Column -- Triple G and the missing sportswriter
By Homer D. Sayson
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 25 Nov 2019
CHICAGO -- When Boss Dong Secuya decided to green light my request to attach an NBA page to his world-famous PhilBoxing.com website back in April 2011, Nicholai Rhiz Roska was the first writer I recruited to join our stable.
Nick, a Los Angeles denizen by way of Capitol, Cebu City, covered the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA teams that visited Staples Center.
A U.P. High alum with a soaring flair for words, Nick eventually spread his literary wings and flew joyfully onward to NBA.com Philippines and SPIN.ph as a contributor, two equally reputable sites where I also happened to serve separately as U.S. editor.
Nearly two years ago though, after covering the 2018 NBA All-Star Game in his L.A. backyard, Nick mysteriously disappeared, never again to surface at Staples Center or any NBA arena near you.
As it turned out, Nick was leading a double life.
Outside of the playing field, he was actually a registered nurse. Happily married to Kathleen Maye and doting father to their little princess --- Katareena Roska.
More family time beckoned, so Nick had to reluctantly surrender his NBA credentials. Nick is also pursuing a lifelong dream of being a pilot and is close to getting his license.
From sports scribe to wearing scrubs to being captain of the skies.
Life is beautiful.
Early today, though, with some disposable time on his hands on a gorgeous Sunday morning in the city of angels, Nick meandered over to the MG Studio downtown for a Manchester United event.
A lifelong soccer fan who had worshiped at the altar of Man U since 1995, Nick went to the venue with the urgency of a bank robber being chased by the wailing sirens of three police cars.
Once he got to the shindig, he met a fellow diehard, who happens to be one of the greatest boxers who ever lived, the three most dangerous letters in boxing.
G.G.G.
Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin.
Triple G.
"He was exceedingly nice. As welcoming as our parish priest," Ncik told PhilBoxing.com.
Trip G (R) poses with former Philboxing writer Nick Roska.
As if his Sunday couldn't get any better, the event served free unlimited adult beverages to go along with carne asada, tacos, fish and chips.
Unfortunately, Nick is a disciplined vegetarian who is partial to quinoa and leaves, and has renounced all things alcoholic.
Even without the booze and the wretched excess of fried treats, though, Nick Roska, a once upon a time sportswriter, had a Sunday to remember.
EDITOR's NOTE: The Chicago-based author is a regular columnist at SPIN.ph. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in 1993. He is the former U.S. editor of NBA.com Philippines and is currently the U.S. editor of Sports on Air. Sayson, who considers boxing a first love and basketball a beloved mistress, also has a regular NBA segment at "Power and Play with Kom Noli " hosted by former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala every Saturdays at Radyo Singko FM.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Homer D. Sayson.
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