The View Tube blog is back on the air…errr…print…errr…electronic display after a brief hiatus.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

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It’s hard to believe but we’re moving into week three of the OC16 Sports TV schedule.  So far the response has been very favorable for the HD broadcasts.  If you have an HD set and box…all of OC16 including the games are on channel 1016.  Our tech guys are still “tweaking” the HD encoders, decoders, and what not…but so far it’s coming along nicely.

The availability of satellite gear is really allowing us to be in more places as well.  Last Friday we did our first TV game from Roosevelt’s beautiful new field.  The artificial surface is awesome!  It feels even more like grass than Aloha Stadium.  Plus no mud!

This week’s TV game:  Castle vs Farrington - 7:30pm - from Castle High School.

 Available on HD OC16 channel 1016, Digital 96, and good ol’ analog cable 16.

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In UH football news…  One of our crew members knows a lot about Inoke Funaki and it confirms what most of us think.  He’s humble, team first, and deserving of a shot at starter.  Inoke has been knocked for not being a practice quarterback, you know, doesn’t look as sharp as others in practices.  But the word is…and it seems backed up by action…that Inoke is a “gamer” and when the lights come on at the stadium, he makes things happen. 

As for his team first and unselfish attitude…  That may have hurt his starting chances earlier.  My friend tells me that Inoke is not one to really lobby for his own position.  Too humble.  He’s much more comfortable trying to make his teammates better and have them gain the spotlight.  I’d like to see this become a story of the good guy finishing first.

It’s that attitude that makes me a fan of Inoke.  Good luck to him and the Warriors!

Don’t forget…available on pay per view channel 255….smile.

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Like the fine writeup in Wes Nakama’s prep blog…  Everyone here offers deepest sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Ken Yamase.  The BIIF executive director passed away recently while diving.  He loved how athletics made Hawaii’s young people better.  He’ll be missed for sure.

Again, the idea of the volleyball classic is to promote sportsmanship and goodwill between different leagues.  I’m talking about students playing with people they may never otherwise share the same court with.  True a lot of these vballers play on club teams that face each other but still I think it will be a bit different here.

Besides mixing up the players, putting different coaches together should further the exchange of ideas as well as break down cliques.

On to the questions…

BlueFyre:
August 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am   edit

Are there going to be any kind of criteria for the selectees of the Classic, or is it simply open to the best player of every team? I think it would be pretty cool if the state champ could have maybe two players instead of one, possibly as an incentive to the teams to step up their game a notch or two??? Jus my two cents.

BlueFyre: Thanks for the interest!  The criteria will be each school will be offered one spot - this covers both D1 and D2 schools.  The leagues, coaches and school athletic directors will be in charge of selecting the players.  It will be seniors only and the player should be both a good player and a good person.  To sum it up, somebody you would want to represent your school and community.  If a school cannot provide a player, the spot will be given to another school.  But we really hope to see all schools represented.

We’re anticipating about 10 girls per team.  Players will be assigned via a blind draw.  In one hat, it’s the ILH pool and the other, the OIA.  Pick from one hat then the other until done.  The coaching staffs will be divied up this way too.  It will allow for some truly mixed teams and it’s kind of fun too.  We also want to avoid any politics in making up the teams.

kkth:
August 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm   edit

what about the neighbor island teams/players? oahu games are always playing on OC16, how about the other islands? i am pretty sure families and communities would love to watch their homegrown players play on OC16. there is definitely some talent out there….in the DII state division…2 of the final 4 teams were from maui & molokai. i am sure that the MIL, KIF & BIIF have players worth playing in your classic and exciting to see on television. be fair man! we are paying oceanic customers too!

kkth:  OC16 loves and supports schools and players from all islands.  No slight is intended.  But please remember this is the first year for this classic.  I mean there has never been a game featuring such a mix.  In an ideal world, we would have a huge budget for this and be able to make it statewide.  You know, fly in neighbor island kids for multiple practices, house them, and fly them back home and then back again for the two nights of competition.

It’s not a question of talent because there are stellar players from Hilo to Hanalei.  But it is about finding enough money to pay for everything.

If this event should prove successful and popular, we will indeed look at making it statewide or at least expanding it more.

I’m always open to suggestions so please, let me know.  And…thanks for being an Oceanic Time Warner subscriber!  It’s not lost on any us that we don’t exist without our customers.

Again the Goodwill Volleyball Classic is set for two nights - November 19 and 20 - live on OC16.

Volleyball was the third sport added after the initial launch of OC16 Sports with just football.

The game and the network have certainly grown up over the last two decades.

