Keeping Score
By Cindy Luis
Wednesday, April 3, 1996
Mike Miner was just looking for a park league basketball team that he and a friend could play on. Miner had little playing experience and didn't even make the cut at Kailua High School 20 years ago.
But his friend, Bill Tam, had played at Seattle University. That collegiate experience restricted his ability to participate in certain leagues.
Instead of shopping for leagues, Miner decided to start one. The Kaimuki Super B League debuted last month with 10 teams, a three-page bimonthly newsletter and four television dates on Olelo Channel 23, the public access channel.
"We started this league with the hopes of attracting good teams with players who not only were former college players but also players who wanted to improve themselves against other quality teams," said Miner, a computer programmer who played briefly at Windward Community College. "I wanted to make it special, with the newsletter, the television, even the name. I came up with the name to attract attention, and I was surprised by the response."
The initial response was slow but, as deadlines for entries and the gym permit drew nearer, Miner said he was flooded with calls.
"I had been concerned that I was going to have to cut back on the schedule and not have the kind of league we had envisioned," he said. "But it came together. There were some headaches, things like collecting the entry fees and getting the gym permits. But, for the most part, the feedback has been positive.
"We wanted to make it as much fun as possible. I want to be able to say after each game, 'Good game, guys.'"
Miner, who once aspired to be a sportswriter, is the league director, editor of the newsletter, and the cameraman and play-by-play announcer for the videotapes that have been submitted to Olelo. Wife Emi is the league's statistician, scorekeeper and chauffeur (her husband doesn't drive).
On Sunday nights, players such as Mike McDaniels, Ricky Leong, Josh Smith, Jeff Hiro, Peter Pale and Rodney Washington are getting another shot at lighting up the scoreboard.
"What's neat is that some of the guys who haven't been playing in the other leagues are getting exposure and it's bringing in new blood," said Mike Crews, a longtime player for the Reds. "And it's good to see some of the kids who went away (to college) come back and be the new kids on the block. I don't think he (Miner) knew what he was getting into, starting a league like this, because it is pretty ambitious. But he's organized, got the newsletter and television. He's doing OK."
Miner's team, the G-Men, isn't faring that well (0-2). The goal, according to the league director, is to win at least one game.
His video work may not win any awards, either. Miner borrowed a camera from his uncle and warns viewers that "it's going to be pretty amateurish, but I hope the players enjoy seeing themselves on TV."
"The league is a labor of love, and I wouldn't mind keeping it going."
There is no awards banquet, but the top scorer and rebounder will get plaques.
All players, Miner hopes, will get something out of it.
As his parting shot in the "Super B Bulletin" puts it, "Thanks for the good sportsmanship, for competing hard and playing like winners."
ANOTHER SEASON With Little League baseball under way, those looking for inspiration and motivation need look no further than Kurt Hohenstein's "The Rules of Game." The new release is subtitled "Simple Truths Learned from Little League" and is filled with stories of coaching and playing interspersed with universal life lessons.
It's a gentle reminder of how the most profound truths can be found in the simplest of things. Consider one of Hohenstein's adages: "Living and playing the game, child or adult, offers up opportunities fraught with disappointment, but they are disappointments resplendent with opportunity."
Hohenstein, a former Nebraska state senator, is currently serving time in the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln for theft. He has turned a major personal setback into a big league home run with this book.