By Dave Reardon Normally, a team playing for a third or fourth consecutive day is put in the position of using inexperienced or mediocre pitchers, or risking the health of aces going on short rest (this can be dangerous even with the rule limiting the number of outs pitched allowed).
By Dave Reardon There's the calendar year and the fiscal year. Then there's the sports year. Because of the dearth of pro teams here, the end of the sports year coincides with that of the academic calendar, and that's right about now.
By Dave Reardon No one really expected throngs of crazed University of Hawaii football fans to show up on a sunny Saturday morning in June for the chance to be in a TV commercial to help sell tickets for the 2013 season.
By Dave Reardon There are — surprise — money and state approval issues. Funding was allocated for permanent towers from which to shoot University of Hawaii football practice video. It was seemingly near the front of a long line. But it lost its place.
By Dave Reardon At first glance — and for many, an indefinite number of looks — this is a real head-scratcher. The University of Hawaii baseball team went 16-35 in the just-completed season, so a shakeup of the coaching staff was in order.
By Dave Reardon No one wanted to admit it, but it really was wait 'til next year 10 games into it, with zero wins and three front-line pitchers shelved. To the University of Hawaii baseball team's credit, its effort didn't reflect that.
By Dave Reardon His first visit to Aloha Stadium was as a Santa Clara tight end in 1975, a few weeks after the facility opened. “Kaipo Spencer was our quarterback,” Doug Cosbie recalled. Hawaii beat the Broncos in a 48-40 shootout.
By Dave Reardon Jerome Williams has no reason to be in awe of all the big-name, high-priced players around him in the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse. After all, 10 years ago when he broke into the majors his locker was next to that of Barry Bonds.
By Dave Reardon When the USC football team comes to play against the University of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium in August, several thousand Trojans fans will accompany it.
By Dave Reardon When the Wahine contributed so mightily to UH's run to the College World Series in 2010 as freshmen, the possibilities seemed endless for a team that would have Kelly Majam, Jessica Iwata and Kaia Parnaby around for three more years.
By Dave Reardon As our ohana celebrates a milestone birthday today of my aunt and godmother Sandra Lee, much of the conversation will be about and include her grandchildren (she has quite a few), in particular Kanoa Hironaka and Taylor Suwa since they just competed in state championships last week.
By Dave Reardon So the UH athletic department no longer owes $13M to upper campus. Balanced budget, the easy way. Some look at it as a family member forgiving a loan. Some look at it as a charge-off of a bad debt. Some look at it as $13M of public money being taken from UH's academic mission.
By Dave Reardon Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay will be at Pearl Ridge Elementary on Thursday. So show up with your signs and your petition and your speeches, fans of the nickname Warriors, all by its lonesome.
By Dave Reardon Crunch a few numbers and you may be in for a surprise. University of Hawaii sports teams won more games than they lost in 2012-13. And even if the UH baseball and softball squads lose everything the rest of the way, this year is a winning one overall for the UH athletic department on the playing fields.
By Dave Reardon One of the paths to a good outlook on life is to try to do something different every day, something you never thought you'd experience. For me on Saturday, that meant watching a water polo match on the Internet.
By Dave Reardon Anthony Carter and Alika Smith established themselves as the most recognizable tandem in the history of University of Hawaii sports. Now, 15 years after, there's another UH athletic pairing in a different sport putting the finishing touches on careers even more impressive.
By Dave Reardon If you're encountering difficulties figuring out where Tom Apple is coming from, look at where he came from. That would be the University of Delaware, home of the Blue Hens … the Blue Hens who play a level below the University of Hawaii, in the Football Championship Subdivision.
By Dave Reardon After today we’re done with the silliest debate in the history of college sports, right? If not, somebody please stick pencils into my eyeballs to take my mind off it.
By Dave Reardon All it takes is a few keyboard clicks to find disgruntled and mostly anonymous folks who want University of Hawaii coaches and administrators ousted for a variety of reasons.
By Dave Reardon They keep coming. You might wonder why, since the University of Hawaii baseball team is now 9-29 after its 3-0 loss to Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.
By Dave Reardon Instead of leaving school after his junior season, Davone Bess could have returned to the University of Hawaii football team and left with every program pass receiving record and a diploma. And the NFL would still be there waiting for him.
By Dave Reardon Everybody relax. Manti Te’o will play in the NFL, might even be a star. It is extremely likely he will be picked by a team today. The fact that he wasn’t drafted in the first round Thursday just means he now has more wood for the fire.
