2010 – Page 3 – Cebu Sports Blog by John Pages

Cebu Marathon

Only 35 days remain before the 2011 Cebu City Marathon starts at the Asiatown I.T. Park. Thus far, thousands have registered. If you’re among those who have yet to enlist, do so now. The deadline—Dec. 15—is near. Three categories are available for runners and, yes, just as important… non-runners. That’s because if you’re a “non-runner,” there’s a 5K distance that’s perfect for your first footrace.

5,000 meters? This is easy and comfortable. It’s the distance from I.T. Park, down along Salinas Drive, left turn at JY Square, all the way through Gorordo Ave. passing U.P. Cebu, then a U-turn right before the Escario-Gorordo intersection. Then back to the I.T. Park. That’s all. That’s 5K.

The best parts? One, there’s no cut-off time. So even if you walk the entire length at casual pace, you’ll finish in one hour. (The 5K world record, by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, is 12 minutes, 37 seconds!) Two, you’ll wear a timing chip that’s attached to your race number—the first time 5K runners wear the RFID chips in Cebu. Third, at a registration fee of only P500, you get a New Balance running T-shirt.

And so, for this Jan. 9 Sinulog event, I encourage not only the 42K and 21K participants to get excited—but also those joining the 5K. Running amidst thousands of others will not only get your heart beating like a drum roll—it will get your hair raising (goose-bumps). It will be a memory to cherish. Register now at the Active Zone of Ayala Center.

King James still lords over Cleveland

LeBron James feels at home in Cleveland. That’s because he was born in Akron, Ohio—just 35 miles from where the Cavaliers play ball. And so it wasn’t a surprise when, last Thursday, the Miami Heat landed in the Quicken Loans Arena and LBJ scorched with plenty of heat his former team.

“It was impressive,” said Erik Spoelstra, the Fil-Am head coach of the Heat, of his team’s 118-90 win. “It takes a special player and a person to be able to respond to all of this scrutiny.”

Scrutiny? That’s a mellow term to use. How about saying LeBron was castigated, booed, jeered, condemned. Consider three placards held by Cavs fans that night. One said: “LBJ… LIAR BABY JERK.” Another, “YOU’RE ONLY A PRINCE IN WADE’S COUNTRY.” And finally, “11-8? LOOKS LIKE YOU LEFT YOUR TALENTS IN CLEVELAND.”

Yet, Mr. James rose above those protests. In the most-awaited game this NBA season, he played supreme; scoring 38 points, including a third quarter assault when he made 10 of 12 shots and 24 points. “It was seven great years here,” James said. “A lot of memories here.”

I’d say it was an “in-your-face, take that!” performance that reminded Cleveland—including owner Dan Gilbert and his former Cavs teammates—what they had lost. Ouch. As for Miami, one night doesn’t fix their woes but this game might be the spark they needed to fire the heat. They’ve now won three straight and stand at 12-8. Maybe Pat Riley won’t coach, after all.

Davis Cup

Three months from now, one of Cebu’s most monumental of sporting events fires an ace. It’s Japan versus the Philippines. The dates are March 4 to 6 and the venue is one of Asia’s top vacation destinations, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.

The Davis Cup is preeminent because it’s 110 years old. Nearly 150 nations each year join to win that Cup that’s in honor of its founder, Dwight Davis, who, amazingly, happened to be the Philippines’ Governor General from 1929 to 1932.

Lapu-Lapu City, headed by Mayor Paz Radaza, is organizing this historic weekend. It will be hotly-contested. And, when I say “hotly-contested,” I mean literally “hot,” for we will have an outdoor atmosphere that will challenge–and hopefully, defeat–our Japanese invaders, who will be coming from their cold, winter season.

PHL and JPN have played each other in Davis Cup 26 times—with Japan leading 17-9. The last time our country beat Japan was 15 years ago. But, with the slow clay-court and plenty of hot sun, we hope the next one will be three months from now in Plantation Bay.

