Aloha Stadium still brings nightmares

Oakland Raiders fullback Marcel Reece has been in the league four years and made two Pro Bowls.

Even now, more than six years later, he still remembers vividly the single play that motivates him to this day.

"It was the last play of my college career and I had a chance to put Hawaii out of the BCS (bowl game)," said Reece, who played receiver at the University of Washington. "I caught the ball and then kicked it out of my own hands."

Reece was a senior on the Huskies’ 2007 team that finished 4-9 after losing to Hawaii at Aloha Stadium to end the year.

After the Huskies fell behind 35-28 with 44 seconds left, Reece caught a 49-yard pass to move the ball to the UH 4-yard line.

Quarterback Jake Locker attempted a pass to Reece in the end zone with three seconds left that he grabbed with both hands. But as he fought to bring the ball into his body, he accidentally kicked it with his own foot and it wound up in the hands of UH cornerback Ryan Mouton for the game-clinching interception, sending the Warriors to the 2008 Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

Reece will play at Aloha Stadium on Sunday for the second time since, but he still cringes every time he thinks about that game.

"It was a horrific time, man," he said. "I’m never going to forget it, forever. It still drives me to this day."

Gordon believes in Bess

As a teammate of Davone Bess, Cleveland’s Josh Gordon is confident the former University of Hawaii receiver will find his way through his recent troubles.

Bess was arrested last week on a charge of assaulting an officer while reportedly behaving erratically in a Florida airport. He was later released. The Miami Herald also reported that he’d been hospitalized last March before the Dolphins traded him to Cleveland.

"Davone’s my guy. He’s a real good guy, family man. He’s going to be just fine, I don’t doubt that at all," Gordon said. "It’s just unfortunate what’s going on right now and he’ll get through it."

Gordon said he exchanged text messages with Bess recently "and he said he’s all right."

Gordon earned his first Pro Bowl berth as one of the breakout stars of the season. Gordon led the league with 1,646 yards receiving despite not playing the first two games of the season.

"I was real hungry and just wanted to go out there and prove myself," said Gordon, who will play for Team Rice on Sunday. "(Sitting out) definitely gave me a lot of motivation. It fueled my fire every week to play as hard as I can. I had a huge chip on my shoulder."

Browns fired up for new coach

While Gordon and five Browns teammates relax in Hawaii, they also kept track of developments back in Cleveland, where the team announced the hiring of Mike Pettine as head coach on Thursday.

Pettine served as defensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills this season, and cornerback Joe Haden went to a Pro Bowl teammate for a scouting report.

"I was talking to (Bills safety) Jairus Byrd and he was saying how much they like him and how he brings fire to the team," Haden said. "I think we’ve got a young team that needs a fiery head coach."

Although it took a while for the Browns to fill the vacancy after firing Rob Chudzinski following a 4-12 season, Haden for one wasn’t overly concerned about the process.

"I think everybody was making a bigger deal out of it than it was. I wanted to take the time and really bring in the right guy," Haden said. "For players, you can’t really get too involved in that. You can’t control it, there’s no point in getting too into it.

"We’re going to let management handle that and at OTAs and training camp I’ll be ready."