boohoohoo, euro fans

56 laps on a circuit (in)famous for producing wild and wooly races when the monsoons strke. and strike they did today during the sepang malaysian grand prix where brawn gp's jenson button emerged as victor to another unconventional race. of the 56 laps, 33 laps were completed, the race being red-flagged as the torrential rain reduced cars to spinning wheels.

IF the race had started at 14.00 local time, button would have had his full 56 laps and much-needed yahoo victory with the matching fist pumps and fingers jabbing in the air from the cockpit as he does his victory lap.

IF the race had started at a time NOT GEARED for european audiences, the rain would not have come and caused so much havoc.

so what if vettel had intimated that he was hoping for a wet race so that he might make up for his 10-grid penalty?

it happened at albert park in melbourne and it happened again at sepang yesterday. by catering to the european market, both races started later in the afternoon than they usually do so that when the twilight came on, drivers encountered visibility problems. in melbourne, the common complaint was the way the sun, low in the sky at 6 pm in the australian autumn, was filtered by the trees, which made it hard to see the corners. under the forbidding skies of a fickle monsoon malaysian sky, the threat of rain and gathering dusk reduced felipe massa, who was struggling to get into the points, to a screaming wreck. "give me a white visor please! give it to me now! i can't see! i can't see!" his ferrari team replied in befuddled tones, "ok, ok, felipe, we're getting the visor to you. relax."

as i waited for race control to declare a race restart, i kept looking out our living room window at the darkening sky. di na ito puede, i thought apprehensively. mark webber was making the rounds under his aide's umbrella, asking drivers what they thought of the conditions. nakajima, barrichello, and rosberg had gotten out and were slinking around the track railings, reluctant to get back into their car cockpits. those who had opted to stay in their cars like jarno trulli and jenson button did not look too thrilled at the prospect of trying to finish the race on a track filled with puddles. too many things had to be considered apart from poor visibility.

how to heat up the extreme wet tires in these very wet conditions?
how to focus on optimal racing in dismal weather conditions?
how to drive so that the spray of the car in front would not impede one's view of the track?

onto the clay season, m'love

so you lost to juan martin del potro for the first time today in three tight sets. it's ok, rafael, mi rafalito. all i know is that you're sweeping the ground clean in a few weeks! vamos and bring on the clay!

*in photo (courtesy of C-note): rafa in the heat before losing to JMDP

getting ready for spring

here it only moves from hot to hotter days and then not too hot nights. 6 time zones away in my beloved europe, spring has finally arrived.. and in sporting lingo... that means that all hell is about to break loose!

miami's atp/wta tour will end on april 4 and we'll be in the spring claycourt swing of the tennis calendar! french open and wimbledon... my favourite part of the year... no more all-day BBC coverage at SW 19 with all the rain delays... no more all-day France 1 & 2 coverage at roland garros...

formula one revs off with an all-new set of cars and KERS! no more sporza and la une or la deux coverage of qualifying and actual races!

champions league heats up towards the finals! no more in-the-zone watching from 20.45-22.30 of the knockout stages... i remember skipping aikido training just to watch my barca or chelsea slug it out on the pitch...

*if you go to the ATP page, you'll see the world's top 8 in their own version of the golden league :)

why he is my boy

see that beautiful gorgeous smile. a 22 year old boy from an island in the mediterranean, 6 grand slam titles to his name, 13 masters shields, 33 atp titles in all. after winning his first hardcourt grand slam title last january in melbourne, the world didn't notice. not really. everyone was talking about the crybaby that was roger federer and his waning moon in tennis nightdom.

finally, against a gracious red-haired scotsman who owns that swiss crybaby, my rafa got the attention he deserved from fans and media alike.

down-to-earth, hard-working, self-effacing, charming, matter-of-fact, simple, and silly.

rabid roger fans will never know how it feels to rejoice with someone who works so hard to be the best, to celebrate the victory of someone with an unparalleled work ethic, to be happy for someone they snobbishly dismiss as "just a clay court specialist". roger fans can be blind to the virtues of other players, disdainful snobs who might not even know their tennis at all. (i sat in a noisy shanghai stadium of roger-only screaming fans who couldn't even recognise roger's impeccable placement skill in serving --- they were disappointed that his serve speed didn't go upwards of 180 kph --- and they called themselves fans of roger. be fans of the game!)

as for rafa, well, he's for down-to-earth folk. not to mention lascivious, promiscuous, and salivating over the comely sight of biceps and buns.

vamos rafa the king!

