Three random thoughts:
1. We all make maybe-sometime offers:
“If you ever need anything, let me know …”
“We should get together for lunch …”
A few weeks ago, what appeared to be a well-meaning suggestion was made during a Senate Ways and Means Committee meeting with University of Hawaii officials. It is widely known UH athletics has a facility problem that was triggered with the decision to close Aloha Stadium to spectator-attended events and force UH to expand the on-campus Ching Complex for football games.
The track and field team, which was displaced because of the Ching retrofitting, has been forced to practice at high schools until a new soccer-track complex is built on what used to be grass practice fields for the football and soccer teams. The Rainbow Wahine soccer team also will have to practice at high schools next season. The football team, which completed spring training on Sunday, no longer has use of a grass practice field.
During the meeting, Sen. Kurt Fevella essentially suggested if UH’s footprint in Manoa is too small, why not take advantage of the unused land surrounding the UH West Oahu campus? The University Makai Lands in Kapolei consist of about 500 acres — roughly 300 acres designated as UH West Oahu Campus Lands and 200 acres as University District Lands for private development. The UH West Oahu campus occupies about 40 acres.
It appears to be an impractical suggestion for UH teams to practice 24 miles from the Manoa campus. Then again, if there is available space and lawmakers would be willing to pay for projects, UH probably could find ways to use the land.
A small stadium could be built as an option for the Hawaii Bowl, Polynesian Bowl and state tournament games. Maybe a gym? And, for sure, it would fulfill UH’s need for more faculty housing to attract professors, researchers and, yes, coaches. But the apartments and houses should not be limited to within a couple of miles of the Manoa campus.
Sometimes people respond: “Remember when you said I could call you if I needed something …”
2. In the next two weeks, the Mountain West will release the 2024 football schedule. The expectation is the Rainbow Warriors officially will swap out Oregon for Delaware State for the Aug. 24 opener.
With two FCS teams — Delaware State and Northern Iowa — on the 12-game schedule, the Warriors will likely need to win at least seven games to be bowl eligible. “Likely” because UH could be eligible at 6-6 if one of those losses is to one of those FCS teams. But 6-6 with wins over both would not be good enough, because an FBS team can count only one FCS opponent each year toward bowl eligibility.
An NCAA exemption allows UH to play up to 13 regular-season games each year. In the past 20 years, the Warriors did not use the exemption five times. Most memorable was the 12-0 regular season in 2007 that earned the Warriors a berth in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. But they also went 5-7 in 2005, 3-9 in 2012, 1-11 in 2013 and 3-9 in 2017.
With the 15,300-seating capacity at Ching, there is only a moderate revenue difference between playing host to an FCS and power-conference school. But not playing 13 games might jeopardize the exemption.
Sunday’s spring game also showed the Warriors’ depth and talent. Holding spring training through February gives the Warriors a chance to be stronger and healthier for the start of the 2024 season. It is a shame a potentially entertaining team will not be allowed to play the maximum number of regular-season games.
3. UH baseball fans might get restless with long games (average 4 hours, 21 minutes in two Friday games this season), but they can get grouchy with abbreviated games.
There were people in the beer line at the end of the Feb. 18 doubleheader against Ole Miss. They apparently were not aware both games were scheduled for seven innings.
Then on Sunday, booing could be heard when the game was stopped after eight innings because of visiting North Carolina State’s travel plans. The ’Bows had scored two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to close to 10-8.
During the pregame rules meeting, it was decided no inning should start after 4 p.m. because of the Wolfpack’s 7 p.m. flight. With a 1:05 p.m. scheduled start, that allowed a window of 2 hours, 55 minutes. The ’Bows were averaging 3 hours, 32 minutes for a nine-inning game.
Although it was intriguing to watch UH and N.C. State play at different tempos, even with pitch clocks, baseball is a sport that is best at its own pace.
