There’s a very rich guy out there who likes sports who will be even richer now after the agreed sale Thursday of the Los Angeles Clippers.

When I pose the wildly hypothetical question of Donald Sterling as University of Hawaii sports financial savior, UH athletic director Ben Jay laughs and replies with the proper two-letter answer: "No."

Nice to know UH’s desperation for funding isn’t to the point of even remotely contemplating dancing with the devil.

And, anyway, we can take care of our own problems, right? What’s a few million dollars among friends … heck, make that family?

If you listen to some folks, dealing with the athletic department’s annual deficit is no problem. Just tax everybody in Hawaii an additional $10 a year and fork it over to UH so it can continue to overpay underachieving coaches and award facilities contracts to deadline blowers and cost over-runners.

Really? That’s almost as ridiculous and morally bankrupt as it would be to court Sterling. 

UH athletics is already subsidized by the taxpayers. This year, according to Jay, $6.4 million of UH sports’ $29.8 million funding comes directly from the university — which means in turn from you and me, as well as from people who don’t care about UH sports but also pay state taxes.

So, even if you make the argument that financially sound and successful Division I UH sports teams are a benefit to everyone in the state, you can’t say the non-fans are leeches. They are still contributing, in many cases against their will.

It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re selfish; it just means that instead of paying for other people’s sports entertainment they’d rather their taxes go to things like pre-school education or better roads or social services.

To try to force these people to pay an additional, specific tax for UH sports is unfair and ludicrous.

A caller to Bobby Curran’s radio show the other day mentioned a "referendum." Take it to the people, have them vote on if they want to subsidize UH sports some more through their taxes.

That’s not really a new idea, and everyone from politicians to media pundits to administrators have said the same thing for years: We need to find out how important the Rainbow Warriors and Wahine really are to the community.

But no one in power has taken the step to put it up for a vote because no one wants to be that guy who asks the question with no politically profitable answer: "Yes" means you make enemies of a solid minority who is forced to put more of their taxes into college sports when there are other serious problems to address. "No" means congratulations, you asked the question that further crippled or killed UH sports.

This is the part where I’m supposed to come up with a solution, right? Easy, just quadruple the student activity fee. Those lazy, ungrateful, partiers can afford it. If they don’t want to pay it they can take a hike.

The sad thing is there are those out there nodding their heads right now and taking that seriously.

If I come up with a real answer, I’ll let you know. You do the same, and good luck to all of us.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.