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Punahou up where
it belongs

WE, all of Hawaii's public school graduates, need to brace ourselves.

Punahou is the No. 1 football team in the state.

That's right. Punahou. Those Buffanblu-bloods.

On top of everything else.

They're back, in football, after all these years.

Punahou is like Notre Dame. Like the Yankees, like the Cowboys, like the Lakers, like any love-to-hate, traditional-power, elitist of the elite outfit.

And maybe, like they say about the rest of those teams, it's more fun when they're good.

Maybe it is. I'm actually excited about the prospect that Punahou just might be very, very good in football.

I'm very, very excited.

The Buffanblu have beaten one of the top teams in Utah, are now 4-0, just beat Saint Louis for the first time in 10 years.

And -- (cue the music, boys, this is big stuff) -- they've hit the top spot in the Star-Bulletin Top 10!

But the big question now, bigger even than "are these guys for real?", is this:

Where the heck have they been?

Let's face it, in a world of "Haves" and "Have-nots" (or, "No more" and "Get"), Punahou is the ultimate "Have."

(Either way, the Buffanblu would use the proper English term.)

If ever there was a team without an excuse for at least contending on a regular basis, it's Punahou. These guys should be right there, every year -- you know, like in water polo.

You would think that, if nothing else, a team from such an academically prestigious private institution -- as the saying goes, "You don't have to take a test to get into (any public school)" -- would execute game plans with precision. Play without penalties of the stupid or drive-killing kind. Stick to their assignments. Study their opponents.

The way coaches talk, you would think high SAT scores would help.

Getting to hand-pick your student body definitely does.

If nothing else!

And that's without even getting into money or history or prestige, or any of the other countless inherent advantages the Buffanblu seem to have in every other sport.

There is no way Punahou shouldn't be great. And yet ...

But here they are, now, 4-0. So now we'll see. Maybe it is true that it's more fun when teams like this are good.

Or maybe it isn't. Maybe it's more fun when they're mortal, and their big runs come along every once in a long, long time.

Just like the rest of us.

And that's where the Buffanblu-bloods are, today. Who knows where they've been, but they just might be back.

Love or hate 'em, it's always exciting when the big names are back.