finals coverage aired on NBA TV, the league’s 24-hour channel and NBA Entertainment camera crews shot 400,000 feet of film, video and high-definition tape.

During the Finals, the NBA said 30 million visitors logged on to the popular website nba.com with 53 percent of hits coming from fans living outside the US with the highest concentration from China. The website nba.com receives more international visits than any other US-based sports home.

As a foreign broadcaster and journalist, I was interviewed by John Dorschner of the Miami Herald and quoted in his story "World catches NBA fever" in the newspaper’s June 15 issue.

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The seven points scored by Dallas in the fourth quarter of Game 4 set a new dubious playoff record. The previous low of nine was registered by Utah against Chicago in 1998 and New Jersey against San Antonio in 2003.

In a display of woeful shooting, the Mavs connected on only 2-of-17 from the floor in the final 12 minutes. Dallas was held to a lowly 31.6 field goal percentage for the game.

"I know our defense was very active," said Miami coach Pat Riley. "We did not want to give them free throws and we did not want to give them layups and jumpers. So somewhere, you’ve sort of got to pick your poison."

The Heat’s stifling defense also limited Dallas to 37 percent shooting in the Game 6 clincher. The Mavs were 7-of-22 in the fourth period meltdown as Miami turned on the heat defensively. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry had no field goal in 11 total attempts in the quarter.

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NBA commissioner David Stern awarded the championship trophy to Miami managing general partner Micky Arison on the podium in the middle of the court before a jeering crowd after Game 6.

"Just thought from the very beginning, we had a chance and that if we had the opportunity, we could get it done," said Arison whose father Ted bought the Miami franchise in 1988.

"Thanks to 15 strong, these 15 guys, thanks to the hundreds of people in the front office who worked day in, day out and thanks to the thousands of them, our White Hot fans."

The Arison family built a fortune in the cruise business. The family owns the Carnival Cruise Lines, a global vacation leader with its stock trading on both the New York and London exchanges. The cruise operator has 79 ships with 137,000 lower berths. It owns the world’s largest passenger vessel, the 150,000-ton Queen Mary 2. In 2004, the company posted income of more than $9.7 Billion.