_SpOrTS_

[Lori]

Angelina, I enjoyed chatting with you a bit about this last night, and I have to say 'thumbs-up' for Colt Brennan. I've heard similar things about him - a total class act. As I told you last night, I have to pull for my Gator boy, Tim Tebow (a classy guy himself), for the Heisman, but if he doesn't win, I hope it's Colt. I have a feeling, though, that we're both gonna be disappointed. I think it'll be McFadden from Arkansas...

I am SO proud of UH - we spent 8 years of happy fall afternoons tailgating at Aloha Stadium (back when the great Jason Elam was the kicker), and I stayed up very late last Saturday night to watch that nail-biter of a game against Washington. Hawaii was always an exciting team - you never knew what tricks they were gonna pull out of their playbook. I still think they should have had a shot at the National Title this year. And since the loss to Georgia was what knocked the Florida Gators out of a shot at the SEC Championship, it will give me great pleasure to see Hawaii kick their Bulldog a$$es!

The Heisman Award Ceremony is today (Saturday) at 5pm Pacific time on ESPN!

It's gratifying to see the 'cream rise to the top' for the Nice Guys, whether it's football, hockey, or short-track!

[linmiste]

Awww. It's so nice to read posts about these great young athletes. It must be hard to keep your feet grounded when the people love you and the money is coming in. But they work hard and acknowledge others. As Apolo would say, if they remember they're "blessed" to be where they are, they can keep it real. Yes, they are heroes.

I was a swimmer in high school and college, but I'm not into anything now. We don't follow sports on TV, unless the Patriots are in the Superbowl or it's the World Series. I do, however, enjoy watching tennis championships when I can and I LOVE the Olympics.

[lexi]

lori said:

The Heisman Award Ceremony is today (Saturday) at 5pm Pacific time on ESPN!

Lori - do you mind posting the result when you can? Granted, I don't know one player from another, but since your earlier post, I've read a bit on this guy and I'm really impressed. It sounds like he'd certainly have earned the honor if he did win.

linmiste said:

Awww. It's so nice to read posts about these great young athletes. It must be hard to keep your feet grounded when the people love you and the money is coming in. But they work hard and acknowledge others. As Apolo would say, if they remember they're "blessed" to be where they are, they can keep it real. Yes, they are heroes.

Very, very nicely put, Limmiste!

[Lori Girl Next Door]

Sure, Lexi, - I'll let you know. It's live across the U.S. (including Hawaii), so I know I won't spoil it for anybody if I post the result.

[Lori Girl Next Door]

MY G8TORBOI TIMMY TEBOW WON! WOO-HOO!

[Lori Girl Next Door]

Oops! I was so excited I hit 'post' before I was ready...

... We're late for the company Christmas party, so gotta go - I'll post more later...

P.S. Sorry, Angelina - quite honestly I would've been nearly as happy if Colt had won...l

[jennaceeta25]

My favorite sport is Basketball, of course. I like to watch my Nuggets anytime they're on television, since I don't live in Denver.

I also enjoy Baseball or my dad calls it, softball.

[Apolo_USA]

angelina0722 said:

Sorry in advance; this post will bore most of you, but I just had to take this opportunity to gush ... Hawaii is over the moon about our University of Hawaii Warriors!!! This season we won our first outright WAC championship and will play in our first BCS bowl, the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 against powerhouse Georgia.

We overcame a 21-0 deficit in the first quarter against the UW Huskies to win 35-28, resulting in a 12-0 season - the only undefeated team in the nation. I'm so proud of what our team, and especially QB Colt Brennan, has accomplished.

Our share of Sugar Bowl tickets sold out lightning-fast (UH officials underestimated the demand). Hard-core fans are determined to make it to New Orleans to support our team, even with travel packages at $3,000 and up.

And Colt is in New York right now as one of the final 4 Heisman candidates (awards to be presented Saturday). My fingers are crossed for him, even though I know he's a long shot.

