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By definition, a bubble is supposed to burst. Merriam-Webster defines the word as “a globule typically hollow and light” and “something that lacks firmness, solidity.”

Not the NBA bubble. Not the barricaded confines of Walt Disney World in Florida where, for the past 87 days, ballplayers have been shuttered, their movements restricted. 

This bubble has not burst — and if not for this sealed and plugged habitat, we wouldn’t be enjoying the NBA Finals. 

The players are shut and suppressed from the outside world. They can’t see all their family members. They’re locked inside the 5-star hotel rooms of the Gran Destino Tower. They are unable to high-five fans and absorb the sweet sound of an overcrowded Staples Center.

But it works. And it’s the only way possible for sports to fully thrive. Consider this: for three months, I haven’t read a single report on a person who’s tested positive inside the Disney bubble. Last Aug. 17, for example, when most teams were still playing, a total of 342 players were tested and not one was positive. 

“If we could do everywhere what the NBA is doing in its bubble,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert, “we would get rid of the virus.”

Since the NBA resumed last July 30, we’ve been enjoying uninterrupted games. Like Aladdin’s theme song, “A Whole New World,” the NBA has adopted a new ad campaign, “It’s a Whole New Game.”

Thanks to the bubble — this confined campus where 7-footer giants roam and meander — we have forgotten about COVID-19 everytime we watch Tyler Herro throw a three-pointer or Jimmy Butler sink a 23-footer or AD slam dunk off a rebound like he did yesterday.

Why has this bubble worked?

First, the strictness and obedience. The NBA guidelines were spelled out in a 113-page health-and-safety booklet. Everyone is tested. Nobody goes out. The lockdown is so strict that every morning, players have to log-in to NBA MyHealth, an app where questions on wellness are asked. 

Second, the shortened season and fewer players.

“The NBA was already toward the end of its season when they resumed, so they were only trying to play a certain number of games, not a whole season,” says Miami Heat’s team physician, Dr. Harlan Selesnick. Per team, only 17 players were allowed with a total of 35, including staff and coaches.

The NBA bubble did not come cheap. The league will spend $170 million. Aside from feeding the players and staff and putting them to bed, there’s entertainment. Fishing was a favorite of Paul George. There’s golf at a PGA Tour-level course, plenty of video games and a pool party with a DJ.

The success of the NBA bubble is a perfect blueprint for our PBA. Now on its 45th season, the PBA plans a restart next Sunday, Oct. 11, in Clark, Pampanga. There will be one venue (Angeles University) and one hotel (Quest in Mimosa).

I believe the PBA bubble will work. They just need to follow the rules, be strict, comply with the guidelines, be obedient.

Like the NBA. Unlike Donald Trump.

POGO stands for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator. This is the infamous acronym for those companies engaged in online gambling for clients abroad. But there’s another meaning of POGO. One that I’ve just coined: Players Operating Games Online.

Since March, the world of sports has stopped. The NBA was the first major league to halt their games. This was three months ago yesterday — March 11 — when, after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the games were suspended. Since then, all contests have been cancelled, none larger than the Tokyo Olympics.

But quietly — and that’s meant literally and figuratively, minus the boisterous and rambunctious fans — several sports have returned during this pandemic. They’re labeled online tournaments.

“Last May, some members of Dancesport-Team Cebu City made history after winning a silver and bronze medal in the first ever 1World Dance Online Competition organized in Italy,” wrote sports editor Manny Villaruel in The Freeman yesterday. “Real-life couple Shardie Abellana and Marjorie Pasaje, competing under lockdown in Alaska, Mambaling, snatched silver in the 35-under Latin-rumba dance, while Trixie Dicdican of Barangay Ermita got bronze in the under-13 lady-solo five event.”

Caecent Noot-Magsumbol, another fellow sportswriter from The Freeman, added in her article last May 19: “Just like in a regular dancesport competition, the participants had to undergo eliminations up to the semis and the finals with a set of adjudicators rating them carefully via Zoom.”

