SOME say winning is everything. Others say winning is the only thing. I say winning means nothing.

You compete to win? You’ll get disappointed.

"The Manny Pacquiao Blog". Click here for stories and updates on the Filipino boxing champ.

You compete and settle for nothing but winning? You’ll get spooked.

You compete and you won’t care whether you win or lose? You’ll end up winning without even trying.

Life ought to be a beach and you bitch about it, you know nothing about competing.

Always, competing should be first, knowing the art of winning, and next savoring the heart of a win.

Confused? Read on.

Not too long ago, San Beda won the NCAA basketball crown with big help from an African.

After Sam Ekwe, the 6-foot-9 from Africa, almost singlehandedly carried the Red Lions to victory, several schools would follow suit: Recruit an African.

Today, some schools from the rival UAAP have Africans in their basketball rosters for the 2009 season that begins in July.

I believe in my legman, Valentin Dakuykoy, when he came marching in: “Sir, Far Eastern U has an African in its basketball team, just like Adamson and Jose Rizal University.”

Who said the only phenom known in this country nowadays is the Korean Invasion of our golf courses?

The Africans are here, threatening once more our homegrown talents in the James Naismith game of baskets and peaches the way the Fil-Shams did to us only a while back.

I have no beef, nor ek-ek, with Ekwe. At 6-foot-9, why, he should be quite an exception.

But if Ekwe’s compatriots are mere six-footers, no taller than 6-foot-4, they contribute nothing to the development of Philippine basketball.

If left unchecked, this Africanmania will, in the long run, win nothing but derision instead of dignity.

And what’s this I hear that a new African recruit of San Beda went TNT (tago ng tago) when included in a team’s recent trip to the US?

My, my, winning means nothing, I tell you.