In the name of Sports

Yesterday was the feast of St. Hilary, a bishop and doctor of the Catholic Church. Perhaps Hillary Clinton should start a devotion to him and ask for his help with her campaign. Another Hillary who is also in the news is the first man to reach the peak of Mount Everest , Edward Hillary of New Zealand . His feat is considered so impressive that even the thousands of others who climbed it also want to be considered heroes like him.

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At the time of this writing, the people of Malaysia are holding a death watch for their former president, Suharto, whose health has been sinking in the past few days. The latest bulletin from his doctors last night said that his chances of survival were already fifty-fifty. Another well-known personality who is also in a very precarious physical condition is the famous model Farah Fawcett, who is now battling cancer which is said to have metastasized all over her system already. One can hardly believe that of Farah, whose almost perfect body had been the icon of both men and women in her heyday.

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Is it true that there is a plan to field Noli de Castro in tandem with Vilma Santos for president and vice president in 2010? I thought we were trying to prevent showbiz people from running for public office already? The last election had shown that voters are no longer as entranced by movie personalities, as seen in the defeat of such film stalwarts as Cesar Montano, Richard Gomez, Christopher de Leon, and several others. Granted, De Castro is already vice president, and Vilma a governor, and I hope their fans will forgive me, but I think handling an entire country, especially one with as many problems as the Philippines, is another matter altogether.

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They say there are about ten prospective candidates for president at the moment. I am sure not all of them are really aiming for the top seat. Some could be angling for the Number Two office only, and others may be eyeing appointments to plum positions and all this positioning is only for getting attention. They know, as all of us suspect, that if the plans of some people succeed, there may not even any election for president when we get to 2010.

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Oh, oh. What is this report about the findings of the Senate Electoral Tribunal about the results of the voting in some areas of Lintang Bedol country? They say several ballot boxes were found empty, and that, so far, the count is showing that Koko Pimentel has more votes than the declared winner, Miguel Zubiri. Pimentel's counsel is very optimistic that her client will overcome, but the Zubiri camp is just as hopeful, knowing that even if the case goes to court, it will take a long, long time before decision is made. Meanwhile, Zubiri can say that possession is nine-tenths of the law.

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Right now, he is again calling attention to his piece de resistance in Congress, the biofuels law, probably in the hope that people will be distracted from the announcements of the Pimentel camp. However, many people have really been holding their judgment on that last election, because they know that there hadn't been any real closure in the case of Bedol, believed to be Zubiri's protector. One can only sympathize with Zubiri who must know that his proclamation as winner was not accepted by everybody.

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One probably cannot blame them because their elders had started the practice and they have come to accept it. But doesn't it give you a bad taste in the mouth when you hear about athletes demanding for prize money whenever they come back from competitions? When did sports begin to be training ground for young mercenaries? I guess it all started when officials, beginning with national ones, began giving big sums of money to those who bring home medals from contests in other countries. Then local officials also followed suit, and now even students in sports have began, not only to think they are entitled to it, but to actually pressure officials into paying up. And this is what sports has gotten to.

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What else has the struggle for medals led athletes to? Some resort to the use of drugs to enhance their capabilities. Others virtually blackmail their promoters into promising them rewards for them to do their best. Sports officials, too, have been accused of cheating, tampering with scores and records, and some of stealing money intended for the promotion of sports events, or the improvement of facilities for them. Ah SPORTS! How far from your original purposes have you gotten?*

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