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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Jones opens up
and talks some footballIT'S late July and the sports days are so slow we in the media will resort to taking matters into our own hands -- taking June Jones to lunch -- in order to have something to write and talk about.
(Note to kids: Coach Jones eats his vegetables. Note to my wife: not broccoli.)
And it was a nice little round table, yesterday (even if it was actually a long rectangle).
Dave Reardon asked probing questions. Robert Kekaula pointed out that fans prefer defense.
KKEA's Scott Robbs filled Jones in on how the team looks on the latest video game.
Jason Kaneshiro used the word "harmony."
Jones told stories of playing on the JV basketball squad at UH in the time of the "Cutter Four."
I ate an enormous mound of French fries.
And I came to a realization.
Listening to June Jones talk about football makes me happy.
It does, it really does.
Sitting there hearing about Nate Jackson and a forced fumble and the triumph of a practice drill come true, I was a hog in heaven. An idiot grinning.
It's always great to listen to someone who is passionate and knows his stuff.
And if it's about football, so much the better.
But better still because this treat is all too rare. We don't get to listen to Jones on football very much. Not really.
We get all the other stuff.
He doesn't always feel so talkative, with yet another notepad in his face. Often, we hear frustrated sound bites, delivered with a faraway look.
And there are the politics and the campaigns for turf, both figurative and literal.
The occasional sly pokes at opposing programs and coaches, officially worded press conference trash talk.
Injury reports.
Player hype.
The other jobs he could have gotten, or alternately knows nothing about.
The things you end up saying, when every word you say becomes an instant headline.
I don't want to hear any of that stuff.
BUT JONES HAS a gift, because my goodness, he knows football, and better yet, he loves it, too.
That's the real stuff.
That's the good stuff.
Football. The game. His guys.
Game plans and sideline conversations.
Why things work or don't, and how. Smallest details, biggest games. Lessons learned.
The stories he'll tell them about being part of a team.
It was good to see this side of Jones.
On a slow sports day, all the other stuff can wait.
It was better than the cheeseburger. And the cheeseburger was good.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com