Smelling ink again

A year ago I was thinking of going back to my first love—sportswriting. On a regular basis that is.
It did not happen.
Only two weeks ago, I was vacationing elsewhere in Southeast Asia and had no inkling about returning to active sportswriting. But while on holiday, I went to several sports facilities and in fact did some workouts. I also went to some interesting motoring spots and activities. Little did I know that these were some sort of signs that I am being led back to my first love.
This issue of Edge marks the beginning of my return to active sportswriting. Add the motoring page that comes out weekly in this paper and that completes my comeback. Edge, your business paper, is now going daily as it throws itself into the active race for a share of Davao’s reading audience.
With my new home here at Edge, join me in this new journey to chronicle sports in Davao and the rest of the world.
Making this comeback more meaningful is my return to my original column name “Hang Time” which carried my opinions way back in the early 90s since my days with the Daily San Pedro Express and the Mindanao Daily Mirror.
Hang Time was known to be both an entertaining and hard-hitting sports column in the past and my pen bleeds to bring me back to that groove. Hang Time was the same column which gave me my first taste of a libel case along with no less than the publisher of Edge, Sir Tony Ajero (then with Sunstar). History would later bail us out of the obvious media harassment.
This comeback also reunites me with another sportswriting pillar, Moses Billacura, who also writes for Edge while enjoying his time with wife Marj in Canada. And then of course, there is the grandfather of Davao sportswriting Daddy Ram Maxey who is also with this paper.
It may take some time to shake off the rust but my creative juices are already rushing to get this machine roaring down the road.
For now, let me greet Davao’s sports community with Michael Buffer’s new introduction line.
Let’s get this party started!
(For your comments, email Hang Time at bravoneil@rocketmail.com)