Fair Play: User error and preserving the CCSC ruins
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.”
After a quick search, I managed to find a final copy in my e-mail, and then some. Strangely enough, I got an e-mail from a guy who claims he is from the future.
First the missing paragraphs in that column:
Despite the Hells’ Angels, my first 5K experience was fun and inspiring. One old guy struggled to the finish line, with cane in hand, and got the most applause, while I saw a pair of runners helping an injured friend limp his way to finish the 21K. (And among the sportswriters, the oldest and biggest, Rico Navarro of The Freeman, finished first.)
And then there are those who man the water stations. They not only provide water, they cheer you up. And by the time you need that cup of water, you also need a “liter of cheers.”
However, one lady in the water station at the finish line wasn’t too pleased with some of the runners. After seeing the nth finisher throw his cup just anywhere, I heard her say loudly, “Hoy, tarunga sad ninyo labay ang basura,” just as I was about to add to the litter on the streets.
Well, she was right. It was the finish line, there was no need to drink, throw and run. So I dutifully brought my cup with me.
LETTER. I don’t know what to make of another e-mail I found in my inbox. I sent a few replies to the sender but when he started using strange subjects like “Gov. Jack Jakosalem,” “Classical love team KC-Richard,” “the defunct Philippine Basketball Association,” I started to suspect that either one of us was really full of it or wasn’t in full possession of our marbles.
When I said Jack is a councilor, KC-Richard is no classic and the PBA is still much alive, the condescending prick apologized and claimed his e-mail was from the future, and that his Portable Cray was infected by worm holes—plain computer worms, he claims, were eradicated in 2032—which is why his e-mail found its way to my inbox. (Yeah, right.)
In his e-mail, he attached his thesis for his Masters in Cebu Sports History Studies entitled, “Preserving the Cebu City Sports Center Ruins.” I read it. It was boring. But I liked these parts:
“The CCSC is where the Trust Quality Condoms Mardi Gras, when it was still a religious affair and was called the Sinulog, used to end. Before invitations were limited to endorsers and allies, classical love teams like KC-Richard and the trend-setting Rustom-Piolo, almost always grace the Sinulog.”
“Believe it or not, it also hosted the Palarong Pambansa, the predecessor of the Vitamin C Masarap Kasi Games and before it finally folded, the PBA tried one desperate push for publicity with the first and only pro game to be played under the stars.”
“Even in its decline, the CCSC did the City proud. In 2026, Jack Jakosalem, who was the Cebu City Mayor before he became governor in 2031, received a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records that proclaimed the CCSC as the sports complex with the oldest rubber track oval still in use in the world. When it finally shut down in 2054, a slice of the oval was donated to the Smithsonian Institute of Antiquities and was put on prominent display beside the world’s oldest Ipod (a very large device that plays limited media) and a strange contraption called the “cell phone.”
Since this dude claims to be a student of sports history in the future, I asked if Manny Pacquiao did fight Ricky Hatton and win. But he replied:
“You mean the myth was real?”
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.”
After a quick search, I managed to find a final copy in my e-mail, and then some. Strangely enough, I got an e-mail from a guy who claims he is from the future.
First the missing paragraphs in that column:
Despite the Hells’ Angels, my first 5K experience was fun and inspiring. One old guy struggled to the finish line, with cane in hand, and got the most applause, while I saw a pair of runners helping an injured friend limp his way to finish the 21K. (And among the sportswriters, the oldest and biggest, Rico Navarro of The Freeman, finished first.)
And then there are those who man the water stations. They not only provide water, they cheer you up. And by the time you need that cup of water, you also need a “liter of cheers.”
However, one lady in the water station at the finish line wasn’t too pleased with some of the runners. After seeing the nth finisher throw his cup just anywhere, I heard her say loudly, “Hoy, tarunga sad ninyo labay ang basura,” just as I was about to add to the litter on the streets.
Well, she was right. It was the finish line, there was no need to drink, throw and run. So I dutifully brought my cup with me.
LETTER. I don’t know what to make of another e-mail I found in my inbox. I sent a few replies to the sender but when he started using strange subjects like “Gov. Jack Jakosalem,” “Classical love team KC-Richard,” “the defunct Philippine Basketball Association,” I started to suspect that either one of us was really full of it or wasn’t in full possession of our marbles.
When I said Jack is a councilor, KC-Richard is no classic and the PBA is still much alive, the condescending prick apologized and claimed his e-mail was from the future, and that his Portable Cray was infected by worm holes—plain computer worms, he claims, were eradicated in 2032—which is why his e-mail found its way to my inbox. (Yeah, right.)
In his e-mail, he attached his thesis for his Masters in Cebu Sports History Studies entitled, “Preserving the Cebu City Sports Center Ruins.” I read it. It was boring. But I liked these parts:
“The CCSC is where the Trust Quality Condoms Mardi Gras, when it was still a religious affair and was called the Sinulog, used to end. Before invitations were limited to endorsers and allies, classical love teams like KC-Richard and the trend-setting Rustom-Piolo, almost always grace the Sinulog.”
“Believe it or not, it also hosted the Palarong Pambansa, the predecessor of the Vitamin C Masarap Kasi Games and before it finally folded, the PBA tried one desperate push for publicity with the first and only pro game to be played under the stars.”
“Even in its decline, the CCSC did the City proud. In 2026, Jack Jakosalem, who was the Cebu City Mayor before he became governor in 2031, received a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records that proclaimed the CCSC as the sports complex with the oldest rubber track oval still in use in the world. When it finally shut down in 2054, a slice of the oval was donated to the Smithsonian Institute of Antiquities and was put on prominent display beside the world’s oldest Ipod (a very large device that plays limited media) and a strange contraption called the “cell phone.”
Since this dude claims to be a student of sports history in the future, I asked if Manny Pacquiao did fight Ricky Hatton and win. But he replied:
“You mean the myth was real?”
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