The Amazing World of Sports (and The Noob)

Writings are gathered from articles written by Atty. Ed Tolentino (on Spin.ph), Michael Angelo S. Murillo (on BusinessWorld),
The Manila Times, and Agence France Press (both on BusinessWorld and Manila Times)

"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition..."

That is how ABC television network in the US signed on its sports program entitled Wide World of Sports back in the 60's to the 90's. And that is what I have got myself into these past weeks and months. What before seemed to me an area I would not like, now it happens to be something I marvel about.

I recently got interested in that "wide world of sports", thanks to television, newspapers, and the Internet, of course. It has been fascinating to observe the action the games produce—from the matches in the UAAP, to the battle of Ginebra and San Miguel last PBA Commissioner's Cup, to the world-stopping plays in FIFA World Cup in Russia, to the triumphs of our Filipino athletes in the recent 18th Asian Games in Indonesia.

Rookie observer

I just got into it, since I have not been much of a sports watcher or observer earlier in my life, let alone seeing my father watch PBA, seeing some of my churchmates play basketball, and watching World Cup of Pool on channels 9 and 13. But I credit my father for my growing interest in the field. 

As much as he has his eyes on movies (he could have been a student of Film classes I took), he's always on the watch not only for the NBA and PBA games, but also for tennis tournaments such as the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon, and the recently-closed US Open. True to the intro spiel used before in a sports newscast on NBN 4 (now PTV), the sports page is what he usually opens first in the newspapers. It's also because of him that I got to hear the wonder of radio, including the "Only Institution in Philippine Sports Broadcast" DZSR 918, now known as Radyo Pilipinas 2. 

He actually named me after an NBA player in the 80's, Adrian Dantley, who became part of teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons, and Dallas Mavericks. It is said that names have meanings, and it seems I have found one in that name of mine as I now have a certain hunger to know the games and how to make sense of them. 

I have not even played much sports, unless playing Asphalt Nitro counts. At a time when basketball seems to be a mandatory sport for men I have not gained such a liking, though I was oriented to it. But I got to play darts for the intramurals when I was in high school. I didn't get to win those games, however. I might not be apt to be a player of sports, but I'm beginning to love being an observer of sports. 

Tip-off to television

My personal history with sports coverage must have begun when I enjoyed watching billiard matches and Olympic games airing on free TV as a kid. I remember witnessing greats like Efren "Bata" Reyes, Django Bustamante, Ronnie Alcano, and Dennis Orcollo battle foreign players. I even used to play a toy billiard set, and dreamed of a real billiard table before. I didn't even get to learn to play on a real table, even if there's a billiard place near the campus.

Olympic games are also something I would watch, especially when I was not yet sidetracked by the computer and the Internet. I would expect the South East Asian games on the state-run channel. I even find delight in the Winter Games, which introduced me to the game of curling. While others find it a bore, I find it a good sport. One of its athletes from Russia was even stripped of his medal in Pyeongchang 2018 because of violating anti-doping rules.

My fascination with sports, nonetheless, was intensified as a student of the University of Santo Tomas. With such a privilege of being a student there, I have grown to support the Growling Tigers, as well as the Salinggawi Dance Troupe. Soon, I found myself cheering the team in front of the TV. Unfortunately, in my final school year (when my blockmate served as the courtside reporter for the Tigers), UST suffered a large amount of losses, with only a single win (which was earned at the last game).

Pardoned interception

That was my first deeper exposure to games, and I was not into the game's tactics and statistics. But thanks to TV5 merging with ESPN to provide sports-oriented content on the network from daytime to night, I was further exposed to sports reporting and commentary. I am amazed that ESPN produces shows where sports people make sense of every story and issue surrounding the games and the athletes. For instance, I find Pardon The Interruption an exceptional program, where two newspapermen debate on sports news for thirty minutes. There's also Around the Horn, where four sportswriters battle on the "show of competitive banter" by giving their take on topics until one of them scores the most points. Check them out. 

ESPN proved fruitful in terms of ideas, as shown not only in their staple programming but in their spin-off channels. ESPN 2 was originally formed in the 90's as a youth-oriented version of the staple sports network, offering college sports, hockey, volleyball, and sports programs with a "hippie" taste at that time. Their lowcase graphics is astounding. ESPNews in its original format is also a good innovation to me. Even the ticker ESPN uses is the first of its kind. And the SportsCenter theme ("DaDaDa, DaDaDa") is a classic, the modern sound of victory.

