Monday, December 8, 2008

Manny Pacquiao and the Sorry State of Philippine Sports

Before posting any comment, please read the whole article. Try to understand it...

Manny Pacquiao won the "fight of his life", or so they say. Right from the start, people were saying that he was the underdog. I, for one, do not like the brouhaha over Manny Pacquiao. Sure he has brought a lot of honor and glory for the Filipino people. But then again, seeing his face everyday on every newspaper, billboard ad, TV commercial (and even TV shows) would make you wonder, why is he getting all of these?

I know that, somewhere, the members of the Philippine team who competed in the Beijing Olympics are hoping that they too would get even a small portion of the exposure that Manny Pacquiao is getting. Before Manny's fight, a number of establishments sent out ads for a paid viewing of that fight. Everyone was saying that Manny would win. If my memory serves me right, nobody ever said that the Philippine Team would bring home the gold during the olympics. Did this lack of belief in our own team somehow cause the Philippine Team's 'downfall'?

And what about the other sports? What about golf? What about billiards? Bowling? Most people I know do not even know who Frankie Miñoza is.

I sure hope that we are not forgetting the other athletes in our country. Manny Pacquiao is not the only one that we have.


Digg!

8 comments:

  1. Manny deserve all the credit for his hardwork and what he had achieved. The Philippine team in the Olympics and other sports like golf are all fully supported by the government but the truth of the matter they had not produce anything like medals to make us proud as Pinoys. Even today we do not have gold medals in the Olympics despite the huge money given to these so called athletes. But for Manny he is now the world's top boxer and should be given all the rewards he deserve. It is very rare for a Brown race to emerge as world's best boxer that is why the world is shocked and surprise of his performance. Personally I pity you for having such low sympathy for our national hero. I think you need to retrace your root and evaluate the impact of the victory of Manny against dela Hoya. Wake up girl......

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  2. medals? huge money? I'm sorry but the Philippine government does not give 'huge' money to these athletes. Have you seen where they train?

    it is not rare for a Filipino race to emerge victorious in the boxing field. We had so many boxers in the past who had proven that. He is the best boxer in his division primarily because he had proper training which the Philippine team did not have. And he is not a National Hero. Winning boxing titles does not make you a hero.

    retrace my roots? Did you even read the whole article or just the first few sentences?

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  3. Are you getting your facts right? They train overseas and get huge monetary support for such overseas training. Learn more and not just depend on bits of information about RP sports. The truth is despite the money and training they still fall below world standards because of their inferior talent. I will ask you straight despite the huge money given to athletes past and present do we have a gold medal? Boxers who have proven that being number one in world? Are you blind, dilutional or outright crazy, no one had done that becoming best boxer among all divisions in the world. For your information, Pacman is among the select few who emerged victorious in three divisions in one year. A hero is someone who makes the country proud and defend the race, Pacman did that because of his skills and victory others races are in high regards to our race. Frankie Minoza? Filipinos appreciate what he did for the country but the truth is he only reign supreme in the Asian region not really in the global stage like what Pacman did. I hope to educate you in a way because you speak without really checking your facts straight which is a mark of a bad and libelous writer. I REALLY PITY YOU PROMISE!!!

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  4. and I pity you more:

    1. You cannot even identify yourself. But I have to thank you for the traffic
    2. You do not even know what the requirements to be called a 'hero'
    3. You do not even know what libel means
    4. You do not know what a blog is for
    5. The article wasn't even about Manny Pacquiao but how Filipinos like you seem to have forgotten that he is not the only one we've got.

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  5. The article was not intended to bring down Manny or belittle his achievements. It only conveys how we could have achieved more had the amount of support given to Manny was also given to our Olympic athletes, Team Philippines. You could try searching the net for articles on how the government failed to give enough support to our athletes; of you don't want to believe them, feel free to seek out these athletes and ask them the truth.

    "The truth is despite the money and training they still fall below world standards because of their inferior talent." Perfect example of crab mentality. Bring down your fellow Pinoys. Never mind that they did their best, they are still - by your standards - of inferior talent. Try to look up at least one of them, and you will know that they do have superior talent. However, practice makes perfect. And this is where they kind of go shaky since it is hard to train here in the Philippines due to equipment limitations.

    "I will ask you straight despite the huge money given to athletes past and present do we have a gold medal?" Dear me! Correct me if I am wrong but are you giving the impression that since they never brought home a gold medal, they are useless, or in your words, of inferior talent? So medals ang gauge for Filipinos to be proud of these athletes?

    "A hero is someone who makes the country proud and defend the race, Pacman did that because of his skills and victory others races are in high regards to our race." Pacman could be called a hero, true. But our other athletes are too. They still strive in their fields. Some may have no medals but are worth commending for giving it their all. Some do have medals but are not as hyped out as Manny's. Do some research my friend, for most of these athletes did bring home lots of gold medals for you - you just didn't know it. The Filipino athletes make me proud!! Do they make you proud? Or is their inferior talent not enough for you? If so, all i can say is: I REALLY PITY YOU PROMISE!!!

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  6. Oh, and on Frankie: True, most of the tourneys he was on were in the Asian/Japan region. But he did join a number of European tourneys. And I can bet on it, that for some of the Asian/Japan tourneys he was on, he did compete against International, or as you say global stage, players as well (e.g. Johnnie Walker Classic). :)

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  7. Minoza did join but he failed. Until now we have no olympic gold medal despite the money given to these people. What could be wrong? Simple they simply fluke or succumb to pressure in the global scale that is the reason, it is not the equiptment that makes gold medal in global sport but the passion of athletes to go beyond normal to emerge the best. Argentina practices with little budget yet they won gold medal in basketball by defeating US, the key for that victory is teamwork, passion and hardwork. African athletes reign supreme in athletics in Olympics despite the fact that they run barefoot why because of passion that is what is lacking in RP sport passion to excel and make the country proud. Pacman is only one in RP history, when he would retire no athlete could follow his huge footsteps and that is a fact not merely opinions from souls whose sport IQ reminds me of my cat when he was still a kitty and a cockroach who knows nothing...

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  8. ONE MORE TIME: PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE BEFORE COMMENTING.

    The article was not even about Manny Pacquiao but how people like you seem to have forgotten that he is not the only one we have. Oscar dela Hoya was THE golden boy before Pacquiao beat him. Someone, somewhere will beat him. Does that mean that we can no longer be proud? Onyok Velasco almost won the gold during one of the olympics but failed. Was it his lack of passion? I don't think so.

    We have more than ten athletes who brought glory to our country in the past. PACQUIAO IS NOT THE ONLY ONE and that is not an opinion

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