It took a steel-nerved performance from Daryl Peach of England that outlasted Roberto “Superman” Gomez and broke Filipino hearts in the World Pool Championships last night.
Minimizing his mistakes and making most of his opportunities, Peach pulled off a title-clinching 17-15 victory, dashing the hopes of a spirited crowd that was looking forward to a new Filipino champion at the Araneta Coliseum last night.
Gomez was two racks away from a historic win on the 28 th rack but fouled while jumping cue on the red-three after a long safety exchange and Peach was quick to pounce on the chance that came his way.
It should have been over by then but another chance fell on the Filipino on the 31 st rack, where Peach's table-length bank shot on the blue two wobbled out of the bottom left pocket, typifying the struggle of both players under pressure.
The miscue left the table wide open for Gomez, who, however, missed a long shot on the orange five.
Peach's position error on the nine-ball provided the opening for Gomez.
But the Filipino, still reeling from the miss on the orange-five, choked anew while shooting a difficult cut, a miss that not only put the Englishman on the hill but will also haunt him forever.
Peach won the $100,000 purse, while Gomez, who was installed as the odds-on favorite in the finals because of his scintillating run in the knockout stages, bagged the biggest paycheck of his career --- $40,000.
Unable to adjust to the speed of the table early on, Gomez, who ditched his effective soft break for a harder push, fell behind 3-8 but saw a glimmer of hope in the 12 th frame when Peach scratched on his break.
From there, Gomez took the next six straight racks but was halted when he scratched on his break on the 18 th frame.
Peach looked poised to wrap up the match when he stretched his lead to 12-9, before Gomez fought his way back with brilliant safety shots and precise pocketing.
Time and time again, the pockets seemed smaller than usual for both players as they committed many unforced errors in a nervy encounter that took four hours to finish.
On his way to the final, Peach earned a reputation as a scourge to Filipino bets.
He ousted 2006 champion Ronnie Alcano in the round of 64, before dispatching Django Bustamante in a controversy-marred quarterfinals Saturday.
Gomez was even more impressive and his victories, even more convincing.
A shutout victory over Neils Feijen in the last 16 (11-0) and 11-4 wins over Kuo Po-cheng of Taiwan and Karl Boyes of England in the quarterfinals and semis, respectively shoved him to the finals.
"With the crowd backing me up, I was really pressured (to win),” the 29-year-old Gomez, a former reporter in a television station in Zamboanga, told billiardphilippines.com.
Gomez, winner of the recent Norway Open, said he was "deeply depressed" by the loss, admitting that he cracked under pressure.
"There was pressure. It was an amazing match ...But I just kept my head still and focused on the game and took one shot at a time," said Peach, who snapped the Asian domination in this event the past four years.
Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan topped the 2004 edition, Wu Chia-Ching of Taipei won in 2005 and Alcano came out of nowhere to triumph in 2006.
Bacoleño Ramil Gallego also saw action in the WPC but was ousted in the round of 64. *CPT
Monday, November 12, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
RP's newest pool superstar
Roberto Gomez
He wasn't world champion material when I first saw him in person. You couldn't blame me for that impression.
Wearing a white polo shirt, he held a cluster of playing cards and was seated opposite Efren Bata Reyes. As Bata shakes his head, apparently because of a poor roster of cards, Gomez halts the air of seriousness with a joke.
And if I wasn't inside the foggy, dark and cramped VIP room of the Celebrity Bar and Billiards in Bacolod City, I could have mistaken him for a big-time gambler who was there for the poker, not for the billiards. I was mistaken.
Much has changed since that late August night for Gomez.
Now, he is on the brink of becoming the Philippines' third world billiards champion, after amazing displays of pocket billiards that have propelled him past fancied opponents.
The $100,000 purse, instant fame, endorsement deals and of course, pool immortality beckons for the 28-year-old from Zamboanga, who, according to my good friend Marlon Bernardino was an ABS-CBN Zamboanga field reporter.
Just like Ronnie Alcano last year, no one expected Gomez to be the last Pinoy standing in the 128-player tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.
When I saw him dismantle Dutchman Niels Feijin, 11-0, in the Round of 16 early this morning, I thought he had all the tools to ensure that the crown stays with the Philippines. An ability to make adjustments on his break (soft break in table 1 to hard break in table 2), a composed and confident demeanor and superb pocket billiards skills.
At this moment when everything seems to be falling into place for Gomez, Daryl Peach of England may not be the biggest stumbling block from pool immortality. Its Gomez himself.
"I just make sure I play well. I dont mind who my opponent is," Gomez told Georgina Chang of Espnstar following his win over Feijn.
Here's the Agence France Presse news story about Gomez and Peach's wins. I think the reporter got mixed up in the last paragraph where he said that Gomez beat Vilmos Foldes of Hungary in the semis. (It was Karl Boyes who lost to Gomez in the semis)
Stories Nov. 10
Because this is my blog and I don't have anything to post as of the moment, I have decided to put my stories that came out of the Visayan Daily Star today.
Cojuangco nominated
to top football post
Former Rep. Carlos Cojuangco (Fourth District, Negros Occidental) is one of four nominees for president of the Philippine Football Federation, which will hold its quadrennial elections on Nov. 24 at the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila .
This was confirmed to the DAILY STAR last night by PFF general-secretary Pablito Araneta, who said Cojuangco will be up against former national players Mariano “Nonong” Araneta Jr., Mari Martinez and PFF publicist Ed Formoso.
The PFF executive said Cojuangco was nominated by the Cagayan De Oro-Misamis Oriental FA and the Baguio FA, headed by Leo Arnaiz.
Both Cojuangco and Araneta Jr., president of the Iloilo Football Association, are members of PFF Board of Governors.
Araneta Jr., a former PFF executive vice-president and director of the FIFA Goal Program in the Philippines , was nominated by 11 provincial FAs as the deadline for nominations expired yesterday.
