THIS and that to chew on over lunch: It hurts to say it,
but Les has got to goIt is painful to write the next sentence because I respect and admire the career Les Murakami has put together as head baseball coach at the University of Hawaii, but here goes:
Les must go.
He said he would, after all, if this year's team didn't live up to his expectations.
Back in September, Murakami told longtime Advertiser reporter Ferd Borsch, "If this team does not have the season I think it should have, I will quit . . . It's that simple."
Further down in the story, Murakami said, "Put it this way, I think we can have a winning season and make the WAC playoffs."
That's pretty clear.
Well, the Rainbows will end up with an overall record above .500. They are 32-18, so that part is a lock.
But as they head into a three-game series against San Diego State this weekend, they are just 10-14 in the Western Athletic Conference and in last place in the West Division.
Again.
As they were last year.
Unless the Rainbows win five of their last six games, they will finish with a losing record in the WAC for the sixth straight season.
They are 67-94 in the conference during that span.
They have not qualified for the NCAA playoffs since 1993.
Average attendance at Rainbow Stadium this season likely will hit an all-time low.
The house that Les built is spiritless. Sad, considering it wasn't too long ago when Rainbow baseball was the best game in town.
It could be again, but not without major changes.
Unfortunately, the man responsible for making local folks passionate about Rainbow baseball isn't the guy who can get it done anymore.
Gotta love that Antawn Jamison. The smooth forward from the University of North Carolina decided to pass up his senior year in college to turn pro.
I have no beef with that. After all, the best reason to go to college is to get a good job. Playing basketball for a couple million bucks a year is good work if you can get it.
But what made me laugh was this peculiar quote from the young man, which might make some NBA general managers think twice about drafting him:
"Once you think about it," he said at his coming-out press conference, "there's not much more to accomplish, other than maybe winning a national championship."
Say what?
I'm sure Jamison's a good kid, but don't you think guys like Alika Smith would bite nails just to have an opportunity to win the national title?
Let's hope Jamison doesn't end up playing for the Washington Wizards. Chris Webber and Juwan Howard will have him believing that, uh, stuff.
Leave it to the NCAA to mess up an already messed up thing.
This whole setup where student-athletes on scholarship will be allowed to earn up to $2,000 during the school year is merely another set of unnecessary rules.
Do you think university presidents would get in a snit if, say, Walter Dodds wanted to pay a UH student a couple thousand bucks if that student were chosen as a Rhodes Scholar?
Or won a research grant?
Doubtful.
Yet if a football booster wants to put a hundred bucks in Charles Tharp's pocket for each touchdown he scores, why, that's scandalous.
Universities should forget the rules. If people want to pay athletes to play for State U., let them. If that athlete squanders the opportunity to learn and better him or herself, kick the kid out of school.
That's the kind of lesson that might actually be educational.
Heaven forbid.
