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Manny Pacquiao earned praise as the “greatest fighter that ever lived” after his sensational second round TKO win over Britain’s Ricky Hatton. Video courtesy of Solar Sports.

By Izah Morales

IT was not yet Friday but many have gathered at the Black Nazarene Church in Quiapo not to hear mass. They were there to catch a glimpse of the victorious Manny Pacquiao.

At around 8:00 in the morning, the siren went off in Plaza Miranda as Pacquiao and his entourage arrived.

The once solemn atmosphere in the Church was quickly filled with cheers as Pacquiao entered. People who were seated in the Church silently, stood up. Others even forgot they were inside the Church as they climbed on top of pews to have a better view of the boxing champion. The police took about 30 minutes to settle the rowdy crowd inside the Church.

After priest gave his final blessings, Pacquiao was asked to give a message to the people.
During his message, Pacquiao thanked the people and attributed his success to God. He talked about the criticisms he got from some sportswriters before his bout with Oscar de la Hoya. But he said he did not lose hope as he kept his faith in God.

Pacquiao told the crowd, “Don’t tell God that [you] have a big problem. [B]ut tell your problem [that you] have a big God.”

As he went out of the Church, people brought out their phone cameras and took photographs. They followed him until he got into his land cruiser. One man screamed, “Idol kita, Manny!” as if saying that Pacquiao has always been their champion.

By Jay Paloma

I thought seeing practice sessions during the first two days was exciting enough…to have seen Formula 1 machinery and hearing internal combustion engines at their peak. It was NOTHING compared with the excitement and mayhem at the start of the race.

In practice sessions, no one was actually up against each other…it was every car and team for themselves. One would be lucky enough to have seen 2 to 3 cars on the same place at the same time. But 20 cars passing the same area in a little over than 10 seconds was simply indescribable!

Maybe the medical community should confirm if adrenalin levels in the bloodstream are directly proportional to the decibel levels picked up by the ear.

You wished you were here at the starting line of the F1 Grand Prix race in Singapore? Wish granted, or let’s just say, “Watch this video” that I took.

Here’s Day 1 Practice Session. This is Turn 13, just off Anderson Bridge here in Singapore.

After seeing the F1 map, and noticing that Turn 13 is a tight left turn from a 10-meter wide Anderson Bridge to Esplanade Drive, I knew that the race cars would run slow in this section. The fact that the cars are facing the walkabout area before making that left turn makes it a perfect spot to take pictures and a video.