By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

IT was Super Bowl mania yesterday at various restaurants, offices and homes. I was with three lady friends, Dette, Mikmik and Teng, who won twice during a friendly betting with friends at Kramer’s. The betting was just to feel the excitement. The place was packed with familiar faces, mostly American and Palauan fanatics and friends, who obviously personally declared no office day yesterday. With $10 bucks to spend on "eat all you can" and free t-shirts or cap, our few minutes of watching not the games but the presence of the fans there were really enough to join the fun.
Just as the first quarter ended, someone informed us that President Remengesau made his presence felt at Drop Off, where we had taken photos of owner Shallum Etpison earlier.
Our informant, Ubei of the EQPB, met us with excitement as we arrived at Drop Off.
We asked President Remengesau which team he was rooting for and he said "I am for the winner." "Actually," he said, "I am for the Chicago Bears but as you can see, they’re now losing the game."
As it turned out, the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl XLI via a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears.
Our presence at different locations yesterday was not accidental but numerous calls from individuals compelled us to visit the designated "BUD BOWL areas" just to cover the ongoing live telecast.
To complete our rounds, we peeped at Dichems Café of Sen. Mlib Tmetuchl and saw some familiar faces there including Sen. Alfonso Diaz.
Yesterday’s Super Bowl mania proved one thing. That football is the number one sport In the United States and not basketball or baseball. The Americans have been beaten badly in the Olympics and World Championships in basketball and baseball in recent staging of the two famous competitions. But how come, that American style football (to differentiate from football of Europe or known as soccer) has not been played in the Olympics? Or how come it is not as popular as soccer in Europe, Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa?
But that’s not important anymore. What came into our mind while watching the game was about our own favorite sport of billiard.
In fact, we have been competing in a friendly tournament at the Q-Ball. Recently, we were approached for help our friend Marlon Sayson to help him organized tournaments in Palau. We have not talked yet about some personal plans, but at one time in our dreams, we plan to invite the world’s best billiard player, Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes here in Palau someday. That’s just a plan but we thought it is realistic. As a sportswriter for the last 18 years, we have been covering international billiards events back home in the Philippines, including that of the Reyes, Django Bustamante, Amang Parica, Johnny Archer, Fong Fang Chao of Taiwan and other greats from the US and Europe.
If it will work out, and we think it might, "the Magician" would be doing a trick shot show as well as playing a friendly game against the President of Palau.
Isn’t that a great one for all of us if only to make the Philippine-Palau relations stronger? Besides, we Filipinos are not just known for being contract workers, or domestic helpers but also world champions in sports too.