Matteo’s excellent adventures
September 17, 2006 | 12:00am
If there are two things that obsess my middle boy Matteo, they would be professional Basketball and Wrestling. He may be your typical semi-confused 12-year-old, with his elder brother constantly teasing him about how he doesn’t seem to be growing any taller, but for two days last week, life was "very very good" for Matteo, and he was "walking tall." "Very very good" came in the form of his getting to meet and rub elbows with two of his idols – Houston Rocket and Adidas endorser Tracy McGrady and WWE superstar Dave Batista.
With Tracy, it was a matter of being involved with the "palabas" that was held at the Mall of Asia’s Music Hall as part of the Adidas launch of the new T-Mac 1 Limited Edition. Matteo has two pairs of T-Mac 5 shoes, proudly owns an official NBA McGrady jersey, and has the official basketball of Tracy, so it was with extra special dedication that he attended the rehearsals of his Tito Robbie Carmona, and went through the drills and routines that would form part of the show with Tracy. I can personally attest to the dedication, as I had to sit through said rehearsal, that went from 6 p.m., all the way to 10 p.m., on a Saturday night at the Adidas Sportscamp. Believe me, along with Carla Sibal, whose son was also part of the Junior T-Mac group, there were countless better ways we could envision on how to spend a Saturday evening... but by choice, we are mere slaves to the whims of our children.
On the day itself, with spiked hair and maintaining an aura of "cool," Matteo was ready to dish out the ballhandling required of him. He even "coerced" his Tito Pepper (Teehankee) into bringing him and his friends TJ (Reyes) and Leandro (Banzon) to the Embassy party for Tracy the following night. That was with the next day being a school day, but I figured just once, we could let him live out his dream of "slapping palms" with Tracy before he’d leave the country. To Odette of Adidas and Ginggay of Visions, I’m eternally grateful as they played their roles as dream-makers, Chapter 1, for Matteo.
As for Chapter 2, themed Wrestling, Matteo may consider Randy Orton as his favorite wrestler, but Batista was a more than worthy replacement. With his two brothers in tow, I brought the boys to Gateway, and smiled to myself to find Gina Lopez with her own boys, also patiently waiting for the chance to get Batista’s autograph and pose with him for a snapshot. Luca (seven), the ever fearless, actually asked Batista who his best friend was in the WWE – the answer was Triple H. For this Fantasy-day, Matteo’s "ninangs" were Grace Magno and Cecille Maravilla. And thanks to Joey Bigornia and Val Peramide for arranging the photo you see in this column, as Matteo had brought his rinky-dink digital camera that wouldn’t work as we approached the biceps of Batista – was surprised to learn there a man attached to those behemoths.
I mentioned Gina Lopez, but in fact, nothing about the WWE, and how the hearts and minds of our children are so taken with this made-for-TV twice a week "sports event" surprises me anymore. Thanks to Steven Tan and Ric Camaligan, I’ve even trekked to the Mall of Asia on ungodly early Monday mornings, just to bring my boys to the pay-for-view screenings of the WWE specials like Summer Slam and Unforgiven – and find them sold out! SM has been very adept at realizing the untapped potential of these non-traditional sports activities. Look how they were the first to make ice-skating rinks a regular feature of their super-malls! This interest in such an "unusual" sport for our tropical clime paid off in dividends when the ice-skating team SM sponsored to an amateur Asian competition in China brought home the bacon... frozen bacon?... by taking 1st Prize honors.
As for Matteo, the look on his face as Tracy entered the backstage area and gave the junior T-Macs high five’s, and the look of panic that crossed his face when Batista misheard his name and started to write his dedication on Matteo’s Batista shirt – and his look of relief when I presented my mat for signing, and said MY name was Matteo – these all add up to the small things we, as parents, should always be committed to; even if it may mean we throw away some of our afternoons and evenings prioritizing their "babaw" wishes. There was a time I wouldn’t let my golfing afternoons or tennis evenings take a back seat to my being a parent, mistakenly thinking I deserved it after hours at work – now, am just happy there are small joys I can still bring to their lives. They grow up much faster than we can blink, and would hate to find that when they’re much older, a bunch of their fond memories won’t have me in them.
