Noted writer cites Filipino sports fans

MANILA, Philippines - Best-selling author Mitch Albom said yesterday the true test of a sports fan’s passion is embracing a game which his country doesn’t dominate on a global scale and paid tribute to the Filipino faithful for an undying love of basketball.

Albom, whose books have sold over 35 million copies all over the world, is in town for a visit organized by the National Book Store. He flew in from the US with wife Janine Sabido last Wednesday and is scheduled for book-signing appearances at the Glorietta Activity Center on Saturday and the Ayala Center in Cebu on Sunday. Albom and his wife will visit Tacloban on Monday to dedicate a library for the local folk.

“Over the last 10 to 15 years, I’ve been invited to visit the Philippines but I never got the chance to come,” said the 55-year-old New Jersey native. “I know little about sports in the Philippines. I know Manny Pacquiao is Filipino and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is half-Filipino. But I do know that outside the US, I get the most facebook connections from readers in the Philippines and the US is three times the size of the Philippines. My uncle served in the Philippines during World War II and in the book ‘The Five Guys You Meet In Heaven’ I wrote, I created a Filipina character named Tala which I found out means star. After the typhoon hit the Philippines, my heart moved me to finally visit. I think it’s important that after a disaster, we call attention to what has to be done down the road to rebuild people’s lives. I opened an orphanage in Haiti and I visit once a month to make sure things are working out for the people.”

Albom said he’s aware that basketball is the most popular sport in the country. “The true definition of passion for a game is where a fan loves the sport even if his country doesn’t dominate it (on a global scale),” he said. “I admire that. I think it’s great that Filipinos love basketball even if the Philippines is not a world power like the US. To me, they’re the real fans because of their pure love for the game.”

Albom’s first success as a journalist was in sports. He’s a 13-time best sports columnist and a seven-time best feature writer awardee by the Associated Press sports editors. Albom continues to write a sports column for the Detroit Free Press. He also appears on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters and SportsCenter. In over 30 years as a sportswriter, Albom still enjoys the beat.

Albom said sportswriting paved the way for his pursuit of other journalistic ventures, like writing novels and scripts. “Sports is the most difficult to write because you’re always on deadline,” he said. “That’s how I learned to write a story in five minutes. You file your story right after the event and you’re chasing a deadline. Some writers hang on to their words closely but sportswriters learn to be quick and move on. I’ve found experiencing sports very educational. It’s helped me with my writing. I’ve gone one-on-one with (former Detroit Pistons forward) John Salley, I’ve interviewed an ultra-marathoner while on the run for two hours, I’ve done surfing, luge, dogsledding, motorcar racing. Once, I wanted to find out how it felt like to dunk so I used a trampoline to do it. They took a picture of me dunking from an angle where you couldn’t see the trampoline and it was published in the papers.”

As for the most memorable sporting event he’s covered, Albom singled out the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race over two weeks and 1,200 miles from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. “I’ve done the Winter and Summer Olympics, countless NBA Finals, the NCAA basketball championships, world track and swimming championships, World Series, Wimbledon, French Open, Australian Open, golf Masters, Mike Tyson’s fights but my most memorable was the Sled Dog race,” he said. “I was the only writer covering it. Initially, I thought of just covering the first few days so I returned home to do a baseball game. But my editor told me to go back and finish it after getting 300 calls in an hour from readers who wanted me to cover it until the end. I guess you can do baseball any other time.” The race offered a first prize of $50,000 and a second prize of $30,000. Each entry was a team of 16 huskies. Albom said it was a battle of survival as only a few dogs and drivers made it to the finish line.

Albom said in today’s modern world, journalists who abide by ethics and norms of conduct are severely challenged by the irreverence of anonymous bloggers in social media. “There are journalists who learn their craft through the years and go by ethics and morals,” he said. “We’re the guys who follow the rules like quoting two sources, not quoting anonymous sources and substantiating opinions with hard facts and basis. But now, there are bloggers who just write without rules and readers see us on the same level. It’s caused a lot of hatred all over the place and blurred the lines of what journalism should be and shouldn’t be.”

Albom admitted that newspapers and magazines are slowing going the way of the dinosaur. “In 1985, the Detroit Free Press had a circulation of over 600,000 and we delivered papers seven days a week,” he said. “Today, our circulation is down to 270,000 and we deliver only three days a week. People are now getting news from other media, what is reemerging are new media entities to deliver the news.”

Albom played basketball and ran track in high school and did more hoops and even boxed Golden Gloves in college. Before finding himself as a writer, he tried his luck in music. He was a piano player and singer but when the gigs couldn’t pay the bills, took a different track and discovered sportswriting. At first, Albom wasn’t paid for writing sports but eventually, as his talent became evident, he blossomed into one of the world’s most popular and well-read sports columnists. Although Albom is now a widely-acclaimed journalist, his love for music has endured and he’s surprised that long after giving it up as a career, his works are being recognized and used as scores for movies and stage plays.