Everyone’s talking about Manny Pacquiao and rightfully so. He is a homeboy who did great in boxing, fought for his countrymen and became a national hero.
Let us hope and pray that he continues to win; not only in boxing but also in our hearts.
You know as I do, that a hero is a very hard title to keep; one must live it and die with it. Otherwise, it will be just another use-to-be. And that is the reason why wise men always call highly-talented individuals and dedicated nationals, as legends and patriots, because the only sure heroes are those who end up in the cemetery of heroes.
The television and marketing people must have learned something from the four-hour fight, which they stretched to 12 hours and so did the avid fans. Finally they figured the people are ready for PPV and would be willing to pay for it, if shown live via satellite. It took a year to unfold but yes their nice little scheme worked.
And yes, a lot of people did pay but the ones who benefited most were the ones that couldn’t afford and those who wouldn’t pay the price and steadfastly watched it on regular TV. The obvious reason is that the cable company that owns the rights to the fight made enough money from their scheme that they did not have to put 20-minute commercials in-between the rounds.
As a result, everybody was happy and you might say it was a win-win situation.
All the private clubs had their own particular offerings for watching the fight. City Sports Club had the fight on satellite and so did Cebu Country Club with a big difference. CCC had it for free and thus a bigger turnout that included some employees watching through the doorways. Casino Espa?ol offered special meals with it. Alta Vista and Club Filipino had their loyal following watching privately at their venue.
For us golf diehards who value our limited time to play golf, we knew the country was watching, we knew that Manny would win and we knew that we would get a chance to see it later, so we proceeded to hit our tee shots on hole No.1 as the fight was about to begin. When we reached the tee house on the fifth hole, it was hard to get service as the radio was blasting in Tagalog and Visayan, and on top of DJs’ lungs in the 10th round.
After learning the fight was over and Manny had knocked out Morales, we proceeded to hit our tee shots to the fifthgreen. The roar from the clubhouse must have been deafening because we could hear it all the way from where we were.
GOLF SKED. The golfing schedule for February is quite busy for our Rotary Club. It starts with a series of mini tournaments with RotarianS from RC Bagumbayan-Manila and then another golf tournament with Rotarians from RC Yotsukaido-Japan. Then on the 20th-24th, our RC Cebu golf team will travel to Malaysia for the International Match Club golf tournament in Kota Kinabalu that will be combined with friendly golf game in the southern city of Tawau, Sabah.
And in between all that is the PAL Interclub golf tournament in Davao on February 15-20 for the seniors and the following week for the Men’s regular.
The golf venues this year will be APO Golf Club and the Lanang golf course.
GOLF TIP: The best way to swing a bunker shot is to keep your lower body steady. Use your arms and hands to swing back the club straight up to the halfway point. Swinging straight up means your wrist will cock very early in the takeaway so that at halfway the club will be vertical and pointing to the sky.
From this position it will be easy to hit down sharply, sliding the club into the sand and under the ball. Make sure to accelerate the club through the hitting area and strive for a high finish.
