Spanning 600 meters in length on an asphalt road with curves that twist and snake, it’s called Kartzone.
At 9 p.m. last Tuesday, while the black sky enveloped Cebu, flood lights radiated on Kartzone. The Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC), our group whose sporting words you read about each morning, converged to tackle the one sport that’s defined by one word: Speed.
Rico Navarro, Raffy Osumo, Mike Limpag and Noel Villaflor
I have read dozens of articles on the epic Roger vs. Rafa final but must say that the best piece comes from one of the best (if not THE best) tennis writer in the world, Peter Bodo. (If Pete Sampras, who recently released his autobiography, “A Champion’s Mind,” chose him to be co-author…. then he must be the best, right?)
Read Peter Bodo’s article here.
(EPA/V. Donev)
Squandered break points. Rain delays. Two-set comebacks. Saved match points. A finish just 12 minutes shy of five hours. And, at 9:16 p.m. London time, the latest ending for a Wimbledon singles final. It wasn’t just a Grand Finale. It was a Match For The Ages. A rivalry that’s unrivalled. A marathon classic. Here are 14 random thoughts…
1. Manny Sainz, the president of Casino Español de Cebu, is beaming a toothful grin today. Next to our own, his favorite country won. And how Spain has dominated sports… Nadal wins two Grand Slam titles. Spain win football’s Euro 2008. Pablo Larrazabal (any relation with Dr. Yong?) wins golf’s Open de France. And Alejandro Valverde wins the Tour de France first stage en route to possibly the yellow jersey in Paris. Said Manny Sainz: Viva España!
Please watch the movie tonight. Please do. Sorry, it’s not starring Manny Pacquiao—he’s no heavyweight. Tonight, at 9 p.m. (RP time), it’s a battle between two champions.
One is the undisputed titleholder on grass. He’s won 65 of the last 65 on the greens; 40 straight on this tournament that you’ve probably heard of, Wimbledon. The other is the undisputed combatant on clay. Of 117 matches on the red dirt, he’s won 115; he’s 28 of 28 matches at another event you probably know: the French Open.
Tonight, the two settle the score. They’ll score. One against one. Nobody else on the boxing ring—or, the 78-ft. x 27-ft. tennis court rectangle, it’s called—will be there, not even the presence beside their chairs of their coaches or trainers.
This title fight is compelling because of how similar—and dissimilar—these two champions look. They both wear Nike. They’re 6-foot-1. They both wear white. They both have first-names that begin with “R” and represent countries that start with “S.”
They are two of the most celebrated siblings on this planet. They are rivals, doubles partners, Olympic gold medalists, fashion icons, Grand Slam champions, magazine cover models and yet, amidst all their similarities, they are opposites.
Venus is tall. She’s lean. Her legs are bamboo poles. Her arms as slender as spaghetti. She’s 6-foot-1 and weighs only 160 lbs.
Serena is large-scale. Her physique is, so unlike Manny Pacquiao’s, heavyweight-like. She’s massive, imposing, sizable. Her legs are two Veco posts. Her arms as sturdy as Grade-A steel. At 5 feet, 11 inches, she weighs, according to Wikipedia, a reported 180 lbs.
One, we pity David Diaz. My father-in-law, Jack Mendez, one of the toughest men I know who runs Centurion Security Agency and it’s over 1,000-strong force, wiped a tear in his eye when Diaz’s face, lying flat on the floor, all-bloodied with a lump on his left eye, was shown. Because while we cheered for Pac-Man, here was an opponent who grew up poor, whose father was a “no-read, no-write” child, and a boxing champ who could barely afford an SUV because he drove an old-model Honda with no air-con.
Two, as much as we pitied him, Diaz shouldn’t have been on the same ring with Manny. He was one of the worst enemies Pacquiao ever faced. One of the most banga. He was slow-footed, slow-paced, slow-going and just stood at the center, hanging his head like a Wild Card Gym punching bag.
1. If you add up all his recent earnings so far, plus put into the equation what he will earn in the next two years or so, Manny Pacquiao is well on his way to becoming “the only billionaire Filipino athlete in history,” as pointed out by renowned boxing writer Salven Lagumbay.
2. Manny’s first boxing hero was Ala Villamor. As a small boy, he would steal the transistor radio from his mom and would listen to the Ala Villamor drama played on the radio. That prompted him to box.
Edito “ALA” Villamor, Boom-Boom Bautista and Jingo Quijano
3. A study made by some amateur officials in Gen. Santos City years back reveals that Manny is the only known Filipino fighter whose heartbeat does not change even after several minutes of strenuous and rigorous activity. The only other fighter known to have this trait was the legendary Salvador Sanchez, touted by many as the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.
I will never forget the month of September last year.
Three times, together with my fellow mediamen, we wore blue-and-yellow jerseys to play basketball against a dozen players called “Team Pacquiao.” Against the boxing world champion himself—Pacman—we dribbled and scored baskets twice at the City Sports Club and once at the Cebu Coliseum. On one occasion when I guarded him, I attempted to steal the basketball from Manny as we scrambled for the loose ball and fell to the floor with arms locked. It was scary—but fun for Manny.
It is otherwise named, “The International Magazine of Events.” Founded in 1923, each week Time magazine publishes stories ranging from the Iraq War to Barack Obama to the annual “Person of the Year.” This week, with it’s June 20 to July 7 issue, sports fans are lucky.
“Games People Play” is the cover title with the accompanying queries: Who invented chess? Why is polo big in Pakistan? From the ancient city of Ur to modern Africa, from Cornwall to Korea, how sports and games have changed our world.
This issue is a fabulous read! Would you believe, out of the magazine’s 104 pages, a full 60 are devoted to essays, statistics and photos on sports?