Zoom! You know this videotelephony company that’s being used by everyone. This software platform is also being used in the sports platform; by the judges who watch and score via Zoom.

“Despite the limited space and not dancing on a standard dancefloor,” Ms. Magsumbol said, “Abellana and Pasaje were still able to get the judges’ nod for a silver finish.” 

Manny Villaruel also wrote about the Smart/MVP Sports Foundation Online National Taekwondo Poomsae Championships. Over 1,000 jins participated and Cebu’s Aidaine Laxa won a silver medal.

Chess is another sport. Here at home, the Cebu School of Chess (CSC) and the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association (CEPCA) have organized online tournaments.

Wesley So, ranked world No. 8, won the first-ever Clutch Chess online tilt in a big event joined by World No. 2 GM Fabiano Caruana. The 26-year-old So, born in Bacoor, Cavite but who now competes for the U.S., won $40,000. 

Zwift is a familiar name to cyclists. It’s an online program where cyclists can train and compete against each other in a virtual world. Since the lockdown, thousands of online events have sprouted — including several won by world champ Rohan Dennis.

Esports, naturally, is the biggest winner. With everyone imprisoned in their homes, the go-to device is the computer. The video game market, propelled by the COVID-19 lockdown, is forecast to hit $159 billion in 2020.

 

The date is “January 12, 2020.” That’s 133 days from today — the first day of the ‘Ber months. That’s also seven days before the grand Sinulog festival on Jan. 19, 2020. And it’s the morning when over 4,000 runners will pound the streets of Cebu City.

42K. 21K. 5K. Take your kilometer pick. Those are the distances that spell Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5-km. Fun Run.

Next weekend, from September 6 to 8, the registration of the 2020 Cebu Marathon will begin. It’s called “Race to Register.” It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis and the first 500 registrants will receive limited edition “In Training” Cebu Marathon shirts. The next 500 registrants will receive free movie passes from Ayala Center Cebu. This is all happening next weekend at the Active Zone of Ayala Center Cebu.

Registration fees are P1,400 for the half-marathon and P1,800 for the marathon. More details can be viewed at the Facebook page of the Cebu Marathon.

Only those who line-up and register onsite (at the Active Zone) will be eligible to receive the free items. (To make sure that the correct sizes are distributed to the early-bird registrants, the shirts will be ready for pick-up next month, in October.)

What’s new for 2020? The route is both new and old. For those who joined the inaugural 2010 marathon dubbed “01-10-10,” you may recall that the route included the iconic sights of the Magellan’s Cross and Plaza Independencia. The marathoners also descended into the tunnel and ran along the South Road Properties. The SRP was the main route in 2010 and for a good number of years until a few years ago when it was disallowed.

For 2020, the SRP is back. The full details will be announced soon but the planned route will be exciting. Let me reserve the surprise of the “old and new” course when this is formally announced in the coming weeks.

The Sinulog-themed entertainment will once again motivate the runners. Dancers will dance. Loud music will pump the ears and hearts. Drinks will overflow.

Why run the marathon? I am blessed to have completed six of these 42K runs (Singapore, Quezon City, Jacksonville, Cebu, New York, and Hong Kong) and they are some of the most painful yet fulfilling experiences of my life. Ask a friend who has finished the 42.195-km. distance and they’ll share with you their own memorable experiences.

The 42K run is an outrageous goal to accomplish; one that you’ll be proud to tell your grandkids in the future.

But I also caution: it’s not for everyone. First, have yourself thoroughly examined; the best is an Executive Check with a treadmill stress test. Second, if you don’t have the mileage, don’t do it. Not yet. Unless you’ve completed multiple 21Ks, you might not be ready for January. But if you’ve been a regular runner, then make sure to register this Friday.

As the runner Susan Sidoriak aptly put it: “I dare you to train for a marathon and not have it change your life.”

