Gina

On February 26, 2006, I joined forces with race director Ron De Los Reyes to stage the Philippine Marathon for the Pasig River. The marathon was a project of former DENR secretary Gina Lopez who recently passed away after a battle with cancer.  The race was the project of the Clean and Green Foundation Inc., also headed by Gina for the rehabilitation of the murky Pasig River. It was a follow up to our Piso Para sa Pasig program also initiated by Gina. The marathon started at Fort Santiago while ending at the Fort in the Global City of Fort Bonifacio.  Gina was responsible for the suspension of mining activities and cleaning of the many dirty rivers in the country.  “Hasta La Vista” Gina, we will miss you.

Stronger

Jeff Bauman wrote the book Stronger, detailing his close encounter with terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev who exploded two bombs at the finish line of 2013 Boston Marathon.  Bauman was at the finish line to wait for his girlfriend Erin Hurley who was running the race on April 15, 2013.  Bauman detailed in his book that he was standing about a foot away from Tsarnaev who was wearing a hooded jacket.  After that brief encounter, Tsarnaev was gone leaving his backpack near Bauman’s foot.  Then there was a loud explosion that knocked him on the ground.  When he looked down, his lower legs were gone.  A famous photograph taken at the scene and his vital role in identifying the bomber from his ICU hospital bed, made him the face of tragedy.  Three people died, Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu and policeman Sean Collier who was shot by the terrorist.  Bauman’s story is now a major motion picture starring Jake Gyllenhaal.  Another movie on the Boston Marathon bombing is Patriot’s Day starring Mark Wahlberg.

Did you know?

SINGING IT RIGHT. In most American sports opening, celebrities or singers are made to sing the “Star Spangled Banner”.  Well, here are some best and worst performances.

Beyonce Knowles - started melodically when she performed at the Super Bowl XLVII, but brought out the full Queen bey power vocals for a big finish.

Marvin Gaye- was backed only by drums at the 1983 NBA All- Star Game.

Carrie Underwood - went Acapella at Sugar Bowl XLIV.

Whitney Houston - amid the 1991 Persian Gulf War, showed the power of singing it right.

Now here are some of the worst performances, Steven Tyler - of Aerosmith forgot the lyrics at the 2012 AFC Championship.  Carl Lewis- was halfway through his performance at the 1993 NBA Finals when he uttered uh-oh.

R. Kelly- did a Reggae version before the Hopkins-Taylor boxing fight in 2005.

Our very own Martin Nievera- missed a line of Lupang Hinirang in a Manny Pacquiao bout.

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ has been hosted by the Rock since 1981.  It was meant to demonstrate that escape from the Alcartaz prison is possible.  It involves an extremely challenging 1.5 mile swim to San Francisco with an 18-mile bike ride and eight-mile run.

Alcatraz prison opened in 1934 and some of its first occupants included Al Capone, George “Machine Gun Kelly” Barnes, James “Whitney Bulger” and Meyer “Mickey” Cohen.  The freezing fast-flowing waters of San Francisco Bay made escaping Alcatraz almost impossible.  However, on June 11, 1962, brothers Clarence and John Anglin and Frank Morris attempted to escape and made it to the water.  A wide manhunt was made and after personal items belonging to Clarence Anglin were recovered from the Bay, investigators concluded that the men had drown.  But the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon has proved that a person could swim from “the Rock” to the San Francisco shoreline. In 1979, Clint Eastwood played Frank Morris  in the movie “Escape From Alcatraz”.  On the other hand, Burt Lancaster played Robert Stroud in “Birdman of Alcatraz”.  Stroud was a high I.Q psychopath, murderer and ex-pimp, who spent 54 of his 73 years behind bars, 42 in solitary confinement. In 2013, I visited Alcatraz on a tour from San Francisco and was shown the prison cells of Capone and the other criminals.

GARY KASPAROV became the youngest chess world champion at 22 when he ended the 10-year reign of Anatoly Karpov in Moscow in 1985.  Kasparov beat Karpov in another three world title matched over the next 4 years.  I had the honor of meeting Kasparov when he came to Manila for the World Chess Olympiad in 1992.  I was then physical conditioning coach of the Philippine team that included GM Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio. By the way, Karpov and I have the same birthday. May 23.  I’m older than Karpov by seven years.  Karpov was born in 1951 while I saw the light in 1948.

NOTES:  Don’t forget to watch Elvisaya on September 5, 2019 at CCTV channel 47.  The show Till the End of Time, hosted by Ate Ging Montesclaros and Sam Costanilla. The show is aired at 10:00pm.