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
I don’t normally write about anything having to do with intermediate school or JV sports, but when someone breaks a 31-year-old record in track and field it catches my attention. Madison Moku broke a record set in 1983 at the ILH championships. Moku, an eighth-grader at Hawaii Baptist, ran 200 meters in 26.13 in the finals Saturday at Punahou. Amy Hallett of St. Andrew’s Priory ran 26.7 (hand-timed) in 1983. Moku had run 26.71 in the trials.
A member of Al Chase’s family will throw out the first pitch at the University of Hawaii baseball game Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium, when the Rainbow Warriors host UC-Irvine in the first of a three-game series. The game is scheduled to start at 6:35 p.m. There will also be a moment of silence for Chase, the retired Star-Bulletin sportswriter who died last week of natural causes days short of his 72nd birthday. “Everybody got along with Al,” said […]
This is from Nanci Kreidman of the Domestic Violence Action Center (stoptheviolence.org), in response to Monday’s column about Al Noga’s induction to the University of Hawaii Sports Circle of Honor. Most of you already “get it,” but I encourage all to read her take on this: Aloha Dave, These are always very interesting escapades …. selecting individuals for recognition, celebration and appreciation for their talent. We have a ragged history with these selections. Heroes can be hard to find. The […]
Dave, Thank you for placing such a terrific perspective in print for all to ponder! I wholeheartedly agree with you. Al Noga was an amazing athlete; no question. I can hear the arguments about him serving time for his crimes of domestic violence but that doesn’t erase those crimes. It just means that he served his time for them. The victims of domestic violence live with those memories every single day. Just because the sentence is served by the perpetrator […]
Folks are wondering how Tony Tuioti, who was released as linebackers coach at the University of Hawaii after last season, ended up with the Cleveland Browns. I’m told the connection that helped Tuioti get his foot in the door is Mike Smith, the co-defensive coordinator at Texas Tech who spent a season coaching with Tuioti at UH. Smith played for the Browns’ new head coach, Mike Pettine, when Pettine was outside linebackers coach of the Baltimore Ravens in 2005. Regardless […]
I felt very fortunate to be in attendance at the inaugural enshrinement ceremony of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame on Thursday at the Hawaii Convention Center. Thanks to my friend Nate Jones for inviting me. What a tremendously successful and powerful event. It’s so impressive that so many people could marshall their resources in just a few months to make it happen. Kurt Gouveia, Olin Kreutz, Kevin Mawae, Ken Niumatalolo, Junior Seau, Jack Thompson and Herman Wedemeyer are all […]
The Seahawks were briefly favored in some opening lines yesterday, but the Broncos quickly took over as a 1-to-3 point favorite. I think the value bet at this point is to take the points because there is a strong general public anti-Seahawks (Richard Sherman) and pro-Broncos (Peyton Manning) sentiment, and I believe that is reflected in the early wagering. If I were a betting person in a place legal to do it I’d probably go heavy on the money line […]
A half-hour interview with Kurt Suzuki provided lots of interesting stuff that couldn’t fit into today’s column. Here’s the rest of it: On being the right fit for Major League Baseball as a defense-first catcher in the post-steroids small-ball era: “From a player’s standpoint (low-scoring) games become a technical match up where every little detail could come into play in determining the outcome. In a 3-2 game, a pitching and defense matchup, teams have to figure out ways to manufacture […]