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Saturday, September 29, 2012

38 Things to Get Excited about in the New PBA season


Jaemark Tordecilla, Mikkel Bolante, and Karl Decena, InterAKTV · Sunday, September 30, 2012 · 6:59 am
The 38th season of the PBA is set to open on Sunday, and just in time, because we were starting to experience withdrawal symptoms while the league was on vacation. We listed down 38 things we can’t wait to see in the new season of the PBA (in no particular order).

1. The Return of the King


InterAKTV/Justin Gener
Mark Caguioa finally won the Most Valuable Player award at the tender old age of 32 last season. Sunday’s opening bout between Ginebra San Miguel and GlobalPort will be our first chance to see Mark the MVP on the court.

2. Willie Miller and Gary David on a single team


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
For most of their careers, Willie Miller and Gary David have played the starring role for their respective teams, but now they’re together at GlobalPort. Here’s a quick pop quiz: With the game on the line, whose number would you call: David’s or Miller’s? We’re glad we’re not Batang Pier coach Glenn Capacio.

3. From Lieutenant to Gin-eral


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
Even fans in Japan during the FIBA Asia Cup couldn’t help but get ahead of themselves, chanting “Heeh-neh-brah!” while LA Tenorio was playing for SMART-Gilas Pilipinas.

4. SMART-Gilas players back in the PBA


Photo from courtesy of Chot Reyes
Over the course of the Jones Cup and the FIBA Asia Cup in the offseason, the members of the SMART-Gilas national team, and Ranidel De Ocampo and Gary David in particular, built camaraderie through a series of shenanigans that included but may not be limited to dancing to Rick Astley and doing the Gangnam style, engaging in impromptu joke-offs at formal team dinners, and winning a Jones Cup title.
Now they’re back to being on separate sides with their mother teams but it would be interesting to see how that dynamic carries over to the PBA. What happens the next time De Ocampo is forced to give up a hard foul on a driving David? What happens when Gabe Norwood tries to dunk on Enrico Villanueva?

5. June Mar Fajardo


PBA/Nuki Sabio
The 6-foot-10 behemoth and top overall pick is already a towering defensive presence and is set to take over the starting role for the Boosters right away, overtaking his mentors Dorian Pena and Danny Ildefonso in the rotation.
Petron Blaze coach Olsen Racela, when asked about which past player June Mar compares to, said that he hasn’t seen anyone with Fajardo’s combination of size and skillset before — he reportedly knocks down jumpers and brings the ball down the floor with ease in practice. He’s only just scratching the surface of his potential and it would be interesting to see how much better he gets with experience.

6. Chris Ellis

This.

7. Cinderella teams

Last season held plenty of surprises, with Powerade riding an incredible scoring run from Gary David to make it to the Philippine Cup finals and Rain or Shine winning the Governors’ Cup over a favored B-MEG squad looking for a title in back-to-back conferences. With league parity at a high level right now, it would be interesting to see which teams are able to pull off shockers this year.

8. More PBA games at MOA Arena

Last season, PBA made history after the Governors’ Cup semifinals tiff between B-MEG and Talk ‘N Text became the first televised basketball event at the brand new SM Mall of Asia Arena. It’d be great to catch the other teams at the new state of the art venue.

9. Players diving on the floor

PBA commissioner Chito Salud promised rule changes that would encourage hustle plays, like being lax on traveling calls when players dive for loose balls. That means more scrappy play for the fans to enjoy.

10. Gabe Norwood 2.0


AKTV/Paolo Papa
After helping Rain or Shine win the Governors’ Cup title, Gabe Norwood seemed to play with more swagger when he joined SMART-Gilas. We can’t wait to see him display his confident new game as a vital cog for the Elasto Painters.


11. Manila Clasico


AKTV/Leslie Sy
Of all the big Philippine sports events, we feel that this is the most fun to attend in person because of its spontaneity. The cheers are never practiced and there are no drums to guide you. Instead, everything breaks out organically. When attending a Manila Clasico match, all you need to know is whether you’re for Ginebra or Purefoods; the rest just takes care of itself.
(Ginebra faces San Mig Coffee on November 4. Save the date!)

