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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Olympic trials gold
for Harris and FrazierTHEY needed this, these men at the microphone. Both of them. They needed to feel this way. Smiling. Soaring, it felt so good. They needed this news on this morning. They needed it on a day like today.
The mayor. His city is in gridlock, his buses are silent, his people are angry. He's "negotiating" (his word) over the radio on Perry and Price.
"I was driving the bus at 5:45 (a.m.)," Jeremy Harris said. He needed something like this.
And the athletic director. He just got back from an 8,300-mile trip. His quarterback is suspended. The press is killing him.
(Herman Frazier: Even if Hawaii had been able to get academically certified in time for bowl play, that is really just a grade check, and no grade check would have red-flagged Timmy Chang.)
He loved this, too.
"When you walk through that door," he began, "and you take a look at those rings that say 'USA' ..."
This was more than just a break. This was big. This was Frazier's Olympic heartbeat. Harris' "sports tourism" dream.
Oahu -- beautiful, TV-friendly Waikiki -- is hosting the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the triathlon in 2004.
Frazier, wearing a blazer with an Olympic crest, looked like a rooster at sunrise.
Harris, bedecked, as always, in leis, beamed as if he'd just settled the strike.
The trial course -- you could watch the whole race from a single spot, they promised -- starts in the waters off Waikiki, bikes in the curves around Diamond Head and ends in a run on Kalakaua, at Kapiolani Park.
"The course we've selected for this race matches up nearly perfectly with the Olympic course in Athens," event organizer John Korff said.
It will be broadcast nationally by NBC. Better than that, this opens the Olympic door.
"The Olympic community is a small community," Korff said.
"This is a tough business," Frazier, the old gold medal-winner, the new Chef de Mission for the U.S. team, said.
"It's big. We're on the radar screen now," the mayor said.
Bigger than that. This sets up Hawaii to host some big stuff. The U.S. Olympic Committee is an exclusive club.
Hawaii just slipped on the green jacket.
Well, maybe not a green jacket.
To commemorate the moment, Korff presented the mayor with an "official uniform." A blue Speedo, emblazoned with the name "HARRIS."
The mayor held it up. He laughed. He loved this.
"The world knows if you want world-class sporting events, go to Honolulu, Hawaii," he'd said, in his official speech.
And two guys in that room were having great days, now, no matter what.
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Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