Like the Olympics, the FIBA Basketball World Cup is held every four years. This Saturday (Aug. 31), the 16-day tournament begins in eight cities around China.

A total of 32 countries will contest this event which started in Argentina in 1950. The qualified nations include 7 from the Americas, 5 from Africa, 12 from Europe, and 8 from Asia and Oceania, including our Philippines.

The FIBA World Cup is important to our nation not only because we’re participating but because we’ll be co-hosting in 2023. Together with Indonesia and Japan, the 19th edition will come to our shores in four venues: Philippine Arena, MOA Arena, Philsports Arena, and Araneta Coliseum. (Had Cebu started construction of the SM Seaside Arena a few years ago, we’d be one of the hosts. Sayang!)

For China 2019, this is the first time that the world’s most populous nation is hosting. There will be 92 games played and this event also serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Games, with seven nations gaining direct entry to next year’s Olympics.

With our own Gilas Pilipinas, who will be flying to China today, it’s our second straight trip to the World Cup (last time was in Spain). We are in Group D together with Serbia, Italy and Angola and we’re playing in the city of Foshan in Guangdong. The format is round-robin and the top two teams of each group will advance.

This Saturday when the FIBA World Cup commences, we play our first game against Italy. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (Phil. time) and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is expected to watch.

“We feel that’s our most important game – the Italy game,” said Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao. “So all our resources in terms of scouting, in terms of time has been focused on that.”

To qualify for Round 2 — given that Serbia will be too difficult for us — Gilas needs to beat Italy, who’ll be led by Marco Belinelli, Danilo Gallinari and Luigi Datome.

USA. The biggest sporting news erupted last week when Team USA lost to Australia, 98-94. Although it was non-bearing, nobody wants to lose, and the Americans had not lost an official or exhibition game (involving NBA players) since Sept. 2006.

How dominant are (or were) the Americans in basketball? In the 2014 FIBA World Cup, they won their nine games by an average margin of 33 points. Of course, that squad included Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis.

This 2019, Team USA has.. Myles Turner, Joe Harris, and Derrick White. Who? This is obviously the most star-lacking US team in recent history.

Which will make China 2019 exciting and competitive. There’s Nikola Jokic of Serbia (whom the Philippines will be facing on Sept. 2). There are the Antetokounmpo brothers Giannis and Thanasis of Greece. Marc Gasol and Ricky Rubio are representing Spain. More than 50 NBA players are competing.

“We’ve learned,” said the USA’s Donovan Mitchell, “that this is going to be a dogfight.”

Let the China games begin.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are their family names and no triumvirate in all of sports has been as dominant.

How commanding has been the Big Three’s supremacy?

Since the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, the trio has triumphed in 53 of the 64 majors. That’s a success rate of 83 percent. And aren’t there hundreds of millions of tennis players worldwide? All of whom can do the same: smash a forehand and slice a backhand? And only three have snatched almost every Grand Slam trophy in the past 16 years? Yes, yes, yes.

If we include Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray (who’ve both won three majors apiece), they have won 57 of the last 60 majors. And other than those five names, only three others (Marin Cilic, Gaston Gaudio and Juan Martin del Potro) have won a major title in the past 15 years.

“Rafa takes care of the clay there. Novak is in every Masters 1000 on hard court. I float around,” said Roger Federer in an interview last month. “You add Murray to it, Stan to it, guys that made their move later on, del Potro to it, you realise there’s not that much to get.”

Roger’s right. Whatever happened to Zverev, Thiem, Nishikori, Raonic, Kyrgios and the dozens of other Next-Gen players who were promoted to replace the oldies?

For the Big 3, their reign may be termed by various words: Dominance. Longevity. Excellence. Roger, 38 years old, Rafa (33) and Novak (32) are three of the greatest ever athletes who’ve wielded a tennis racket.

Federer owns 20 majors. Nadal has 18. Djokovic lurks with 16.