By Dave Reardon In the early going Sunday, I thought the University of Hawaii baseball team had found another way to lose. But in the final analysis, it wasn't just the poor baserunning that did in the Rainbows in their 10-5 defeat. It was also running out of pitching.
By Dave Reardon What transpired Saturday at Ko Olina is why we watch sports. Drama, straight out of nowhere. The youngster taking on the established veteran. The up-and-comer breaking through and making the 10-time winner sweat, forcing a playoff.
By Dave Reardon Michelle Wie checked out of her hotel room but she didn't check out mentally from the tournament, and that helped her to a solid round of 3-under par on Friday.
By Dave Reardon She’s not here for the golf. Doesn’t play it, doesn’t really watch it much.
By Dave Reardon The LPGA prides itself on accessibility. It's a big part of the brand. "All you've got is a rope, about three inches between players and fans," said Kraig Kann, the tour's chief communications officer.
By Dave Reardon It's tempting to dismiss "42" as sentimental rehash dished up a few decades too late. But the story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier nearly 70 years ago remains relevant today and should be retold to every generation.
By Dave Reardon There were a few telling numbers from the University of Hawaii's full-pads scrimmage at Cooke Field on Saturday. Norm Chow's supposedly archaic 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-rust offense employed 29 pass plays and 22 runs, for 57 percent.
By Dave Reardon Leading up to today's release of "42," a film about Jackie Robinson, there's been a lot of talk about the decline in the number of African-Americans playing baseball.
By Dave Reardon A one-time enemy of thestate on the football field now tries to defend Hawaii — and the rest of the country and its allies — with the stakes much higher.
By Dave Reardon The bingo promotion in the stands produced more drama than the mismatches on the field. The University of Hawaii softball team hit twice as many home runs in its first inning Saturday as the baseball team has in 27 games.
By Dave Reardon The off-the-field college sports news is crazier than usual this week, and that's saying something.
By Dave Reardon "I love living here and being part of the culture," said Ben Jay, Tuesday night on 1420-AM's "Call The Coach" show. "I'm learning about it every day."
By Dave Reardon On Opening Day for the big leagues, the University of Hawaii played a baseball game that you could consider extended spring training — in the middle of the season.
By Dave Reardon He's never feared the unconventional path — whether it be the long way to the end zone on punt returns at the University of Hawaii, or carving a trail to pro football stardom in Canada rather than taking another shot at the NFL.
By Dave Reardon UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii battled for three hours and two minutes in the rain Thursday, and the Gauchos were one run better, 7-6, than the Rainbows in UH's first Big West game as a conference member.
By Dave Reardon Mike Trapasso said it was part planned and part unstaged. It seemed more spontaneous, as in combustion. "It was worse in the locker room," Hawaii's baseball coach said of his postgame explosion that started in the dugout after the Rainbows fell to Gonzaga on March 11.
By Dave Reardon CIT and APR. One three-letter acronym is already a source of some acrimony for the University of Hawaii basketball program. The second could be much more troubling.
By Dave Reardon OK, so who's going to pay for this? Only 3,544 tickets were issued for the glorified rec league tournament game the University of Hawaii basketball team played in Wednesday. We were told UH would have to get 6,500 to break even. Obviously, it didn't come close.
By Dave Reardon Spring football practice is about working hard to get better, especially when you're coming off a 3-9 season, as is Hawaii. That doesn't mean there isn't time for sideline observers to ponder things like who should be first off the bus.
By Dave Reardon Perhaps you are familiar with one of the cataclysmic college athletics issues of our time: The Great Bagel Debate. In 2008, the NCAA voted to let its member schools provide student-athletes with "fruits, nuts and bagels" at any time, not just during training table hours.
By Dave Reardon Before Marshall Henderson of Ole Miss became the most fascinating and hated basketball player in the SEC, Hawaii fans got an eyeful — and earful — of the Rebel without a pause at the Stan Sheriff Center last December.
By Dave Reardon Around 700 fans filled the stands for Thursday’s 1-0 University of Hawaii softball loss to Cal in the rematch of the dramatic UH win a year ago today, when Jessica Iwata homered to beat the then-No. 1 Bears.
By Dave Reardon This is when any college basketball team that gets hot and makes some 3-pointers has a chance to survive and advance, at least for a while.
By Dave Reardon Cutting down the net, after winning on senior night? Well, as University of Hawaii TV voice Jim Leahey said, "Why not?" It worked out OK for the Indiana men, and they did it after a loss.
By Dave Reardon One night recently toward the end of a typical 15-hour work day, Ben Jay strolled around the soccer practice field at the University of Hawaii. "As I did that, more and more it became clear to me we could turn that field into a field suitable for (intercollegiate) competition.
