How to start the week
Under-the-table view of my friends and I at lunch.
We were having lunch at Chateau in Greenbelt when there was a disturbance in The Force.
“Aha!” I said, “Several rugby players are at Bubba Gump. I should say Hi. Who wants to come with me?”
Silence fell over the table.
“Hindi ako handa,” said The Count.
“I’m not ready,” Ernie translated.
“This is more your thing, really,” Bert added.
“What is this world coming to that baklas refuse an introduction to rugby players?” I asked.
“Go, go, we’ll be at Prada.”
From left: Jake Letts (captain), Jon (Jon, not John, not Jhon) Morales, Ken Stern, Rupert Zappia, Andrew Wolff (Two Fs! How hard is it to remember that?), Oliver Saunders (misidentified in the A5N video as Chris Everingham), Chris Hitch, Chris Everingham.
So I went to Bubba Gump by myself. On the way there I realized that I’m in Greenbelt a lot but I’ve never eaten at Bubba Gump in my life. In fact I’ve never even set foot in Bubba Gump. Well I set foot at last and there they were, eight of them. They had that look they always have when I show up, the look of “Eek the librarian is here and I haven’t returned my overdue books and now she’s going to fine me!” Yes, this is how most people react to me.
Jon our sometime columnist who recently figured in a much-publicized training accident (He fractured two teeth. On a teammate’s skull. And a 5cm length of his upper lip was ripped off and had to be sewn back on) which caused him to look like Robert the Bruce’s father in Braveheart had healed nicely. So nicely that it merited this tweet:
Add to that: Read Game of Thrones, likes Wong Kar-Wai, lives in Manila.
I had heard of their Shanghai 7s campaign in which they beat the Asian Top 5 team UAE and the two-time defending champion Korea on the first day, and then lost to Kazakhstan and China on the second day before beating Thailand to end up in 7th place. So they beat the top seed and somehow the top seed still won the tournament, and the team that beat them wound up 7th.
“Jake, universally-adored one,” I said to Captain Lettsy the Younger, “How is it you beat the 1st ranked team and they still landed 1st and you 7th? How did you manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? (This is not disrespect or unfair criticism, it’s called journalism. Yes I know about how they have very little playing time together and how they hoard their vacation time and resources to play for the motherland, that was my spiel.)
Jake squared his impressive shoulders, shook his head and said, “We played badly on Sunday.” Just that, no excuses, accept responsibility and let the heavens fall. That’s a mensch. That is why we love this team, their handlers not so much.
So let me go through my spiel again: We have a terrific bunch of guys playing for the Philippines. We need to support them. We know they’re good-looking, we have eyes. I mean support them as in, For crying out loud pay their airfare when they come to the Philippines to represent us and get them decent quarters and a proper playing field. Give them what they need to get to the World Cup. And please, when you interview them at the airport at 4 am, do your homework. End of spiel.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 30th, 2011 at 14:45
Nice shoes!!! Yours is the black flats with strings?
As my yaya would say,”Luk do we hab hir?”
Oliver Saunders, what are you doing? If I didn’t know better, you’re auditioning for the deaf-mute interpreter in the now-defunct Kapwa ko, Mahal ko.
Oh wait a minute, is that the letters P & V? Gets ko na! LOL!
August 30th, 2011 at 15:52
Isabel Toledo for Payless. Payless na nga, sale pa! She also designed these killer wedges that I snapped up, only to realize my bakla friend had the exact same pair.
Alam mo, may mas madaling hand signal para sa P at V. May biceps nga lang ito.
August 30th, 2011 at 16:07
Winnar ang Payless! Payless-less LOL!
She also designed these killer wedges that I snapped up, only to realize my bakla friend had the exact same pair.>>> Ayyyyy!
Marunong din ako ng hand signal eh hihihi :D Na natutunan ko sa Sesame Street ha :) (best babysitter in the world!)
August 31st, 2011 at 21:50
thank you for this! i’m a silent reader and i kinda miss seeing the boys on your blog. teehee. :)
but mas awaaard the beckys who’d rather go to PRADA!
just an observation: they really like wearing sandos, noh? is it just me or parang medyo off? parang kahit maganda yung katawan ng nagsusuot, it seems unacceptable pa rin sa Pinoy culture makakita ng kilikili sa labas ng gym, basketball court or any other sports field for that matter. hahaha.
August 31st, 2011 at 22:34
tara: Totoo yan. There are more men walking around in tank tops and sleeveless shirts in Manila these days, but it’s still a little off-putting. Not that we don’t admire their tone and musculature, but it’s a cultural thing. In their defense, these are athletes who live elsewhere and it is likely no one has explained it to them. Note that Jon and Andrew are wearing shirts with sleeves: they live here, so they have imbibed the culture.
September 1st, 2011 at 17:00
nanghina tuhod ko sa description ng injury in Jon.