Sidelines

By Kalani Simpson

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Local bowl good
for now, bad for later

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HIS is great news!

In the short term, at least.

When the NCAA lifted a moratorium on new bowl games yesterday, it opened the possibility (perhaps probability) that postseason college football will return to Hawaii.

Oh, happy day.

Let the fun begin.

In the short term, at least.

BUT HERE COMES the catch. It helps for bowl games to have a conference tie-in, and a Hawaii bowl game will almost certainly have a school tie-in (you know, Hawaii). This means that if UH has a good season it's going to a bowl game, a home bowl game, its own bowl game.

This is bad.

Sure, it's fun for a while, it's good for a while, it helps for a while, but in the long run this is not a good thing.

Not if you want to be taken seriously on the national stage. Not if you want to keep the thrill alive.

The "Hawaii Bowl" is good. The "University of Hawaii Bowl" isn't.

Allow me to steal a few lines from Mike Prater of the Idaho Statesman:

Recruit: "Coach, what kind of bowl opportunities will I have if I come to Boise State?"

Coach: "The Humanitarian Bowl, son, right there in our own parking lot. If we win six or seven games, we have a 50-50 shot at playing in the game. It's a good deal, trust me."

Recruit: "That sounds good, but what about my second year?"

Coach: "H-Bowl."

Recruit: "And my third year?"

Coach: "H-Bowl."

Recruit: "My fourth ... never mind. Dad, please show the coach the door."

Hawaii plans to become a Top 25 team year in and year out, to make seven wins the norm, if not the minimum. That means that UH could be in this game every single year. And if Hawaii is in the game every year, if it has a reserved spot and a standing bid, then the bowl is cheapened and the invitation is, too.

This is bad.

From the outside, the fix is in. On the inside, it's just another home game.

It becomes the Humanitarian Bowl, with better scenery.

ABSENCE MAKES the heart grow fonder, and so an Aloha Bowl is new again, exciting again, great news again.

In the short term, at least.

We had this before and it was great, and then it wasn't, and then it died a horrible death.

Maybe this time around the excitement might last. Maybe UH can be tied in without being tied down. Maybe one of these groups can figure out the magic formula. It isn't easy. You need tie-ins to make the game go, to sell tickets and fill out the field, but tie-ins can devalue the game if you're not careful.

An occasional UH appearance would be appropriate, and fun. Any more would be way too much of a good thing. For UH. For the bowl. For any measure of national respect for either one.

But it remains to be seen if local fans would watch WAC football if Hawaii wasn't involved.

You see the catch.

But those are concerns for down the road. Today, this is wonderful news. Today, fun is in the air. Today, the mood is bubbly, as we dream again of the old days, of Washington, Penn State, Notre Dame, Alabama, USC.

And UH, in a Hawaii bowl, it's an exciting proposition all over again.

In the short term, at least.

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Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com