Cebu Football

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's June 1 edition) NOT one fan I know wants Sepp Blatter to get another term. Not one. Yet, to those who matter, Blatter got the 133 votes he needed to win another term as head of Fifa’s governing body. The voting was done by secret balloting, so, we’d never know who voted for whom. I suspect, if push comes to shove, all voting members of Fifa will claim they all voted for the other guy, not Blatter. But he got the votes. Who did the Philippines vote for? I’m scared to know. The AFC supported Blatter, and voting in this election is always done in bulk. The guys who voted for the other guy, especially those with Uefa, have promised to do all they can to get rid of Blatter.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 30 edition, written hours before the Fifa election. Sadly, the leaders in world football really are crazy--or stupid--enough to give Sepp Blatter another term) IN 2010, when Fifa announced the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups--Russia and Qatar, respectively--my first thought was that the executive committee got so greedy that they decided to choose the host for two World Cups, not just one, as was the norm before. The World Cup is the world’s biggest sporting event, bigger even than the Olympics, and of course, billions of dollars are involved. And only the naïve will think that money doesn’t exchange hands when the choice is made by the powerful select few that chooses the host. So yeah, my first thought, especially upon hearing who won was that the votes must have been really costly.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 28 edition) LET'S face it, luck has rarely smiled on the Azkals. Just look at the draw we got for the World Cup qualifiers. For the Suzuki Cup campaign, Southeast Asia's premier tournament, we can't even get the best players available because Asean's centerpiece event is so small in Fifa's world that it's not part of the calendar. Meaning, the players based in Europe won’t be compelled to play. But for this year's World Cup qualifiers, it seems, fortune is smiling on us---as we got Stephen Schrock, Javier Patino and Neil Etheridge back, plus new kids Iain Ramsay, Luke Woodland, Stephen Palla and Kevin Ingreso. How did we get them to commit?

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 27 edition) THE Philippines' campaign in the 2018 Word Cup qualifiers begins on June 11, and the training camp will start on June 1. Are we back to the old days of taking these things for granted? Pre-2010, we'd love to bash the PFF for spending less than a month to prepare for tournaments, resulting to our boys getting beaten black and blue and going home with their tails between their legs. Now, if we're lucky, we'd get 10 training days before we take on dangerous Bahrain at home. Aren't we cutting it too close for comfort?

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 25 edition) EVER since we lost our best chance to win an Olympic gold medal in 1996, our record in the quadrennial meet has been woeful---zero golds, zero silvers, and zero bronze medals in the Syndey, Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. That’s four straight meets without a medal after winning a bronze in 1988 and in 1992 and that silver by Mansueto Velasco in 1996. That shows how difficult it is to win a medal, or even qualify for the Olympiad. Our best bet has always been boxing, but lately our boxers can’t even make it past the second round of eliminations. Tanamor, who was then predicted by Sports Illustrated to win a medal in the 2008 Olympics, surprisingly lost in the round-of-32. Mark Barriga had the same fate in 2012 and lost in the second round.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 23 edition) JUST as I thought that the fight as to which group is the legitimate NSA for volleyball in the country was over, I was told that it is not. It’s far from it. And it still could get court-case ugly that could lead to the country’s suspension in international play. Philippine Volleyball Federation president Gener Dungo Edgardo Cantada said in an e-mail that before LVP can be recognized by the POC, it has to removed the PVF from the roster of recognized NSA members by a 3/4 vote of the general assembly, then the it has to confirm the accreditation of the new group with a 2/3 vote.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 21 edition) SO the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas has just received recognition from the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) as the national sport association for volleyball in the country, and I hope this ends t he political infighting in volleyball. I hope, too, that now LVP is recognized as a national sports association, it will really become a national sports association, and not commit the same mistake as its predecessor and think that “national” only covers Manila.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 20 edition) I'M not a betting man, but if I was, I'd bet my buddy's bonus on Donnie Nietes stopping that cocky Mexican challenger in Pinoy Pride 31. I'd probably throw in his new ride, too. Donnie, like most Pinoy fighters, especially those from ALA, is not one to boast. They'd let their fists do the talking. Many sportswriters have been disappointed that they can't lead with, "I'll beat the crap out of him," in their stories instead of, "I will just try to do my best." But Donnie's body of works--longest-reigning Pinoy champion and three defenses in Mexico--speak volumes, and when he says he'll do his best, it doesn't mean he's 100 percent ready, it means he can go another 12 rounds after a 12-round fight. That's how Donnie is.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 11 edition) CENTRAL Visayas, after finishing at fourth place in every Palaro since god knows when, dropped to sixth place this year. Going into the Palaro in Tagum, Cviraa’s Vivian Ginete told Sun.Star Cebu that they would be relying on the team events to get that much-needed medals to get ahead in the standings. They didn’t get it, and now, one of Central Visayas’ key strategies for next year according to Victor Yntig, the team manager, is to ask DepEd to adopt the core medal system for parity. I think that’s not what is broken.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's May 7 edition) MOMENTS after the greatest win in a stellar career, Floyd Mayweather Jr. climbed the ropes, crossed his arms and looked at everyone in the arena, as if they were all beneath him. He got booed. He just beat the fighter whom most thought would beat him. Beat him soundly, too. And he made sure, they knew that. “I told you so! I told you so!” he screamed. Booo! The crowd answered.