MVP happy with NLEX buildup

TEAM owner Manny V. Pangilinan must have been so pleased with the result of the tuneup game between his newest PBA team NLEX and Grand Slam champ San Mig Super Coffee that he invited the Road Warriors to a first-class Chinese dinner after their upset of the Mixers, 84-81, in a preseason outing in Laguna.

MVP never expected the Road Warriors, who barely had time to practice and blend, to beat the highly touted Coffee Mixers, who had just returned from a series of friendly games in Korea.

Coaching NLEX in that win were assistants Adonis Tierra and Raymond Celis. Head mentor Boyet Fernandez will only join  the NLEX bench after the 2014 NCAA season.

This was no ordinary invitation to an ordinary Chinese restaurant. The team members were asked to submit their passports because Hong Kong was the venue of the dinner.

However, I heard that the Road Warriors begged off from the trip. But the dinner with MVP will push through at his new residence in a posh residential area in Makati.

* * *

If San Mig Coffee had a Grand Slam this season, show biz/sports columnist Nap Gutierrez had his own version of a “three-peat.”

This year, he celebrated his birthday thrice in a row—the first at New Icon Hotel and the last two at Gerry’s Grill in Greenhills.

The festivities, according to Nap, were sponsored by wealthy friends.

The most star-studded was the third, held last Friday. Most of Nap’s guests were hunky college cagers, but there were big-name stars too, like James Yap, who came with gorgeous Italian  girlfriend Michela Cazzola, Gary and Jenny David, comedy queen Ai-Ai de las Alas, escorted by DLSU badminton player Gerald Sibayan, the Ravena family, Kiefer, Thirdy and mom Mozzy, Danny Espiritu, Jaime Alcantara, MyPhone president, and Solar Entertainment chief Wilson Tieng, among many others.

It’s hard to tell exactly how much weight James gained since he left Manila in late July for a six-week vacation in Italy with Michela, but yesterday his muscles were bulging like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s and he was sporting a new hairstyle.  The PBA scribes agreed the added muscles and the new hairstyle looked good.

Michela admitted she had been feeding him pasta and pizza, which accounts for the added  pounds.

Gary, on the other hand, is happy to be back with his family after a tour of duty with Gilas Pilipinas that took him away from them for more than two months.