You're the Best Pinoy Athlete for me

Don’t you find it weird that until now, the Philippines has yet to get a gold medal at the Olympics. We’ll it just happened that the greatest athletes in the world are Filipinos. Coincidently, all the sports they have conquered starts with letter B--- Boxing, Billiards and Bowling (apologies to fellow basketball fans but the last time we were world hoops contenders was half a century ago).

Manny “Pacman” Pacquaio, who was recently included by Time Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people for 2009 and also ranked 57th in Forbes Magazine’s annual listing of 100 most powerful celebrities, is currently the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Efren “Bata” Reyes, known as The Magician in the world of billiards, has been hailed by pool experts as arguably the greatest player of the game after dominating the world circuit for more than two decades beginning in the mid-80’s.

Third on my list is, who for me, is the best Pinoy athlete of our generation: six-time World Bowling Champion Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno. All in all, he has won an amazing 118 titles around the globe from 1972 to 2007, which is the most number of bowling tournaments won by an individual according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

His other world records are: having the most Bowling World cup wins and the youngest ever to win the Bowling World Cup at the age of 19. (I don’t have the latest Guinness book so please feel free to update me if somebody already broke his records which I doubt will happen anytime soon)

In 2008, Malacañang awarded Paeng the Order of Lakandula with Class of Champion for Life and was declared Best Filipino athlete of all time. Both the Philippine Senate and House of Congress have declared Paeng the "Greatest Philippine Athlete of All Time". (If Pacquaio wins a seat in congress next year, I would not be surprise if his first authored bill will be for change or update of the said declarations of both Houses)

But of all the accomplishments of Nepomuceno, the one that I really love about him is the fact that he is the first inductee to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame in 1993. All firsts are special and should be praised to the highest magnitude if it was achieved in the international arena.

Before I end this blog with another great trivia, all sports buffs are invited to check out waterboy.ph, a site for sports fans of all ages.

Bonus trivia: The second individual to be inducted to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame is Bong Coo, a Pinay.

The Most STIRRING story in STIR

There was not enough sun to make summer 2009 hot like an oven. No thanks to the early downpour of rain in most parts of the country. But this year proves to be one of the most stirring and hottest summers ever with big news and shocking scandals hitting pinoys from left to right. Every month, a new talk of the town is on the spot light. From the suicide case of the Mrs. Etong to the scary A(H1N1) spread, people were stirred like halo-halo.

But Hayden Kho’s video scandals will be on the radar for quite sometime since there were reports that at least 40 women have been victimized by the doctor in a sheep costume. Three of Kho’s vids with different celebrities have already been passed from laptops to cellphones to PCs and to only God knows where else.

All the while, we thought the issue will die as days pass but it only to gained more noise when, I think, the most stirring story in Stir, came out. It’s the story “KC Concepcion: Hayden’s Victim?”

Imagine this, the daughter of two powerful names in showbiz and politics in a sex scandal? She might even be the country’s first daughter in 2010. The truth about this video will be determined as soon as the hard evidence starts pop out like those of Katrina Halili and two models. Now, everyone is waiting who’s who in Hayden’s Top 40 list.

It’s funny that even people, whom I thought would find sex scandals are immoral, would ask. me if I have a copy of Hayden’s collection. They wanted the one with KC in particular. I asked them if I look like a pervert for them to think that I have the videos they want. They said they were just hoping since I have a cellphone and a PC at home.

This story beats the usual showbiz headlines: KBL. Kasal ni Juday at Ryan (April), Binyag ng anak ni Jennilyn (January) at Libing ni Francis M (March).

I am not a big KC fan (my wife is the one who adores her much) but I do hope that this controversy is just a product of a very playful mind. KC is a role model, a sweetheart, and an advocate of peace and just about anything wonderful in this world. If I see her naked with that Hayden singing, let say, For the First Time or Umbrella or even the Nido theme song that the Megastar sings… that will surely stir my head for a while.

A Meryenda Dilemma at Red Ribbon: Salisbury Steak or Carbonara?

Call me crazy or what but I think, Red Ribbon is stalking me.

Before you raise those trimmed eyebrows of yours, why not listen to my story first. It all started when I used to work as a copywriter/ publicity officer for VIVA Entertainment in the late 90’s. Our office was in E. Rodriguez Sr., Q.C. and just beside our building is Red Ribbon – New Manila Branch. After several years, I found my self working for HTMT, a call center in E. Rodriguez Jr., Quezon City. A few yards from work is Red Ribbon – Libis. Today, I am now employed by a NGO in Mandaluyong City. And two blocks away from the office is Red Ribbon – Shaw Blvd.

