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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Not yet over
the ‘Rainbows’DEAR sports columnist:
>> "It is my opinion that the university should go back to the Rainbow Warrior nickname across the board. Hawaii has a long, rich tradition of athletic success and the Rainbow Warrior name has been a distinctive trademark of Hawaii teams. ... When the change was made, the university did a poor job of explaining why this was needed and I still do not agree with any of the reasoning. I fully understand the reasoning for redoing the logo to create a better marketing brand and the University's efforts there have been great. ... The nickname should never have been changed."
>> "I am a basketball season-ticket holder. The team's jackets read, in big letters, BOWS. ... The campus stores at both the Stan Sheriff arena and at Ward Centre are wittily called 'BOWtiques.' ... I have gone to the arena 'BOWtique' at halftime of every game. I have bought nothing. Every item of clothing in there is dull, black and dark green, not even a vibrant green. (By the way, I have an older jacket that I bought at the arena, which I keep because it has a bright rainbow insignia and looks good.) ... If you imagine grasping the logo by one vertical side of the 'H' and placing it in your palm, you will see that it then looks like brass knuckles, all the better to win the next football brawl. It's a hostile, aggressive, jagged logo, which, I suppose, is what they wanted. ... I frequently see rainbows, so they do connote Hawaii."
>> "Rainbows? Warriors? My brother on the mainland calls them 'the Uglies.' Why? He has seen their uniforms on TV."
>> "No one saw a warrior after the rain stopped. They saw a rainbow."
>> "The Rainbowtique is carrying new T-shirts with the old menehune warrior and rainbow logo on it! (Its Web) site reads 'Exciting Retro Designs Coming Soon.' So older fans with puka 'Bows shirts may finally be able to update their game day attire! Please tell fans they can vote with their wallets by buying the new Retro stuff."
>> "I just wonder what the results would be if the data was broken down ... for example, what would be the response of UH graduates from the '40s, '50s, '60s, etc., in contrast to non-UH graduates, malihini, etc.? ... As you probably have guessed, I prefer Rainbows."
>> "I would not have answered with a preference to either the Warriors or the Rainbow Warriors. My choice would be the Rainbows."
>> "I've been a football season-ticket holder since Aloha Stadium was built and nothing (ticked) me off more than when June Jones arbitrarily changed the team name -- not even the bad vonAppen years made me as mad. I wouldn't have been as upset if the name change were put out to the public to vote on it. I'm also upset with the logo change, same reason."
>> "It's getting too confusing, yeah? What do we call the baseball team, now? What is the real name for the hoopsters, again? Hold on ... what was dat? I think 'I get beer in my ear' ... no can think, already. ... Anyway, Let's ALL embrace some unity, already. Rainbow Warriors should satisfy ALL."
LET'S NOTE THAT about 30 percent of Hawaii's people may disagree. But knowing that number may explain why, for the first time ever, none of them wrote back.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com