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Thursday, June 22, 2006
finalsDiary: Every Finals tells a story
CHICAGO – Continental Airlines Flight No.391 flew me out of Miami yesterday afternoon and following a weather-related delay in Houston, the same Boeing 737-500, this time on Flight No.1046, proceeded to Chicago.
Though not nearly a jetsetter, I’m a very frequent-flyer. Matter of fact, I hold a United Airlines mileage-plus membership. But my ride home was one of the roughest I’ve had in a while. My stomach turned like the fast pages of a compelling John Grisham novel.
After a five-hour 27-minute trip, a ride that covered 1,894 airborne miles, the jet touched down safely at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. It was 10:54 p.m. when I finally got home, too tired to unpack, too tired to do anything but sleep.
And so I woke up the other morning with another NBA Finals coverage tucked neatly under my belt. It’s my sixth straight trip to pro basketball’s largest stage, every single one of them unique and special in its own way.
I hated Miami as soon as I got there but I missed it right away when I left.
The NBA made my job easy. Wireless Internet access was available and so was a quiet media workroom. Giant air-conditioned buses ferried me and fellow credentialed writers to games and functions.
And there was food, tons and tons of delicious treats from Cuban delights to American eclectic. And the drink, my rum and Coke, flowed freely like the Niagara Falls.
But it’s the new memories I collected, and the new friends made that I cherish the most. In the deep recesses of my mind, they’ll linger like perfume; sweet and sentimental.
“I heard you were in town. Welcome back to the Finals,” Terry Lyons, NBA VP for international PR told me, making me feel I belong. When we met briefly at the Finals’ annual media BBQ party, NBA commissioner David Stern asked me how I was doing. That felt nice, too.
Like most Finals I’ve been to, I had lot of play in between work. Steve Uy and his wife Anna Ramiro made sure I had fun in Miami, taking me to beautiful places, including Port St. Lucie, where I reunited with Richard and Arlene Becoy, my longtime neighbors in Banawa and lifetime friends.
And there are sponsors to thank, too. For without them, my Finals trip wouldn’t have been possible. My thanks to Park N’ Go Bakeshop, Isuzu Cebu at Ayala Center, Cebu Isuzu Parts Supply Inc., San Miguel Corp., Cebu Holdings Inc.
and Ayala Center Cebu and Rdak Transpo.I fancy myself a storyteller, which explains why my Finals and boxing coverages also carry the grapevine, diary and other sidebars. But without loyal readers like you, I have no stories to tell. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. (HDS)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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