Fair Play: Legends of the field
I HAD a grand time, as always, covering the PAL Interclub Men’s tournament in Cagayan.
During the last night, Davao’s Charles Maxey, Jon Develos and Leo Palo, and Cagayan’s Lynde Salgados and I spent a few hours talking with Al Mendoza and Jake Ayson, the rulesman of the event. Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without PAL’s Eya Prospero and Pinky Magiba, who took care of everything the media needed.
And when you are in the company of legends, it’s always a grand experience.
Al has covered the PAL Interclub for the past 37 years and even won the Media Division in ‘98, in the 50th staging of the tournament.
And, as fate would have it, he beat his buddy Jake, who was up by seven going into the last hole.
“Are you sure you didn’t intentionally lose, sir Jake?” Maxey said.
But what really got me interested in those talks was Al’s recollection of how they did things in the age before the cellphones, fax machines and Internet.
To get the rolls of films from the venue to their Manila offices, they would rush it to the earliest available flight to Manila, where runners would also rush it to the newsrooms.
How they got their stories in, is also interesting.
“Wala pang fax machine. Yung service naming, pampasaherong jeep lang,” said Al. “So we dictated our stories over the phone.”
Al said that they’d try to beat each other to the one available phoneline at the press center that they’d only write the first three paragraphs—sometimes in longhand—and will just dictate the rest of stories “on the fly” based on their notes.
Now that speaks a lot about their skills.
Al also said there was a PAL tradition of giving sportswriters, who have covered the event for 20 years, two business class tickets to any destination, but it was stopped. Al also mentioned one tradition that has continued all throughout these years.
“Basta PAL, andaming alak,” he said.
There was so much free-flowing beer at the media center of our hotel that there were still three cases left when we left. Every night, without fail, the waiters, kitchen staff and janitor got all the “liquid tip” they could imbibe.
Cheers to next year!
ANOTHER LEGEND. Speaking of legends of the sportswriting field, there is none bigger—literally—than Leonides S. Biantan.
I can’t forget the first time I saw Jack Biantan in person because I couldn’t believe a sportswriter could be that huge.
And, typical Jack, after a lull in the football coverage, he invited me for a quick bite.
“Mangaon ta na,” he said while tapping his huge arm around my frail, 105-pound body (Come on, I was a one-day, one-eat college student).
I think, 14 years after that incident, my shoulder still hasn’t recovered.
Graeme Mackinnon too is an interesting character.
I remember telling my then boss a unique sight—the ref had to ask the coach to go away after he already sent him away with a red card. Ever wily, Graeme was shouting instructions to his team near the fence, thus he was technically outside the pitch.
No, Jack and Graeme didn’t join me in the PAL Interclub—they are busy with another project, one they hope will become a regular fixture in the Philippine sporting scene as the PAL event is.
The two, together with David Pallasigue, a fellow Pinoysoccer.com and Philfootball.info alum, Ariell Cruz and Craig Burrows are helping run the latest online portal for Azkals fans—the Pinoyfootball.com.
It will contain news, pictures, galleries, columns by Jack and Graeme, and links to football columns in the Sun.Star network.
And with almost every move of the Azkals—even them mundane things—making the news these days, a credible outlet for fans is needed.
And that is what Big Jack’s latest baby is all about.
During the last night, Davao’s Charles Maxey, Jon Develos and Leo Palo, and Cagayan’s Lynde Salgados and I spent a few hours talking with Al Mendoza and Jake Ayson, the rulesman of the event. Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without PAL’s Eya Prospero and Pinky Magiba, who took care of everything the media needed.
And when you are in the company of legends, it’s always a grand experience.
Al has covered the PAL Interclub for the past 37 years and even won the Media Division in ‘98, in the 50th staging of the tournament.
And, as fate would have it, he beat his buddy Jake, who was up by seven going into the last hole.
“Are you sure you didn’t intentionally lose, sir Jake?” Maxey said.
But what really got me interested in those talks was Al’s recollection of how they did things in the age before the cellphones, fax machines and Internet.
To get the rolls of films from the venue to their Manila offices, they would rush it to the earliest available flight to Manila, where runners would also rush it to the newsrooms.
How they got their stories in, is also interesting.
“Wala pang fax machine. Yung service naming, pampasaherong jeep lang,” said Al. “So we dictated our stories over the phone.”
Al said that they’d try to beat each other to the one available phoneline at the press center that they’d only write the first three paragraphs—sometimes in longhand—and will just dictate the rest of stories “on the fly” based on their notes.
Now that speaks a lot about their skills.
Al also said there was a PAL tradition of giving sportswriters, who have covered the event for 20 years, two business class tickets to any destination, but it was stopped. Al also mentioned one tradition that has continued all throughout these years.
“Basta PAL, andaming alak,” he said.
There was so much free-flowing beer at the media center of our hotel that there were still three cases left when we left. Every night, without fail, the waiters, kitchen staff and janitor got all the “liquid tip” they could imbibe.
Cheers to next year!
ANOTHER LEGEND. Speaking of legends of the sportswriting field, there is none bigger—literally—than Leonides S. Biantan.
I can’t forget the first time I saw Jack Biantan in person because I couldn’t believe a sportswriter could be that huge.
And, typical Jack, after a lull in the football coverage, he invited me for a quick bite.
“Mangaon ta na,” he said while tapping his huge arm around my frail, 105-pound body (Come on, I was a one-day, one-eat college student).
I think, 14 years after that incident, my shoulder still hasn’t recovered.
Graeme Mackinnon too is an interesting character.
I remember telling my then boss a unique sight—the ref had to ask the coach to go away after he already sent him away with a red card. Ever wily, Graeme was shouting instructions to his team near the fence, thus he was technically outside the pitch.
No, Jack and Graeme didn’t join me in the PAL Interclub—they are busy with another project, one they hope will become a regular fixture in the Philippine sporting scene as the PAL event is.
The two, together with David Pallasigue, a fellow Pinoysoccer.com and Philfootball.info alum, Ariell Cruz and Craig Burrows are helping run the latest online portal for Azkals fans—the Pinoyfootball.com.
It will contain news, pictures, galleries, columns by Jack and Graeme, and links to football columns in the Sun.Star network.
And with almost every move of the Azkals—even them mundane things—making the news these days, a credible outlet for fans is needed.
And that is what Big Jack’s latest baby is all about.
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