Let me throw out the first Christmas reference of the season:

Dead as a doornail.

Not to be a Scrooge about it, but that's the Hula Bowl.

Done, expired, pau. Rigor mortis setting in as you read.

It had been on life support the past 10 years. The proliferation of other college all-star games (including the bully, the NFL-supported Senior Bowl) didn't help. Poor absentee ownership and mismanagement made things worse. The current owners had to be taken to court by a local business to get payment for services. Aloha Stadium had to constantly beg for its rent.

A date was secured at the stadium for a 2009 game, but the folks there haven't heard anything from owner Nick Logan in weeks.

“;We don't have a contract,”; said Lois Manin, the facility's deputy manager.

No news of coaches or players being picked for the game on the wire or the Internet.

The game's Web site has nada about a 2009 event. Call the 800 number, and you get a full mailbox. Send an e-mail, it bounces back, “;because the domain hulabowl.net does not exist.”;

Call Logan, his number is no good. But I reached his brother, Bruce, who helped him stage last year's game.

“;I don't know. It's my brother's game. I don't have a number for him, either,”; Bruce said. “;I would assume if there were a game he would let me know.”;

Or let somebody, anybody know.

“;That's what I've heard, it's done,”; former Hula Bowl owner Ken Hansmire said yesterday. He also confirmed that his game, Texas vs. The Nation in El Paso, will include two UH players, Ryan Mouton and David Veikune (we hear Veikune and Jake Ingram are in at the Shrine Game, too).

Hansmire has right of first refusal in case Logan wants to sell the Hula Bowl.

“;Hey, I learned my lesson,”; he said.

Although the Heisman winners and All-Americans stopped showing up years ago to play in the game, there was still a nostalgic feel that made people want to save it. And it was more than just a reward for scouts who got to evaluate borderline prospects; that's how they earn their keep, telling the difference between a first-day guy and a second-day guy, a seventh-rounder and a free agent.

Despite its decay, I've rooted for the Hula Bowl's survival. My personal stake is having named the Mosi Tatupu Award, the honor that used to go the nation's best special teams player in conjunction with the game (one of many genius ideas of former Hula Bowl owner Lenny Klompus).

The new ownership eventually butchered the Tatupu award, along with the rest of the event. Klompus had built strong relationships with coaches, agents, scouts, businesses and media ... all gradually frittered away after he and his wife Marcia sold the game.

Too much competition for players and too many expenses turned it into a money pit, even during good economic times.

Maybe someone will revive it somehow. He or she would have to be a magician with deep pockets and local and national credibility. And that ain't Nick Logan.