By Dave Reardon Joe Moore and I told him it's a good idea, if he had a time machine. "I told him he's 10 years too late," said Moore, the KHON-TV2 anchor who skirmished with June Jones over Rainbows and Warriors.
By Dave Reardon If you've been hearing about Cal Lee's new job, it's probably speculation he's going to be a high school head football coach again.
By Dave Reardon Maybe upsets just don't mean as much anymore. Maybe the relevance of this one has faded over the decades. Maybe the window has closed, and Chaminade's knocking off of No. 1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson 30 years ago just doesn't mean as much as we thought it would.
By Dave Reardon Gib Arnold calls it "beautiful" and says, "That's the kind of problem I want to have." The University of Hawaii basketball coach has been on both sides of court stormings, back when he was an assistant at USC. Big win at home, big loss on the road. Fans rush the court.
By Dave Reardon As Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara traded the lead nine times in the first half alone Thursday, at least one court-side observer at the Stan Sheriff Center was all smiles. Dennis Farrell, the commissioner of the Big West, attended UH's narrow 70-66 home win.
By Dave Reardon It was the greatest season in University of Hawaii softball history, and to that point 2010 was the most eventful year in Kelly Majam's life. UH went to the College World Series, with Majam, the team's star freshman centerfielder, breaking home run records and receiving national acclaim.
By Dave Reardon Few — if anyone — expected the University of Hawaii baseball team to have a winning record seven games into this season, not with the first two series being against nationally ranked Oregon and Rice.
By Dave Reardon The University of Hawaii somehow turned a basketball game against Northern Arizona into an event. A great one. I figured UH would win handily, which it did, 84-50. But I wasn't expecting much as far as a crowd and atmosphere.
By Dave Reardon Wayne Graham turns 77 in two months. The only retiring he looks forward to is his Rice pitchers sending opposing batters directly back to the dugout.
By Dave Reardon Back when Maryknoll won its first and only — so far — state boys Division I basketball championship, the players had the best suntans in the country. That's what happens when you don't have a gym and practice outside.
By Dave Reardon Baseball people know you don't panic at 0-3. Especially when the losses are against a team as good as Oregon. Yes, this could be a long season for the University of Hawaii … especially if the Rainbows had to play the Ducks every game. Fortunately they don't — just once more, today.
By Dave Reardon What's the shelf life for buzz? It held up nine months for Quintin Torres-Costa. It was last May when he pitched one of the most spectacular games in Hawaii state high school tournament history.
By Dave Reardon With the official end of the Rainbow, a new round of complaints ensued. That was expected. Negative feedback would have arisen from whatever athletic director Ben Jay decided regarding University of Hawaii team nicknames.
By Dave Reardon One of the things Norm Chow talked about when he became University of Hawaii head football coach 14 months ago was paving a path for UH players to the NFL.
By Dave Reardon Saturday Night Fever at the Sheriff Center on disco night against UC Irvine was far less flashy than blitzing Long Beach State two nights earlier. But this 78-72 win for UH's fifth-straight victory possessed a charm of its own because of its textbook nature.
By Dave Reardon When you see something really cool you want to share it with friends, right? The first one of these for me in 2013 is tonight, at the Stan Sheriff Center, when the University of Hawaii men's basketball team hosts UC Irvine.
By Dave Reardon Looks good ... on paper. That’s one of the few conclusions we can really make today about the University of Hawaii’s football recruiting class.
By Dave Reardon Ma'ake Kemoeatu figured he was done. He'd had a good eight-season run in the NFL, but now he could barely jog.
That was one year ago.
By Dave Reardon BY-Who? Oh, that's the school on the North Shore, right? That's where some younger University of Hawaii football fans stand.
By Dave Reardon That first play from scrimmage on Sunday didn’t do much to inspire confidence in the future of the Pro Bowl, which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has had on double-not-so-secret probation since last year’s comedy of pretend football.
By Dave Reardon McGarrett and Danno The Next Generation appeared at the Ihilani Resort the other day for some taping.
By Dave Reardon If Merton Hanks were still an NFL player, those neon green kicks he wore to Pro Bowl practice Thursday might be flagged for unnecessary roughness on the eyes.
By Dave Reardon Aloha, NFL Pro Bowl players. Welcome to paradox, um, sorry, I mean paradise. Enjoy. It could be the last go-round for your all-star game if you don't knock each other's blocks off out there at Aloha Stadium on Sunday. Unlike all the other games, where you have to play nice-nice.
By Dave Reardon Reader interest remains high on this topic, so bear with me on one more Manti Te'o column before shifting into Pro Bowl gear.
By Dave Reardon A few Hawaii fans remaining gave Corey Hawkins sincere applause after he came out for interviews following his sublime performance for UC Davis in its 93-82 win over the Rainbow Warriors.
By Dave Reardon Manti Te’o was either extremely naive or incredibly manipulative.
By Dave Reardon