12. Norman Black at Talk ‘N Text


AKTV/Paolo Papa
Chot Reyes steered Talk ‘N Text to four titles and six finals appearance during over the past four years. It’d be interesting to see Norman Black get back into the pro game after a decade away from a PBA head coaching job.

13. Enrico Villanueva back as a Bull

We still have fond memories of Enrico Villanueva popping his jersey after monster dunks when he played for Red Bull, where he enjoyed superstar status after leading the team to the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference title. He may not be as explosive as he once was, but we’re hoping the old red jersey could bring out the Raging Bull in Villanueva.

14. Free Nonoy Baclao!

We’ve always been big fans of Noy Baclao, the soft-spoken former top overall pick from Ateneo who has spent the past year-and-a-half buried deep in Petron’s bench. Now he’s got an opportunity to showcase what he’s got on a young Air 21 team.

15. PBA goes retro


Robert Jaworski's Meralco jersey from 1971 in the defunct MICAA. Photo courtesy of Carlo Ricohermoso
Meralco will be sporting its throwback jerseys from its 1970s MICAA, while Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s new jerseys have an old school feel. We hope that this would be the start of a trend for PBA teams wearing retro jerseys and using simpler, more classic logo designs instead of cartoonish logos that were last popular in the mid-1990s.

16. Ginebra fans going crazy on social media

In sports, it’s not out of the ordinary for fans to celebrate on social media when their teams win. But Ginebra diehards are a different breed; they actually take to Twitter to pour out their sorrows, and those become trending topics.
Last season, they pondered how they would spend their summer without Ginebra, after their favorite team was eliminated. They also had a little fun with coach Siot Tanquingcen, playing a Twitter game with his name after a painful loss to B-MEG.

17. The Beast

We’ve seen Calvin Abueva beast it up in the NCAA. He won’t join Alaska until after the league wraps up, but we can’t wait to find out whether he could do the same in the PBA.

18. Awesome fan art

Wallpapers, infographics, photo memes… we love all of them!

19. AKTV’s courtside reporters

Admit it, you missed them as much as we did.

AKTV/Paolo Papa

20. Marcio Lassiter’s Petron debut

It feels like Marcio Lassiter was traded to Petron eons ago. Amazingly, he has never played a single game for his new team after missing all of the Governors’ Cup.

21. Chris Tiu in the PBA


PBA/Nuki Sabio
Sure he’s played in the league before as part of the original SMART-Gilas national team. Tiu was a big what-if for PBA fans after he skipped the draft last year despite being one of the more productive players — and certainly the most visible — among SMART-Gilas players. Now he gets to show people just how good he really is as he struts his wares a real PBA player.

22. A full season from the Cebuano hotshot

Dondon Hontiveros suffered an ACL tear in his first game last season, then saw limited action in the Governors’ Cup for Petron. He was traded to Alaska in the offseason, and he figures to get much more minutes with his new team than his old one.

23. Championship celebrations

We love how the goofy side of coaches and players come out when they win a PBA title.

AKTV/Paolo Papa

AKTV/Pranz Kaeno Billones

24. Championship celebrations featuring Erika Padilla

This deserves its own entry.

25. The big boys will be back


AKTV/Paolo Papa
It won’t be for a few months, but the Commissioner’s Cup will once again feature no height restrictions on imports.

26. Glenn Capacio, PBA coach

We’ll admit: We’re fans of Glenn Capacio during his playing days as a defensive stopper, so we’ll be rooting for him to do well as coach of GlobalPort.

27. The PBA’s next viral sensation

We just know that something goofy will happen, like the classic Mick Pennisi flop, and we’re eager to find out what it’ll be.

28. Jayson Sensation

Talk ‘N Text did not play in the finals for the first time in six conferences, and that allowed Jayson Castro to finally get treatment on his injured ankles. He was busting up everyone last season on broken wheels; we couldn’t imagine what he would be doing to the rest of the league when he’s completely healthy.

29. Extra Rice Incorporated layeth the smacketh down

Beau Belga and JR Quinahan are the new generation of the Bruise Brothers, the league’s foremost enforcers. During last season’s Governors’ Cup finals, Belga drew so much anger from the B-MEG crowd that he may as well have been a wrestling heel. We love it, just as long as he doesn’t hit anyone with a steel chair.

