Sidelines
EY Kalani, Red-faced after Kahuku’s
red-letter day"Guess you ate your words? Kahuku has a lot of heart and our kids play with a lot of pride. It took us a while to get going but we proved we are the best team in Hawaii. No matter how hard we try we can never get the respect we deserve. Hopefully now people like you will recognize how good this Kahuku team really is. Go Raiders!
"Red Raider Fan for life."
>> "Kalani, for a public school guy, you think you would have learned something from last year's playoff."
>> "Well, Simpson, I guess Kahuku has proven you wrong again and again. It's sad to hear that a sports columnist will write such an article as the one you wrote. It was very unprofessional and I feel sorry for people like you. Our school will always hold our heads up high, we have pride in our kids and support them no matter what the outcome.
"We, the people from the North Shore, are proud that our kids and talents are all homegrown. Remember this, St. Louis' best defensive player (Taualai Fonoti) is one of our homegrown and we are proud of him.
"I hope this has taught a lesson on how careless your predictions are and hopefully it will make you realize that Kahuku does have the best high school football players and coaches in the state. Cal Lee will always be remembered and respected by our community and he earned it. So please, have some respect for our football team because they surely did earn it.
"'NO DOUBT'"
>> "How 'bout dem Raiders?
" 'Only one problem. The Red Raiders aren't putting it all together. They fumble, they jump offside, they make mistakes, they stop themselves. They're sometimes brilliant, other times bumbling. And all year long, it hasn't mattered. Against most teams, it doesn't matter. Kahuku's too good. So good, Kahuku can't even contain Kahuku.'
"I guess it still didn't matter ...
"Cheers."
>> "Bruddah Kalani,
"OK, OK, I was off by a touchdown or two ... (But, dang those fumbles!!)
"OK Bruddah, we are looking forward to your next article!!
"(Mahalo for responding and being a great sport!!)
"TALOFA!!"
OF COURSE BEFORE the game it wasn't all so easy:
>> "We'll see what kind of guru you are. Cal Lee is brilliant!"
>> "Mr. Simpson!
"Your article would not win you any votes on the N. Shore, but I love your article because it makes for great locker room and motivation stuff ... not that we need it!!! ... And when the smoke clears, I do hope your followup article contains the same 'emotion'!"
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com