Fair Play: The Stoic Assassin and Boom Boom

IF football was like boxing, and players get nicknames like “Butter Bean” or “Iron Mike,” Springdale’s Carlos Veloso will probably earn the moniker “The Stoic Assassin.”

He’s calm, composed, his passes rarely miss the target and in big games, he delivers.

For the second straight year, his goals handed his school the Cebu City Olympics secondary football crown.

Last year, Springdale ousted the twice-to-beat Abellana National School on a pair of 1-0 wins courtesy of the Stoic Assassin’s goals. This year, it’s the turn of Don Bosco College to fall.

Though the report says his latest triumph had a touch of controversy as DBC claimed that the ball went out of bounds, but calls like that are the easiest to make and unless the refs just wanted to add to DBC’s misery, the call was a no-brainer.

There is also one goal from Veloso that stands out above all. In my years as a player, sportswriter and even as a fan, I have never seen anything like his “pinball goal.”

During the Aboitiz U15 finals in 2007 against ANS, Veloso took a shot just outside the box and the keeper seemed poised to stop it but the ball bounced off a defender, straight to a striker’s back, and careened back past the keeper. Boom, game winner. I don’t think even David Beckham can bend it like that.

Anyway, back to the Cebu City Olympics and a rather interesting comment from Ronaldo, our resident pundit, regarding the final. (I’ve cut it short)

With less than five minutes to go, Springdale had the ball on their left sideline. A tap from DBTC sent the ball flying to the outside where it hit a spectator… The ball bounced back to the field where Springdale controlled it and attacked the DBTC goal.

Where was (referee)? He was five yards away, with an unobstructed view of the play. Where was the ANS linesman? He was just 20 meters away talking with a spectator…A Springdale parent even went up to coach Ramos and told him they also saw the ball went out of bounds. Yeah, everybody saw the ball go out of bounds, including those in the grandstand, but the referee five yards away from the play saw nothing…Nevertheless, Springdale is a worthy representative for Cebu City..

I guess, let’s just add this incident to the folder “Strange things that happen in DepEd football,” right after that referee who ran to the CR during the Cviraa.

BOOM-BOOM. Rey Bautista lost and as expected, Boom-Boom got more beating from the mob who loves to dish it at the mannypacquiao.ph forum. Aside from the usual insults of Boom-Boom being a bum, one said his loss “brought shame to the PI,” (Dude, just because you live in “the US” doesn’t mean you have to call our country, “the PI.” Besides, we don’t refer to our country by that name), not a few also suggested strongly that Boom-Boom retire.

Retire after his second loss? Retire and do what? Get a job that allows him to park at internet forums while he is supposed to be working?

What the mob seem to overlook is that while boxers fight for our amusement, the fighters box for a living. Telling Bautista to retire is like telling (while hiding behind an identity) a friend who screwed a report, program or a call, “Wa man kay ayo, pamaligya na lang balut sa Bohol.”

Forum threads are like the free-flowing tagay sessions though the arguments don’t disappear with next day’s hangover. Somebody’s a know-it-all asshole, some make sense, some just go with the flow, while others insert the darndest comment just to spice things up.

Bautista lost and he needs to improve, just like with any other failure in any profession, if he wants to pursue his dream. Nobody who pursues his dream, and works hard for it, is a bum.

If you want to see a bum who should retire from “boxing,” grab a mirror.