Sports Watch
SAY it isn't so about Mark Tuinei. "If, in fact, it's true," said his brother Tom, about the report that Mark had used heroin prior to his death, "my brother made a bad choice and it turned out to be a costly mistake. It cost him his life." Many good
memories of
Tuinei remainBut, as Tom Tuinei added, "I'd appreciate it, if everyone would remember all the good that he did. It far outweighed the bad. My brother was a big man with an even bigger heart."
Many good memories of the former University of Hawaii star who went on to a 15-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, indeed, will remain indelibly with those who knew him.
Mark had been anxious to return home in time for Mother's Day, according to Tom.
"It's kind of ironic," Tom continued, "he didn't have any kids but I think he did have a lot of kids. He touched so many lives (of kids in Hawaii and Dallas)."
The news of Tuinei's death came as a shock to me. So it was a tonic for me to spend two days on the Big Island's Kohala Coast watching some 170 high school youngsters competing in the state golf tournament.
What made the Hawaii High School Athletic Association event so refreshingly different, was that there were no egos, no temper tantrums and no big salaries that seem to command so much attention in sports today.
Instead, there were just team camaraderie, good sportsmanship and trophies and individual medals.
WHERE else, too, but at a high school golf tournament, will you find that the only spectators are coaches and parents?
The players all walk and carry their own bags. They can ask anyone following them, "Did you see my ball?" if it strays into a hazard after a wayward shot.
Parents cannot go out of their way to look for a lost ball. They may point in a general direction, but only if first solicited by a player.
Refreshing, too, was the candor and youthful innocence of the contestants.
"What are you shooting?" Kaiser's Jamie Yoshimura was asked midway in her final round.
"I don't know. I'm not keeping score," she replied. Her scorecard is kept by another player in the foursome.
They total up and attest their respective scorecards when they're done with the round. Only then do they know who won, especially if the outcome is close as it was for both the boys' and girls' tournaments.
The winners - Kauai's Jamie Matsumura and Shayna Miyajima of Baldwin - each won by only one stroke.
IN case you hadn't noticed, the NBA season began last Saturday.
I know, the teams played a truncated 50-game regular-season. But who pays attention when more than half of the teams in the league qualified for the playoffs - the only thing that counts.
Just take the word of New Jersey Nets' center Jayson Williams. He recently stopped praying for recovery of a leg injury, explaining that it was of no use because "Jesus had other things to do," he said. "And Jesus doesn't watch the NBA until the playoffs, anyway."
This year's playoffs are especially intriguing because there's no Michael Jordan and the running of the Chicago Bulls anymore.
I see San Antonio beating the Utah Jazz - there's no more an oxymoronic team nickname - for the Western Conference title and then winning it all by knocking off Eastern winner Indiana in six games for the NBA championship.
I love this game when it's playoff time.