Manny Pacquiao is Corrupting Your Children

Don’t let that smile fool you…

I’m not really huge into politics. I understand the importance of them, and I try to pay attention, but often the gimmicks and BS tactics and their ability to work on the general public turn me off. For example, in California, if they want to turn you off something…they’ll tell your it’ll have a negative effect on your kids. Gays getting married? You can’t allow that to happen…then teachers will be forced to teach your kids about homosexual marriage. That’s funny…I don’t remember teachers teaching me about heterosexual marriage. Legalization of Marijuana? Don’t support that…then your kid’s bus driver will come to work high, crash, and injure or kill your kid. Odd…what’s stops the kid’s bus driver from coming to work drunk? All the while, black baptists churches and Mormon groups from Utah (all in our Kool-Aid) aren’t pushing any movements to take Jersey Shore off the air.

I love what the man Manny Pacquiao himself stands for. To see the pride in the eyes of Filipinos when they talk about him…it’s beautiful. He’s everything for a country that has next to nothing. He stands in the streets with his people and hands out money to the less fortunate. Manny Pacquiao NEVER has to go back to the Philippines. He has enough wealth to live here in America like most American’s will never be able to. Still, he goes back to his country, participates in politics, and gives his people something to shoot for. He’s the pride of his nation in an era where Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown have been replaced with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. While all of this is true, Manny Pacquiao the boxer, regardless of what the media says, or in most cases, doesn’t say, is a different story.

               I often wonder what would have happened if it had been Floyd Mayweather that refused to take any form of drug test. Sure, boxing has it’s form of testing in place…but if someone suggested they take a stricter form of drug test, and Floyd Mayweather refused, whether the testing was required testing or not…how would people, especially the boxing media, react? Boxing is often accused of….no, fuck it, let’s be honest, boxing is pretty damn dirty. You have boxers doped up, boxer’s with foreign materials stashed in their gloves, shady promoters, boxing is a shadow of it’s former self. While a lot of this stuff has been around for awhile, in the days of old, boxing had superstars that rose above all the crooked back-alley, dirty gym issues.  Nobody noticed any of that stuff while greats like the Muhammad Ali, George Forman, or the late,great Joe Frazier were around. With the Russian and personality-less Klitschko brothers running the knockout heavy heavy-weight division into the ground with their dominance, boxing has been reliant upon Mayweather and Pacquiao to keep it relevant to the mainstream which is beginning to find mixed martial arts, namely UFC, with it’s personalities, heavily skilled fighters, and violence, a lot more entertaining. When Mayweather brought the request forward that Pacquiao take Olympic drug testing, the drug testing used by the greatest athletes to compete on the world stage, Pacquiao declined. In turn, the media has painted the picture that Mayweather is ducking the fight….excuse me? While it can be debated whether or not Mayweather truly wants to fight Pacquiao, what can’t be debated is Pacquiao ducked that drug test. With the opportunity to prove he’s the greatest alive, by defeating the 42-0 Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao declined due to a drug test..what does that say to your kids.

See, I brought up kids because sports plays many roles. Sports is entertainment, and as that, it’s a business. Huge amounts of money are made off activities we participate in as kids. Other than the athletes, thousands of people are getting paid off sports around the world. From the greedy ass owners in the NBA, the coaches of college teams which don’t pay the kids, the doctors giving out “medications”, the Buscones getting paid off the talents of middle school baseball players in the Dominican Republic, even the arena hot dog guys…who are currently making no money because of the NBA lockout…lots of money is made. Before it’s a business though…in most cases in America at least, sports teaches kids lessons. Responsibility, respect, teamwork, sports echoes a lot of the things parents should be teaching at home, which will help prepare kids for the real-world, whether they go on to be professional athletes or not. What does Manny Pacquiao’s reluctance to take Olympic drug testing tell kids? What does the media’s avoidance of the issue say? Better yet, what does Manny Pacquiao’s recent victory over Juan Miguel Marquez say to kids? I’ve seen the fight. At best for Manny, it was a draw. However, from what I, and most saw, Manny lost. Sure, boxing was operating in it’s best interest attempting to keep Manny’s recent record flawless to hype up a possible Manny-Mayweather fight, but look at it from Marquez’s stand point. As a kid, you work hard to become great. You watch all the legends who came before you, and aspire to stand in the same spots they’ve stood. For the third time , you face a man who they now claim to be the best out. You train hard, and when given the opportunity, you get in the ring and show the results of your hard work. You beat his ass. You do everything but knock him out. In the end…you lose. You worked hard just like he did, you smiled just like he did, hell, you even fought against Mayweather. You hit harder, you defended better, but you lost. What does that say to kids?

As someone who once aspired to be in the media, the sport’s media’s reluctance to stand out strongly on either of the above mentioned issues is disheartening. Sure boxing is acting in it’s best interest, but you mean to tell me NOBODY in the media game questions Manny’s reluctance to take the drug test? I’ve heard Stephen A. Smith lightly question it, but considering the tidal wave raised over Barry Bonds and HGH (which, was taken no where near as serious for Mark McGwire) the fact nobody in the media stands up strongly about the issue is fishy.After my brief period spent in the media and the bullshit I dealt with while involved, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

“The man I worked for had one of the biggest companies in New York City. He didn’t own his own company. White man owned it, so they owned him. Nobody owns me, though”
-Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas in “American Gangster”