Michelle So on the 50K

I missed watching the 1st 50K Cebu Ultramarathon last Saturday because I had to attend to something more personal and important that November 27: It was my wife Jasmin’s birthday. Monitoring the updates from Meyrick “Jacs” Jacalan, who brought supplies and helped motivate the runners aboard his car, it was an exciting — and painful — hot morning. Here’s a well-written piece by a future marathoner, Michelle So, who is Sun.Star Superbalita’s Editor-in-Chief and Sun.Star Cebu’s Executive Editor. Her article, ‘Ligo?’ appears in Sun.Star today…

With Miami feeling the heat, where’s Pat Riley?

(Reuters/Hans Deryk)

When the NBA season began last Oct. 26, people crowned the Miami Heat the sure-ball champions. I was one of them. With the 1-2-3 combination dubbed the “Super Friends,” the trio of LeBron-Dwayne-Bosh was unbeatable. They’d surely trample and win gold over Kobe’s golden Lakers, make Boston green with Celtics envy, they’d clobber the 72-wins record of Michael Jordan and his Bulls.

We were dreaming. For this Dream Team, thus far, has become an Ordinary Team. Not extraordinary. The Miami Heat’s record this early December? It’s 10-8. That’s 10 wins with eight losses. Bad. And the worst part: out of those eight failures, seven were against teams with winning records. This means that, against “strong” teams, this Miami has a vice: it can’t win.

The problem? “Basketball is a team sport; Chemistry is key,” wrote Dennis ‘D Source’ Guillermo, a favorite of mine, in the Filipino Sports Examiner two days ago. “No matter how talented your players are in the court, there’s only one rock, and people need to play their roles to help the team achieve victory.”

Put simply, the question is this: How do you combine these individual talents to form one unbeatable super squadron? The solution: Pat Riley. He is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He led the LA Lakers to four NBA titles. This was during the 1980s era of Magic, Kareem and J. Worthy. Then, in 2005, here’s what happened… Pat Riley was the president of the Miami Heat. Exactly five years ago this month, his team—under the coaching of Stan Van Gundy—was a disappointment. Their win-loss record: 11-10. Van Gundy resigned as head coach and in stepped Riley. Then, armed with Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal, the well-dressed coach turned Miami into the handsomest of men: they were the 2006 NBA champs.

The same scenario is happening today. In fact, the question in the minds of NBA experts today is not “if” Riley will become coach, but “when.” For diehard Filipinos like you and me, our sympathies go to Erik Spoelstra—whose mother hails from San Pablo, Laguna. But this Miami franchise doesn’t have a choice.

Pat Riley not only was the “Bob Arum of the NBA” who orchestrated the entry of The Three Kings, he’s the only one who can reenergize the Heat to victory. He’s the only coach—mano-a-mano—who has the intellect and experience to fight Phil Jackson when Miami meets L.A. in The Finals.

So… the sooner, the better. What’s great about Americans is how quickly they act. When a problem is faced, regardless of the hurts or short-term consequences, they “change a losing game.” They act. Fast. Let’s expect the same conclusion with Miami. Prolonging this agony will result in a disaster—especially for LeBron. Because while the NBA’s slogan is “Where Amazing Happens” and the Heat were supposed to amaze us, they did not. Mr. Riley will.

CLEVELAND. The game NBA fans have long-anticipated has arrived: The Heat versus the Cavaliers—tomorrow in Cleveland.

“I’m ready for whatever response I’m going to get,” said LeBron. “It’s going to be very emotional. I give a lot of thanks to that city, a lot of thanks to those fans for giving me the opportunity to not only showcase my talent, but to grow from a young boy to a man during my seven years. So it’s going to be very emotionally draining. I can tell already.”

Will Ohio fans boo, jeer, mock and scorn LBJ? If we look back, hundreds of his Cleveland jerseys have been burned. The Cavs previous owner labeled him a traitor. He’s Public Enemy No.1 in the state where he grew up. Will all this castigating and lambasting continue tomorrow? Or, when fans see their former son, will they show comfort and compassion? We’ll see both. But more on the former. Placards with LEBACLE and GO HOME will be plenty. The wounds are still fresh; the betrayal, severe.

