for the love of the game part 1: pleasure found in football is LIKE pleasure found in sex

my newly found love for football cannot go unnoticed. therefore a blog entry should serve as the first step towards manifesting such love. actually it already counts as the second step, since the first would be owning four shirts, one for germany, two for england and one for italy.

i am setting a new record for myself. not only have i found that one sport i am bound to enjoy for the rest of my life but also, i have found addiction for it. it was strange to have gotten hooked in such a snap. it all started with the world cup. before the cup began, there was all the buzz, world cup here world cup there. of course this isn't the kind of buzz you get from an upcoming manny pacquiao-eric morales game wherein you hear news about it in every news break of each broadcasting network here in the philippines. nor is it the kind of buzz where almost every other person you meet and every other paper you read talks abouts the nba finals, miami heat winning, who scored the most in game 6, how the mavs were crushed and so on. rather this is the rare kind of buzz, at least for me, living in such a basketball-inflicted (or basketball-heavy, a more acceptable description for the fans) culture, where it seems like it's the only sport recognized by everyone.

to say world cup is to say something big- whether in terms of the participants, the game attendees, and the audience. participated by 32 countries from different continents, attended by millions (so far 2 million plus for the first round games), watched by even more millions at home, at work or at some other place. i tried watching not because everybody was talking about it (apparently not, especially in my case) but because my curiosity was aroused by the sport's magnanimity. it is the same question that gets everybody after chancing upon something new to them, that got me: what is the buzz all about? my 'journey' started on the very first fifa world cup day: the opening ceremonies.

i tried watching the opening ceremonies through the old television set with shitty reception, with a newly found interest and curiosity and open eyes. everyone who knows me can attest to the fact that i have never been a sports fan. i was never one of the millions who stay tuned to solar sports, abc5 or espn watching basketball games. there were times when i tried to enjoy the game. but to no avail. though i had occasional peek at some golf and pool tourneys. but that was it. to actually attempt to learn the rules, to know who plays well for one team and who sucks at the other, to stay up until 5am day after day just trying to wait for the victor, to try to avoid mistakes of having to make unnecessary noise that might wake up parents- all of that is new.
after watching several matches of the world cup, i think i've already come to realize why i enjoy watching football. or world cup for that matter:

1. score arrives at unexpected times, sometimes it even doesn't. getting a goal could take as much as the whole stretch of the game. yet it could also take a measley 2 minutes from the time the game started. it isn't like basketball where almost every 15 seconds, someone scores. these are people running from one end to the end, with playing area thrice to four times the size of a basketball court. just to get from one point to the other could already take a time. and getting a goal while three or four people are trying to steal the ball away from you, all of you using just your feet (arguably more difficult to control than the hand), is already too much work. therefore, as time elapses, excitement continuously arises as every member of the audience waits for that one time when their favorite team would get a goal in. it could take forever yet once it's in, then fulfillment is just overwhelming. no wonder players who score throw themselves right in front of their teammates, their coaches or who sulk in the momeny doing emotionally-filled, sometimes ridiculous moves, do so. no wonder these people, when they goal, run all over the field as if they won the 100M jackpot of the lottery. ah, euphoria. the fruit just couldn't get any sweeter. moreover, the gratification usually found in football is just too much to handle. from a point of comparison, one can think of football as an intercourse with possible mutliple orgasms while basketball is just a long monotonous sexual intercourse.

---end of part 1----

Soccer is best suited for Filipinos

Clean Living : Football, not basketball, best suited for Filipinos
By Manolo Iñigo
Inquirer

Editor's Note: Published on page A30 of the June 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THE spectacular month-long World Cup soccer tournament gets going in Germany today. Like the Olympics, the World Cup is held once every four years and attracts millions of followers who are addicted to it.

Still, I find it surprising why many Filipinos are not interested in it. Most people I know are more interested in the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals pitting the Miami Heat against the Dallas Mavericks. Not many are concerned with the outcome of the World Cup.

Our obsession with basketball is a perpetual puzzle. Filipinos have always had a passion for the dash-and-dribble game, a passion which even the legendary Carlos Loyzaga, the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, once said was wrong “because there are other sports where the Filipino athletes have a better chance of winning honors.”

By other sports, the now Australia-based Loyzaga probably meant those disciplines where height is not an advantage, including soccer (where his late father, Joaquin Loyzaga, was a many-time member of the Philippine team in the old Far Eastern Games), boxing, taekwondo, archery and billiards, bowling and chess if ever these last three events are included in the Olympic menu.

The Philippines used to be a soccer power in Asia during the pre-war years, finishing as perennial champions in the biennial Far Eastern Games which was launched in Manila in 1913. The Filipinos emerged champions.

Among those who played for the country and became household names were Joaquin Loyzaga; Joaquin Lopez, the Letran Hall of Famer who played the longest (seven times) in the FE Games from 1913 to 1925; Jesus Cacho of Cacho Hermanos Printing Press; Dr. Jose Genato, grandfather of Maggie Henson, wife of Star columnist and TV analyst Quinito Henson; Zamboanga business magnate Celso Lobregat; former Sen. Lorenzo Tañada Sr., who was an outstanding goalie from the University of the Philippines; Ildefonso Tronqued; Sebastian Ugarte, after whom the Ugarte Football Field in Makati City was named; and Celestino Martinez Sr., brother of basketball great Primitivo “Tibing” Martinez and father of Congressman Celestino Martinez of Cebu.

Why soccer?

As former Philippine Olympic Committee president, retired Col. Julian Malonso, said, “In soccer, Filipinos can excel better because of their courage and the ball is on the ground. Basketball is not the sport for the Filipinos because height counts much. We should concentrate more on sports where height is not an advantage. Never mind basketball. Football is best suited for us.”

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I'll comment on this some other time.

Im a Cautious Architect

Cautious Architect

You are an Architect

Your preference for concrete, visually pleasing things, combined with your confidence and your respect for order make you an ARCHITECT.

You are logical and detail-oriented, which allows you to get things done efficiently.

You are quite sure of yourself, so that you tend to know the best ways of doing things.

Your eye for aesthetic beauty and style indicates that you know a lot about design.

Having a routine and sticking to it is important to you; you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.

Self-reliance is something in which you take great pride—you are confident and down to earth.

You have a basic faith in yourself in many areas of your life, allowing you to be self-assured when facing challenges.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

If you want to be different:

Try moving beyond the things that you find comfortable—open yourself up to a broader range of experiences.

Question how much you know about things by imagining different possibilities.

how you relate to others

You are Cautious

Being independent, practical, and somewhat guarded with others makes you CAUTIOUS.

You tend to keep to yourself, wary of trusting others with personal information.

The values that you hold are central to your identity—you are a very principled person.

You have respect for the natural order of things, and a good sense of right and wrong.

Investigating the world through observation, as opposed to interaction, is preferable to you.

You have an appreciation for those who have attained a certain level of accomplishment, particularly the rare few who have succeeded honestly.

You are efficient—when you work with others, you get down to business, and fulfill your obligations.

You sometimes wish that others would be more like you—less hindered by their emotions, more respectful, and more private.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

If you want to be different:

Finding a few close others whom you can trust will allow you to express yourself more openly, and possibly to learn more about yourself.