SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA—Will I ever get the attention of former NBA great Kevin Johnson again now that he’s been elected the first black mayor of California’s capital?

“You have a snowball’s chance in hell,” said my neighbor in the cube farm we call the office.

“Why?” I asked. “Because the mayor-elect has a gazillion work to do when he assumes office Nov. 25,” replied my neighbor.

True, Johnson faces a budget shortfall of $40 million and, despite the fiscal crunch, has to restore some dollars for public safety without raising taxes as he promised during the campaign.

He has to make peace with five of eight council members who supported his mayoral opponent. Beyond the monetary and personal issues, he has to keep pace with the NBA for talks to build an arena in the city. And finally, he has to raise the profile of his hometown and turn it into a destination place like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

So will Johnson ever respond to a question he asked me to e-mail him during our chance encounter on election eve?

Well, to my neighbor’s shock, to say the least, he did.

Wedged between messages from my columnist-friend Recah Trinidad and Leoncio Balbin Jr. of Inquirer Northern Luzon—a frequent visitor to our beach house when my wife and I are home in Candon City—was this response from Kevin:

“Percy,

Given that I’m new to politics, I’m not sure I have a tremendous amount of advice to offer. If anything, I’d say that you have to be yourself and listen to the community. Good campaigns are won on the ground by going out, meeting and talking to constituents and staying focused on the voters, not on the politics or media.

Kevin

My e-mail to him had read:

“To: Kevin Johnson
Subject: advice to a sports hero and political novice like you

Kevin, I shook your hand on L Street near the Capitol today and asked you what advice you would give Manny Pacquiao—a three-time Filipino world boxing champion who has political plans like you. Manny will fight Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6 for his penultimate match before retiring and going into politics. What will you tell Manny, who has a lot of Filipino-American followers in Sacramento, about running for public office?”

If Johnson’s reply is not sage advice to Mr. Pacquiao when he finally hits the campaign trail again, what is?

* * *

The protagonists will tell you that the election for president of the Philippine Olympic Committee on Nov. 28 marks the first day of the rest of our country’s sporting life.

But sports aficionados have come of age and would dismiss the election as another exercise in futility.

What speaks better to the current generation of sports followers is the dismal showing of Filipino athletes in foreign competitions, including the last Olympic Games in Beijing where we again scored a big fat zero.

Everyone will agree that we need someone who would really get under the hood and fix the system, not someone with boundless energy now, only to lose focus when the campaign is over and the hard grind begins.

Even the godly Bong Coo, a sports legend herself and an official of the bowling NSA, takes a dig at the POC election.

“Sorry,” the divine Ms Coo said via e-mail, “but I really am not into sports politics, it sucks.”