After that piece about me playing badminton again early last week, here’s another sporty-related rant.I believe I’m starting to become a sports buff.
Not a hardcore sports enthusiast but just one who has started to like watching a lot of sports events, most especially the major sports events.
Now, for a 210-pound man who considers eating and reading books as sports, being a sports buff is the least I think I would become. However, because of work, I am slowly turning into one. Here are some signals that I am slowly but surely evolving into a sports buff:
• I’ve memorized the cable channel frequencies for Star Sports, Sports Plus, ESPN, Prime Channel, and the Japanese Sports Channel. If we had SkyCable, I would’ve also memorized the Solar Sports channel (we have Global-Destiny installed at home). And yes, if you count WWE as a sport, then you also add to the list Jack TV.
• I’ve very much tuned into Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year. Although I wasn’t that hooked yet to tennis early this year, I did catch the finals of the Australian Open. Of course, it helps that tennis features the likes of Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova, and Nicole Vaidisova.
• First thing I do when I get into the office is surf the internet for sports news. No CNN, no CBS or even the local news portal INQ7 … it’s Yahoo Sports, ESPN, BBC-Sports, CBS-Sports and whatever official sports site I’m currently covering (most recently it’s been the World Cup site and Wimbledon) that gets projected onscreen in my first 60 minutes or so.
• When I was younger, the only sports I watched was basketball and I am referring to just the PBA. Nowadays, aside from basketball (PBA and NBA), I also like to keep track of tennis (as mentioned earlier), NASCAR, American football, Formula 1 racing, football (yes, the one others called soccer), baseball, boxing, billiards, and would you believe it – horseracing!• I’m a regular in Philippine sports forums. In fact, over at Grabeh.com, I’m starting to become the regular sports jock there. Imagine that, a nerd for a jock?! What a shock!
• My colleague over at the sports gaming company I work for thinks I’m an expert in sports. He regularly consults me if a particular sport is popular here in the Philippines before he decides to opens betting odds for it in our sportsbook.
• During the conference finals and Championship games of the recent NBA season, I regularly followed the action online using the Yahoo Game Channel.
Like I’ve said earlier, this absolutely fascinating phenomenon was brought about by work. Ever since my days with PJ Lhuillier, my work has always exposed me to sports. My boss in Lhuillier was a sportsman himself so it was no coincidence that the company always sponsored sporting events. It even had its own basketball team once and also once had naming rights to the national basketball team. During my stay with the Lhuillier group, we organized a tennis tournament and got to rub elbows with Philippine tennis’s greats like Johnny Arcilla and former Davis Cupper Jun Toledo.
After 6 years at Lhuillier, I got involved with the company marketing one of the world’s most popular sports betting online companies. Regular newsletter meant continuous sports-related info so the more exposure I got to sports. That was where I got introduced to NASCAR and into horseracing.
Currently, my work still revolves around sports and promoting sports gaming. As the lead marketer for all online events, I have to be in-touch with whatever sports is happening.
So, it’s a no-brainer why I’ve developed this appetite for sports. Maybe when I find myself in a completely different industry, this appetite will wane but I believe never fade.
Hmmm, I wonder what’s showing on Star Sports tonight?
