Making memories
When it comes to professions, sports reporters evoke as much sympathy as lawyers and the kiosk people who want to help you lotion away your constipated-wrinkled look. Yep, Pro Bowl week is difficult for reporters who have to go through TSA-like checks, chase around players who don’t want to be chased, and then have to take orders from rental guards who say such things as: “Step back … no, I said step back … no, not that far back …” And, nope, reporters shouldn’t be pitied because we get to cover one of the best sporting events Hawaii has to offer.
Best?
Of course.
Even without participants from the final-four teams, there were more than enough marquee players. It doesn’t even matter that the Pro Bowl provided as much flopping as a Heat-Spurs game. The Pro Bowl is an event in a town that doesn’t have many events.
The shortcomings don’t matter. That’s why the “Lion King” sells out for more than a month despite not having the original Broadway cast. That’s why Journey packs the Blaisdell despite Steve Perry not being on lead vocals. In the hanabata days, my uncle took us to see the Globetrotters at the HIC. There was “Sweet Georgia Brown” on the speakers, and confetti in the water bucket but … where was Meadowlark? Where was Curly? I’m not sure that was the real Washington Generals. But for two hours on a Saturday, none of that mattered. We had fun, ate and laughed until our bellies ached, and cherished the memories.
Maybe that’s why many will miss the Pro Bowl , at least for a year.
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A long, long time ago, I was at a concert, sitting near a guy who cupped his ears and complained: “Why does it have to be so loud?”
The past two years, I was that guy.
UH football practices were that loud. It wasn’t the music, it was the constant yelling.
But this spring, the volume has been turned down. Maybe it’s because there’s more teaching. Maybe it’s because it took that long to impose ground rules such as tightening chinstraps, being punctual, not repeating mistakes. (The best way to keep parents from nagging is to keep your room clean and take out the garbage.)
Coach Norm Chow is correct that this has been the most efficient of his three UH spring practices.
It’s also the quietest.
* * * * *
Click below for videos of yesterday’s offense-defense battle:
* * * * *
How do we know tonight’s volleyball match is important?
Assistant coach Milan Zarkovic packed his battle hat for the trip to Malibu:
Foist, where is everybody, oh yeah, it’s 1:45 in Alabama, everyone must be sleeping.
Was that Benny fonua fighting? With who? On the news
2. Aloha all–I’ll keep it brief as I have been repremainded. My own Pro Bowl story, was friends of mines at UH, local gals who were around my age, that whenever the Pro Bowl came into town, well, lets just say they had NFL boyfriends for the week–ahem, clear my throat–Eric Dickerson and Henry Ellard….??? (I will not name names)
My other Pro Bowl story is, probably 15-16 years ago, when I was still working out, like I was going to walk-on some place…lol Anywho, I was back home for work, staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, at it was also the host hotel for the Pro Bowl players. I had just come home from surfing, and was valet parking the car, when about 3-4 kids run to me on the valet curb. I was still in surf trunk, sans t-short, and the kids blurted out ” can we have your autograph–who do you play for??! (they obviously had no clue)
My wife smirked and then let out a ba-hah-hah-hah for 30 seconds. Best day of my life. For my wife, whenever the story comes around, she shakes her head, says in a rather rejected fashion…” on no, not the pro bowl autograph story??!” Did, I say it was the best day of my life…
Nice writing, I enjoyed it.
Good afternoon!
Good morning Tsaikos! Happy Aloha Friday!
Boola – you need to obey da Tsai-meister, no one else on this blog.
GO WARRIORS!! Shred da Waves!!
GO WAHINE!!
The really loud music was a distraction, I thought. Glad they’ve toned it down.
GOOD MORNING HAWAII!
Boolakanaka #3 WOW! Three paragraphs! 🙂
this was mentioned yesterday: https://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/yale-university-drops-threat-to-kick-out-student-for-being-too-skinny-180302055.html
what were they thinking when childhood obesity is on the rise in the USA.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
BOOLAKANAKA:
On the other hand, if you tell the Mrs that the best day of your wife when the day you met her, you can probably get away with anything!
“life” – sorry #10
Top 10?
Guess not…oh well thanks for the video upload.
2nd play, jason needs to go hard through the gap. can’t run through the tackle when you hesitate at the line.
rd 2, was that donnie king?
gobows:
It was by weight divisions.
