Homespun Honolulu

Car shows are not normally my area of interest but this one was special and I had to be there to capture the scene a couple of weeks ago at Aloha Tower Marketplace. What was so special about it? The Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council put together this show to highlight the “Build the Track” campaign to provide a place for the different motor sports to enjoy their sport.

Right at the edge of the mall’s main entrance sat this race car. That’s what it’s all about – Build the Track! Since I found out about this campaign I have heard several comments. One of those comments was that there is a lack of interest. Well, let’s look through these pictures and you tell me if there’s a “lack of interest!”

There were trucks, cars and even a couple of motorcycles parked all over the place. I didn’t know where to turn first. With so much to see that it was hard to stay focused while trying to take in every corner of this automotive pageantry.

There were trucks with added character, truck-like coverings with a patriotic flair, and organizations whose specialty is, well, trucks.

I gave up trying to get perfect, clear pictures — there were just too many people walking around and too many balloons to get in front of the camera. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I should just take those shots so that I could show everyone how there’s such a “lack of interest” in this venue. Lack of interest my foot!

There was a truckload of representatives from several automotive firms and there were a few vendors sharing their ideas. In addition to those sponsors, there were others as well. This brings up another comment that was made to me recently about the track project. “They need big sponsors to make it happen.” The translation of that is that they need money. Oddly enough, there were no booths collecting donations. This was to raise awareness and to gain support of the community.

It wasn’t just the automotive places or tire stores who took part in this event! At least one of our radio stations, HOT I-94 (93.9 if you want to be picky), was there. There may have been other stations but I was focused on the automobiles.

There was at least one branch of the armed services in attendance. The National Guard even had their own vehicle there!

It’s quite obvious that this project was not completely without some governmental support! Even the sheriff’s office was there with their vehicle all pretty and shiny for the occasion.

Relax, they weren’t there to serve anyone with papers. They were there, I think, to show support while probably hoping “The Track” would come to fruition. They would have less drama with the freeway racing that we have seen so much of recently.

This brings up another statement that was made to me a couple of months ago. The statement went something like, “Those are not experienced racers doing that!” I know that. We all know that. What we have is young people wanting to race and having no place to do so.

When I was hanging with friends in the late 70’s and early 80’s, people went to Hawaii Raceway Park every weekend! Teens had something to do, something that captivated them and kept them out of trouble. They closed Hawaii Raceway Park. It’s gone. There is no place for them to go.

Youth of all ages love racing, they love anything with a motor that they can ride. That adoration doesn’t die with age.

There is no age limitation for the fascination with auto racing. The organizers of this show knew it too!

There’s just something about it that draws out the excited smiles of our keiki!

This really was a family event and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The real focus though was on the automobiles.

People were making their way in and out and around the vehicles on display.

There were many exhibitors enjoying the opportunity to share their hobby with others.

The vehicle above was my favorite drenching of colors but the intensity of conversation was even more interesting to observe. The passion, like a lot of things we involve ourselves in, is very intense for this activity!

I was hard-pressed, a few times, to figure out who was enjoying things more — the visitors or the exhibitors!

There was a lot of information to absorb and a lot of vintage vehicles to see and examine — inside and out.

I will continue making my point as we move down but I just couldn’t let any of these pictures be left without sharing them.

This way, everyone can get a better feel for just how important this event was to the organizers, and just how important this sporting venue is to so many.

We’ve got cobras under the hood and engines that are as clean and shiny as the car’s exteriors!

Beautiful colors and classic models glistened around every corner.

These racers have the traditional look of those race cars in the video games! Wow, they really do look like that!

Why do I care? I don’t race, I don’t like loud noises, I don’t like smoke, screeching wheels, or the smell of burning rubber. So, what’s it to me? I grew up on the West side of Oahu and every weekend there was almost always someone who was not home because they were reportedly at Hawaii Raceway Park. It was a life’s passion for many and a fun hobby for others. It was a place for youth to go and to burn off their energy instead of getting into trouble.

As I mentioned, they closed Hawaii Raceway Park. It has never been replaced. Nobody shared a place for the racers to go. They’re working on it!

