Hello sports fans and/or fans of trivia questions.

We’ve got a new interactive feature on the OC16 website - www.oc16.tv - located in sports you’ll find a weekly trivia question to test your local sports knowledge.

The answer gets posted there on Mondays with a new trivia offering set every Tuesday.

Hopefully it’s a fun little sports game that makes your day go by a little better.

Have fun and thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Monday everyone. 

My week is off to a bad start.

Why?

Because the work load just got a whole lot tougher.

You see, the OC16 Sports crew is down two strong members and we have to figure out how to replace their considerable talent.  Seems that Tony Sellitto and Dave Patterson have decided to trade in their television credentials for coaching ones.

I’ll start with Tony because most of you will recognize who he is and what he has done.

Sellitto’s tour of duty with OC16 was brief but very strong. 

This past spring Coach honored us by doing the color commentary for our Pacwest Basketball games.  The Pacwest of course being the dynamic conference that Hawaii Pacific, BYU-Hawaii, UH-Hilo, and Chaminade belong to.  If you tuned in, you knew this was a person who really understood basketball with true insight into the play and court strategy. 

I guess winning the 1993 NAIA basketball championship while at HPU will do that. 

 Oh yeah he was also 1992-93 NAIA National Coach of the Year and guided Maryknoll to its first and only boys’ high school championship before that.

In 2002, Sellitto retired from HPU as coach and athletics director to concentrate on his health.  Yeah like, this guy wasn’t going to win there either.  Which he did.

But Coach never really got over the basketball bug.  He went to just about every game he could - on the prep level or college.  Which pretty much brings you up to this past season when Coach joined us at the broadcast desk.  He couldn’t get enough basketball in his life.

Evidently doing OC16 tv work was the straw that broke the Tiger’s back (his nickname is Tony the Tiger).  Being that close to the action but not in the action didn’t cut it.

A few months later, Sellitto accepted an offer to return to HPU to coach men’s basketball.

He promises to return the Sea Warriors to the upper echelons of NCAA basketball.  I have no doubt he will and luckily you’ll get to see some of those HPU games on OC16! 

I’ll take what I can get out of Sellitto.

Now David “Dave” Patterson.

Besides having a great first name, Dave has been a longtime local fixture in local journalism in a behind the scenes kind of way.

I first met him when I started at KGMB-9 fresh out of UH in the summer of 1993.  He was a producer of one the station’s newscasts.

A gifted writer and even better dude, Patterson helped ease me into the broadcast scene.

He would later bounce around to another station, do some public relations and marketing work all the while helping coach NCAA summer league basketball here.

I would run into Dave at a lot of things…go figure…two people who liked sports.  So when we had an opening for a sports producer this past August and Dave became a great pickup for Oc16.

This guy has a great attitude and sports base so he quickly got up to speed.  In fact, I was going to dump…errr…elevate his role in our new sports season set to debut in a month.

But it wasn’t meant to be that my life would be easier. 

This past Thursday he informs me he’s moving his entire family to Saint Louis Missouri!

I said “for what?”

“I’m going back to my alma mater to be their head basketball coach,” Patterson replied.

Turns out besides helping coach NCAA summer league teams, Dave actually played basketball at Principia College back in the day.  Principia is a Division III liberal arts college in Elsah Illinois.

Like a lot of players who weren’t the star or could jump high or shoot really well (sorry to easy pass Dave), he soaked in the strategic side of the game. 

Patterson stored this away until deciding to create extra hassles for me…  I mean sure he says this is an opportunity of lifetime because the school will put his kids into their excellent lower, middle, and high schools - as well as - returning to his alma matter…blah…blah…blah.

I get it.  I get it.

Whatever.  Think of yourself and your family’s well being.  Fine.

That goes for you too Coach Sellitto. 

Go ahead and give Hawaii’s local prep players a chance to excel and compete at the collegiate level.  Help mold them into better human beings.

If that really makes you happy, see if I care!

Just because a stronger HPU team will up the level of play in the Pacwest and provide compelling matchups for OC16 to show…

Hmmm…wait that’s not a bad thing.

And you Dave Patterson…don’t think I won’t hold you to that promise of wearing a mic while coaching when your team passes through the islands.  Just make sure your coaching staff’s aloha shirts don’t look cheesy ok?

Coach Sellitto and now Coach Patterson, thanks for being a part of the OC16 Sports Ohana.