Cojuangco, meanwhile, spearheaded the hosting of two international football events in Negros Occidental --- the 2005 Southeast Asian Games and the ASEAN Football Championships Qualifying at the Panaad Park and Stadium.
The presidents of the 32 FAs under the PFF will decide who will succeed Johnny Romualdez, also the vice-president of the ASEAN Football Federation.
The NCR FA will not have voting rights since it has been indefinitely suspended by the PFF, Romualdez said.
The PFF receives an annual subsidy amounting to approximately $321,620 (P13.8 million) from the sport's international governing body, FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation and the AFF, the PFF officials said.
The amount includes the $250,000 annual aid from the FIFA, the monthly AFC doleout of $3,385 for coaches' seminars, among others, and the $25,000 subsidy for administrative expenses from the AFF, Pablito Araneta said.*
LOPTTA NAT'L TABLE TENNIS TILT
Favorites in early
show of force
Fancied teams, led by defending champion Lopue's Table Tennis Association-A, produced a dominant show on Day 1 of the LOPTTA National Table Tennis Invitational Championships at the Lopue's San Sebastian Annex Building in Bacolod City yesterday.
With local standouts Isaias Seronio, Marrel Lagunday and Arnie Uy sweeping their matches, LOPTTA-A moved to the top of Group A with two straight victories together with another favorite, Hua Ching and E.C. Jack-B.
LOPTTA B, last year's losing finalist, shares the Group B lead with E.C. Jack A and Lopue's Mandalagan-College of St. Benilde with identical 2-0 win-loss records.
LOPTTA-A shutout Bacolod-B, 3-0, and swept Wuerth Amkor, 3-0.
Lagunday sealed the win against Amkor with an 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3 victory over Angelie Deolan, after Seronio toppled Ojack Morsequillo, 11-5, 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-5, and Uy dismantled Joey Raymundo in straight sets, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8.
Hua Ching defeated A.D. Marketing, 3-0, in a series where RP No. 1 Sendrina Balatbat recorded an 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 triumph over local hope Cherry Tiongco.
Hua Ching, which also has former national player Antonio Aguinalde in its fold, cruised to another 3-0 win over Star Paper-A, while E.C. Jack B, led by former RP Team standout Joseph Cruz, routed A.D. Marketing, 3-1, and Bacolod-B, 3-0.
Noah Trayco, LOPTTA's top 17-Under player, representing Bacolod-B fell to Cruz, 3-11, 6-11, 6-11.
In Group B, Mark Jimenez overwhelmed Rainbow Connection-Davao's Patrick Mendiola, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, and Johnard Baldonado rallied past Danilo Dividina, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 to power LOPTTA-B to its second straight win.
Ruby Ann Longno completed the rout with an 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 whipping of Mary Cris Catalan.
It was a follow up to LOPTTA-B's impressive 3-1 win over Bacolod -A.
Boosted by the fine games of Jojo Almazan and 13-year-old wonder Yanyan Lariba, RP's No. 2 ranked player in the women's division, E.C. Jack A hammered Bacolod-B, 3-0, before shutting out GCSOC-Cebu, 3-0.
CSB overpowered Rainbow Connection, 3-0, and later trounced Star paper B, 3-1.*
Bustamantes reach
WPC quarterfinals
Time and time again, Joven Bustamante made some crucial mistakes that could have ended his stirring run in the World Pool Championships.
Time and time again, Japanese star Satoshi Kawabata failed to capitalize on Bustamante's miscues.
And now Bustamante, like distant relative Francisco “Django” Bustamante, stands just two victories away from the finals in his maiden WPC stint at the Araneta Coliseum.
Joven's error-filled 11-9 triumph over Kawabata last night forged a quarterfinal duel with Karl Boyes of England , who crushed Konstantin Stepanov of Russia , 11-4.
The Russian had eliminated Efren “Bata” Reyes and Jeffrey De Luna in the round of 64 and last 32, respectively.
After blowing hot and cold and hot again in his round of 32 win over Dutchman Nick Van Den Berg, “Django” took out Filipino-Canadian Alex Pagulayan, 11-2, to also enter the quarterfinals.
Joven and “Django” are assured of $10,000 each for reaching the last eight.
Roberto Gomez, the third Filipino still in contention, was to play Niels Feijen of the Netherlands late last night.
Kawabata, the Asian Games gold medalist, was the third big name booted out by Joven, who squeezed into the tournament through qualifying.
Among Joven's victims were 2005 WPC winner Wu Chia Ching and fancied Filipino bet Dennis Orcollo.
Unlike in his match against Wu, the 28-year-old Bustamante did not get off to the best of starts, falling behind 3-5, as Kawabata momentarily took the momentum after the Filipino blew an easy shot on the 9-ball in the fourth rack.
A jittery Joven surrendered the next two racks to Kawabata, who was also having all sorts of problems on his break, after tying the match at 5-all, before equalizing again on the 14 th rack.
Joven reached the hill on the 18th rack, after losing the two previous racks that he should have won if not for missed a thin cut on the red three-ball that rattled in and out of the bottom left pocket that left the table open for Kawabata, who managed to close in at 8-9.
On the break, Joven drained three balls but was unable to get a good angle on the blue two and played a safety that worked wonders as Kawabata was forced to give the Filipino a clear shot en route to the win.
Cojuangco nominated
to top football post
Former Rep. Carlos Cojuangco (Fourth District, Negros Occidental) is one of four nominees for president of the Philippine Football Federation, which will hold its quadrennial elections on Nov. 24 at the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila .
This was confirmed to the DAILY STAR last night by PFF general-secretary Pablito Araneta, who said Cojuangco will be up against former national players Mariano “Nonong” Araneta Jr., Mari Martinez and PFF publicist Ed Formoso.
The PFF executive said Cojuangco was nominated by the Cagayan De Oro-Misamis Oriental FA and the Baguio FA, headed by Leo Arnaiz.
Both Cojuangco and Araneta Jr., president of the Iloilo Football Association, are members of PFF Board of Governors.
