Spain Wins Davis Cup for the Fifth Time

After a long drought for Rafael Nadal, it was quite nice to see him help the Spanish Armada - together with Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Marcel Granollers, and team coach Albert Costa - win the Davis Cup for Spain against Argentina.

Below is the video of him against one of his bffs Pico Monaco on the first day of Davis Cup, which of course he won. It was great to see him play so passionately again...the past matches have been plagued with illness and the likes and I am always gutted to see him so sad. He has admitted though that the next year will be better for him....which the fans are all waiting for.

On the very last match of the very last pro tennis event on the calendar he played against Argentina's del Potro. He was in a position to clinch the win for Spain and he came through. The game was not all win for him as he played at the first game of the match without a win in the service game. It was only when he was down 6-1, 2-0 when he roared back to even the match and then whent down again until he won the fourth-set tiebreaker.

What I noticed again is how gracious Rafa is in defeat as well as in triumph. This is one attitude that I have observed over and over again which I have tried to impart to my son. As his teammates celebrate his win, and therfore the win of Spain, he went to console del Potro and the Aregentina team, even kissing Pico on his cheek. Such a sweet gesture for one of the best tennis players in the world. Wish he could teach that to Nole.

An hour after the victory of Spain, their fifth world team crown, Rafael Nadal announced that he will not be playing in 2012 since it is an Olympic year. He said:

'Next year I will not play. Next year is a very complex year. It's an Olympic year.
'I have been, for many years, one of the players that plays the highest number of games in a year, and I don't want to over play.
'So next year, since it's an Olympic year, my participation in the Davis Cup is impossible.
'Thank God Spain has a good level of players, and there are many good players that will replace us that play really high-level tennis.'

Then we will just see you at the Australian Open next year and hope you get that No 1 slot from Nole again.

A Mom's Thoughts on Sports and a Black-eye

For the first time in 13 years I came home to see my son sporting a shiner. And as much as I wanted to fuss, I couldn't...I wouldn't dare insult my son. Just waited for him to show it to me and tell me what really happened. Oh, I so wanted to rush him, to ask him to give me a blow-by-blow account but I kept my lips sealed. I wanted to kiss it and make it well, but I stopped at just a touch at his cheek while asking if it hurts. His teammate was telling him to make excuses for what happened and he answered with: Why should I? My mom knows I play soccer and she has always said this is part and parcel of the sport . I remember seeing Fernando Torres of Liverpool once sporting a black-eye, too. Well yes so I always say that…he plays basketball and soccer, which are both contact team sports albeit limited-contact - meaning there are rules that specifically prevent intentional or unintentional contact between players and penalties can be incurred when...

Remembering 9/11: The Legacy of Marie Rose Abad

The Americans in the US were not the only ones paying tribute to their loved ones who perished in the different events that made up what we call the tragedy that changed the world, Sept 11. Maybe unbeknownst to many Filipinos, there was one American married to a Filipino who died that day. And her legacy lives on in a once squalid and reeking with garbage slum in Manila turned into an orderly village that bears her name with 50 brightly one-storey colored homes built in her memory by her husband. As the world pays tribute to their fellowmen in the US, residents of Marie Rose Abad GK Village offered roses, balloons, and prayers for their benefactor. According to her Philippine-born American husband Rudy, he had it built in her memory in 2004 as a tribute to their 26 years of marriage and her unfulfilled desire to help the poor in the Philippines. This she saw when they first came here in 1989. After having described to her the Philippines as a paradise, they were appalled to see t...

TEEN AZKALS: The Future of Philippine Football

While all eyes are on the Philippine National Football Team or Philippine AZKALS as they prepare for the next qualifying game against Kuwait, the next generation members of the team called Teen AZKALS will be competing in the ASEAN Football Federation Under-16 Youth Championship 2011 in Vientiane, Laos from July 7 to 21. The Philippine Azkals’ goal to qualify to the FIFA World Cup remains a question, as the long road to World Cup will entail them to compete with several national football teams including Kuwait who has been playing for a long time and is ranked 101 st to Philippines 159 th in the world. The Kuwait has appeared once in World Cup and 8 times in AFC, and has even won the AFC Cup in 1980. Even manager Dan Palami admits “the chances are quite slim but that is all they need to attain victory as long as they train with their heart.” And certainly the Filipinos are rooting for them, but whether they do qualify or not, the Azkals has brought football to the heart...

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