Fair Play: Dan Palami's gift

DAN Palami, the man who changed Philippine football, flattered me with a gift a couple of weeks ago—a signed Neil Etheridge jersey.

I reckon it’s the only one in Cebu but that’s not why I got flattered.


Before Dan picked that jersey, we mainly communicated through the phone or e-mail and I’m sure when he saw me for the first time during the PFF Board of Governors meeting last month, he wondered for the first time if he got me the right size.

He didn’t.

The jersey was a tad too small and when I wore it, I looked like a bad drawing of a drunk cartoonist. That’s why I’m flattered, because Dan apparently thought I was football-player fit, not football-writer fit.

I think I saw my reflection stifle a laugh when I wore the jersey.

It’s also why I decided to pick up running, and, for the first time in my life, I’m now jogging at the Cebu City Sports Center oval, thrice a week.

My decision to run was bolstered when I joined a dinner for Graeme Mackinnon held by the Springdale Football club and the indefatigable Tina Mateo showed me pictures of a young Paolo Pascual and TJ Mateo.

While both us were thinking of how chubby the guys looked then, I realized that I am at an age when, if I look at pictures taken 10 years ago, I think, “how did I get so out-of-shape?”

The answer was obvious: no exercise for 16-odd years led me to this. Heck, last Thursday, during a pictorial with Paolo Pascual, I tried to kick a football for the first time since high school and my knees hurt like hell.

So, I picked up running. And no, it’s wrong to say that I’m running again because although I joined a few runs in 2009 I wasn’t really that serious.

But now?

I like jogging alone since I get to meet the old buddies I talked with when I joined a run back in 2009. I really missed those “conversations.” I think last Wednesday, I managed to solve the garbage disposal problems in my session but, typical me, it was forgotten the minute I got off the oval.

One buddy also pointed out one really funny thing last Monday, my first jog at the oval.

“Dude,” he said. “You’re barely sweating!”

He was trying to point out the obvious. I was sweating more when I watched the Azkals vs. Mongolia match at the packed Panaad Stadium than I when I walked-jogged at the oval for 50 minutes.

But it’s fun, though, despite aching in places where I never thought it was possible. During my second go-around last Wednesday, I did a little bit better though I still felt that I didn’t sweat as much as I did in Panaad.

I follow no program and I do just the rudimentary stretching and limbering, just trying to remember the warmup routines we did in high school.

It’s one way of reminding myself how far off the track I’ve fallen.

So, if you see me talking with my buddies at the oval, don’t be alarmed. I might be solving the city’s flood-control problems with my running buddies.

Thanks to Dan Palami’s gift.

Dan, by the way, will be at the Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Brewery Sports Awards today at the Ayala Center Cebu Activity Center.

He is our guest speaker and this year’s Presidential Awardee. And typical of him, when I said that he had to give a speech, he said he’ll just attend the affair and not talk.

Dan, you see, unlike most of the sportsmen we read about in the news, doesn’t believe he deserves any accolade, always passing the praise to the players and coaches. They deserve it, too, but without Dan, there would be no Azkals. There would be nothing for fans to cheer. There would be no football renaissance.

You see, when nobody else did, Dan Palami believed.

And that is his gift to me and to you.

He made us all believe.

Thank you, Dan.