Hawaii versus Fresno State

This Saturday UH football team will play Fresno State at Aloha Stadium.

This is one of the biggest rivalries in the Western Athletic Conference.

Reasons for that include

1) Fresno State fans are notoriously rude to visiting teams - throwing stuff (including screwdrivers) and yelling nasty insults.

2) Hawaii has beat Fresno State when Fresno State thought they were hot shit. You know, Fresno State has some big victories early in the season, then all of a sudden, they play at Hawaii, then they loose

3) However, Fresno State gave a crushing defeat to Hawaii last 70-14. Hawaii wants revenge this weekend.

4) Both teams have aggressive reputations.

5) Both have coaches with NFL experience, and have mustaches (though Hawaii's June Jones shaved his off)

The cities of Fresno and Honolulu also have the following in common

1) both are medium sized cities surrounded by land traditionally used for agriculture.

2) both have traditionally blue-collar "working class" populations

3) neither has a major league professional team, so their college football teams are the biggest show in town

And both cities have some differences

1) Fresno is traditionally a conservative area in a mostly liberal California, whereas Hawaii is traditionally liberal

2) Fresno is populated mostly by Caucasians (many of whose ancestors left Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas during the drought of the 1930's and found some good farmland around Fresno) and by Armenian and Mexican immigrants (many also were farm labor or working in the city).Fresno also has it's share of African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders

Hawaii is populated mostly by Pacific Islanders (including Native Hawaiians as well as Samoans, Tongans and Micronesians) and Asians (some whose ancestors worked in rural plantations, others who arrived in the last 2 decades in live mostly in Honolulu). Hawaii also has it's Caucasian and African American population (lot of them 1st came as military folks stationed there, then chose to make Hawaii their home) and a small number of Latinos (including myself).

It will be an exciting Saturday, and I look forward to being at Aloha Stadium. Hopefully, the Hawaii Warriors defeat the Fresno State Bulldogs (I'll call them puppies)