• Finally, the finals are here Finally, the finals are here By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island Even as a big basketball fan, it was hard to watch the NBA regular season this year, but probably the two
• Finally, the finals are here
Finally, the finals are here
By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island
Even as a big basketball fan, it was hard to watch the NBA regular season this year, but probably the two most fundamentally sound squads made it to the end.
The defending champion Detroit Pistons almost didn’t make it back to the promised land and it was almost a fairytale ending for Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat.
But probably the happiest person of all is Kobe Bryant who thought he could win the NBA title all by himself, without the services of Shaq, who was shipped off to Miami.
The city of Los Angeles is also very happy for the Detroit Pistons and their second straight NBA Finals appearance.
Kaua‘i, who has probably the secondmost Lakers’ fans other than Los Angeles itself, also came away from Monday’s result with a big smile.
Yukie DeSilva ( ) and her family are huge Lakers fans and the first thing she mentioned to me as I walked through the door at work was about the Miami loss.
My guess is that hardly anyone on Kaua‘i will care who wins the NBA title this year, because it doesn’t involve the overwhelmingly popular Lakers squad, who remains home watching the Finals on TV instead of playing in it.
But for Paul C. Curtis (The Garden Island Associate Editor), a Michigan State University graduate, the Finals are as good a free lunch with “his” Detroit Pistons going for their second title in as many years.
I’ll be rootin’ for the San Antonio Spurs, but not because I’ll get a free lunch from Curtis if they win. Instead, I wanted Shaq and the Heat to win it all this year, just to prove to the Lakers that O’Neal can win without the services of Kobe Bryant who will never win another title, unless Shaq comes back, even if Phil Jackson comes out of hiding from the depths of the Montana molehills.
Talking about the end of the NBA season got me started on the NFL season, which seems to be the favorite for most Kaua‘i residents.
Ricky Carveiro, admittedly the biggest Dallas Cowboys fan on the island, can’t wait for the NFL season to start.
Although the ‘Boys might not rise from the ashes this season, it’s just the routine of getting up early in the morning or sitting back with some pupus (refreshments) on Monday nights that gets Carveiro in the mood.
And as a reminder, this year will be the last time you’ll be seeing Monday Night Football on ABC (channel 4) and more importantly, you won’t be calling it Monday Night Football anymore, as ESPN takes over the broadcast, which will start in the afternoon, live, as opposed to tape delay (no more “close your eyes time).
As the summer season streaks along, it only reminds me of watching Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and Kansas City Royals baseball games.
If you’ve gone to watch a Major League Baseball game, then you know what I’m talking about when I say that there’s nothing quite like it.
Edmund Acoba took his crew of kids, along with his wife, Holly, a fellow Central Washington graduate, to a Mariner baseball game last year.
Tom Finnegan (The Garden Island staff writer) also knows the atmosphere well. The biggest Mets fan on the island, besides the Yates family, grew up in New York and still remains a huge blue and orange fan.
Todd A. Vines (Essential Kaua‘i), a Seattle transplant, has seen his share of Mariners games and we both had garlic fries withdrawals when talking about Safeco Field, but we both also came to the conclusion that we probably watched about 10 minutes of the game, with the rest of the time enjoying the ballpark and its many attractions.
