The racing gods' favorite?

Michael Schumacher is going out with a bang. Unfortunately last weekend it was another sort of bang as his Ferrari's engine blew up in the Japanese Grand Prix allowing Fernando Alonso to pull ahead by a full ten points heading to the season closing Brazilian GP.

The only way Schumi can still pull the rug from under Alonso is if he takes the plum in Brazil and Alonso finishes outside of the top ten. That's a very tough thing to do, but who knows, it might really happen.

A win in Brazil will put Schumi abreast with Alonso based on the number of points earned, but the world championship will go to the retiring 37-year-old superstar, who will have one more race win than the Spaniard.

It seems close to impossible now, but let's see what the racing gods would do. Maybe Schumi is one of their favorites. Remember that race several years ago when the car of Mika Hakkinen just screeched to a halt a few hundred meters from the finish line allowing Schumacher to overtake and win the title?

Of course this won't be like what we see in the movies where the hero overcomes being several laps down to eventually win the race. This is the real world. With the battle between Schumi and Alonso and their teams Ferrari and Renault getting more intense, expect them to be going at each other's necks in Brazil.

I sure hope not literally.

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This early, there are already many inquiries about the La Salle-Ateneo Golf Tournament, which will be held on November 22 and 23 at the Cebu Country Club.

The billing of the tournament title means that it will be La Salle's turn to host the tournament, but what makes this year's event a little more interesting are the new twists that have been added.

The matchplay event is expected to make the tournament more exciting. Well, after three years of failure for the Greenies, we hope that this could somehow open up a chance to snatch the overall title. Oops, that was supposed to be a secret hehehe.

There would be four singles matches, one hi-lo match, one best ball, one alternate shot and one scramble match.

Aside from the matchplay events, there would still be the regular tournament where ordinary golfers and wannabe golfers like us are playing.

A featured battle is the highlight of the matchplay. This will be a singles match between the two chapter presidents. This should be the most interesting among the matches.

I heard that Dondi Joseph is putting down his bow and arrows for the meantime to get back to his golfing shape.

Ateneo's John Cheu is also making sure he'd maintain his fine form.

This seems even bigger than what Toby Florendo and I originally thought when the idea of a battle of presidents popped up while we discussed the event over cups of coffee.

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Aside from the golf tournament, a badminton event pitting the Cebu-based alumni of La Salle and Ateneo is also set. This event will be held on the last weekend of the month at the Metrosports Badminton Club.

The excitement of competing with alumni from a rival school is hard to really suppress as some people are now also actively planning to organize a basketball exhibition match.

The idea is just being floated, but based on the e-mail exchanges that I get from the La Salle egroup, there are many interested to be part of the team.

All of these events are of course meant for good, clean fun. More importantly it is also a chance to cheer for the alma mater and jeer at the rivals all for fun.