The first week of August, for the past 10 years or so, was the busiest month in Cebu sports. The first weekend is when the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. opens its season, which also coincides with Ironman weekend in Lapu-Lapu City, which has the IronGirls on a Friday, IronKids on a Saturday and the main event on a Sunday.
Some three years ago, that busy weekend—also coincided with a Philippine Football League (PFL) home game for Global Cebu, which prodded me to remind PFL organizers not to just check the local football calendar, but the local sports calendar as well.
Four years ago, local sports had to add Olympic monitoring as our Olympians tried their luck in Rio. Of course, there was that added benefit of having our very own Mary Joy Tabal compete in the Olympiad for the first time.
That was before the new normal of course. Now, August —the so-called ghost month—is simply yet another 30 days in the calendar when folks try to survive the next 30 days. There are no leagues, there are no games and whatever games that are conducted are being done on the sly.
But I’m confident that someday, maybe perhaps next August, we will soon have another busy month of sports; of life as we knew it. What a bonus it would be next August if it would be accompanied by celebrations of our first Olympic gold medal.
It doesn’t seem likely these days, with depressing news upon depressing news. Social media doesn’t offer much of a respite, too, except for the NBA and football fans with the resumption of their leagues.
Still, I’m hopeful that we’d get there, someday. It may not be the sports scene that we once knew, but at least there will still be a Cebu sports scene. The leagues will be back, the games will be back and
August will again be a busy month for all those who love sports.
And perhaps because of what we went through the past few months, we will learn to appreciate sports a bit more because we had to live without it.
It’s just a diversion you may say. But for countless others, it’s not. It’s a way of life. Heck, it’s an industry, one that is suffering greatly, like many others, in this pandemic.
May we all bounce back, the sports teams, the people that watch local events, the people who sponsor local events and the people who organize local events. The coaches, players and folks behind the scene too.
May our next ghost month be filled with many stories.