Corner of Whatever

That’s completely awesome that one of my former bosses has been recommended to become the new athletic director to the University of Hawai’i. Announced yesterday on the Honolulu Advertiser, the name of the Executive Director of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl has been given to the Board of Regents by the Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw to replace fired AD Herman Frazier.

I think this is a really great step for a rebuilding year by the Warriors.  They’ve already screwed up the football program with the departure of great coach June Jones to SMU. No money is spent on improving infrastructure so now the state legislature is working to change that (but let’s not “work at it”, but actually do something) after Heisman finalist Colt Brennan complained about the state of the equipment and facilities. They took forever to get the 2007 and 2008 football schedule together. And let’s not forget the other coaches on the roster. Why did they procrastinate with Randy Wallace’s successor? They couldn’t have planned for this occasion?

So now they’ve been moving forward. They got an interim AD who’s done one helluva job securing a local favorite for head coach of the football program. McMackin is doing one helluva job recruiting with a truncated timeframe since he came on board and has an outstanding staff, including fan favorite Nick Rolovich, the Lee brothers, and many more. I’m not surprised by Jim Donovan’s selection nomination since he knows how things work at UH and is sure to straighten things out and bring prestige back to the university’s athletic program. He’s really smart, a former Warrior himself, and I’ll be rooting for the Warriors even more in the coming season.

So Board of Regents, don’t screw this one up. He’s been nominated. Make it official and let’s keep moving forward.

Popularity: 51% [?]

School, Sports Herman Frazier, Jim Donovan, June Jones, UH Manoa, University of Hawaii, Virginia Hinshaw

Yes, you’re not allowed to say the name of the event going on in about an hour because the big bad wolf of the NFL will hunt you down with a copyright infringement and trademark violation order and sue you for all you’re worth. So it’s the “Big Game”.

Anyways, popped on the TV and saw Alicia Keyes singing songs. I must say that it’s quite amusing to watch singers perform during the Big Game. The first couple of songs that Alicia sang you could tell were straight from her lips, but the last song that she sang…the hit song “No One” definitely seemed that it was lip-synched. Basically she pulled a Milli Vanili. She said something prior to singing the song and her voice was raspy, but then she starts singing No One and it’s clear and practically flawless…almost like it was taken from a studio recording and playing over the speakers. Wait…it was!

And what’s up with FOX putting on the “biggest tailgate party in the world”. Every game that has a tailgate says the same thing, dammit. so you have Ryan Seacrest hosting this portion of the pre-game and you have Hugh Laurie, Lawrence Fishburne, and Willie Nelson with Sara Evans performing? Oh come on! That’s absolutely ridiculous. And you close off the broadcast with John Travolta who is rooting for the New York Giants but he’s from Boston? Wow…he can’t really pick a reason…I can’t remember what else he said, but it just didn’t seem too believeable.

Counting down the clock to less than 30 minutes…it’ll be a good game. Eager to see the first commercial of the game. Will it be Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Ford, or a new company. Place your bets.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Sports Super Bowl

Honestly, I’d love for June Jones to stay. I think he’s the greatest coach I’ve seen at UH and it really sucks to see him leave especially after all the crap the athletic department has put him through. The university has been doing so well these past few years and to screw this up by not helping to compromise on some of the things that June Jones wanted, that’s just absurd and stupid. Wasn’t there $25 million in infrastructure work that the state allowed to be done? Can’t we use those on the athletic facility? What ever happened to the $4 million that UH was supposed to get from the Sugar Bowl? Did that go to fill the coffers of the athletic department and not be returned to help fix the facilities? More disclosure is needed people!

Here’s just some of the reports of the fallout from June Jones’s resignation…it’s much worse: some of his assistants (possibly up to six) will leave UH to join him at SMU if he takes the job. Great, so now our football coaching staff is now seriously wounded and we have 8 months to hire a new coach (could take that long just to select one), hired new staff members, and work on rebuilding a decimated team right now (with Devone Bess gone and possibly others).

This is an interesting read from the Honolulu Advertiser:

Read more…

Popularity: 55% [?]

School, Sports Herman Fraizer, Honolulu Advertiser, June Jones, University of Hawaii

As taken from the Honolulu Advertiser today, Coach June Jones, one of the best coaches the University of Hawai’i has had in its history tendered his resignation earlier today. Why? Well according to the article, he cites that there is a lack of loyalty & commitment by the UH athletic department among other things.

Are you serious? The reason is because the athletic department doesn’t support the football coach? Is Herman Fraizer a complete idiot?!? You can’t just diss the coach of one of the university’s biggest sports program! Why would you wait until after the Sugar Bowl to then discuss a new contract? Did the athletic director not know that the football team has been doing well? Was the fact that out of the nine years June Jones has been coaching, a huge majority has been a winning season resulting in several bowl appearances, often consecutively? Did this escape his sight?

Sure, the university doesn’t have a lot of money compared to major conference teams to spend on its infrastructure, but you need to make sure your team knows that you care about it in order to make them more successful and the best the university has to offer. The fact that the athletic department let things slide shows that the university is sliding back to where it was years ago before they received a lot more autonomy and funding from the state.

Shame on you Herman Fraizer…you’ve done a BAD thing. Stop thinking small and more long-term. You screwed up with the ticket distribution system for the Sugar Bowl. How could you expect Hawaii fans not to go to New Orleans to support the team? You’ve been sabatoging our team for a while now…are you a Dobelle hire? You need to do better…shape up…but alas, you’ve screwed up BIG time here. June Jones may have left us. It’s too late for you. This is unforgivable…

Popularity: 38% [?]

School, Sports Football, Herman Fraizer, Honolulu Advertiser, June Jones, University of Hawaii

So tonight was supposed to be sweet, but wound up giving the people of Hawaii a bitter taste. We came into the game confident that we’ll give Georgia a run for its money, but alas, this was not to be the night. I’m not embarrassed at the score or that we lost. It would have been great if we won, but you know, the SEC is a tough conference and any team we could have played would have given us a real run for our money. Sure, I’ll admit we had a pretty easy schedule, but UH did have a couple of hard games on our schedule - in our comparison. And it’s not as if we’ve screwed anyone out of a bowl bid. Frankly, Georgia wasn’t pissed at us, but rather they were angry at the fact they were passed over for the BCS championship.

But anyways, went to the Sugar Bowl tonight and it was hella packed. Walked through security and got stopped because they thought the Sony Cybershot 717 camera was a video camera or a camera with a detachable lens. Uh, okay, so I take it out of the bag and show it to the lady at security. You look at it and tell me if it looks like it’s detachable. Well after a few minutes, I managed to get it passed security and found my seat. Sure, I had the 500 level seat, but it wasn’t that bad. It was REALLY good seating and using the 717 camera zoom, I think I got some good shots. I’ll post some video that I have from there on YouTube eventually.

But for now, the game was not even close, unfortunately. We did score a touchdown in the second half so that was rather refreshing. It’s alright though…first chance at a BCS game so we made some achievements. Sadly the score wound up being 41-10. Good job Warriors…thanks for a great season.

Update (1/2/2008): Perhaps fitting of the people of Hawaii, at the end of the game, the UH marching band led the ~15,000 contingent of UH fans and supporters in a rousing rendition of Hawai’i Ponoi and the playing of the UH alma mater. Truly a good way to cap off a GREAT season. Go Warriors!

Popularity: 39% [?]

Sports, Sugar Bowl, Travel New Orleans, Sugar Bowl, University of Hawaii