Sure, Filipinos may not dominate the limelight. I've accepted we won't have a national soccer team. Or an ice hockey star. But we do have two stars at the top of their games. And that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Manny Pacquiao is Pac-Man, the Fighting Pride of the Philippines. He holds 10 titles in 8 different weight classes. Pound-for-pound the best fighter of recent memory and possibly of all time. Oh, and he's a congressman. Don't filibuster this Filipino. Did you see the Margarito fight? Even after moving up all these weight classes, he was still 17 lbs lighter than his opponent (Pacquiao 148 lbs, Margarito 165 lbs.) and still managed to win unanimously.
Tim Lincecum is The Freak and The Franchise. He's 26 years old and already has 2 Cy Youngs under his belt (he won them back-to-back). He didn't win the Cy Young this year; instead, he managed to outduel the Cliff Lee twice to help the San Francisco Giants win the World Series. One point though: he's half Filipino. I'd like to think the Filipino half is what makes him excel.
Finally, I'm at FC Barcelona fan. Once David Villa was added to an already loaded mix featuring Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta to name a few, I was reading up on the history of FC Barcelona and came across perhaps their greatest striker. Born in the Philippines in 1896, Paulino Alcantara was the first Asian to play on a European team, debuting at age 16, and in his career scored a mind-boggling 357 goals in 357 games. He stopped playing soccer at age 31 to become a doctor. According to my brother, he skipped the 1920 Olympics to take his medical boards. He was also an international ping-pong champion.
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