THE color of Manny: brown. Manny Pacquiao is of the great brown race, the little brown bomber that became famous in the boxing world. He has become a celebrity and his name rivals those of Hollywood stars in the Walk of Fame. As his stock and star rise, people from all walks of life want a piece of him — an autograph but mostly a Kodak moment, just like a shrieking admirer who faints when they see their idol in the flesh. They include our politicians and our President, who have become fans for the meantime, wanting to see Pacquiao in the flesh, forgetting they are public figures whose actions and words are scrutinized by the prying eyes of the media and fellow politicians.
But this is boxing. Boxing is a sport; in sports, if you lose, you don’t whine or complain, and you don’t make insinuations of cheating. You accept your humility in defeat. If you win, you show nobility in conquest.
As the euphoria of victory is in every nerve of our fellow Filipinos, some add another color to Manny’s victory and that is … political color. As they try to intrigue Pacquiao with words like “exploitation” and “being used” for election purposes, as the “no-el,” or no-election proposal, is still in debate, we are being killjoy and spoiling the party celebration.
The color of money: green. That’s what Manny is now. With two million dollars in prize money and more coming from pay-per-view television, Pacquiao is not bothered by this political nonsense talk — as he laughs all the way to the bank.
