Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Back From Hawai’i




As you might have notice, I kind of disappeared from writing for almost 3 weeks. The reason, I got married on November 28th, 2009. Fellow ACSS writers Fodor, Ryan, AJ, Shark Colin, Ben and Derek were all in attendance (we are one big family here after all) at probably the most fun day I can remember. After the wedding my Wife and I took our honeymoon in Hawai’i. So here are more sports related thoughts to Hawai’i.





Weird Game Times.

Hawai’i is currently 4 hours behind Chicago and 5 hours behind the Eastern time zone (Hawai’i is one of two states that no longer use DST so in the summer is 5 and 6 hours behind CST and EST respectively). Because of this, all of a sudden Monday Night Football starts at 3:30. 3:30! And it’s over by 6:45-7. Normally I am just finishing dinner by this point. Think if you work a 9-5 (not really common in Hawai’i but still) you’d miss half the game. Saying that, there is plenty to do in Hawai’i and the locals don’t seem to mind. Since I was out and about most of the day, I had to rely on Sportscenter (which I am sorry, has way to much analysis for me. I’d rather watch ESPNews and watch 25 mins of 1-2 minute highlights then a 30 second highlight and then 5 minutes of breakdown, yawn) to catch up on my sports.

The plus side of this odd time, when I woke up on Saturday morning at 7 o’clock local time, Cincinnati at Pittsburgh was already on. No waiting or watching pre game, just live football as soon as I am up. So that was cool.

Warriors Football


Wisconsin played at Hawai’i while I was out there and won 51-10. We were originally planning on leaving that night so were unable to go to the game. I would have loved to go and watch them do their pre game war dance (I still like to watch Colt do the Haka, but they retired it due it being deemed unsportsmanlike like and having the team receive a 15 yard penalty).

I used to wonder why Hawai’i would start it’s football games at night while they are already so far behind the rest of the country. Well, I found out the reason. Apparently it’s deemed too hot so they want to play night games when it is cooler. It does get warm in the sun, but nothing I don’t think football players can’t handle. Plus this would be an advantage to Hawai’i as they are used to the heat. The late starts is the reason I believe Colt Breenan did not win the Heisman 3 season ago (counting this one as over).


Pro Sports in Hawai’i.

I don’t think pro sports could work in Hawai’i. Honolulu is not a very large city (around 910K) but I think they could support a team. We have already discussed the issue with time, but the biggest problem with a pro team in Hawai’i is the nearest US State is a 4 hour plane flight away. The NFL teams complain about jet lag going to England, what would they say about going to Hawai’i. The travel would be too unbearable. I think Hawai’i’s best hope is to have events (like formerly the pro bowl) but will never have a 100% dedicated team.


Sports I Did.

Sports I participated in while in Hawai’i. I went surfing on the North Shore of Oahu, biked down a volcano and active volcano, went offroading in Kaua'i and Snorkeled (swimming) in a top 10 spot on the planet near Kona. Kona is also where the Ironman triathlon takes place.

The pier the NCL boat docks at is actually the same pier used for the start of the triathlon. I also played darts, but that doesn’t sound as cool as the other items on this list.

So that’s my sports takes on my trip to Hawai’i. It is one of the greatest places on earth and I hope everyone can get out there some time.

2 comments:

  1. Darts is the best! I put it above both surfing and snorkeling in the Competitive Sports Hierarchy.

    What can they get to replace the Pro Bowl, though? A few ideas:

    1) NBA All-Star Week - the annual celebrity circus would be a blast out here. Who gets arrested first?

    2) The Toilet Bowl - Big 12 #12 vs. Big Ten #11, January 3... a clash of the beatens.

    3) Rights to any Green Bay-Buffalo game scheduled after December 1. Who wants to be in either of those places then?

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  2. Someday we'll have to go to Hawaii alone... if you know what I mean ;)

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