“It’s going to be tough,” said LeBron. “But I’m there to win a basketball game. I understand. I understand how passionate fans are about sports. I’m ready for whatever response that I’m going to get. It’s going to be very emotional.”

Max Limpag, Ultramarathoner

Last Saturday, over 180 runners joined the 1st Cebu 50K Ultramarathon race. It wasn’t just a looooong distance race. The most grueling part was the terrain. If you’ve ever been to Balamban, Cebu, that mountainous uphill-downhill terrain is painful for our vehicles. How much more for our feet. Read this piece by ultramarathoner MAX LIMPAG… “Notes to a 50-km. fun run.”

For PHL, an “F” in the Asian Games

I love watching concerts. From Don Moen to Duran Duran to Dionne Warwick (ha-ha, just kidding on the last one; I’m not as old as my mom!), I’ve seen plenty. There’s one concert I strongly endorse you attend. It’s Monday next week (Dec. 6) and it’s called The GIFT OF LIFE Chorale Concert and Benefit Gala. Featuring four university choirs—from USC, UC, SWU and UV—the audience will be serenaded with Christmas carols and Cebuano favorites. Best of all, all proceeds will go to a most-worthy cause: to help “blue babies” (children with congenital heart diseases). Organized by the illustrious Rotary Club of Cebu and headed by President Joe Soberano, the ticket costs only P1,000 per person—with free dinner. Please watch. Listen to beautiful voices. Give the gift of life. That’s Dec. 6 at the Waterfront. See you there!

ASIAN GAMES. Our continent is the world’s biggest and most populated. We are about four billion-strong comprising 60 percent of the earth’s people. For two weeks ending last weekend, our continent staged the once-every-four-years sporting meet called the Asian Games. How did our Philippines do? If you ask our three gold medalists — Dennis Orcollo of billiards, Rey Saludar of boxing, and Biboy Rivera of bowling — the answer is obvious: Gold is the most precious metal… and medal.

But, as a whole, “PHL” failed. Of the 476 events representing 42 sports, we achieved a 3-4-9 score-sheet. That’s three golds, four silvers and nine bronzes for 16 medals. Given that we sent 188 athletes, that’s an impoverished finish. We scored an “F” or failure. This is worse than the Doha, Qatar Games of 2006 when we scored 4-6-9. This pales in comparison to Busan, South Korea in 2002 when we won 3-7-16. We are getting worse.

The reason? As we progress slowly, our Asian neighbors are sprinting rapidly. Take the Chinese. They’re not only dominating the Asian Games (scoring 199 gold medals, the most-ever by a country) but even topping the Olympics, besting the Americans in total medals won. Of course, their population reaches 1.33 billion. Still, they surge while we languish.

What’s most pathetic is this: we never saw TV footages of the Asian Games. The least our local networks could have done was air the Opening and Closing ceremonies—plus games of the Pinoys. There was none. We lost in China. We lost at home.

ROGER BEATS RAFA. This 2010, Mr. Nadal won three of the four Grand Slam titles: the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Mr. Federer did not win any. But, at the finale event of this season, he sought revenge. Roger defeated the world’s No.1 in this year’s last official big-time ATP match: the championship of the ATP World Tour Finals.

What does this mean? Plenty. One, it means Roger—who was trailing 14-7 in their head-to-head prior to last Sunday’s match—will gain confidence. This means RF is not bygone, past-his-prime. It means heading into 2011, he still has the game to win—going undefeated in this round-robin format event. Two, this reaffirms the dominance of both R & R. They have combined to win 21 of the last 23 majors—a fantastic statistic. This rivalry will continue.

The sad part? Like the Games of Asia, there was no Star Sports or Balls Channel TV showing. Not in this event; not the entire year with Masters Series tournaments. This was a missed opportunity for all tennis lovers.