My favorite story leading up to the BCS national championship game wasn't about an Alabama or Notre Dame player or coach.

 Henley's future uncertain, but Masters will be part of it 

By Dave Reardon Maybe this was just a sizzling four days for him. Or maybe we got a close look at a golf superstar in the making. Russell Henley's unreal, record-breaking 24-under-par win at the Sony Open in Hawaii -- in his debut as a PGA Tour member, no less -- could signal either.

 Little wind and short rough make Waialae play easy 

By Dave Reardon Russell Henley peered out the window as darkness descended on the nearby beach. As has been the case most of the past three days, not one leaf on one tree stirred.

 Despite an off round, Carll always the consummate pro 

By Dave Reardon If golf were a different kind of sport, we'd look at Kevin Carll as owning the ultimate homefield advantage. Of all the 144 players in the field of the Sony Open in Hawaii, he is the one who knows the course at Waialae Country Club the best.

 Te’o and Irish could not give superior ’Bama a good fight 

By Dave Reardon MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. >> You might want to say luck ran out, but that notion disappeared as quickly as Eddie Lacy into the Notre Dame end zone the first time. And it never returned. This had nothing to do with the fickle nature of good fortune.

 Te'o has 'a great opportunity' 

By Dave Reardon They called it the Game of the Century even though the century was only about two-thirds over. We try not to do stuff like that these days, although it is tempting to dub tonight's BCS championship tussle the Game of the Millennium.

 For Schwenke, Notre Dame has been a positive ride 

By Dave Reardon You can get a can of Spam in South Bend, Ind., easily. It's just $2.89 for a 12-ounce can at Martin's Super Market. But as any college kid from Hawaii on the mainland will tell you, it tastes a lot better when that can of fatty, salty goodness is received in the mail from the islands.

 BCS matchup offers style that Howard hoped for 

By Dave Reardon Desmond Howard got his wish. Alabama vs. Notre Dame in the BCS national championship game. Certainly the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner would have preferred his Michigan Wolverines in the mix Monday at Sun Life Stadium.

 For Te’o, time off meant Irish had time to improve 

By Dave Reardon Where others see an interruption to momentum, Manti Te’o sees a chance to improve. Where others see building rust, Te’o sees building trust. More time to synergize the Notre Dame defense as it preps for Alabama.

 Toma takes center stage as the Irish touch down 

By Dave Reardon FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. » At 5 feet 9 and 185 pounds, Notre Dame receiver Robby Toma isn’t exactly your prototypical first-off-the-bus guy. And his stats this year are relatively modest: 24 catches for 252 yards — career highs, but not eye-popping. His one touchdown came on a running play.

