Shooting his age

As I went through the sheets of paper that have been dumped on my desk, I found a facsimile sent over the weekend. What caught my attention was the golf scorecard. I thought it was word about somebody scoring a hole-in-one, but it was something different.

The fax came from Cebu Country Club and it was the scorecard of one of the most loved senior golfers of the club - Jesus 'Tito Choy' Sala, who shot his age last Saturday.

Tito Choy is 80 years old. He was born on June 18, 1925.

Last Saturday, he shot identical nines of 40 for a gross score of 80 strokes. This feat is not easy to achieve and deserves not just this little space in the paper, but also cheers from Tito Choy's family, friends and admirers.

The rest of the people in the flight were Albert Cang, Dr. Jun Larrazabal, and Tony Jackson. Incidentally, Tony, who was my partner in many Coral Invitationals ago, also scored a gross 80.

* * *

The hottest-ever NBA Finals looms. It could be the hottest, because it's most likely going to be between the Miami Heat, who now lead the Detroit Pistons, 3-1, and the Phoenix Sun, who just tied the series with the Dallas Mavericks, 2-2, with a superb performance in Game 4 of the Western Finals.

I am not much of a good guesser that I told a friend of mine, who asks for advice on who to bet for that he better put his money on the team that I don't root for.

Well, I only know of one sure place where you put your money and it grows - it's the bank my friend and it must be a reputable one.

So much can still happen though and the tables might yet be turned against the two teams that seem to have the upperhand at this stage.

No wonder people love this game.

* * *

Another game that is more loved by people around the world will take centerstage in less than two weeks - the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

This early, the football fans are already eagerly preparing to root for their favorite teams if not trying to get used to waking up late at night so they can watch the games. I'm trying to put together the various national jerseys that I have in my small collection that I share with my son hoping to get the chance to wear them at the right moment.

Unfortunately, the live coverage of the World Cup will be available only on selected establishments in Cebu.

Solar Plus or channel 34 of SkyCable TV will be carrying the games, but I heard, on a delayed basis.

Well, if you want to watch the games live, I heard that the cost of such is something around P50,000 for the duration of the World Cup, but I am not really too sure.

Thanks to the Internet, we'll be able to follow the games, but then nothing beats live television for us football fanatics, who can only dream of going to Germany and watching the real games at the stadiums.

More than the chance for us fanatics of football to celebrate and probably to sulk when the teams we root for lose, the World Cup is a chance for the sport to gain more followers in our country where basketball remains to be the most popular.

I'm sure that after the World Cup in Germany, there will be a major growth in terms of following for the sport in Cebu.

The Cebu Football Association (CebuFA) and the other stakeholders of the sport must ride on the crest of this wave to push the sport to more people while the World Cup fever is on.

Soon, we'll probably see more former players playing the sport again and more young children taking up football for the first time.

There is so much to look forward to definitely, not just watching our favorite stars in the world stage this month of June.