Which brings us to the Grand Slam event to be played in New York City starting tomorrow and for the next two weeks: the US Open.

I hope Roger collects his sixth crown in NYC. Given how he lost Wimbledon (by squandering those two match points to Novak), it would be a fitting redemption for him to win. But this may be unlikely. Because…

Rafa Nadal has the momentum. He won the last major (Roland Garros) and the Montreal Masters 1000 two weeks ago. He’s favored to add a fourth trophy to add to his wins in 2010, 2013 and 2017.

But among the three, it’s the Serbian world number one who’s the likeliest winner. The defending champ, the 32-year-old Djokovic has won four of the last five majors. And on hard-courts, it’s hard to bet against the man who’s accumulated over $135 million in prize money.

My choice? None of the above. I hope a Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev or Karen Khachanov wins the US Open. As the saying goes: Give chance to others..

 

Basketball is as American as cheeseburgers, Donald Trump, baseball and Apple’s iPhone, right? Not exactly. Basketball is Canadian-invented.

James Naimsmith, born in Ontario, Canada in 1861, was the P.E. teacher who invented the game of basketball. Thus, it’s fitting that the NBA champions this year come from…

Canada? Why not. Out of the NBA’s 30 teams, all but one is not U.S.-based. And that one might be No. 1.

Given how the Toronto Raptors dominated the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 and given how Drake and his 37-million strong fellow Canadians are praying that Kevin Durant’s injury doesn’t completely heal this June, what seemed an impossibility is now possible.

Canada might win its first NBA title. Game 2 tomorrow is the most crucial 48 minutes of this series. If Klay and Steph combine for 70 and Draymond seeks revenge from Drake’s hurtful words and records another triple-double and Igoudala is free of his calf injury and contributes tomorrow for a Golden State win, then the basketball planets will be aligned and will rotate back to its original axis. The Warriors will win, 4-2.

But if Toronto rouses Kyle Lowry from his sleep (he only had seven points in Game 1) and Kawhi scores 35 (compared to the measly 23) and Justin Trudeau is up 2-0 versus Donald Trump, then it’s advantage Raptors.

“I don’t think we played our ‘A’ game,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr of Game 1. “I think that’s obvious.”

What we witnessed was a rusty Warriors. Maybe it was the nine-days-off from their last game (three days of which were taken off completely). Maybe it was the quickness of the Raptors. (“They definitely have a lot of speed,” said Draymond Green.) The Warriors’ 17 turnovers didn’t help.

Most of all, Durant’s presence was sorely missed, despite them previously scoring a 5-0 record without him.

More on KD’s injury: I experienced the same pain while playing basketball five years ago. I was my fellow Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) members in Bright Academy and, as I turned to sprint to the opposite court, I felt a sharp kick in my calf. Someone had kicked me! I looked around and nobody did. I hobbled. Good thing that I was able to see Dr. Tony San Juan, our top sports doctor, within hours after I writhed in pain. I had to stop running for months.

It’s been one month since Durant’s calf strain and the final outcome of this series might depend on KD’s return. (Sources have said that he’ll probably be back in time for Game 4.)

As for all this “trash talk,” the NBA and the Philippines have got something in common. While Canada’s trash — all 69 containers of garbage — were shipped back to Vancouver from Manila the other day, Drake and Draymond were having their own trash-talking. This verbal tussle did not start during the NBA Finals. It began last year when, as host of the NBA Finals, the Toronto-born Drake roasted Draymond Green’s attire when the latter won the Defensive Player of the Year award. Check out the YouTube video.

(Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP)

 

Here in Cebu, majority of our tennis courts are clay courts. Unlike volleyball or golf or basketball where, anywhere you play around the world, the court surface hardly varies, in tennis, it’s different.

Grass. Hard court. Shell. Artificial turf. Clay. Tennis offers a variety of surfaces. But here in the Queen City of the South, our predominant surface is clay. The reason: clay (hardened “anapog”) is softer on our knees and you’re less prone to leg injuries.

