For me, that means the "use it or lose it" vacation days we have to claim by the end of December.

This time it came at the perfect moment as the Wahine volleyball team made its dream run to the NCAA final four.

Away from the office, vacation time allowed me to watch Dave Shoji's squad as a fan instead of thinking sports schedules, football, pay per view, and so on.  When sports is your job too often you treat every game as work.  Breaking down the production, looking at graphics, how did they cover the game and so on.

I gotta say there's something to be said for snacks, sodas, and wahine volleyball on a big TV screen.  No other agenda but to watch good old volleyball.  Sure I like the game itself but UH volleyball is special.  Its history of national championships, gritty play, and local stars blends together for must see viewing.

Watching this year's NCAA run was extra fun because of the chemistry of the players.  It really looked like they enjoyed playing with and for each other.  Chemistry is so hard to find in teams so I enjoy it while its there.

Stellar defense, players stepping up their games, stars shining, others emerging, and of course smiles marked the wahine's play as well.

No wonder they're beloved by the entire state.  It's good to be reminded again of how special they are.

For decades, Shoji's teams have taken all of us on remarkable journeys.  Allowing us to feel a part of something bigger.  Getting to touch greatness since we feel like our cheering helps drive the team.

Now whether us fans' collective school spirit (and personal pride) really matters as much as we think, who knows.

But for a few weeks wahine volleyball opens our eyes to bigger things, takes us away from talk of rough economic news.

It make us all feel like we were on the same team beating the odds.  You know what, that feeling is not a bad thing in these turbulent and fractured times.

Mahalo Coach Dave Shoji and the Wahine volleyball team, third best in the NCAA but champions at home.

***

In other news as my thoughts drift back to work in January...lol...

OC16 Sports will tip off basketball on January 7 with an OIA doubleheader at Campbell High School - 5 pm Kapolei/Radford with Campbell/Mililani following. 

1/14 Boys - Farrington/Kaimuki and Moanalua/Kahuku.

1/21 Girls - Pearl City/Mililani and Kalani/Farrington

1/22 Boys - Kaimuki/Kaiser and Kalaheo/Moanalua

We're working on some ILH dates too but they have not yet been confirmed.

***

And for last second gifts...  Events from this past August onward are now available for purchase in the "shopping" section of our website www.oc16.tv

***

Happy Holidays all!

But not all of them were because of plays you like to see.

Mules' wide receiver Kamana Akagi was taken by ambulance to a hospital on a backboard with a neck brace securing his head.

Akagi stretched to make a catch late in the game and was in an awkward position when hit by a Kahuku defender.

The hit was hard but totally clean.  If anything Akagi's body position had the most to due with his injury.

Regardless, the play left the senior WR flat on his back with little initial signs of movement.

So the trainers, medical staffs of both teams as well as EMT's attended to him with the utmost care and delicacy. 

Eventually Akagi gave a finger up as he was loaded into the ambulance.

Whenever you see an athlete carried out like that you hope for the best.  But are aware of the worst.

Akagi was basically "knocked out" for a few scary seconds.

Thankfully Akagi was released from the hospital the next morning (Saturday) after overnight observation.

And you wanna talk about heart?

Akagi begged his parents to let him attend Leilehua's practice that Saturday. 

So a little more than 12-hours removed from the incident, there's Akagi at practice or what the Mules call "inspiration."

Hard to argue about that being an inspiring moment. 

Akagi didn't do anything physical at inspiration. 

But his example of heart and caring for his teammates may do more in the long run.

Another classy move, Reggie Torres and the Red Raiders sent Akagi a message through Mules coach Nolan Tokuda.  In it, Kahuku expressed their concern, prayers, and wishes for a speedy recovery to Akagi.

Football is a tough, physical, collision sport filled with macho attitudes.

But it's good to see that good sportsmanship prevails in tough situations like this one.

Akagi has already been cleared by his personal doctor.

Leilehua will hold him out until the school medical staff deems him clear after its own battery of tests.

The Mules have almost two weeks before playing Baldwin in the first round of states.  I wouldn't count Akagi out of going over the middle come November 20.

***

In other injury news.  OIA football official Duane Moku was also injured late in that game to an ankle injury.

