ESPN may not televise game against Alabama

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

ESPN is not planning to televise the Nov. 29 football game between Alabama and host Hawai'i, K5 officials said yesterday.

ESPN could add the game to its schedule, although it would have to notify both schools before Nov. 15.

Last year's game between the teams was shown nationally on ESPN, and UH officials expected the same this year. UH was so certain of an ESPN appearance it did not include the Alabama game in its five-game package of pay-per-view telecasts. K5, which owns the local television rights to UH sports, produces the pay-per-view telecasts that are shown live on Oceanic Cable.

If ESPN does not pick up the game, O'ahu pay-per-view subscribers of season packages may purchase the UH-Alabama telecast for $15 or $20, depending on if they have renewed subscriptions or first-year subscriptions.

• Out of line: On the 15th sweltering day of UH's training camp, offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh finally lost his cool.

Upset at the overall lack of focus during blocking drills, the 5-foot-6 3/4 Cavanaugh ordered the linemen to go through a 45-minute discipline routine that left them gasping and promising never to mess up again.

"It's been a long time since I've seen him in that mood," junior Ryan Santos said. "He was pretty upset. We started slacking off, and that's when we had to pay the price. You can't come out half-ready — not in front of Coach Cav."

Cavanaugh made the linemen do "up-downs," a discipline in which they drop their hands to the ground, scurry back to a standing position, then go down again.

The linemen did a series of "bear crawls" in which they went down on all fours and maneuvered across the field.

The highlight was the "three-man roll," which resembled a human shell game, with three players continually diving to the ground in a choreographed weave without landing on one another.

"It takes athleticism," right guard Uriah Moenoa said.

Cavanaugh described the session as "jazzercise."

"We have a lot of fat guys who need to lose weight," Cavanaugh added. "They're so lazy."

Shayne Kajioka, the offensive line's only fifth-year senior, said: "If you have a bad day of practice, he's going to act like that. I know the season is coming up, but if the season is coming up or not, we're not using the proper technique we've been working on the whole time. It's getting to the point where we have to start using it."

• Snap decision: Backup quarterback Jason Whieldon is the No. 1 holder and Tanuvasa Moe will be the long snapper on punts and place kicks, special teams coach Tyson Helton announced yesterday.

Whieldon, a senior, replaces Shawn Withy-Allen, who completed his eligibility in December. Kicker Justin Ayat chose Whieldon from among five candidates.

"I've noticed he holds the best," Ayat said.

Helton said: "I told Justin, 'You tell me how you feel about them.' Every day we would go up and down the list. He feels pretty comfortable with Jason."

Third-string quarterback Jeff Rhode is the backup holder.

Last year, the 6-foot, 220-pound Moe was the long snapper on punts, but a heavier center was used on place kicks. After several rounds of auditions, Helton decided to allow Moe to snap on place kicks.

"We'd like to have a bigger guy, but TJ's pretty accurate," Helton said. "Besides, you can't hit the center, anyway, on field-goal attempts until he raises his head. He's a reliable guy and he does a good job on punt snapping, so we figure this is a good match field goal-wise."