Fair Play: Criminal records and pretty football faces
I’VE forgotten the name of the Mexican boxer but I’m pretty sure he has never forgotten that press conference and his encounter with Bobby Inoferio.
His face was a picture of confusion and anger when he listened to the Spanish translation of Bobby Inoferio’s standard question for boxers that usually elicit laughter.
But this one didn’t.
After his companion finished translating “What is your criminal record?” the boxer and translator launched into a bevy of Spanish that involved a lot of headshaking. I’m pretty sure they were talking, “Is this guy crazy? Should we get the hell out of here?”
I was busy laughing I didn’t get to catch the boxer’s response but I remember it included him saying he was an “honest and hardworking boxer who loves his family and obeys the laws.”
When Bobby clarified that he meant to ask the boxer’s record, the two shook their heads some more, but were smiling.
That’s Bobby—or Bobby Knight to his colleagues—love him or hate him, he’s bound to make you laugh. Unless, of course, you’re an English teacher.
He takes no prisoners and guys who are used to his line of questioning regularly get a laugh out of his antics, while guys who don’t know him…
Well, one time, during a gathering of fans when Royce Gracie visited town, one of the mixed-martial guys was talking about this crazy dude who kept pestering the Brazilian during the press con.
He asked me, “Do you know this guy? Is he really crazy? I was this close to…”
Also, just the other day, I finally caught parts of his Sportsworld program, the one where he interviewed Dan Palami and Graeme Mackinnon.
Amidst the “machinegunnizing” and “pulverizing,” he got some nice points out of Dan Palami.
He asked Dan, while calling the team manager the future manager of team Philippines, “How do you choose your players? Is being good-looking a requirement?”
If not for that question, Dan wouldn’t reply this way.
“For good-looking guys who don’t know how to play football, we bring them to showbiz…Actually we choose players who are very good in football, for every Phil Younghusband and Neil Etheridge that got into the team, there are a lot more who were taken out…”
I know some fans would interpret a lot in that statement but please know the interview was done weeks before a certain fan and a certain Angelica got into an argument.
I was reminded of Bobby’s line of questioning during a unique “press con” I witnessed last December involving Rotarians and ALA boxers. Now, I’ve been to a lot of boxing press cons and I have to say I can almost predict what they will say, so it was quite surprising to hear that they let their wit come out given the chance.
“Do you believe that you shouldn’t have sex during training and before a fight?”
“Aw, puasa gyud,” Mark Melligen said before quickly adding, “Pero depende ra na sa diskarte sir.”
As to the importance of “heart,” Melligen said, “Kung maigo ka, unya lipung ka diri,” while pointing to his head, “Ug dili ka lipung diri,” while pointing to his heart, “basi madala ra. Kung lipung ang duha, lipung gyud ka.”
When one Rotarian said one negative aspect of the boxing boom is that their wives were learning the sport at ALA gym, Melligen pointed out, “Practice lang gud likay sir.”
I’ve been to a lot of press conferences, one involving the brash Vic Darchinyan, but I don’t think I had as much fun as that one.
But it wasn’t all comic, though. That night, the boxers all acknowledged that if not for picking up the sport, their futures wouldn’t be that bright, while Milan Milendo admitted that he didn’t want to take up boxing, he wanted to finish college.
Bobby, too, wasn’t all comic in Sportsworld. He got Dan to admit the difference between the support from the new admin and the previous was remarkable, and that if the Azkals could do so much with so little, he is hopeful for the Azkals campaign in the next two years.
The next part of that campaign, of course, is tomorrow.
His face was a picture of confusion and anger when he listened to the Spanish translation of Bobby Inoferio’s standard question for boxers that usually elicit laughter.
But this one didn’t.
After his companion finished translating “What is your criminal record?” the boxer and translator launched into a bevy of Spanish that involved a lot of headshaking. I’m pretty sure they were talking, “Is this guy crazy? Should we get the hell out of here?”
I was busy laughing I didn’t get to catch the boxer’s response but I remember it included him saying he was an “honest and hardworking boxer who loves his family and obeys the laws.”
When Bobby clarified that he meant to ask the boxer’s record, the two shook their heads some more, but were smiling.
That’s Bobby—or Bobby Knight to his colleagues—love him or hate him, he’s bound to make you laugh. Unless, of course, you’re an English teacher.
He takes no prisoners and guys who are used to his line of questioning regularly get a laugh out of his antics, while guys who don’t know him…
Well, one time, during a gathering of fans when Royce Gracie visited town, one of the mixed-martial guys was talking about this crazy dude who kept pestering the Brazilian during the press con.
He asked me, “Do you know this guy? Is he really crazy? I was this close to…”
Also, just the other day, I finally caught parts of his Sportsworld program, the one where he interviewed Dan Palami and Graeme Mackinnon.
Amidst the “machinegunnizing” and “pulverizing,” he got some nice points out of Dan Palami.
He asked Dan, while calling the team manager the future manager of team Philippines, “How do you choose your players? Is being good-looking a requirement?”
If not for that question, Dan wouldn’t reply this way.
“For good-looking guys who don’t know how to play football, we bring them to showbiz…Actually we choose players who are very good in football, for every Phil Younghusband and Neil Etheridge that got into the team, there are a lot more who were taken out…”
I know some fans would interpret a lot in that statement but please know the interview was done weeks before a certain fan and a certain Angelica got into an argument.
I was reminded of Bobby’s line of questioning during a unique “press con” I witnessed last December involving Rotarians and ALA boxers. Now, I’ve been to a lot of boxing press cons and I have to say I can almost predict what they will say, so it was quite surprising to hear that they let their wit come out given the chance.
“Do you believe that you shouldn’t have sex during training and before a fight?”
“Aw, puasa gyud,” Mark Melligen said before quickly adding, “Pero depende ra na sa diskarte sir.”
As to the importance of “heart,” Melligen said, “Kung maigo ka, unya lipung ka diri,” while pointing to his head, “Ug dili ka lipung diri,” while pointing to his heart, “basi madala ra. Kung lipung ang duha, lipung gyud ka.”
When one Rotarian said one negative aspect of the boxing boom is that their wives were learning the sport at ALA gym, Melligen pointed out, “Practice lang gud likay sir.”
I’ve been to a lot of press conferences, one involving the brash Vic Darchinyan, but I don’t think I had as much fun as that one.
But it wasn’t all comic, though. That night, the boxers all acknowledged that if not for picking up the sport, their futures wouldn’t be that bright, while Milan Milendo admitted that he didn’t want to take up boxing, he wanted to finish college.
Bobby, too, wasn’t all comic in Sportsworld. He got Dan to admit the difference between the support from the new admin and the previous was remarkable, and that if the Azkals could do so much with so little, he is hopeful for the Azkals campaign in the next two years.
The next part of that campaign, of course, is tomorrow.
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