This is a start of a year-end kwentuhan about my experiences doing
sporting events. It may be as pointless as hell but there is some joy in
looking back in all the things that you have done after all of it was over.
Specially in my case, where as early as the third week of October, I saw my
November calendar slowly piling up, leaving no blank days in it. Then as I look
at that calendar, gigs are slowly piling up in that October without me noticing
it. Just kept on gigging (lack of a better term). Then November came. And the
next thing I know, it was already December 21. I honestly thought it was just
December 1 after Game 1 of the PSL Finals. But time flew fast, and here I am…
finally had the time to write, thus the long introduction.
The year started with one regular gig under my belt, which was the PBA
D-League CA duties. It was all I had back then so I really had all the time in
the world. That wide open schedule enabled me to say yes to call the very first
pair of PSL matches that year as CA. It was pretty awesome because I was the
guy who called the MJ Perez championship point (my most favorite call so far in
volleyball) the year prior, and I will be the guy to open the hostilities for
the PSL this year. Ako ang nagsara, ako ang magbubukas! Winner!
If I am not mistaken, I was made aware of the PSL schedule three days
prior. So my brain is fixed to do just that on that day (it was a Saturday for
sure), until Friday…
A fellow CA (can’t really remember, but I’m 80% certain it was Richard
Tampos) who called and asked me to do the FEU-UST UAAP Juniors basketball game
on Saturday morning. Normally I would say no because he already mentioned
Saturday and Saturday is already blocked because I will do PSL that afternoon…
Wait? Saturday morning?
The venue was at the Blue Eagle Gymnasium (otherwise known as Gold
Eagle Gymnasium). One C5 drive away from Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig, where
the PSL opening day games will be held. This was too good to be true!
I’ll take it!!!
So I called my very first UAAP game that morning. Prayed that it will
finish on time so that I can run smoothly towards my next gig that afternoon
which was a volleyball game, which it did… nakakain pa ako ng lunch sa BEG. The
travel to YSA was a breeze, perhaps a miracle that there was no traffic on C5
Southbound that time of the weekend. And there, I was able to call the first
PSL match that year – a match that involved teams not named Petron or F2.
It was a pretty fantastic day to me. My very first legitimate
experience of “tuhog”.
It is jumping from one gig to another on the same day. A lot of people
in the sports industry do that: table officials, fellow CAs, sportscasters,
production people, executives. It is a testament that one can do a lot of other
stuff within the day.
This is not different from people who do something else other than
their day stuff. This is not different from a student who also works as a call
center agent, an office employee who offers insurance policies on the side, or
a restaurant owner who also runs a laundry business. We might as well include
people who do normal daily work and at the same time involved in certain
cause-oriented groups who do volunteer work for the society. More than the need
to earn, it is the passion of the individual is the main drive for one to do
tuhog.
Speaking of passion, while I was writing this blog entry, I got dragged
in an event I am not supposed to be in to do a VO introduction for the host of
that event. It was a total interruption of my hiatus in holding the microphone,
but I really can’t stay away from it… and it is because of passion. More on
that kwento on the upcoming posts.
Going back, I am just blessed that not only I was able to do tuhog from
teaching to sports, but also got to experience tuhog in sports. Jumped from BEG
to YSA – from basketball to volleyball; ran from Filoil (San Juan Arena) to
Valenzuela – from one basketball to another; teleported from YSA to Philsports
Arena – from volleyball to basketball related stuff. God knows what kind of
tuhog I will do next year, but I can be sure that I am ready and looking
forward to it. Like I said, more than the need to earn, it is passion.
One last thing about tuhog… there are variations of this thing. What I experience
this year was the “three-hog” and the “four-hog”. Some of the NCAA guys do a “six-hog”
(if that exists) on Fridays when the basketball season was on-going. Perhaps a
more appropriate term for it is “pakyaw” or “poste”. Poste is one who is on
duty on all the games of the league, be it on the same day or on the entire
duration of the league.
Three-hog and four-hog was the trend in the PSL this latter part of the
year. Three-hog was usual because it is very uneconomical to do the usual two
games and give the other guy the lone game. On quadruple-headers, we usually
divide it to two each game. However, guys would be unavailable on dates,
forcing one to do four-hogs. It is very difficult to do four-hogs, especially
if all four games went to overtime or five sets.
Be it may tuhog, three-hog, four-hog, or poste, or any other terms
people use, as long as one does it in the name of passion, nothing is
difficult. Push lang. If you got tired at the end of the day, that’s a good
indication that you gave your best.
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Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram: @sportscastengr
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