ONE final requiem for the Rainbow men's basketball team. ‘The Team’ deserves to
be rememberedIt is hard to say good-bye to these guys who brought so much fun and electricity to the Stan Sheriff Center. It's been harder to stay objective because you want the good guys to win.
In all the years of my professional career, there have been but a handful of teams that I can truly say this about: Sorry the season had to end.
The 1983 Wahine volleyball team is one. That was a mixed plate of personalities and backgrounds that became one of the most dominating squads in collegiate volleyball. So effective and yet so humble.
The 1987 Wahine volleyball team is another. The poi dogs of the sport were pit bulls on the court, working through three years of frustration and high expectations before finally winning a national title.
Count the 1992 Rainbow baseball team in there as well. Gentlemen on and off the field, with just the right amount of eccentricity and eclecticism, they deserved to go to the College World Series instead of finishing their careers on a cold night in Arizona with a loss to Pepperdine.
Also, the Wahine volleyball team of 1995. Their marvelous run of 31 victories took an entire state on a joy ride, ending one win short of the final four.
And then there was "Yuvi-Mania" of 1995-96. Yuval Katz & Co. brought men's volleyball into another realm, an entertaining phenomenon that filled the then-Special Events Arena with teeny-bopper screams worthy of a Boyz 2 Men concert.
OF the hundreds of teams and thousands of players I've seen over the years, those teams each have a special page in my perpetual notebook.
Another one was added last week when the 1997-98 Rainbows fell a game short in their drive to Madison Square Garden. The New York press will have a field day with Fresno State and the scandal-plagued Mad 'Dogs. They would have had a better time with Hawaii's Dynamic Duo in Gotham City.
There must have been other teams around the country that were made up of genuinely nice guys. But not many that were as successful.
This group had the burden of trying to please a whole state, which hungered for national attention last attained in the days of the Fabulous Five more than 25 years ago, and briefly by Chaminade in the early 1980s.
The Rainbows carried themselves well, on and off the court. Anthony Carter, who will be playing for big money soon, would show up unexpectedly at an elementary school to thank the kids for writing letters of support.
Alika Smith was the ultimate local boy, with a heart as big as Kailua. He had a smile on his face, in practices and games, because he was having such a good time with the game he loved.
WITH Micah Kroeger, Eric Ambrozich, Mike Robinson, Erin Galloway and all the rest, this team showed how basketball can be played when egos are left in the locker room. So many times during the recent park league season, I saw their legacy: great unselfish passes to teammates for a score.
Even in defeat, the players lingered in the arena Thursday, signing autographs and having their pictures taken. The fans had truly become family to them.
This team was deserving of a catchy name like the Fabulous Five, one that easily recaptures how good this group was together. Our marketing-oriented society has this need for labels, to pigeonhole products into one convenient puka or another, to have a great logo or slogan.
Maybe they can best be referred to as simply "The Team." And in 20 years, when players named Alika and Micah and Anthony dot the rosters of island athletic teams, we'll all remember.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.