Posted on: Monday, April 11, 2005

ABOUT MEN

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

I'll spare you five minutes of your morning if you're not a sports fan. That said, I could really use a winner here.

I have been suffering since college football season.

My Iowa Hawkeyes pulled off one of the most amazing wins in school history when Warren Holloway caught Drew Tate's prayer in the end zone as time expired to cap a third consecutive top-8 finish.

Here at home, after a rocky start, the UH football team finished strong and won the Hawai'i Bowl. Still, I can't get over the nationally televised collapses at Boise State and Fresno State, especially after the announcers hyped Timmy Chang to the point that even I was getting uncomfortable.

So then basketball season starts and the Hawkeyes and UH open a combined 21-1.

However fleeting that moment, it was a glorious time.

In November, when I was on Maui and the Hawks were undefeated, ESPN basketball announcer Bill Raftery told me Iowa would be in the Sweet 16 and Hawai'i could secure an at-large bid.

I probably repeated his words 100 times in various conversations.

But then Iowa's leading scorer was kicked off the team and the Hawkeyes finished seventh in the Big Ten.

At about the same time, the UH basketball team hit the road and started losing. The team's most talented player, Julian Sensley, seemingly forgot he stands an athletic 6 feet 11 and became a 3-point shooter. The lack of an effective point guard created chaos.

The end result was UH missing the postseason and losing in frustrating fashion.

We fanatics take losing hard. We set our clocks by the first pitch, kick- or tip-off. Our team wins and everybody hears about it. Our team loses and we hear about it.

It's not easy following Mainland sports, either. Most games are played during business hours, and weekend starts often fall before dawn. And unless you like watching volleyball, you aren't going to see a top-20 Division I college team locally. (I say that as a UH football and men's basketball season ticket holder).

I also say this knowing my dislike of volleyball firmly puts me in the minority, a lesson reinforced when The Advertiser conducted a poll after the World Series, when the local ESPN affiliate cut away in the middle of Game 4 to broadcast UH women's volleyball.

Yes, it was a contractual obligation. No, I didn't think it was right. Our poll says I was in minority. Of the 733 responses, 616 voted they would rather listen to women's volleyball than the the World Series.

But I am a fanatic, and with the new season comes new hope. The Royals and Red Sox are contenders. And top 20 or not, sitting in Les Murakami Stadium and watching UH baseball is a sweet treat.

Baseball in Hawai'i is the perfect setting: rainbows in the Manoa mist, Joe Spiers' groupies — and there isn't a bad seat in the house.

So what if they haven't gone to the postseason in 12 years. Right?

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.