The Way I See It
IT'S accepted as part of the "ambience" at Lahaina Civic Center. Lahaina’s Civic Center
a hot spot for basketballAnd it's become a tradition for some of the best teams in the country to travel between 2,500 and 5,000 miles to sweat gallons on the hardwood at the Maui Invitational.
The only air circulation in the 2,500-seat arena comes from four electric fans stationed at each corner of the basketball court.
"It was really hot in that gym," said senior North Carolina point guard Ed Cota yesterday.
"I think both teams (USC and the Tar Heels) were pretty worn out."
I've been sitting at courtside, loosening my collar, shaking my shirt and losing 20 or so pounds in perspiration.
I can't imagine what it's like to be actually out on the floor, sucking air .
I looked around the civic center last night and saw about 2,000 people furiously flapping cardboard fans handed out by one of the Maui Invitational sponsors.
There was enough flapping to lift the place off its foundation.
The civic center has the indoor temperature of an old barn but it plays host to top-caliber college basketball three days a year. It's a tournament which has seen three top 10 matchups within its walls in the past decade, and is likely to see another this week.
The civic center houses the Department of Motor Vehicles and a post office, is right next to the fire department, and gets a lot of use by senior citizens and children .
It was an elementary school gym about a decade ago.
Last place you'd think to see Brendan Haywood, Ed Cota, and Kenyan Weaks taking warmups or Billy Donovan hunched intently over a stat sheet.
But that's part of the charm of the Maui Invitational.
Florida's 6-7 sophomore center Udonis Haslem is a lot leaner than he was when he played in the 1997 Iolani Classic. He was 285 when he arrived in Gainesville and is now down to a very maneuverable 235.
Utah State's starting guard combination of Bernard ROCK and Troy ROLLE must delight play-by-play announcers and headline writers.
Having seen USC's 6-foot-7, 240-pound Sam Clancy in action against North Carolina yesterday, I wonder how the Rainbows will contain this powerful sophomore from Fairview, Ohio, when they travel to play the Trojans on Dec. 8.
Clancy lowered the boom on the Tar Heels: 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The magic number was "4" last night for former Rainbows Jason Elam and Ma'a Tanuvasa.
Playing for the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football in a 27-21 victory over Oakland, Elam kicked four field goals (30, 24, 38, and 53 yards) while Tanuvasa had four tackles from his defensive end position. One was his third sack of the season.
It was great to find out that running back Josh "Zeus" White, who attended Radford and Farrington High School, was offered and has accepted an invitation to play in the Rivals.com Hula Bowl Maui on Jan. 22.
Blind in one eye since he fell on a toy as a 1-year-old, White is the starting fullback for California.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.
