Family talks trash before Super Bowl
ARNOLD: Seven-year-old Eric Kostick apparently has no interest in an inheritance.
The second-grader at Greenwald Elementary School recently has been walking around his family's Woodmont Avenue house telling his father, Shawn Kostick, things such as, "We're gonna kick your butt."
Shawn keeps a level head about the situation, however, saying, "It's all in good fun." He can say that because his son is teasing him about the Oakland Raiders potentially losing the Super Bowl on Sunday to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Shawn, 32, has been a lifelong Raiders fan despite being a native of the Valley, where people bleed black and gold for the Steelers. Eric fell in love with the Bucs three years ago. Both said they have no interest in the hometown Steelers.
The two have been trash-talking since Sunday when the Raiders and Bucs won their respective play-off games to clinch Super Bowl berths.
"I've always been a Raiders fan," Shawn said. "I remember watching them when (John) Madden was their coach. I've liked them since I was a kid."
He likes the team so much that he painted his family's basement in Raiders black and silver in March, covering the walls with various team paraphernalia and putting Raiders seat covers on the bar stools.
Friends of Shawn's — Steelers fans — helped put the room together, Shawn said.
Friends and family refer to the basement as "The Raiders Room." Shawn refers to it more affectionately as "The Black Hole."
For added effect at game time, Shawn turns on his fog machine.
"He walks into the room like he's one of the players," joked Shawn's wife, Michelle Kostick, 29.
There to watch Shawn make his game-time appearance on Sundays are a handful of other, local Raiders fans.
"If I didn't know (Shawn), I'd say he was crazy," said Lester Kemp, New Kensington-Arnold School Board member and Raiders fanatic.
Kemp and his family will be among the dozen or so people at the Kostick house Sunday to watch the big game.
After the game, the group plans to proudly display a Raiders flag in front of the house. It will remain in safekeeping during the game, because, "The Raiders always lose when we put the flag out beforehand," Shawn said.
"(The Raiders) wouldn't even be in the Super Bowl if (the Steelers) hadn't been cheated," said Aaron Martin, a Kostick family friend who hangs out with the Raiders gang despite being a Steelers fan.
Eric Kostick, meanwhile, will not get to watch the Super Bowl with the Raiders contingent.
"(Eric) is going to his grandparents' house," Michelle Kostick said.
Eric maintains that after Sunday, however, he will have leverage for getting his own team room. Until then, he's content to trash-talk with his father.
"Oakland stinks and they're gonna get their butts whooped," Eric says with an air of certainty — so much so that he egged his father on to bet on the game.
Eric predicted the Bucs will win 31-28. His father said the Raiders will dominate the game and will win 31-17.
"We'll be happy when all this trash-talking is over," Michelle said.