Joey Iosefa tried to sneak in the first round, I think, until he was pulled away.
reasons why soccer sucks in the USA.
mls has only 12 players earning $1million, minimum salary is $36,500.
leagues highest paid is seattle’s clint dempsey at $6.69m, followed by toronto’s mike bradley $6.5m and jermain defoe $6.18m.
the mls cup holder is sporting kansas city, their entire team payroll is $3.7m.
On a warrior note, I was a little concerned to hear from one of the tsaikos, that in their opinion, the defensive backfield looked the most suspect. The DBs, were in all due respect, exploited last year and too be fair, that could be due, to youth, scheme, lack of front seven pressure, injury….but, I remain worried.
I do think, we will make significant strides in our front seven, as they appear to be a really athletic stout group with nice youth and veteran leadership, but I have anxiety about our DBs…hopefully, they will prove me wrong.
Good Morning Gangeez! 😉
We enjoy the lively discourse of course, Esquire Kanaka. Just don’t yell, the bog master has sensitive ears.
gobows:
I used to be a Team Hawaii season-ticket holder.
The goalie was Peter Fox:
http://www.nasljerseys.com/Players/F/Fox.Peter.htm
DPK:
Why is it so loud?
The one person to make nice-nice to is Evan, the student manager who’s in charge of the horn marking the end of periods.
If he likes you, he’ll give you a head’s up: “Horn is blowing in 3 seconds.”
If he doesn’t like you, he’ll blow the horn and do that evil smirk.
By the way, that’s Donovan Raiola attending the practices.
Guud Morning Tsaikos…bootiful day.
excellent story bruddha boo…it’s a keeper for da grand kids.
I have an ancient Pro-Bowl story of my own, relating to the HHV, where I was employed just out of high school. I remember checking in Alan Page – huge hands and over-sized on every part of his person. He is now an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
There was Mel Blount, IIRC, and the unforgettable Terry Bradshaw as well as Franco Harris to name a few.
I still remember the way the pen disappeared in Page’s hand when he signed in. He struck me as a thoughtful and intelligent guy even way back then.
ST – i thought the field at aloha was too small for soccer.
Go, VolleyBows!
Round 1 video…. Urban and Dejon dominate Uti and Mike Andrade…. on to video 2
ProBowl. ahh. How many years did I beg my spouse to take me to the ProBowl to see Joe Montana? Never happened.
In today’s world, I would have taken myself.
Stephen #20 – If you’re referring to practice, I think it has two-fold purpose: 1.) The loud music/noise is to help players maintain focus. 2.)I also notice that the music has an upbeat nature that probably lifts the energy level of the players.
I remember when I coached wrestling back in other ancient times, the kids loved to have a boom box going full blast when they did warm ups and calisthenics. When practice began, music stopped.
a remarkable man…
http://www.biography.com/people/alan-page-39664#awesm=~oB9XIR78Bj7d58
johnny football scored a 32 on the wonderlic
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201404/report-johnny-manziels-wonderlic-scores-are-tops-among-quarterbacks
DPK
I love the music.
Yelling is good in moderation.
Horn blowing is never good.
Today’s advice: Be nice to Evan.
And you’re right, Stephen – a whole lot less hollerin’ at practice. More teaching, it seems. My favorite coaches -and the most effective – in school were the non-hollerin’ variety.
Dr. Dre is earning his second fortune making headsets that tune out parents’ nagging.
LizKauai:
Isn’t it a better world today?
DPK:
I remember watching reruns of “All In The Family” and thinking: This is really loud.
I think I preferred Andy Bumatai’s “All In The Ohana.”
LizKauai: It’s good to hear from you!
Boo: That was a nice story. Did you ever suspect that your wife paid the kids in order to give you the best day of your life.
37—Haleakala…now, why you got to go and say that and ruin my Aloha Friday?? Whether money was exchanged or not, it happened, and I’m still a legend in my own mind.
But, for reals…man, brudhha I was puffed up for like a year. Told the story at every family gathering, bar, bus stop and funeral, I attended.
Good morning everyone!
ST– your video look real good.
Hmmm, the Globetrotters will be at the “HIC” on the 26th of this month. Is the Spring Fling game still starting at 1:15 pm?
Coach Milan explained the hat to us, but I don’t remember all the symbology.
40-jm–could it be that he is part of the Jetsons??
Speaking of things to do, we were lucky to have the long ago defunct Hula Bowl and for basketball, the Aloha Classic. Hard to believe so many great college SENIORS came here to play before going on to the NBA.
42–Nice Leron…I remember seeing Nebraska great Johnny Rodgers in the Hula Bowl, I want to say circa 1972?? The main was syncopation on the gridiron.
