Here’s one of my all-time favorite TV commercials, starring one of my all-time favorite athletes…
Month: June 2007
Only 21, this Spanish bull is King of France
Their white socks turned brown. Hair, disheveled. Frowns covered their faces. They sprinted. Scrambled left, front, right. They banged 22 shots. Then 19. Then 24. Dirt stuck glued underneath the soles of their blue Nikes. Their legs, spring chickens at the first point, wobbled. It was tiresome, grueling and, after over 185 minutes, they still had not finished.
On their fingers, they gripped swords. Rafael Nadal chopped his through the Paris wind while Roger Federer swung and sliced. The red surface they stepped on? The French call it “le terre battue” or red clay. But no, it wasn’t. It was red blood. From the wounds they inflicted upon each other, the rectangle turned into a pool of red blood.
The “Other Girl” in my life named Jana
IN life, we wear many hats: Husband. Neighbor. Employee. Best Friend. But of all the many roles we play in life, the one I consider most important is this: Being a father.I have one child. Her name is Jana Marie Mendez Pages. Oh, the stories I can tell you about Jana!
Rafael Nadal wins the French Open
Last night, I watched the French Open men’s finals at the Cebu Country Club with my best friend in tennis… Macky Michael. He rooted for Roger; I wished Rafa would win his third.Macky brought along an unexpected gift: the Swiss flag. He waved it as he entered the room and declared that tonight is the night for the Federer Express.
My name is Ana! Ana Ivanovic… not Kournikova
Don’t you find her pretty? She is. I hope you watched her semi-final match against Maria Sharapova. If you had to choose one to date on a romantic, candlelit dinner, who’d it be? The blonde or the dark-haired beauty? I know my favorite dentist, Dr. Nonito Narvasa, will choose Maria (he’s professed obsession over her), but I’ll go for Ana—not Anna Kournikova—but Ana Ivanovic.
In Paris, the Champion is not Paris Hilton
WHEN the clock strikes 9 p.m. tonight, I suggest you do this: Turn on the cable TV set, navigate the remote control to Solar Sports, and sit down to watch a “live” movie that’s better than Pirates of the Carribean. No. It’s not Game 2 of LeBron versus Duncan. It’s not Bobby Pacquiao against Humberto Soto. Nor is it a replay of the engines that drag-raced and roared at the SRP.It’s Paris… Paris Hilton!
Dance On Fire!
If you ask me what’s Cebu’s most sucessful sport, you’ll get a surprising answer. Basketball? Football? Mountain-biking? Chess? Arnis? None of the above. It’s Dancesport. Remember last November 2005 during the South East Asian (SEA) Games? At the Waterfront Lahug, thousands jampacked the ballroom. At the end of the weekend, we held all the gold medal trophies. We partied. We danced.
Spending P24,490 for a Happy New You!
I made a mistake. A few months ago, I wrote a column in Sun.Star Cebu entitled, “Spending P24,490 for a Happy New You!” It was new year and, I explained, what better gift to get yourself than a treadmill. Yes. That’s right. A treadmill. And a very inexpensive treadmill that costs less than P25,000. Aren’t treadmills supposed to cost much, much more? you ask. Yes.
Now, guess what? A week after the story below was published, our treadmill broke. It wouldn’t run. Tried to have it fixed but… no more. Hehehe. The lesson? Be careful what you write… Anyhow, here’s the piece below. And be careful buying that inexpensive item…
Only in America? No, Cowboys also Gallop in Cebu
Jacinto Gayanilo Mendez II is a cowboy. No, “Jake” is no grandson of John Wayne nor does he own a ranch at the Alamo in Texas. Like you and a million others, he was born, raised and schooled in Cebu City.So, he’s a cowboy? Yes. Jake owns two horses named Barrack and Maxim. Peer inside his bedroom and you’ll spot four brown hats and pairs of leather boots. He wears gloves, chaps, blue jeans, a thick belt and, yes, the cowboy must-have tool: a revolver.
“We’re urban cowboys,” declared Jake, smiling, when I sat down with him last Tuesday night. His face was all-red; sunburned after the three-day-long feast called the Kabayo Festival. “In Cebu, we’re part a group who owns horses and rides on weekends. We go trail-riding, travel to Bukidnon and join races… So, yes, we’re cowboys, but the only difference is, we live in the city. So, we’re urban cowboys.”
Swiss? Spaniard? It’s called the French War
Roger Federer vs. Guillermo Canas? Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic? This will be an all-star semi-finals cast. If you recall, the last two times they met, Canas beat Federer. So this will be interesting. But the French Open is a Grand Slam event and, in the last three majors he’s played, Federer hasn’t lost. So, against Canas, he won’t lose. He’ll enter the finals. Nadal? Of course he’ll join the world no.1. Wow. Can you imagine another R and R finale? Here’s why this Sunday’s fight will be a classic…