Enough of boxing holograms this Christmas

My friend Danny Vivar came up with a great joke yesterday.

Borrowing from a monologue by late night comedian David Letterman, Danny said with a straight face:

“Kia Sorento and Blackwater Elite won their basketball games recently. Astronomers say this will not happen again until the year 2020.”

Kia and Blackwater of course are the two expansion teams in the Philippine Basketball Association. Both are languishing at the bottom of the standings of their first tournament—the current Philippine Cup.

I thought it was silly of Danny to deadpan about the PBA’s newest franchises, although I’m fully aware of his good intentions. And that would be to wean me off from writing so much about the hologram of a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Incidentally, Pacquiao is the head coach of the Sorento.

Enough already, Danny was quietly insisting. Until the Money Man and the Pacman sign on the dotted line, their so-called Fight of the Century is a non-story.

I know my friend was also batting for stuff he’s partial too, like the PBA and the NBA, because as topics, the kissing cousins are not a wash at all.

Danny’s got a point. Because of the ring’s biggest ghost fight, I think the other sports have gotten less ink and taken leave from the mental montage of a lot of Filipino fans.

* * *

Speaking of the NBA, the year about to end saw the downfall of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

Banished from the league because of unsavory racial remarks, Sterling was forced to sell the team to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer for a record $2 billion.

The year 2014 also saw LeBron James take his talent back to his old hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With two championships rings with the Miami Heat under Filipino-American coach Erik Spoelstra, James said he returned home to northeast Ohio because “it was where I walked… where I ran… where I cried… where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart.”

* * *

“One step at a time,” ex-sportswriter Bert Eljera said recently about eight days of evaluation he will undergo at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, next year.

Bert said the tests at the clinic from Jan. 21 to 28 will determine his fitness for an organ transplant. He needs a new kidney since the donated organ transplanted 12 years ago is failing.

“Evaluation first, then I will wait for a kidney from a dead donor since I don’t have a living donor,” reports Bert.

“We thank your prayers and donations that have allowed me to take this important step to regain my health,” Bert told his Facebook friends recently. “I still have something left in the tank… and the desire to spend the fourth quarter of my life in the service of my family and others.”

If you would like to help or get in touch with Bert, his e-mail address is [email protected].

Merry Christmas everyone.