ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tulane coach Chris Scelfo, far right, talked to his players at St. Louis School yesterday. Tulane faces Hawaii on Wednesday.
Warriors go on road It can still be a bowl game experience even if you don't leave town.
— to Waikiki hotel
UH, officially the visiting team
Notebook
for the Hawaii Bowl,
is prepping for Tulane
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThat's how Hawaii football player Lamont Williams feels about it. This is the freshman receiver's first "road trip."
UH is designated the visiting team in Wednesday's ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl. While being in Hawaii isn't a novelty for the Warriors, spending a week in a Waikiki hotel is -- especially for players like Williams, who haven't traveled with their teammates.
"Everything's a bonus for me," he said. "It's all interesting. Even just being with the fellas in the hotel. I haven't experienced that before."
Tulane's Green Wave rolled into the islands early yesterday morning, and the first thing coach Chris Scelfo's team did was head to St. Louis School for practice.
Hawaii's opponents from New Orleans didn't need a road map. They had strength coaches Curtis Tsuruda, a former Hawaii staff member, and Gavin Ozaki, a St. Louis alumnus.
"Curtis is my man," Scelfo said. "He and Gavin both bring a tremendous work ethic to what they do, and our players respond to it. Of course, their biggest role this trip is to be our tour guides."
After practice and then lunch at Outback Steakhouse, the Tulane contingent checked in to its rooms at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider.
The Warriors had done that Thursday night and set early wakeup calls for yesterday's 7 a.m. practice at UH.
Junior inside receiver Clifton Herbert agreed that spending several nights in a Waikiki hotel prior to a game is a somewhat surreal experience. But he said it gives the Warriors some time to spend together without the pressures of school (yesterday was the last day of finals) or having a game the next day, which is usually the case on the road.
"You can go room to room and be with your buddies. It's your home environment. It's more relaxed. Once Christmas comes and the game comes, everyone's going to ship off into their own directions until January," Herbert said. "It's kind of cool that they're putting us up for the week."
The players also found the $250 in per diem expense money kind of cool.
"We got a travel bag with some goodies in it, too," senior linebacker Chris Brown said.
Both teams were briefed by HPD officers about keeping an eye on their belongings in Waikiki since there has been a recent rash of robberies and burglaries.
Today the Warriors and Green Wave visit the Arizona Memorial and have dinner together on the USS Missouri. Many of the UH players toured the Arizona in 1999 when they played in the Oahu Bowl. Brown is among that group, but said he doesn't mind visiting the memorial again.
"You can look at it as being boring, but I think it's kind of good for me to go back to it again," he said. "Seeing that and being reminded of the sacrifices others made for you brings you back to Earth."
Herbert said he has visited the Arizona twice before, including 1999 as a redshirt during Oahu Bowl week. He said it's all part of a bizarre but interesting week and opportunities that most college football players -- let alone college students -- don't get to experience.
"It's strange," said Herbert, who finished up his fall semester school work yesterday. "Wake up in a fancy hotel, go to practice, then come back to school for a final exam. Another chapter in the life of a student-athlete."
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