Basketball in the 3rd Round?

I'm no sports fan. If you know me, you didn't need me to tell you that.

Anyway, I was with one of our security guards and my fitness trainer watching a basketball game on television Friday night and the graphics on the screen kept flashing "3rd Round".

It didn't take me too terribly long to realize that is NOT a term usually (How about EVER!) associated with basketball. In fact, I can safely say it has eluded even comedy writers. Usually they stick to people (usually women) confusing baseball and football terminology. It's a bit writers have been doing since the days of I Love Lucy and continue to this day because it is such a convenient crutch once they have run out of original dialog and story lines.

This was a professional, live broadcast and, despite our hardy har-hars of laughter, this was not the most amusing part of the game in progress.

It was the teams.

The two teams were, and I am not making this up, the Magnolia Beverage Makers vs. the Pure Foods Tender Juicy Giants.

Read it as many times as you like. Go ahead, I'll wait. It doesn't change, does it?

Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Close your eyes (not just yet...keep reading) and imagine a bunch of guys preparing fountain beverages, mixed drinks, or your local coffee house barista going at it against tender juicy giants, which are hot dogs!

Just from the sounds of the names you'd expect the beverages to get "spilled" by the sausages, but noooo...Friday the latte had drowned the wieners 90-45 by the time I walked out of the room just a few minutes into the "4th Round", which is a boxing term, for those unaware. Boxing, thanks to Manny Pacquiao, is to the Philippines what sumo is to Japan and soccer is to Brazil; a reason to stop everything and watch. Thus, any battle between two teams is likely to be viewed in the colorful language of both that sport and boxing intertwined.

I still can't help but laugh at the poor announcer trying to utter Tender Juicy Giants over and over as they fell further and further behind on the scoreboard!

And that's not the only amusing item of note this week. Our second comes from Music 1, a Philippine CD/DVD chain:

While browsing through their selection of CDs I noticed two titles by Xavier Cugat under the Pop/Rock category.

Huh?

Since when?

No wonder I have trouble locating the CDs I want.