Hasta la vista Sir Dodong

After I wrote on the demise of Jack Jakosalem in my last column, I promised not to write on my dead friends for a while as I’m starting to be depressed myself. But it’s just impossible not to pay tribute to Sir Dodong Gullas, chairman of the Freeman, who died Thursday at 87.  The last time I saw Sir Dodong was during the Freeman’s 100 years celebration where he awarded me a plaque for being one of the Freeman’s outstanding sportswriters. The late Rico Navarro also received an award. Sir Dodong, a music man himself, opened the JRG Halad Museum where our very own  Cebuano (Visayan) composers and talents were honored like Ben Zubiri, Mariano Vestil, Pilita Corales, Dulce, Susan Fuentes, Novo Bono, Max Surban among others. He even told me he was impressed with my Elvisaya performance and that I could give those Elvis performers a run for their money in Las Vegas.  “Hasta La Vista Sir Dodong”.  Rest In Peace.

All that jazz

Did I speak  too soon? The Utah Jazz routed the  Los Angeles Lakers last week, but got beaten by the red-hot Miami Heat the other day.  But I’m sticking to my prediction that the Lakers will be in the Finals, once Anthony Davis is healthy. Last year, Lebron James and Davis were unstoppable, finally giving the Lakers the crown.  But the Jazz is playing on a good note lately and with Fil-Am Jordan Clarkson, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles, playing beautiful music. Of course, Donavan Mitchell is still the top Jazz.  Utah beat the Lakers 114-89 to improve to 26 wins and 6 loses, as I write this column. The Lakers on the other hand, dropped to (22-11). It’s still a long way to go, I just hope the Jazz doesn’t play out of tune come playoffs. Over in the East, the Brooklyn Nets didn’t even need Kevin Durant in their last game. James Harden and Kyrie Irving are fast jelling and this will spell trouble for their opponents.

Cassius Clay

Was born January 17, 1942. When he was just six month of age and lying along-side his mother, he stretched out his little fist and knocked  her in the mouth, loosening a front tooth.  When he was 18, Clay joined the U.S  Olympic team to the 1960 Rome Olympics. Clay was terrified of flying and when he finally boarded the plane, he had an army-surplus parachute and wore it throughout the flight. Clay won the gold medal and when he returned to his hometown, a 25-car motorcade was held in his honor. Back home in Louisville, he went to a restaurant with a friend and ordered a burger and milkshake. The waitress took their orders and came back to say as she could not serve them.  When his friend told  the resto white owner that Clay was an Olympic Gold medalist , the man said he didn’t care and wanted them out. That’s how bad segregation was back then. After overcoming his fear of flying Clay (now Muhammad Ali) was on a flight from Washington to New York and was giving the airline stewardess a hard time, refusing to do up his seatbelt and said “Sister, Superman don’t need no seat belt”. The irked stewardess replied “Superman don’t need plane either”.