Araneta Jr., a former PFF executive vice-president and director of the FIFA Goal Program in the Philippines , was nominated by 11 provincial FAs as the deadline for nominations expired yesterday.
Cojuangco, meanwhile, spearheaded the hosting of two international football events in Negros Occidental --- the 2005 Southeast Asian Games and the ASEAN Football Championships Qualifying at the Panaad Park and Stadium.
The presidents of the 32 FAs under the PFF will decide who will succeed Johnny Romualdez, also the vice-president of the ASEAN Football Federation.
The NCR FA will not have voting rights since it has been indefinitely suspended by the PFF, Romualdez said.
The PFF receives an annual subsidy amounting to approximately $321,620 (P13.8 million) from the sport's international governing body, FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation and the AFF, the PFF officials said.
The amount includes the $250,000 annual aid from the FIFA, the monthly AFC doleout of $3,385 for coaches' seminars, among others, and the $25,000 subsidy for administrative expenses from the AFF, Pablito Araneta said.*
LOPTTA NAT'L TABLE TENNIS TILT
Favorites in early
show of force
Fancied teams, led by defending champion Lopue's Table Tennis Association-A, produced a dominant show on Day 1 of the LOPTTA National Table Tennis Invitational Championships at the Lopue's San Sebastian Annex Building in Bacolod City yesterday.
With local standouts Isaias Seronio, Marrel Lagunday and Arnie Uy sweeping their matches, LOPTTA-A moved to the top of Group A with two straight victories together with another favorite, Hua Ching and E.C. Jack-B.
LOPTTA B, last year's losing finalist, shares the Group B lead with E.C. Jack A and Lopue's Mandalagan-College of St. Benilde with identical 2-0 win-loss records.
LOPTTA-A shutout Bacolod-B, 3-0, and swept Wuerth Amkor, 3-0.
Lagunday sealed the win against Amkor with an 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3 victory over Angelie Deolan, after Seronio toppled Ojack Morsequillo, 11-5, 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-5, and Uy dismantled Joey Raymundo in straight sets, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8.
Hua Ching defeated A.D. Marketing, 3-0, in a series where RP No. 1 Sendrina Balatbat recorded an 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 triumph over local hope Cherry Tiongco.
Hua Ching, which also has former national player Antonio Aguinalde in its fold, cruised to another 3-0 win over Star Paper-A, while E.C. Jack B, led by former RP Team standout Joseph Cruz, routed A.D. Marketing, 3-1, and Bacolod-B, 3-0.
Noah Trayco, LOPTTA's top 17-Under player, representing Bacolod-B fell to Cruz, 3-11, 6-11, 6-11.
In Group B, Mark Jimenez overwhelmed Rainbow Connection-Davao's Patrick Mendiola, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, and Johnard Baldonado rallied past Danilo Dividina, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 to power LOPTTA-B to its second straight win.
Ruby Ann Longno completed the rout with an 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 whipping of Mary Cris Catalan.
It was a follow up to LOPTTA-B's impressive 3-1 win over Bacolod -A.
Boosted by the fine games of Jojo Almazan and 13-year-old wonder Yanyan Lariba, RP's No. 2 ranked player in the women's division, E.C. Jack A hammered Bacolod-B, 3-0, before shutting out GCSOC-Cebu, 3-0.
CSB overpowered Rainbow Connection, 3-0, and later trounced Star paper B, 3-1.*
Bustamantes reach
WPC quarterfinals
Time and time again, Joven Bustamante made some crucial mistakes that could have ended his stirring run in the World Pool Championships.
Time and time again, Japanese star Satoshi Kawabata failed to capitalize on Bustamante's miscues.
And now Bustamante, like distant relative Francisco “Django” Bustamante, stands just two victories away from the finals in his maiden WPC stint at the Araneta Coliseum.
Joven's error-filled 11-9 triumph over Kawabata last night forged a quarterfinal duel with Karl Boyes of England , who crushed Konstantin Stepanov of Russia , 11-4.
The Russian had eliminated Efren “Bata” Reyes and Jeffrey De Luna in the round of 64 and last 32, respectively.
After blowing hot and cold and hot again in his round of 32 win over Dutchman Nick Van Den Berg, “Django” took out Filipino-Canadian Alex Pagulayan, 11-2, to also enter the quarterfinals.
Joven and “Django” are assured of $10,000 each for reaching the last eight.
Roberto Gomez, the third Filipino still in contention, was to play Niels Feijen of the Netherlands late last night.
Kawabata, the Asian Games gold medalist, was the third big name booted out by Joven, who squeezed into the tournament through qualifying.
Among Joven's victims were 2005 WPC winner Wu Chia Ching and fancied Filipino bet Dennis Orcollo.
Unlike in his match against Wu, the 28-year-old Bustamante did not get off to the best of starts, falling behind 3-5, as Kawabata momentarily took the momentum after the Filipino blew an easy shot on the 9-ball in the fourth rack.
A jittery Joven surrendered the next two racks to Kawabata, who was also having all sorts of problems on his break, after tying the match at 5-all, before equalizing again on the 14 th rack.
Joven reached the hill on the 18th rack, after losing the two previous racks that he should have won if not for missed a thin cut on the red three-ball that rattled in and out of the bottom left pocket that left the table open for Kawabata, who managed to close in at 8-9.
On the break, Joven drained three balls but was unable to get a good angle on the blue two and played a safety that worked wonders as Kawabata was forced to give the Filipino a clear shot en route to the win.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Sports on local TV news
Thanks to PJR Reports assistant editor Bryant Macale, I was able to read this piece from poynter.
Poynteronline
Posted, Oct. 8, 2007
Updated, Oct. 8, 2007
Don't Drop Sports from Local TV News
Instead, do it better -- or someone else certainly will.
By Kevin Benz (more by author)
Shane Moreland, of WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va., is a friend of mine and one heck of a news director. He’s also not the first friend of mine to drop sports from its daily slot in a television newscast; another friend, Mike George, did the same thing about seven years ago at KVBC in Las Vegas.
