My first column four weeks ago perhaps provided evidence of why I’m an editor first and a writer … well, second at best.
I asked readers to write in with any questions about “how we put our section together” and “why we make some of the decisions we make.” (Yes, I’m quoting myself. Is that like speaking in the third person? I guess at least I didn’t write “Sjarif asked readers to write in …”)
Well, what I had in mind was decisions like:
>> What goes on the cover of the sports section (as opposed to inside);
>> How we decide which agate to run (agate is the small print, as found in Scoreboard or box scores);
>> How we select photos or write headlines even;
>> What do those abbreviations in the betting lines mean? (we get that one a couple of times a year).
What I got was suggestions of topics we need to pay more attention to or situations that readers want us to keep an eye on, such as the building of Aloha Stadium, the seemingly endless lives of Rainbow Warrior baseball coach Mike Trapasso and the exodus from the UH men’s basketball team.
That might not be what I was aiming for, but I appreciate any feedback, so I’m chalking this up as an accidental win. For once, lack of clarity in my writing resulted in a positive, I guess. But I also want to emphasize that I am open to questions such as those I listed above. As always, my email address is at the end of the column. Keep the feedback comin’!
Now, about those three topics readers wanted given attention:
Aloha Stadium
Readers asked me to make sure we keep an eye on this project, which some fear will go the way of the rail project — a good idea (well, to some) that has been bungled at one turn after another and turned into a race between its budget and its timeline for which it will go over the furthest.
This is the state’s biggest sports-related public works project since the Stan Sheriff Center opened more than 25 years ago, so rest assured that between Stephen Tsai, Dave Reardon and business reporter Andrew Gomes we will stay on top of it.
Mike Trapasso
Before we could write any more on whether Trapasso should or would get fired … he was.
Following in the footsteps of a legend like Les Murakami is supposed to be tough, but Trapasso managed to stick around for 20 seasons despite never coming close to the heights the guy the stadium is named after took the program to. So while success may have been hard for him to come by, longevity wasn’t.
It seemed like we heard fans asking when Trapasso will be fired for a dozen years before it finally took. I think three things helped keep him in the home dugout at the Les for two decades: Kolten Wong, his graduation rate and money. With the department running at a deficit for years now, it hasn’t been in the position to pay off yet another coach — Greg McMackin, Norm Chow, Gib Arnold … — not to coach.
Trap’s replacement, Rich Hill from the University of San Diego, is sure to excite the fanbase (new coaches almost always do), but as with recruits time will tell if he can live up to the press releases and testimonials. He’ll have his work cut out for him in the competitive Big West, as Trapasso could tell him. The ’Bows won the WAC in Trapasso’s 10th season at UH but never finished above .500 or higher than 4th in the Big West.
UH basketball
If you follow just Rainbow basketball rather than college basketball as a whole, it might be pretty alarming to see how many Hawaii players have left the men’s program in the three months since the season ended.
If you’ve lost track, Justin Webster (UNLV), James Jean-Marie (Portland State) and Kameron Ng (UH Hilo) have transferred; Justin Hemsley is in the NCAA transfer portal; Manel Ayol announced he would transfer and is now playing semi-pro ball in New Zealand; and Casdon Jardine and Biwali Bayles have gone pro.
That’s seven players leaving the program in one offseason. While it will leave a lot for Eran Ganot to work on before next season, a closer look might ease your mind when it comes to the idea that the program is a sinking ship being abandoned by so many.
Let’s start with those five players who entered the transfer portal. Heck, let’s start with those two words: “transfer portal.” With switching schools getting easier and easier, hundreds of men’s basketball players entered the portal this year, one of the requirements of changing schools. Hawaii got its share, but really no more than that.
Take, for instance the Pac-12, the conference with the most wins in the NCAA Tournament this year. Fifty-nine players at Pac-12 schools entered the portal, averaging almost exactly the five Hawaii had.
As for the two who went pro, Jardine came as a senior, and though he has another season of eligibility remaining, a one-year stay was always likely, if not expected. Bayles came from a country more than 5,000 miles away and had the opportunity to go home and turn pro. He landed with his hometown Sydney Kings. How many 19-year-olds would pass that up for an option where you have to keep your grades up?
The biggest local sports story of the past month, perhaps rivaled only by Trapasso’s firing, was Campbell graduate Jocelyn Alo bashing her way through the Women’s College World Series with Oklahoma.
Alo was the Star-Advertiser’s State Position Player of the Year her last two seasons of high school, but even that uncommon feat doesn’t reflect completely how rare a talent Alo was.
According to statistics listed with the Star-Advertiser 2017 All-State softball team, Alo hit .414 that season, with 46 walks to boost her on-base percentage to .773. Doing a little math tells me that she only had about 29 at-bats that season due to all those walks, meaning she homered once for every six at-bats and was walked in about 60% of her plate appearances.
Paul Honda wrote in the accompanying story that most of those walks were intentional, and it’s not hard to believe having seen even a couple of her games on TV. Opponents pitched around Alo as often as they could. I’d say the phenomenon was like watching Barry Bonds at his peak, but at Bonds’ peak, he was walked less than 40% of the time and had an OBP of .609, so it was really more like Barry Bonds on steroids. (Or would that be “Barry Bonds on steroids” on steroids? Hey, nothing was ever proven.)
A few other Hawaii high schoolers who took their talents to mainland colleges will be among those in the spotlight in the coming month as Erik and Kawika Shoji and Micah Christensen represent the U.S. at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics. The trio will be among more than a dozen athletes with Hawaii ties who will compete at these games, the highest-profile ones along with surfers Carissa Moore and John John Florence.
July is usually a dead zone for sports, with just baseball playing meaningful games among the major leagues. But this year we also get the NBA Finals (and Draft) and the Olympics. For once we have a lot to look forward to watching in July. Just when the state is opening up we have more reason to stay home and watch TV.
