In Huddle
Change of heart for Ricky V
By Beth Celis
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:50:00 10/30/2008
Filed Under: Sports Organisations, Elections, Boxing, Basketball
“No, I am not running for any position in tomorrow’s [Wednesday’s] ABAP elections. I am being asked to accept a nomination but I don’t think I can accept. I have already too much work to do, I don’t need more,” Ricky said Tuesday morning when I asked him to confirm media reports about his candidacy.
Later that night, we talked again. I could tell that he had had a change of heart hours after our first talk.
He said he’d invoke divine guidance before he sleeps and make a decision the next day.
* * *
Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the ABAP elections scheduled at 4 p.m. at the Tiara Oriental Hotel in Makati, I texted Ricky to find out if he was accepting the nomination. This was his answer:
“I must be insane to accept this responsibility pero ‘ika nga, have been asked to serve, so I shall serve. Never in my wildest dreams… I am very nervous.”
In my column that did not see print, I wrote that Ricky had declined the offer. That would have been inaccurate.
I just hope he doesn’t change his mind between now, as I write this, and at 4 p.m. (Wednesday).
* * *
Was the place half-empty or half-full? This was the question I asked myself when I arrived at the Chinese restaurant of the Crowne Plaza Hotel for the press conference announcing the ticket of POC presidential candidate Art Macapagal.
I arrived late so I didn’t know that the presscon was supposed to be only for a small group in a small function room inside the restaurant. As I later found out, Art’s guests overflowed in the main dining area, half-filling the place. You can imagine the predicament of my friend Tessa Jazmines, the punong-abala.
The announcement of Art’s lineup elicited various reactions which at first I couldn’t decipher. Were the media and the sporting personalities present disappointed at the ticket? Did they think Art’s lineup stood no chance against the opposition?
One of the more veteran scribes answered no to both questions. Art himself said he and his group would not have been there that day if indications were not encouraging.
Bringing back pride and performance will be the battle cry of his group, he said. “We always look at what’s wrong with Philippine sports. It’s time to look at what’s right.”
Somewhere in these pages you will find the complete lineup of Art’s ticket. Some of the names may not sound familiar but the presidentiable said he wanted fresh faces.
* * *
In addition to the Extreme Magic Sing sponsorship, the RP Junior cagebelles will be flying to Medan on Thursday richer by P235,000 which they won in the program “Eat Bulaga!”
The participation of the cagebelles in the show was facilitated by Maru Sotto, brother of Vic and Senator Tito, through the request of Extreme’s Orville Roque and Heny Fabian.
The girls won by a 66-point margin against PCCr, which beat them by 8 points in the Nike Summer League last April.
Gosh, the girls are enjoying a total reversal of fortune.
* * *
HOOPVINE: Guess who was at the PBA games last Sunday, apart from US ambassador Kristie Kenney. Discovery chef Bobby Chen, that’s who. Bobby, who didn’t have his thick hair in a ponytail this time, said he’s in the Philippines to feature Filipino cuisine. He said he has tasted “palaka, duck embryo (balut), and locusts… Brother-doctors Efren and Joey Delos Santos, who own the Delos Santos Medical Center along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City, have lined up several sporting activities to celebrate the hospital’s 35th anniversary. Among them is an inter-department basketball tournament where the Operating Room complex headed by section head Aldo Andales and OR supervisor Shane Carranza is favored to win. Basketball old-timers will remember the Delos Santos Clinic as THE sports medicine clinic decades ago.
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