We’ll always have a press pass for you.

And for you other wannabe coaches out there.  If you want to get that main coaching gig?  OC16 Sports is now accepting applications because the road to the golden whistle comes through this cable station.

Yes, I have two big positions to fill.

Great…oh great…there goes the summer vacation.

You never know who you’ll run into at a restaurant in Mililani.

But I’m glad that I went to Chili’s last night. Besides getting a great burger. I got a big of great news on the side. (Get it? Cheesy play on the food theme. Wait cheesy is another tie in…smile.)

According to a family member of Makani Duhaylonsod - Makani is headed to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Evidently the all-star pitcher really wants to try and win at the D1 level.

All the Hawaii schools wanted this talented four-year starter for Mililani. My source was also part of a strong push from Chaminade to get her to be a Silversword. But the D1 status and great success of Bob Coolen’s squad sealed the decision on where to play next.

Here’s wishing the best to Makani, her family and friends, as they all go on to a new ballgame.

P.S. To my “source” - awesome job! Food and conversation.

Tick, tock.

Time keeps marching on and propelling our internal life-ometers ever forward.

If I didn’t already know this a good reminder came the other day when I got a call from a classmate.

No not from college.  Go back a little further.

Yup, high school.  Those glorius days of running around with the gang with little or no worries.  Other than what movie in town to go see on the weekend.  Find the right prom date was one of the biggest dilemas.

Well those days have now added up to 20-years for the Mililani High School Class of 1988 and the call I got was from the reunion committee asking if I would emcee the dinner night. 

Of course I said yes.  I can’t wait to see my former mates from Mililani. 

When we were Trojans, there was no Mililani Mauka - still Pineapple fields.  Town Center didn’t open for shopping until our senior year and there was no Walmart there.  The school had less buildings with a big open front lawn.  The EK Fernandez carnival was held every year in the school’s parking lot as a fundraiser.

You know, when you were in high school, you couldn’t wait to get out.  Move on with life.  I mean it seemed like classes would never end.

But they do and did and once the graduation ceremony concluded it seemed like everybody scattered on the wind to begin the journey of really growing up.

Looking back I miss those relationships with friends, even casual ones, the most.  Silly conversations, going to football games on the bus, and wondering if that girl would say yes if asked out.  Smile.

Out of the class of ‘88 we have some great people who have gone on to big things.  Since this is usually a sports blog - I’ll single out Ma’a Tanuvasa.

The “Rock” received a scholarship to play football at UH and went on to win a couple of Super Bowls with Denver.  After his playing days he moved his family back to Mililani.  Like the joke goes, most of us simply moved from Mililani to Mililani Mauka…lol.  Ma’a now works on campus and helps coach football at MHS.

I see him around the hood frequently and he’s in great shape.  I also see his daughter, who is also a great athlete, all grown up.  Which again, makes me feel “older.”

No complaints I’ve been very fortunate in the past 20-years…just don’t know if I’ve grown up yet.  Do we ever hit a stage where we feel completely grown up?

Thanks for letting me go away from just sports on this one…lol…  I’d love to hear about your thoughts and memories on high school reunions and growing up.

 *** P.S. - If you’re a class of ‘88 Trojan and need info on the reunion activities…let me know too ***

Hello prep football fans…especially ILH aficionados…here are two ILH football games that are now “officially” on the OC16 TV schedule for the fall.

* September 20 - Saturday - Damien vs World of Life (from Kamehameha) - 7 pm

* October 17 - Friday - Punahou vs Iolani - 3 pm

These games round out of a nice slate of ILH teams for the 2008 season.  Counting the Interleague games, people will be able to see six ILH football schools on TV - Iolani, St.Louis, Pac-Five, Damien, Word of Life, and Punahou.

I’d like to give a big mahalo to all the schools involved for being a part of OC16 Sports.  Special props to Kamehameha for hosting two other schools on “their” field as well as Punahou for opening up their campus for our equipment in the first TV game from that campus. 

This is unprecedented coverage of ILH football.  

I mean just two years ago this would have been a pipe dream.  But thankfully OC16’s growing relationship with the ILH is coming along nicely.  Many schools from the league have gotten a chance to learn more about us, likwise, we’ve learned a lot about the league and how complex their scheduling is.

The end result is the addition of more ILH competition on TV which hopefully makes everybody happy. 

Happy a great holiday weekend all!