30. Big Game James


InterAKTV/Justin Gener
James Yap struggled for many parts of the eliminations last season, but always raised his game during the finals. He performs best when he’s on the big stage.

31. Sakuragi’s healthy finger


AKTV/Paul Ryan Tan
Marc Pingris fractured his left ring finger during the Commissioner’s Cup finals, and spent the whole Governors’ Cup playing with a broken finger. With the offseason break, Sakuragi finally was able to give it time to heal, and we hope that it actually had enough time to get healthy.

32. Cabagnot in the clutch


AKTV file photo/Paolo Papa
We know it’s going to happen: The Petron Blaze Boosters will be down late in a ballgame with just seconds to go. They’d call a timeout to set up a play, but it will be well-played, so Alex Cabagnot would have no choice but to take it himself. And he’d make the shot. We all know it’s going to happen, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

33. In the red corner… Yousef Taha

We’re kinda curious what happens when GlobalPort plays Air 21 again because of this:

34. The comeback kids

They’re not star players, but we’re looking forward to seeing guys like Nic Belasco, Eddie Laure, Marvin Cruz, and Chris Pacana continuing their respective PBA careers after spending the past season in the ASEAN Basketball League.

35. More material for Rob Reyes

Have you been reading Rob’s excellent columns here on InterAKTV? If you haven’t you’re missing out. Check them out here.

36. Jayjay Helterbrand, elder statesman


PBA/Nuki Sabio
The 2009 PBA Most Valuable Player wants to play until he’s 40. If he continues to stay healthy, we have no doubt that he can do it.

37. Dynamite Danny playing like he’s 20


AKTV/Paolo Papa
We hope Danny Seigle can have another run like he did in last year’s Commissioner’s Cup, when he went gangbusters and played like it’s 1999.

38. Simon Atkins

We think he’ll be the first backup point guard to become a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.
What are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments.



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Chot lines up Fil-Ams for Asian Games


By Joaquin Henson The Philippine Star Updated September 30, 2012 12:00 AM 2 comments to this post 
Chot Reyes charts a play during a timeout at the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo.
Zoom
MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas national basketball coach Chot Reyes left for the US the other night to check out Fil-Am players whom he might enlist to see action at the Asian Games in Incheon on Sept. 19-Oct. 4, 2014. Reyes is also engaging coach Vance Walberg in a private one-on-one session on the dribble-drive offense in Fresno, California today.
“We’re not sure about the availability of PBA players for the Asian Games so we’re looking to build up our cadet squad with Fil-Am reinforcements,” said Reyes. “Since the Asian Games is not a FIBA-sanctioned tournament like the FIBA Asia Cup or the FIBA Asia Championships, the rule of showing a Philippine passport before turning 16 won’t apply. All it takes to be eligible is to show a Philippine passport.”
Reyes said at the moment, he’s looking to recruit college stars Garvo Lanete, Greg Slaughter, Kiefer Ravena, Nico Salva, Kevin Alas, Ronald Pascual and R. R. Garcia for the cadet team. Fil-Am Matt Ganuelas, who’ll make his debut with NLex in the PBA D-League next month, is a shoo-in for the Gilas roster. Ganuelas’ brother Brandon, a 6-7 forward soon to graduate from high school, is another prospect.
“The UAAP and NCAA will still be playing games at the time as the Asian Games,” said Reyes. “And the PBA will just be starting its season so I don’t think the pros can be released. The best thing to do is to gather the best collegiate players and reinforce the pool with three or four Fil-Ams.”
Among the Fil-Ams whom Reyes is out to scout are 6-4 Stephen Holt of St. Mary’s College, 6-4 Jordan Clarkson of the University of Missouri-Columbia, 6-4 Jace Tavita and 6-8 Christian Stanhardinger of the University of Hawaii, 6-9 Isaac Holstein of West Virginia State and 6-7 Moala Tautuaa of Chadron State.
Tautuaa, 23, averaged 14 points for Chadron State this past season and the 240-pound forward is headed to play as an Asean import with Kuala Lumpur under coach Ariel Vanguardia in the ABL. Holt, 20, averaged 10.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 28 games, including 27 starts, with St. Mary’s last campaign. Stanhardinger, 23, played two years at Nebraska before moving to Hawaii but there may be a problem with his FIBA status because he suited up for Germany in the under-18 European Championships. Stanhardinger’s mother Elizabeth is a Filipina. He was born in Munich. At the under-18 European Championships, Stanhardinger scored 16 points against Israel and 15 against Russia.
Reyes said Jared Dillinger referred him to Tavita and Stanhardinger because their Hawaii coach was also his varsity coach. Two of Hawaii’s assistant coaches are Scott Fisher who once played as a naturalized citizen for Australia and Brandyn Akana who conducted clinics here for Nike some years back.
Reyes said the highlight of his one-week US trip is meeting Walberg. The private session was arranged by Ron Jacobs’ best friend Paul Howard, a former Arizona State coach living in Los Angeles, through Gilas assistant coach Joseph Uichico.
Walberg, 56, was formerly head coach at Pepperdine University and is now an assistant at the University of Massachussetts. In 2003-06, he coached Fresno City College to a 133-11 record, including a 34-0 mark one season, employing his patented dribble-drive motion offense also known as the Memphis Attack. Walberg was scheduled to conduct a clinic for coaches in Fresno yesterday and will meet Reyes today. Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has reportedly conferred with Walberg on the dribble-drive offense, too. It is rumored that Walberg may be on the way to Denver for a session with Nuggets coach George Karl.
Reyes said he will show Walberg videos of the Gilas games against Iran and Qatar from the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo. “I’m hoping to get his inputs on how we can improve, particularly in the games where we struggled,” he said. “The dribble-drive system is something we can apply because it presumes quickness which we have. But it also means we must have good shooters to receive the kick-out pass.”