There were no booths collecting donations but there was this booth to sign their petition with room for comments. Yes, I signed it and yes, I left a comment!

This says it all in a nutshell. “We Just Wanna Race!” The best argument that I have heard was that every other sport or hobby has it’s place to go. Basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, golf, bowling, running, swimming, shooting, and just about anything else you can think of, has it’s own place to happen — it’s own field, it’s own course, etc. Everything, that is, except for racing. Good point!

This was the best photo! Isn’t he cute? He was so amazed at the sight of all those trucks! Oblivious to all else, I think he was just amazed that his toy trucks had become reality. Right along the sidewalk too!

Okay, we couldn’t let the bikes go unnoticed. There were a couple of them there. They too need a place to race. We all know the dangers of motorcycle racing. It would be better for all if they had a place designed just for that purpose.

My heart goes out to the racing community and I can comfortably say they have my full support. I would rather put my support behind TheTrack than that stupid rail! If you feel they’re right, watch them, follow their progress and support their efforts. Our community needs a track to replace what we lost. Let’s support them while they Build the Track!

Technorati Tags: Auto Racing, Build the Track, Car Show

While Honolulu welcomes the Pro Bowl back to Hawaii, the NFL is looking into other locations and bigger monetary gains.

You know, while I was watching things unfold around here last week, I couldn’t help but focus my mind on how the media kept talking more and more about the Pro Bowl leaving Hawaii for another location.

The fascination and attraction is still very strong here. People here love to interact with these stars that they otherwise would never see, except on television. We’re isolated and can’t just travel across state lines to attend the next game. This is the only pro football game that Hawaii gets to experience live.

What Will the NFL Lose?

Is it an idle threat or are they really going to pull this venue out from under us? I heard a comment on one of the news channels that people loved it because it gave them the chance to visit Hawaii and enjoy the game.

For both the participants and the fans, I can’t help but think that pulling out of Hawaii may change the face of this happy and fun event to one of mere obligation for all involved and a little bit of extra spending money.  That’s if you can get them to go at all.

There was also talk about having the Pro Bowl on the weekend before the Superbowl. My knee-jerk reaction to that idea was an instantaneous one: “Are you nuts?!?”

Can you imagine the pandemonium in a city expected to host these two large media events back to back? The stress of back-to-back events like that would be huge! Where would people stay? Would there be enough hotel room space to support such a venture? Of course, on the flip side of that, would there be enough people who even show up to fill those rooms?

Another comment flying around was that players in the Superbowl are not going to play in the Pro Bowl for fear of injury. Good point.

What Will We Lose?

Let’s think about this. While we do pay out a handsome amount of cash to host this event, we receive a lot in return. NFL Charities does a lot of charitable giving in conjunction with the Pro Bowl. They give handsomely every year to youth-related programs and/or projects — to the tune of roughly $100,000.

This year, NFL Charities gave $1 million to assist with the construction of a new youth center in Nanakuli.  Whoa!  Thank you for the generous gift!  That is a much needed and much appreciated donation!  Or, was that guilt money?

Somehow, the Pro Bowl seems to be losing its charitable nature. Some other comment flying around stated that the NFL is looking to capitalize more than they do, i.e. “the bottom line is the bottom line.” I understand that, but I have an ugly feeling that the NFL may actually end up losing revenue. How do you entice players and their families to give up a large chunk of their time to go to one of the other states in the middle of winter?  Why would they want to make that trip to a place they may visit often already anyway?

They’ve been talking about Florida a lot. Florida is a great place but if you think Honolulu’s humidity is bad, wait until you try Florida’s!

Of course I have no idea what it’s like to endure a Florida winter. It may be that the heat and humidity are more tolerable in the winter time. Of course there’s always Disney World.

I don’t think you’ll find too many big red Cardinals dancing the hula in Florida, or anywhere else for that matter. Even the mascots were enjoying themselves.

If this was an idle threat on the NFL’s part, I think everyone heard it loud and clear! Not only was the Pro Bowl one of the hot topics all week long, it was a focus of several businesses and it attracted more media attention than usual. At least it felt that way.