Shane and Mike reflect the frustrations of many news directors and general managers whose market research indicates that sports segments of local television newscasts rank near the bottom of reasons to watch. Considering the money it costs to produce local sports coverage, some stations simply don't think the investment makes sense anymore.
I have a ton of respect for Shane and Mike, who are excellent journalists. I just wonder whether they would have come to a different decision had they approached the issue from another direction. Rather than dumping the sports department, we should change our sports philosophy.
If viewers are not interested in your sportscast, it may be because your sportscast doesn't seem interested in your local viewers. If there is one thing a majority of the local news audience is interested and involved in (besides the weather) it is the athletic endeavor. I’m not talking about whether Phil Garner was the right guy to lead the Astros, or whether Federer versus Nadal is the greatest rivalry in sports. Yes, large parts of our audience are interested in these things, but ESPN and other networks do an outstanding job covering them.
No, I’m talking about the percentage of our viewers who run, walk, bike and swim for exercise. Those in our audience who spend vast amounts of their leisure time taking kids back and forth to soccer, little league, dance, gymnastics, softball or volleyball practice and games. Those who needed knee replacements because of their high school football careers 30 years ago. Those spending -- I’m not kidding -- over $10,000 each year on local club or select sports or who moonlight as umpires, coaches, assistant coaches, or referees. Those who spend at least part of their week going to the local minor league, college, high school or little league games just because they enjoy them, not because they have kids playing.
Sports Stats: the Record Book
In 2002, the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment reported that 86% of Americans participated in some sort of outdoor recreational physical activity (at least walking or more in that 12-month period). Child Trends, Inc. reports that over two-thirds of 8th graders through 10th graders participate in organized sports. And according to the Centers for Disease Control, 34% of Americans participate in regular, vigorous physical activity while only 23% report no physical activity at all. (I think that means 77% of people do something other than constantly sit on the couch and watch TV newscasts.) The bad news is the number of people participating in regular, vigorous physical activity is declining rapidly, contributing to an epidemic of obesity and other health problems.
My point: Sports is news.
Further, sports is the single most unifying aspect in most if not all of our communities. Unfortunately we are not generally good at covering it.
ESPN has the market nearly cornered on professional sports, and covers it very well. That’s not where local sports journalists should compete any more than we should try to outcover CNN on the war in Iraq. If our viewers want to see coverage of local athletes, local teams and local sports, they certainly won’t go looking at ESPN, they will come to our TV stations.
So if we agree local sports is important why do we allow our local sportscasters to focus on whether the Diamondbacks beat the Angels. That’s a great story in Phoenix, not so much in Oklahoma City or Augusta or Omaha. Our problem, dear news professionals, is not in our viewers, it is in ourselves. With all due respect, I think killing a sportscast is a pretty over-the-top way to address a viewership problem. Kind of like ditching a car that could serve you for years to come, because you don’t feel like making repairs.
We need to change our sports philosophy in order to make it successful. My friend Shane in Norfolk wouldn't quarrel with that. If being hyper-local is the key to victory in a local newscast, why do we not insist on it in our sportscast? We would never allow our Austin, Texas, weather segment to include a five-day forecast for Seattle, so why would we allow our sportscast to include a piece on whether the Bears can win the Central division? (Personally I think the benching of Rex Grossman will help a lot.)
What's the Game Plan?
Here at News 8 Austin we have a philosophy: Make sports relevant to a soccer mom. She probably could not care less about whether Brett Favre should be playing another year -- as a Packer fan, I pray for him every day -- but she sure as heck cares about that new state law mandating urine tests for kids competing in high school baseball, and she likely wants to know why college athlete graduation rates are so low, and she would love to see some coverage of the big city-wide soccer tournament that 800 kids are involved in this weekend.
We believe that a day without professional sports in our sportscast is a good day for us. It means we have so much local sports we didn’t have time for the Rockets-'76ers score. If our viewers want a pro score, they’ll need to go to ESPN or online to get it (as if they haven’t already done that hours before the 10 p.m. sports came on). By the way, did you know that in-line skating is the third-most-popular participant sport in America (behind basketball and running)? You wouldn’t know it by watching local TV sportscasts.
This is a relatively simple concept to understand: You cover sports like you cover news.
You get out of the studio and into the community.
You do stories on local athletes and teams with great story-telling, characters and themes.
You cover hard sports journalism like steroids in high school and graduation rates among local college athletes.
You avoid leading a sportscast with professional sports unless you happen to live in or near a professional sports city.
You cover in-line skating and local soccer tournaments. (You’d be surprised how many adult soccer leagues and half-pipes there are in your town.)
In short, you make sports relevant to your local audience every day, just like you make the news and weather relevant to your viewers every day. Yes, this is harder, especially on a sports department used to pulling highlights off the feed and throwing them on the air. It means you start talking about journalism and sports in the same sentence. It means you manage sports the way you manage news.
None of this is meant to suggest we ban national sports coverage. Of course not. The Michael Vick story is compelling and important. The recent spate of college football player arrests has community relevance. Just as we cover late-breaking information from the war or flooding in the Midwest we should cover important national sports news. We must simply put the same mandate on our sports producers as we put on our news producers: Make it relevant to a local audience.
Need proof this is important? According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, young people 18-25 who participate in sports are more than 50 percent more likely to watch the news than those who don't, and more than twice as likely watch sports news.
There are viewers out there for sports in local TV newscasts. I'm afraid we just seem to be running them off.
Friday, September 21, 2007
No More Mourinho
My Gosh. My blog is dominated by Portuguese. Yesterday, it was Cristian Ronaldo and now, its Jose Mourinho, the ex-Chelsea manager. Mourinho who calls himself the "Special One" severed ties with Chelsea yesterday, a day after the Blues were held to a 1-all draw by Norwegian side Rosenborg in their opening Champions League match.
