Chris Tiu is hot, hot, hot!
For several years now, Manny Pacquiao has been dubbed the quintessential national icon of his generation. The man is so prodigiously celebrated that even the crime rate is said to be at its all-time low when his matches are ongoing. A true vanguard and role model to the Filipino youth, Manny is arguably the modern age Muhammad Ali for today’s knotty and oftentimes ill-fated Juan de la Cruz. But in the field of collegiate basketball, that honor and status insignia is reserved for Chris Tiu, shooting guard and Captain Ball of the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
Born Christopher John Alandy Dy Tiu on July 15, 1985, the image model-cum-athlete is currently playing co-host to his sports contemporary and boxing idol Manny Pacquiao for Pinoy Records, a sports-oriented magazine show for GMA-7. In his travels abroad, Chris has witnessed several of the boxer’s bouts in Las Vegas, appreciating the fervor and solidarity that most Filipinos share every time the Pambansang Kamao deals the momentous KO to his international contenders. “I’m very privileged to be working with Manny,” the Applied Math and Finance senior shares, adding, “The man has a really good heart.”
Chris segues his admiration for Pac-Man to the latter’s philanthropy in extending aid towards the victims of Typhoon Frank, a storm that previously ravaged the Philippine archipelago. In a similar note, the respected Barangay Kagawad of Urdaneta Village in Makati also admires that much about another favorite athlete of his,’ NBA superstar Steve Nash who the former reveals to be very community-oriented and geared towards the less-fortunate. The guy’s Jesuit education in Xavier may have a lot to do with the Christ-bearer’s affinity towards the marginalized sectors of society. Christopher, as his name suggests, credits both the discipline behind his craft and his Catholic school upbringing for his spiffy clean image as seen in his ads for Nesvita, Adidas, and Hanford. “My mom and my dad made sure that my siblings and I had the right values growing up. And we’re Chinese so we were raised in a very conservative environment,” he relates.
Despite a hectic schedule, Chris has managed to complete his major in Management Engineering in 2007 and is juggling his current major with a minor degree in Chinese Studies. “Actually, when I graduated from High School, I really wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do,” the Michael Jordan fan professes. “But I knew that I wanted to get into business later on.” On whether or not he wishes he were a full-time student in light of his colossal obligations, the self-confessed introvert relates, “Not exactly. Being fulltime is very limiting. Starting early makes you ahead of your peers in terms of exposure and experience.”
When not in class, Chris is normally grinding on the hard court in his lucky number 17 jersey. His daily itinerary can be as unpredictable and exhilarating as an adrenaline-packed game between La Salle and Ateneo. “I don’t really have a regular schedule,” the avid fan of Taiwanese R&B singer Jay Chou admits. One morning, Chris can be garbed in a business suit, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Manny V. Pangilinan. On another, he could be dressed down to tsinelas and simple shorts, and doing outreach activities in the province. “While we’re young, we should try to do as much as we can,” Chris stresses, adding, “Later on in life, we can afford to slow down.”
So how exactly does a once consistent dean’s lister like Chris make the nefarious cut? He says that you have to manage your time wisely and work smart. “Some people take so much time studying and end up losing more hours. For me, what I have to know is the gist of the matter,” he shares. “Also, it has a lot to do with self-discipline.”
While the 5’11” Asian counterpart of High School Musical’s Troy Bolton coins himself as being a relatively tame guy, Chris admits to having experienced his own share of otherworldly encounters back in his youth. “My mom used to have these antique vases and one night, I heard funny sounds coming from the inside,” he slips, adding, “It really freaked me out!” Other than that, he says that he was a pretty boring kid. The budding TV personality also reveals this much when asked about whether or not he had childhood quirks, habits, or invisible friends: “None. But the closest thing I had to an invisible friend was Ghost Writer who used to appear in the iChannel.”
Apart from his academic and extra-curricular obligations, Chris also enjoys listening to music, reading books, traveling, and playing the piano to ease the nerves. Being classically trained in his younger years, the nature-lover opted to learn playing chords so that he could improvise the songs he wanted to play. A huge disciple of the Broadway classics, he notes, “My favorite piece is All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera.”
The regular at Rockwell Power Plant also enjoys a nice round of golf away from the city and flying to Vancouver for the food and the weather. “It’s very quiet and laidback unlike Hong Kong,” he says of the major Canadian seaport, diverting, “But I love the food in both countries.” He also wants to rediscover Europe, having previously traveled to the famed continent. On another page, Chris considers Brad Pitt to be his penultimate style icon. And whether or not he admits to having a real life Angelina, he reveals, “Yes, I have a girlfriend.”
At this point, Chris is considering a cursory move to the PBA after serving his time with the Ateneo Blue Eagles. He shares, “I never really saw basketball as a career. But now that I’m here, I’m opening myself to trying it out for awhile.” At present, he is ever so motivated to bag the championship for his alma mater, especially since he’s never won one before. But as per his biggest achievement, he confesses, “I guess it’s being the captain of the Blue Eagles and being a person of influence towards the youth. Although I set really high standards for myself.”
In retrospect, perhaps Chris Tiu has a lot more in common with his boxing idol than he thinks. As the latter keeps millions of Filipinos at a standstill during his boxing bouts, Chris has thousands of Ateneans glued to the edge of their seats during an action-packed basketball season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Both happen to be very service-oriented and serve as a ballyhooed icon and inspiration to the true-blue Atenean and the young or young at heart Juan de la Cruz. It’s really no surprise that the two athletes ended up hosting a show together – an infotainment piece about making records no less. But as far as the Ateneo Basketball Team Captain in his final bid for gold is concerned, perhaps the Blue Eagle may have lucked out on playing bedfellow to the ultimate boxing champ. After all, if there’s any truth to the saying that birds of the same feather flock together, more so eagles, then maybe a championship seems not at all too far from Chris’s athletic horizon.
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