From an outsider’s perspective

Jaemark Tordecilla has always been one of the most outspoken sports writers today. His ranting sessions and tirades online have either fetched praises from his fans, or earned flak from his critics.

His web log, firequinito.com, continues to make waves among the sports-loving guys in the dot.com community and was awarded in 2009 as Best Sports Blog of the Year by the Philippine Blog Awards. His posts, from basketball updates to Pacquiao stories, from haranguing of sports officials to celebrity-twitter-stalking, often started discussions among the blogosphere which, according to him, has been one of the reasons why he writes in the internet.

“My favorite part about writing, especially on the web, is the kind of discussion that my work is able to start. It’s always great when people start a stimulating conversation based on stuff I had written,” said the University of the Philippines Technology Management graduate.

 The self-confessed fan of gazillion of sports writers especially Inquirer’s Francis Ochoa, believes that In The Huddle is a good venue to produce tomorrow’s best sports writers. “Hopefully more than a handful of good writers will come out of these seminars.”

Tordecilla, currently working for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, quipped that his desire for encounters and conversations with sports stars and fans alike, has been his motivation to follow his dream of writing sports. As an advice to young and aspiring writers, he encouraged everyone to write despite being against the odds.

“Keep writing. Write even when no one’s paying you, even when no one’s reading you, even when no one thinks you’re good enough.”

He will be one of the speakers who will share their specialties in Adventurer In The Huddle 2010 National Sports Writing Congress this November and he has this to share to our participants: “[ITH] is going to be fun. I’ve been writing about sports from an outsider’s perspective, which allows me to be more irreverent, and hopefully that will translate to my talk. Also, I’ll try to work in jokes about Val Sotto.” ###