The issues surrounding his exit remain a mystery to me but Chelsea has come out to quell talks that Mourinho was sacked. The club said it was a mutual decision. Mourinho has been at odds with the Chelsea Board and owner Roman Abramovich the past few months, especially with decisions related to the transfer of players.
Mourinho with Abramovich
Anyway, Mourinho will surely be missed by English Premiere League followers like me. I like him because he is my favorite villain. He has piqued me one time too many for his attacks on Manchester United and its manager Sir Alex Ferguson as well as on another favorite team, Barcelona, and its manager Frank Rijkard. Mourinho is a sore loser and is not afraid of speaking his mind out. Mourinho was probably the most quoted manager in the Premiere League. Good luck Jose! Im sure you're already a "millionaire" and get "hired by a new club in the next two months"
By the way, here are some of Jose's famous verbal volleys lifted from espnsoccernet.com:
The issues surrounding his exit remain a mystery to me but Chelsea has come out to quell talks that Mourinho was sacked. The club said it was a mutual decision. Mourinho has been at odds with the Chelsea Board and owner Roman Abramovich the past few months, especially with decisions related to the transfer of players.
Mourinho with Abramovich
Anyway, Mourinho will surely be missed by English Premiere League followers like me. I like him because he is my favorite villain. He has piqued me one time too many for his attacks on Manchester United and its manager Sir Alex Ferguson as well as on another favorite team, Barcelona, and its manager Frank Rijkard. Mourinho is a sore loser and is not afraid of speaking his mind out. Mourinho was probably the most quoted manager in the Premiere League. Good luck Jose! Im sure you're already a "millionaire" and get "hired by a new club in the next two months"
By the way, here are some of Jose's famous verbal volleys lifted from espnsoccernet.com:
• 'Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one' - Mourinho introduces himself to the English press after arriving from Porto in summer 2004.
• 'In the second half it was whistle and whistle, fault and fault, cheat and cheat. The referee controlled the game in one way during the first half but in the second they had dozens of free-kicks. I know the referee did not walk to the dressing rooms alone at half-time' - Mourinho claims Sir Alex Ferguson had unduly influenced referee Neale Barry at half-time during a Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United in January 2005. He was fined £5,000 by the Football Association for improper conduct.
• 'I don't regret it. The only thing I have to understand is I'm in England, so maybe even when I think I am not wrong, I have to adapt to your country and I have to respect that. I have a lot of respect for Liverpool fans and what I did, the sign of silence - 'shut your mouth' - was not for them, it was for the English press' - Mourinho defends putting a finger to his lips during the 2005 Carling Cup final against Liverpool, an action which resulted in him being sent to the stands.
• 'When I saw Rijkaard entering the referee's dressing room I couldn't believe it. When Drogba was sent off I didn't get surprised. There is something that tells me that in London the referee will be Collina, the best in the world. A perfect referee with personality and quality' - Mourinho claims in Portuguese newspaper Dez Record that Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard visited referee Anders Frisk's dressing room at half-time in the first leg of the teams' Champions League last-16 clash in February 2005. Mourinho was banned from the dug-out for two matches and fined £9,000 by UEFA for bringing the game into disrepute over his claims.
• 'I felt the power of Anfield, it was magnificent. I felt it didn't interfere with my players but maybe it interfered with other people and maybe it interfered with the result. You should ask the linesman why he gave a goal. Because, to give a goal, the ball must be 100% in and he must be 100% sure that the ball is in' - Mourinho questions the validity of Liverpool forward Luis Garcia' s goal which puts Chelsea out of the Champions League semi-finals on May 3, 2004.
• 'It is not a red card, of course not, and for the second time we have to play 55, 60 minutes without a man and the game is completely different. I shouldn't speak about the game, because the game is not a game' - Mourinho blames a first-leg defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League last 16 in February 2006 on the sending-off of Asier del Horno.
• 'We have played against them four matches in two seasons. (When it was) 11 against 11 they never beat us. That is the reality' - After 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp in 2006 which sent Barca through to the quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
• 'The goalkeeper has the ball in his hands, slides and the number 10 cannot get the ball. He goes with the knee into his face' - Mourinho accuses Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt of deliberately injuring Petr Cech after the pair collide in the first minute of last October's match at the Madejski Stadium.
• 'It is not possible (for) penalties (to be awarded) against Manchester United, and it is not possible (to get) penalties in favour of Chelsea. If somebody punishes me because I tell the truth, it is the end of democracy, we go back to the old times' - The Chelsea boss fumed last weekend after seeing his side's penalty appeals against Newcastle turned down, a day after United were given the benefit of the doubt over a strong injury-time penalty claim by Middlesbrough in their clash at Old Trafford.
• 'A player who wants to be the best one of the world, and he already may be, should have the uprightness and the sufficient maturity to verify that against facts there are not arguments. If he says that it is a lie that Manchester United have conceded some penalties this season which have not been awarded against them, he is lying. And if he lies he will never reach the level that he wants to reach' - Mourinho hit back at Ronaldo after the United winger claimed his penalty rant proved his countryman 'doesn't know how to admit his own failures'.
• 'It is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem' - Shorn of the likes of injury victims Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Ricardo Carvalho and Didier Drogba, Mourinho cooked up a surreal analogy ahead of Tuesday's fateful draw with Rosenborg.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Respectful Ronaldo
For England's rabid football fans, superstar winger Cristiano Ronaldo's moment of infamy was "the wink" he made to the Portugal bench after he convinced the referee to send off Manchester United teammate and England striker Wayne Rooney in the second half of their quarterfinal clash during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, a match Portugal eventually won on penalties. The incident though left an indelible mark on Ronaldo's tendency to be quite an irritant. That is --- if you're a fan of the Three Lions.
After the incident, Ronaldo feared of being castigated upon his return to Old Trafford, home of Manchester United. While he was booed during away matches, Ronaldo was adored at Old Trafford. He repayed this with more than 20 goals in all competitions last season. With his mazy runs and brilliant goal-scoring instincts, he played an important role in the Red Devils' recapture of the Premiership crown in the 2006-2007 season and its remarkable run in the Champions League and the FA Cup. His exploits earned him the EPL Player of the Year award.
