Cebu Football

SOME four years after assuming office, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez is gone, replaced by ex-congressmen Harry Angpin. Ramirez’s resignation, offered after the Philippines’ 0-0-0 finish in the Beijing Olympics, was accepted last week. And kaput goes the amiable chairman. Here’s a reaction from Graeme Mackinnon:

IT'S strange how the Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton negotiation saga ended, isn't it? When news that the deal fell off, I asked a veteran writer what he thought of that and he said, "Padugang ra na's pusta, dayun na na." And a few days later, the fight is on, thanks to a beer drinking session.  I think I want to break out on a song, does anyone knows the lyrics of Selling the Drama?

FOR some reason, the column I sent for Wednesday’s edition (Dodging Hells’ Angels in the Sinulog Run) was my draft, not my final copy. So more than a third didn’t see print. I could explain why that happened, but as what Dongdong, our go-to guy for all things techie in the Sun.Star newsroom would say, the glitch was caused by “user error.”

(Column disaster, instead of this final copy, I inadvertently e-mailed a draft, which came out in the paper today.  Ouch-) I ALWAYS knew runners have to be made of sturdy stuff to be able to do what normal people won't, wake up really early just to run a few kilometers.           I didn't know they'd have to be very good at dodging the Devils on Wheels.

IT’S the Sinulog again and it means sports takes the back seat when Cebu’s biggest festival hit the streets. Though there may be Sinulog Cups or Sinulog this and that, they are always held before the event. (Or after, in the case of Sinulog boxing tomorrow night.)

FIRST the Olympics, the US Open and now the Australian Open? It seems my long wait for Maria Sharapova won't end. Jan. 19 has long been marked in my calendar. Surely, I'd get to catch her in action in the first Grand Slam, hear her grunts, probably get to see a picture of her in that shirt, “I feel sexy when I grunt,” or read some quotes, “I’m here to play tennis, not to be nice.”

THREE pounds, for most, is a miniscule number. Heck it could be the difference pre-and post-Noche Buena, or pre-and post a couple bottles of beer. Three pounds is nothing, or for some fans I know, it’s the weight difference between Round 1 of a Pacquiao fight and after the decision is read, at least for the conservative eaters.

WHAT do you call a group, which replaced an old group and says that because it wants to “break new ground,” it will conduct old experiments? Or, again, as part of that “breaking new ground,” it will hold a stakeholders’ summit, where all the who’s who in the event will attend, but adds, “those who wish to join the stakeholders’ summit are requested to contact Mr. So and So.” What do you call them? You call them the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap).

IT’S three days into the Year of the Ox, so, have you broken your New Year’s Resolution already? Fret not, resoluti