SAC & San Miguel

Sportswriters, especially the men, won’t hide the fact that they have devotion to St. Michael, a.k.a. San Miguel. In fact, some people call it a “de bote a San Miguel.” But then again, who among Pinoy men doesn’t share this devotion? But that’s not it. There’s another facet about this relationship between San Miguel and Cebu ’s sportswriters who are also known as SAC: Sportswriters Association of Cebu. Every year, the SAC and San Miguel get together to recognize the previous year’s top local athletes through the SAC-SMC Cebu Sports Awards.

For the past 27 years, the SAC has upheld its tradition of recognizing the very same athletes who they cover. They are athletes who serve as the main topic of each sports story, whether this be a regular event coverage, analysis, feature, investigative story or column. And so last Wednesday, the SAC and San Miguel organized yet again a formal awarding ceremonies for the best Cebu athletes of 2008.

The awards night for like our own little Oscars of the local sports world. The cream of the crop gathers under one roof to be recognized for their sterling performances of the past year. And like the Oscars’ Actor or Actress of the Year, the SAC also has its Athlete of the Year. All the other awards go out to the different big achievers of Cebu, both at the local and international levels. As expected, the world beaters were declared Athletes of the Year. World champions Gerry Peñalosa and Donnie Nietes stood out as Cebu’s only athletes to have lorded it over their weight class on a world-scale. Manny Pacquiao was a special awardee, the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award, something that won’t be questioned at all.

The awardees came from the local sporting world, covering practically all sports that SAC covers. For once, both athletes and sportswriters got together wearing something other than what they usually wear out on the field. Gone were the jerseys or sports uniforms. In were barong, coat, long-sleeved dress shirts and dresses. Both sides seemed to be in awe of each other appreciating how everyone looked just as good or even better in a formal attire as in a sports uniform.

Another inspiring aspect about the evening was how all the top athletes seemed to be “inspired” not only for their awards, but also for the other awardees present. Never before do they get to mingle with athletes of other events in formal ceremonies such as an awards night. And this happens only once a year. Each time the achievements of each awardee was read out loud, the awardees were pleasantly surprised that there were other athletes who also excelled just like them, and even probably achieved more in terms of value of their achievements. It was like a gathering of the best athletes getting to meet each other for the first time and recognizing that they were not the only “MVP” athlete on the floor. If this was an academic activity, it was like having all the valedictorians of Cebu getting together to pick each other’s brains. The highlight of the night would have to be the presence of three world champions of boxing under one roof. In the house were Pacquiao, Peñalosa and IBF flyweight champ Nonito Donaire Jr.. For the record, Donaire couldn’t be honoured as a Cebu awardee since he isn’t from Cebu. The strong message being sent out to the sports world was that Cebu can produce world champions in its own backyard. This was a crucial “trivia” of the night that had to be broadcast to the rest of the country. For Cebu’s local athletes, seeing the world champs beside them was proof that they too, can also become future world champions.

The awards night is also an opportunity to recognize the efforts of the hardworking men and women of the SAC. We gather annually to give honor to the athletes who we write about and this is where I would like to commend the entire SAC crew for showing to the whole country (and the world) that Cebu does have very good writers (and I’d like to exclude myself from this to be objective).

It may have been the beer, the athletes and their achievements. At the bottom of it all, it’s all about SAC.

***

Time-out: Kudos to SAC President John Pages for an excellent job in running the SAC. You can reach me at [email protected]. – THE FREEMAN