Ronaldo got off to a bad start this season. He saw red in only the second match of the season against Portsmouth. The match ended at 1-all. Provoked, he allegedly head-butted Richard Hughes, prompting referee to flash a straight red card. The infraction came with an automatic 3-match ban.
But if Ronaldo had his moments of infamy, he also had a moment of unrivaled class. It happened last night when Man United defeated Ronaldo's former club, Sporting Lisbon, 1-0, in its opening Champions League match.
Ronaldo scored on a diving header from a Wes Brown cross in the 62nd minute.
His teammates, of course, savored the moment. But Ronaldo was subdued. He ditched his trademark emotion-packed celebration and made an apologetic gesture as he streaked through the goal-line infront of Sporting fans, the same people who embraced him when he was still an obscure teenager (Ronaldo transferred to Man Utd in 2003 for $12M).
When he was substituted four minutes from time, Sporting fans showed their appreciation for the 21-year-old Ronaldo, giving him a laud applause as he left the pitch.
The scenes were replayed several times. And it made me admire Ronaldo even more, because for all his football wizardry, Ronaldo's gesture illustrated the maturity and class worth emulating as a person. His humility epitomized the respect he had for a club that helped nurture and develop his talent.
After the incident, Ronaldo feared of being castigated upon his return to Old Trafford, home of Manchester United. While he was booed during away matches, Ronaldo was adored at Old Trafford. He repayed this with more than 20 goals in all competitions last season. With his mazy runs and brilliant goal-scoring instincts, he played an important role in the Red Devils' recapture of the Premiership crown in the 2006-2007 season and its remarkable run in the Champions League and the FA Cup. His exploits earned him the EPL Player of the Year award.
Ronaldo got off to a bad start this season. He saw red in only the second match of the season against Portsmouth. The match ended at 1-all. Provoked, he allegedly head-butted Richard Hughes, prompting referee to flash a straight red card. The infraction came with an automatic 3-match ban.
But if Ronaldo had his moments of infamy, he also had a moment of unrivaled class. It happened last night when Man United defeated Ronaldo's former club, Sporting Lisbon, 1-0, in its opening Champions League match.
Ronaldo scored on a diving header from a Wes Brown cross in the 62nd minute.
His teammates, of course, savored the moment. But Ronaldo was subdued. He ditched his trademark emotion-packed celebration and made an apologetic gesture as he streaked through the goal-line infront of Sporting fans, the same people who embraced him when he was still an obscure teenager (Ronaldo transferred to Man Utd in 2003 for $12M).
When he was substituted four minutes from time, Sporting fans showed their appreciation for the 21-year-old Ronaldo, giving him a laud applause as he left the pitch.
The scenes were replayed several times. And it made me admire Ronaldo even more, because for all his football wizardry, Ronaldo's gesture illustrated the maturity and class worth emulating as a person. His humility epitomized the respect he had for a club that helped nurture and develop his talent.
The Joy of Kicks!
On a pock-marked pitch surrounded by school buildings that have seen better days, the ball darts to the direction of a crouching reed-thin boy, who protects the goal as if his life depended on it. He dives to his left in vain. As soon as he picks himself up, he shakes his head. Then, another ball finds the back of the tattered net, prompting him to stop and ponder --- as if he had learned a lesson.
He moves on to take on the next kicker. Five straight balls fly past him. But he is hardly daunted. And when he was able to palm a ball away, moments later, his eyes flutter while the rest of the muscles on his mud-tainted face are flexed to form a priceless smile. All these he does on one boot and minus goalkeeping gloves.
"The other boot is with him," he says, pointing to another kid still wearing his school uniform, who was lining up waiting for his turn for a shot on goal. For some reason, the kid doesn't use his boot-covered foot in kicking. "I'm not used to wearing two boots," the frail-looking boy says, before blasting the ball that sails just a few inches high above the goal.
On the other side of pitch, a group of boys listen intently to their instructor, ignoring the boisterous crowd of schoolchildren playing games under the eucalyptus tree. On this sun-kissed afternoon, the serious looks morph into smiles as skills improvement drills that breed individual panache get going.
A man in shorts and slippers saunters by, checking the progress of the training, wading through the knee-high blades of grass on the field that serves as a playground for school-children at midday. And when he's done, he moves to the area where the surface is level and the grass don't totally impede on the ball's roll, where another group of boys work on their speed and skill negotiating the aligned cones one meter apart.
The sun was setting when the boys wrap up another day of training. Water is unintentionally sprinkled on the ground when "ice water" is shared and thrown around.
The snapshots are taken from the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School pitch, the home of ABES FC, one of the emerging football clubs under the Negros Occidental Football Association.
"Football is our passion," says 12-year-old midfielder Mico Posadas when asked to introduce the team. Mico's statement may appear PR-polished. Behind his declaration though are countless stories of triumph and struggle since 2003 when the club was formed.
BITTER PILL
There was a time when playing football at the school was restricted. The directive came from a school official, who thought the sport posed great injury risk to the students' frail bodies.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for ABES FC coach Ulysses Rillos, a music and physical education teacher, who recalls begging on his knees and crying as the school official explained the decision.
"I had no choice but to follow the decision," Rillos recalls. He was concerned apparently because the club was just starting out, taking its baby steps.
That did not dampen the enthusiasm, though. When the official retired at the end of the school-year, Rillos, who played competitive football while he was studying at Domingo Lacson National High School, organized a summer football grassroots clinic at ABES with the help of NOFA that drew around 50 kids.
"We started to get the community involved," he says. Aside from students in the school, Rillos says he invited kids whom he felt were treading the path of lawlessness. He also saw it as a way to promote harmony among students of ABES I and ABES II at a time when clashes between young boys from the two schools were a regular sight.
