Star-Advertiser special projects reporter Dave Reardon discusses any and all athletics issues, with a special focus on Hawaii’s athletes and teams.
About the blog host
Dave Reardon is a sports projects reporter for the Star-Advertiser. The Honolulu native and alumnus of Pearl City High, Northwestern University and the University of Hawaii started as a copyboy and prep football stringer at the Star-Bulletin in 1981 and has covered the island sports scene uninterrupted since, except for college and two years at the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun. Dave has also launched a side career in teaching. Follow him on Twitter @dave_reardon
When Bob Welch died at age 57 this week, it brought back the memory that I was a fan of his. And I really couldn’t remember why; he was a Dodger, and I never was a Dodgers fan. Then, when reading this story in the New York Times, I remembered … his early moment of glory against the Yankees and Reggie Jackson in 1978 — the year the Yankees derailed the Red Sox in particularly excruciating fashion (the Bucky Dent […]
At the end of Friday’s column I asked that if anyone had ideas about how to solve the fiscal problems at University of Hawaii athletics to share them. Some of you took me up on it: Dear David: Thank you for your article in this morning’s Star Advertiser (“No Easy Answers to UH’s Athletic Budget Troubles”). I have a few comments: 1. UH, the university, and the athletic department in particular, is experiencing what every family, business and other enterprise in Hawaii is […]
Kamehameha Schools Maui isn’t what most people would call an athletic powerhouse — not yet, anyway. But if helping student-athletes to continue competing in their sports in college is a barometer of success — and I think it certainly should be — this school has got it going on. According to figures from Kamehameha spokesman Pakalani Bello, a whopping 17.5 percent of the Pukalani campus’ 120 seniors (that 120 includes 43 who did not play a varsity sport) have signed […]
You will get more of my thoughts on the University of Hawaii baseball team’s just-completed season in Monday’s column in the paper. Here’s what didn’t make it into the column due to length: It is telling that the four pitchers who started 10 or more games are the four team leaders in ERA. The bullpen never got it together with any consistency. The Fire Mike Trapasso crowd (of which I was once a card-carrying member) doesn’t take a couple of […]
If I were walking down the street and encountered someone wearing a hoodie, of any race, I wouldn’t cross the street to avoid him or her. Same if it were someone with tattoos and a bald head. Would my guard be elevated? Perhaps. His examples were clunky, but I think what Mark Cuban said Thursday regarding racism was honest and universal. He related a lot of things many of us think, but don’t have the courage to say. The awkwardness […]
From a reader who requests anonymity: To me, your recent writing points to UH becoming a D-II school (e.g. UH can’t even do a little bending of the rules and get away with it, the travel costs associated with D-I schools limit many scheduling possibilities, and NCAA investigations could limit recruiting success). In addition, the failure of the football team to recruit more than a few local blue chip players over the last several years shows that UH has made little progress in […]
The Hawaii home football games against Washington (Aug. 30) and Oregon State (Sep. 6) and road games at San Diego State (Oct. 18) and Colorado State (Nov. 8) are slated for national television, according to a release today from the Mountain West. The Colorado State game is scheduled for ESPN Networks the others are on CBSSN.
… How about helping out the University of Hawaii athletic department? The Hawaii Tourism Authority gives the NFL $4 million a year for the rights to the Pro Bowl. With the Pro Bowl going to Arizona for next year, surely the HTA can now allocate a sizable portion of that to UH, as well as the other college athletic departments. How about some kokua for Brigham Young-Hawaii, too? Maybe help save the Seasiders, who announced they plan to shutdown intercollegiate […]