source: http://www.philstar.com/thedeanscorner/articlescontent.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=69&articleid=854444
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2012-13 PBA Preview: Can San Mig Coffee live up to Tim Cone’s vision?


Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/2012-13-pba-preview-can-san-mig-coffee-live-up-to-tim-cones-vision

Rey Joble and Jaemark Tordecilla, InterAKTV · Saturday, September 29, 2012 · 11:49 pm


PBA/Nuki Sabio
Tim Cone is happy about the progress of his team, especially the return of his players from injury.
Official Lineup
No.Player
2Wesley Gonzales
3Jonas Villanueva
4Rafi Reavis
8Peter June Simon
9JC Intal
10Jewel Ponferada
14Andy Mark Barroca
15Marc Pingris
17John Aldrech Ramos
18James Yap
19Jerwin Gaco
22Chris Pacana
38Joe Devance
95Yancy de Ocampo
Head Coach:
Earl Timothy Cone
Assistant Coaches:
Enrico Banal, Richard del Rosario, Jeffrey Cariaso, Johnny Abarrientos
“JC Intal has started playing for us four days ago and saw action in a tune up game. Joe Devance, on the other hand, joined the a couple of days ago. I’m happy that the team’s weapons are slowly coming back and part of the reason why for me to be excited in the coming season,” Cone told InterAKTV.
Intal and Devance missed Governors’ Cup finals, which the team lost in seven games to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. Their re-entry installs San Mig Coffee as a favorite in the Philippine Cup, where the Purefoods franchise enjoys a long winning tradition.
But it’s also the tournament where they experienced their most bitter defeat last season, in the quarterfinals at the hands of the Powerade Tigers.
“We don’t want to dwell on that too much, but that conference was a remarkable one and it’s something unforgettable. But we’ve put the result behind us now,” said Cone.
“We have a different group now. We still had Kerby [Raymundo], Roger [Yap] and Rico [Maierhofer] when we lost to Powerade in the Philippine Cup quarterfinals. We have JC, Yancy [De Ocampo], and several new faces on the team now like Aldrech Ramos and Chris Pacana. We’re looking forward to have another fruitful season beginning the Philippine Cup.”
But to have a successful season, the winningest mentor among active coaches believes the leaders of the squad will have to step up.
“We had success in two of three conferences last season because of Denzel Bowles and Marqus Blakely. Now, it’s up to James [Yap], PJ [Simon], Ping [Marc Pingris] and Joe to step up. They’re the leaders of this team. I do hope they won’t look for the imports this time to get the job done for us,” added Cone.
The inclusion of rookies Ramos and Jewel Ponferada also gives Cone reason to be upbeat.
“We really like Aldrech because with him around, we have a big guy who can shoot and extend the floor for us. We didn’t have that before with Joe out and Ping not known as a shooting big man,” Cone said.
“Jewel, on the other hand, is a tough kid. He’s been dominating our practices, providing us toughness in the interior. That’s something we don’t have when we lost to rain or Shine in last conference’s finals.”
Another draft pick, 6-foot-9 Gian Chu, wasn’t included in the roster yet. “He’s a good kid. He has the height and the shooting ability, but we have decided to put him in our developmental unit,” Cone said.
AKTV/Paolo Papa
Outlook: It’s quite remarkable just how much success the team had last season — the Llamados raced to No. 1 in the elims of the Philippine Cup before getting ambushed by Powerade, they won the Commissioner’s Cup, and were a game away from winning the Governors’ Cup — and yet, it seemed like they weren’t even playing all that well.
There were games when the squad would still visibly struggle with the tenets of Cone’s triangle offense and they would hardly look like a champion team. James Yap struggled for long stretches of the Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors’ Cup (until the finals), while players were battling all sorts of issues, but they still won more games than most teams except for Talk ‘N Text.
Last Season Review
Lost twice to Powerade in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Cup to get eliminated
Won the Commissioner’s Cup
Lost to Rain or Shine, 4-3, in the best-of-seven Governors’ Cup finals
It’s scary to think how good this team would be when Cone is finally able to get them to play the way he wants them to play — that’s a testament to how good a coach he is. But then the question for San Mig Coffee is whether they would ever get there at all.
Even during the Governors’ Cup, there were times when the players looked uncomfortable on the floor. They’re no longer young players; Yap, Pingris, Devance, and Simon are all on the wrong side of 30. There’s an argument to be made that this team has reached its ceiling under Cone.
Then again, that ceiling means that, under Cone, the Mixers are a threat to contend for a title, tournament after tournament. That’s not bad at all.
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Ravena carries Ateneo past La Salle as Blue Eagles return to finals



