Making wishes

Well, we made it to 2009. Happy New Year to everyone lucky enough to be alive today, especially since we didn’t ask to be born. Yes, that’s you.

Last week I listed my New Year’s Resolutions which are basically the same every year. In contrast, my New Year’s wishes are from left field, rookie ideas if you will, as this is a whole new ballgame we’re playing now with new rules coming, thanks or no thanks, from the turf of the Washington Nationals. Keeping with New Age semantics, it’s a new paradigm, baby.

Consequently, my number one wish for local sports is for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to adopt a Russia-China visa waiver program for the CNMI, followed by wish 1A which is continuation of the transient worker program with preference given to workers already here.

Say what?

That’s right, sports fans. The vitality of local sports is dependent on 1) people and 2) resources. Not only have we seen a significant exodus of our top athletes who seek better economic opportunities elsewhere, a drop in business revenue results in a) less sponsorship for teams and b) less funds for maintenance of facilities. Big Kudos to all you who sponsor sports teams; double kudos for youth sports.

As people in the CNMI know all too well, from the boom days of the early ’90s to these times of bust, an island’s economy comes in a box labeled, “FRAGILE.” Oops, we dropped it. Score that an error on us.

I wish I had a magic wand. You know what I would do (among other things)? I’d wave it over Ada Gymnasium and transform it into the facility that will pass Oceania basketball requirements so it can host the highest level basketball ever played in Micronesia. Saipan secured the rights on the condition it meet basic facility requirements. The heavily used Ada Gym just hasn’t had the money to be maintained as it should since it was spruced up nicely in June, 2006 for the Micronesian Games.

I wish Saipan becomes the spring training home for Korea’s professional baseball teams. Like a field of dreams, build it and they will come … that is, if the won is strong enough.

I wish Saipan baseball players would win college scholarships. I wish Saipan has its first professional baseball player (that’s been on my wish list for many years and most likely will remain a fixture on future lists too).

For our young, talented mixed martial arts fighters, I wish at least one of them ascends to the UFC or succeeds internationally.

Most wishes are for something new or different. I have a wish for something I hope doesn’t change: the vibrancy of a small core of organizers who keep sports going strong on Saipan for everyone else to enjoy. You know who they are if you’re a player or parent.

Someone smarter than me once said, “Health is everything. Without it, you are nothing.” With that comes my final wish which goes out to everyone, “Healthy New Year!”

And good riddance to 2008. Glad to see you go.