Thursday Stuff

On Oping Sumalinog, I felt bad about it like everyone else about his ACL injury. If people were surprised by how well he played in the PCCL then that's because they've hardly watched the team in the off-season. He we are looking for the next Nonoy Baclao when he was right beneath everyone's noses. The difference is that he is more mobile. Now that's he's out, it throws some things into a quandary. Two of our newbies will be suiting up for the National Team and will be out for a year. So there are four open slots. I guess you can figure it out that three of them will go to JP Erram, Jason Escueta, and Art de la Cruz Jr. So the fourth --- well, I have a few ideas but I'd rather not second guess the coaching staff.

Word from Joburg: With a the FIFA World Cup Finals a few months away, not all is fixed in South Africa. Someone should review FIFA's protocols after this. Obviously the choice of the location is used as a bargaining chip in elections. We've seen that here in Asia and in the Philippines. The United Nations has reported that people are being forcibly evicted from their homes or those looking to rent are being priced out of the market. And then there's this row between South Africa's Trade Unions and China's Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products Co. Ltd (SFPP) cease production of the Zakumi, the tournament mascot, until it improved working conditions as reported by Britain's News of the World.

SFPP denied the accusation of using child labour in substandard working conditions while paying well below the standards. Instead, they shot back that South Africa wanted the production all to themselves because of their unemployment rate. South African trade unions threatened to boycott the June 11-July 11 tournament after Britain's News of the World newspaper reported in January that the workers of the Shanghai-based company were forced to work in "pitiful" conditions.

In the meantime, concerns regarding transportation, lodging, and security still have not been tested or totally secured. Good luck to everyone going to South Africa.

I think it's cool that the Boston Red Sox signed up Nomar Garciaparra to a one-day contract to allow him to retire as a member of the organization. When he first came up, he was a part of that trio of awesome shortstops along with New York's Derek Jeter and Seattle's Alex Rodriguez. Then after some problems with the team (because team management thought he was on the decline), he was traded away to the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Chicago Cubs and was never the same again. He was dealt in a multi-player trade in the same year the Red Sox ended an 86-year World Series drought! That must have been crushing. I think he made more noise for marrying Mia Hamm than anything he did on the field (yes, I know he made the All-Star team one more time but that was it) but that doesn’t change the fact that Garciaparra was a terrific player. Even though from a rival team, I enjoyed watching him play. And in case you didn't know, Nomar played in the Arizona league with Michael Jordan (during his baseball adventure) and were managed by Terry Francona. I wrote about this previously. This team was an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox organization.

What's coming up -- we'll see the Tokushima retro story, AJ Pareja of the Ateneo Men's Volleyball Team, Hispania Formula 1 driver Karun Chandok, the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, and another boxing piece.