BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Why I am for Manny Pacquiao living his PBA dream


This appears in the PBA website

Why I am for Manny Pacquiao living his PBA dream
by rick olivares

I am all for Manny Pacquiao joining the PBA whether as a coach or a player or as playing coach.

Why should we deny him his dream?

Prior to the residency rule for Fil-Ams who have to play in the PBA D-League or any of the local leagues, they went to the draft with no one having seen them play. As a result, we ended up with some great players who will no doubt go down as some of the best in PBA history. We also ended up with some lemons – now there’s a term commonly used for imports -- and Fil-Shams.

We’ve had coaches come on board with their only credentials as having played the game or worked the commentators’ booth. One has even become the best coach in the PBA if not today maybe for all time. Dude, it doesn’t follow that if you were a great player then you can coach. I’ve seen many of them fail in the most basic of things – communication. They were never good in communicating as a player and yet they are made a head coach. That’s fine, right? Give them a chance. If they didn’t work out then they're booted out.

So why aren’t we willing to give the same latitude to Manny?

People were upset when he dabbled in showbiz. Even more people got upset when he ran for public office. Granted we are never known as a land of opportunity but should we pigeon hole or even stereotype him into a life of merely a boxer?

All this reminds me when Michael Jordan quit basketball to play baseball. “He is embarrassing the game,” criticized Sports illustrated. Who cares if he didn’t have a stellar baseball career? What matters is he tried to fulfill a lifelong dream. That doesn’t even taint his legacy as the GOAT.

Isn’t that some bit of advice we ALWAYS provide others – to try. And of they don’t make it, at least they know.

Showbiz? Noon pa showbiz yung PBA. Opening Day may muses at song and dance numbers pa. In all my years watching the NBA or Euroleagues I have never seen muses for any of the teams. Eh, ganyan dito. Gusto ng entertainment.

I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember that short-lived television show that featured Sonny Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz as a pair of cops. We even had Benjie Paras and others getting into it.

It’s okay if basketball players go into showbiz but it’s not okay for people form the outside to try and play ball in the PBA.

When Ricky Palou, the late Jun Bernardino and others put up the V-League, many said, what do a couple of basketball guys know about volleyball? These gentlemen have done more for the sport than even the local sports association that has rode the coattails of their success.

We vote actors and sportsmen into public office sometimes with nary a record of service yet we are unwilling to give someone who has given us so much to be proud of an opportunity in his basketball dream.

Some might say that that will take away from his duties as a boxer and a congressman. Some say that he is taking away opportunities from others. As it is said in legalese, conclusive presumption is one in which the proof of certain facts makes the existence of the assumed fact beyond dispute.

Whether Manny is good enough to play/coach or not hasn’t even been decided. That is for the people to decide when it happens or should it ever happen. I don’t think he is going into this to fail. He will surround himself with people who can help him. After all, he has always done that.

And if you’ve followed his career as a congressman from Sarangani, he has learned from losing in his initial foray into politics. He has fought the RH Bill as well as human and sex trafficking, supported a bill to increase the minimum wage, and endorsed the construction of classrooms, multi-purpose buildings and whatnot for his constituents among many others.

We are such a nation of crabs that we are willing to pull down people.

I, on the other hand, choose to be in his corner – there’s a boxing reference if ever – for this.

Good luck to Manny. I am sure he is going to need it.




2 comments:

  1. i made a blog out of this at my site and i agree with you 100 percent. that one article from that website bugged the hell off me because the author thought of manny pacquiao's attempt to become a two-sport pro athlete is a joke. it's not. everyone is entitled to get drafted especially if they have the balls and the guns to perform.

    and his entry could boost ticket sales because let's face it, the only reason for a non-fan to catch a kia versus blackwater right now is if pacquiao schedules himself for an appearance. the guy was able to momentarily stop a NBA versus Gilas match for crying out loud.

    he may be overestimating himself for thinking he can bring his "pick up games" prowess in the PBA but for a man who epitomizes conquering odds, certainly he is not a joke.

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    1. Idol ko rin si Manny at been suporting him the first time i saw him fight sa blow by blow...pero just like boxing,basketball is art too,me mga tao talagang built for the sport at sadly Manny will just be eatin' alive by the likes of Baroca or even by Monfort,Mandani etc...

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