He's a good guy and we all wish him a speedy recovery as well.

Now that I'm back, I'll post some really big news.

Ready?

Here it is.

For the first time - ever - we will televise a "live" sporting event from Maui. 

Not just any event but the first round of the 2009 HHSAA football D1 championship tournament.

It will match up Baldwin against the loser of OIA title game Kahuku/Leilehua.  We'll know that obviously after Friday's OIA telecast from Aloha Stadium.  White division championship is first on OC16 starting at 4:30pm.

But back to Maui.  It's long overdue since we've been to Kauai and the Big Island. 

Costs have kept us from doing it sooner.  Thankfully with tremendous assistance from Keith Amemiya, the HHSAA, NEP (the broadcast truck we use), and other providers, everything came together late yesterday afternoon.

So come Friday November 20, you will see the first high school football game from Maui's War Memorial Stadium on statewide television.

Game time has been moved up to 6pm from 7pm.

Why?

The earlier start will allow our crew to breakdown all the gear after the game, pack up, and make it to the airport for the 10:45pm flight out of Maui. 

By flying out that same day/night, we can avoid having to get hotel rooms thus saving money. 

Saved money that allows this game to be on TV.

Speaking of money... 

The mahalo list includes: Young Brothers (for barging over the huge production trucks), Hawaiian Airlines, MIL executive director Joe Balangitao, Baldwin AD Kahai Shishido, HHSAA Keith Amemiya, Oceanic VP of Opertations Norman Santos, Oceanic Maui GM Rick Colletto, Oceanic VP Programming Mitzi Lehano...  (I'll add more as the names and companies come in.)

We hope everyone on Maui comes out to the game to be a part of local TV history!

Of course, set your DVR at home first before heading to the game.

And to the Tasaka's...save me a gallon of each flavor of Tasaka Guri-Guri!

Long known for his support of UH sports, Murphy is throwing the SOS fund a lifeline by hosting a block party tonight (10/21) in the area around Murphy's Bar and Grill in downtown Honolulu.

Murphy along with his staff and an army of public school AD's started early this morning setting up the tents and getting food ready.

To keep with DOE rules, every AD used a vacation day to work this event.

It was really inspiring to see these athletic directors sweating in the humid conditions to make the fundraiser come to life.  Murphy of course has these things down to a science and is overseeing the whole party.

Pre-sale tickets alone will bring in more than $100,000 to the SOS fund. 

So if you're in the mood for food, fun, and helping Hawaii's public school athletics, head on down to Murphy's.

Who knows, Saint Murphy's good karma may follow you home!

***

Murphy’s Ho‘olaulea to Support ‘SOS’ (Save Our Sports) Fundraising Drive for Hawaii Public High Schools

HONOLULU (October 6, 2009) – Murphy’s Bar and Grill will present a downtown Ho‘olaulea on Wednesday, October 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Merchant Street and Nu‘uanu Avenue to raise money for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s ‘SOS’ (Save Our Sports) fundraising drive.

Hoping to raise $100,000 and attract 3,000 people, organizers believe that it will be the first major event to bring all local high schools together for a common cause: the preservation of Hawaii’s public high school athletic programs.
Underfunded budgets have been drastically cut further for the current 2009-10 school year, including over $1,200,000 in funding for supplies, equipment, and transportation. Unless funds are raised soon, most, if not all 18 high school sports (football, basketball, soccer, tennis, etc.) will be severely impacted, either through greatly reduced competition or the outright elimination of entire sports.

All net proceeds from the event will be donated to public schools athletic programs. "The SOS program has come so close to raising enough funds to keep our public school sports programs in tact, we hope this may be the event to secure our goal. Our event will benefit all public high schools from Ka`u to Kapa`a.” said Don Murphy, event chair and owner of Murphy’s Bar and Grill.

All public high schools, including from the Neighbor Islands, will be represented by athletic directors, coaches and boosters, wearing their school colors, preparing and selling food and staffing beverage stands. The event will feature live music by local entertainers, most of whom will be donating their time.
Event organizers are hoping to raise the majority of the funds for the event through corporate donations, starting from $500 up to $10,000, which would provide the donor with title sponsorship of the event.
For more information, contact Murphy's Bar and Grill at (808) 754-1502, email don@murphyshawaii.com, or visit www.sportshigh.com

Additional information for Murphy’s Ho‘olaulea

Place: Nuuanu from King will be closed, Marin Lane closed and Merchant Street to Bethel closed. The parking lot across the street from Murphy’s will be the focal point of the party.

