LA Tenorio: Small wonder
By Jasmine W. Payo
He knows how a single game can turn a life around. LA Tenorio, unquestionably one of the country’s best point guards, had that game way back in sixth grade.
He knows how a single game can turn a life around. LA Tenorio, unquestionably one of the country’s best point guards, had that game way back in sixth grade.
He was driving on the streets of Makati when he got the big news. At first, it didn’t sink in. So when Ignatius Michael “Mickey” Ingles got the first of incessant media calls, he didn’t sound as ecstatic as a bar topnotcher should be.
The powerful spikes used to echo in the gym. It’s a sound he remembers well, says coach Ramil de Jesus of this season’s champions, the La Salle women’s volleyball team. On many occasions, he had to deal with the loneliness of a quiet court.
When Calvin Abueva signed up for the rookie draft, he listed his height as 6’4”. Turns out-after an official measurement-he actually stands just 6’1½”.
His anxiety stems from three things. Bo Perasol, the new coach of the Ateneo men’s basketball team, admits to this as school officials introduce him before a small gathering of past and present players, alumni and supporters.
The numbers have nothing to do with game statistics. Yet Kiefer Ravena sits hunched over the breakfast table, running his finger down the figures on the newspaper.
The coach sounds a bit gushy when describing Anna Clarice Patrimonio. Yet he strongly thinks it’s not hyperbolic to say that Clarice could be the best player that Philippine women’s tennis has seen in decades.
A LOCAL sportswriter recounts how Olsen Racela once called his attention to a story he had written.
There was nothing basically wrong with the story – the diligent reporter had all his facts right. But there was one tidbit that the premier point guard wanted settled: “Kailangan pa ba talaga ilagay ’yun? (Did you really have to put that in?)”
