The “Mud-man,” he’s called. On the third hole of the Iloilo Golf and Country Club in Santa Barbara, he swims alone in search of money in a pond where errant golf balls dive. No net to catch, no goggles to see underwater—he searches by hand beneath the pond’s muddy bottom. “Pa-picture anay,” I shouted, not [...]

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More photos…

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(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) He is Tiger Woods by another name. He is Manny Pacquiao on the tennis court. He is the undisputed title-holder, the pound-for-pound champion in this sport using yellow balls, linesmen, deuces. Since Feb. 2, 2004—that’s four long years ago—he has been world no. 1, a record 217 nonstop weeks on [...]

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ILOILO—Each Holy Week for the past three years, I’ve stayed at my wife’s uncle’s beach house in Oton, a town 20 minutes away from Iloilo City. Last year, I wrote an article in Sun.Star Cebu about a sport I exercised here each morning. Here’s a revised version of that piece… Here in the rest house, [...]

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I had to call. I had to seek the opinion of this highly-esteemed Filipino boxing judge. And so yesterday, at 5 p.m., I called. Jonathan Davis, 58, first sat on that high chair beside the ring with pen and paper on hand in 2002. Since then, he has presided as judge over 400 fights. “When [...]

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Today is Manny Pacquiao’s 13th boxing fight in America. I looked up “13” in Wikipedia and it brimmed with dozens of “Unlucky 13” versus “Lucky 13” examples. For instance: Some airlines skip a row 13, many buildings don’t have a 13th floor, and the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1760 B.C.) does not contain a 13th [...]

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Dan Mastous, a huge tennis fan and good friend who lives near Boston, U.S.A., e-mailed to say that last Monday, he was in New York City to watch with 19,000 other spectators a tennis spectacle that’s excited The Big Apple since the event was announced last year. It’s Roger Federer vs. Pete Sampras. Live. At [...]

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Seated (from left): Donnie Nietes, Edito Villamor, John Pages, Dennis Cañete, Chad Cañares; standing: Rey Bautista, Z Gorres, AJ Banal and Michael Domingo Gerry Peñalosa. Donnie Nietes. Niño Ramirez. Eric Llanto. The UV Green Lancers. Maritess Bitbit. Sally Mae Siso. Niño Surban. Antonio Gabica. Kelly Williams. You know these names. You’ve read about them before. [...]

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Nine days from today, all 91 million Filipinos scattered around the globe will sit around TV screens, clap, stomp their feet, pray, and stare at the muscled sight of a hero who’ll aim to finish his “Unfinished Business.” From Davao to Baguio to Ormoc—and in every municipality housed by our 7,107 islands—cars will park, businesses [...]

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Every cause must have a reason. For the past five years the Terry Larrazabal Bike Festival has been in honor of a man who has lived in an unobtrusive way. Born the eldest boy of a family of seven on April 4, 1938 to the late Potenciano Larrazabal and Aniceta Veloso, Terry, as he was [...]

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Among the many Philippine websites devoted to sports, the Terry Larrazabal Bike Fest site is one of the best I’ve found. Check it out at www.tlbf.org.

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This is funny. Absurd. Never done before. Crazy. But, if they’re able to perform what they’ve boldly promised to accomplish, it will be unprecedented. A first. Freakish. An act to prove that man, indeed, is starting to play God. Have you heard this news before? Of China, with only 159 days left before the Beijing [...]

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My good friend from Australia, Graeme Mackinnon, sent this informative and yes, funny, comment. Note: I especially like his last-sentence suggestion! Hehe… Thanks, Graeme! “John, I watched a tennis player chewing on a banana during a game and it got me thinking. So two years ago I decided to give it a try. I quietly [...]

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