UC VS. ATENEO. Today is an important day for collegiate basketball. It’s Cebu against Manila. It’s Junemar Fajardo, the 6-foot-10 giant from Pinamungajan, who will lead the University of Cebu Webmasters against the Ateneo De Manila University Blue Eagles.

On paper, it’s a mismatch. Ateneo is seasoned and is the three-time defending UAAP champions. They’re playing on home soil, in Manila. Their cheerers and blue pompoms are aplenty. But, as the cliche goes, “the ball is round.” Anything can happen in the semifinal of the Phil. Collegiate Champions League. If UC upsets ADMU, it will be historic; a win for the taga-probinsya.

Money, Money, Manny

The odds of winning P650,000,000 in last night’s 6/55 Grand Lotto are one in 29 million. If that sounds near-impossible, consider this: The odds of a Manny Pacquiao living in our midst is one in 6.77 billion. That’s because, of our planet’s entire population, there is only one Manny Pacquiao. There is only one human being—a Pinoy—who is the universe’s “Pound-for-Pound No.1.” This means that—as far-fetched as it sounds—you are more likely to win the 6/55 Grand Lotto than to produce the next Manny Pacquiao. Our Pambansang Kamao is the rarest of finds in our Milky Way Galaxy.

Speaking of money, did you hear that the No.1 individual taxpayer in our nation today is not Lucio Tan. He’s not a Zobel or an Aboitiz or another Manny (Pangilinan) who heads Smart and Meralco and PLDT. He’s the former construction boy from General Santos City who is today’s Congressman from Sarangani. Last April and for the year 2008, Manny Pacquiao paid a whopping P125 million in taxes. He was the BIR’s No.1 pound-for-pound individual taxpayer, handily beating Willie Revillame (P58.6M), Piolo Pascual (P55.8M) and even San Miguel Corporation’s Danding Cojuangco, who contributed a measly P18.98 million.

In his latest fight against Antonio Margarito, the 31-year-old Pacquiao—whose first paycheck as a 16-year-old boxer was a few hundred pesos—earned, for those 36 minutes on the Texas ring, a total of $15,000,000 guaranteed purse plus $5,000,000 because of the 1.15 million Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys in the United States. Based on simple arithmetic, that’s $555,555 per minute. Translated to pesos, that’s P880,000,000 or P24,444,444 per minute.

Of course, Manny doesn’t take home all this money. I’m sure he pays a heavyweight-size tax amount to the IRS of America. The same in our country that’s newly-called (from the previous “RP”)… “PHL.” He pays Freddie Roach possibly a million bucks. There’s Top Rank’s Bob Arum’s share. There’s Alex Ariza, Buboy Fernandez, Atty. Jing Jacal, his two dozen staff who include boys who open the door for him and who wash his laundry. There’s the chartered airplane ride from L.A. to Dallas and back, the congressmen he’s invited to cheer for their classmate and, of course, his lucky charm, Chavit Singson—whose body sticks to Manny like a magnet when the HBO cameras are on. These are expenses. These are expensive.

And so, to be conservative, let’s assume MP takes home half. That’s still $10 million. Though no longer exceeding the lotto prize, that’s still nearly half-a-billion pesos. Is Manny Pacquiao our first Filipino billionaire sportsman? Absolutely. He’s passed that borderline some time ago. How about multi-billionaire? That sounds better.

Consider these numbers compiled by Abac Cordero of The Philippine Star. In his article last November 26 entitled “Pacman’s take: At least $20M – Arum,” here are some figures…

Manny has averaged “double-digit millions” in his last five fights. But prior to that, in his breakthrough fight against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003, he “only” earned $500,000. Against the other top names like Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz, he averaged between $750,000 to $3 million. That’s more money than 99 percent of our population will ever see. But those numbers are insignificant compared to Manny’s last five fights. Here are his double-digit scores: Oscar de la Hoya: $15,000,000. Ricky Hatton: $13,000,000. Miguel Cotto: $13,000,000. Joshua Clottey: $12,000,000. Antonio Margarito: $20,000,000. From these five contests alone, Manny’s revenue was $73,000,000. Sliced in half, that’s $36.5 million or P1.6 billion. All earned by one man. All in five bouts. All in a short span of 23 months from December 2008 to November 2010. One billion six hundred million pesos.

