Roger and Jose
Now that the clay-court season has started, all eyes are on one player—and he’s not named Roger Federer. He’s Rafael Nadal. The “King of Clay,” Nadal has three straight French Open trophies at home. And Roger? Well, we know he’s been losing and, thus far, hasn’t won a title in 2008. And the clay-court—which slows the ball and isn’t favorable to an aggressor like Federer—isn’t the world no.1’s strength. But he’s done the right thing this week. He’s hired a coach: Jose Higueras, the former mentor of Jim Courier, Michael Chang and Pete Sampras. (Read the short ESPN story here.)
Smart/Butch Bacani Tennis Camp
Next week, one of the nation’s top tennis coaches will descend in Cebu. No, he won’t be here for a mere three hours or three days or three weeks—Butch Bacani will reside in Cebu for one month. At the Casino Español de Cebu along V. Ranudo St., Bacani will train children as young as five years old, he’ll hone the skills of top juniors like Niño Siso, and he’ll impart his decades-long experience to anyone dreaming to be a future Roger Federer.
Coming this May: MTB and the Rodeo
One is ridden on a seat with two wheels and a handlebar; the other, on man’s dear friend with four muscular legs and a saddle. Both you climb on and dance with. Both you mount to achieve the same purpose: to propel you to move forward. Two weeks from now—the weekend of May 2 to 4—two events will bounce and gallop in Cebu: First, the bike…….
“Come celebrate 20 years of Mountain Biking in Danao City!” proclaimed Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez in an e-mail message he sent a few days ago. One of the most recognizable names in RP mountain-biking (MTB), and the chairman of the Danao City Sports Commission, Boying Rodriguez added: “In the summer of 1987, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and his brother Congressman Red Durano, who were then studying in the U.S.A., went home for their vacation from their high school studies in California. They brought with them radical looking 21-speed bicycles with knobbed fat tires and ‘granny gears.’ It was then the craze in California. They brought back the first Mountain Bikes to the Philippines! We were all hooked. We all converted our road bikes to ‘mountain bikes!’”
In ‘David vs. Goliath,’ the brave heart prevails
MANILA—I’m in our capital city to do three things. First, to visit our family-owned juice bar outlets. Two, I watched a concert last Thursday night by Duran Duran—with the all-original cast of Simon Le Bon, John and Roger Taylor, and Nick Rhodes. It was the best performance I’ve seen—and will write about it later this week. And the third reason: to watch our RP tennis team exchange smashes with Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I.
Led by two Filipino-Americans—Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino—the RP squad has resurrected from the clay-court ashes and returned to the world stage. At the SEA Games, we claimed gold medals. In Davis Cup—the annual competition that pits country vs. country—we’ve resurfaced. Thus, this RP vs. Uzbekistan tie.
The SAC
The Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) is a band of 20 or so men and women whose jobs are to inform, entertain, and report to you, dear readers, the scores and facts about athletes who dunk, sportsmen like Tiger Woods who putt, and chisel-bodied boxers like AJ and Boom-Boom who score KOs.
Last Thursday at 8:30 p.m., we gathered. At Mooon Cafe, we dined, drank products by San Miguel, swapped stories about this morning’s boxing event at the Araneta Coliseum. From Sun.Star, sports editor Mike Limpag headed our line-up together with writers Marian Baring, Norvie Misa, and Edri Aznar, and columnists Atty. Jingo Quijano and myself.
Toto: The Worst Concert I’ve Watched
Not sports-related but must-be-reported-news… Heading out of the Waterfront ballroom last Wednesday night, I heard various comments: “highway robbery,” “yabag,” “they forgot their lines!” “fake,” and “rip-off.”
Toto was bad. Really bad. As a start, the tickets weren’t inexpensive—the highest-priced at P3,500. In my case, with wife Jasmin and best friend Dr. Ron Eullaran and his wife Raycia, we bought the P2,000.
Our expectations were high—and justifiably so. Toto is one of the world’s most popular bands. During my teenage days in the ‘80s, I grew up listening to the American band. Toto was revered.
What happened? Put simply, they did not sing their most popular hits. Yes, songs like “Rosanna” and “Georgy Porgy” were sung but several major hits—like “Lea,” “I Won’t Hold You Back” and “I’ll Be Over You”—which the thousands in attendance kept on pleading and awaiting and asking to be sung—were never sung.
A sure-bet, no need to gamble on this Casino
The palace is a mansion. With a ballroom that can seat 500, a fine dining enclave called El Comedor, a poolside that will rival Plantation Bay, two tennis courts, six bowling lanes, two badminton courts, billiard tables, dining tables, buffet tables, and the decades-long-popular “Bar Mixto,” is there any mansion that can rival this palace? There is none.
Why Golf is Fun—and Funny
The “Mud-man,” he’s called. On the third hole of the Iloilo Golf and Country Club in Santa Barbara, he swims alone in search of money in a pond where errant golf balls dive. No net to catch, no goggles to see underwater—he searches by hand beneath the pond’s muddy bottom.
“Pa-picture anay,” I shouted, not wanting to miss this rare shot.
Gamely, he emerged from the brown water then flexed his muscles for a pose. I clicked the camera; we chuckled, he laughed.
