When you’re going crazy over the most exciting fighter in the world today, then you might as well join the forum members of his website. Manny “The Pacman” Pacquiao had unknowingly created a cult-like following that is already global in magnitude thus making the www.mannypacquiao.ph , the most visited site for a fighter on the internet today. The number of hits alone can be astounding. On any given day, you will find several thousand surfers stopping by the site to get their fill of Manny. The site is more popularly known as “Pacland” (make sure you spell it when you say it lest it be mistaken for something else), and when the creators said, “Where do all Pacman fans in the world congregate?” I had no idea that they meant it by the minute. Day in and day out, the members’ forum is buzzing with discussions on various topics in relation to the Pacman and other boxing issues. A new post or topic thereby becomes a “thread” wherein the forum members offer their respective replies or reaction. The “chat” seems perpetual, which gives the newest member the feeling that there’s some kind of a vigil going on. I joined this forum, because I am now, like everybody else, afflicted with Pacman Fever.
Dong Secuya was the genius behind creating the Pacland website. A very warm native Cebuano, Dong is an expert web designer and a huge Pacquiao fan as well. He was inspired to design this super portal for Pacman fans when he got irked one time while visiting a Barrera website only to find a notice there barring Filipinos from surfing the site. So he worked on his brainchild and went live with it in 2003, with life never being the same again for almost every Pacquiao fan. From dusk till dawn, Pacland is alive. About 90 % of the members have his or her own nom-de-guerre or alias.
You get to chat with Manila Assassin, Oh_Boy, BCngDC, JoeyinCali, Sphinx, Cer@non, Putiman, Observer, OnHisCorner, Kugahertz, Kadyo, Tarantado and Boss Shiva. Nick Alejo gave out his real name. With those names, you’d think you’re on Wrestlemania. And once you join in, these guys give you a warm welcome that you’ll feel a sense of belonging engulfing you instantly. What is also noticeable is the generosity of the members in sharing fresh news about Manny P and a lot of great fight videos any interested member can download. Also interesting to note was the number of posts a member had already made, which were indeed numerous, making me conclude that these dudes are no ordinary boxing fans. Pacman fever had transformed them into Pacman stalkers. And it’s cool to be one.
Pacfan, Bobby Manongdo, RBM115 in Pacland, prides himself in having Pacman items as part of his collection. Together with his wife, Rhyne, they go to the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach to watch the live training of Manny. Bobby believes that it is good to have a hero in Manny Pacquiao, for it unites all Filipinos worldwide. Another Pac disciple, JoeyinCali, instantly become a foreign correspondent for Paclanders when he covered in detail one of Manny’s high rev training sessions. Filipinos here are now familiar with every spot of the Wild Card Gym. If one conducts a poll now on who’s the greatest American who had the greatest effect on the lives of Filipinos, Freddie Roach would win hands down.
A sports book columnist lambasted Pacland saying it was inhabited by idiots .He said he was gang tackled after saying something negative about the Filipino fighter. My take on this was that his agenda was more money oriented rather than pure boxing reporting. He’s after the “spread” rather than his article being a must-read. And didn’t the Red Sox embrace the “idiot” tag, then went all the way to win the World Series? “Idiot”, I believe, is “in” nowadays. Idiot is hip. I think you’ll miss the fun when you don’t rile up the fans in Pacland. Imagine seeing a giant beehive stacked up with bees, and from a safe distance you have a slingshot. Now, would you pass up the chance of banging that hive and seeing the panic and anger on the bees while looking for the S.O.B. who did that?
There are fans and there are punks in Pacland. That’s where the fun begins. You distinguish who’s who.Then you try to decipher their posts. The messages range from the most profound to the most idiotic indeed. But after a while, stupidity turns into ingenuity. Why? Because a long thread of replies ensues from other members after reading these ridiculous, but zany posts. When a Pacfan named Triskelion sent his message to the mailbag conducted by Kimo Morrison of www.Hardcoreboxing.net , it appeared exactly like this; Triskelion: ” I hate Murad and company for giving Pacman a nonsense fight against Morales. Who is this insect Morales fighting Pacman? It’s an insult to the Filipino people. They call this the fight of the year? C’mon crazy people? the fight of the year can only happen if TYSON will be fighting Pacman?come to think of it?I’m sure the Mexican people will all agree.”
Morrison, probably in disbelief, answered: “Tyson would knock Pacman to Thailand if that would ever come to happen”. Yours truly was on the floor laughing in tears after seeing this post. Other forum members instantly jumped onto this zany guy’s case and the thread grew. A member told me, “wait till you see that post where a guy made a round by round, blow by blow account of Pacman versus Godzilla”. I said to myself,” My God, if Pacman could kayo Godzilla, what’s he going to do to Morales?”
If a Pacman victory comes to fruition next week in Las Vegas, Dong Secuya better be ready with his back-up servers, for a system crash is imminent for Pacland. Fans from all over the world will converge and log-in for sure all at the same time. New surfers will register. It’ll be an unprecedented event in Philippine internet history. It’s going to be a hit parade for the site. And Mr. Secuya isn’t even worried of this scenario, for he believes that Pacland has served its purpose. The Pacman-El Terrible fight will validate www.mannypacquiao.ph as a true fan base.
As we know now, all of the above should be blamed to the magic of that left handed pied piper from General Santos City. And he’s just started to play.
We’re in for a long reign, folks.
