WITH so many major events crowding both the local and world sporting scenes the past two weeks or so, I had a hard time choosing a topic for today’s offering.
A smorgasbord of events had flooded the landscape, bewildering everyone almost which show, at best, would take their fancy and following it to the very end.
There is that Pacquiao-Horn rematch supposedly tabled already for November 12 but got tangled up when a Pacquiao aide suddenly announced it would be held in Manila in December.
Even Tourism secretary Wanda Teo bit the bait and got burned in the process.
Only when Pacquiao said the fight will be in 2018 that all speculations had come to a halt.
Oh, well, in boxing, as I keep saying, certainty is the most elusive word; say it is almost non-existent and I will agree 99.99 percent.
And then there was the import issue of San Miguel Beer, the Grand Slam-seeking powerhouse in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Its shaky start was virtually authored by Wendell McKinis, the nocturnal import that loved to booze more than do serious practice.
As speedily as he could like the quick brown fox, SMB coach Leo Austria threw McKinis out and took in Tarik Bridgeman.
But, holy cow, Bridgeman proved to be a lemon of monumental proportions.
Bridgeman produced a mere basket in his debut and, given a second chance, he “improved” to four points in his succeeding game to help SMB absorb its second straight setback.
Not wanting to see a conflagration that could raze SMB’s Slam dreams to the ground, a third import was taken with the speed of sound. And with Terrence Watson debuting with 28 points and 17 rebounds, SMB was back on the winning track.
Another sterling second game cemented Watson’s stint with the Beermen as SMB went up to 5-3 and, suddenly, a sweep of its last three games looks bright to earn a coveted twice-to-beat margin in the quarterfinals.
And how can I forget Sloane Stephens’ U.S. Open victory over fellow American Madison Keys?
Only last January, Stephens had a foot surgery, coming back to play only in May.
And now she is a major champ—only the second unseeded (ranked 957th) woman to win in the Open era starting 1968.
How can you not love sports, the perennial factory of fiction turning fact?