Keeping a promise

a large spoon

Hooray! top 10! Hi Tsaikos!

Hopefully, all the recruits we are soliciting want to be Warriors. You win some and you lose some, but you definitely want only those recruits that want to be here. Graves being “excited” to be a Warrior is also exciting for the program and the fans. Excitement, Desire, Determination, Pride and Heart can make up for any perceived deficit in talent.

Welcome Recruits!
Go Warriors!

good morning tsaikos

as ST’s roller coaster picks up speed, the tsaikos are holding their breath and squeezing, but the choo choo train is in cruise control and taking in the action and scenery.

breakfast is indeed the train of thought right now

Good job Rolo. I think David is a winner.

Good Morning Tsaikos! I hope everyone has a good day.

morning to all tsai-ko in the 808 and abroad. play nice today

be well diana and kekoa out in da wessai

belated hippo birdie two ewe ajoe. know asports took care of you yesterday.

Top 20!!

Good morning everyone! Still a little chilly out there, stay warm!

Time to do some actual work. bbl.

btw going with the black and gold this sunday. always had deep feelings for dem colors.

MAC n staff r doing all they can–n pounding the beat…we’ll get our share…Cal Lee is a great recruiter.

Coach Bulla – My bell has been rung more than just a few times arrready!

She goes in for more treatment today. All the hard meds have worn down and her supply of the body’s natural adrenalin has been depleted. The pain is at scream level 10…I know that for a fact because I recognized DPK’s scream.

I saw the piece on Diana and the dogs this morning on the news. She reminds me a lot of the kind of people I grew up with in my small neighbor island community. Willing to give, able to forgive and almost always lead with the heart. Today too many toss around words Hawaiian words that have a surface and a deeper meaning. Diana reminds me of those local native Hawaiian folks in our community who rarely used the words but always practiced the second part of the use of the words and lived and shared it with us.

You made me feel proud to be living in this special place.

I only hope that what was a common act that is becoming an uncommon act makes an even stronger come back.

ST

just wanted to thank yo for keeping us all updated on the comings and goings at the in/out door known as UH recruiting office, haha.

nothing matters til the close of business on 2-4-09, and even then, the door is still swinging open. LOI day is another day for mass hysteria with the media, an NCAA sanctioned love-fest, and the unofficial start date for ‘post recruiting’. it ain’t over til it’s over……….u know dat.

have a good day, i wish your brother the best in his new assignment 😉

kekoa,

for those faint of heart, we can only recall from stories told……and i think either Al or James would have to verify, of the legend, the one, the only………

“whaaaaaaaaapaaaaahhhhhh”

as told by DPK himself, which explains why i do not venture into the ever so lovely Pacific blue ocean.

take care your princess, years of living with you have prepared her for this painful journey……but just like childbirth…..’this too shall pass’. whoever said that must have been one babooze or village idiot…….’this too shall pass’, sounds like a comment after eating my world famous ‘assafire’ chili. oooops, was that a ST nono, i apologize.

anyway, feed diana the meds, or the red wine, either way, keep her happy !!!

rog

i think it’s because they relocated to vegas for Liloa’s exposure as an athlete…if he wanted to go to UH, they should have stayed home possibly? i dunno, just speculating……

No news of Jray’s decommit, so maybe he’s good to go to BYU. I assumed that was one of the two “surprises.”

What is the “surprise” count these days?

hola bulla changed da sign because of 09. new year new beginning plus homey got fancy and old/new al took over ™

holding back on coach trap and uh bball till season strarts. same like LOI day need to see what is happening before I put my information to print. no use mixing up the stew just yet.

Just looking at the numbers game at UH QB, it’ll be fierce competition and the reality is that there’ll be a lot of talented QBs red-shirting this year. There’ll be some major stockpiling. I hope it doesn’t dampen their enthusiasm & that they’ll just concentrate on understanding the system in this. I don’t know if any of the young studs will be able to challenge for or “crack” the top 3 slots (Alexander, Rausch & Funaki), but wouldn’t it be great if one of them could!

Buffoman ~ You have captured the essence of Diana’s spirit when you said, “Willing to give, able to forgive and almost always lead with the heart.”

