As I'm writing this (Friday, December 5, 2008 Hawaii time) tom morrow will be the football game between Hawaii & Cincinnati.
Cincinnati won their 1st Big East championship and is headed to their 1st BCS bowl game.
Hawaii struggled in the beginning due to inexperience amongst it's offense players. However, they have gotten better and will be headed to the Hawaii Bowl!
But let's face it, the hype on this game has NOTHING to do with anytime mentioned in the previous 2 paragraphs!
The hype is due to the fact that the last time 2 teams played, (11/23/2002) the game ended in a big fight!
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/11/24/sports/index.html
People have said that the fight started due to excessive roughness from Cincinnati. Also, a Cincinnati player sacked Hawaii's quarterback Timmy Chang after he threw the ball and injured him. Shawn With-Allen replaced Chang and finished the game.
The last few seconds, when Withy-Allen "took the knee", it was said that a Cincinnati player tried to tackle him and the fight started there! (for those who don't know American football, when the QB kneels down after the snap, he signaling that he's not going to make a play, and you can't tackle him)
1) That was THE GAME THAT CHANGED HAWAII'S IMAGE!
Back in the late 1990's, UH football team was so junk, it was seen as a joke. High school students (both athletes & non-athletes) balked at the idea of going to UH due to it's "junk football team". People booed when a potential prize included UH football tickets! To make things worse, in 1998, the UH football team DIDN'T WIN A GAME! UH was seen as the WORST football school in the nation!
That made Hawaii, as a state, look bad! It gave the state of Hawaii a WEAK reputation! People stereotyped Hawaii as "soft"
After June Jones was hired as head coach in 1999 (coincidentally in my 1st year as a UH student), we started a winning tradition! No one laughing at our team now!
But what REALLY gave Hawaii a tough, hardcore image was the UH-Cincinnati game! We won a close game, and we showed that Hawaii is NOT scared of a fight!
We showed that Hawaii isn't going to back down from a fight from a mainland team, even one whose inner city had a riot in the previous year!
This was a common point made among many young adult males I talked to the week after the football fight! We were happy that the whole nation knows that Hawaii people are tough and "not to be (------) with"
This image was reinforced after the Hawaii Bowl 2003 game between the UH's (Hawaii vs Houston)! Another fight broke out at the end of a game!
Ironically, the Hawaii team had a few players & coaches who came from the city of Houston. I wonder what happened to them the next time those guys entered their former hometown! Someone must've said something!
Both Cincinnati & Houston had reputations about excessive rough playing, trash-talking, provoking opponents and that sort of stuff! Many UH fans said Cincinnati & Houston had "outlaw programs" and that Hawaii players are "from a culture that don't back down from that"
It also gave a special pride to UH students as in "at this university, we are smart enough to get into college, but we are tough too. We got to school with footballers who don't back down" Sometimes, toughness trickles down. Even people who aren't that "tough" or "hard-core" had the confidence of "I went to this (name of ghetto middle/high school), I went to the tough-guy school, I'm a survivor"
However, other UH fans felt differently about those fights.
Some felt the fights make Hawaii look bad & "uncivilized". They claimed that it will make tourists reluctant to visit Hawaii. Some also felt that it reinforced negative stereotypes on Polynesians!
Some thought those players were "thugs" (I'll comment on that stereotype later on this post)
Many also felt then-UH coach June Jones was too lenient on player misbehavior!
2) I remember that football was the 1st season when I watched UH football games at a sports bar!
Before the game vs Cincinnati, I was thinking "should I go to the bar to watch that game or should I stay home & concentrate on academics".
This was due to Cincinnati being an "average team" at the time. While it ended the season with a winning record, it still didn't have the name recognition like Alabama (which UH played the following week without incident), and it wasn't our major rival like Boise State or Fresno State!
However, the same week, in my Journalism 250 class, we had a group project project to make a mini-paper! The students were to do stories on campus news, sports, entertainment, etc. I chose to do sports, though I NEVER written an article on a sports game before!
So now, watching that UH vs Cincinnati IS academics, so watching that game IS concentrating on academics! :)
I didn't want to pay for game tickets, didn't have press passes, so I chose to based my "reporting" on what I saw on TV.
So there I was at Players Bar (no longer in business, replaced with a Japanese restaurant), watching the game and writing what I saw in the game. I wrote down the quotes of TV broadcasters, and wrote down what time the touchdowns were made (ie. 2:42 left in the 1st quarter)
The beginning of the game itself was exciting. Chad Owens (who I knew personally from being classmates while @ UH) was going to receive the kick-off. He was just coming back from injury, and it wasn't publicized when he was going to return to playing. Even the broadcasters were surprised he was on the field!
One guy at the bar yelled "they should've sit him out and save him for the Alabama game"
Owens received the kick-off and punt returns but made no touchdowns that game! He played with no fear that game.