"I saw it as a way for them to return to school, instill discipline and stop the fights," he says. But the task proved to be easier said than done as Rillos found difficulty convincing parents, who were hesitant because off the additional expenses in training.
When he was able to persuade parents, Rillos and the club faced another challenge: Pool resources for the team to compete in tournaments.
The club, though, did more than just raise funds. It also helped promote the sport in communities. "We cleaned communities in barangays 1, 2 and 3 so we could buy equipment and uniforms. We wanted to show that we are committed with our football," he says.
COMMITMENT
The commitment is typified by the four trainers in the team. Although they don't receive a single centavo for their services, Bongbong Gonzales, John Rey Alemani, Brian Tumbocon and Epi Carlo Tumbocon religiously train the players.
"We're doing it for the love of the game," says Gonzales, a former student of the school, who now works the night shift of the school's security office. In fact, Gonzales even helps ease the financial burden on the club's expenses Rillos.
Rillos says he feels overwhelmed each time he is asked why he is steering the club. "Because I am teacher I see this opportunity to mold children," he says.
Aside from NOFA which provided balls, organizational and training support and donated two goals to the club, a number of sponsors have also contributed to ABES FC's cause, particularly mail and package delivery service provider Air21, which gave uniforms to the team.
As in any other club, Rillos sees the emblazoned on their jerseys as a source of pride. The main elements of the logo are an eagle, a fireball and the three stars representing barangays 1, 2 and 3. "The eagle symbolizes freedom and strength, while the fireball depicts our never-say-die attitude," Rillos adds.
One of the youngest clubs in the NOFA roster, ABES FC has made a good account of itself with its grassroots program, prompting the provincial football body to name the club one of the two football centers for excellence in Bacolod, the other being the University of St. La Salle FC.
The move has paid off with ABES FC providing the Philippine boys' Under-13 team a goalkeeper in Bellmark Ortega, who saw action in the Asian Football Festival in Sabah, Malaysia in May. Ortega is now an athletic scholar at West Negros College, where he is a high school freshman.
"That's what we are trying to do here. Produce good players who can make use of their football skills so they can study for free," Rillos says.
YOUTUBE BOYS
One player who has shown immense potential is 12-year-old striker Joel Villacoguer, who, despite playing on old, borrowed spikes, led the team to the title in an Under-13 tournament at the University of St. La Salle recently.
Villacoguer together with his teammates have been looking for avenues to improve their skills on and off the pitch. One player, Adrian Jason, shares how YouTube, the popular video sharing, has helped in heightening their for the game
"We watch football skill drills and the latest videos of David Beckham there," Jason shares. "We try to copy the techniques".
If that wasn't proof of their devotion for the sport that has captivated the world, one can take a quick peek at the ABES FC headquarters during a random lunch break.
Players focused on fixing their boots, trainers busy printing the numbers on the players' kits and Rillos passionately recounting the evolution of the club's jerseys since 2004.
"We started with orange bibs and now we have these," Rillos says, referring to their newest kit, a replica of the 2007-2008 Barcelona FC jersey.
The evolution from bibs to jerseys characterizes the growth of the club, which now has close to 100 members from less than 50 during its first few years.
And Rillos says the core of the current team is actually a product of the grassroots program of the club.
With the influx of players comes more responsibilities for trainers but they seem to be more than happy to do their part.
"We're just happy to see how the club has grown," Gonzales adds.
He says trainers were forced to schedule practice based on the players' birth years because of the huge number of players.
"We cannot handle them all in just one session. At least, if they are divided into groups we can pay attention to each player," says Gonzales, who attended the NOFA coaches' clinic conducted by a Spanish mentor last May.
Rillos manages to add pun on the irony of having more players, despite the absence of resources including a well-maintained playing field.
"One practice, I told the boys to bring out their scissors so we could cut the grass together. I made it as part of the warm-up exercise. It turned out to be better than using a lawnmower, which would have cost us a considerable amount," he says with a laugh.
He adds that his wards play better when they are on a different field, like Panaad or USLS, where the field is level and the grass is manicured.
"Practicing in our field is an advantage for the players when they compete in tournaments outside the school. There's the motivation to play well because for them, playing in a good pitch is already a privilege," he adds.
While Rillos remains in a jovial mood as he entertains the visitor, Villacoguer puts adhesive on his borrowed boot, gluing together the sole and the upper layer that detached after yesterday's practice. He says he hopes to finally get a new boot someday.
The team logo posted on the door, photos of the squad in action and a 12x8 inch poster of Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho on top of the bulletin board provide a fitting backdrop to the scene, a testament of a club that has lacked in resources but was kept alive and kicking by its unrelenting passion.
"Winning is secondary to us. What is important is how we learn from the struggle and hardships as a club," Rillos says. *
He moves on to take on the next kicker. Five straight balls fly past him. But he is hardly daunted. And when he was able to palm a ball away, moments later, his eyes flutter while the rest of the muscles on his mud-tainted face are flexed to form a priceless smile. All these he does on one boot and minus goalkeeping gloves.
"The other boot is with him," he says, pointing to another kid still wearing his school uniform, who was lining up waiting for his turn for a shot on goal. For some reason, the kid doesn't use his boot-covered foot in kicking. "I'm not used to wearing two boots," the frail-looking boy says, before blasting the ball that sails just a few inches high above the goal.
On the other side of pitch, a group of boys listen intently to their instructor, ignoring the boisterous crowd of schoolchildren playing games under the eucalyptus tree. On this sun-kissed afternoon, the serious looks morph into smiles as skills improvement drills that breed individual panache get going.
A man in shorts and slippers saunters by, checking the progress of the training, wading through the knee-high blades of grass on the field that serves as a playground for school-children at midday. And when he's done, he moves to the area where the surface is level and the grass don't totally impede on the ball's roll, where another group of boys work on their speed and skill negotiating the aligned cones one meter apart.
The sun was setting when the boys wrap up another day of training. Water is unintentionally sprinkled on the ground when "ice water" is shared and thrown around.
