JGL Eye

By Joseph G. Lariosa


C HICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Newspaper headline writers call President Obama simply as “Bam” for short as John F. Kennedy is JFK or Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is GMA or Erap for Joseph Estrada.

But in a Chicago hotel where the Miami Heat team is billeted, hotel employes call the Miami Heat team coach Erik Spoelstra as “Manny Pacquiao.”

Mr. Spoelstra, the head coach of the surging Miami Heat, may not be aware of it that hotel employes call him by the name of the Philippine boxing world champion.

But a hotel employee told me that at one time when he had the chance, he greeted Mr. Spoelstra as “Manny Pacquiao” and the head coach was described as blushing and smiling.

Nobody in the hotel knows how the “Manny Pacquiao” nickname for Mr. Spoelstra came to be. Mr. Spoelstra, at six-foot-one, is too tall for Manny, who is five-foot-six. Maybe their looks or the color of their skin might give it away. Nobody knows.

But I have a hunch, Mr. Spoelstra also wants to have a heart of a world champion, like Manny Pacquiao.

In my recent interview with Mr. Spoelstra, he admitted that “I am a Manny Pacquiao fan. I hope we are still playing in the NBA playoffs when Manny meets Ricky Hatton” (at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, May 2nd) and “I would love to watch the fight on television.”

If Miami Heat, now with a 2-1 first-round playoffs record lead over Atlanta Hawks, will beat the Hawks on Monday, April 27, and close it out on Wednesday, April 29, they might be idle and will be waiting for their next round opponent by the time Pacquiao faces Hatton and Mr. Spoelstra should have an opportunity to watch the boxing fight on Saturday, May 2nd.