Am I complaining? Of course, Not! I am just sharing this crazy thought that in case I will be applying for a job with a new employer, my chances of getting hired will depend whether there is nearby Red Ribbon shop in the area.

Ahhh…too much thinking made me hungry so I went out to get Meryenda at RB. When I looked at the menu on the wall, I can’t help but notice the “new-improved meals” tag at the Salisbury Steak and Carbonara entries. There must something special in these two yummy delights that I have already tried during my previous trips to the store--- but there was no “new-improved meals” tag then.

Hmm… now here’s my dilemma. What will I try first? I may be a little chubby but my stomach can accommodate just one set meal that afternoon.

After quite a debate between my leaf and right brain, I decided to order the Carbonara Meal set for take out. In my cubicle, I spent 15 minutes of heaven. The last time I had RB Carbonara was last month but the moment the first bite landed in my mouth, I can tell that there is definitely something different with it. Creamier…yummier… more delicious… bitin-er (translation: craving for more)… simply a bargain at 120 pesos (I got a slice of Black forest and Coke light with it).

If you’re thinking that I will get Salisbury steak tomorrow. I can’t say yes. Because I might order Carbonara again. It’s another Meryenda dilemma tomorrow at Red Ribbon and I’m not complaining.

Did you know the Cool things we did last Summer?

Some say that one of the hardest things to do is to say goodbye to the people who have been a part of your life, it happened to me last year during our team's last summer getaway.

For three years, I have traded smiles, jokes, ire, food and coffee spills to these people I called officemates during our stressful but fulfilling job in a call center in Quezon City. And now, it will all end in our last group outing.

So to make sure that it will be a summer to remember, we need to come up with “cool” activities that we can do during our gimmick. I was one of those people assigned to think of the unthinkable.

We decided to get a private pool so we can do whatever we want to. With the meager budget and little time for preparation that we had, the nearest place we can get is situated on top of a mountain in Tanay just a few blocks from the middle of nowhere. As expected, some of our officemates opted not to come citing reasons of fear of malaria and NPAs, scheduled visit to the dentist, and RFBF (restrictions from boyfriend).

Despite of all the hassles and KJs, our trip to Tanay went as planned. We used three vehicles to accommodate the whole team. We left our meeting place around 7 p.m. We expected to be in a middle of a traffic jam in Libis so we prepared games that we can do inside the van. We played games like Follow the Leader, Name that Tune, charades and some no-brainer stuff.

Our vehicle is the last one in the convoy and someone joked what if we got flat tires or our engine got busted in the middle of our trip. We soon found out the answer when the van suddenly stopped in the middle of a dark long and winding road in a mountain in Rizal around 10 p.m. Our cellphones have no signal and there is not a single house in sight. We all step out of the van while our driver/ mechanic fixed his vehicle that we rented. The girls, of course, were scared. Some of the boys started telling scary stories and do howling sounds (one way of hiding the fact that they are as scared as the girls).

Good thing, a group of nice gentlemen passed by and offered help. While waiting for the van to be fixed, some started playing with their shadows while others look for good spots for picture taking.

We arrived at the resort before midnight and another “great” news welcomed us. The whole area is experiencing brownout. The generator has no fuel and that means we have to survive the evening with only make-shift lights and sounds of crickets to enjoy. It also means that all our plans for the evening ---AVP presentation, videoke session, etc --- will have to skipped.

But you know what’s cool with the experience, it became a blessing in disguise because the limitations of our situation bonded us more. We made a bonfire and everyone in the circle shared a story or two while roasting hotdogs and mallows. The calmness of the night created a mode that feels like we were a family that night. Some opened up and talk about his and her likes and dislikes about the group. I felt the sincerity in everyone who delivered their monologues. After the many stories and bottles of beer that I ingested, I found myself in dreamland.

The next morning, we were like kids playing. It’s cool to see smiles from people I used to think were reincarnation of Mr. Scrooge. The swimming pool was all ours. We stayed there until our skin turned maroon. It was one of those moments with friends that you wish would not end. But of course, we have to consider the fact that we only paid 12 hours for the venue.

After a month, our account closed. But what’s cool is the fact that we are still close to one another even now that we are working in different companies.

To sum it all, our last get together was a learning experience in a way. With all the unavoidable snags that came our way, we still manage to have a great summer. I hope others can get some pointers in this story on how people can still be cool this summer in the middle of unforeseen dilemmas.