*in photo: rafael in the press room with his 13th baccarat master shield, two-time winner of the BNP PARIBAS open in indian wells. next stop: miami! vamonos!

(my son has started his tennis lessons and i've never seen a happier boy on the court. for him and his dreams i would do anything. anything. i will not make him adjust to my schedule nor make him feel he has to fly to the moon and back in order to deserve a chance to be happy.)

amazing rafa

tang'na, ang galing ni rafa. the number one player in the world can't even write or brush his teeth with his left hand... yet it's that very hand that dethroned the gay-king of tennis himself, the mighty roger federer.

mellamo rafa!

magandang simula kaya ito?

i actually did it. went to the arena in san juan, took down notes as the four big teams in college basketball in the philippines, after besting all the other cool basketball universities from all over the country, slugged it out for national glory and a chance to represent the country in the world collegiate basketball championships in serbia in 2009.

yes, i was there! given the awesome privilege of doing what i love most: writing about sports from ringside!!!

like i said, wimbledon, i'll get to see you still one day --- as an accredited journalist!

wait, before i get ahead of myself, let's just hope that i can sustain this and that my editors think i'm worth keeping... so your prayers and best wishes are, of course, most needed and appreciated. you can read about my fledgling efforts HERE

moving on to freer pastures

all entries and comments, intact, but outside of a paid domain… over at Svelte Loves Sport. as with all my blogging ventures, this site will be attired in simple, basic colours until the magic man weaves his wand over the entire place. let’s not cease to believe in the power of miracles! :) expect this site to go down in a day or two… if you’re still around, i hope to see you sniffing around the other place soon!

wait for my first ever sports article on the philippine collegiate championships, or PCC, covered exclusively by inboundpass.com. i haven’t written about basketball ever — and this will be my trial by fire.

who would have thought that the first step towards realising the burning desire to be a sportswriter would begin with — *gulp!* — a gig in basketball writing?

i say, pass the ball, go for the fastbreak and set up the 10-2 run, sveltie baby!

If you love men's tennis... you just might love this!

Guys, I'm selling one ticket for the Year-end Shanghai Masters Cup to be held from November 8-17. I was able to purchase three tickets six months in advance for the dirt cheap price of $500. The price covers 7 days of tennis at the Qi Zhong Stadium in southwestern Shanghai (matches begin at 14.00 every day): that's three days of round robin action and then knock out matches for the semifinals and finals.

Who are playing in this event? Only the TOP EIGHT men's tennis players in the world. Who have qualified already? (the other players are playing tournaments as of this writing in the hope of getting a slot into the event which is two weeks away)

Rafael Nadal (world number 1, he will be given the year-end #1 trophy in Shanghai -- hurray to Rafael fans!), Roger Federer (the Swiss cheese who was #1 from 2004 until a few months ago when Rafa overtook him), Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Andy Murray of Scotland, Nikolay Davydenko.

Who else might take the remaining three slots and two alternate spots? Andy Roddick of the USA, David Ferrer of Spain, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, James Blake of the USA, and maybe the ever so cute Gilles Simon of France.

If you're interested, email me at svelterogue@gmail.com. If you're in the Philippines, send me an SMS: +63915/983.36.31.

Pass the word to others!

such arrogance!

if it isn't the  english language requirement (that is due to be scrapped nyahaha), it's some lame-assed punk who thinks he can drive better than a current world champion.

in both cases, it's BOO! all the way!

check out the links above for more.

*in photo (courtesy of itv-f1): kimi raikkonen of ferrari, current world champion.

all good things come to an end... almost

after what has been an incredible season thus far, the world number 1 can finally go home to mallorca and rest.  you would think he would celebrate snaring two slams and the olympic gold but wait... davis cup semifinals of spain against the united states is two weeks away.  

so take advantage of this time to rest, my beautiful rafa.  you have made me and all your other fans very happy so far in 2008.  when i go to shanghai this november, promise me you'll be the one receiving that cake with the #1 on it, ok?

time to rest now, rafa.  you are human, after all.