|
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Sayson: Sayson Six and counting
By Homer Sayson
Scondovertime
CHICAGO – I don’t like to gloat. But once a year, and specifically this time of year, I’m going to brag, anyway. So fold this newspaper, and if you’re reading this through Sun.Star’s website, spank the computer mouse and let it sniff elsewhere.
You’ve been warned.
For the sixth consecutive season, the NBA has accredited Sun.Star Cebu to cover this year’s NBA Finals. Of course, that means I’m going, definitely to Miami, and quite probably to Dallas.
I’m part of the huge international media and I’m afforded the same privileges as the writers from the New York Times or the
Chicago Tribune. I have “all access” to “all games” and I can visit both teams’ locker rooms, attend all interview sessions.
I’m also allowed unlimited entry to the NBA Finals headquarters’ hospitality suite, where food is abundant while my rum and Coke leaks like a fountain. If I decide not to rent a car for these Finals, I can get a free ride from the hotel (and back) to either
arenas during game days, as well as free shuttles to ferry me to both teams’ practice venues.
The only thing I don’t have, which I would have eagerly glorified, is an expense account. With Sun.Star Cebu’s blessings, I raise my own funds for all my assignments. Boy, I’m telling you, it’s easier to be the president of Cuba than to raise funds for my travel expenses.
For this year’s Finals for instance, I need airfare from Chicago to Miami, and possibly to Dallas, and back. That’s about $650 right there, easy. At a very generous estimate of $120 a day, my hotel accommodations require at least $840, while another $50 a day beckons if I rent a car.
And just like you, I need to be fed. So I’d set aside another $40 a day for food. Hey, don’t be surprised. Although I stand only 5-foot-6, I eat like a Viking. All told, including miscellaneous expenses such as rum and Coke to help me unwind, I would need at least $2,500 for my upcoming Finals trip.
Well, thanks to my sponsors, I’ve raised some money. Not quite $2,500, but enough for me not to dig too much into my own pockets. Thank God for that, because my pockets are as shallow as a kiddie pool.
Anyway, thanks to Park N’ Go and the Rama clan for their continued support. Thanks also to Isuzu Cebu at Ayala, which also backed my coverage of the Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista fight last May 20 at Stapes Center. To Dodong Castañares, salamat, sir.
Thanks to San Miguel Corp. through Girlie Garces, arguably the prettiest and inarguably the most likeable corporate exec in
he Visayas and Mindanao. Many thanks to Jerry Uy and Cebu Isuzu Parts Supply Inc.
Like he stubbornly does all the time, Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem offered to help. But I can’t let him. No matter how divinely well meaning his intentions are, the fact that Jack is an elected official creates a possible conflict of interest. Thanks for the thought, councilor.
Cerrone and Lence Dayo, the marathoning brothers from Talisay City who now live in Sommerville, New Jersey, also helped make my trip possible. Thanks a lot, guys.
If I sound a little extravagant here, that’s only because this particular sponsor has always been generously indulgent in helping finance my trips. During Pacquiao-Morales II for instance, this gentleman gave me a very thick wad of $100 bills, so thick that I had to declare it to authorities at the Las Vegas airport.
Out of his own wallet, lawyer Adelino Sitoy Jr., the dean of the University of Cebu College of Law, is again backing my NBA Finals coverage. How much? I can’t say. I don’t want the BIR on my tail.
Attorney Sitoy, thanks a lot.
POSTSCRIPT. I also have a new corporate backer, Cebu Holdings Inc. and Ayala Center Cebu. I’ll delve about their support soon. Meanwhile, I am told that Bunny Pages, who owns a business empire that includes Thirsty Drinks, is supposedly joining my sponsors bandwagon. Wow.
(homsay@hotmail.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
