At least for today, I am a Stanford men's volleyball fan.

It has nothing to do with the school and nothing to do with the sport.

It has everything to do with the composition of the Cardinal roster.

Stanford itself? Bad memories of the place. I'm probably permanently banned after puking out my guts there. Wait, not what you think ... it was a cross-country meet on the school's golf course when I was a high school freshman, converting an up-and-down somewhere on the back nine.

Men's volleyball? I now appreciate the game much more than before rally scoring, and the University of Hawaii team is fun to watch. But, as a fan, I'd still much rather invest my time in a football, baseball or softball game or track meet.

No, this temporary attachment to Stanford men's volleyball—which plays Penn State for the national championship today—is strictly about the people on the team.

Max Halvorson, Jordan Inafuku, Chandler Kaaa, Brad Lawson, Spencer McLachlin, Erik Shoji, and national player of the year Kawika Shoji.

If you have any kind of link to Hawaii, you've got seven good reasons to root for Stanford in the final today—nine if you count assistant coaches Chris McLachlin and Daniel Rasay.

All from Hawaii.

AS FOR Penn State, well, let's put it this way: I don't think any of its players receive packages from home including stuff like arare, haupia mix and dry aku.

It's time to get over some local guys choosing the Harvard of the West over the University of Hawaii. It's not a knock on UH ... it's Stanford. And judging from the sheepskins on the walls of professionals all over town, you can forget that argument about them not finding jobs here when they graduate.

Call them traitors if you like. It's your right as a UH fan, but you'll just sound silly. Is Jonas Umlauft a turncoat for playing volleyball and going to school halfway around the world instead of somewhere in his home of Germany? Maybe Joshua Walker should be at a college on the mainland instead of here, since he's from Virginia.

I'm glad Umlauft and Walker chose Hawaii, because I love watching them play. Next year they could lead the Warriors to where Stanford is today.

You're looking at precedent for it, right now.

STANFORD GUYS, underdogs? Battling their way to the top from the cellar in a couple of seasons? Believe it or not, that's what we have here.

In 2007, when Kawika Shoji was a freshman, the Cardinal were terrible. But today, thanks in large part to the massive talent from Hawaii, Stanford stands within one victory of a national title.

Whenever people from the islands represent us well—whatever the arena—I like it.

To me personally, it doesn't matter what color uniform they wear, what school they play for. They are still Hawaii.

Of course it will be a lot more fun for the entire state when (not if, thanks to coach Charlie Wade's energy) the Warriors get to the top. But UH isn't quite there yet, that was made clear when Stanford ousted it from the MPSF playoffs last week.

Despite that, it should be easy for folks from Hawaii to pick a team to root for today. Forget the uniforms, look for the familiar faces.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.