Sidelines
Last week Riley Wallace was fed up, and gave us a glimpse of what June Jones could do for Hawaii, and do so much better. UH needs another lobbyist
Not on the court. Not as a coach. But something which has, unfortunately, become almost as important.
Coaches always tell us they don't care about ratings and rankings. They care. And when UH wasn't in the basketball Top 25, again, Wallace got ESPN's Andy Katz on the phone and decided to do something about it.
"He says, 'You gotta win on the road.' I said, 'You gotta do your research,' " Wallace recalled. " 'We won two on the road already and won 2-3 on a neutral court.'
" 'Yeah, but that's Hawaii.'
"I said, 'No, we got on a plane, we flew 45 minutes, just like going from Atlanta down to play in Athens, Georgia, it's not any different. You people gotta understand that.' "
And Wallace, who can be a persuasive guy if the mood strikes him, told Katz about quality wins over Georgia, Fresno State, Wisconsin and SMU.
"So we'll get some recoginition out of him, I turned him around on the phone," the coach said.
You think a call from Jones -- a pro who knows the score, knows who, where, how -- wouldn't carry even more weight in Hawaii's quest for football rankings and bowl bids?
>> So first Evan Dobelle wanted a 60,000 seat stadium, for a shot at the Pac 10.
Then he wanted the Jones plan, a 30,000 seat stadium on campus.
Now, simply control of the stadium Hawaii already has, but doesn't own.
I think there are a lot of questions to be answered and investigating to be done before anyone decides if this is a good idea or not.
It would certainly be good for Jones, and for keeping Jones.
And fans would know where to direct all their stadium complaints.
>> Jones deserves a lot of credit for taking part in a campaign for blood donations. Good work, Coach.
>> "The General Remembers" on KCCN-AM is absolute gold, and much, much better than the commercials had me anticipating it to be.
A wonderful interview show put on talk story-style by Les Keiter and his innumerable friends from around the country and through the years, it had me sitting listening in the parking lot last week and almost late for a game. Now that's good radio.
Only Keiter can get the names he does, because they want to listen to him as much as we do. He remains a local treasure.
>> Staying with KCCN, it was nice to hear old 'Bow Nerijus Puida doing halftime analysis on the Rainbow network last week.
He's sharp, funny, and knows what he's talking about. I'd like to hear him again.
The accent? Well, it's no more foreign to my ears than the Noo Yawkas that seem to dominate local sports radio.
>> As you read this, the lovely Jennifer and I are at an "engagement encounter weekend," like that episode of "Coach." Pray for me.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com