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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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It's plain to see win made Jones happy
THE room was giddy. KITV's Robert Kekaula said, "Did you feel like you could score at will?"
"I always feel that way," June Jones said, the way he always does.
And he's always saying something like this, that he's always the same, that things don't change, that no matter the situation, he's some kind of even-keel machine. When, come on, he's human. That obviously isn't true.
"Just the way Coach Jones is, his mentality," Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan said, "if you know him long enough, we'll walk into practice on Monday after a loss, after a win, it doesn't matter. He has the same mentality, he'll be drawing up plays."
Yes. But anyone with a television set has felt it through the screen, has seen his ups and downs, his moods, his cocky phases, his combative moments, his sense of humor, his laughter, his dark days.
He's human. Of course he isn't always the same.
And yesterday, you could see it. He tried to put on his best poker face, but as he talked about Saturday's 68-37 win at Fresno State (on the road, at Fresno State!), you could tell.
He felt really, really good.
And he should.
"It's certainly better than a long trip home, losing," he said, letting a smile slip. "That's for sure."
» How big a win was it? How did it feel? "At the end of the game when there's almost more Hawaii people than Fresno people," Brennan said. "You could see in the seniors, you know, how much they were all fired up about it, and they were all excited. Dane Uperesa was one of the guys who was so excited, walking up and down the sidelines, it makes you feel great, just thanking people and stuff like that. The seniors, really, that was probably for them, if anything."
» Jones on New Mexico State defensive coordinator Woody Widenhofer: "He's going to do what he does and we're going to do what we do."
I can never hear him say that without hearing Frank Sinatra: "Do do that voodoo that you do so well ..."
» Admit it. You're thinking, "How is Colt Brennan on this amazing hot streak when I haven't seen him throw up since Alabama?" Not to worry. A couple of weeks ago UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison reported that he and Brennan were walking back to the locker room after practice, just talking, when, "He just turned his head to the side," Morrison said. " 'Excuse me, Coach.' " Bleaahh! Right there. Then, after a second, continued walking, continued talking.
All is right with the world.
» As long as Nate Ilaoa and Ian Sample keep making plays, "run-and-shoot" is out. I'm calling it the "sixth-year-senior offense."
After every win UH should send thank-you notes to the NCAA.
» The earthquake. Jones: "That was a little unnerving. I was sitting down reading the paper with a cup of coffee, on the 21st floor. Got a little rattled there. Stood up, sat down. My building was swaying. And I said, 'This might be the big one.' "
My favorite part about the earthquake -- the radio: "Now, don't use the phone. Don't tie up the lines. It's very important to stay off the phone -- OK, now let's go to another caller!"
» The more we hear about the Miami-FIU fight, that the ESPN radio guys are hammering on it nonstop, calling it "disgraceful," and demanding accountability; that the suspended FIU players have to undergo anger management and they and the suspended Hurricanes will do community service, and the Miami athletic director gave the guy who swung his helmet an indefinite suspension; that FIU players were kicked off the team; that the NCAA came forward to officially call the brawl "wholly unacceptable"; that the Miami president would call the incident "outrageous" and "embarrassing"; that after Miami coach Larry Coker at first said the videotape would make his players the good guys, he looked at it and later admitted he'd "overstated the case"; that the Miami board of trustees actually met to talk about the fight; well, I hear all of these things and just get more and more angry.
Don't they know this isn't really that big of a deal? Don't they know the first one -- or as it's known in the business, the Cincinnati -- is free? Don't they know they really don't need to even worry about this kind of stuff until it happens at least twice -- aka the Houston?
"For us," FIU athletic director Pete Garcia told Associated Press, "one incident is one incident too many."
And it turns out it is Miami's second offense, after having gotten into it with LSU after their bowl game last year.
Oh. Well, you figure they could at least look at the tape really, really, really closely, and see that only a handful of guys needed to be suspended. All of them backups.
Some people just don't know how to handle these things.
It's a good thing UH brawled back when it was socially acceptable.