Mahalo for the uplifting observation. We are proud residents of Kaope’a, within the 9 villages of Kapolei. The Hawaiians who reside here are a large part of the hard working people who cherish their culture and strive to keep it close to our hearts.

Koakane ~ Omigod pahtna! It’s been far too long since you have been able to practice your elbow bending rituals. We gotta do something about that!

It looks good, I wonder how it tastes…..

djmitcho – i am having a heart attack just looking at it!!

Good afternoon, Tsaiko-Nation and Tsai-Meister.

Amazing, 14 guys from the try-outs made the spring roster. That’s one heck of a haul. Goes to show how much hidden talent resides in our Islands, to be mined and polished.

Bulla,

I really like your comment from the last blog (240) about Div. 1 dads. Truer words have never been spoken.

So many Dads are trying to relive their lives over through their sons, while their mouth’ say that it’s up to them, they impose their own dreams , often without even realizing it, upon their sons and the sons, wanting to please the fathers, go along with it.

Stretch,
I’m drooling over it. I bet there are some variations that could make it even more Tsaiko like

hmmm.
i wonder if i substitute the italian sausage with goteborg sausage….will it go over well?

Is the defibrillator on standby???

Damn now I have to go to Ward. That is one long John.

oops, goteborg

stretch….i will when the eagle has landed.

Here’s a great video about Japanese breakfast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXgJBzUv_qU
Rice, Miso soup, tsukemone and tsukudane!

when will the names of the new walk on people be released??

whoa – midori is in the house!!!

sounds like you are a professional goteborg sausage cooker.

Good morning Tsaikos….

Bulla…eh, that +/- thing for KK…maybe he is KMahu??? MWAHAHAHAHAAHHA

gotta esme again today….

Hey Stephen,

Question on recruiting, you mention how other schools are trying to poach UH recruits, do you have examples of what they do or say?

Does UH stay in touch with players they wanted but have said they’re going elsewhere?

Thanks for your time and bloggering!

ST – what is that?? you want to hire my yardman??

Ok…..most of us here are DADS….so in the case of Nobriga…..let’s think like a dad….

“Gee….should I send my son to Hawaii, where he will be with his mother, and I probably cant see him play every game? Or do I send him somewhere here on the mainland, AWAY from his mother and girlfriend (where he can concentrate on football), and I can go watch EVERY game?”

I think that’s why Nobriga’s decision is still up in the air….Do I go where I want to go (and get my dad pissed off), or go where HE wants me to go (so he is happy)?

OMG, that bacon/sausage thing, I can feel my arteries clogging up just looking at it.

Goteborg – gotta think about that one for when hubby decides to go on his diet – Atkins, so lots of protein and fat. Not so good for me, but he loses weight on it. Then, of course, he goes right back to eating the way he usually does and gains it all right back.

Dan-O…there’s truth to what you are saying. But I know my dad wanted me to “grow” up and learn to make my own decisions. Lord knows all of us guys always wanted to make our dad’s proud in whatever we did, especially when we played football.

Having said that, there comes a time in a boy’s life when he needs to learn to make his decision based upon what he believes is right for him, to back up that decision with reasoning, and to stick with that decision if he feels strongly about it. He also has to be able to live with the consequences, if any, of his decision. That’s the reality of life.

My dad always backed me on my decisions, if I thought they were right for me, even if he wanted thought I should be doing/playing something else. Of course he would weigh in with his opinion but the ultimate decision would be mine and I would have to live with that decision, good or bad.

I would hope that a majority of dad’s out there would be like that. Maybe I’m being too idealistic, I don’t know.

Okay, okay…enough of the soapbox already……LOL

I gotta get back to the office…..

Jason…I have to agree with #84. Hopefully, we’ll here more about them as soon as ST can get us the details…..

oops…if=is….

Okay…I really gotta go now….

