Fair Play: Why so serious?

I’VE been so serious in the previous columns lately, that, it’s getting boring.  Serious is boring.  Besides, one of the best pieces I wrote here was one when—a few months before it actually happened—I gave a round-by-round account of how Manny Pacquiao beat Oscar dela Hoya.

Boy, this crystal ball business gets crazy sometimes….


By the way, I read an interesting post over Facebook the other day, from a football player.  He said, Feb. 13, 15 and 16 are designated "mistress days" during Valentine's week, and since it also coincides with the Thirsty Cup, I wonder if there are teams who'd get trouble gathering their players these days?

Or if there are players who'd get in trouble for playing for the other team?

"I was in the Thirsty Cup until midnight! We made it through the semis, promise!"

"Oh yeah, I read online your team lost all their elimination matches."

This reminds of a funny incident involving a tennis player who filed for a leave of absence from his company.

I think he cited an illness.

And a day after taking off work, his face was plastered in the main page of our section, playing tennis.

I was told that the guy decided to shave off his beard so he could say the photo that came out in the paper was an old one.

So guys, a bit of advice, next time you play in a tournament and there’s the media, please indicate whether you’re supposed to be there or somewhere else.  

These days, the Philippine Football Federation headquarters in Manila should be one busy place.

No, fans aren't getting in touch with their football side of all of the sudden.  It's just that the PFF office is located in the discreet areas of Pasig if you get what I mean.  The first and only time I got there, and I saw the logos of the neighbors of the PFF that left no doubt as to what happens in those places, I thought, no wonder Philippine football got so screwed up back in those days, it must have been in the atmosphere.   The stories were crazy and made you think the F in PFF stood for something else--a national coach’s quarters was turned into a brothel!

I'm glad that they have managed to exorcise those spirits.

By the way, Jun Pe should stop using sports as comparison for his plight.  When he got disqualified, he said it's just like the first quarter in basketball, anything can still happen in the remaining three.  (For the benefit of readers outside Cebu, Jun Pe is a three-termer Councilor of Cebu, who’s trying to run for a fourth term by transferring to another district. He got disqualified).

No sir.  Sports has always been founded on the spirit of fair play.  And cases like Jun Pe in sports just don't happen. It would be like an organizer bending the rules so far away to get undue advantage in the medal tally...oh wait, that's what Myanmar is doing.

Perhaps, it would be like, say, a college player playing in elementary baseball? Oh wait, that happened too!

Or how about this--sports is always about fair play, but there are always officials, coaches and players who try to bend the rules, and sometimes, the only way they'd get caught is when someone says, "enough is enough."

15 MILLION CRAZY REASONS.  And do you know what’s the craziest story I heard recently?  Well, it concerns the transaction between a Cebu and Manila school over a prized recruit.

One guy, a supporter of another school, says unlike the US, where basketball player can’t wait to bolt college for the pros so they can make money, it’s the other way around here, they maximize their college years.

Why is that?

He said he saw the offer sheet, which was P15 million plus a monthly allowance equivalent to a manager’s salary, plus gadgets and a US trip for school officials.

This is amateur sports, so those are within the rules.

Yep, we’re screwed.