Imagine if Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. agrees to the mid-2011 Fight Of The New Century? Manny’s money can climb to P3 billion. With all that cash, who needs the 6/55?

Cebu Marathon’s FrontRunner Clinic tomorrow

To the thousands of Cebuanos into this latest sports craze, I suggest you attend the lecture. It’s free. It’s to be delivered by two experts. It’s timely for those preparing for the Cebu City Marathon on Jan. 9, 2011. It’s informative. It’s tomorrow. Yes, that’s Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Active Zone of the Ayala Center Cebu.

Jonel Mendoza is the first speaker. The owner/editor-in-chief of FrontRunner Magazine, Jonel is a runner. He is not, however, your ordinary 3K leisurely jogger. He’s an ultra-marathon man who’s finished the 102-kilometer Bataan Death March twice. Jonel is also the organizer of the 50K (read below) from Mt. Manunggal to Cebu City. His lecture tomorrow: “How To Train Properly For A Marathon.” Perfect for everyone joining the 21K or 42K this Sinulog.

Enrico Tocol I have yet to meet. But his credentials—like Jonel, he finished the 102K Bataan Run two times—are impressive. He’s a professional coach of Gold’s Gym in Makati City. His subject matter tomorrow: “Strength Training and Conditioning For Runners.” Expect a well-built, muscular man for this topic on muscle development.

Don’t miss it: “I Am A FrontRunner” Running Clinic from 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Ayala Center. See you there!

ULTRA. In running, there are 3Ks, 10Ks and 42Ks. Anything beyond that? It’s called the Ultramarathon and two mornings from now, it will both be joyous and painful for the runners. First, the suffering: it’s the 1st Cebu 50K Ultramarathon from Balamban to the Cebu Provincial Capitol. How agonizing can it get: steep climbs that torture your lungs and downhill slopes that will stab the knees. To the 185 ultramarathoners that include Dr. Vic Verallo, Max Limpag, Roy and Dr. Rosan Trani, Steve Ferraren, Jun Remo and more—good luck and enjoy… the pain.

On Sunday, it’s the 5th Seminary Fund Run. This is memorable for me. It was this 5K distance that was my first-ever—back in 2007. Those interested can still register at Toby’s SM.

TENNIS. The “fifth Grand Slam,” it’s called. Official name: the ATP World Tour Finals. It’s when the top eight men’s players smash lobs and volley winners in London. That’s terrific. What’s bad is this: no TV coverage for us, the Filipino tennis fans. This 2010, we had the four majors of tennis shown live—but none of the ATP Masters Series events. Sayang. In London, with Roger Federer 2-0 thus far in the round-robin games and Rafa Nadal 1-0, are we about to witness another monumental No.2 vs. No.1 finale? We hope so.

ASIAN GAMES. It happens only once every four years but, given its no-show, it feels as if it doesn’t exist. The Asian Games, now held in Guangzhou, China, started last week. Has it? I didn’t know. I didn’t hear. This is another case of sayang. Held in-between the Olympics, this is the mightiest sporting event of our continent of nearly 4,000,000,000 people. The Asian Games is supposed to be HUGE. “Supposed to be,” because there’s no TV coverage. Why? I don’t know why. But shouldn’t we get to watch our Filipino athletes? Cheer for them in Cebu while they’re in China? But we can’t? This is outrageous.

LEBACLE? The Miami Heat were booed during their embarrassing 93-77 loss to the Indiana Pacers. What happened? Where are The Three Kings—Bosh, LeBron, Dwayne? Their record is a dismal 8-6. NBA champs? How about NBA chumps! Maybe what’s needed is a Miami change: Pat Riley as head coach.

BOB. Said Mr. Arum on the global power of Manny Pacquiao: “That’s one of the achievements we can take credit for — taking a non-American and crossing him over. Can we do more? Yeah. Nobody would have dreamed that you could take a fighter from the Phils. and make him into an iconic American star and we’ve been able to do that.”

