Football for Christmas, anyone?

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Most Christmas Day dilemmas are easily remedied.

UH head coach June Jones has his Christmas Day schedule laid out for him: Try to beat Tulane. Advertiser library photo

Charlie Brown or Frosty the Snowman? Break out the TiVo!

June Jones or Santa Claus?

Not so easy.

Thanks to the success of the University of Hawai'i football program (10-3) this season, local football fans face a difficult decision this Christmas Day — spend a traditional family holiday at home or cheer on the Warriors at the inaugural ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

UH takes the field against Tulane at 3:05 p.m. today.

Advance ticket sales seem to bear out the public's ambivalence about spending Christmas in the stands. So far, about 33,000 tickets have been issued for the game. That figure includes a contractual purchase of 10,000 tickets by Conference USA, of which Tulane is a member.

Thanks to an extra ticket, Tanaka, who usually watches games at home on television, will attend the game with his mother, two aunts, his brother and sister-in-law.

His wife, Adele, has plans of her own. "I think of it as my quiet time alone," she said, laughing.

To accommodate the game, the Tanakas celebrated Christmas Eve together. If there's time, they also hope to visit friends after the game.

Season ticket holders Stephanie and John Antonio of 'Aiea also plan on being at the game.

"It will be our first time away from our families on Christmas," said Stephanie Antonio. "So between June Jones and Santa, I guess June Jones won."

Antonio said she and her husband usually spend Christmas shuttling back and forth between families.

"We go to my family in the morning to open gifts, then to John's family for lunch, then back to my family for dinner," Antonio said. "It will be kind of a treat this year not rushing around everywhere. We can just stay in one place and relax."

Antonio said the decision to go to the game was John's, but playing the agreeable spouse clearly has its advantages.

"The best part is I don't have to do anything," she said. "The guys set up the tent and the hibachi. They do all the cooking. The women don't have to do anything."

Richard Hamblen of Waikiki hasn't missed a home game this season, but he has pledged his undivided attention to his sons Royce, 5, and Cody, 3.

"If it were any other day, I'd be there no doubt," he said. "But my kids are still young and I want to enjoy them as much as I can. After they go to bed though, I'm definitely going to watch the replay on TV."

Allison Watanabe and her husband haven't missed a home game all year either, and with nearly 20 friends and family joining them in the stands, there's no reason to break the streak.

"My mom is coming and my in-laws are flying in from Hilo," said Watanabe, a Kaimuki resident. "It's going to be a big family thing."