ST,

The exterior of the athletic office building is in NEED of a paint job, I am willing to give my time, BUT in fair warning I cannot guarantee it will be a good one hahahahahahaha…

Mei Ling,

Ditto. I have all Saturdays in February off.

yo al…

i say it’ll be Manti. =)

although i’d love for it to be manti, i’ll reel in my wishes a little bit and hope to keep lopati

Aloha from Aotearoa!
What a wonderful place this is! Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world and I have found more in common with Hawaii here than any other place I’ve ever been. No wonder we were invited to this conference rather than the one in Sydney or on the mainland US.
OK… must Whoosh!

Hey Liz, check out the port facilities in relation to the airport. A lot of cruises go through to Aukland… 🙂

100! Ok, gotta work on 500 now because I am not sure about that one… 😆

I read where the coaches ask the recruits if they are in or out, especially this late in the recruiting race whereas if they are out they can at least pick up the pieces and find someone else. This makes perfect sense. And is understandable. A last minute face to face talk can accomplish this. And we’ve been seeing this, as the coaching staff has gone off in all directions to see where the program and recruits stand.

Also does the coaching staff also ask the returning scholarship players if they are in or out. If the reasoning given in asking the recruits if their in or out as not to be further be in limbo come national signing day– wouldn’t the coaches having the knowledge of knowing which pending players are leaving the program also help as they plan their recruiting needs.

Why I mention this is because if I remember correctly last summer…what… 1,2,3,4,5 left the program. And I’m thinking from a coaching standpoint this is definately a setback. But my question is wouldn’t it be a lesser setback if the coaches also did face to face talk, now, with the returning scholarship players and find out who is in or out next year so they can at least have some idea of what spots to fill.

Or are the players that do want to leave– are they disgusing their intentions as to perserve their scholarship until the summer? And then transfer at that time and then go off to an NAIA school and be elgible to play in the fall. I mean why miss out on six months scholarship money, right?

Someone once wrote that the game of football is like the game of chess. And we see how the coaches need to have a counter move or plan for practically everything-from gameday to as how we are currently seeing in recruiting. And I’m sure hope they’re on top of the returning scholarship players that are on the fence, too, about being in or out.

105!

roysan16:

maybe Coach Mack did this in the final discussion with each player before the “off-season” training began.

i recall one player who requested a release last year after Spring ball, but did not get one because his grades were not up to par. however, Coach Mack told this player, get your grades up and you got the release. something to do with the loss of scholarships.

There are so many local recruits who have committed to UH but are now being targeted by other schools…UH needs to focus on them to fend off the poachers. There is only a limited amount of time, so I’m sure that Mac and the coaches are not visiting Manti like many people are hoping. Why spend all their time chasing after a player who is definitely going somewhere else and possibly lose out on players who are currently committed to UH?

Plus, Manti is visiting USC right now…how is Mac supposed to be paying him a home visit?

Article about the Aloha Stadium renovations.

Officials prefer to repair what Hawaii has rather than tear down the 34-year-old structure and seek private support for a new one.

But some still question whether that’s the best strategy, given the proliferation of state-of-the-art domed stadiums on the Mainland.

Renovating Aloha Stadium to make it competitive with Mainland venues could cost as much as $185 million. Building a new stadium could cost up to a half-billion dollars.

A UH coach paid a home visit to a RB recruit in Vegas, but UH still hasn’t offered him a scholarship.

Del Sol running back Derek Eamon visited with Hawaii coaches Tuesday, but they haven’t offered him a scholarship. Eamon said his “No. 1” offer remains from Navy.

I was just hoping and wondering why would GM, our best recruiter stay here? Anyway, Manti is only allowed to be up there for 48 hours, so GM could have visited before Manti left.

manti will be back on sunday. being a mormon it is a complete sabbath. but, who knows he could make an allowance to have a certain coach stop by since he was in the neighborhood.

then from monday, feb 2 to the 5th, the dead period sets in with no face to face contacts.

Al,

I would be very, very surprised in Manti takes a home visitor on Sunday.

theperfectseason,

It is true that Mac could have visited Manti before he left for USC…but I’m guessing that Mac was focused on the UH recruits that other teams are trying to get. And if Mac visited Manti’s home, that would be *huge* news that would have come out already.

according to da other guyz, looks like colt and have of da dread heads will be attending the willows function next week

Just in case someone didn’t see the news about Jray.

