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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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Sample’s book, blog provide small piece of the big picture
Mrs. Armstrong (looking at painting of Kramer): He transcends time and space.
Mr. Armstrong: He sickens me.
Mrs. Armstrong : I love it.
Mr. Armstrong : Me, too.
-- "Seinfeld"
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ON his blog, before all of this broke, J. Ian Sample (I'm using the J now that he's a published author) noted that the "authorized" book would also be coming out soon, and it would be interesting to note the contrast between the two.
And it will be that. Interesting.
On one hand you will have a book (and blog) that seeks to show us beyond, behind, beneath the image of the program. And then there will be another book that sounds like it will be The Image.
And both will be "the truth."
People can look at the same thing and see different things, depending on their perspective.
And one doesn't cancel out the other. The world is bigger than that. The truth is bigger than that.
Yes, even a college football program is bigger than that.
And so J. David Miller (see? All authors are named J), a mainland writer and self-proclaimed longtime admirer of the head coach, is going to paint a different picture than does J. Ian Sample, former player.
Both will have done exhaustive interviews. Both will have gotten different answers from the same subjects.
Sample spoke with his teammates as one of them, as a guy who had been together with them through blood, sweat and tears.
Miller came to people as a big-time author -- and as a de facto representative of the big boss. (I always tell the big boss things are "great.")
They both got the truth.
Of course they did. Their names both start with J.
They can both be good books. They can both tell the story behind the success of this team.
And it will be interesting to note the contrast (and the similarities) between the two.
After reading part of the actual book -- good stuff, by the way -- I'm even more convinced that this is the point behind Sample's work -- that everyone has his own perspective, his own experience in this shared experience. That these stories are deeper and richer and more complicated than anyone knows.
(Could a couple of his blog allegations get Hawaii into trouble? They could if evidence is found to back up his suspicions. He wrote that he drew those conclusions based on what he saw and experienced, but he offers no proof. Is that stuff possible? Of course it is. Did it happen? I have no idea. We'll see what a UH internal investigation says. That's the first step.)
Some will read his book (or not read it) and say he should have kept his mouth shut, stick to the official image. Undoubtedly, some will see Miller's offering as nothing more than a whatever-page-it-is infomercial for June Jones.
But both are part of the bigger picture. Both are the truth.
And it will be interesting to note the contrasts between the two.
And so the two books can coexist. Together, they can be taken as a whole. Individually, they can each be taken with a grain of salt.