Quotes from 12/25

Expecting nearly half of the 72,003 people at the SuperDome to be Warrior fans, JJ said:
"I think there'll be close to 35,000 because of the mainland connections and everything else. It's really snowballing. I've noticed the past couple years that people have been coming from all over to watch us (at road games). At Utah, San Jose, Vegas. It gives transplanted local people a chance to enjoy and reconnect." (HSB)


About how he did a report on Keith AhSoon, Colt said:
"I did a report on Keith for an ethnic studies class about where he came from. He's a unique guy and it's amazing how well he's adapted. You feel like you could put him in the middle of New York and he'd survive." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Keith is the starting left tackle for UH, and Hawaii takes its 12-0 record into the Superdome on New Year's Day against favored Georgia. More than 20 times as many people as there were on the island he grew up on will fill the Superdome when AhSoon lines up as Brennan's No. 1 bodyguard. And millions more will watch on TV."

About the adjustments he's been having to make with all of the places they have been going, AhSoon said:
"Oh yeah, it's like a class, traveling and adjusting to new things. It's interesting how you see something on TV or in class, and all of a sudden you're there. Now we're going to be there at New Orleans and it's going to be crazy." (HSB)

HSB Note: "AhSoon's life has always been about adapting to new environments. Since he was a football prodigy, when he got to high school age he moved from Faleasao and lived with his aunt in Pago Pago. He starred at Tafuna High School in three sports, an agile, 6-foot-1 big man."

About AhSoon, Colt said:
"What's amazing is he's got an unreal arm. He could be a quarterback if you wanted a big 300-pound quarterback." (HSB)

About how former UH OL coach Mike Cavanaugh got him to pick UH over BYU and Utah, AhSoon said:
"After my junior year I went to their camps, and they sent me applications. But I never really paid attention. At the same time UH really came on. Cav's here, he's offering. Why not take it? It's closer to home." (HSB)

About how Samoa is more laid back than Hawaii, AhSoon said:
"People think Hawaii's relaxed. But it really isn't to me. It's always a step up where I have to adjust to how things are. When I moved from home to Pago Pago, a step up. There's rules, where it was real relaxed where I was. Then I moved to Hawaii, there's more rules you have to go by, then we go on the road to places like Las Vegas, and there's even more rules." (HSB)

AhSoon grew up in a place where:
"all there is is your house. We don't have a hospital. If you're sick, you fly over to Pago Pago to see a doctor. If you're sick at night, you just have to wait and go the next day. If there's no plane you have to take a boat, and it's about an 8-hour ride." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Usually, a 16-seat, 2-engine plane makes a run each day."

Asked about the length of the airstrip, AhSoon said:
"A football field." (HSB)

Asked if they had stores, AhSoon said:
"I wouldn't say a grocery store, more like a little canteen. You can get little things like sodas. Usually go to Pago Pago to shop, go over there, bring it back on the boat. That's how it is." (HSB)

HSB Note: "There are two elementary schools and one high school, with about 10 or 12 students in each grade level, AhSoon said. One year after he was already at Tafuna, the high school fielded a football team. It lasted one season. AhSoon's cousin, Shaun Nua, went the same route as he did, from Faleasao to Tafuna to college football (BYU). And now Nua is in the NFL, a defensive end on the Buffalo Bills' practice squad."

About his cousin who is now on the Bills' practice squad, AhSoon said:
"He's like my idol." (HSB)

About how they got to watch replays of games on TV, AhSoon said:
"if you're lucky a UH game."

About how life in Faleasao is centered aroudn the ocean and church, AhSoon said:
"They just fish, and send it to Pago Pago. And the church is very important, and Christmas is the biggest holiday, like it is in most places." (HSB)

About how people make incorrect assumptions of where he comes from, AhSoon said:
"They think Samoa is a whole different world. But everything you do here is the same, we just don't have as much. It's American Samoa, the same as here. We might not have as much material things, but we celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving. You're lucky if have turkey, but there's chickens everywhere. Shoot one and make it for Thanksgiving." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Keith and his mother, Leafa, don't get to spend many holidays together these days. She still sets up the artificial Christmas tree, the one they've had 15 years. But the AhSoons reunite for New Year's. Leafa, who has seen Keith in just two UH games, will fly to New Orleans later this week for the Sugar Bowl."