I love this article about Colt:

www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/sports/ncaafootball/24colt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

... especially these parts:

Brennan learned that in Hawaii, the best way to stand out is to try to blend in. He has gone so far as to braid his hair as a nod to his four starting receivers, who are known as The Dreadheads. And after nailing down the starting job after two games in 2005 and leading the nation in touchdown passes , Brennan was effusive in his praise for his teammates. He made sure to buy each of his linemen a large pizza every week during film sessions. He played with such flair and carried him himself with such humility that Hawaiians seemed to adopt him as one of their own.

“He’s fallen in love with this place and this place has fallen in love with him,” Morrison said. “That’s not by accident. Its how he presented himself, how he’s led, how he produced.”

Miano said: “I don’t think there’s been anyone in the state’s history who has had a larger platform than him. Whether it’s been an intermediate school, an elementary school or a high school to talk to the kids, he never says no. He’ll sign more autographs and talk to more young people. He’s been the best spokesperson that we can have.”

The coaches smiled at a quote from Brennan’s news conference when he decided to stay — “I like the person I’m becoming at Hawaii” — calling his words mature and introspective.

“I really hope that my actions, over time, will display not only the person I was, but help me clear up everything that happened out there in Colorado,” Brennan said. “I’m not perfect, and I know I’m going to make plenty of mistakes. But it’s all about the journey and what you are and what you do.”

(sound familiar?)

Angelina...I love your article on the Hawai'i Warriors! Even though I like pro football a little more I've followed the Hawai'i Warriors and Texas Longhorns for a while...the Warriors because I love Hawai'i and the Longhorns because my best friend's brother plays there. I've only been to Hawai'i 3 times but everytime I go there with my mom and dad I only want to stay for longer so it's def. a place I would want to go to college...and I'll def. root for Hawai'i's teams!

But I really think Hawai'i should've been selected to play in the National Championship! They're the only college in the major divisions to go UNDEFEATED! But I'm sure they'll kick booty in the Sugar Bowl! I'm a huge fan of Colt's...he seems really sweet and nice...plus he's hot too!

Go Hawai'i!

[lexi]

Lori said:

MY G8TORBOI TIMMY TEBOW WON! WOO-HOO!

Ah well, good goin' for Timmy. I'll have to check him out too.

jennaceeta25 said:

My favorite sport is Basketball, of course. I like to watch my Nuggets anytime they're on television, since I don't live in Denver.

Basketball never caught on where I am, but I have heard of the Nuggets. Who is their star player?

[jennaceeta25]

Hey Lexi!

Their star player is Carmelo, but as of late my man AI has been dominating in that catogory..

Here's a picture of them: AI's on the left, laughing, Carmelo is on the right..

[Lori Girl Next Door]

Interesting tie-in of short-track (and Apolo) to the University of Hawaii Warriors:

sports.aol.com/ncaafb/story/_a/biggest-bcs-victim-hawaii-says-aloha/20071204181409990001

Biggest BCS Victim? Hawaii Says Aloha
By KEVIN BLACKISTONE,AOL
Posted: 2007-12-11 19:22:47

Steven Bradbury won Australia’s first Winter Olympics’ gold medal by employing an unusual tactic: doing almost nothing. In the 1,000-meter speed skating final in Salt Lake City in 2002, he hung back and hoped that one or two of the four skaters in front of him, all of whom were faster, would crash.

He could barely believe his eyes when the entire quartet, including American favorite Apolo Anton Ohno, went down.

"I saw them all on the ice," Bradbury explained afterward, "and I was like, ‘Hang on, this can't be right -- I think I won.' "

Bradbury glided past the carnage and across the finish line first to a serenade of boos. His uncanny victory is immortalized in Aussie vernacular as "doing a Bradbury," which basically means winning something in spite of yourself.

Ohio State is on the verge of doing a Bradbury.

If the Buckeyes win this college football season’s so-called national championship, the game's keepers ought to award it a gilded bust of Steven Bradbury.

But borrowing from American vernacular, don't hate the player; hate the game.

All the Buckeyes did to advance to the national title game next month by completing their season before Thanksgiving was beat the system, a busted system. That is as unfair to them as the whole BCS is to everyone else involved.

Who, after all, is to say that LSU -- which Ohio State will meet in the arranged marriage that is the BCS title game -- is deserving of such loftiness as the best of 10 twice-beaten teams in the polls? Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops argued to me and everyone else in San Antonio last Saturday, who witnessed his Sooners dismantle then No. 1-ranked Missouri by three touchdowns that his 11-2 Sooners were most-deserving of playing for it all. He even voted his team No. 1 in the Coaches Poll.

