My greatest sporting moments

In these times of the internet, it is virtually impossible to miss an event no matter how remote such event might be. Maybe we don't realize how lucky we are to watch Manny Pacquiao or the NBA "LIVE" on TV. Just a few years back, I had to read the next day's papers or wait months to watch such events on TV, if they show it at all. If I could borrow Marty McFly's "plutonium" powered DeLorean DMC-12, I'd like to go back in time to watch these 5 sporting moments!Here are five events I would have loved to see "live".

1. Jesse Owens vs the Nazis, 1936.8.9.

Owens was a sprinter and son of a sharecropper from Alabama who debunked Hitler's myth that the Aryan race was the superior race. He set three world records, one Olympic record and four golds in track and field. The great thing about his feat was that it was held in Berlin and in the presence of Hitler.in essence, Owens spat on the German soup.

2. Tour de France, 1969.7.20.

The greatest cyclist ever, Eddy Merckx, completely dominated the event and it's highly unlikely somebody will ever equal his feat. The "Cannibal" won all the jerseys in that race- Yellow (overall), Green (sprinter), Polka-dot (King of the Mountains), White (best young rider at 22yo) and the team classification. Just to show you how dominant he was, he did a140km attacked on stage 17, when his lead in the overall was more than 7min. He would finished the stage 8 minutes ahead padding his lead to 16min!!!Merckx was pure panache! To give you a perspective, in Lance Armstrong's 7 Tour wins, he never beat anyone by more than 10 minutes.

3. Crispa vs. Toyota (any game will do!)

Everybody in the 3rd District neighborhood in Tagbilaran where I grew up was a "Crispa-natic". The reason of course was its point-guard, Bernard "Fabulous" Fabiosa, a true blue Bolanon and a product of the Divine Word College (now Holy Name University) high school varsity program. It's no wonder I disliked Toyota and loved to hate the game of Bobby (his pre-Jawo name) Jaworski. It wasn't all hate though since we appreciated the sartorial elegance of it coach, Dante Silverio.

4. Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston, 1964.2.25

Everybody was scared for Clay's life (Muhammad Ali) after he taunted Sonny Liston, the most feared heavyweight of his generation. But in one of the most amazing upsets in the history of sports, the Louisville Lip KO'd Liston in six rounds. From the white vs black, Christianity vs. Islam, backdrop, the first athlete-superstar and later an icon was born. The self-proclaimed, The Greatest, was simply the greatest!

5. 1985 Marlboro Tour

With all due respect to Rolonado "Boy" Pagnanawon, the winner of the 1986 Marlboro Tour, I would have to select the runner-up finish of my good friend, Teodorico "Dondon" Romales two years earlier. Cycling is a very hard sport especially in the Philippines where it is not ingrained in our culture. To have raced in such a sportingly hostile place for Cebuanos and all Visayan speaking folks was simply an achievement hard to understand in this day and age.

RACE RESULTS: CEBU CYCLING RIDER OF THE MONTH CAT C 2010.11.20 RESULTS: 1ST- NONOY ABASOLA, 2ND- JV ARANETA, 3RD- MANNY SECRETARIA, 4TH- RYAN OCANADA, 5TH- DANNY SIMBAJON

OVERALL STANDING AFTER EVENT #3: ABASOLA- 66 PTS, ARANETA- 45, SECRETARIA- 29, DEDING JALUAG- 24, RALDY VIOS- 20, RONNOE ADLAWAN- 20.

Finally, it's a shame that the government had to spend a lot of money on these "skywalks" near school campuses yet hardly anyone uses them. Case in point: the sky-walks at USC South Campus and the Lahug Elementary School.