Paco Jarque is one of the luckiest people in Cebu. Why? It’s not because he won the P138,000,000 Super Lotto jackpot or scored a hole-in-one in golf then drove home a brand-new BMW X5, it’s this: Unlike you and me and tens of thousands of others living on this island who love basketball, he gets [...]

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If you subscribe to SkyCable and click on the Balls channel 33, or, if you’re wired to a Dream Satellite TV and point to Solar Sports, each night for the next two weeks you’ll be treated to warfare. Fought on dirty and muddy brown clay, your eyes will feast on two nemesis, each carrying a [...]

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Sunday last week, on this same lazy day, my nine-year-old daughter Jana and I stared at each other at 4 p.m. to ask what we would do next. We had read three books, tossed the Frisbee at the parking lot, and were looking for an activity more exciting. “Dad, why don’t we bike? Let’s go [...]

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Kevin Garnett said it best: “This is my first of, hopefully, many. If you don’t know about the Lakers-Celtics history, then you really don’t know basketball. I’m looking forward to it and I’m going to enjoy it. I’m going to embrace it. I’m going to try not to get too hyped about it. I’m very [...]

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How do you look so calm in such a pressure-filled game? How do you manage to stay unaffected and appear so relaxed in the biggest tournament of the biggest golf club in Cebu? I posed these questions last Saturday to one of the best—if not the best—golfer in Cebu today; to the player who was [...]

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Chuckie (center) with JJ Alvarez and Marco Mendoza

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Eight days ago, two of the best golfers of the 1928-founded Cebu Country Club—and, quite possibly, the entire Cebu—stood at the footsteps of Hole No.1, shook hands, plunged their tees on the grass, then swung. Eric Deen, 43, loomed tall as a four-time champion. He’s the Dean of Golfers. From 1997 to 1999, then again [...]

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When you stroll along the world-famous harbor of Hong Kong, as I did with my family last weekend, your eyes will stare at familiar sights: dozens of high-rise metallic buildings that touch the clouds, green Star Ferry boats that transport 26 million people each year, and thousands of tourists that line the seafront posing for [...]

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His name is Jean Henri Lhuillier. He used to own the Cebu Gems but no longer spends tens of millions on basketball. He is, by heart, Cebuano though he’s lived most of his adult life in Manila. His strongest passion—next to family and business—is this six-letter word that has implanted the name “Lhuillier” among the [...]

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Jandrick de Castro, Johnny Arcilla, April Toledo, Babaw Tiongco, Niño Alcantara and Joseph Arcilla

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It doesn’t matter if you play the sport or not. It’s unimportant if you’ve never swung a backhand in your life and only watch tennis and Rafael Nadal on Star Sports. What’s essential is this: This whole week until Sunday, you have a chance to witness a rare occurrence in Cebu. Who, where, what am [...]

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It’s starting today and finishing next Sunday. It’s one vs. one, two vs. two. There’s singles. Doubles. Fists will be pumped, arms raised, racquets thrown, shouts will echo the arena. There’ll be 36-year-olds competing against 15-year-olds with 82-year-olds applauding. It’s an event that Cebu has not witnessed in years. The last time? In Cebu City? [...]

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Where will you be? Who will you watch? Which sport will you gaze at? Golf? Kart racing? Tennis? Mountain-biking? Or how about observing how horses gallop, sprint and prance during the Rodeo Show in Mandaue? This long May 1 to 4 weekend, from what I’ve seen, will be one of the most crowded of sporting [...]

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