MANNY PACQUIAO being the flavor of the season, the country should not find it hard to cram in hosting the 23rd Southeast Asian Games set to fire off at the Luneta Park on Nov. 27.
With only a few weeks left to prepare for the biennial sports festival among Southeast Asian neighbors, national officials tasked to run the show are bound to rush out things and cut corners as Pacquiao had done for his last fight.
There’s already the fear of conducting athletics at the Rizal Memorial track oval, a top Guinness bet as the most renovated sports venue in the world, without the use of a main electronic scoreboard.
If this is not remedied, the Manila 2005 SEA Games could turn into a hilarious throwback to primitive days when creaky officials in white long-sleeved shirts relied on hand-held watches to time competitors.
Of course, this should also help lure in tourists who would like to again see how things were done out on the cinder tracks during Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Maybe they need to grab a share from the sale of Madame Imelda’s auctioned diamonds to get an electronic scoreboard for the centerpiece event.
Or they could call in Imeldific herself to flash the magic wand that had seen her through monumental overnight constructions at the height of her Edifice Complex in the era of the hated dictatorship.
Anyway, the message here is for our top Games organizers, including those who staged a coup at the Philsoc (Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee), to please take a tip or two from Pacquiao on the secrets of successful cramming.
You see, columnist Max Soliven, seasoned and battle-scarred as he is, last week expressed dismay upon setting an eye, from a helicopter, on the snail-pace progress of grounds preparations at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC).
Do they still have ample time to set up for the grand celebration of youth in this part of Asia?
* * *
Yes, a visiting team from Thailand ruled that the venues should be functional by the time the Games open.
“Time will always be a problem, but the bigger problem is the lack of funds,” groaned one key expert involved in preparations.
He made the revelation inside his exclusive second-floor office at RMSC last week.
Our source then stretched out and reluctantly pointed to a blackboard crowded with numerical figures.
“That has been there, the program should’ve been implemented a long time ago for our athletes to be thoroughly effective,” he groaned, scratching his neat head.
So what’s wrong?
“No money, sagad na raw talaga,” he explained matter-of-factly.
Does he think RP would succeed in finally clinching the overall championship when we host the SEA Games for the third time?
He shook his head, manifesting despair and disbelief.
* * *
What about a miracle, like the Miracle of ’91 when RP last hosted the Games?
“Maybe, if they had listened to Michael Keon who said we were losing the hometown edge due to the unavailability of the venues to our own athletes,” explained the expert.
But they said the home crowds would tremendously pump up the adrenalin of our athletes.
“Let’s hope and pray it turns out that way,” he said. “Patriotic cheers could indeed work wonders.”
How do we make sure the magic works?
“Let’s call in Manny Pacquiao to lead the cheering in all the main venues,” he said.
But won’t tips from Pacman on how to cram and succeed be enough to ensure success in the Games?
“No, it won’t work, definitely.”
Why?
“RP’s top rivals, like Thailand and Vietnam, won’t come here ready to stand still and be hit silly like Hector Velazquez.”
Where’s the danger there?
“These powerful nations would be there to give their all, they’d fight hard all the way to the final round.”
But you said problem all boils down to money?
“Yes, there was none, but they had enough to spend for the junketing congressmen and governors who all traveled with GMA [Ms Arroyo] to New York.”
You’re being unfair. Those solons persevered early to please their President. They did not have to cram to qualify for the junket.
“They did not need Pacquiao. Period.”