Galea’i just returned from an official visit to the University of Hawaii with a teammate who is expected to sign with the Warriors next week.

“We had a great visit with the coaches. I am still solid for BYU and they are expecting me to sign, which I will do.”

derek eamon…
i would make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. he looks like a nate ilaoa type back.
5’10” 220lbs 4.59

check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmoS6Lagrzg

and he is a hs recruit. i am sure tony pointed him in our direction or vice versa.

garret….
surprise!

al – Eamon’s fullback puts in some good blocks too!

isn’t the fullback smaller than the rb?

you know hawaii is an excellent option for any nevada football player who would walkon by invitation or not. what with the wue program that would make costs somewhat affordable.

Al,

You sly guy, you got mail.

al – The fb does look taller though. 😆

I wonder if the BYU coaches are Mormon? Or Scoutmasters?

Lot of wondering going around today.

Watch out for them church folksy missionaries, them boys are sly salesmen. The Polynesians know all about how good they can sell, lol.

Hey jojo! Kinda far for me but did you try Maile’s Thai Bistro in Hawaii Kai?

Florida Ted:

A-men to that.

Look up and praise the Lord, while we take your land.

Garret: and why not? They have near absolute control over evreything else.

Howzit- Da day is real close. Get some big tuna in da water around our boat. They smelling, but don’t know if they like bite. Stay calm boys, da water is all prime for da haul. Shhhhh. There he is. No worry boyz, one big hook up is on da way. Go, go geeev ‘um. Aloha.

djmitcho #46— The bacon-sausage concoction looks like a winner.

A-House – The NCAA makes its bucks from March Madness. Just think how much they’d lose if basketball went the BCS route.

jojo – Well happy year of the ox to jeje and joje!

d1 – Happy year of the dog to you and the Mrs. (good thing I didn’t use the word that refers to a female dog).

I wonder how batteries work?

I wonder if I should pauhana now?

wow homey! How did you know?

d1 – wasn’t it dog a couple years back? I’m gonna make soup for dinner, it’s cold. You and the wifey can come by, but you gotta remember, I burn water.

d1 – batteries usually work when the switch is on. I’ve watched batteries laying on a table and nothing happened. Then I put a couple of them in a flashlight and nothing happened. Only when I put the switch on they worked.

Early UH commit tomorrow?

homey….didn’t i tell you that jeje and i are same age.

808ike….keep practicing your recipes. off season workouts are imperative to being a good tsaiko.

ummmm. the coaches have returend already. didn’t you read that part.

now they must crunch the numbers and be ready to offer if any positions open up. expect a few.

hey, i was thinking of trying that maile thai place. i saw that online ad yesterday too. the food and hired help looked attractive.

RE: Wondering.

I wonder why some people at the gym “OVER lift” their limit and then carelessly SLAM the weights down?

It’s worse on the machines because they’re harder to fix.

Pearl Kai 24Hr Fitness already has a few machines/stations awaiting repairs because of this kind of stuff.

kazz….keep sasha on the bench.

according to da fight blog, gsp opened up as a -160 favorite. pretty significant, currently at -140. early dough is on da hilo boy. shoulda put some kala on him earlier, better do it now b4 it goes even lower

kekoa no worry about me with the AJA season in full swing plenty elbow bending going on. they play 3 weekday and two on weekends. to bad AJA don’t have the bud deal like UH. maybe someone can hook dem up with Asahi.

bulla the ruckus along the ala wai will be me 8) . get one game there I going be at. so no need send out the troops I will take care. just loaded 15 solders to help me out. come join in will be there by 6.

eh jamie you the true mahu and faddah must have been disappointed about your choice I bet.

koakane (undecided and uncommitted)

might have to make a covert operation over to ala wai to see youl; don’t know if our scuba gear is up to snuff, but we could be launching a water assault from the makai side of the field…..scare da paddlers, and den the baseball players…..the creature from the black lagoon, i mean the ala wai……..no promises, i’ll give you a soft verbal……and check back with me later…ok? haha

RE: Lasha Parghalava…

How is “Lasha” supposed to be pronounced: “Sasha”?

bulla if you emerge from the black ala wai looking green, the kids and paddlers will think shrek is fo real

Ralph:

January 29th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
bulla if you emerge from the black ala wai looking green, the kids and paddlers will think shrek is fo real.