Even to get most of these pictures I had to creep behind the sound people and buck the media cameras to get closer. I’m sure I ticked some people off but so be it.

The way it stands now, I have one more year to try to get better pictures but that may be the end of it. The Pro Bowl is scheduled to be held in Hawaii in 2009 but it is unclear where it will go after that.

Just before posting this I saw that a site posted some commentary written by someone who attended the game! “Alright,” I thought, “now I can get some real scoops!” Well, since everything I had heard from locals and on the news was positive and people were having fun, and since everyone seemed happy, either to be here or to have the NFL stars here, I couldn’t help but think that maybe this guy should have stayed home and rested.

I fully understand his feelings and I respect them. But, if that is how people are going to respond to the Pro Bowl in other places on the mainland, I would be even more concerned about this idea of changing the venue for this event! Maybe he was bored with us and our refusal to turn Kalakaua Avenue into a college frat party. I just think that we recognize these visitors as professionals who have come to share their time and talent with us, and we treat them as such.

My feeling is that people should urge the NFL to keep the Pro Bowl here — to give us, and to give themselves, their staff and the players something to cheer about! We love you guys and we like it when you come down the hang out with us for a while! You guys worked hard all season and we want you to have just a little down time to recover!  “Before you roll those dice, Baby think twice!”

Checking back in with the Sony Open, Parker McLachlin moved up the leader board today! His score is currently Par -6. You know what’s scary? I actually understand what I just said.

Parker “made the cut” but Tadd Fujikawa did not. I don’t exactly understand what Parker made the cut for, but he’s doing nicely and that’s what counts!

I love that my camera is a Sony taking pictures a the Sony Open. So many people are enjoying this event and I am glad that the weather has really been cooperative! I still think that this game would be much more interesting if we were actually participants. I also have a very bad feeling that this is a very expensive hobby or sport! The Sony Open wraps up on Sunday.

A few years back, Tiger Woods put golf back on the radar for the non-golfing world. Hawaii has a lot of golfers. We have a lot of beautiful golf courses! It’s now the time of year when the Waialae Country Club on O’ahu welcomes the PGA Tour and the Sony Open! Mahalo to the Sony Corporation of America for the pretty logo!

The purse for this event is a whopping $5.3 million and the winner will take home $936,000! Wow! We do have a player to watch, or at least I think we do. Tadd Fujikawa will be playing and, although he doesn’t live here now, Parker McLachlin is actually from here and graduated in 1997 from Punahou High School.

Parker McLachlin played in 28 events in 2007 and took home purses totaling $627,582. We’re in the wrong profession guys! I think we should start learning how to golf! For all of you young ladies salivating over Parker’s income potential and/or his blue eyes, Parker is very married! You can learn all you want to know about him at his official website.

For those people, like me, who don’t know golf very well, it helps to understand some of the terminology. Some good words to look up might include words like par, bogey, birdie and eagle. It will make it much easier to enjoy the game if you understand what on earth they’re talking about! Wikipedia has a very nice glossary of golf terms!

Players have been here for a few days and they’ve been puttering around out there but the official tournament will run from January 10th thru January 13th, that’s Thursday thru Sunday. I may not watch a lot of it but you can bet I’ll be checking the scoreboard to see how Tadd and Parker are doing, and to try to learn a thing or two about this stuff.

In recent months many of us have been so pumped up and excited about the University of Hawaii football program. We were looking forward, already, to the next season! Suddenly we were given the shocking news that we were about to lose the coach! No, he won’t go. That’s crazy. He would never leave us! Um, he’s gone.

The outcry was immediate. Sign holders were out along the corner of University Avenue that skirts the University of Hawaii campus.

The media, of course, were on it instantly! There was a lot of commentary to be extracted from this group of protesters!

There had to be someone to blame. It was much too easy to find a recipient for the rage and hurt felt by the fans.

This was someone we just recently learned so much about and had grown to respect for his genuine caring of the students.

There was a new-found admiration for the support given by Jones to several of the students to help them overcome some personal issues.