InterAKTV · Saturday, September 29, 2012 · 6:30 pm
InterAKTV file photo/Roy Afable
Kiefer Ravena exploded in the fourth quarter, while Ryan Buenafe hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 55.6 seconds left to lift Ateneo to a thrilling 66-63 victory over La Salle in the semifinals of UAAP Season 75 Saturday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Ravena finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. He had 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the fourth quarter to take over for the Blue Eagles.
“Sinabi ko lang sa sarili ko na ayaw kong magpatalo,” Ravena said. “We had the chance to go to the finals and we grabbed it na.”
Ateneo was down, 49-38, early in the final period before Ravena put on a show. The second-year guard scored or assisted in every Ateneo basket as the Blue Eagles unleashed a 21-6 run to take a 59-55 lead with less than four minutes remaining.
La Salle rookie Jeron Teng broke the silence for Ateneo with a layup, but the Blue Eagles responded with a Greg Slaughter basket at the other end.
Green Archers hotshot Almond Vosotros then scored five straight points to bring the lead back to La Salle, 62-61, with over a minute left. But Ravena dished off to the right corner to an open Buenafe, who buried a three-pointer to give the Blue Eagles the lead for good.
La Salle still had a chance when Ravena was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Teng with 15 seconds left. Teng only managed to split his free throws, and turned the ball over in the ensuing possession. Buenafe sealed the game with two free throws.
Nico Salva contributed 12 points for Ateneo.
Yutien Andrada led La Salle with his 17 points and six rebounds.
Ateneo, the four-time defending champion, returns to the finals where it faces University of Santo Tomas. It will be a rematch of the 2006 UAAP finals, when the Growling Tigers led by Jervy Cruz and Jojo Duncil pulled off an upset over the Blue Eagles bannered by JC Intal and Doug Kramer.
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2012-13 PBA Preview: Can a new system bring order to Petron?