Cost: There is no “cover charge”. Script will be sold. Cost of script is $5.00 each (if purchased before event will be sold for 5 script for $20.00). Each script is good for one plate of food or one beer or one glass of wine. Soda or water will be available for $1.00. All of the proceeds will go to benefit the SOS program.

Food: There will be several food booths, serving everything from chili & rice to Tanioka’s spicy ahi bento. Foods featured will be Hawaiian, Local, American, Irish and Asian.

Parking: Parking will be available either on the street, Smith Street Garage (Smith off of Nimitz, coming down King, turn right on Smith) or enter off Nimitz, Macy’s parking garage or the public parking on Pauahi and Smith street.

Donations: Checks can be made payable to “HHSAA SOS Account” or go on line to: www.sportshigh.com

Contacts: Don Murphy, Murphy’s Bar & Grill 754-1502 or don@murphyshawaii.com Lynette Adams @ lynetteadams@hawaii.rr.com

Music: There will be live music in the parking lot. The entertainment will be posted when they are secured.

Children: This event is open to the public. Alcohol will be served so we do recommend parents use their discretion on whether or not to bring their children.

A powerful one that reflects something bigger than just winning football games.

Waipahu's head coach Sean Saturnio unfurled the black flag about 5-years ago. 

He wanted to change the mindset of the students - both players and regular student body.

This simple black flag is the opposite of a white flag - the symbol for surrender.

Saturnio, his staff, and the school administration want their kids to never give up on life, studies and bettering themselves. 

A lot of these young people come from disadvantaged homes, so quiting on a better life happens.

Now just waving a dark colored cloth around will not mold a young person's future alone.

Among the weekly tools Saturnio uses on his players is a weekly dress shirt and tie day. 

Every Wednesday all players and coaches on campus put on a shirt and tie to show respect to the school's teachers and student body.

Some parents expressed concern about not being able to buy a decent dress shirt and tie.  Not a problem, if they cannot get, Saturnio and his staff purchase a set for the kid.

The players also have weekly "pono pledges" which further point the players in the right direction.

The pledge card is about the size of an ID card.  Players are assigned one teacher and one other person in their life to give this card to. 

It basically says I want to give you respect and do something for you.  All I ask in return is for you (card receiver) to do something for another person.

Pretty cool huh?

Saturnio told me it builds in the student-athletes an ethic of doing something good for others with no reward to them.

By doing this each week, it's hoped the pono pledge becomes a habit that leads to a righteous life beyond high school.

Yes Waipahu wants to win football games.  (They lost to Kapolei this past Friday 28-21 in Overtime.)

But these Marauders play for bigger stakes - winning in the game of life.

Saturnio's hope is to make good sons, boyfriends, future husbands and dads with these young people.

Now that's a great game plan.

I'm talking about the latest Kanye West awards show meltdown. 

If you somehow haven't heard or seen it, the rapper basically crushed the happy moment of celebration for 19-year-old Taylor Swift.  Swift had just won an MTV moon man award. 

West being the civil audience member he is (not) jumped on stage, took the mic from Swift and said she shouldn't have won it.

Talk about putting the ass in classy.

Swift to her credit was still able to perform about five-minutes later despite being shaken. 

She has also received an outpouring of support.

West has received a constant stream of you're a moron - to put it mildly.

But while one can say, yeah, that's just a music industry out of touch reality moment.  I disagree.

I see and hear it at every high school sporting event.  It comes from (some but enough to stick out) fans in the stands who seem to know better than every coach, official, and even at times - student athlete.

They swear, berate, threaten, and degrade anything and anybody that they don't agree with. 

Hmmm, sounds a lot like Kanye West huh?

I understand when your team makes a mistake, is losing, or a call is questionable that a fan can get grumpy. 

But wouldn't a civilized adult know enough to not make a Kanye-West of themselves? 

