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Question to live
by: WWGD?

SOMEBODY stop me. Please.

» So Riley Wallace heard something on the radio recently, and it really set him off.

I have a solution.

Stop listening to the radio.

No, I can kind of understand. Wallace was feeling frustrated and unloved, and 18 years of occasional complaints can wear on a person. He's done a great job with this Hawaii program under some trying circumstances and it's tough when you feel as if you've thrown your heart into something and there's still always somebody out there with a negative vibe.

Yes, I think most of us can relate.

We've all felt this way.

Now stop listening to the radio.

It reminds me of the old vaudeville routine: Groucho Marx says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this."

Doc: "Don't do that."

Well, you could say that Wallace is just a sports fan like the rest of us, and he (usually) enjoys Bobby Curran's morning show on KKEA. It's one of his pleasures in life.

That's great.

Listen in the offseason.

Give up one of your treats for a few months. You're in training.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing. It seems people send Wallace e-mail filled with coaching tips.

Personally, I can use all the ideas I can get. But Wallace took offense.

Fine. Have somebody else go through the e-mail first.

Remember: What would Groucho do?

Oh, one more thing: Um, I wouldn't read the paper, either.

» Speaking of listening to the radio, June Jones' press conference yesterday was very interesting.

Is UH in danger of dropping football in the next few years? I don't know the numbers, but, no, I just can't see it. No.

Jones does have some very valid concerns about facilities, budget, revenue flow, all that stuff, and this was one of his most reasoned and eloquent performances. But he's become such a polarizing figure -- I wish he could find a better way of expressing what he wants to say.

Another "good for the whole state" pronouncement, for example. It's true -- without a doubt -- that UH's success does help draw attention to homegrown talent. But it's equally true that Hawaii was a fertile recruiting ground for mainland schools long before Jones became coach and will be long after he's retired.

You can see what he means, but taking it that one extra step has become one extra step too many for a lot of people.

I just wish the guy could find the right words and the right style with which to say them. Especially when he's got a good point underneath it all.

He's really in danger of coming off sounding unhappy -- and he's sounded unhappy a lot lately.

And that's not what anybody wants.

» So Kahuku is steering student-athletes away from UH? Really?

Well, go make friends up there. That's what recruiting is about.

"I did for five years," Jones said.

OK, then.

(The clicking sound you hear is me fastening my seat belt.)

» None of us knows what really happened at Punahou -- and let's be honest, similar things have probably happened at several other schools. But if you are going to hold a "no-holds-barred" practice in which coaches physically confront students and you call it "Brawl Day," you can see how some people might be left with a negative connotation.

In case you missed it, a Punahou wrestler's family has hired an attorney after the kid was allegedly roughed up during the above exercise Jan. 18.

Since it broke, there has been some rumbling that wrestling is a brutal sport, not for everyone, kids need to be toughened up, etc.

OK. Valid point. And, again, none of us knows the true story. But two things, no matter what happened:

1) That wasn't wrestling.

2) Imagine how long that opinion would last if it was your kid who came home bloodied, and said it was done by his coach.