On clay, there is one human being who is the undisputed heavyweight champion.

He turns 33 on June 3, hails from the resort island of Mallorca, and is scheduled to get married to his long-time girlfriend Xisca Perello this October.

Rafa. That simple nickname will evoke despair and anxiety among his ATP counterparts when the only Grand Slam event played on clay begins today.

The 6-foot-1, 187-lb. Spaniard owns an unbelievable 86 wins out of 88 matches at the French Open. That’s a 97.72 percent winning clip.

On his first attempt to play on Paris’ red clay back in 2005, he hoisted the trophy. Same on his second try. And on the third and fourth. Of the multiple trips that he’s ventured inside Stade Roland Garros, he’s only lost twice: to Robin Soderling (2009) and Novak Djokovic (2016). Rafael Nadal owns 11 Roland Garros trophies.

Last week, after he won the Italian Open in Rome (Nadal’s first 2019 title), the overwhelming favorite in France is the Spaniard. But there are two others that I consider as strong contenders.

Novak Djokovic has won the last three majors (Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open). In that last slam in Melbourne, he humiliated Nadal in a quick 3-setter that lasted a mere 124 minutes. Djokovic has extra motivation in Paris: he’ll be aiming for the “Djoker Slam” — winning four straight majors.

Dominic Thiem is the third contender. At the French Open, he reached the finals last year (handily losing to Nadal) and the semis in 2016 and 2017. He has also beaten Nadal (on clay) four times.

My pick in Paris? The answer is obvious. I’ve always been a huge Rafa fan. His relentless all-out effort on court coupled with his smiling and good-natured attitude off the court makes him a global sports ambassador. Much like Roger Federer — who’ll be making a comeback after skipping the red clay for the last three years.

Rafa and Roger can meet in the semis. They’re both in the lower half of the draw together with another rising star, the Greek 6-foot-4 with the style and one-handed prowess of Federer. He’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.

At the upper half of the draw are Djokovic and Thiem plus a slew of strong (and tall, both 6-foot-6) players, Alexander Zverev and Juan Martin del Potro.

But the Spaniard aiming for his 12th title in Paris is the odds-on choice.

“I think Rafa Nadal is the huge favourite,” said Dominic Thiem, “and then after that, there are also five, six players who can win the tournament. So it’s gonna be very interesting two weeks.”

(Photo: Getty Images)

Have you heard of his name before? If you’re a marathoner and you’re updated on the news on running, the answer is yes.

Eliud Kipchoge is the world’s greatest ever long-distance runner. He has joined 12 marathon races in his lifetime and won 11 times. The 2016 Rio Olympics? He won marathon gold.

The 34-year-old’s greatest achievement happened in Sept. last year when he broke the world record in the Berlin Marathon. His time of 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds broke the previous record by a staggering 78 seconds. (That was the single largest improvement in marathon times in 50 years.) His 2:1:39 time also means that he is only 100 seconds away from recording the long-awaited “sub-2 marathon” (running 42.195 kms. in under two hours).

Eliud Kipchoge will once again run the 42K today in the London Marathon in what is billed as the best-ever assembly of runners.

Daniel Wanjiru and Wilson Kipsang are competing but Kipchoge’s biggest nemesis is Mo Farah, from the UK, who’ll be running in front of a hometown crowd. A 4-time Olympic gold medalist (in the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races), Farah also won the 2018 Chicago Marathon.

Kipchoge vs. Farah. This is the mano-a-mano spectacle with the fighters running on Nike shoes and sleeveless shirts.

Kipchoge is the huge favorite. He is the 3-time London Marathon defending champion and the man who starred in the Breaking2 project of Nike where the Kenyan clocked 2:00:25 in Monza, Italy in 2017.

