Say chess

Lawyers can’t stop thinking. Even when they drink, that’s when most of them get sharper. I don’t mean you, Mark Garrote, you are brilliant to begin with, sober or with so many beer. But for the weak, they just sleep while others just started to sip. Not you either, Pierre Valfort Salcedo. We’re virtually even. But our age gap tells who is tougher. Not me, I’m younger.

In bed they think more, especially when they share it with another not their spouse, like their kids who boss around. Must be you, Allan Blanco. Or their clingy dog else they mess around. Could be you, Niel Nuñez. Except maybe when they’re in love, that feeling discordant to reason. Even the Supreme Court concedes.

But when they play chess, that mental game of anticipation and stratagem, they move each piece like it was a legal remedy for peace. Calculation. One false move could be fatal to their client’s cause. Must have happened the other week. IBP Cebu chapter veep Mike Hubahib informed me the chapter partnered with the Toledo City Trojans to organize the first online chess tournament. The Lawyer’s Gambit. In the name of the queen. Jason Bandal of Negros Oriental topped a tough field of at least 50 lawyers in the country.

A smart move aimed to de-stress a profession in distress, from the crowned virus to masked killers, not against faceless viral enemy, but to conceal identity for impunity. But wood pushing may not be ideal to spur a lawyer’s sedentary lifestyle. Legal work is largely done sitting down, that’s where preparation is, arguing in court is where the spotlight shines, brighter against the balding, without reference to anybody whose hair is thinning.

I welcome the plan for an online 10-ball billiards competition. Cue artists at least move around the pool table, although it’s more about concentration and precision. Suit up, Karl Barcenas, in tennis you didn’t show up. You bought a racquet on impulse but never got to use. Keeping a racquet while others badly need it is morally revolting. Give it to the ball kids, after I use it. Mine is worn-out, the gut is about to snap. Not from continued use, but from enduring a string of bitter losses.

Maybe other disciplines allowed under the circumstances should also be slowly organized face to face for the inoculated, many lawyers rare to play basketball. But I decline to mention them, lest I omit stellar names. Ejusdem generis is inclusive, but doesn’t always please. Except Marchel Sarno, only because our offices are next to each other. Substantial distinction.

 Lawyers in sports need the arena to unleash their stamina bottled by corona. Ramsey Quijano runs brutal marathon. Ingemar Macarine swims the ocean. Waldemar Gravador cruises the treacherous terrain. And Louie Arma grows his cock. The fowl, not something foul. I’m wholesome, just like Andrew Cavada, or Lionel Castillano. Indulge me pañeros for naming names, rest assured this is far from profiling.