|
Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
|
UH rides quietly into regional
HERE comes June, and the 'Bows are still playing. They're off, on the road to Omaha. Call Willie Nelson, have him crank it up. On the road again.
Yes, it's really happening. After 13 years. The Rainbows are in regional play, the NCAA baseball postseason. Yes, really. It's true. I checked.
(No, my TV wasn't on ESPN at 6:30 yesterday morning for the big selection show. So I cranked up the computer instead. OK, the whole field. Hmmm. No Hawaii. No Hawaii. No surprise, really. Inexplicably left out again. No, wait, there it is. Bottom right corner.)
Yes, UH is still playing. The Rainbows -- and our Al Chase -- are off to Corvallis, Ore., home of Coach Cav and the Beavers. UH opens with Kansas.
Kansas?
Yes, Kansas is actually good this year. Won the Big 12 Tournament, beat Nebraska. Still, nobody was expecting this. The last time the Jayhawks were baseball conference champs? The Big 12 was the Big Seven (seriously).
Cinderella story. Festivus miracle. These guys are rolling now.
But Hawaii can play with Kansas.
Yes, it's real. I checked. (It's in the paper -- see Al's story.) After 13 years in the wilderness the Rainbows have finally come home.
And they did it on the road.
That's the thing. This sneaks up on us, almost. It happened quietly. It's been so quiet. Incredibly quiet.
Whenever I thought of UH coach Mike Trapasso, this past month or so they've been away winning, strangely, I always imagined him speaking like Elmer Fudd:
"Be vewwy, vewwy quiet."
Just think. If Hawaii had been home, down the stretch, running down a regional, in the hunt for a WAC title, awakening again after a 13-year sleep, it would have been crazy. Mass hysteria. Riots. Everything. I know I personally probably would have set something on fire.
OK, I exaggerate. Slightly. But people are so hungry for those good old days to return. It's like a small explosion every time this program shows a pulse.
These last few years we've seen it, as the 'Bows teased us. We've seen that one huge Saturday night at Murakami Stadium, people pouring in like the old days, before hopes faded away.
Instead, this time, they did it on the road, in the quiet. Never fading. Under pressure, yes, but in near silence. They snuck up on us. They last played at home a month ago today, have been out of our sight ever since (went 11-3 in that stretch to sew it up).
Now, here it is. Hawaii back in baseball's postseason after all these years. Really. Still playing in June. On the mainland, out on the road again.