Saturday, July 14, 2001
[ UH ATHLETICS ]
ESPN owns the rights to televise the Rainbow Classic, but a spokesman for the all-sports network said it has no plans to do so nationally and may not show the University of Hawaii-hosted basketball tournament regionally, either. ESPN has no national plans
for showing Rainbow ClassicBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com"It won't be on ESPN 1 or 2," Josh Krulewitz said. "It's possible it could be shown on a regional basis."
ESPN's disinterest re-opens the door for KFVE to televise the preseason holiday tournament locally, as it did the past three years when Fox owned the rights.
"The assumption now is that we will do all the night games unless we are superseded by cable or a national entity," KFVE vice president and general manager John Fink said.
The Rainbow Classic TV rights were negotiated as part of ESPN's new three-year deal with the Western Athletic Conference that was agreed upon last month.
The deal also included moving the Fresno State at Hawaii football game from Saturday, Oct. 26, to 4 p.m. the day before. UH officials moved the game reluctantly, citing probable loss of gate revenue because of the day and time.
The WAC has made an agreement with UH to help make up for the potential loss of revenue, Hawaii athletic director Hugh Yoshida said.
Said Jeff Hurd of the WAC: "We have a basic agreement in place which we will refine after the game. This doesn't look like it will be a one-time thing so we will have to come up with some kind of policy."
Exposure from ESPN telecasts of the Rainbow Classic was also considered a way to compensate UH for movement of the Fresno State game. But that appears to not be part of the equation now.
Also, Fink said ESPN is not showing much interest in UH football games against San Jose State, Nevada and Texas-El Paso which it could broadcast as part of the WAC deal, meaning KFVE is planning to show these games locally.
Sopoaga out: Highly recruited junior-college transfer defensive tackle Isaak Sopoaga won't be eligible this fall because he still needs to complete his associate degree work.
But Vantz Singletary, UH's defensive line coach, said he has at least four viable candidates to fill the right tackle spot that was projected for Sopoaga (6-foot-3, 310 pounds, junior).
Sopoaga had 31 sacks last year and was a junior college All-American at College of the Canyons (Calif.). He reportedly has run 40 yards in 4.75 seconds and bench pressed 425 pounds.
"He would have been gravy, bonus, for us this year. Of course it's a loss of some weight. He's such a fierce rusher," Singletary said.
Singletary said that, ideally, Lui Fuga (6-2, 326, junior) will start at right tackle next to Mike Iosua (6-3, 271, senior) at left tackle. But Fuga was in and out of the lineup last year and missed spring practice because of shoulder injuries.
Pigout time: Murphy's Bar & Grill once again hosts the annual Pigskin Pigout to raise money for the UH football program.
The event, which includes silent and live auctions for sports memorabilia, is July 26, inside the downtown restaurant and on adjoining Merchant Street, proprietor Don Murphy said. It begins at 7 p.m. and continues until around 10 p.m.
Items for auction include Super Bowl tickets, local resort vacations, and a San Francisco 49ers' cap signed by Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott.
Tickets for the fully hosted event go for $100.
Here and there: UH psychologists Michael D'Andrea and Judy Daniels -- whom basketball coach Riley Wallace credited for much of the Rainbows' success last spring -- are featured in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine. They are listed as No. 27 on ESPN's List of "63 reasons why we can't get enough of sports'' for Savviest Psych Job... Football News announced its 2001 All-WAC team, which includes three Warriors: OL Vince Manuwai, LB Pisa Tinoisamoa and DB Nate Jackson. ... Wahine softball head coach Bob Coolen is in the midst of negotiating a new contract.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