I can hear the tourists now…

“Is that Lilo or Stitch?”

UH leads 49-44 with exactly 5 minutes left.

52-50 us seconds left

53-52 them 13 seconds

oops checking the replay

upon further review……….

its good!
its good!

the streak is over……………..

… oh my God….

THE NINETEEN GAME LOSING STREAK FOR ALL CURRENT ACTIVE UH ATHLETIC PROGRAMS IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R—
A—
I—
N— B! O! W! S!………GOOOOOOOOO RAINBOWS!!!!

The closest i can come to Shrek, is to pass gas in the ala wai and all of the 13″ shrimp come floating to the surface with the 8 lb. Tilapia…eeeeeewwww, and don’t forget about the Anaconda, rumuored to be living closer to the library side….haha

nah, more possibility of me parachuting to the pitchers mound that me swimming the ala wai…….and like they say in hollywood……CUT

Waiting for the kid at Makena. Ain’t technology great!

Way to go Bows

aren’t they technically rainbow warriors?

Good to hear about the MBB win! 😀

ST,

What’s the volleyball forecast for this weekend?

The boys feeling good and loose?

…so is anyone or two bringing Goteborg sausage to the Karaoke Call?…

BIG KARAOKE CALL
Saturday, February 7, 2009
7:30 PM – 12:30 AM
Krazy Karaoke (1308 Young Street)

We have the big (green) room at Krazy Karaoke for 55 people. Mahalo to Stretch for the arrangements and putting down the required deposits!

Please continue to RSVP on the blog or email SteveM.

We look forward to seeing new Tsai-kos and old friends at one of our first major parties of 2009. Singing not required, but it’s pretty good! 🙂

• $15 per person for the room/karaoke
• BYOB
• Bring food/goodies (like indoor tailgate)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Continually updated Karaoke Call info and pot luck contributions in the Events Calendar section at:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~smurashi/tsai-kos/

Current count = 43

Oops…Hi everyone!
Our best and prayers to Diana, Kekoa & pops & Ronnie’s parents.

ST,

You fell asleep as UH fans statewide released a collective sigh (no pun intended) as the 19-game program-wide losing streak ended!!!

Is Clar back to 100%?

Oh and Rich Miano has to be the most athletic UH coach.

Rich Miano looks like he still could suit up and play.

For my fellow 49er fans, looks like we have an offensive coordinator and a QB coach:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/28/SPR815IPAJ.DTL

http://www.sacbee.com/sf49ers/story/1581701.html

However, I thought this part of the first article was fitting:

Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, writing for the National Football Post.com, said before Raye’s hire that the 49ers made a mistake in firing Martz.

“Everyone I talked to here in Tampa on Monday (at the Super Bowl) agree that the 49ers will not recover from their decision to fire Mike Martz, and whomever they hire will not be as good or as effective,” Lombardi said. “Martz may take a lot of hits in the media, but he’s an outstanding offensive coach.”

Can I just say ditto? As for Johnson, the last time we had a QB coach who previously coached WRs and later became the OC, he got fired after one year. His name was Jim Hostler. As I said before, I knew he wouldn’t last a year. I won’t say the same about these two new hires, but I’m not enthusiastic either. We should have kept Martz and Ted Tollner. Well, at least we brought Rathman in to coach RBs.

Hooray for the UHM!!!

Finally a win for the department!!!

Okay, who will win next?

wafan do you think we can be lucky in 2 of 3, or even 3 for 3…if so, go straight to vegas immediately-this could be the lucky week for a big jackpot

No word back from JD on Tsaiko help at Saturday’s cleanup.

Great to hear that the Men’s BB team won on the road!

al – It is my understanding that all coaches are not back. But then again I don’t understand myself sometimes.

FT – psssst…it’s the personnel, team chemistry, and inexperience with the offense.

For this year I would put Fleming at point guard and go from there. Remember A.C. Carter, he made everything go and could play every position, literally.