Boo: Enjoy your Friday and weekend. You know everybody loves you!
44… Same to you Buddha!!!
hula bowl…went to nearly everyone while played at the old termite palace.
Favorite characters in Andy Bumatai’s “High School Daze” were:
The cafeteria lady (anyone who went public school knows one like her)
Da Coach (“Today, we going learn about discipline. People, dis is not discipline”……holding up one dirty bvd)
Yamasato (the model student with the slide ruler and pen holder. Also member of the chess club, I think)
Also liked Junior Boy and Honey Girl characters in “All in the Ohana.
One year at the Aloha Classic practice Marty Blake was gushing about a 6-9 forward who was really raw. That guy was Dennis Rodman
I remember Byron Scott lit it up.
Then again, I remember Dennis Scott lighting it up at the Iolani Classic
I remember sitting in the grandstands at the old Honolulu Stadium at the Hula Bowl in 1971. Watched a quarterback from Ole Miss by the name of Archie Manning run for a couple (?) of TDs. The other team had a QB from Stanford by the name of Jim Plunket.
Love the player’s energy and intensity in the above videos.
When asked by the media about the bowl ban, Hauck said, “There’s no guarantee that we would have gone to another bowl game during my tenure!”
Happy Aloha Friday from Paradise Gang.
Smile it’s almost Tirsty Time!
……and of course, Let’s Go Bows!!!!
he he he DENNIS is still raw…just now it is with the ‘North’….side of the border….
I remember at halftime at one Hula Bowl, there was a tug of war between two groups of big guys. I don’t know who they were but there must have been a couple tons of beef on each side. However tragically the anchor of one of the teams collapsed. I heard later that he had passed away. I was just a young kid then but I felt so sorry for him and his family.
i recall watching lew alcindor, jr and lucius allen against the cal bears
Who is #43 in the video?
# 54 …
Yup, and da guy got a contract extension, and I think a pay raise to 700K.
not bad for mediocrity …
#52 Old School Dave – I remember that game – there was the fellow from OSU – forgot his name – he later was one of those talking heads on NFL football; there was also the QB that became the AD for USC.
although it’s still early, I get scared when the offense score on the defense. offense that good? or defense that bad?
spring is about seeing who came prepared and who is on the learning curve.
screamig will start in the fall.
Generally speaking, spring and early summer, the D should be dominating.
No one really will miss the Pro Bowl..life will still go on in the State….the Pro Bowl players don’t really connect with the fans…no autographs sessions, etc. They just go to the nightclubs. I still remember one Pro Bowl player saying “I don’t sign autographs while walking!”.Aloha to the Pro Bowl.
NSF – Offense is good… but the defense is still adjusting to new schemes/techniques.
Miss World Team Tennis at Blaisdell (or was it still HIC) and Avis Challenge Tennis in Kona. Prize money per match $15,000 for winner, loser got nothing. Borg, Ash, Natase, Newcombe, would be in Kona every Sunday. Players didn’t have private jets yet
in case you still interested – column in CBS Sports.
Ex USC QB Wittek still sorting out transfer plans.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/bruce-feldman/24522831/ex-usc-qb-wittek-still-sorting-out-transfer-plans
i met charles white when hr patronized a waikiki eatery that i ran. quite the gentleman he was. on the second night in a row we chatted and it was then that he introduced himself. i was taken aback by his dimunitive build for one with such great achievements on the gridiron. he was a well educated gentleman at that.
Speaking of Hula Bowls again, it was either the 72 or 73, but watching Greg Pruitt was memorable….not the biggest guy, but he sure could run.
Max Wittek, the former blue-chip recruit, actually hadn’t heard the latest news about Ash (David Ash with the news that the Longhorn starter will be out for the remainder of the spring due to a left foot fracture) till late Friday afternoon, but told CBSSports.com it actually wouldn’t have any impact on his decision of where he goes next.
“Wherever I go, I expect there to be competition,” he says.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder, who will graduate from USC in May and become immediately eligible at another FBS program in 2014, has visited Texas twice this year.
“It’s a great place and a real fantastic university,” Wittek says, adding that UT fosters real world connections much like USC does. He also said he enjoyed his visit to HAWAII.
“Coach (Norm) Chow is awesome. He’s really brilliant.”
Please. Enough about the chow is brilliant crahp.
We need wins. End of story.
Brilliant means nothing if you can’t win games.
Let’s Go Bows! Gotta hit da ball too!
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/4/10/5594956/hawaii-football-2014-preview-schedule-roster
In case you didn’t catch this before.