IT’S August and the eighth month of the year always ushers in a busy season for local sports. There’s the Ironman 70.3 kicking off next week in Lapu-Lapu City. Though Lapu-Lapu City is the host, the event also crosses Cebu City and Talisay City, which are both led by new and sports-inclined mayors in Edgar Labella and Samsam Gullas.
Mayor Labella has allowed the use of the South Road Properties for the event again after Mayor Tomas Osmeña had it closed last year. Aside from the main event, there is also the Iron Kids held a day before and a lot of promising Cebuano triathletes are contenders in the age group.
Aside from the Ironman, the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. season also kicks off later this month, with the showcase basketball event kicking off first before the rest of the ball games follow. The pre-season tournament, the Partners Cup, is just about to wrap up with the University of the Visayas (UV) facing long-time rival Southwestern University in the college finals.
Last year, UV beat the University of Cebu (UC) in the pre-season and after barreling through the elimination round, the Green Lancers are the favorites again to retain the crown. Of course, the pre-season event is just a preview of what’s going to happen this season, with again the UV Green Lancers as the defending champion.
Last year, Gary Cortes made that famous quote, “Kung dili sila mag binulay-ug, mag three-peat gyud mi.” I wonder if there will be similar interesting pre-tournament sound bites.
The rest of the events follow suit after the basketball tournament with the football season opening on Sept. 8, 2019 at the Cebu City Sports Center. The format in college—double round robin with the top two advancing to the finals—has made for an interesting competition ever since it was adopted. There were times when the finalists were decided in the final game of the season, a stark improvement in previous format where the semifinalists were already known just two games in.
Last year also, keeping tabs of one’s goals became crucial, much to the chagrin of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R). Not realizing that they needed to win against the University of San Carlos to advance to the finals, USJ-R thought it made the finals after scoring a 90th minute equalizer. Before the match, both were tied at 11 points, but USC scored one goal more, meaning a draw wouldn’t be enough for USJ-R to topple USC from No. 2.
Anyway, I hope the same format can be adopted for the high school division, to make all the games more competitive. From a previous two-horse race with Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and Don Bosco Technological Center always making the final, the high school tournament is now more competitive, USC, USJ-R and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation catching up with the two favorites.
I talked with some of the high school coaches and they say they’d favor a switch to the college format, and I hope it will be adopted for the new season.