Pub in sync
with WimbledonTHE tennis from Wimbledon was on the TV at O'Toole's the other day, a rarity surpassed only, perhaps, if someone left on World Cup Soccer by mistake. Usually the sets there are focused on baseball, basketball or football. But there was a reason for Friday's focus on Wimbledon. Mike Giddings was in town. Now the former coach of Hawaii in the old World Football League and current head of a football scouting combine for various NFL teams, Giddings seems an unlikely candidate to be a tennis buff. But with him was a guy who qualifies as the answer to an all-star trivia question: "Who won a gold medal in the Olympics, and then whose daughter went on to win one in another sport?" The other guy, and the answer to the question, was Wink Davenport, who was on the gold medal winning U.S. volleyball team many years and even more pounds ago. And his daughter, who's ranked No. 2 at Wimbledon, is Lindsey Davenport, who won a gold medal in tennis at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta ...
LET'S hear it for magician John Hirokawa! His TV spot for Burger King's teriyaki burger has gone over so well that the company has hired him to be its local spokesman. He'll be appearing at various Burger Kings around Hawaii (where kids, inspired from the TV spot, tell him, "Make this disappear!") and they'll also be sponsoring a TV special featuring Hirokawa that's slated to air on Oct. 31, Halloween night. Hirokawa says he plans to make the "Mighty Mo" disappear. As in "No Mo' Mo." Meanwhile, he's moving his "Magic of Polynesia" show to the Outrigger Showroom on Sept. 15, and on the night his special airs he'll unveil a completely new show, also at the Outrigger ...
Poi to the world
IT only just premiered last week, and already people are quipping that the Poi Company, brainchild of Aimoku McClellan, has gone to the dogs. At the big announcement party at that bastion of poi connoisseurs, the Pacific Club, Chef Alan Wong -- the new streamlined version -- and Dr. Terry Shintani, who must have inspired Wong's weight loss, helped kick off the Poi Company with some unique presentations of the pasty substance. But the piece de resistance came just before the introduction of poi ice cream. A dog named Kolaka was trotted out and offered a new dog biscuit made with poi. It could easily have been another example of Ed McMahon trying unsuccessfully to get a dog to eat Alpo "live" on the "Tonight Show," but McClellan breathed a sigh of relief when Kolaka snatched it up and, like John Hirokawa, made it disappear quicker than you could sing "Poi to the World." ...I'M not suggesting that my colleague Charley Memminger's distaste for mayo is well known, but on Chef Sam Choy's cooking show the other day he was about to add some mayo to a dish when he quipped, "Close your eyes, Memminger." Charley won't even go see "Pal Joey," because Virginia Mayo is in it. (I made up that last part.) ...
Hoop it up
THE Michael Jordan wannabes were out in force over the weekend at Pearlridge Center. More than 500 four-person basketball teams were tangling in the "Great Hawaii Shootout." The event is known nationally as "Hoop-It-Up," and the winner in the "Top Gun" division moves on to the regional championships. There were other participants who don't move along, except for home. That would be those in the divisions known variously as "Young Gun," "Couch Potato" and "Older Than Dirt." I think I've heard my calling! ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.