 Te'o and a few others saved us from an awful sports year 

By Dave Reardon The events of Dec. 8 encapsulated the sports year in Hawaii as results were all disappointing for many in the 50th State. Even before the UH basketball team lost that evening for the third time in four games, 63-56 to Pepperdine, happenings on the continent were disheartening.

 Rainbows' freshman guards make case for starting roles 

By Dave Reardon We told you they'd be exciting ... in good ways and bad ways, and that's what the University of Hawaii basketball team displayed Saturday. The Rainbow Warriors escaped with a thrilling 74-71 win over Cal State Northridge in their Big West debut.

 DHC is starting to give Maui a run for its money 

By Dave Reardon Is Maui still no ka oi when it comes to college basketball tournaments in Hawaii?

 Hunt could be on fast track for football after college 

By Dave Reardon The offensive fireworks apparently missed the cutoff to Aloha Stadium. Thanks to the SMU defense for bringing at least some excitement to the Hawaii Bowl.

 Arizona has all the pieces; UH trying to fit its pieces 

By Dave Reardon It's not quite as big as Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas in the Rainbow Classic. But the Fab Five's coach from 20 years ago is here for a tasty matchup of his San Diego State Aztecs against flamboyant Arizona for Tuesday's championship final of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

 For the Rainbows, that's about as ugly as it can get 

By Dave Reardon Here's the good news for the University of Hawaii basketball team. The Warriors get to play a team they will probably beat today. And that's about it.

 Expect big things from Jay, but not overnight success 

By Dave Reardon Full-speed ahead. That's the vibe I got from Ben Jay when he was finally introduced as the University of Hawaii's new athletic director on Thursday.

 Jay's plane-ticket benefit is money poorly spent 

By Dave Reardon In this season of giving, the University of Hawaii is displaying its generosity.

 Big Christmas Eve turnout would be good for bowl future 

By Dave Reardon The magic number for the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl is 14,500. That's how many people are needed in the Aloha Stadium seats on Christmas Eve to guarantee its existence a year from now.

 Donovan recovers nicely after his dream eroded 

By Dave Reardon Jim Donovan's dream job as University of Hawaii athletic director turned into a $200K-a-year purgatory at the chancellor's office. All of us should be allowed to enjoy such a session in timeout at least once, no?

 'People's race' can build relationships 

By Dave Reardon The Honolulu Marathon calls itself the people's race, and with good reason. By number of entrants, it is the second-largest marathon in the country. And it's not elitist like Boston, where you can't get to the starting line without a strong qualifying time.

 Manziel's Heisman Moment trumped Manti's consistency 

By Dave Reardon To win the Heisman Trophy, it helps to play a great game at precisely the right time, against the right opponent. And that is what Johnny Manziel did. He accounted for 345 yards and passed for two touchdowns in Texas A&M's 29-24 victory over then-No. 1 and undefeated Alabama on Nov. 10.

 New AD knows what awaits, is eager for the challenge 

By Dave Reardon Can Ben Jay bring in the Benjamins? Or, more correctly, the thousands and the millions? Can anyone? The University of Hawaii's incoming athletic director knows that's the biggest challenge awaiting him in Manoa.

 The guy who saves lives became his own patient 

By Dave Reardon Marc Moriguchi pressed the button on the EKG machine, hoping for a different result. The readout was the same all three times. Acute myocardial infarction. In layman's terms: heart attack.

 Manti or Wedemeyer? Can’t lose with either one 

By Dave Reardon The idea for today, in conjunction with Billy Hull’s fine work in putting together the annual All-Hawaii Grown team, was to pick the greatest college football performers of all-time who played their high school football here in the islands.

 For UH and its seniors, going out with a win was the most important thing 

By Dave Reardon Last week it was Hawaii chanting U-S-A in the locker room. This week it was the opponents doing so during pregame. The University of South Alabama Jaguars' uniforms even resembled those UH wore last week in its tribute to the Wounded Warrior Project.

 Hyphen should trump commas for Heisman 

By Dave Reardon Is there time for one final flavor of the week in the Heisman Trophy voting? There likely is not, because many of the voters have made their decisions and some have already turned in their choices.