"Trash Talking" - A Technical Foul?

Sometime last week, Macmac Cardona of Talk & Text PBA basketball team was very much in the news for his alleged “trash talking” which the other team (Alaska) was very much vocal in their accusation. According to Alaska, Cardona should be slapped with a technical foul and repetition of such action warrants removal from the game. I hope my version of “trash talking” will not put me on a similar situation.

Today, 16Feb09, I wanted to start my regular morning session at the Ultra earlier than the usual as I have a Manila/Iloilo/Manila travel for the day. I arrived Ultra at 4:30am and was shocked in the condition that I saw the Ultra was at the said time.




My trash talk is not how filthy and littered was the oval (although it was really on such a condition). I have full confidence that within the day whatever trash and litters will be eventually cleaned and by mid-day the oval will be back to its usual cleanliness.

However, what really touched me today was the amount of PLASTIC and STYROPHOME the littered trash consisted of. On a conservative estimate, I would say 90% of the litters are plastics and Styrophome. I am not a radical environmentalist of any kind as I am just an ordinary John as any. However, just to think that this scenario is being replicated all over the country at every kind of big gatherings, I fear to wonder how much volume we contribute to our environmental pollution. We would long have been gone in this life but these Plastics and Styrophome will still be around somewhere, somehow, and definitely for quite a time.




As runners and health enthusiasts we all are, let us do our own fair share in minimizing if not totally refraining from the usage of such pollutants. To event organizers and sports complex administrator, maybe just maybe, you could require the usage of degradable materials as a condition in leasing out your sports complex or planning an event.

This “trash talking” is my way of reminding all of us that we have a SOCIAL OBLIGATION and RESPONSIBILITY to our community. I hope it does not earn me a technical foul.