Frank Beamer voted Virginia Tech second in the same poll. Beamer coaches Virginia Tech's Hokies. The Hokies also happened to wind up ranked No. 1 by the computer, which is supposed to unemotionally level the very emotional college football playing field. Who is to say the computer didn't get it right and the Hokies shouldn't be playing the last game of the season?

Kansas went into the final game of its regular season with a perfect record and ranked second in the country. It lost to then fourth-ranked Missouri, however, and found itself in this week's BCS poll staring at half a dozen two-loss teams above it.

But the most-unfair hand was dealt to Hawaii’s Rainbows -- or Warriors, if you prefer -- who found no pot of gold at the end of what they pulled off, the season's only unscathed record: 12-0. Check that: They didn't find as filled a pot of gold at the end of their regular campaign as they should have.

They got a $17 million paycheck for their conference, the WAC, by winning a bid to the Sugar Bowl, one of the BCS' five bowls. They didn’t, however, get an invite to play in New Orleans a week later for the same paycheck with a voucher for entry to the national championship game attached.

Imagine the New England Patriots going undefeated this season and not being rewarded with a chance to play for the NFL championship. That is what happened to the Rainbows. It is easy to say they didn't play as stout of competition as the two teams that will be playing the ultimate game, Big Ten champions Ohio State and SEC titlist LSU. They probably didn't maneuver as difficult a field as others ranked ahead of them from powerhouse conferences like the Big 12 and Big East.

Most of us also missed seeing even seeing the Rainbows, which is the nickname that sums up the evanescence of their late-night kickoffs from so far out West. We haven't a clue how good they are even after reading that they came back from 21 down against the Pac-10's Washington Huskies last weekend to win 35-28 and preserve their perfect season.

If we know anything of them at all it is that they have a prolific quarterback, Colt Brennan, who strums coach June Jones' wide-open offense as wonderfully as the late Don Ho did a ukulele. He owns 20 NCAA records and was six for six for 76 yards for Hawaii's winning fourth-quarter drive against Washington. There is no wonder why Brennan was mentioned early on as a Heisman candidate before injury slowed him.

But the Rainbows won when their star was out, which was something Oregon couldn't do after its Heisman hopeful signal caller Dennis Dixon was hurt. West Virginia suffered the same; USC as well.

No team this season was more resilient than Hawaii. No team won more.

That is saying a lot in a season that commenced with second-tier Appalachian State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., and continued with the fall of three different No. 1-ranked teams, the stumbling of seven different No. 2-ranked teams, the collapse of 13 top-five teams to unranked opponents, a Navy victory over Notre Dame for the first time in 43 years, South Florida supplanting Florida State and Miami as the juggernaut in the Sunshine State, and a four-win Pittsburgh team knocking West Virginia out of the quote-unquote national championship game with a 13-9 win last Saturday in Morgantown, W. Va.

Who is to say the Rainbows, who staved off every upset bid, aren't worthy to play for it all? In the aftermath of this season, who is to say any team isn't?

[angelina]

Hi gals! Thanks so much for your replies about the Warriors. I wouldn't have gushed so much if this season weren't a miracle for us. Really, we're not accustomed to being in the “big leagues.”

Lori, the Heisman awards ceremony was riveting, and I was happy for Tim. He was adorable in his acceptance speech: "Thank you to [so-and-so] .... I love being a Gator ... Thank you to [so-and-so] … I love being a Gator … " I pretty much knew Colt wouldn't win but was really happy with his 3rd-place finish. I mostly felt sad for Darren McFadden – 2nd place two years in a row. You could tell he was pretty disappointed.

We used to have season tickets and tailgate at UH games back in college. The Aloha Stadium has some of the best tailgating ever!

I love the article you posted about Ohio State doing a Bradbury! I need to start using that phrase in my everyday conversations, hee.

I’m ashamed to say I’m not too optimistic about our Sugar Bowl chances, but I’m trying to convince myself to “Believe,” which has been the Warriors’ mantra all season. And in my heart, I do.

