ABOUT a half-second after Lonn Kalama let what was left of the 1997 season slip through his fingers, reporters started heading toward the end zone to stake out a spot beneath the goal posts. UH: Walk the walk,
don’t talk about the pastIn our minds, it was just a matter of time before Notre Dame would be knocking on heaven's door, and there was probably little the University of Hawaii football team could do about it.
"It's hard to beat God's team," my grandmother told me 30 years ago. Her words came back in startling clarity about the time Raki Nelson pulled down a third-and-17 pass from Ron Powlus and took it 47 yards to set up the winning field goal by Scott Cengia.
Our reservations under the goal posts proved prophetic. Cengia's long for the season was only 29 yards. But even a contestant for Hershey's Million-Dollar Pro Bowl Kick couldn't miss from 20.
"What happened?" College Sports Xchange editor Don Borst asked the day after Notre Dame came back to win, 23-22. "I had friends of mine calling from all over the country during the game.
"They were saying, 'Hawaii is going to beat Notre Dame. It will be the biggest upset of the century.' We couldn't believe how loud the crowd was. Hawaii's fans weren't cheering. They were screaming."
THAT they were. But in the back of their minds, they feared Hawaii would find a way to lose. Just like so many times before. Different teams. Different decades. Same results. Sometimes the Rainbows play the big boys close, but they rarely light the cigar.
"This is the mind-set we have to break as a football team," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said. "We aren't going to be satisfied with playing people close.
"We have to finish what we start. We haven't been able to do that since I've been here. And that's something we want to change, and soon."
Good luck. Streaks and trends have a way of clinging to teams, and not letting go. They get passed on like family heirlooms. Generation to generation. Team to team.
To break the cycle, the Rainbows must forget the past. Next year, if someone asks a player about the 20-game league road losing streak, he should say, "That was then, this is now." And mean it.
"They say it takes about six weeks to break a habit," UH defensive coordinator Don Lindsey said. "And losing is a habit. No question about it.
"If everybody around you pats you on the back for coming close, then pretty soon you become satisfied with that. To me, it just means nobody thinks you're good enough to win. Our guys should be insulted by that kind of talk."
Many of the younger players feel that way. They aren't used to finishing second in a two-horse race. Talk to freshmen Charles Tharp and Miles Garner and you get the idea the new leaders on the team want to write a different chapter in UH history.
"I came here to help this program turn it around and become a winner," Tharp said. "Yeah, we played Notre Dame close, but we still lost. That's how it goes in the record books."
THAT'S the kind of attitude vonAppen will be looking for when spring ball begins April 6. He doesn't want a lot of talk. He wants somebody to walk the walk, get back in the huddle and walk it again until the gun sounds.
That was his theme in Tuesday's 45-minute team meeting. From now on, coming close equals losing big.
"I asked our guys this question," vonAppen said. "Who was that team that almost beat Notre Dame and who was that team that lost by 63 points at Colorado State? They didn't look the same to me.
"We're about the width at the end of a spark plug away from turning this thing around. But to do that, we have to be able to believe we can win. We have to make the crucial third-down catch that moves the chains.
"And when that day comes, maybe we'll be the team making the field goal late to get the win."
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
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