THIS and that to chew on over lunch: Next two games could make or break Rainbows
Many descriptions of the Rainbow men's basketball team have been tossed around the past two seasons.
Special is Riley Wallace's favorite. To be sure, this team is that.
But Wallace also has used a term that some might find curious, given the success the lads have had the past 44 games.
Fragile.
This is not to say he has called them a bunch of 98-pound weaklings. Far from it. This team has more "want-to" than most of the teams it plays and Wallace knows and appreciates that.
The fragility Wallace has spoken of lies in the fact that the roster is not filled with All-Americans or future NBA players. The Rainbows have six or seven guys who play as hard as they can for as long as they can. The result, more often than not, has been a rousing success.
The fellas have a lot of heart, but we'll find out in the next few days if Billy Tubbs and his guys did any lasting damage to their confidence.
The Horned Frogs from Texas Christian crashed Hawaii's party Monday night, bumped into the furniture, put their feet on the sofa, spilled beer on the rug, ate all the pupus, burped out loud and generally made themselves at home.
They were flat-out tougher, better and more sure of themselves.
The Rainbows play at Rice tomorrow and at Tulsa on Saturday. They are staring down the barrel of a 1-4 start to their Western Athletic Conference season.
If ever there was a time to show that this is a team that will do more than flirt with the NCAA Tournament committee, this is it.
The Rainbows need to win both games. It's that simple. Split the two and the teams at the top of the Pacific Division - TCU and Fresno State - will continue to pull away. Lose both and the porcelain vase that holds their psyche could hit the floor and shatter into a thousand pieces.
So the University of Hawaii has decided to play ball in its new, somewhat flawed women's softball stadium. Here's a question for you:
They had a nice little yard, so why in the name of Title IX did the university need to build a 1,200-seat, million-dollar stadium when the team only draws a couple hundred fans a game?
I'm sure the honchos over on the lower campus will tell you they needed an enclosed stadium so they could charge admission, hold conference and regional tournaments, yada, yada, yada.
I have no trouble with an upgrade to the facility. I have a daughter and hope that if she wants to play ball, she'll have nice fields to play on when she gets old enough to swing a bat.
But turning the actual field into a top-notch diamond would have been a better place to start. Adding functional seating, concession stands and rest rooms could have come later.
The city park in my hometown offers a nice example of practicality winning over needless government spending.
There's a nice baseball park there that is used by the local Babe Ruth and American Legion teams. In scope, it is similar to the Wahine's former park, only with better, more versatile seating . . . and an impeccably groomed field.
Admission is not usually charged, but when they need to, like for a district or state tournament, they put up some rudimentary yet tasteful gates, and volunteers - usually parents of the players or Legion members - collect the money.
It really is quite simple.
Granted, that example might not be a realistic model of the needs of a big-time NCAA Division I university with money to throw around in the name of gender equity.
But I find it more than a little funny that the whole affair has turned out so ridiculously wrong.
Hindsight is 20-20, but this is a case where more definitely turned out to be less.