AAOUSA, I love the Colt pic you posted. It's one of my favorites. *Sigh* … I guess he’s officially my athlete-crush of the month; not that I have lots of these crushes or anything. He’s supposed to do an autograph session next week, and I actually toyed with the idea of showing up. I don’t know if I’m willing to stand in line for hours for an autograph, though (for anyone other than Apolo).

Lexi, I’m not really a hockey fan but I do like Wayne Gretzky a lot.

An article from January about Colt’s decision to play his senior year at UH instead of entering the NFL draft:

starbulletin.com/2007/01/18/news/story04.html

Brennan had spent the three weeks since the end of his record-breaking 2006 season struggling with a happy but wrenching dilemma. He could either go to the NFL -- where he could become an instant millionaire and fulfill his childhood dream -- or return to college and one more year in Hawaii with Jones and his teammates.

In the end, loyalty won out.

"I feel like Coach Jones and the University of Hawaii gave me an opportunity at a time when no one else would. I've been a part of something special these last few years. I plan to come back my senior year," Brennan announced at a news conference, choking back a sob on the last few words.

When Brennan arrived at UH in the summer of 2005, it was as a walk-on. He had been dismissed from Colorado because of a well-documented dorm incident. After a season of junior college football, Jones was one of the few coaches willing to give Brennan a second chance.

"To make this decision shows a lot about his heart for Hawaii, for the fans, for the people and for his teammates and the school. I think that kind of says it all about Colt Brennan," Jones said.

* * *

I think he really is a class act - always quick to acknowledge his teammates and deflect the spotlight from himself, and he even proposed a new WAC award for outstanding Offensive Unit to recognize "his boys":

www.wacsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10100&ATCLID=1335889

Also in an unprecedented move this season, the WAC is awarding the University of Hawai‘i the Offensive Unit of the Year to recognize the record-setting season of the Warriors’ quarterback Colt Brennan and his four primary wide receivers; Jason Rivers, Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullen and C.J. Hawthorne. Hawai‘i has racked up a total of 6,351 offensive yards this season, leads the nation in scoring with 46.2 points per game and has set numerous NCAA, WAC and school records.

Said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson, “Colt asked me in the locker room after the Washington game on Saturday night that if he was selected the player of the year, was there a way the WAC could share the award with his ‘boys’. Once again, Colt impressed me with his unselfishness, and I told him I would do what I could. On the flight back to the mainland, I thought of this way to pay tribute to Colt and these four great receivers for the season each had and how they each contributed to the Warriors’ perfect 12-0 regular season.”

* * *

One more pic of Colt, just for fun. We will really miss him next year.

[ohnoagain]

Oh, I love the Buffalo Bills, have season tickets to them, the Buffalo Sabres hockey too. And I love the Minnesota Vikings, don't ask me why, have no ties to the state. I just started following them when I was very young and have been a fan for over 40 years. I even flew there one year to see a game. I love Sidney Crosby and wanted Julianne to hook up with him, same age, great looking and great morals. This year Buffalo is hosting the Penguins in the Winter Ice game, an outdoor hockey game that will see over 80,000 fans cheering on a Hockey game. Can't wait to see that, on New Year's day. Will be on NBC for all to view if you like hockey and Sid the Kid will be there. And Kevin Everett, one of our Bills players, paralyzed from the neck down on opening day received medical treatment unproven as of yet and is now walking. They didn't even think he would live, let alone walk. His story is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. Great read. I was at that game, and you could hear a pin drop in that stadium. I LOVE FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY. GO BILLS AND SABRES.

[ohnoagain]

Sidney Crosby,,,,,,,,,I think he'd be great for Julianne, only 20 years old, gorgeous, rich, great morals and family person.....just like her.

[ohnoagain]

This one is MINE. I'm in love with him. His name is Max Afinogenov and he's a Buffalo Sabre. He's 27, Russian and I have dreams of him. I got his jersey as a Christmas gift last year, and the first game I went to this year, I filled out a ticket and guess what??? I won his autographed game jersey.............so, he's mine. I never win a thing, I always have to pay money. To think,, he held the shirt in his hands that's now on my, well, never mind. I still love Apolo too, but Max lives in my city.