As physically-gifted as Kipchoge is (he stands 5-foot-5 and weighs 123 lbs.), he credits his mental strength as his greatest power.

“The mind is what drives a human being,” said Kipchoge. “If you have that belief – pure belief in your heart – that you want to be successful then you can talk to your mind and your mind will control you to be successful. My mind is always free. My mind is flexible. That is why I wear this band on my wrist. I want to show the world that you can go beyond your thoughts, you can break more than you think you can break.”

Because of his triumphs and the appearance fees that he collects plus his collection of corporate endorsements, Kipchoge is multi-millionaire rich. But he lives simply. For an estimated 300 days each year, he trains in a tiny village in Kenya (Kaptagat), far from his three children and wife Grace. He prefers the “living simply sets you free” mantra and even reportedly helps his running mates in cleaning the restroom.

“I enjoy the simplistic training and life in marathon,” Kipchoge said. “You run, eat, sleep, walk around – that’s how life is. You don’t get complicated. The moment you get complicated it distracts your mind.”

Can he break the world record or, incredibly, run sub-2 today? That is unlikely because London is not as fast a course as Berlin. But listening to Kipchoge is hearing a man in love with this sport.

“My dream is to make this world a running world,” he said. “A running world is a healthy world. A running world is a wealthy world. A running world is a peaceful world. A running world is a joyful world.”

(Getty Images)

On TV, I rarely watch live sports nowadays. Unless it’s a major spectacle like the upcoming Warriors-76ers NBA Finals or a La Salle-Ateneo UAAP game 3 or a Rafa-Roger contest in New York, I opt to visit one of the world’s most visited websites: YouTube.

Here’s what I do: I don’t scan the results and wait 40 minutes after any sporting event has finished and it’s right there, an 11-minute summary of the game. It has zero commercials and nobody misses! Every attempt on YouTube is a good shot.

Yesterday, that’s what I did. It was the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament between Duke University and Virginia Tech. I rarely followed the NCAA games in the past but this year is extra special.

Zion Lateef Williamson. If you’re a basketball fan, it’s a must that you watch Zion. (Google offers 4.6 million videos on the phenom.)

Zion is an 18-year-old Duke University freshman who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 285 lbs. But what separates him from the dozens of other college dribblers are his LeBron James-like physique, his jumping ability, his left-handed aggressive moves, his gravity-defying block shots and his rim-shattering dunks (including dunking from the free throw line).

Zion has the bulk and size of a power forward but he struts like a point guard.

“What strikes me?” LeBron James was asked. “His agility and his quickness. For his size, how strong he is, to be able to move like the way he moves, he’s very impressive. I mean, everybody can see the athleticism. That’s obviously, that’s ridiculous. But the speed and the quickness that he moves (with) at that size is very impressive.”

Against Virginia Tech yesterday, the No. 1 seed Duke triumphed 75-73. Zion scored 23 points, including an alley-oop dunk that’s ridiculous.. catching the ball at a ceiling-high elevation before slamming it home with both hands. The TV announcer then quipped, “How high can you go?”

How high can Zion go? He is surely going to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. The joke around the NBA is this: #NotTryinForZion. It means the worst-performing NBA teams are purposely losing so they’ll get a better chance of drafting him.

Duke and Zion are in the NCAA Last 8 and will play Michigan State tomorrow (Phil. time).

If Zion helps coach Mike Krzyzewski win his sixth NCAA title for the Blue Devils, it will elevate Zion to a stature as the best-ever collegiate player of his generation.

What makes Zion a potential global superstar is his type of game: he flies and dunks with the ferocity of a Darryl Dawkins. Of these alley-oops, of which he has recorded dozens this season, Zion said yesterday after the game: “I’m jumping not knowing where the rim is.”

Zion can shoot a good 3. And, the most controversial happening this season, he can also break open a Nike shoe, injuring his foot.. which was such bad publicity for Nike that the company’s shares dropped by $3 billion. That’s the power of Zion.