Surely there is someone responsible for Jones wanting to leave. There must be someone to blame!

There were signs waving and horns blasting like you wouldn’t believe! The fans were not at all happy to see things fall apart like this when the football program had just gotten it all together!

Everyone certainly seemed to be on the same page. There may have been mixed emotions about June Jones’ sudden departure but one thing was certain — something had to be done!

Well, for all of the protesting, sign waving, horn blasting and alerting of the media, Herman Frazier, the Athletic Director who has been blamed for many of the problems recently, is gone as of this afternoon.

The University bought out Frazier’s contract and basically kicked him to the curb. An interim director is in place until the Board of Regents can deal with the situation.

This lady wanted to be sure I got a picture of her sign so I want to be sure and include it. I too heard this statement from Colt Brennan.

Next step? A new coach. Bobby Curren, of 1420 ESPN Radio fame, called in to the afternoon show and said how the choice of Greg McMackin for head coach would be a good one. Greg McMackin is a defensive coach and he’s also an author. He has written a book called, “Coaching the Defensive Backfield.” He’s familiar with the program, familiar with the players, he’s experienced. Sounds good to me!

Whatever the case, we’ll get through it because we’ll stick together. It’s ohana time, Hawaii! Let’s support the team because now is when they need it most!

The morning news this morning showed clips of the University of Hawaii Band during the half-time show yesterday. When I heard what they were playing (Over the Rainbow) I almost lost it! I’ll wager that there isn’t one Warrior fan out there that has not wanted to cry, or at least been a little depressed for a while. I felt it very strongly yesterday and I continue to struggle with it today.

Apart from all the drama I’m very proud of our team! They did everything they needed to do, and then some, to get themselves to a BCS game! OMG! That alone is enough to write about. They did it! They were there!

Part of the beauty of the whole thing was that the poor, beleaguered city of New Orleans, that so needed a shot in the arm, got a good shot from Hawaii residents! I know some of those residents may be feeling down about the outlay of cash, but we showed out support for our team and helped another tourist destination in the process!

If there is one thing that needs correcting, it is not the team or their coach. Why do I say such things? Well, let’s see…

June Jones is going to sign his new contract soon, right? What do you mean there is no contract?!? What are you talking about?!?

Talk about being conspicuous by its absence!

Colt got into a little bit of injury trouble yesterday but it worked almost like a passing of the baton to Tyler Graunke who stepped in as he has done a few times this past season. Tyler has himself one hard act to follow but he has already shown himself capable and I’m sure fans can’t wait to see how far the team can go next year!

I was reading an article about the game on the sports page at Yahoo! and I noticed something in the right-hand margin. There was a link to this picture and when I saw it I was kind of at a loss for words and almost lost it again.

Here they are — our Ambassadors of Aloha spreading the aloha spirit across the nation.  This team’s spirit is infectious! It’s not just Colt, look at all the white jerseys sharing a moment in prayer with their opponents after the game was over.

This is what it’s really all about! Yes, “dreams really do come true” somewhere over the rainbow, all you have to do is “BELIEVE!”

These last few days before January 1, 2008 are worse than waiting for Christmas! I’m not the girly-girl type so nail biting is no big surprise but this Sugar Bowl anticipation stuff is driving me crazy!

At least the University of Hawaii Athletics Department was kind enough to set up a space for Ryan Grice-Mullen to keep us posted, blogger style, of the team’s activities while they’re in New Orleans. My only gripe is that there is no place for us to leave comments or ask questions. Of course we do need to realize that if there was a place to comment, etc., there would be so many comments that Ryan would never make  it to practice!

I “borrowed” this picture from that same UH website — thanks guys.    I can only hope that whoever is manning the website over at the University will let us know that they did receive a track back or something so they know we’re reading it!

HEY RYAN… WE’RE READING IT!!!!!!!!!!

I did receive a phone call from the UH Alumni Association yesterday. They were looking for alumni to renew their memberships and show our solidarity. Of course having the phone call come in from California didn’t help their case, but I fell for it anyway.