M & M. Manny beat Morales. He beat Miguel. He defeated Margarito. Who are Manny’s challengers in 2011? Either of these men: Marquez… Mosley… Martinez… Mayweather. Haven’t you noticed a pattern? Regardless of enemy in an “M & M,” Manny will earn lots of M: money.

Basketball’s best is found in Milo BEST

From Sun.Star Cebu, Nov. 22

Typing the word “Best” in the online thesaurus elicits several synonyms: “Ace,” “Outstanding,” “Foremost,” “First,” “Champion,” and “Cool.” These words are perfect for the event held in Cebu last weekend: the 2010 Milo BEST SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournaments.

“SBP and Passerelle. Have you heard of these words before?” asked Rico Navarro, one of the top organizers of this event, last week in his popular sports column at The Freeman. “SBP stands for Small Basketeers Philippines while the term Passerelle is used for an age group of young teen-agers. Where are these terms used? In a more commonly known basketball tournament called Milo BEST…

“Milo is the chocolate energy drink that we’ve grown up with while BEST stands for the Basketball Efficiency Scientific Training Center. Although these are two distinct entities, Milo and BEST have had one of the longest-running partnerships in organizing two major activities: basketball clinics and an age group tournament with a nationwide reach.”

How long has the Milo BEST tournament been going on? Since 1985–or for 25 years now. That’s a long time.

“What do the UAAP Finals Jrs. MVP, NCAA MVP, UAAP Most Improved Player, the PBA MVP and the NCAA Juniors Coach of the Year have in common?” Mr. Navarro further asked in another story. “Kiefer Ravena, Baser Amer, Emman Monfort, James Yap and Britt Reroma.”

Rico is right. Is there a better youth basketball program than Milo’s BEST? None. Is there any other Philippine company today that invests more millions in grassroots sports than Nestle and Milo? None.

Last Sunday morning, I visited the USC Main gym. It was hot. Hotter than Cebu Coliseum. Did the hostilities contribute to the heated atmosphere inside the gym? Absolutely. Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu represented the Visayas. The opponents came from Manila: the Xavier School of San Juan. It was an all-Jesuit battle. Even former president Joseph Estrada was inside the gym the whole of Saturday. His son — wearing No. 8 with the all-caps “EJERCITO” — played for Xavier. But what a lopsided game last Sunday for the championship–in favor of Cebu. The score: 102-53.

The green-colored USC gym was painted blue. A couple of hundred Ateneo spectators — parents, schoolmates, friends — cheered for their blue team. Xavier School — color gold — was no match in the gold-medal game of the Passerelle division.
Last weekend, when eight schools representing four regions battled inside the USC gym, was the start of the Milo BEST. It was the finale, the national finals.

Rico Navarro explained it best in his column last Sunday entitled, “Best”…

Read Rico’s full article here

“One of the most interesting developments of the Milo-backed BEST tournament has been how it has become an annual must-have activity for schools with basketball programs across the country. More importantly, it has now become the necessary steps of development for today’s basketball players. Most of today’s collegiate players trace their roots to having played in the SBP Passerelle tournaments when they were younger.

“It has become a tradition for many schools to launch their programs with SBP activities composed of clinics and tournaments. Nine to ten-year-old kids start to play more for fun, then eventually get more serious once they turn 11 to 12 years old. As they get to be really better from a technical and skills level, the competition also gets tougher along the way into the Passerelle division which features players between 12 to 15 years old.”

Back to the USC gym last Sunday: Seated beside me was Nestle assistant VP Pat Goc-ong. He beamed with pride. A former national weightlifting champion (who was USJ-R’s varsity star in college), Pat oversees all of Nestle’s sports programs. Seated together with Brando of the Cebu City Sports Center, we talked of Milo sports — their marathons, summer clinics, BEST programs. The conclusion: no company is better than the best. Go ask Ovaltine.