John Elway - So Good For So Long

My appreciation for American Football started in 1987 when I was in 4th Grade. My elder brother, Jason, who was in high school then, would only go home during weekends and loved to watch sports shows while he's having a good massage from our dad.

Being an 11 year old boy, I would rather watch cartoons more than anything else which we, my siblings would fight for the television tuner. My brother, being an athletic teenager, always brought home MVP medals from different sports he joined in school. He then became my idol that whatever shows his watching, I see to it that I understand whatever it was, how to score, the name of the plays and the players. One great thing I admire from him is that he loves all sports events. And often times, during championships, he cheered for the underdogs except for local pro-basketball (PBA), where he and the whole family is a die-hard Jaworski fan who wore jersey 7 for Ginebra San Miguel.

One Sunday morning my brother requested to watch the football game and I got intrigued by way the game is being played unlike from any sports I've seen so I also watched the games even when he's not around. What caught my attention during his visits was the NFL Denver Broncos Quarterback, John Elway who also wore jersey number 7. Being a new fan of NFL, I didn't realized that this guy will be my idol too but not until my senior year in college when he won his first Super Bowl. And repeated the feat the following year and ended his career on top with two rings and an MVP award.

In 2005, I bought this McFarlane’s 12 inches figure of Elway. For me, he’s one of the greatest QB I’ve seen because I've seen him in his "The Drive" season when I was a kid and seen him at the end of his career a decade later.

And I can never be happier when I saw and bought an SI 2004 Hall of Fame edition from a small local bookshop entitled: “A Tribute to John Elway, So Good for So Long” where the cover photo is very similar to my McFarlane collectible.

Pascual Madrid Laguerta - The Greatest Boxer

It’s past four in the afternoon and its beginning to get dark early, fishermen are getting their bangca and gears ready for the night catch and students were walking on their way home to Bisita while I’m busy playing with my toy, an old bicycle wheel which used to be my dad’s.

Dad used to be a grade school teacher at Boton, the next baryo from us if you’re going to Matnog or Casiguran. We have cousins there and a small rice field which my dad, uncle and older brothers used to toil during summer and harvest time. He uses his bicycle everyday and be back for lunch meal with the family and ride again for the afternoon class and arrived home before five. Classes back then were held from morning till three or four in the afternoon where you can join the flag raising as well as the flag retreat ceremonies.

On weekends, if he’s not busy finishing our concrete house which he build by himself and some friends help for minor jobs, he takes us to the sea which is 20 minutes boat ride from our house. Across the street from our house is a suba leading to Sorsogon Bay on the west side and to Plaza on the east end. We used to have a bonoan where these long bamboos are place in the ground underwater and fishnets all over it allowing small openings for the fishes to be trapped. If not him, somebody harvests the fishes for us which we get percentage of the cash earned from selling them in the market. He used to have a strong arms to do all this work. Our house became a shelter for all sorts during typhoons. It can accommodate most of our neighbors, their pigs and chickens, dogs and cats and sometimes carabao. And we kids loved the typhoon season where we all sleep together, listen to stories, listen to radio and eat hot porridges.

But this night is one of the unforgettable days of my childhood. I can see my dad with his bike and parked it. I can see someone talking to him and then he walked away briskly and sometimes run, so I never got to say hello to him. But I followed him and some others are also following his path. So I was wondering why the commotions and the next thing I knew, we’ve walked for less than five minutes to reach a house of distant cousin and saw him in front of the door and when it opens, he knocked the man down with a single punch.

In my mind, I’m still confused and he went back to the house and I was catching him but people started gathering and talking what just happen. The following hour, we are in a hospital in Casiguran where my mom was admitted. She suffered a heart attack because of the people who are jealous of her public and civic achievements. These people remain the same until we left our hometown for a life in Manila.

A year after, we all transferred to the new schools in the main town of Sorsogon to continue our studies. The following year, my dad tried his luck to middle-east as an OFW and we moved to Manila following my brother while he attends his high school in the seminary in Makati.

Those people who hurt our family did not leave long - they soon died few years after we left. I guess life made a joke on them and may they rest in peace. Our family will always remain a Sorsoganon for our lives will never be same without those memorable moments that made us happy and the struggles that she brought us to make us strong.