The snapshots are taken from the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School pitch, the home of ABES FC, one of the emerging football clubs under the Negros Occidental Football Association.
"Football is our passion," says 12-year-old midfielder Mico Posadas when asked to introduce the team. Mico's statement may appear PR-polished. Behind his declaration though are countless stories of triumph and struggle since 2003 when the club was formed.
BITTER PILL
There was a time when playing football at the school was restricted. The directive came from a school official, who thought the sport posed great injury risk to the students' frail bodies.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for ABES FC coach Ulysses Rillos, a music and physical education teacher, who recalls begging on his knees and crying as the school official explained the decision.
"I had no choice but to follow the decision," Rillos recalls. He was concerned apparently because the club was just starting out, taking its baby steps.
That did not dampen the enthusiasm, though. When the official retired at the end of the school-year, Rillos, who played competitive football while he was studying at Domingo Lacson National High School, organized a summer football grassroots clinic at ABES with the help of NOFA that drew around 50 kids.
"We started to get the community involved," he says. Aside from students in the school, Rillos says he invited kids whom he felt were treading the path of lawlessness. He also saw it as a way to promote harmony among students of ABES I and ABES II at a time when clashes between young boys from the two schools were a regular sight.
"I saw it as a way for them to return to school, instill discipline and stop the fights," he says. But the task proved to be easier said than done as Rillos found difficulty convincing parents, who were hesitant because off the additional expenses in training.
When he was able to persuade parents, Rillos and the club faced another challenge: Pool resources for the team to compete in tournaments.
The club, though, did more than just raise funds. It also helped promote the sport in communities. "We cleaned communities in barangays 1, 2 and 3 so we could buy equipment and uniforms. We wanted to show that we are committed with our football," he says.
COMMITMENT
The commitment is typified by the four trainers in the team. Although they don't receive a single centavo for their services, Bongbong Gonzales, John Rey Alemani, Brian Tumbocon and Epi Carlo Tumbocon religiously train the players.
"We're doing it for the love of the game," says Gonzales, a former student of the school, who now works the night shift of the school's security office. In fact, Gonzales even helps ease the financial burden on the club's expenses Rillos.
Rillos says he feels overwhelmed each time he is asked why he is steering the club. "Because I am teacher I see this opportunity to mold children," he says.
Aside from NOFA which provided balls, organizational and training support and donated two goals to the club, a number of sponsors have also contributed to ABES FC's cause, particularly mail and package delivery service provider Air21, which gave uniforms to the team.
As in any other club, Rillos sees the emblazoned on their jerseys as a source of pride. The main elements of the logo are an eagle, a fireball and the three stars representing barangays 1, 2 and 3. "The eagle symbolizes freedom and strength, while the fireball depicts our never-say-die attitude," Rillos adds.
One of the youngest clubs in the NOFA roster, ABES FC has made a good account of itself with its grassroots program, prompting the provincial football body to name the club one of the two football centers for excellence in Bacolod, the other being the University of St. La Salle FC.
The move has paid off with ABES FC providing the Philippine boys' Under-13 team a goalkeeper in Bellmark Ortega, who saw action in the Asian Football Festival in Sabah, Malaysia in May. Ortega is now an athletic scholar at West Negros College, where he is a high school freshman.
"That's what we are trying to do here. Produce good players who can make use of their football skills so they can study for free," Rillos says.
YOUTUBE BOYS
One player who has shown immense potential is 12-year-old striker Joel Villacoguer, who, despite playing on old, borrowed spikes, led the team to the title in an Under-13 tournament at the University of St. La Salle recently.
Villacoguer together with his teammates have been looking for avenues to improve their skills on and off the pitch. One player, Adrian Jason, shares how YouTube, the popular video sharing, has helped in heightening their for the game
"We watch football skill drills and the latest videos of David Beckham there," Jason shares. "We try to copy the techniques".
If that wasn't proof of their devotion for the sport that has captivated the world, one can take a quick peek at the ABES FC headquarters during a random lunch break.
Players focused on fixing their boots, trainers busy printing the numbers on the players' kits and Rillos passionately recounting the evolution of the club's jerseys since 2004.
"We started with orange bibs and now we have these," Rillos says, referring to their newest kit, a replica of the 2007-2008 Barcelona FC jersey.
The evolution from bibs to jerseys characterizes the growth of the club, which now has close to 100 members from less than 50 during its first few years.
And Rillos says the core of the current team is actually a product of the grassroots program of the club.
With the influx of players comes more responsibilities for trainers but they seem to be more than happy to do their part.
"We're just happy to see how the club has grown," Gonzales adds.
He says trainers were forced to schedule practice based on the players' birth years because of the huge number of players.
"We cannot handle them all in just one session. At least, if they are divided into groups we can pay attention to each player," says Gonzales, who attended the NOFA coaches' clinic conducted by a Spanish mentor last May.
Rillos manages to add pun on the irony of having more players, despite the absence of resources including a well-maintained playing field.
"One practice, I told the boys to bring out their scissors so we could cut the grass together. I made it as part of the warm-up exercise. It turned out to be better than using a lawnmower, which would have cost us a considerable amount," he says with a laugh.
He adds that his wards play better when they are on a different field, like Panaad or USLS, where the field is level and the grass is manicured.
"Practicing in our field is an advantage for the players when they compete in tournaments outside the school. There's the motivation to play well because for them, playing in a good pitch is already a privilege," he adds.
While Rillos remains in a jovial mood as he entertains the visitor, Villacoguer puts adhesive on his borrowed boot, gluing together the sole and the upper layer that detached after yesterday's practice. He says he hopes to finally get a new boot someday.
The team logo posted on the door, photos of the squad in action and a 12x8 inch poster of Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho on top of the bulletin board provide a fitting backdrop to the scene, a testament of a club that has lacked in resources but was kept alive and kicking by its unrelenting passion.
"Winning is secondary to us. What is important is how we learn from the struggle and hardships as a club," Rillos says. *
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