Rivalries

This seems to be one of the most exciting seasons of Formula-1 racing, which I believe is good for the sport after the retirement of Michael Schumacher a couple of years ago.

The flying Finn, Kimi Raikkonen, who was long rumored to be moving to Ferrari is now racing for the team alongside Brazilian Felipe Massa.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has moved from Renault to the McLaren-Mercedes Benz team and has a very outstanding rookie partner in Lewis Hamilton, who is now leading the race for individual honors.

Hamilton, who is regarded as the “Tiger Woods of F-1,” has finished within the top three or at the podium in all races this season, which is a feat that sets him apart from the rest of the upstarts of F-1.  More importantly, the young man, whose father once had to have more than one job just to help sustain he racing career of his son, also has back-to-back wins only in his first year of racing as a Formula-1 driver.

This season will be more than just a McLaren-Ferrari battle, but also a battle between Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton for the driver of the year honors. This is an exciting year for F-1, but I still miss those days when Schumi was winning one race after another.  While many say that was boring, I say it wasn’t and that is because I learned to love F-1 because of Schumacher.

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I admit having lost touch with tennis for some time when Pete Sampras retired.  Well, at least for the men’s side of the competitions as the women’s tour has been getting more exciting even after the retirement of Steffi Graf, who is now the wife of the also retired Andre Agassi.

Last Sunday, I was aching to head home as soon as I finished at the office to catch the Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Apparently I was not alone as I received a text message from my uncle, Gerardo ‘Dodong Gamay’ Frasco of Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos, who asked me for updates of the match as he was still out of the house.

The Federer-Nadal rivalry is really making watching the tennis matches worth it even if you have to stay up late in the evenings as in the case of the just-concluded Wimbledon.

I’d say that this is like the Sampras-Agassi rivalry several years ago including the way they choose their clothes.  Of course Federer is the Sampras and Nadal is the Agassi.

There’s a lot to look forward to in tennis aside from seeing the likes of Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova, and others.

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MILESTONE: Happy birthday greetings to Dr. Ernest C. Cabrera, who turns a year older today.

More power to you!