New Year Wishes

First of all, I’m sorry if I have been away, what with the different Christmas parties/year-ender parties left and right that I attended. I did have a blast in Nueva Ecija and Dagupan though. But anyway, it’s 2012, and this should be a good year for sports in general. Heck, the Olympics is coming up, the Euroleague is also finishing up, the different football leagues in Europe are also in the bracketing positions and in the country, we have the PBA playoffs, which are looking good with a couple of upsets already.

Those are but a few of the sporting events to watch out for. After a successful staging of the United Football League, our local football league, I expect more from them. Especially to AKTV which is turning out to be a great non-cable sporting channel on its own. I just hope MVP gets to buy the whole bloc of iBC-13 so it will be sports shows all day long. For boxing, well, Timothy Bradley courageously (and without quivering or any unworldly demands) begged for a meeting with the Pacman. Excited? A bit, I may say.

Since I have a lot of New Year wishes, I’ll pick out a few that I really want to witness in sports this year. Let’s take a look.

‘Granada’ going all the way. I would be sad if Powerade doesn’t reach the Finals of the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup. Gary “Granada” David has been nothing but spectacular. Actually, to tell you the truth, he has been spectacular even in the past years. As a local, he can put up 23 points a night even on a reinforced conference. James Yap couldn’t do that. Mark Cagiuoa couldn’t. Cyrus Baguio couldn’t. But Granada can, and has been doing it for the better half of the new millenium. Besides that, he’s got a story to tell. Here’s a walk-on in Lyceum, just working hard, working hard, bag an MVP in the defunct PBL, fly under the radar on draft day, and have a yearly statline that says “I’m an All-Star in all but name.”

Smart Gilas 2.0. The 1.0 version wasn’t bad. In fact, it was better than advertised. Now that we’ve proven that the system works, why not continue it? And with Rajko Toroman being pushed to be a consultant, I suggest to put him in a managerial position. The guy can see talent, develop talent, and most of all, discipline talent. Coach Norman Black, who would be our own version of Coach K, the legendary Duke University coach, would not just be a suitable replacement. It will be a perfect replacement. Who cares if the “pets” of San Miguel Corporation are barred from joining the team? I’m confident in Black Magic, that of turning garbage into gold. Nothing will go wrong ing you give it your 110%, right Mr. 100%?

England rediscovering the beautiful game. England, together with France, tanked in the World Cup. That is bloody unacceptable. With the Olympics at hand, England should remind the world why they are a football giant and make pundits reconsider about replacing them with Brazil, Spain or italy as football gods. Impress me, Sirs Lampard, Gerard and Rooney.

The Semerads to gain some sense. This was probably one of the biggest storylines in Philippine sports. The Semerads jumped fences worse than how LeBron James executed his Cleveland exit. And if you are a basketball player taking your cues from a showbiz manager, who himself is neck deep in various cases, boy is there something wrong with your brains. Much more so if you claim to have stagnated when you were very instrumental in gaining your school a championship. I do not know how you could’ve stagnated that way. Imagine if they were in an US NCAA setting, these boys would’ve gotten an ass-whooping of epic proportions as they claim stagnation, and that’s just in practice. Did Japeth Aguilar, a player much, much better than them when he was in their level, complain about stagnation as a Blue Eagle or a Western Kentucky Mountaineer? Nope. So boys, go get some senses in those brains.

Another successful staging of the United Football League. Believe it or not, our very own football league is a success. Well, at this stage, somewhat. But the potential is there. Who would’ve thought that homegrown soldiers could beat the crap out of Fil-Foreigners who grew up eating, drinking, breathing football? Certainly not me. But with the great coverage from AKTV, the league has surely grown. Fans who watch from the stands are not merely handfuls anymore. They are starting to fill it up. And not to mention, they’ve got that Barclays/La Liga feel with their own fan cheers. It’s not there, but it sure is a start. Wow us more please.

Well, here’s to a great sporting year sports buffs!