The state of Hawaii is no stranger to television actors, movie stars and talented musicians who come and go from the island chain on a regular basis. But never has the 50th star on the American flag played host to the marquee program in all the world of sports until late Saturday afternoon.
If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes few would have believed the Dallas Cowboys came all the way out here with owner Jerry Jones in tow to play a National Football League exhibition game with the Los Angeles Rams. When they exited the tunnel to take the field before a sellout crowd at Aloha Stadium the roar that went up echoed all the way to Manoa. It was that loud.
What fans saw was a raw feed of two teams fielding a variety of players trying to realize the dream of making it in the NFL. Granted, it wasn’t always pretty as the 29 penalties assessed during the game will attest. But what was also on display were a lot of hard hits, teaching moments and a glimpse at the future.
As ragged as the game was, it was still done in three hours, had more talent between the sidelines than any collegiate game will offer this year and gave fans a reminder of what professional football can be like — entertaining. How else can you explain so many people still around at the end? And there were at least 30,000 or so who saw Dallas take a knee to preserve the 14-10 win over the runners-up in the Super Bowl last year.
Most of those Rams stayed home in California resting up for the season opener next month. But the understudies who donned the uniform came to play and hopefully make a big enough impression on the coaches to avoid getting that knock on the door or call on the phone that Coach wants to see you. And, oh by the way, bring your playbook.
Game 3 of the exhibition season this week usually is one where the starters play at least a half. Don’t expect that kind of participation from these two teams as they recover from the long, quick trip to Hawaii. Over the next couple of weeks, both teams will cut 30 players or so before settling on a 53-man roster for Game 1 of the regular season.
By all accounts, this matchup held Saturday was a roaring success. Jones held court in the end zone after the game and talked about how his team was fired up by the reception it got as the Cowboys stepped out onto the sunny side of the stadium.
On the shady side of the street, the Rams were equally pleased with how things went, clearing the way for perhaps another exhibition game somewhere down the road.
As for now, UH football fans are preparing for Saturday’s season opener with the University of Arizona. And while no one is expecting people to be hanging from the rafters as they were this weekend for Dallas and Los Angeles, it would be good to get at least 30,000 in the house this Saturday to support the Division I programs.
The Wildcats of the Pac-12 are not bereft of talent. Neither are the Rainbow Warriors of the Mountain West, giving local football fans their own glimpse of things to come. Hawaii has a difficult schedule this year, no one will argue that. But if Saturday’s crowd helped give the Cowboys a lift onto their horse, imagine how far over the rainbow it could mean for the hometown team.
