IT'S finally upon us. Oahu’s best will meet
in Prep BowlWe've expected it, and the people who run the island's two football leagues have counted on it.
Now, if the 26th Prep Bowl doesn't draw 28,000 to 30,000 on Friday, there was something very wrong with the way it was promoted.
Two nationally-ranked prep football teams with definite attitudes will square off in what ought to be a vastly more intriguing contest than the Christians-to-the-lions collegiate debacle planned for Saturday at Aloha Stadium.
If you're a local resident, and even if you're a visitor who's curious about the kind of ball that produced the likes of Jesse Sapolu, Mosi Tatupu, Maa Tanuvasa and Adrian Murrell, you'll probably want to check into this St. Louis vs. Kahuku match.
You'd be hard-pressed to find many places in America where two of the nation's best collide for all the marbles.
Walk the line of scrimmage between these two sides and you'll be compressed into a tidy little bundle.
THE divisions between the public school team from the country and the Catholic school team from town run deep. They're not even ranked in the same major national polls.
St. Louis can't get gain entry into the USA Today poll unless it beats No. 18 Kahuku. Kahuku can't make it into the National Prep Football Poll unless the Red Raiders beat the No. 15 Crusaders.
The St. Louis program has a 12-year history of dominance. But this season has been rife with conflict after the revelation of a Las Vegas hotel booze-and-stripper party. It cost the team a forfeit.
Kahuku's (12-0) incentive is fueled by the memory of a 27-26 loss to the Crusaders in the 1995 Prep Bowl, and a long-held gripe among fans of the North Shore program that their school has never gotten enough respect .
Oceanic, which jumped in and staged the 'N Sync concert for the OIA championship, is putting the Prep Bowl on pay-per-view at $12.95 a pop. Televising of this event is a first.
The cable company is obviously exploiting the fact that live TV used to be as welcome at the bowl as it was at the Sistine Chapel during the selection of a new pope.
OK. That said, let me digress to a sport that nets its organizers no revenue.
There were no cameras relaying the event back to Oahu, but Punahou senior Eri Macdonald completed her grand slam of state cross-country titles on Kauai last weekend.
It was her coronation as the most successful harrier of either gender in Hawaii history.
Only 23 other girls in America have won four state cross-country titles.
So, I was more than a little surprised when the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, which organizes the Honolulu Marathon Association-sponsored state meet, failed to even recognize Macdonald's achievement during its award ceremonies.
And one other thing:
On Nov. 19, 1996, this column focused on the crying need for some Waikiki hotel to offer lodging to the Molokai teams that have been forced to sleep on gym and locker room floors.
It was encouraging to see that Hilton Hawaiian Village public relations manager Kimberly Svetin, who had never seen the column, arranged for the Molokai High School girls' volleyball team to occupy eight rooms in the Rainbow Tower during last week's state tournament.
Good for Svetin, a Molokai alum who suggested the arrangement to the HHSAA.
Shame that the idea didn't originate at the HHSAA level a long time ago.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.