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It’s an honor the
Lakers ‘pay’ here

NO doubt you have by now caught wind of the big news that the Los Angeles Lakers' return to training camp here in the fall will mean a financial shot in the arm for the University of Hawaii's cash-strapped athletic department.

Good news. But not the big news. To me, the BIG news was this (when I first read the headlines, I almost fainted at the thought):

Not! For real?

The Lakers actually have to PAY?

OK, hold on now. I think I have to sit down.

Wow. Either Lakers owner Jerry Buss is so rich he's started to give it away or his front office just isn't paying attention (and the team's won-loss record this past season seems to give that last theory some weight).

Hasn't anybody done any research going into this negotiation?

Don't they realize what incredible pushovers we are?

Now that the deal is done, I think I can make this next statement without ruining anything:

SUCKERS!

Usually, when "big-time" entertainment entities set up shop in this town (movies, TV, sporting events, etc.) the news is how much we're giving them.

Usually, they help us convince ourselves that they have us over a barrel, that their mere presence here is what will convince the rest of the world that Hawaii exists.

Usually there are special tax breaks, rent waivers. Usually it is we who end up paying them to come.

Usually, outsiders are able to manipulate us by playing on our fears with veiled threats of taking their ball and going somewhere else ... while simultaneously wooing us with rock-candy-mountain promises of the secondary economic boon their wake will create.

And so our knees quiver. And we cave. We blink. We fold, we run out of the room screaming without even looking at our cards. They won't leave us. Whew!

OK, it's obvious I'm exaggerating to have a little fun with this, but you get the idea.

Is it good that these things come here? Yes.

But the point is, we have good cards, in this game. We shouldn't get bluffed so easily. Hawaii is Hawaii whether any of these entities are here or not. Sure, in the short run a defection would certainly sting. But we would still be Hawaii. And people would come and TV, movies, sports events would, too.

We've still got the mystique, the magic. As I've said before, Elvis never made any movies about Orlando.

Now, of course getting these events helps. Of course we should bend. Always bend.

Just not over backward.

We should have more headlines like this one, more deals in which we get to read about the concrete, ink-on-paper things Hawaii gets out of the deal right now. (As opposed to "economic impact" forecasts.)

Getting the NFL to pay for improvements to Aloha Stadium is a good example. And now this. Hopefully this UH-Lakers pact is a sign of things to come.

Now, let's not get carried away. The Lakers wouldn't have done it if it wasn't a very good deal for them. And UH has done a good job of spinning the story ("we get to keep parking!").

But it gives me hope. The Lakers bring "economic impact" (last time they brought about 100 media members), the Lakers bring prestige.

There is no real logical reason for the Lakers to train here. But they want to come to Hawaii. And so they will.

And so UH just found another revenue source.

That's the thing. People want to come to Hawaii. People have dreamt of Hawaii for hundreds of years, and will continue to, tax breaks or not. That's why these events come in the first place -- we have what they want. We should know that. And in negotiations, they should know that we know.

That's all. Let's not get crazy. But we're bringing something to the table, too. We can sell ourselves without giving away the store.