What type of example is that for kids?  And if your son or daughter is playing, what are you doing for them?  I imagine a lot of those kids are embarrassed for what they hear from their parents or relatives.

So where do these unsportsmanlike fouls (or is that vowels) come from?

I think for a lot of uber rude fans, it comes from being unhappy about their lives.  At least some part of it.

Maybe they have unfulfilled sports dreams and are trying to live them out through the kids playing now.  Maybe it's their one chance to standout in the crowd, for all the wrong reasons of course.  Some are just bullies. 

But for whatever reason, it's an outburst to put somebody down.  

Which in turn takes away from the greater moment of those teams, players, coaches, and other fans.

In the end it may make these Kanye-West's feel better about themselves.  But it's only temporary.  It will never truly resolve their issues.

One celebrity who came to Swift's defense asked, "Kanye were you not hugged enough as a kid?"

It's something that may also apply to a number of local Hawaii sports fans.

Or in this case the game is in the paper.

What I'm talking about is the flood of calls I got this morning about concerned Campbell fans that the OC16 TV game featuring the Sabers was called off.

Which I'm happy to report is not true!  Campbell versus Mililani is very much "on" for this Friday from the Ewa Beach school's field.

Evidently what caused the uproar was a simple little listing in the Honolulu Advertiser what's on TV this week.  Yesterday it read Kapolei versus Leilehua.  So every orange and black blooded fan thought their home TV game was given the boot.

Kapolei and Leilehua was the originally scheduled event.  But that changed weeks ago because Kapolei's field cannot accomadate our cameras and crew this year.  They're still working on field items like the press box.  So when they couldn't host us, we picked up Campbell/Mililani.

That's what we've been blasting in our TV ads and other print material.  But the Advertiser may not have gotten any update to the original matchup and thus published the older game.

So there you go.  Case solved. 

OC16 Sports is looking forward to our first game from Campbell ever!

Promise.

See you on Friday - game time is 7:30 pm "live" on OC16 / HD 1016.

I'm really happy to announce here that OC16 will be broadcasting football games from two "new" locations.

This weekend is of course Waianae vs Campbell - Saturday 7 pm (not Friday because of UH football, go Warriors!).

But check out the next two weeks...

* September 11 - Friday 7:30 pm - Campbell vs Mililani from Campbell. 

This is actually homecoming night for the Sabers in what could be a pivotal OIA West matchup for the visiting Trojans.  A trip to Ewa Beach is long overdue and we are all looking forward to a new scene.  It's also a return home for our cameraman Reggie Robinson, who's a Campbell alum - yup he was a standout football player who went on to play at UH.

* September 18 - Friday 7:30 pm - Waipahu vs Kapolei from Waipahu. 

I really like the way Waipahu coach Sean Saturnio and his staff try to do more than field a competitive football team.  The Marauders have a dress shirt and tie day during the school week for all players and staff.  It's a way to show respect to the other students, teachers, and staff of Waipahu.  The Marauders are scrappy and disciplined and it will be interesting to see how they do against Kapolei.  The Hurricanes are again loaded with more than a few D1 college prospects.

* September 25 - Friday 7:30 pm - Waianae vs Leilehua from Waianae.

Back to the westside!  Depending on how it shakes out, this could be key in the OIA West title chase.  At the worst, second place is on the line.

As always it's live on OC16, HD 1016, and the "new look" website www.oc16.tv

Tonight (Friday) - Mililani vs Punahou 7 pm.

Saturday - Leilehua vs St. Louis 7:30 pm.

Are the Trojans really state contenders?  Will Punahou rebound from last week's loss to Kahuku?  How about Leilehua, who lost to Mililani a week ago?  And Saint Louis...word on the street, the Saints are back!

See for yourself in two awesome, early season games.  Live on OC16 - HD 1016!

We'll be travelling to the windward side as Kailua hosts Kamehameha at 7:30pm - live of course on OC16 and HD OC1016.

So to get you in the mood...  Here's a little video that caught our attention.  It's Washington Redskins kicker Shaun Suisam booting an amazing 110-yard field goal!

Is it for real?  Or..  For fake?

You decide and enjoy!

***
FYI - Saturday we have an Interleague Doubleheader - McKinley vs Pac-Five at 4pm / Roosevelt vs Damien 7pm.