What happened to the up tempo play we were promised?

Personnel? Lack of talent, smarts? Game IQ, what is it?

Lack of experience shouldn’t be such a big factor anymore after 20 games.

homey ℞:

January 29th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I say Dave Shoji is he most athletic because he played basketball, football, and baseball in high school and baseball and v-ball in college. Not to mention he is a pretty good golfer.

Intramurals?….j/k, shoji cannot participate, not smart enough.
He only wanted 4000 seat Stan Sheriff arena? 🙄

Leapfrog is launching a “Baby BlackBerry” smartphone for kids.

Florida man was driving to one of those classes you have to go to after getting a DUI…and he was picked up for a DUI after swerving all over the road and smelling of alcohol! When you drive drunk to a DUI class, you really have an alcohol problem!

Free play links pau.

FloridaTed:

January 29th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
For this year I would put Fleming at point guard and go from there. Remember A.C. Carter, he made everything go and could play every position, literally.

What happened to the up tempo play we were promised?

Personnel? Lack of talent, smarts? Game IQ, what is it?

Lack of experience shouldn’t be such a big factor anymore after 20 games

FT,

winning is easy, shoot the basketball in the hoop, cut down the turnovers and play better defense. right now, hiram is best bet at point guard till next season, nittoto is too wild (turnovers), Lasha cannot shoot even D2 level, Nash can only run riley’s flex, Jackson did not recruit well, and yes no talent. Flemings has talent but he is not a shooter like ray reed, trevor ruffin, or anthony harris….he cannot light it up from the outside. without personnel, you cannot run the break so what is next? give Nash extension or look elsewhere. Jackson has to bring in shooters next year or they are dead in the water.

Jason:

January 29th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I don’t want to badmouth players or coaches, cause I don’t think anyone is to blame here concerning any struggles the team may have. And I definitely don’t think it’s the offensive system, cause I love the flex motion and the flexibility is gives (like the R&S). But by the time WAC play starts, everyone knows what everybody else does, and they gameplan accordingly. So it comes to execution. If and when UH has the entire offense installed, it can adjust to what teams do, and flourish through its counterpunches. But right now, it’s a shell of what it should be. When you play in such a difficult system to learn, it takes time for things to work. Remember that we have a second-year PG who never played the position before, and another second-year PG who just returned from a Mormon mission. The star is still in his first year in the system, and he’s not entirely comfortable in it, just like other first-year players. And the veterans have potential, but are still raw in their skill set — which is hard to work on when you’re working on teaching everyone the system, getting them to work together and communicate and gel. And to everyone who suggests scrapping the system and playing a different type of game — that might help us now, but what about the future? It’s like scrapping the pure R&S to get Inoke into a modified option R&S. It worked for a while, but in the end, you still end up doing the stuff you usually do, only a little later because you set time aside to practice the new stuff. I believed that hindered us more than it helped. So yeah, stick with the current system. They have flashes where it works. They just need to overcome adversity, be confident in their shooting (cause NOBODY is confident right now), and run the offense the way they know how

jason, rileys flex offense is a joke. watch the top teams in the country, and nobody has such tight spacing as hawaii. everyone else spreads the court out. i thought everyone wanted riley out because his offense was so boring and slow, attendance started to dwindle esp. with non-athletic talent being recruited by jackson? Riley was about 50% win/loss coach. I remember he was close to being fired till ac carter came in. he was on hot seat before ray reed came in. riley only went to ncaa because trevor ruffin shot lights out, not cause of the flex offense. anyway, i never liked riley’s coaching style nor his offense, jmo. I agree with florida ted that it would be great if the transition game could occur but thats up to ole jackson.

Jason if it is taking this long to jell into the flex system, don’t you think wheeler should have gone the high school route for recruits…the Jc guys will use up one year to learn the system, but then, only one year left to cash in or at least start off better than this season. then then start over again every two years with primarily JC players…maybe that’s why UH has about a 54% winning record over the last 20 years….

Re #233

I remember a mean intramural team way back when – Dennis Chai, Steve Martin, Dave Shoji, Nicky Clark, Dean Nowack. They whipped all the student teams I saw them play against.

