Let’s wish Pacquiao well in his basketball career

By Al S. Mendoza

 

TODAY, August 24, marks another milestone in the storied life of Manny Pacquiao.

He will join the PBA Draft to select the new players in the 40th season of Asia’s first play-for-pay league blasting on Oct. 19.

No applicant to the PBA has ever created so much impact and drawn nationwide media mileage since the loop’s birth in 1975.

Well, for one, Pacquiao is a reigning world boxing champion (welterweight) and for him to still want to become a professional basketball player is something out of the extraordinary.

Why he can’t be satisfied with his boxing-brought fame is something that baffles even the most famous minds in the psychiatry business.

For another, Pacquiao is already the head coach of the newest PBA member, Kia Motors.

Many branded Kia Motors’ move as crazy.  But is it?

Taken globally, it would make an impact as Kia cars have also already established a foothold in the universal family of cars.

Pacquiao has not only become our homegrown icon, but he has also become the prized property of the universe.

Surely, Pacquiao’s entry into Kia Motors as a major official in his being the team’s head coach speaks volumes of his stature as a much sought-after figure.

The world over, he is known as one of the best fighters, one of the most exciting and a legitimate world champion.

In fact, his boxing prowess transcends borders by ocean-wide margins, having already won eight world titles in eight different divisions.

No one has ever done that and I doubt it very much if his ring record will ever be equaled.

And while his new post as head coach of Kia Motors in the PBA is already another sterling record, Pacquiao, by joining today’s PBA Draft at age 35, becomes the oldest ever applicant to play in the PBA.

I haven’t seen him play but I am told he is good.

“He might not have the ceiling (a little over 5-foot-6) but he is more than good and players within his height range will find it hard to match up with him,” said Reli de Leon, a confidante of Pacquiao’s.

To me, I don’t care if Pacquiao is good or not.

What I care about is his presence in a PBA game, which will surely create unimaginable thrill, especially in the beginning when fans will be so curious at how Pacman will deal with his new-found passion.

He will actually bring new dimensions of excitement and razzle dazzle but my one big prayer is, I wish he would protect himself while on the hard court.

While it is true that, unlike boxing, basketball is not a direct contact sport per se, still the risks and hazards of injuries happening are as real as black eyes and busted eyebrows and broken noses happening in a boxing duel.

Let’s wish Pacman well.  After all, he is our national treasure—a living, breathing, one at that.

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