Mendoza: Will PBA and Pacquiao spins alter our poise?

THE two famous Bs in sports—basketball and boxing—have remained hot topics for two obvious reasons.

First, the title clash for the PBA Philippine Cup between Talk ‘N Text and Rain or Shine begins on Wednesday and I can’t wait to see it unfold, if only because both teams are two of the country’s finest today.

Again, the best-of-seven series is pregnant with talks both savory and unsavory that you need an open mind to savor both the putrid and sordid details of it.

Second, boxing has occupied the headlines with equal prominence but on a different, if not totally shocking, plane: Manny Pacquiao is reportedly down with Parkinson’s Disease.

The Parkinson’s is a dreaded disease because it slows down the motor brain; its most telling effect is a slurred speech, not to mention slowing down, at times considerably, one’s movement.

Freddie Roach himself, Pacquiao’s famous American trainer, has the disease, although the most prominent victim of the affliction is Muhammad Ali, boxing’s greatest of all time.

What irritates, irks, our senses, is the seemingly irresponsible remarks attributed, allegedly, on two Filipino doctors who said Pacquiao has the Parkinson’s.

Although it was literally a mere opinion, the doctors’ thesis that Pacquiao could have already contracted the disease was totally uncalled for; their action, at the very least, bordered on the unethical.

We all know that Pacquiao really absorbed a terrible hit on the face that resulted in that stunning sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas.

But to insinuate, if not conclude, that it might have damaged the brain resulting in Parkinson’s for Pacquiao is a totally insane idea. It is without basis since massive brain tests have yet to be made.

As to the Talk ‘N Text-Rain or Shine title playoffs beginning Wednesday, is it true the sly syndicate is out to ensure a victory for Yeng Guiao’s Painters, in that the Tropang Texters are purgatory-bound?

I shudder at the mere thought of it.

Will Commissioner Salud mobilize his secret service agents to assure us of a rig-free series?

(alsol47@yahoo.com)