DREAMS do come true. Some of our dreams
do come trueAt least, that's what Publisher's Clearinghouse keeps telling me. On Aug. 14, their Prize Patrol is supposed to be coming to my door with a check for $10 million.
My 11-year-old son believes it will happen. I like that confidence.
He also believed his Kailua American all-star team was going to the Little League World Series this year. I liked that determination, too.
Even though I told him he had a better chance of going to Williamsport than we did of going to the bank, it didn't deter his faith that both could -- and would -- happen. I like what baseball has taught him.
Perhaps this sounds like a replay of the "Field of Dreams" script, but baseball is all about what it is good and best in America. And in America's youth.
All around the state this month, the diamonds have been filled with baseball -- and softball -- players living up to the final line of the Little League Pledge that states "But win or lose, I will always try my best." It's a simple promise but one that should be kept daily by all of us.
My son's team didn't make it into this week's state tournament at Barbers Point, the winner of which will go on to the regional at San Bernardino, Calif. Interestingly, the regional championship game is scheduled for Aug. 14, guaranteeing that some dreams do come true.
P.S. to the Prize Patrol. We'll be home this time, but don't count on it next year. We're making other plans.
IT was like opening a present, not knowing what you would get. I didn't know what to expect when agreeing to host two 13-year-old players from the Hilo Juniors during the recent state baseball tournament.
Travis Chong and Mike Seto Jr. brought plenty of omiyage: two dozen papayas, Big Island chips, cookies and other treats, as well as a glimpse of what Hawaii's future will be.
It was a pleasant sight.
Two teenagers, straddling the bag between childhood and adulthood. A Nintendo joystick in hand one moment, a fishing pole the next.
Normal boys. Nice boys. Two reasons to believe that Hawaii is still the best place to raise children and watch them grow up.
One black Nike sock. Two wash rags. An Archie comic book. A new pair of slippers. This is what I'll be mailing back to the boys from Hilo.
As for the rest of what they left behind, I can only say thanks.
IT was with much sadness that I wrote the obituary for Nadine Kahanamoku in last Friday's paper. What a gracious lady.
We spoke infrequently, usually only during Olympic years when her husband's athletic prowess warranted revisiting. She never seemed to mind the intrusions into her precious scrapbook of memories.
It was a privilege to tell her that Duke had been voted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984 the night word was received at the Star-Bulletin. I'm just sorry that she never got the phone call she'd been waiting for decades to receive: that of the Duke Kahanamoku commemorative stamp being issued by the U.S. Postal System.
The stamp has been discussed for years, with petitions being circulated worldwide. Many thought it would have been released on what would have been Kahanamoku's 100th birthday in 1990 or during last year's centennial celebration of the Olympics.
Ann Beasley of the Huntington Beach (Calif.) International Surfing Museum said yesterday that the stamp passed Stage 1 in January and is probably two years away from being issued. Some 7,000 signatures have already been submitted to the Postmaster General in Washington, D.C., by HISM but Beasley encouraged those interested to continue to send postcards to the Postmaster General in support.
It will be a fitting tribute to both Duke and his wife.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.