Fair Pay: The 25K marathon and the Hand of Suarez
THE organizers of the Pilipinas International Marathon (not to be confused with a defunct event with the same name in Manila) hope to promote Cebu among international runners by organizing a run this Aug. 15.
But I’m afraid they’d only embarrass the city and the local running community.
The first thing foreign runners, you know those hardcore marathoners who spend time and money just to go to other places to run, will notice is that the Pilipinas International Marathon is not a marathon.
That could make those foreigners think that it is just a typo error or the organizers simply don’t know what a marathon is.
Nice choice: incompetents or idiots. But definitely not a good way to promote Cebu.
If foreigners do sign up and run on Aug. 15, they’d realize that it won’t be the only running event in Cebu.
So the foreign runners are going to think that not only does Cebu not know what a marathon is, it can’t even turn two “minor” events into one big one?
Nice, eh?
Local runners, as usual, will be divided. The elite runners will be going, as expected, for the one that offers the bigger money, which is the Pilipinas International Marathon that is not a marathon.
If I could, I’d join the Pilipinas International Marathon. You see, I want to be able to brag that I ran a sub-three marathon in my first try.
SUAREZ. What Luis Suarez did was about three inches from becoming the stupidest mistake in the history of the World Cup.
But because of those three inches (the penalty hit the bar), it became the smartest move he has ever done for Uruguay.
I remember in a community league ages ago, our backup keeper, who was playing defense in one game, did the same. He parried the darn ball.
I can’t remember what happened after that, or if the penalty was made, but I do remember him explaining, “Kung wala ko to gihimo, pildi man gyapun ta!”
Read what Suarez said, “It all happened very quickly. But instinctively I must have known that I had to do whatever it took to keep the ball out of the goal. I couldn’t get my head near it so I had to use my hands. I had to sacrifice myself for the team and the country.”
Is Suarez a cheat? Should he be condemned like Thierry Henry?
Maybe. Maybe not. It’s not that he won the game for Uruguay. Ghana lost it.
He didn’t try to pretend, too, that it never happened.
He just did something very, very stupid that turned out to be something very, very smart.
That move will be remembered for years to come. I’ll bet they’d even make an MTV out of it.
NIKE JINX. Have you seen that “futuristic” Nike ad about the World Cup, featuring stars who are no longer in the World Cup, and those who weren’t even called by their national teams?
Well, that reminds me a Nike a featuring the Brazilian national team, doing their stuff in an airport. That ad ended with Ronaldo, the buck-tooth version, hitting the “goalpost.” Of course, we all knew what happened in 1998.
The new ad ended with the other Ronaldo, the one who has his hairdresser on speed dial, with his god-like pose, staring into immortality…
You know what happened to the Haired One?
SEMIFINALS. So it’s going to be Spain against Germany and the Netherlands against Uruguay in the World Cup semis.
It’s been a sad World Cup for me so far as all the teams I cheered for got knocked out one by one.
I hope Uruguay, the underdog, can make it through but I’d be happy too if the Netherlands and Spain advance to the finals.
That way, we’re going to have a first time World Cup winner this year.
But I’m not going to cheer for any of them because I don’t want to be like Nike.
But I’m afraid they’d only embarrass the city and the local running community.
The first thing foreign runners, you know those hardcore marathoners who spend time and money just to go to other places to run, will notice is that the Pilipinas International Marathon is not a marathon.
That could make those foreigners think that it is just a typo error or the organizers simply don’t know what a marathon is.
Nice choice: incompetents or idiots. But definitely not a good way to promote Cebu.
If foreigners do sign up and run on Aug. 15, they’d realize that it won’t be the only running event in Cebu.
So the foreign runners are going to think that not only does Cebu not know what a marathon is, it can’t even turn two “minor” events into one big one?
Nice, eh?
Local runners, as usual, will be divided. The elite runners will be going, as expected, for the one that offers the bigger money, which is the Pilipinas International Marathon that is not a marathon.
If I could, I’d join the Pilipinas International Marathon. You see, I want to be able to brag that I ran a sub-three marathon in my first try.
SUAREZ. What Luis Suarez did was about three inches from becoming the stupidest mistake in the history of the World Cup.
But because of those three inches (the penalty hit the bar), it became the smartest move he has ever done for Uruguay.
I remember in a community league ages ago, our backup keeper, who was playing defense in one game, did the same. He parried the darn ball.
I can’t remember what happened after that, or if the penalty was made, but I do remember him explaining, “Kung wala ko to gihimo, pildi man gyapun ta!”
Read what Suarez said, “It all happened very quickly. But instinctively I must have known that I had to do whatever it took to keep the ball out of the goal. I couldn’t get my head near it so I had to use my hands. I had to sacrifice myself for the team and the country.”
Is Suarez a cheat? Should he be condemned like Thierry Henry?
Maybe. Maybe not. It’s not that he won the game for Uruguay. Ghana lost it.
He didn’t try to pretend, too, that it never happened.
He just did something very, very stupid that turned out to be something very, very smart.
That move will be remembered for years to come. I’ll bet they’d even make an MTV out of it.
NIKE JINX. Have you seen that “futuristic” Nike ad about the World Cup, featuring stars who are no longer in the World Cup, and those who weren’t even called by their national teams?
Well, that reminds me a Nike a featuring the Brazilian national team, doing their stuff in an airport. That ad ended with Ronaldo, the buck-tooth version, hitting the “goalpost.” Of course, we all knew what happened in 1998.
The new ad ended with the other Ronaldo, the one who has his hairdresser on speed dial, with his god-like pose, staring into immortality…
You know what happened to the Haired One?
SEMIFINALS. So it’s going to be Spain against Germany and the Netherlands against Uruguay in the World Cup semis.
It’s been a sad World Cup for me so far as all the teams I cheered for got knocked out one by one.
I hope Uruguay, the underdog, can make it through but I’d be happy too if the Netherlands and Spain advance to the finals.
That way, we’re going to have a first time World Cup winner this year.
But I’m not going to cheer for any of them because I don’t want to be like Nike.
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