Keeping Score
SHOULDN'T life come with instructions? Just curious. It was one of those questions to ponder on the second day of the new year while trying to put together my son's new foosball table. Life doesn’t always
follow instructionsThe majority of yesterday afternoon was spent putting in 8x30mm bolts, 22mm washers and various sizes of aptly named screws.
But even after following the instructions meticulously, and getting nary a 3.5x14mm mixed up with a 3.5x25mm or a 4x45mm, the darn thing wouldn't let us install the LED scoreboard.
There was no way to thread the connection wires through the goal boxes ... unless, as was eventually discovered, we dismantled what had been Step 5 to get to Step 8. So much for trying to do things as they are supposed to be done.
Maybe that's why life doesn't come with a little manual, or with batteries included. Because even if one follows instructions to the letter, it doesn't mean things will always work out the way they are supposed to.
It's sort of how I felt when hearing the news last week that sportscaster Bob Hogue was being let go by KHON. Hogue has been a colleague and neighbor for some 11 years.
Our kids have grown up together, played in the same park leagues, been on the same teams. We have spent many a Saturday morning on opposing sidelines or in the same bleachers, and have shared way too many leftover Happy Meal french fries.
HOGUE and I are about the same age, grew up in Southern California and enjoy a good-natured rivalry when it comes to contests played between our college alma maters, UCLA and USC. We have quite a bit in common, including a love for Hawaii and her athletes.
His dismissal may have affected me more because there, but by the grace of God and lawsuits by the state and Department of Justice, go I. Until the closure of the Star-Bulletin was halted, I was figuring on also starting down a new career path about this time.
Hogue said he was gratified by the supportive response he received last week after the news was announced. He said it was really heartwarming to hear from strangers who considered him family because he had been in their homes so many nights via television.
"The people of Hawaii have been so terrific,'' he said. "It's been overwhelming.''
I know how he feels.
The continued support from the community over the Star-Bulletin's survival has been very gratifying. Our newsroom is thankful for each day that our paper continues to be placed on your doorstep or skids across your driveway.
Good things are supposed to happen to good people. It has happened to our staffers, and it will happen for Hogue. And, as much as I respect the other sports guys at KHON, the Sunday night "Sports Final'' just won't be the same.
I dated my first check Saturday with '00. It's weird but kind of nice, isn't it?
Every New Year's Day, we think about resolutions, about making and, of course, breaking them. But this '00 thing somehow makes one want to truly stick to promises made.
For once, we really are starting at ground zero, with a blank slate. I may kid my son that his eighth grade class graduating this May is the Class of Nothing, but I think he's on to something. A fresh start.
Perhaps it's a good time to forget about those instruction books and learn to put together life as if it were a foosball table. There's always going to be little surprises ... and probably some leftover screws.
Happy 2000.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.