I know that as I’m typing this, more and more Hawaii residents are disembarking aircraft and heading for hotels. The excitement has got to be huge over there! It is here too! I think I’m going to have a cup of tea… with a lot of SUGAR! Thank you to New Orleans for hosting this event and I hope they get a nice boost to their economy because of it!

Don’t forget about us back home you guys! We’re excited and ready to scream and holler loud enough for you to hear us all the way over in the “Big Easy!” Stay safe, stay strong! GO WARRIORS!

February 18, 2008! I’m excited! I love this event! I talked about the 2007 Great Aloha Run at the beginning of the year. My biggest problem is that I now compare every other running event to this one. That’s very unfair for me to do because the others pale in comparison.

I’ve already signed up. If you have n0t signed up yet and you want to participate, you’ve still got time to sign up — either online or by printing out the form and mailing it in. If you forget, you can always sign up at the Expo that will be at Neal Blaisdell Center on February 15th, 16th and 17th!

Active.com sends great emails if you sign up for them. They sent one recently with this neat little advertisement for personal reflectors, pouches to tie to your shoes, ID bracelets and all kinds of useful things. I have my eye on three of the items they have.

I thought about it and these would be great for anyone exercising in the evening or in the rain.

They’re good for runners and bicyclists as well! For the record, I checked with HPD and it’s okay to wear those little blue lights, as long as it’s not on your motor vehicle!

There’s nothing more heart warming than this wonderful scene. The morning sky is lighting up, we’re singing the Star Spangled Banner and the Honolulu Fire Boat is sending a watery salute to the participants of this much-anticipated, annual event. It’s all about the aloha!

FEES AND DEADLINES:

• Early Entry with Training T-shirt $35 until 12/2
• Regular Entry $35 until 1/19 then $40 until 2/2
• Register at GAR Expo, Feb. 15 – 17, NBC Exhibition Hall $45, Cash Only
• Keiki (5-12 yrs)/Seniors Entry $25
• Child under 5 yrs in Stroller Entry $5

Run, walk, it doesn’t matter! This is a community event like no other. (Okay, okay, I’ll give up that position to the UH Warriors, but aside from that…) Not into running or walking but still want to get involved? They’re looking for volunteers!

Come on you guys! It’ll be fun! Community participation was high last year and I’m sure it will be again!

The annual Honolulu Marathon is a huge attraction. The 35th annual was not exception. People came over from Japan, Ethiopia, Russia and all over the World to participate in this race. We even had a Danish prince! Some runners participate to see how well they do against the clock. Others just want to say they did it!

There are a lot of people who just don’t understand why anyone would want to put themselves through such an ordeal. Still others wouldn’t miss it for anything!

It was raining early in the morning but it cleared up as the morning wore on. It was still overcast and void of our beloved trade winds, but it was still a beautiful morning. — hot and muggy but still beautiful. Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe not the winner of the coveted Heisman, but certainly the winner of the hearts of Honolulu and of the hearts all over the State of Hawaii! He had the stats, he has the talent, he is a senior, but, so be it. Being in third place got him there! He should have been there last year but that’s okay, he was there this year and he was part of the 73rd Annual Heisman Trophy competition.The good part? Since Colt is not coming home with the Heisman, that means he’s not going to be subjected to the Heisman curse! That means that the Warriors should come away victors from the Sugar Bowl! According to the other part of the curse, he should also have no trouble with the NFL draft. But then, we already knew that.

Okay, putting away my crystal ball and the urban legends, I just had a couple of quick thoughts that crossed my mind. Apparently someone called into the sports radio station 1420 this morning and suggested that the University of Hawaii Athletic Department retire his number. Good idea! I like that idea! I’m sure Colt will go in the first round of the NFL draft! I will follow his career as I’m sure many other Hawaii residents will as well.

University of Hawaii’s Athletic Department has certainly put Hawaii on the collegiate map many times in the past. We have enjoyed the winning seasons of the Wahine Volleyball team and the Rainbow Basketball team, but, this year, the Warrior Football team has gone above and beyond to bring home some much-needed financial support for the University.

Thanks you guys!  Looking forward to the Sugar Bowl!