Later, Timmy Chang had a sprained knee sometime late in the 1st half! It was then assumed Chang was out for the rest of the game. Withy-Allen would be the quarterback.
But Chang came back in the game.
However, during the 4th quarter, after he threw the ball, he got tackled. (once the player throws the ball, you can't tackle him) Chang needed help to get off the field and he was then done for the game!
As for the game itself, it went back & forth, with Hawaii & Cincinnati taking turns having the lead. But Hawaii won the game!
All that made the game exciting for me, the extremely inexperienced sports journalist working on a journalism class project!
But after the game was over, the fight occurred. I saw people who were walking out of the bar ALL OF A SUDDEN STOPPED as the TV showed the fight! I could also hear the UH broadcaster (I assume it was Jim Leahy) saying in a serious tone of voice "This is Bad"!
It was exciting for someone doing a journalism project! I was glad I saw the game!
The next morning, at the UH dorms, I talked to a student who was at the game. He talked about watching the fight, and seeing UH fans throwing stuff @ the Cincinnati players!
At that point, I was jealous of that student! He saw it in person. I only saw it on TV!
That whole week, that was the topic of 95 % of the conversations taking place at UH!
While working on the story in the Journalism classroom, I typed out my observations on the game as all one story. One of my group members gave me few tips -- instead of writing it as 1 story, split it up -- so 1 story would be on Chad Owens coming back from injury, 1 story Timmy Chang getting injured, 1 story on the game itself, & of course -- 1 story on the fight!
That group member was earlier reluctant to write on sports, (maybe not his topic of expertise), but he understood good writing and good editing!
3) Because of that game & the one against Houston, some people assumed UH football players were "thugs"
I was at UH at the time and some football players were classmates!
I thought those "thug" labels were SEVERE exagarations!
Most of UH footballers I had in my class were funny guys who like to joke around! Some were cared more about academics than others! However, NEVER had I seen them act in a thuggish manner! NEVER had I seen them intimidate anyone off the field!
For example, Shawn Withy-Allen, who some said was illegally sacked at the end of the game, which people said started the fight! I know Shawn because I was his classmate. He definitely IS NOT the type to fight over nothing! He is a very nice person! He is a very religious person who is really into his Christian faith! But he is NOT one of those who abused moral judgments.
If you asked him what he believed, he'll be upfront and tell you with no shame! But he NEVER condemned anyone for not being of the same faith! I have NEVER seen him condemn atheists, religious liberals, or non-Christians!
I even remember him doing a taping for his Christian group. He asked me a few questions on sexual issues. While some of my answers weren't something religious conservatives agree with, he NEVER hated on me! He just smiled and laughed! I'm assuming he's thinking "OK, this guy may need to learn a few things" but it's NOT like "that guy is siding with the devil"
Chad Owens (who I mentioned as a classmate) is known as a funny guy filled with confidence. It always amazed how he showed no fear when getting tackled by HUGE guys, even though Owens is shorter than me!
In the Journalism class, there was an ex-UH football player Craig Stuttzman, who is currently an assistant coach! Very well mannered person. Even during the class, when a classmate suggested a reporter ask "if a (player whose name I wont' reveal ) is gay" Stuttzman didn't lash out to defend a former teammate! Very professional.
I also remember in that class Stuttzman questioning a Ka Leo editor (Lance Collins) who visited the class to talk about editorial journalism!
Stuttzman asked Collins "how important is it for you to get your facts right?" Collins was evasive saying his current editorials were more on philosophical issues.
After several evasions, Stuttzman got to the point, questioning the infamous editorial from way in early 1999 in which Collins mocked the UH athletes for loosing (this was right after the infamous 0-12 season), academic troubles, promiscuity and getting special treatment! Stuttzman mentioned that his teammates were upset and emphasized that Collins never "put on the pads and stepped on the field before". Stuttzman questioned Collins in a stern but non-threatening manner!
I also remembered having guys like Hyrum Peters, Chad Kahale, Lyle Castro, Tony Akpan, Jeff Rhode, Matt Manauma, Houston Ala, Ryan Santos, Jeremiah Cockerahn and a few others in my class. I also remembered meeting Ikaika Curran when I used to work at the UH dorms. None of them acted in a "thuggish" manner!
Due to their size and in some cases, their race, the UH football players are easy to stereotype! And their critics stereotype too easily!
4) This is the 1st year of the Coach Mack (Gregg McMackin) era at UH. So far, he's known for emphasizing restraint among his players when it comes to behavior!
Maybe at the end of tomorrow's game, all the players from both teams will shake hands and the audience will applaud!
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PS: I hope I didn't sound like someone who glorifies violence when describing how some local people reacted to the fight! Someone could've died in the fight! My intention was to explain what people felt after the infamous game! Some sounded like they glorified fights and the "tough guy mentality", but that's what many people were saying after the game!