Desmond: I love the offense. The execution of the offense should be better, but I love the offense itself. It’s different from what everybody else runs, but then again, we don’t get the type of athletes that the top teams have. Now we’re getting some better athletes, but it’s still not up to par with Nevada and other teams, so we still need to run the flex. Again, it’s like the R&S, which teams often use as an “equilizing” offense. But it’s hard to learn, and players nowadays don’t play that kind of basketball anymore. But try to play purely uptempo basketball, and we’ll be crushed by teams that are more athletic than we are.

And I think part of the lack of athleticism is on some poor recruiting, but it’s not all the coaches’ faults. I’m not saying they can’t do a better job, but it’s really hard to get good players here. There aren’t many local guys who can contribute (like in football), so many of our players have to come from the Mainland. The problem with that is, how many high school kids want to come here to play? And how many high school kids are mature enough to come all the way out here? You have to consider the academics, too, and how difficult it is to bring in kids. So instead, we tend to bring in JC guys; the problem with that is, (1) they have less time to learn the system, and (2) when we recruit JCs, we often have to target the same pipeline schools and schools where we have ties, because it’s still hard to recruit for Hawai‘i. But those schools have certain kinds of players, so we get certain kinds of players. Hard to transition to a slightly different type of game when you’re getting pegs of the old type.

In all, I just think these next few years are going to be a time of major transition. I really do think Nash wants to go a little more up-tempo, get more athletic players, stuff like that. But right now, the team is in limbo between the old status and the new. We as fans need to be patient and supportive. It’s not like Nash is doing a bad job. People out there might think he is, but I don’t think so at all. He’s not incompetent, he’s not out of touch, or anything like that. He’s just having to make adjustments and live with the growing pains. And I personally think we all as fans need to realize that.

Jason:

January 29th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Desmond: I love the offense. The execution of the offense should be better, but I love the offense itself. It’s different from what everybody else runs, but then again, we don’t get the type of athletes that the top teams

Jason, you are riley wallace number 1 fan. kidding aside, you state that
we dont get the type of athletes that top teams do. exactly which is why the flex produces so many turnovers. half the guys cannot pass the ball.
If nash wants to save his job, jackson better bring in guys that can shoot..flex or no flex.

Hah! when you are an old man, you have your choice of babes. Of course you take them to Zippys so you can use their senior discount card.

The reason why they can’t recruit good players is that they don’t want to play in the flex offense.

Sorry for talking so ‘loud’ in the last post!…must be the excitement of the sausage subject.

homey: That’s as good an argument against the flex as I’ve heard, to be honest. And to me, that’s just a testament to how the game has deteriorated. Everything is about isolation and the pick-and-roll nowadays. You see it in the NBA, and now everyone wants to play like that, be the next Kobe or LeBron. The thing is, not everyone can be the next Kobe or LeBron.

Me, I like watching the play develop, as the players set up screens, as they flash cut here and there. Even though they were the opponent, I had a lot of fun watching Utah State execute their offense.

I was just thinking about the successful teams and the players we had in the past. They were never the most athletic teams, with the most athletic players. Sure, we had guys like Anthony Carter and Julian Sensley. But we also had Predrag Savovic, Carl English, Michael Kuebler, and Matt Lojeski; Ahmet Gueye in the post, Mark Campbell running the point. They were savvy players who played with discipline and tenacity. They were driven and mature, and knew their roles. The guys we have now … they still need to develop in that regard. And that’s not a knock on them; that’s just how things go nowadays. My, how things can change in just a few years.

Again, going back to the shooting. The guys we have aren’t pure shooters, but they aren’t bad shooters. But they shoot with absolutely no confidence. Nobody wants to be the one to take the shot. I’d rather have them take smart shots with confidence that miss than to tenatively shoot — you’re going to miss anyways when you shoot tentatively.

Jason – This is D1 bball so they better have the confidence to let it fly.

Chemistry comes with familiarity. Familiarity comes with practice. Let’s not forget that a bunch of these guys are banged up, too. Parghalava missed practices and game time, Balocka, Thompson, Lutu. Now we hear that Flemings re-aggravated his ankle. When you can’t practice at full strength, that doesn’t help players to become familiar with each other, which doesn’t help develop that chemistry.