With Tracy, it was a matter of being involved with the "palabas" that was held at the Mall of Asia’s Music Hall as part of the Adidas launch of the new T-Mac 1 Limited Edition. Matteo has two pairs of T-Mac 5 shoes, proudly owns an official NBA McGrady jersey, and has the official basketball of Tracy, so it was with extra special dedication that he attended the rehearsals of his Tito Robbie Carmona, and went through the drills and routines that would form part of the show with Tracy. I can personally attest to the dedication, as I had to sit through said rehearsal, that went from 6 p.m., all the way to 10 p.m., on a Saturday night at the Adidas Sportscamp. Believe me, along with Carla Sibal, whose son was also part of the Junior T-Mac group, there were countless better ways we could envision on how to spend a Saturday evening... but by choice, we are mere slaves to the whims of our children.
On the day itself, with spiked hair and maintaining an aura of "cool," Matteo was ready to dish out the ballhandling required of him. He even "coerced" his Tito Pepper (Teehankee) into bringing him and his friends TJ (Reyes) and Leandro (Banzon) to the Embassy party for Tracy the following night. That was with the next day being a school day, but I figured just once, we could let him live out his dream of "slapping palms" with Tracy before he’d leave the country. To Odette of Adidas and Ginggay of Visions, I’m eternally grateful as they played their roles as dream-makers, Chapter 1, for Matteo.
As for Chapter 2, themed Wrestling, Matteo may consider Randy Orton as his favorite wrestler, but Batista was a more than worthy replacement. With his two brothers in tow, I brought the boys to Gateway, and smiled to myself to find Gina Lopez with her own boys, also patiently waiting for the chance to get Batista’s autograph and pose with him for a snapshot. Luca (seven), the ever fearless, actually asked Batista who his best friend was in the WWE – the answer was Triple H. For this Fantasy-day, Matteo’s "ninangs" were Grace Magno and Cecille Maravilla. And thanks to Joey Bigornia and Val Peramide for arranging the photo you see in this column, as Matteo had brought his rinky-dink digital camera that wouldn’t work as we approached the biceps of Batista – was surprised to learn there a man attached to those behemoths.
I mentioned Gina Lopez, but in fact, nothing about the WWE, and how the hearts and minds of our children are so taken with this made-for-TV twice a week "sports event" surprises me anymore. Thanks to Steven Tan and Ric Camaligan, I’ve even trekked to the Mall of Asia on ungodly early Monday mornings, just to bring my boys to the pay-for-view screenings of the WWE specials like Summer Slam and Unforgiven – and find them sold out! SM has been very adept at realizing the untapped potential of these non-traditional sports activities. Look how they were the first to make ice-skating rinks a regular feature of their super-malls! This interest in such an "unusual" sport for our tropical clime paid off in dividends when the ice-skating team SM sponsored to an amateur Asian competition in China brought home the bacon... frozen bacon?... by taking 1st Prize honors.
As for Matteo, the look on his face as Tracy entered the backstage area and gave the junior T-Macs high five’s, and the look of panic that crossed his face when Batista misheard his name and started to write his dedication on Matteo’s Batista shirt – and his look of relief when I presented my mat for signing, and said MY name was Matteo – these all add up to the small things we, as parents, should always be committed to; even if it may mean we throw away some of our afternoons and evenings prioritizing their "babaw" wishes. There was a time I wouldn’t let my golfing afternoons or tennis evenings take a back seat to my being a parent, mistakenly thinking I deserved it after hours at work – now, am just happy there are small joys I can still bring to their lives. They grow up much faster than we can blink, and would hate to find that when they’re much older, a bunch of their fond memories won’t have me in them.
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