By Jason Cruz
Northwest Asian Weekly
Welcome to another edition of The Layup Drill. In this edition, we take a look at Filipino Night at an NHL game, two Seattle designers who created Kraken jerseys, an MLB Rookie winning an award, a Filipino family of triathletes, and an NBA player experiencing struggles.
NHL team hosts Filipino Heritage Night
Winnipeg Jets logo for Filipino Heritage Night
The Winnipeg Jets are hosting a Filipino Heritage Night in November at a game versus the Dallas Stars.
Notably, the Stars’ have Filipino American Jason Robertson on the team. The Jets collaborated with a Filipino Canadian graphic designer, Jonato Dalayoan, and Marc Gomez. The logo design includes the eight-ray golden sun surrounding the Jets roundel. The sun is a prominent symbol on the Filipino flag and within the culture. Three stars within the circle, also found on the flag, represent the three major island groups of the Philippines—Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The three colors of the Filipino flag are overlaid on the jet reflecting the integration of Filipino heritage into Canadian culture.
The logo will be featured on the team’s warm up jerseys and then will be auctioned off following the game in support of Filipino youth initiatives in the community.
In an interview with hockey media, Dalayoan said he drew inspiration from tattoos, textiles, and tribal patterns when making the logo. Dalayoan said, “I don’t want people to think it’s just for Filipino people. I wanted it to be cool enough that everybody would wear it.” Merchandise with the logo will be sold on the Jets’ website.
In a 2021 census survey, Canadian Filipinos made up over 2.5% of the overall Canadian population and numbering over 957,000 across Canada.
Seattle artists design Kraken jerseys for specialty nights
Two local Seattle artists were chosen to create designs for jerseys for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken this season. Monyee Chau and Erin Wallace designed jerseys that the players will wear for warmups for upcoming home games. Chau designed the jersey for Lunar New Year Night on Jan. 21, 2023. Wallace designed the jersey for Women in Hockey Night on March 7, 2023.
Wallace is a first-generation Chinese American artist living in Seattle. She has worked on projects with Amazon, Target, and Starbucks.
Also of Chinese descent, Chau is an artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish. Through their art, they explore the intersection between being queer and Taiwanese/Chinese. They have exhibited in spaces local and internationally including the Wing Luke Museum, Bellevue Arts Museum, SOIL gallery, Museum of Northwest Art, and California College of Arts and Crafts.
Stephen Kwan earns Gold Glove
Cleveland Guardians left fielder Stephen Kwan won a gold glove for his outfield play this season which is awarded by Major League Baseball. Kwan was one of four Cleveland Guardians to win a Gold Glove, which is voted upon by the 30 Major League Baseball teams. Despite being a natural center fielder in the minor leagues, Kwan played left field with reckless abandon and had several highlight reel catches, including one on the night that Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Seattle, where he dove headfirst into the stands to make a catch.
Kwan, in his first year in the major leagues, would have been strongly considered for Rookie of the Year in Major League Baseball were it not for the Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez.
Filipino triathletes compete in Ironman 70.3 Ironman World Championships
The Ramos family
Last month, the Ramos Family participated in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah. A triathlete (the sport consists of swimming, biking, and running) must come up with a qualifying time to make the World Championships in St. George.
The family is made up of triathletes. Jet is a retired banker that is a dominating force in his age group division. His wife, Lou Ann, coaches other triathletes, and also competes. They have three sons following in their footsteps.
Jet finished the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run in 4 hours and 47 minutes. Lou Ann also participated in the World Championships.
Joshua, 20, is already setting his own marks in his age bracket in triathlons across the world. He represented the Philippine National Triathlon Team in September in the 2022 Asia Triathlon Championships. The race was shorter than the 70.3, a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike, and 10-kilometer run. Dash, 15, and Arrow, 12, are also on their way to follow in the family footsteps.
The family, originally from Baguio, but now residing in Arizona, travel all over to compete in long distance triathlons. Last year at St. George, Jethro beat his son by 15 minutes in the 70.3 race.
Nets center makes untimely error
Brooklyn Nets forward Yuta Watanabe (18) reacts to a foul call during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
The Brooklyn Nets have had a horrible start to the NBA season. The team fired their coach, Steve Nash, due to their 2-6 start. Kyrie Irving retweeted anti-semitic comments on Twitter and did not apologize for what he said.
In fact, he was combative with the media for questioning his personal beliefs and was subsequently suspended by the team.
Brooklyn’s forward Yuta Watanabe signed on with the team this past season after two years in Toronto. A bright spot for the native from Japan has been his play with the Nets. He is seeing more playing time and is one of the team’s sparks off the bench.
However, in a game in late October against the Indiana Pacers, it appeared that the 6-foot-8 Watanabe forgot which team he was on. After a shot by a Pacers player, Watanabe appeared to catch the rebound and slam dunk the ball into their basket.
The replay looked as though Watanabe skied over the other players and guided the ball into the basket. The basket counted and Watanabe regretted the move.
Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.