Sportsmen in politics
By Percy D. DellaI TEXTED Manny Pacquiao’s top aide about the bills his boss sponsored and shepherded into law during the 15th Congress.
I TEXTED Manny Pacquiao’s top aide about the bills his boss sponsored and shepherded into law during the 15th Congress.
TO ERASE the perception that they are desperately clinging to power, a number of national sports association (NSA) leaders are calling for elections this month.
“IF THE prize is right, they will come,” gushed my friend Joaquin “Jake” Ayson, a former national golf official, while ticking off the dueling golf Opens that have turned or will turn PH into a tantalizing stop for the world’s touring pros this year.
I POPPED over to the political battleground of Laoag City recently. Unpredictably, I didn’t get to the front line because the most reluctant of the combatants consumed much of my time and attention.
A dear friend, Leo S. Reyes, who died almost two months ago, must be smiling in his grave at the Sanctuary of Peace memorial park here.
PANGASINAN opens the country’s first provincial sports academy by March next year. A titan in Ilocos region sports, the province does not have to struggle under the national spotlight to get the infrastructure built.
Talk about dominating the sports news cycle. Business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan is no publicity seeker. But by titillating sports reporters and junkies alike recently, he guaranteed himself of an almost round-the-clock sports coverage without really trying.
After lead-ing his team to the mountaintop, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra promptly scaled down to his Filipino roots.
Tim Tebow and his football and faith. Bubba Watson and his golf and godliness. And now comes Manny Pacquiao and his renewed comradeship with Christ. Talk about Christian sports star power—this high-octane evangelical trinity is poised to zoom into overdrive.
From Kathmandu where they closed out their performance in the AFC Challenge Cup with a fiery third place finish, the Philippine Azkals returned home this week, seeking another closure of sorts.