So much so, OC16 is proud to announce the creation of “OC16 Goodwill Volleyball Classic” in order to recognize and reward the fine young student athletes of this sport.

This first year teams will be a mix of OIA and ILH schools.  Coaching staffs will also be mixed from the leagues.  Each school will be offered a spot to select one of their players to represent that school.  Schools and leagues will be doing the picking.  OC16 is just happy to provide the games and TV coverage.

I personally think this will be awesome to watch as the skill level will be very high.  But it should also promote sportsmanship in action as the young ladies mix from different schools and leagues.

Put down November 19 and 20 as the dates for the classic.  We can’t wait to see first serve in this!

On September 12, 2008 - OC16 Sports will present Anuenue vs Aiea- live 7:30 pm from Mililani High School.

In short Anuenue is a Hawaiian language immersion school that plays football using the Hawaiian language!  It is wonderful to hear and their football skill is strong too.  So the combo of getting to see some pigskin action done in true Hawaiian Style, well that should be fun for all.

Their opponent, Aiea will give them all they want as Na Ali’i has something to prove after being dropped down to the White Division from the OIA Red.

All in all, this is one of those games to mark on your schedule.

Ok…gotta go!  Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this!  Aloha!

August 22 - Leilehua vs Iolani - live - from Leilehua 7:30 pm.

August 23 - Mililani vs St. Louis - live - from Mililani 7 pm.

The full schedule is up on our website www.oc16.tv

But to help set the mood…here’s a little video for you…enjoy!

Winning your first PGA tour event is better.

Winning your first PGA tour event with your family watching where your dad is fully recovered from a stroke earlier in the year and mom had broken her neck a year ago is, well, even more “gooder.”

Such is the life, times, and putts of Parker McLachlin.

Parker is a great guy and while he says he was grinding it out over the final 18 - he still ended up crushing the field of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

The win is huge for Parker’s young PGA career because it carries two years of job security on the PGA tour, an invite to this week’s PGA Championship, and an invite to start next year at Kapalua’s Mercedes-Benz Championship where it is a winner’s only field.

Just think, Parker only entered this tournament on a whim.  Deciding just a day before it started to give it a go.  He said he had a feeling he’d play good.  Nice call Parker.

Michelle Wie, another Punahou alum, was also in this tournament and grabbed the early headlines.  Parker just ends up getting the big banner headlines in the end.  I personally like both of these people and I think Michelle’s time to win will come soon.

But the image of Parker getting a hug from his dad Chris immediately right after the final putt on 18 dropped for birdie, well, that’s priceless.

Priceless considering what the family has paid in time, effort, and health scares.

Summer with the McLachlin’s is always a blast evidently!

 Multiple sources say she has indeed qualified for a D1 school.

Lucky for Hawaii softball fans, Hawaii is where her heart beats the strongest.  So barring some dramatic change UH will indeed be getting a quality pitcher and young person. 

No doubt her large extended family here is happy to be able to watch and support her at the next level.  Although her cousin, who plays for Chaminade, may have been even happier if Makani hopped over another hill to the Silverswords’ campus…smile. 

 For me, I think it will be fun to see how the next chapters in her life and softball career play out.  Certainly she is athletically gifted with a strong support system of family members. 

Just think Bob Coolen could possibly throw the OIA’s top two pitchers from the past few years.  (The other being Moanalua grad Sarah Robinson.)  Which gives idea to a future blog - how former high school rivals become teammates - but that’s for another day.

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Special kudos to Been There, Cane, and Kakarochie for their timely offerings.

This is “the” major golf tournament on Oahu for juniors and the age range is from 7-years-old up to 18.

To get into this event, 120 golfers had to pass a playing abilities test as well as a rules test. 

The two day tournament will be condensed into a 30-minute hilight show that will feature interviews with age division winners and key officials.  It’s the first time we’ve covered this major.

Here’s the OC16 TV schedule:

Wednesday, 8/6 at 6:30pm

Thursday, 8/7 at 12:30am & 4pm

Saturday, 8/8 at 2pm

Sunday, 8/10 at 10:30pm

Monday, 8/11 at 10am

Tuesday, 8/12 at 4:30pm

Just so you know, some good golfers have come through the Oahu Junior Golf Association.  Big names right now - PGA tour players - Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin.

Another fun fact of this group and their tournaments - no parents are allowed to follow their kids!  That keeps outside coaching to a minimum and allows the players to think and play for themselves.  Not to mention the players have to “police” themselves with rules.  I think all together that’s great for developing self-confidence and responsibility. 

I hope you check out these great young golfers.  They play the game the right way.

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! 

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.