QUINITO HENSON ADMITS POSSIBLE ERROR IN JUDGMENT

Steve Bunce taking potshots against U.S. boxing id...commentators. No butt-kissing here.

Joaquin "Quinito" Henson is one of the best and most objective sports writers in the country. He also happens to be one of the most courageous. He took on the establishment recently when he lashed out on the Philippine National Youth Coach (for what he calls treason) for leaving his wards while a tournament was on-going. Other so-called sports writers kept quiet fearing backlash, preferring instead to dish out propaganda and taking on the "government". In this country, nobody defends government actions in sports anyway. My respect for Henson grew even more (for I already admired him when I was young). I remembered when he defended Manny from outrageous attacks from crabs and jealous people putting Pacquiao down after the boxer's close win against Marquez. It was a classic rebuttal.

Now, he is in the limelight again for calling someone to task. He is a relief from too much butt-kissing in sports media today.

What La Salle is all about

Today, he admitted his error on calling the coach's action as "treason".

Perhaps, it was also an error in my judgment to call Pumaren’s departure from Tehran an act of treason. Pumaren and I go back a long way and I’ve never known him to be unpatriotic. I hope Pumaren and the La Sallian community accept my admission.

He also regretted to being the cause for dividing his community:

I regret being a cause of dissension within the La Sallian community but as a writer, there are obligations I must honor, sometimes at the risk of creating enmity. I only hope that I am more understood and less chastised for taking positions which may appear to be contrary to my school’s interests.

In fact, I am most proud when trying to discern what is right and what is wrong, beyond school partisan interests, because that is something I attribute to my La Sallian education as a Christian gentleman.

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La Salle is a school that "endeavors to develop Christian men and women who are committed to excellence, competent in their professions, and actively involved in the service of the fellow men towards a more peaceful, just and humane Filipino society"

Henson was just doing what he was taught in school. Funny, he turned out to be the real La Sallian.

Why is there a dissension? If we are on the same wavelength, there wouldn't be any. If we all believe the country's the top priority and others are only secondary - there should not be any dissension at all.

THIS JUAN'S FOR YOU

“One morning, a sightless bunny hopped down the trail -- and tripped over a large snake. He landed right on the snake’s twitching nose.”
“Sorry. Please excuse me,' said the bunny. 'I didn't mean to trip over you. But I'm blind and can't see.'
'That's perfectly all right,' replied the snake. 'To be sure, it was my fault. I didn't mean to trip you. But I'm blind too. And I didn't see you coming. By the way, what kind of animal are you?'
'Well, I really don't know,' said the rabbit. 'I've been blind since birth and I've never seen myself. Maybe you could examine me and find out.'
So the snake felt the rabbit all over and said: 'Well, you're soft, cuddly, and have long silky ears, with a fluffy tail and a twitchy nose. You must be a rabbit!'
'I can't thank you enough,” the rabbit replied. But by the way, what kind of animal are you?' The snake replied that he didn't know either. So, the bunny agreed to examine him and when he bunny finished, the snake asked: 'Well, what kind of an animal am I?'
The bunny replied: 'You're cold, you're slippery, and you haven't got any balls....You must be a politician.” For Full Story

Bwahaha...How true. That's Juan Mercado for you - his articles are always full of anecdotes, jokes, sometimes statistics and witty remarks. Besides, he covers stories other journalists find unsexy. He examines issues that are not fully covered by the dominant media like the shrinking Filipino kids and the rising crib deaths - in other countries these news items would be top stories. Sometimes I wonder why he is the only one who usually point these things out -what on earth are other commentators focusing on.

SPELLBOUND

There are few writers who can capture my attention, hold and retain it forever. Some like the late Max Soliven and Teddy Benigno were my idols. The problem I had with Benigno was I had to consult a dictionary after reading every sentence for he tended to use words I never even knew existed! While Max Soliven has historical anecdotes not found in most history books, I missed that.

Presently, these are the writers I admire. First, Dave Barry (“If you leave this website I will kill this defenseless toilet”) a humorist and his articles always crack me up. Personally, I wouldn’t call him one if he failed to amuse me (never happened)! He finds humor even in the most simple of things like calling a technology specialist or explaining the latest technology. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner and delivers commentary “from the international economy to exploding toilets”. Second, Bo Sanchez, his stories and the insights you will get from it are priceless. Bo’s write up is riveting and funny, and makes you want to read more. Lastly, Pastor Chuck Swindoll is another writer I greatly admire. He has the great ability to capture your attention and can hold it for thirty minutes a night (and even weeks esp. if the topic is about a great man in the Bible – like St. Paul). His use of dramatic language can stir one’s emotions (reminiscent of Martin Luther King). Pastor Swindoll’s biblical expositions are spellbinding and enriching. The Pastor always attaches an appropriate joke in his sermons – though funny the lessons are unmistakably clear. Despite writing it in the first place, he himself can’t help but crack up together with his audience – I just love that! His jokes are really funny and I want to share it but it is not available right now. He once said he loves humor. I love humor too but for the life of me I realize most of my posts are anything but funny (this was written on May 9, 2008 and I’m publishing it now). The every first blog posts that I ever made were funny (at least to me in my first blog not this one) along the way I somehow lost that attitude. I’m trying to recover the carefree writing style. I want to convey my personality accurately to my readers.

Boy, have you felt something like that before? Being mesmerized by someone through his speech or writing, it is akin to being in another world. I have and these three great persons are the masters of it. I like their writing style and at the moment I’m developing my own for I want my writing style to be first-rate representation of my self and not a second-hand version of somebody else’s. But I really want to emulate and hone is their ability to spellbound people with their writing. I think I haven’t reached that level yet.

I think it was John Cleese (Monty Python – never watched it - sick British humor. A BBC comedienne once said “What are you going to do with your dirty cutlery? Give it to the Filipino of course.” YEAH, YOUR QUEEN IS AN OLD HAG!) said he’d rather be a good comedian than a good lover. I prefer both 49% funny 51% lover. I’m a Filipino and we are passionate people! Need proof? The 2% population growth rate last year…take that! I’m doing myself a great service by writing funny stuff (at least to me). After all, life is too short to get pissed all the time. I’m doing my internal organs a favor too as anger is like slow suicide. (Addition- today: for example this upcoming election, a politician is happily doing the fandango while some political observers are getting pissed. Since the politician enjoyed what he is doing that’s a plus for him while the observers get minuses for straining their organs due to anger. If this happens when I’m around I’ll say – Go Manny! Go Manny! Try Superman by Soulja Boy it is a sure way to crack some bones…I mean appeal to youth vote! See? I’m such a nice guy.)

Humor is important as this is the thing that could keep my siblings interested in my blog. Right sibs? Please nod your heads. Thanks.

I have a classic article courtesy of Dave Barry - his own commencement address to class of 200? Enjoy!

This is your big day-the day when you jam four years' worth of unlaundered underwear into a Hefty bag and leave college, prepared by your professors to go out into the Real World. The first thing you'll notice is that your professors are not going out there with you. They're not stupid; that's why they're professors. They've figured out that college is a carefree place where the most serious real problem is finding a legal parking space. So your professors are going to stay in college until they die. Even then, they'll go right on teaching classes.

This is called ''tenure.'' But you, the members of the Class of 200?, have committed the grave tactical blunder of acquiring enough credits to graduate. So now you're leaving college and embarking upon the greatest adventure -- and the biggest challenge -- of your young lives: moving back in with your parents. For full article