Sidelines
ONE by one, the thrills are fading for the wide-eyed neighbor island boy in the big city. (That's Les Keiter! This is Rainbow Stadium! From C&K? That's K!) The sights are becoming dry and ho-hum, the once as-seen-on-TV excitement now no big deal, and I yawn along with colleagues who have seen it all for decades and know history on a first-name basis. Tita’s return
lacked dramaBut even if a trip to Zippy's is no longer quite so exciting, if the Pearlridge monorail isn't as magical as it once looked, if Honolulu City Lights are now everyday life ...
That's Tita Ahuna.
And then another thrill appears.
Tuesday night. Stan Sheriff Center. UH vs. HPU.
That's Tita Ahuna.
It should have been billed to be thrilling, Tita's return to visit her old team, her old coach, her old ohana. It should have been a magical night. But where's the hype? No big announcement in the arena. No long introduction. No mention of what she meant, of who she was, of what she did.
Everybody already knows, yes. We all know. But it doesn't hurt to remind us. It would have been easy to make it a "moment."
It was anyway. A small one. Ahuna, the national champion HPU coach, the 1987 national champion UH captain, was happy, later, after, basking in the memories, sunning in the instant, relishing the future. Laughing. Relaxing. A small moment. A small one might have been just right.
The match itself held no magic. It was Division I against Division II, and you don't need to see the scores to know what that looked like. The battle of the bands was more interesting.
(Really. Hawaii Pacific brought the house, a loud, raucous outfit that included not only a full band, but jumping gymnastics guys, flying cheerleaders, chanting students and European soccer-style singing. It was like an ACC basketball game. UH countered with Halloween costumes and the dancing tubas.)
The Sea Warriors, brought in to keep the turnstiles clicking and the money flowing, filling up an open date, were excited. But so overmatched.
What can they do when Kim Willoughby gets a clear shot, a towering view, a big wind-up?
"Hide," Andrea Wean said.
"Good kill," said Roberta Robert, tongue in cheek, giving an imaginary Willoughby the "Fonzie," the wink and the gun. "That was awesome!"
They could only smile. They knew what they were getting into. They have TVs, too.
No, no contest. "They play a lot faster than our division does," Robert said. For the Wahine, dramatic saves are routine. And on the other side HPU ended up flat-footed far too often. "We should have played a little bit better," said Robert. She was right.
No pebble snatching in this one, no Steve Alford-Bobby Knight showdown, no Graduation Night, though Ahuna was almost halfway there with leis.
No, there wasn't a big story. Not a big moment. But a little one. A nice, pleasant little mini thrill.
There's Tita Ahuna.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com