IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY WE ALL FEEL super after the triple knockout triumph of Filipino boxers in California on Sunday.
Jim Murray, Pulitzer Prize winner and 14 times US national sports writer of the year, provided the answer in describing his own countrymen.
Americans, he said, worship power. They want their heroes not merely to win but to crush the other guys.
“Split decisions and tiebreakers bore Americans,” continued the legendary deadline beater. “They want one-round knockouts.”
Filipinos are not very different from Americans when it comes to choosing and worshipping heroes.
In fact, we share practically the same mighty men, Superman, Rambo, who never resort to anything subtle in eliminating their enemies.
* * * Now, it’s easy to see why President Macapagal-Arroyo is doing everything to identify with Manny Pacquiao and the two other RP boxers who scored fantastic knockout wins at the Staples Center in LA.
The President also cries for a knockout win against those working to kick her out of office.
OK, the entire nation continues to pray for a worthy leader who could finally stamp out corruption and poverty.
But, while the country continues to reel under these evils, the President has suddenly been blessed with victors, all three of them, who could more or less personify triumph over hunger and want.
To celebrate, boxing expert Hermie Rivera bared Malaca?ang has set a grand reception for the triumphant trio of Pacquiao, Brian Viloria and Rey Bautista on Tuesday.
* * *
So what will the President offer in thanksgiving?
More cash rewards, maybe.
But what about those who have sacrificed to support and guide the trio of Pacquiao, Viloria and Bautista to triumph?
Has Malaca?ang, for example, heard of Polding Corea, the discoverer of Pacquiao who had selflessly parented and funded the scrappy southpaw from GenSan in the early years?
Will Cebu sportsman Tony Aldeguer finally get formal Palace recognition after all his noble efforts at discovering and raising winners in his well-equipped private gym?
The man does not need the recognition, but has Malaca?ang heard of the quiet, almost secret efforts of sportsman Rudy Salud, who had spent millions in sending professional Filipino boxers, like Gerry Pe?alosa and Z Gorres to name only two, to train and fight abroad?
Oh, there are a lot more people to be thanked for the towering feeling being enjoyed by the top residents of Malaca?ang.
* * *
For one, shouldn’t trainer Freddie Roach be given a special place during the thanksgiving rites on Tuesday?
It may have been overlooked, but Roach was the sole main man in the corner of the three triumphant RP pugs in LA last Sunday.
There’s no doubt Roach had carved out Pacquiao from a raw stone into a shining jewel.
But the famous American trainer has also been handling Viloria for nearly two years before the peppery Ilocano finally got a crack at the world crown.
Bautista, for one, had been slapping his punches like a carpenter driving a nail with a rusty hammer. The flaw could not be corrected despite the frantic efforts of Rivera and an old, straying columnist.
If Bautista finally boxed magnificently to a third round victory, if he ever loomed like a sweet dream, it was all due to the tireless guidance of Roach.
Anyway, here’s what we want to make clear: Malaca?ang has suddenly loomed like a world boxing power, although it has no decent national boxing program in place.
The President continues to get a free ride, with no sign whatsoever of correcting the faulty set-up.
In fact, Boom Boom Bautista had nobody from the government, say the sleepy Games and Amusements Board, to welcome or assist him when he returned from LA on Wednesday morning.
Sorry, but if Arroyo ever calls in these worthy men we had mentioned for a bit of recognition, that would be equal to celebrating her faults.
