Considering this has become the Summer of Suspension on the sports scene, it’s time for a checklist of the latest ins and outs.
IN … Reggie Torres, the Kahuku varsity football coach who punished the entire team for the misdeeds of a few players. That’s one way you make a team bond, (and/or hate you). But it’s also how you get in trouble when parents whine to the school about it, there are people who already want you out, and … most of all … it turns out you neglected to let the administration know there was law-breaking involved. What we had here is a failure to communicate. Still, 33 days’ suspension seems way harsh.
OUT … Walter Santiago, who was the interim head coach and led No. 1 Kahuku to wins in its first three games. Not all the way out, though; Santiago will continue as the Red Raiders offensive coordinator.
IN … George Daily-Lyles and Allen Sampson, the replacements at linebacker and receiver for two starters suspended from the University of Hawaii football team for Saturday’s season-opening game against Colorado. The Warriors didn’t want to test their depth this early or for this reason, but at least Daily-Lyles and Sampson have practiced nearly as much or more than the guys they’re replacing.
OUT … Aaron Brown and Darius Bright. The suspended Warriors hurt their team in a couple of ways. Obviously, since they’re starters, they’re judged by the coaches as players giving UH the best chance to win. Also, getting "distracted" is what visiting players to Hawaii are supposed to do. Now, unless some of the guys from Boulder are extreme rockheads who don’t learn from the mistakes of others, the allure of Waikiki as part of homefield advantage for UH is totally negated.
IN … limbo, still, for no good reason, UH head basketball coach Gib Arnold. If the silly complaints from a scorned benchie had any merit, shouldn’t Arnold have been suspended instead of entrusted with the team on a two-week trip to Asia while he’s being "investigated?" That should give an idea right there of the frivolous nature of the allegations. Would it have been wiser for the school to say, "Go ahead, take us to court," than to pay an outside law firm to discover the shocking revelation that the coach sometimes yells at his players?
OUT … Walter Roese, the UH basketball team’s associate coach — and with him, the team’s South American recruiting connection. I guess it’s also tchau to that team goodwill trip to Rio.
IN … Amnesty for thrice-arrested Titans receiver Kenny Britt. Three strikes and you’re in, as long as it was during the NFL lockout, apparently.
OUT … Five-game suspension to gear-for-tats-trading Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Same as he was levied at Ohio State and would have had to serve this fall if he’d stayed in college.
Someone needs to tell NFL commissioner/lord of discipline Roger Goodell that his decisions on the Britt and Pryor cases don’t add up when you put them next to each other. If that’s what passes for sensical discipline at the highest level of sports, it almost makes Kahuku’s monthlong suspension of its coach seem logical.
Almost, but not quite.