Mikkel Bolante and Jaemark Tordecilla, InterAKTV · Saturday, September 29, 2012 · 5:49 pm
AKTV/Bannie O. Bravante
The rich — the Petron Blaze Boosters in this case — just got a whole lot richer this offseason after adding rookies June Mar Fajardo and Alex Mallari, – the 1st and 3rd picks of the PBA draft, to an already star-studded lineup that had its former coach wondering if they were already too strong.
No.Player
2Dennis Miranda
3Chris Lutz
4Dorian Pena
5Alex Cabagnot
10Danny Ildefonso
11Jojo Duncil
13Marcio Lassiter
24Magi Sison
18Joseph Yeo
20Alex Mallari
22June Mar Fajardo
23Jay Washington
26Chico Lanete
29Arwind Santos
Injured/Reserve
Hans Thiele
Paolo Hubalde
Head Coach:
Rodericko Racela
Coaching Consultant:
Rajko Toroman
Assistant Coaches:
Gelacio Abanilla, Biboy Ravanes, Pido Jarencio, Bobby Parks Sr., Jorge Gallent
But with a new head coach and a new system being implemented, Petron coach Olsen Racela is preaching patience with this squad and says that management is taking the same approach.
“From management walang pressure. Sinabihan nila ako that they’re not expecting results right away,” said Racela. “And I’m not looking for a championship right away. My concern is how we improve as a team, the way we play. The result will take care of itself.”
And with Racela and team consultant Rajko Toroman installing a new system, a little patience might be in order.
“San Miguel since I had been playing has always been about execution. With coach Rajko, ganoon din sila sa SMART-Gilas before. So yun ang gusto namin dalhin sa team na ito — to be more of an executing team and to add to the defensive philosophy na dinala naman ni coach Ato [Agustin] two years ago,” said Racela.
If there’s one thing to look forward to right away, though, it’s the 6-foot-10 Fajardo, who will be stepping into the starting role right away. Racela says the rookie will play major minutes and will serve as the defensive anchor for the squad. He will be asked to control the rebounds as well, something the team struggled with when Dorian Pena was off the floor last year.
Mallari, too, will be part of the rotation with players like Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz and Chico Lanete still hurt as the season opens.
“My challenge right now is to get the players to play together. Yun ang tingin sa amin ng mga tao last year eh. That you have a strong lineup but that alone doesn’t translate to a championship. So you have to get them to play together,” said Racela.
PBA Preview: Air 21 | Alaska | Barako Bull | Ginebra | GlobalPort
Meralco | Petron | Rain or Shine | San Mig Coffee | Talk ‘N Text
AKTV/Pranz Kaeno Billones
Outlook: There’s so much excitement over the team’s changes in the offseason — the new coach, the new system, and the new rookies — that we’d all kind of forgotten about the main issue with the team: the ongoing drama between Arwind Santos and Jay Washington.
Former coach Ato Agustin didn’t name any names when he hinted that the team had too much talent, and that some players need to sacrifice and play a role. But everyone knew he was talking about his two, uber-talented forwards who happened to be playing the same position.
Washington is the best offensive power forward in the league, with his unique combination of speed, athleticism, and lethal touch. He is damn near unstoppable when he gets rolling, and he might be the most dangerous offensive weapon in all of the PBA when he’s in rhythm.
Last Season Review
Lost to Talk ‘N Text, 4-3, in the best-of-seven Philippine Cup semifinals
Finished ninth in the Commissioner’s Cup eliminations to fail to advance to the playoffs
Finished sixth in the Governors’ Cup semifinals to fail to advance to the finals
That has put a crimp on the style of Santos, who is forced to move to the small forward spot. It’s important because when he’s playing the four-spot, Santos stays closer to the basket, allowing him to wreak havoc on the boards — which is how he led the league in rebounding last season — as well as anchor the defense by protecting the rim. When he’s playing the three-spot, he has to chase quicker guys around the perimeter, and he is reduced to a taller version of Jireh Ibañes.
Put it this way: when he’s playing power forward, Arwind Santos is decidedly Spider-Man. When he moves to small forward, he turns into Peter Parker.
Last season, Agustin tried to solve this problem by playing Washington at center, which made the team too small and too soft down low.
So there’s still that issue, and it’d be interesting to see how the brain trust led by Racela and Toroman deal with it. Maybe they’d be able to find a creative solution, or maybe they’d be force to choose one over the other. In any case, it’s something they need to answer for the franchise to be able to move forward.
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