Remember the late, great legendary Tom Landry? The former and at one time only head coach of the Dallas Cowboys football team is so revered in Dallas that a reader poll in the Dallas Morning News revealed overwhelmingly that his widow, Alicia Landry, should be the one to push the button to blow up Irving’s Texas Stadium later this year. That’s pretty serious devotion.
I now know how serious the Filipino devotion is to its favorite son Manny Pacquiao. There have been hero’s before Pacquiao and there will be afterwords, but the sense of pride he has given his people while performing on the worldwide stage as he has is nothing short of remarkable.
He’ll be going for his seventh world title in the seventh different weight division he has competed in when he faces Miguel Cotto November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
That record won’t soon be broken.
I can tell from your reader comments that some of you get upset with him sometimes. Usually because he has other interests such as politics, that distract him from his boxing. Sometimes it’s his rumored training camp distractions.
Back to the late Cowboys head coach. Landry actually lost three of five Super Bowls. But he won so many games in his time that he was every bit as dominant as Pacquiao today.
Landry led the Cowboys to a still-standing NFL record of 20 consecutive – winning seasons between 1966 – 1985. He died in 2000 at 75.
Both Pacquiao and his fans can take a lesson from Coach Landry that consistency is the key. Slow and steady wins the war.
Very few in Dallas remember the losses when the name Tom Landry comes up.
I’m betting it will be that way with Pacquiao because he is a winner out of the same rare mold.
