of World Cup and other balls^^

I was never an athletic person.. i just want to watch on the sidelines... but while growing up i had many "manly" influences in life...and at home,whenever there are ball games or sports event on tv, both my father and brother would take total control of our tv set... since my mother doesnt care about those things, the vote wins in their favor... so i have no choice but to join them...i would watch everything from basketball to boxing to wrestling... thus i believe in the saying that love can be develop..hehehe..hence i developed a love for any thing "sporty"... but i wouldnt dare play any ball games..uh..uh..not me!...i can scream to my heart's delight sans the perspiration...i think i did play baseball when we were in elementary.. well, in high school we had volleyball as our P.E. subject...gosh, i hated it... i was so afraid whenever the ball flew into my direction.. i would scamper away before it lands in my post... i dont know why i behaved that way.. i dont want to be scratched and i think it is too heavy for me to handle... there was even a time that i was walking down the field in school and my male classmates were playing basketball when suddenly the wind blew and up went my skirt.. after that, i realized that my classmates lost grip of the ball and it went hiding underneath my skirt.. it was so embarrassing because it was PE time and all the students gazed at my direction.. maybe this was another reason why i dont like to play any ball games.. however, i came to love basketball- as a fan!!..and i think filipinos are a sucker for basketball... just like this past few weeks when all the world is all agog over the World Cup in South Africa.. but most filipinos stayed focused on the NBA championship... Lakers vs. Celtics... i still remember this NBA fever back home.. my brother would be so into it.. if we couldnt get a live feed on tv, he would listen to the annotations over the radio..there was a time when i became a fanatic of one basketball team.. I was an Alaska fan... I so adored Johnny Abarrientos.. small but terrible Johnny...and when they were in the championship, i would include them in my prayers to win the championship.. i had even sacrificed a hefty saving just to watch them play in Iloilo and i didnt mind being absent from duty even if it meant 24 hours of extension just to see Johnny "the flying A"...but unluckily he wasnt able to play in that provincial tour because of some last minute health problem.. but I saw Danny Siegle.. another favorite and my brother's favorite..all of these things came cascading my mind as I was watching World Cup this week.. I wasnt aware of what World Cup is until I worked in the agency-nope, not the CIA^^...whenever we have students, they would pick English names for "easy communication".. some names are just common English names which became repetitive at some times..jennifer 1..jennifer 2..jennifer 3...just to distinguish one from another..however, male students would pick names like Raul...Zidane..Rooney...Gerrard...Steven... whenever you ask them, why they chose those names, they would give me quizzical look as if I were playing dummy... they would answer back and say, don't you know soccer?? Real Madrid? Manchester United?..and I would just give them a blank stare...duh!... so to make a counter-attack, I would say, how about basketball? don't you know about basketball? but they will just reply, basketball is not a popular sport in Korea.. I didnt know that those names they have chosen are "power house" names in football.. "stars all around me"... so most Koreans have a penchant for football.. they love it..they live it...their answers gave me a feeling of dismay just like when the Philippines lost to South Korea in 2002 Asian Games in Busan... boy! we were so close in our goal to play for gold with China.. only half a minute left for that matter..we were 2 points ahead of the South Koreans...Rah rah Racela was dribbling the ball hoping to keep it up until the buzzer sounds but he was "intercepted" by that ever-valiant Lee Sang Min..he got hold of the ball with only a few seconds left...threw it in mid-air (in the middle of the court) until the ball hops perfectly into the basket giving them a buzzer beater 3 point shot..korea won by half shot.. it was a great disappointment to all expectant Filipinos... which left tears not just to Olsen Racela's eyes but many to kababayans.. it was a very sad moment for everyone.. I still remember it vividly.. then all of us were put to hush.. from that time on, I seemed to have lost heart as well.. a few years after that, a new word came into my ear- football... then I remember a cousin of ours who played for CPU football team.. I was still in elementary when they competed outside of the country under his university's team... my aunt even gave us a souvenir from Thailand because he went there to play football.. when I was also in UP, football is a great part of our sports fest... my hunkable classmates would proudly carry their uniforms and shoes to the football field and played with all their heart..but as ive said, i was never physically involved in any ball games.. sports fest is a good excuse to roam around the city and go home... then i heard about the great "Tamasak" team from Barotac Nuevo.. a schoolmate in UP who is from that town was very proud to share stories about his Tamasak team... as the years have gone by, i wonder whatever happened to the CPU football team and the "legendary" Tamasak team from Barotac Nuevo... can't we bring them back to life?? watching all these teams in the World Cup is very interesting...with their supporters don in their creative costumes.. i was watching the game between North Korea and Uruguay early this week and the North Korean team captain was crying uncontrollably when they were singing their national anthem... today the algerian coach was a bit misty-eyed while singing theirs.. how about if there is Philippine Football team as well? wouldnt we be proud to sing our national anthem in front of the world?? I know all of us are proud to sing our national anthem in every manny pacquiao fights... and manny has proven himself that he is no little brown man from the Philippines.. People here are curious about our sport. I would often say we love basketball although we are "vertically challenged."... We want to believe that "We can do it!" just like the shoe commercial... but how about if we develop our skill for football.. this game doesnt need height..it needs speed, endurance, strength and a degree of intelligence and we certainly have those as proven by manny in boxing... i still remember when the late President Marcos was in attendance to watch Rolando Navarrete's fight in Hawaii and the Bad Boy from Dadiangas won the fight.... in the stands today, princes William and Harry watched the game between England and Algeria.. and there are only 3 teams representing Asia in this world cup- North Korea, South Korea and Japan... Japan is ranked 80th+ in world standing... but they stood tall against Cameroon... I think it is time for us to take part not just in football but also other games like tennis and golf and cheer our own players and team... it will be our honor and pride if we can carve out our niche in these games. Let's pave the way for somebody greater than Pele, Nadal and Tiger Woods... If Manny has successfully toppled those big and mighty (even if some played "dirty tricks") men from the West, for sure we can do the same in these fields, too. There is still plenty of room left and we have the 'balls' for it!! Go Pinoy! Go, go Pinoy!!