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Thursday, February 26, 2004
Oyson: Yao for president
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter punch
A number of public officials in the Philippines were or have been elected to public office in the last four decades because of cult, personalities and showbiz charisma. We had Rogelio dela Rosa, Eddie Ilarde, Joseph Estrada , Ramon Revilla, Tito Sotto, Loren Legarda and Robert Jaworski.
De la Rosa was a movie matinee idol in the forties and fifties, Ilarde, Legarda, Estrada, Revilla, and Sotto are showbiz personalities, while Jaworski is a living basketball icon. They parlayed their popularity and fame through broadcasting and the movies to get themselves elected into the once-august halls of the Philippine Senate at one time or another.
ACTORS. Jaworksi became senator because of his dexterity on the basketball court. Now, Jinggoy Estrada, Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla feel that they too should also be in the same stature as Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Sr., Manuel Briones, Amang Rodriguez, Claro M. Recto, Gil Puyat, Carlos P. Garcia, Lorenzo Sumulong, Emmanuel Pelaez, Ferdinand Marcos, Marcelo Fernan and many others.
They are candidates for senator in the May 10 national elections. Except for easy name recall, Jinggoy, Lito and Bong have nothing much to offer to the electorate except that they are actors. We concede that Jinggoy was once a municipal mayor, while Lapid rose to become a provincial governor of Pampanga.
CLASSIC OT. If elections in China were based on cult and personalities, NBA All-Star Yao Ming would win any political office hands down. And he is only a basketball player. But what an NBA player he is! In less than two seasons, he has electrified world basketball. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant of are losing their sheen and gloss to this 7-foot-5 Chinese behemoth. He can run like a gazelle, rebound like a tarpaulin artist, make passes and assists and score when needed most by the Houston Rockets.
To win in China politics Yao does not need to sing and dance like many senatorial hopefuls. All he has to do is to introduce his name and then show the last three overtimes of Houston’s latest game against the Atlanta Hawks at its homecourt at the Toyota Center last Monday. It was a classic. It went into three overtime thrillers, as he and teammate Steve Francis matched Atlanta shot for shot.
GREATEST GAME. I watched the replay on IBC-13 for almost three hours way past midnight. Yao played probably the greatest game of his life as the Rockets repeatedly turned back every Atlanta siege to win, 123-121. Yao was unstoppable, scoring a career-high 41 points, eight in the three OTs. He had 16 rebounds and seven assists. He shot 11-of-13 on free throws.
He endured the body checks thrown at him. It was a miracle that he lasted for a full 50 minutes without fouling out in what is considered by far the longest NBA game since the 2000-2001 season. I enjoyed watching every minute of the three overtimes, though it was already way past my bedtime. The extensions were forced by a rain of 3-pointers in the dying seconds. We counted seven of them. Yao Ming for president. Of China.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I was tired to the point I felt numb. But I just had to keep going.” - NBA star Yao Ming, on the game against Atlanta
(mno@sunstar.com.ph)
(February 26, 2004 issue)
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