SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA?Make no mistake about it.
Manny Pacquiao?s stint as the standard bearer of the Philippine team during the breathtaking opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics paid dividends in terms of free world wide publicity.
Pacquiao, not the Philippine team, got the mileage during the NBC Network?s tape-delayed broadcast from China?s National Stadium, nicknamed the ?Bird?s Net,? and epicenter of Beijing?s colorful Big Party last Friday.
NBC cameras zoomed in on Pacquiao as he carried the Filipino flag ahead of his dapper, barong-clad compatriots?while NBC broadcast star Bob Costas offered his equally famous partner Matt Lauer tidbits about the reigning WBC lightweight champ.
Costas described Manny as one of the best boxers in the world and the people?s hero in the Philippines. Continuing his spiel, Costas explained that Manny was not an Olympic participant, but was tapped to bear the Philippine flag ?because of his stature in that country.?
NBC cameras did not seek President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as our contingent marched past the dignitaries on its way to the center of the ?Bird?s Nest? during the march of nations.
Among only a handful of heads of state shown acknowledging their respective delegations included US President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Australian Premier Kevin Rudd, who speaks fluent Chinese and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
By the way, Pacquiao was not the only professional boxer who served as a non-participating standard bearer during the Games? opening. Three-time world boxing champion Alexis Arguello carried the flag of Nicaragua and was the subject of a longer ?broadcast caption? than Pacquiao.
Costas and Lauer said the ?explosive thin man?, now a Nicaraguan sports functionary is the current vice mayor of Managua, the Nicaragua?s main city and is running for mayor in the upcoming elections this November.
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Although broadcast several hours after it actually happened in Beijing, the opening rites of the 29th Olympiad of the modern era scored big in television ratings.
The colorful spectacle, China?s reintroduction to the world, averaged 34.2 million viewers, emerging as the biggest draw on the American boob tube since the Super Bowl won by the underdog New York Giants over the heavily favored New England Patriots.
According to Nielsen Media Research, Beijing?s Big Party eclipsed this year?s Academy Awards and the final of ?American Idol? in terms of household viewers. It is also the most watched opening ceremony not held in the United States.
The 2004 Athens Games averaged 25.4 million viewers for its first night, while the Sydney Olympics four years earlier notched 27.3 million viewers.
Beijing time is 15 hours ahead of America?s West Coast and 12 hours of the Eastern Seaboard. But viewers from California to New York woke up Friday (Saturday in Asia) playing dumb that the Olympics had not begun.
Not only that. Television audiences from sea to shining sea waited until NBC televised the start of the Games in US prime time from 7 p.m. to midnight last Friday (Saturday, Beijing time).
NBC?s TV coverage happens far behind actual events in Beijing, so results from the Games will be shown on tape delay on the North American continent and the rest of the West.
The results would be devoid of drama, but NBC, nonetheless, is expected to be the most watched network in the next 13 days.
