Oh the weather outside is frightful..

Well, not really at the moment, but we've been having a spate of strange weather patterns lately. 

It's finally November in Manila! We're already waist-deep into the "-ber" months and Christmas is supposedly in the air already. :P The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. There's also the cooler breeze in the air, best appreciated at night to early morning.. :P

(Image source here)

Going back to my opening statements, it puzzles me as to why we have scorching summer-type heat in the afternoons to early evening (with it being November and all), which is usually punctuated by a sudden downpour, and man, it would rain really HARD for a few minutes before ceasing as suddenly as it had began. A quick peek at the weather satellite image from my favorite weather site yields absolutely nothing.

In other news...

A couple of days back, I went to see the new "Puss in Boots" movie with a couple of friends. I watched it, and it was AWESOME! Ok maybe it wasn't as good as, say, Shrek, but the entertainment value was definitely there. Having Antonio Banderas play the feisty little cat with the spanish accent was just pure genius! :P I'm really glad they decided to do this spinoff movie!

Based on the articles I've read at NBA.com, the NBA lockout is at its 4th month already. As talks and negotiations between the NBA and the Players' Union continue to drag on, the NBA calendar has already suffered with the cancellation of all the November games. Now the basketball world awaits with bated breath whether or not the players will accept the (last best) proposal put on the table by the owners.

With all the drama surrounding the lockout, and the basic premise of "Millionaires vs Billionaires" battling each other for a larger share of the pie, with owners claming unprofitability and the players not wanting to give up all the money they have for their bling, it's enough to make a casual fan like me lose interest in the league altogether. Sure, I'm a basketball nut, but with the way things are playing out, its just so "nakakawalang-gana" and as such, I seem to have lost my taste for the supposedly best league in the world. I couldn't help myself, so here are a few points about this entire mess that sets me off: (these may or may not be about the lockout, but would concern the NBA in general)

• Players stubbornly clinging on to their disproportionately larger share of the profit pie. I'm sorry, but with the state of the world economy as it is now, forgive me for not sympathizing with your concerns of how to pay for your next sportscar/mansion/wild house party. It may be true that a player's carrer is definitely shorter than the average guy, but these guys make more money in a year than most people could ever dream of earning in a lifetime. Why don't they just use their money wisely so that they'll be set for life once they retire? Oh wait, that's right..

• NBA players are getting drafted without finishing college. I mean, what the hell? True, some guys want to be able to earn money as soon as possible, and that a career in the NBA would yield a lot more money than a degree, but I can't help but feel that its such a great waste. Besides the potential of graduating with a degree, a college senior gains a lot more experience which should make him a better all-around player in the pros with better basketball IQ and a firmer grasp of fundamentals (well, ideally that should be the case). My cousin who lives in the States says that a degree does not necessarily mean that it's going to be your job for life. It just shows xompanies that you are capable of learning (coz lets admit it, a lot of stuff people do at work are not taught in school, but are instead learned on the fly at work.

• All these flashy players running and gunning. Though it may look great on highlight reels and posters, I often yearn for the 80s basketball when Bird and Magic were at it. They may not have been overly fancy, but they got the job done. I think teamwork was a lot better back then as well, as you would see fantastic ball movement in almost every play.

• Players making their own superteams. Its one thing to be assembled together by a good management office with excellent foresight, but it becomes absurd when players start taking stuff into their own hands and recruit each other to play together. What about competitive balance? :P

I know I'm rambling, but these are things that have been bothering me about the league for quite some time now. With all the hubbub the lockout has created, I don't think I'll be following the NBA anymore, unless there was some compelling reason to do so otherwise.

Was supposed to talk about other stuff, but its getting late. Maybe tomorrow then.