Manny Pacquiao Crosses Over
The following article appears in the first issue of PBA Life Magazine, the official magazine of the PBA.
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The boxing superstar courted controversy and took big risks to become a PBA pro
Photo by Philip Sison
It probably did not tale the gift of foresight to see that this was bound to happen: Manny Pacquiao in the Philippine Basketball Association.
After all, Pacquiao, the only eight-division champion in the history of boxing, has been a cross- over star cutting through pop culture lines with the same ease that he dominated weight classes. A cursory look at his résumé will reveal the many facets of Manny Pacquiao: Boxer, singer, politician, actor, TV host, endorser, preacher, businessman, husband, son and father.
Sure, those facades did not experience equal successes. Pacquiao is first and foremost a boxing superstar whose pound-for-pound greatness has practically assured his spot in the sport’s pantheon. In the other roles that he fleshes out, his shine is borrowed from the residue flash bursting out of his boxing career. But considering every human being is constrained to the same 24-hour limit per day, the number of tasks Pacquiao undertakes re- quires superhuman effort.
And now, he dons a new hat: Player-coach for KIA Motors in the Philippine Basketball Association. The foray into professional hoops has been the punch line of so many jokes and Internet memes. But really, the funny thing is how could we have not seen this coming. Basketball has always been an integral part of Pacquiao’s life. The sport has been a pastime, a welcome distraction, a training tool and a social event for the Pacman. Looking back, it was really just a matter of time before it would become a profession.
“I really like basketball,” said the Saranggani representative in a press conference that announced his appointment as coach for the Sorento (now the Carnival). “Even though I have many accomplishments in boxing, basketball is still in my heart.”
The PBA, after all, is more than a venue for the best basketball in the country. It is also the No. 1 source of sporting entertainment for a nation obsessed with hoops. And Pacquiao, the most recognizable Filipino in the world, certainly fits the “entertainment” part of the equation.
The jokes centered mostly on his ability (inability?) to play the quality of basketball that the PBA demands.
Can Pacquiao play with the big boys? Will he make a fool of himself? Most of Pacquiao’s basketball exploits have been crammed in playground pickup games. These pickup games may include cameos by current and former pros, ex-college stars hoping to get a crack at the pros and even former PBA imports, but the quality of the games cannot be used as a measure of Pacquiao’s basketball talents. He is a well- trained athlete with obviously unlimited supply of energy. But the question on his talent—and size—would always hover over him.
Photo by Philip Sison
For the PBA, those questions miss the point.
“These past few weeks there have been so many comments, so many concerns regarding Manny’s possibility of joining the PBA and many of these concerns, have been expressed in my mind to protect the interest genuinely of our national treasure Manny Pacquiao,” said Salud.
“But I think what we’re missing here is what does Manny really bring to the table in so far as the PBA is concerned? Of course there’s the wow factor, there’s the point of interest, pulling power of Manny Pacquiao. But I want to emphasize that Manny is the embodiment of what the PBA is striving to stand for. And what is that? Highest degree of excellence and sportsmanship with regard to fan and public interest,” Salud added.
And so there was no stopping the Pacquiao Express from chugging straight into the country’s top basketball league. And while he hasn’t changed the game on the court, he certainly has sent ripples of refreshing surprises off it. The moment it was announced that he would be part of a doubleheader to open the season, tickets sales went hot and public interest picked up.
Would he score in his first PBA outing? He had al- ready scored in a preseason match, but in an actual and official PBA game, Pacquiao nailing a field goal would be huge.
Outside of the interest he generates, Pacquiao’s influence is heavily felt within the KIA Motors squad. His assistant coaches swear that the piling of losses on the Carnival—a normal phase expansion ball clubs go through—hasn’t diminished the morale of the squad, which still prepares in Spar- tan-like fashion every single day, as if they were training for a Game 7 of a championship match. The reason?
“It would’ve been a challenge to motivate these guys, but all it took was for them to watch a fight of [playing] coach Manny Pacquiao, to see the passion and intensity he brings to every fight, to motivate them to get better,” assistant coach Chris Gavina said. There were quarters that also knocked his ability to coach a professional basketball team. But his assistants feel that coaching is more than just Xs and Os. It is also about building relationships with players and encouraging them to come up with their very best every time they take on competition.
And in this aspect, Pacquiao is Grade A.
“Coach Manny is a big motivator. He keeps telling us that we need to be patient. It’s a long road but we can shorten the process if we believe in ourselves, in our teammates and in our system,” assistant coach Chito Victolero said.
The process will certainly be long for KIA, but having Pacquiao as part of the team does nothing to prolong it. In fact, Pacquiao has his team believing they can compete for a championship soon.
“Nothing is impossible with God,” Pacquiao said. Not a few snickered. The disbelievers multiplied exponentially.
Photo by Philip Sison
Then again, ask yourself this: The way our socio-political landscape is set up, does a street urchin sleeping on cardboard mats on street corners really have much of a shot purchasing a Forbes Park or Beverly Hills address? If a baker’s assistant who couldn’t even fill his plate for three square meals a day told you he’d be the king of the ring and a member of the House of Representatives, wouldn’t you snicker in disbelief too?
What’s one team battling 11 other ballclubs for a championship compared to one insignificant member of the Philippine population dreaming of be- coming his country’s brightest star? And yet that street urchin, that baker’s assistant, achieved his goal. It would be foolish to think KIA cannot.
If there’s one thing Pacquiao knows how to do, it is overcoming odds.
He was never expected to win a trilogy against Mexican legend Erik Morales. He wasn’t supposed to batter Marco Antonio Barrera. When he went supernova and forged the Dream Match with boxing poster boy Oscar De La Hoya, nobody thought he would win. Heck, no one could have even predicted that the fight would actually be made.
So maybe this is the one thing that Pacquiao brings to the league in place of high-quality hoop skills: The ability to dream big, to overcome obstacles. After all, or many young basketball players, the PBA is the biggest dream of them all.
There will always be people who will disagree with Pacquiao’s entry to the PBA. There will be those who will say he was accorded special and undeserved treatment, thus he was able to join the draft list—which league officials pore through and scrutinize to remove those who do not deserve a slot in the league. Critics will say one of those names could have been pushed forward to make the cut had Pacquiao not joined the draft.
But really, only history can judge what Pacquiao’s place in the PBA will be. For now, all we have to do is watch him jump into the KIA driver’s seat and ride this journey out with him.
Don’t forget to strap on your seatbelts.
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