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Monday
Evening QB
FOR all the good that the Internet brings to our lives, there is at least one nasty by-product (make that two, I forgot about cybersex, a concept which someone will have to explain to me another time). Murakami critics
are anonymousThe Web seems to promote false courage. People get really brave when they can hide anonymously behind their computer screen and keyboard.
Take the Les Murakami situation.
Since returning to Hawaii three months ago, I've received a steady stream of emails encouraging me to write a column calling for the ouster of the longtime Rainbows' baseball coach.
These posts are usually from former locals who live on the Mainland. They cite UH's mediocre record, poor recruiting and spiraling attendance as reasons to give Murakami the boot.
Fair criticism.
But then some of them go on to say that UH retaining Murakami as its baseball coach for too long is an example of the type of thing that happens in Hawaii that made them leave.
Say what? Time for a reality check. You can hold Murakami responsible for what happens with his baseball team, and that's it.
Also, very few of these cyber-critics submit their real names, or are willing to have their words published.
To them I say, get some guts.
It's not just on the Net. It seems wherever local sports fans gather, all they talk about is that Murakami needs to go -- that is when they're not saying Wallace or Wilton needs to go -- but very few want to be held accountable for saying it.
If Hawaii's baseball fans really want Murakami out, they should get together and let athletic director Hugh Yoshida know it by showing up at his office, en masse -- and having some viable alternatives in mind.
But it may be too late for that, this year, anyway. Murakami was to meet with Yoshida today, and the prevailing rumor is that Murakami will get at least another year as coach.
I'd be hypocritical if I didn't admit my own frustrations with the baseball Rainbows over the past several years.
They were the only UH team of which I was ever a true fan. As a teen-ager in the '70s, I marveled at Gerald Ako's and Derek Tatsuno's brilliant pitching and the scrappy play of the rest of the 'Bows as they climbed to national prominence.
In 1980, I was away at college when UH won its first three games at the College World Series. My roommates laughed when I excitedly showed them the single line of type in the Chicago Tribune, noting the Rainbows' 9-3 victory over Miami, before they lost twice to Arizona for the championship.
It wasn't until a couple years later when I began covering UH baseball once in awhile that I learned more about Murakami, and how the quiet man built the program from nothing.
He spoiled us all, with conference championships and regionals and future major leaguers, and the best stadium in the nation.
The Rainbows became so popular, they were part of the reason the Triple-A Islanders couldn't draw.
In most places, people don't care enough about college baseball to call for the head of the coach, regardless of record. Ironically, the man who raised the bar so high here is coming under fire for not reaching it.
I hope something is worked out for him to complete his career with dignity.
What's one more year? Les Murakami gave us 30 -- most of them pretty damned good.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail dreardon@starbulletin.com