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Three historic bouts make
Pac-Man year's top athlete
of TheColumnists.com
Now that it's Christmastime, let’s unwrap two items under the tree.
Hmmm. This one looks big. Oh, college bowls. Must be a gag gift. I mean, these aren’t games; they’re exhibitions. Until college football gets with it and trades bowls for playoffs, you can have ’em.
Let’s see. This other one looks cool.
Athlete of the year! Now we’re talkin’. Who’s
the choice for 2008? Just what I thought: Manny Pacquiao.
Call him Pac-Man. The Fightin’ Filipino. The Main Event.
The No. 1 Sportsman Right Now. They all fit.
Because even if you can’t pronounce or spell his name, Pacquiao was a giant this year. Even at 5 feet 6.
He won three boxing matches. Two gave him titles. The third gave him mass appeal in America with the way he hammered Oscar De La Hoya.
Pac-Man was already Mr. Pound for Pound. After his Oscar night, no one messes with him.
He certainly runs rings around sports, owning three of 2008’s months. Here’s a look at all 12:
January:
Bode Miller. If boxing is the scariest sport, skiing stands second.
At least that’s what Playboy once proclaimed. And
I buy it. The idea, not the mag anymore. So applaud Bode Miller
for his guts and speed. He finished first in two downhill races
this month on the way to the overall World Cup title. Amazing
act by the Beast of Easton, N.H.
February: Eli Manning. Eli was coming, all right. And the big
cash lost. His Giants were gigantic underdogs in the Super Bowl.
I figured the perfect Patriots would swat his gnats. Then Manning
manhandled them. Pulled a Houdini by escaping and making his
pass stick to David Tyree’s helmet. Pulled out a 17-14 triumph.
Pulled the biggest Supe upset sinceanother New Yorker--Broadway
Joe.
March:
Pacquiao. Pac-Man did a number on Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez.
And raised his arm as WBC superfeatherweight champ, making him
the first Filipino with belts in three weight classes. This made
sure another Pacquiao tag stuck: the Mexicutioner.
April:
Mario Chalmers. This Kansas guard--who has since left to play
for the Miami Heat--already is deep in college basketball lore.
His trey with two seconds left capped an insane comeback for
the Jayhawks in the NCAA title game. After they won it in overtime
over Memphis, Chalmers collected his Final Four MVP. The biggest
name out of Alaska--until Sarah Palin.
May: Kobe Bryant. He shot the Lakers deep in the NBA playoffs for the first time in four years. No one would stop him. Until the Celtics in the coming month.
June:
Pacquiao. His WBC lightweight title triumph gave him a belt in
a fourth weight division--an Asian record. This time his victim
was Chicago’s David Diaz.
July:
Rafa Nadal. This was his Win-bledon, a triumph for the ages.
And his age is just 22. He faced Roger Federer, the can’t-miss
Swiss aiming for a sixth straight All England trophy. Well, Fed
missed, thanks to Nadal’s 9-7 racket in the fifth set.
August:
Michael Phelps. Eight golds in swimming. In one Olympics. Call
it Peking Pluck. Call it waving bye to Mark Spitz and his seven
sweep at the 1972 Munich Games.
September: James Harrison. The mettle behind the Steelers’
Heavy Metal defense. This linebacker simply crushes quarterbacks,
and he was piling up sacks in Pittsburgh’s title-seeking
season. He’s gotta be the baddest weapon out of Kent State
since the guns of 1970.
October:
Ryan Howard. The big first baseman was simply the most valuable
baseballer. Don’t give me this Albert Pujols nonsense. All
he had in common with Howard was first base. While playing on
the fourth-place Cardinals. Howard powered the Phillies past
the Mets at crunch time. And jacked three homers in Philly’s
rout of Tampa Bay in the World Series.
November:
LaBron James. For us Laker fans, this is tough to admit. But
Kobe isn’t king of the NBA. James is. He’s simply a
MAN: Muscular, Armed, Nasty. By this month he had the Cavs charging
toward the top of the league. Watch him bash Boston in the playoffs.
December: Pacquiao. Again. Starring in Vegas’ biggest
show - Let ’Er Rip on the Strip. By the time the Filipino
was finished fightin’ De La Hoya--at yet another division.
welterweight--HBO’s Jim Lampley was crowning Pac-Man the
future prez of the Philippines.
Nah, that’s as possible as America voting in a guy with Obama for a surname.
©2008 by Bucky Fox. This column first posted Dec. 22, 2008.
TO ACCESS BUCKY FOX'S ARCHIVE OF COLUMNS ON THIS SITE, CLICK HERE: FOX ARCHIVE.
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