Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Sports Watch
BOY. June Jones will do anything to avoid the traffic gridlock at Aloha Stadium. Flea-bitten
stadium parkingHe's even thinking of having his University of Hawaii football team play a game on Maui next year.
Some logistics and numbers still have to be worked out. But one of them won't involve plans to handle a traffic gridlock to Maui's War Memorial Stadium.
If UH football season ticket holders from Honolulu plan to go to the game, they'll take a bus or go car pooling.
However, I doubt if a significant number will want to pay the airfare to Maui to see Montana, a Division I-AA opponent in a "road" game.
Especially if they're talking about charging $30 a ticket. That's the same price for the Hula Bowl, which is held there. But we're talking about a game involving a Division I-AA team.
Montana, that is.
I know what you were thinking. You thought I meant UH, didn't you?
Don't blame you. We're all still a little shell-shocked, not only by the loss to Portland State but by how badly UH played in its season opener.
It's hard to determine which elicited the most outcries over the weekend -- the H-Men's poor performance or the traffic jam going to Aloha Stadium.
Both were horrific. And, sonofagun, it was deja vu all over again.
Jones wasn't the only one to go 0-2 in season openers.
So did the Aloha Stadium officials, who again couldn't come up with a solution to the traffic problem after last year's USC fiasco.
Maybe it isn't entirely their fault, but the buck has to stop some place. And who else can we blame?
The traffic problem after the USC game turned off so many fans that UH never had another sellout the rest of the 1999 season despite a terrific turnaround 9-4 record and an appearance in the Oahu Bowl.
Well, it happened again. Again, thousands of fans couldn't get to the game on time.
The USC game last year was worth missing from the opening kickoff. But being late last Saturday pained UH fans because they missed the only part of the game worth seeing.
Burn the fans once, shame on you. Burn them twice, shame on the fans.
So, it's unfortunate for the UH athletic department. It looks doubtful if there will be an attendance larger than 45,452 for the rest of this season. Even against Wisconsin, unless the Badgers bring 5,000 fans of their own.
WHAT to do? Well, again there's one year to work on something before next season's opener against Iowa State on Sept. 1.
Stadium officials said fans were part of the traffic problem because they didn't seek alternate parking areas.
Excuse me?
Isn't alternate parking a choice only AFTER the stadium parking is filled?
The police could inform the thousands of motorists waiting to go in the stadium that there's no parking without the motorists having to find out for themselves when they finally arrive at the stadium gates.
How's about letting them U-turn the hell out of there and maybe find alternate parking?
Opening the parking lot gates earlier -- not just 2 1/2 hours before kickoff -- would definitely help.
Even if it means doing away with the flea market when UH is playing. We're talking about only eight or so Saturdays a year. Is that so hard?
No question, the flea market generates the most income of any stadium tenant. But Aloha Stadium wasn't built for flea markets. It was built for University of Hawaii's football program.
Somehow, over the years, the priorities got screwed up.