I could almost swear it was Steve Dilbeck.

Well, no, there was no reason Steve Dilbeck should be striding along as I caught up to him on the track at Victoria Park. I don’t think he’s been to Hong Kong, or intends to go.

But it could have been him.

Instead, it was his Asian semi-twin.

Who is Steve Dilbeck? Most readers of this site already know that one. The guy who worked with me in San Bernardino from 1978 or so until 1999, when he went to the L.A. Daily News, where he is their surviving sports columnist. We worked together quite a bit even after he went to the LADN. Notably at the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Olympics.

So, anyway, I’m chugging along, and up ahead of me is … somebody who could be Steve Dilbeck.

He was about the right height. With a swath of gray hair wrapped around the back of his head. He appeared to be about the right age. Mid-50s.

Bandy-legged. More than Steve is, but it wasn’t completely off the charts.

It was the way he carried himself that made this guy remind me of Dilbeck.

Head canted to the right. Right shoulder a bit lower than his left. Anyone who has been around Steve knows that is what he looks like, too.

The guy was doing the Dilbeck Strut. A sort of modified Pimp Walk. A rolling motion with quite a bit of left and right. Like a guy who just came ashore after sailing around the world.

There’s more.

Like Dilbeck, this guy’s head and shoulders were pulled back proudly. As if his center of gravity was about four inches behind his spine.

I’m telling you, it was eerie. It could have been Dilbeck.

When I finished, and Steve’s Twin came around the next time, well, he had a round face, like Stevie, but that was about it. Though he did make a gesture with his left hand — thrusting out his arm, palm up, as Steve often does when he is making a point.

So, separated at birth — but only if you’re watching from behind.

And it got me to thinking about whether this Chinese guy really did look like Steve Dilbeck or whether, after a time, you begin to think all sorts of random people look like guys you know.  Whether you try to force them into some mold.

Perhaps I will think I see Mike Davis, on the walk home to the apartment tonight. Maybe I will see Gregg Patton in the hot-pot restaurant across the way.

Or think I have.

Perhaps, when you move from someplace you know well to the other side of the world … you begin to see things that aren’t there, after a time.

I’ll have to think about this some more.

But that Chinese guy … from behind, it could have been Steve, doing the Dilbeck Strut.