Cebu Football

IVO Karlovic must be scratching his head after his first-round exit in the French Open. He fired 55 aces and still lost in, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Leyton Hewitt. Fifty-five aces, 55 points. That’s 13 games, and 40-love. At 6’10”, or just an inch shorter than Greg Slaughter, Karlovic gets unbelievable angles with his serves. But he still lost. Consider this, Karlovic’s average speed in his second serve was 172 kph, just six shy of Hewitt’s average speed in his first serve. “He gets up higher because he’s hitting so short in the boxes. The angle he gets, you can’t touch a lot of his serves. It’s physically impossible,” Hewitt said of his giant foe. The two also met in the first round in Wimbledon in 2003. Hewitt, the defending champion, lost. “I felt like I was a little unlucky…to play him on any surface, he’s so dangerous,” Hewitt told AP. So far, things are doing well for my bets in the French Open. Roger Federer was all business in his straight sets win against Alberto Marin, w...

FOR some strange reason, I have always taken a liking for the LA Clippers. Back when I started paying attention to the NBA in high school, the Clippers was the second team in my priority list of NBA teams to cheer. The first, of course, was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

HOURS after AJ Banal won his comeback fight at the Cebu Coliseum, I browsed Mannypacquiao.ph and was jolted by an ad for a fight, “Banal na Paghihiganti” and saw the familiar face of Rafael Concepcion, the Cebuano’s conqueror in Laban na Banal.

(This post got lost) IF I HAD less than 24 hours to live, I’d probably get GMA 7’s and Solar Sports’ help. If they can stretch six minutes to three and a half hours, they’d do wonders for me. At four minutes before 12, Manny Pacquiao ended Ricky Hatton’s unbeaten run at 140 pounds. At around 3:30, GMA time, Martin Nievera was still singing the national anthem.

HAD quite a busy day last Sunday. I had coffee and a bit of breakfast in Boracay, took a pee in Caticlan, had lunch in Kalibo, dinner at the Mall of Asia and slept in Cebu.

FILIPINO-British footballers Chad Gould and James Younghusband want the national football team to have more friendlies and tournaments so it can continue to improve in the international arena. The two, who played for the Philippines in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Maldives, also want the team to have a coach who will stay for more than one tournament.

FELIX and Juliet Balbona must be grinning ear to ear these days. Their eldest daughter, Jessa, finished second in the 18-Under division of the National Age Group Chess Championship in Aklan, while their sons Marq Gabrielle and Felix Shaun both finished eighth in the Boys 14-Under and 12-Under divisions, respectively. John Francis also ended up 28th in the 12-Under division.

MY interest got piqued when I read an article by the Associated Press that Smokin’ Joe Frazier was still pissed at Muhammad Ali three decades after the epic finale of their trilogy. Why hold that grudge for so long? I learned the reason last Saturday night.

THE last time I saw a beach volleyball game was back in 2005 during the Southeast Asian Games (Seag) in Bacolod City. Last Thursday, I caught a few minutes of action during the Visayas eliminations of the Nestea Beach Volleyball Championships at the sand court in Parkmall.

I SPENT the Holy Week reading FHM and Maxim. No it wasn’t to protest the inhuman ban on bikini shows. It was all research for column material.

I STUMBLED upon a channel showing The Biggest Loser one lazy Sunday night. And the reality TV show got my interest. Unlike other reality TV shows, where constestants scheme to screw each other—literally and figuratively—this one is all about people losing weight. Hence the name.

Paul Weiler, the beloved German nut ional has been named the new Cebu Football Association president. Weiler was appointed as the replacement of Manfred Schuwerk in the Cebu Football Association board but Weiler, who enjoys the backing of Don Bosco because of his explicit positive critique of the school's football program, managed to maneuver his way into the CebuFA presidency. "This is all for Fifa fair play, I will force that the force will be with you, always," Weiler said. On the other hand, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital Psych Ward is also thankful that CebuFA has named Weiler as its new president. "We do try to take care of our patients, and we really got worried when he escaped. This way, we know where to locate him," said Avril Folle, VSMH's spokeperson said.

HERE'S a few unexpected developments. According to a source Fare Play interviewed just an hour ago, ABS-CBN and GMA-7 will split the airing of the Manny Pacquaio vs. Ricky Hatton fight on May 3. Solar Sports, which owns the rights to airing Pacquiao fights in the Philippines, has signed a deal with Entertainment Consortium for Live Pro Sports Events (Eclipse) for the unique deal.

All pics are courtesy of Dr. JP

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All Pics courtesy of Dr. JP

ALL Pics are courtesy of Dr. Joel Pascual (click more to view the pics)

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I SAID in a previous column there was something fundamentally wrong with how the Department of Education ran their meets.

DURING one football game in high school, I got so frustrated I decided to stop the play by sitting on the ball. Yep, I was so pissed with that incompetent fool who kept blowing his whistle against us I just grabbed the darn ball, sat on it, and dared him to take it from me.