Legendary!

In addition, the introduction of e-sports adds another dimension to the field, leading me to another fascinating area of sports. Weeks ago ABS-CBN's S+A was on-air overnight relaying MineskiTV's coverage of what seems to be the World Cup for the game Dota 2—The International (TI). Sports5, meanwhile, streamed it on their YouTube channel. Add to that S+A's coverage of a Globe-sponsored tournament which centered on the game League of Legends (LoL).

Moreover, e-sports was included in the recent Asian Games in Indonesia as a demonstration sport. And it will be reportedly be the same in the upcoming SEA Games. Electronic sports is an amazing thing to explore, even if I do not know yet to play Dota, LoL, or Mobile Legends. I'm even more interested to try these games. The thought of being an esports athlete is even appealing.

But even with such a sport that focuses less on physical strength compared to others, commentators, more known as casters, can also make sense of these games—from the selection of characters to play to the strategy of overwhelming the opposing team.

Crossover into print

Together with sports programming on TV, the Sports pages of the newspapers also oriented me to the developments in local and foreign sports. The industry does not run out of games to cover and stories to tell. And I love it how they capture the action in words, from the headline right down to the details. A dictionary of sportswriting could even be formed and published out of the various verbs and jargons journalists use. It's amazing how one could creatively report a team's defeat (suffers, toppled, etc.) or victory (cruises, sweeps, leads, etc.), as well as their performance (tallied, banked on, notched, etc.). 

I'm amazed at how sportswriters explain how teams won their games, as well as what athletes think and feel. An example of such was an Associated Press story about Kevin Love's mental struggles in an issue of BusinessMirror (BM). That story was something. A different side was opened. A heart was tapped to empathize.

Speaking of that newspaper, I appreciate BM's layout in their sports section. It is one of the reasons why I got to buy that business-oriented paper quite often back in my last year in college. Their layouts are as colorful as the words painted in every sports story.

And when it comes to columnists and sportswriters, I have grown to admire the writing of Philippine Star's Joaquin 'Quinito' Henson. I would always expect a story from Nelson Beltran or Olmin Leyba on that same paper. Whenever I buy The Manila Times, the names of Eddie Alinea and Josef Ramos would ring. Aside from BM's layout in their sports section, Ricky Oliveros' column is a treat. I even love his column about former UE volleyball player Shaya Adorador on her final but unfortunate stint as a Lady Red Warrior. And when in comes to boxing, I admire the excellent and metaphor-filled pieces of boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino on his column on The Manila Times every Friday (and also on Spin.PH). There's now a reason to buy a newspaper on Fridays.

Touchdown to sports world

Be in in print or on air, I am really fascinated at how sportswriters and sports commentators and analysts make sense of every game, match, round, rally, or set. I love to hear analysts like Quinito Henson make sense of the statistics cagers tally either in Araneta Colliseum or MOA Arena. And even at how Magoo Marjon weave a play-by-play until he can finally nail his catchphrases "Baaaang!", "Bust this jam!", and "May kasama pang foul!". I'm amazed as well at how analysts like Atty. Ed explain how boxers won or could win their bouts against their opponents. It also fascinates me to hear Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser debate on a series of sports news and issues in Pardon The Interruption.

The sports world is very fascinating to me. From this fascination, a hunger has formed in me to know how sportsmen and fans make sense of it. I want to learn how a sports story is made. I want to store knowledge of every sport out there, be familiar with the names of players, be immersed in the action I see on ESPN5, S+A, Fox Sports 3 (because we don't have Fox Sports, huhu), etc. And I just got this want at a time when I just graduated from Communication Arts.

I still love my course, no doubt. And I don't want to give up my radio dreams I had ever since (no matter how discouraged I could get). It's just that I had another interest, aside from Kpop, which I want to bank my writing skills into. When it seems that my career path is set up, something makes me add the word 'frustrated' into some profession. A frustrated journalist. A frustrated sports fan. If the well-known sportswriter Bill Simmons labels himself as "The Sports Guy", I want to call myself "The Sports Noob".