• Sports for the ages Sports for the ages By Duane Shimogawa – The Garden Island He’s about to reach a milestone and he doesn’t realize that this is as important to his family as it is to him. It’s
• Sports for the ages
Sports for the ages
By Duane Shimogawa – The Garden Island
He’s about to reach a milestone and he doesn’t realize that this is as important to his family as it is to him.
It’s a place where most people won’t venture or even see in their lifetimes. Yet, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have such a lively grandfather like Daniel Costa, who will be turning the rightful age of 80 this Wednesday, June 16.
The age difference is, by no suprise a considerable one, but when we sit down and talk, the age gap disappears and it’s because we always seem to talk about one subject that dominates the conversation: Sports!
From basketball to baseball, you name it, we’ll talk about it and it’s not just talk, it’s a connection that we have that has always drawn us together.
Sometimes, we’ll get into it and get so focused on the subject that we forget about everyone else in the room and continue to talk, just as if we were babbling in another language. It’s true and sometimes we disagree and sometimes we agree, but we have the same favorite sports teams.
We both love Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, Sid Fernandez and the New York Mets, and Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.
What seems to amaze me the most though, is that if we’re talking about something other than sports, there’s no doubt in my mind that the subject will gravitate towards sports sooner or later.
There’s always something that makes us both come back to talking about the latest sporting events or even about the teams we love and love to hate.
For instance, the Los Angeles Lakers is definitely the one team that we both love to hate and it’s obvious why we hate them.
The main reason, though is because of our love for the Boston Celtics and of course, one of the best basketball players of all-time, Larry Bird.
While the Celtics and Lakers have been foes for a while, recently, both teams have been going in opposite directions, which seems to burn up our insides whenever we see the nasty trend. It goes back to the days when Bird and Magic graced the court for their respective teams.
Although the Celtics have won the most NBA championships, the Lakers are creeping up from behind and that’s why this year’s NBA Finals is of keen interest to both of us.
You see, it’s not that we like the Pistons, instead it’s because we dislike the Lakers and their quest to catch up with the Celtics, so go Pistons!
This conversation has come up more often than not over the past couple of weeks and it does get heated at times, but it’s just talk and it’s these conversations that make me realize why I’m so lucky to be in his presence, as I’m actually witnessing something special and I wouldn’t trade it for the world or for my love of sports, for that matter.