Wow, I got a whole BSKB education tonight, thanks for all the great points.

Now I can go to sleep for real. Good night again, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Homey ~ Just to re-empasize what you just sed…ball handlers! That also means that against a zone you have to move the ball quickly around the horn to ‘move’ the zone. Our guys tends to hold on to the ball too long in one spot, thus giving the zone a chance to redeploy their defense.

So ball handling does’t always mean to dribble around allowing the zone to shift with the slow movement of the ball. Being able to pass the ball is critical in ‘working’ that zone. That often times will free a shooter, or create an open seam to drive it, or pass it, inside. jmo of course homes.

pordagee sausage?

where?

Ralph ~ Another good point. Court vision and anticipating a breaking team member during a ‘continuity’ series of plays is vital to conducting a good offense.

Case in point, those alley-oop type passes can be disasterous if your anticipation is not timed correctly. Not seeing a shot blocker closing on your inteded receiver is certainly not a good thing!

Ok…time for bed. Diana is all re-bandaged for the night, pops is asleep and I’m officially off shift! Nytol!

Night crew…your up!

I don’t know if Garret or anyone else mentioned this already, but it looks like the Pro Bowl may be blacked out on Hawai’i television unless the final 5,000 available tickets are sold by February 5th.

Weird thing is is that the Pro Bowl games are usually sold out by now. Some folks are hoping for a rush in final sales, but we’ll see…..

http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story?id=09000d5d80e6b070&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Al ~ A tray of sweet Italian sausage would taste good with eggs sunnyside up, Aunty Mary’s toasted Sweet Bread and a scoop of rice. Mmm…Mmmm.Mmmmmmmm!!

Grave yard shift is up.

And now for some useless tidbittys: Spring time weather in Seoul today. Highs reached near 48 F with scattered clouds. Overnight lows will dip below 32 F. Don’t stow away your sweaters and coats just yet. Tomorrow’s highs will only reach 44 F with the sun shining all day. Good enough for gardening.

Okay, I think I can tolerate the temps for a morning run down by the river.

Move over Michelle, Karen Kim wants to surpass your accomplishments.

Being touted as the “next Michelle Wie,” nine-year-old Korean-American Karen Kim is one of these promising players. Kim, a student at Lincoln Elementary School in Linwood, California, has already won over 70 titles, including the U.S. national championship for children in Arizona last December. In October 2008, she won the kids’ PGA Invitational and then the California Kids Golf Tour. She was voted golfer of the year by the CKG in 2008.

Kim started playing the golf at the age of five, taught by her father Casey Kim, a professional golfer. Her dream is to surpass Michelle Wie.

A super good morning everyone!

Hey, it is Aloha Friday and we have the day off for semester break. Whoo-hoo!

And, the best part? It is not snowing!!! Darn cold, though.

Yay!

This doesn’t look good, at least 1 inch of snow in 10 minutes YIKE’S

Good morning, Night Owls.

Heading out the door, big day for me.

Everybody have a wonderful day, stay indoors, if you can, in the cold and ice areas.

FT . . .

Good luck today! Hope you meet and then exceed your goals!!!

Okay. A bit of politics — sorry.

Why was Bush’s bailout of CEO’s a good idea but Obama’s stimulus plan is a bad one? Interesting how the Republicans are trying to spin this one.

They are claiming, too, the Democrats are not listening or considering anything they say.

Boo-hoo. The shoe is on the other foot and they do not like it? What is up with that?

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled discussions on everything under the sun and moon.

Good morning!

jm . . .

Already done. I grade them as they are submitted and enter the grades immediately — the kids usually get feedback in minutes to over-night at the latest.

Heck, the easiest way to grade is to pass all of them regardless of scores or ability. That way the classes are full (job security), parents and kids are happy because they are all going to graduate with at least a BA (really a bunch of bs), and the administration does not question me about why the kids have D’s and F’s (because they do not do anything to help themselves).

There really are a lot more good and great kids than there are the jerks.