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 law.
Lucky 13? Sure… Wilt Chamberlain, Alex Rodriguez and Dan Marino wore jerseys number “13.” And, in Italy, guess what their lucky number is? Thirteen.
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 the Madison Square Garden. Here’s Dan’s detailed account of what he saw…
(Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)
“Hey John. Hope everything is going great. Just wanted to say I saw the Federer/Sampras exhibition Monday night. It was an outstanding match from my perspective. Though many who saw it found it boring. Not too many long rallys, mostly Sampras serving and volleying, or chipping and charging.
“For Federer’s part, he just did what he could to keep things close and ended up fighting for his life at the end. He won the first set easily, 6-3. Then let the second get to a tiebreak, which Sampras won.”
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. Seen them on TV. Watched them at the Cebu Coliseum or on the MTB track. They’re some of the dozens of awardees that were hailed as 2007 Cebu sports heroes.
Last night at 7 p.m., we all booked a huge function room, invited these top sports personalities, feted them with the best delicacies from the Laguna Garden Cebu, and paid a tribute to their achievements. Like we do each year. For the past 26 years.
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 will open late, churches saying mass at 11 a.m. will experience a 75 percent drop in attendance—all our countrymen rooting for RP’s most revered sportsman in history.
Is Manny Pacquiao prepared? He is. From all my readings on next Sunday’s fight, Pacman is more disciplined; he’s hardened, sharpened, ready to hammer away with his fists.
So I ask: Which prepared Manny better, training in Cebu or in Los Angeles? We’ll find out next week but, this early, my gut feel says Pacquiao is better off staying in Hollywood. Why?
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 fondly called, lived his life devoid of the glitter of fame and fortune of which his family was blessed. Wealth and honor never got the better of him. He lived a simple life, married in September 24, 1961 to an equally simple lady in the person of Adelina Yrastorza, he begot eight children whom he brought up frugally, instilling in them proper family values centering around family solidarity. He was a father overly generous to his children almost to a fault. He was a loving husband and a good provider to his family, being a sugar planter and a businessman in his own right.
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.
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 Olympics, spending $100 million annually and deploying 50,000 people to—believe it or not—keep rain away during the Olympic Opening Ceremony? That China is concocting a storm—yes, a real-life, but man-made, storm—to clear the skies of pollution?
This is no joke. It’s true.
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 gave my son Robert one before a game and I watched what happened. Put it this way it did not affect him adversely, so I decided to put the rest of the team on bananas for the rest of the season.
“The team that I was coaching was not an elite squad of players and many of them you would have to say were not adonis in their physical attributes. They would eat half a banana five to ten minutes before the start of the game and then consume the other half at half time. I expect a lot from the players and I drive them in the heat of the game to go for that extra effort when the occasion arises.
Last January, at around the time of our Sinulog, a group of men and women from Glendale, California, held a friendly tennis encounter with our very own Casino Espanol de Cebu tennis group. The original schedule, January 19 (the day before the Sinulog), rained out so we moved it to Jan. 21, the day after the biggest party and celebration of the year in Cebu. It was competitive, exciting, filled with serves, volleys, lobs and smashes, and both groups enjoyed each other’s company. Thanks to Brian Bailey, who helped facilitate his Glendale group’s visit to Cebu, we had an ace of a time!
