Sports Update
Hula Bowl a homecoming for some players
WAILAE, Maui -- Viliami Maumau, Shane Oliveira, Eddie Klaneski and Jon Chamberlin formed a tight semicircle just off the Maui High practice field.Five years ago, these football players with ties to the 50th state took diverse paths to stardom before returning to play in the final college game of their careers in tomorrow's Hooters Hula Bowl.
They laughed and talked among themselves as one practice ended and the other began yesterday in preparation for the 52nd annual college all-star game that will be played before a sellout War Memorial Stadium crowd and a national television audience.
''Shane and I finished our high school careers together at St. Louis,'' said Maumau, who made a name for himself at the University of Colorado. ''Now, we're finishing our college careers together. That says something for the local boys, yeah?''
Maumau was named third-team all-Big 12, thanks in part to 76 tackles, including four for losses and one quarterback sack. Oliveira and Klaneski stayed home at the University of Hawaii. Both earned all-Western Athletic Conference honors this past season.
Klaneski led the Rainbows with 128 tackles, two interceptions and 13 pass breakups. Oliveira didn't allow a quarterback sack, despite recovering from serious ankle injuries. Unlike his Oahu counterparts, Chamberlin made it big at St. Joseph High on the Big Island.
So it seems only fitting the Southern Oregon player will line up on the South, while the other three local players compete on the North.
''It's just good that we could come together and play in this game,'' Chamberlin said. ''It doesn't matter which side of the ball we're on. We're still pulling for each other to do well.''
Game time
Kickoff: 11 a.m, Sunday, at Maui's War Memorial Stadium.
'Bows open baseball season with 11-5 win
Opening night at Rainbow Stadium began with a pregame lion dance to celebrate Chinese New Years and a $100,000 donation by GTE Hawaiian Tel to the University of Hawaii baseball program and ended with an 11-5 victory by the Rainbows.In between, the 'Bows and the University of San Francisco Dons found a way to fill almost every statistical category in the scorebook during three hours and 41 minutes of baseball. The pitching staffs combined to throw more than 360 balls toward home plate. Some were in the strike zone.
The teams sparred and parried for the lead over the first five innings and were locked in a 5-5 tie when the Rainbow relievers finally stopped the Dons from scoring, something the USF bullpen was not able to accomplish against the UH batters.
Hawaii broke the tie in the seventh inning when David Perreira and Michael Dartt turned in what coaches call a quality at bat.
Jamie Aloy started the inning with a line single to center off USG reliever Ryan Yamamoto, a freshman from Iolani who pitched well in his 31/3 inning stint, but was tagged with the loss.
After Matt Wheeler's sacrifice bunt, Perreira worked the count to 3-2 against reliever Jeremy Holiday before delivering a looping single to left-center field to score Aloy with the tie-breaking run.
Gender equity advocate blasts soccer settlement
One of Hawaii's leading sports gender equity advocates blasted the Hawaii High School Athletic Association for not demanding more money from Tom Moffatt Productions to move the state girls' soccer tournament out of Aloha Stadium.The tournament is being relocated to Maui's renovated War Memorial Stadium Feb. 18-12.
Jill Nunokawa, an attorney who is president of the Sports Gender Equity Club, said former HHSAA executive director Dwight Toyama could have gotten "a lot more" than the $25,000 Moffatt paid the HHSAA to vacate the stadium and let pop icon Mariah Carey perform there on Feb. 21.
"He had the rights to the stadium and he could've made a better deal," said Nunokawa. "They're (Moffatt) going to make a bundle on this (concert). It was his decision to displace the girls and he now has an obligation to take care of the girls' expenses to go to Maui."
After initially refusing to use any of the $25,000 for that purpose, the HHSAA is now offering $10,000 to the 10 teams that must travel to Maui.
"The parents should be outraged," said Nunokawa. "All of that $25,000 should be used to pay for the inconvenience of the girls' teams."
The boys' state soccer tournament (Feb. 11-14) will remain at Aloha Stadium.
"There's been a historical pattern that the girls lose out in Hawaii," she said. "Are people going to let this continue?"