That night will always remain as the greatest fight I have ever seen. You will always be our hero and strength and my personal inspiration.

Happy 66th birthday, Papa! We love you!

"Thrilla in Manila" - Part 2 of 3

And few weeks after, my SI cover was personally handed by my colleague and friend...

It was a great gift!

"Thrilla in Manila" Part 1 of 3

Remember my officemate Jake who always calls me "Howie Mandel" on my January post? Well, he still does and asks me to help him cleanup his laptop with applications that’s making it crawl whenever he open any file or program.

And so I did and recommended that he upgrade his RAM to at least 1GB or better 2GB because he only has 512MB. For two days during my free time, I’d work on his machine and uninstall applications that he doesn’t need or seldom used.

After I’m done, he handed me a paper that I cannot agree not to accept because it’s an SI gift. He ask me what I really want to have and I said “Owning a “Thrilla in Manila” SI cover is an important cover for me to have because we Filipinos are just born a devoted boxing fan.

Not only it’s about the greatest boxing icon, the most significant about it is, it was held here in our country and was refereed by a Filipino in Carlos Padilla. Whenever I watch a game or show in Araneta Coliseum, I would pass by the poster of Ali vs. Frazer fight in 1975.

Today, I’ll be counting three more weeks and this important SI cover will be mine. Thanks again Jake!

Merville Siege: Die Another Day

Going back to this picture of the teams that competed during the tournament in Merville Parañaque made me realized that I've been out of the game for the past three years. This was in 2005 and I haven't seen most of these guys since then...

I build a team and named it "Legion of Doom" with a logo of a Darth Vader helmet with an attitude of the legendary tag-team wrestling champion LOD. I got with me my nephew Ken, my cousin Erwin, my brother-in-law JP and his best friend King, my officemate Jun and my best buddy Jeff.

We were unfortunate to get an award but we enjoyed being part of the game and battle with teams who competes internationally, a couple of US marines, ex-militaries, mountaineers and guys from different professions...and kids as well...

We’re so disappointed that time because we're still four of us alive in our team and we're looking for just a single opponent to advance to quarter finals but could not find him only to know that we've passed over him and we didn't know that he's the one were looking for and he's just a twelve year old kid. I’ve seen him sitting in one corner so I thought he might be just watching the game…

If only we've studied every team specially their team members, we might have won a trophy... and that's a hint for you guys who are new to the sport!

3 inchIS More

Just got back from a 4 days vacation in Bohol with my family and was surprised by a 3-inch pile of SI magazines on top of my table. The subscriber's name was familiar so I went to his office and thank him for the mags.

This guy is our chief of security and every morning, he'd stand at the yard overseeing the security procedure of his staff. I would open my car window and greet him before proceeding to the north parking area, he then would shout "Howie Mandel!" and for a while I did not bother to check who's this Mandel guy until now.

And so Howie Mandel is a Canadian and the host of the US "Deal or No Deal" tv game show. He may be a fan of the show that's why he kept calling me with that name every morning as a way of making a joke. Anyway, he's a cool guy though many are afraid of his status, I got used to his type coz i'm more comfortable dealing or communicating with people with bold personality even when i was still young...

Thanks again, Jake!

SI's "First" ISsue

Today, I received the best birthday gift to start the year.

I got a Sports Illustrated gift set from mom and bela. I actually saw it at a bookstore in Rockwell and I called mom’s attention and asked her this, “do you know what I want for my birthday?” and then I showed her the book from my back and said, "This!"

And of course, she bought it as expected, Yahoo! What's great about it is it has reprint of the first issue, the very first SI issue dated 08-16-54 included also is a hardbound book entitled "The Best of Sports Illustrated". I guess being a sports fan, you'll have to know also or at least have a copy of this magazine issue... I always wanted to build a room full of sports memorabilia’s like posters, movies, balls, books, coins, jerseys, action figures and also picture frames of SI best covers hanging on the wall...

SI, inspired me, reading stories of athletes is like reading about your life struggles and challenges…You learn from their stories the importance of giving your best all the times, of being humble and thankful to those who made you what you are today, of how to handle defeat and losing, and how to make your family a part of your success…

I love your gift, mom and bela! You’re my inspirations, every single day of my being!