Now here?s a future opponent who has really got Manny Pacquiao?s goat, so to speak.
Those of you who know Chicago Cubs baseball lore and legend know that it is the Curse Of Billy Goat which prevents the Cubbies from winning a World Series.
Pacman is shown jabbing this ?tin can fighter? playfully at Monday?s Pacquiao-David Diaz beachside presser in Santa Monica.
In Cubs lore, the goat was brought to Wrigley Field by the owner of the famed Billy Goat Tavern under the Wrigley Building in the Chicago Loop. Club officials banned the goat and thus the curse was born and lives on every season.
You older ?Saturday Night Live? fans will recall John Belushi?s recurring skit based on the Billy Goat Tavern in which you could only order ?cheezeborgers and Pepsi, no coke!?
Megamanny and trainer Freddie Roach closely sized up the horned barnyard creature.
?I hope this does not give Diaz the idea to ram Manny with his head,? Roach said. ?I am a Red Sox fan so I wonder if this is anything like that foolish curse of the Bambino.?
?I would turn this goat into a bowl of curry,? Pacquiao said, ?and I will do the same with Diaz, although in his case, make it a bowl of menudo.?
Promoter Bob Arum said he liked the goat?s demeanor.
?Let?s see Jose Sulaiman and the WBC squeeze a sanctioning fee out of Billy,? Arum said. ?If we put him on a show, it will have to be taped rather than live. Then we can tell the press we?ve got Billy in the can. And you wonder why many people consider boxing a real zoo.”