About how he plans to return to Faleasao to live near his mother, where he hopes to make a difference for young people there, AhSoon said:
"There's nothing for the kids. I see so much talent there, but not very many opportunities. Someday I want to go back and work with them, maybe coaching. There's no place like home." (HSB)


About the benefit UH will get from the Sugar Bowl, Leigh Steinberg said:
"There has been more national press coverage of the UH football program in this last year maybe than the whole history of Hawaii football combined. And much of it revolves around Colt Brennan." (HSB)

About how alumni will donate more because of the football team's success, Steinberg said:
"There's no one who went to the University of Hawaii who lives anywhere in the world that is unaware of the fact that the football team is undefeated. It renews interest in the university, and it triggers big gifts." (HSB)

HSB Note: "That, in turn, fuels donations to the UH athletic department as well as other areas of the university. It also helps raise the profile of Hawaii as a tourist destination, said Steinberg, who once helped the school develop its marketing and branding strategies."

About how the football season has been a big advertisement for the school and state, Steinberg said:
"It ended up being a perfect storm of publicity. This last year has been like a picture postcard for Hawaii football, for the University of Hawaii and the state of Hawaii." (HSB)

About the challenge Colt will have in the Sugar Bowl, Steinberg said:
"He will be playing in the most watched game of his life. It wouldn't be a surprise that the Georgia players will be bigger, stronger, faster and deeper than he has faced." (HSB)

About the benefits from the Sugar Bowl can completely reshape the AD and the public's image of UH, Steinberg said:
"Economically, it means short-term revenue for Colt Brennan. It means the same for June Jones. But it can be a window to completely remake an athletic department - to completely reshape the public view of a university." (HSB)


About how much of the $4.5 mil BCS money will be left over after their expenses, HF said:
"Two million, for sure, is probably a good guess-timate and probably have great aspirations to be much higher." (HA)

"It is a business trip for us. The money we'll be able to save on expenses will help our bottom line." (HSB)

About how he doesn't know the exact number yet, HF said:
"We don't even know yet what the actual payout will be because there are so many different things involved. There's variables on where your conference is ranked at the end of all the polls. There's other aspects in there from sponsorships, everything else that's within the BCS, so that's why no one can give you a finite number." (HA)

HA Note: "Boise State received about $4.5 million after it upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl last season. After expenses, the school received about $2.7 million, $500,000 of which went to academics, leaving the athletic department with $2.2 million."

About the amount of work they have had to do for the Sugar Bowl, HF said:
"This is a large undertaking for us. It's the first time since 1992 that the university has had to move its football team to a bowl game." (HSB)

HA Note: "The traveling party of 542 includes 113 players, 11 family members and 281 band members, cheerleaders and dancers. The coaching staff totals 17 and another 17 in administrative staff, which includes compliance, business office, marketing, general counsel and academic support personnel. Also included are 31 support staff members, which accounts for sports medicine, equipment, ticket office, media relations, security and managers. Family members of the coaching staff, administrative staff and support staff total 72."

HSB Note: "The number of "family members" of University of Hawaii athletic department staff traveling to the Sugar Bowl at UH expense outnumbers the working staff on the trip. A tentative total of 65 staff members are headed to New Orleans, while their guests total 72, according to figures provided by UH yesterday."

HSB Note: "Some of the people listed as "family members" on the athletic department list are spouses and children of coaches, administrative staff and support staff. A few are longtime "significant others" and their children. Frazier said all 65 staffers traveling will be working. He also said no football players, band members or dance and cheer squad members were displaced by staff guests."

About the staff going to the game, HF said:
"Every single person who is on our payroll who's on this trip has a working responsibility." (HSB)

About their 2nd and 3rd charter flights (the first charter is taking the team), HF said:
"The second and third charters are pretty much the same people. There will be two loads because there are too many people in that group. There's at least somewhere between 240 and 250 members of the band." (HA)

HA Note: "UH estimated the charters will cost $700,000 to $750,000, but a total budget, according to Frazier, is "still pending." Among the UH contingent will be at least 12 medical personnel, team security and an attorney."

About the medical personnel, team security, and lawyer going, HF said:
"You're talking about 400-and-something people representing the institution so you just prepare for anything that could happen." (HA)

HA Note: "Associate athletic director Carl Clapp said the school is paying between "$165 to $172" per room, per night while in New Orleans. UH expects between "1,500 and 1,800" total room nights."

About how the BCS procedure doesn't help them save money on hotels, HF said:
"We don't have any bargaining power. They tell you where to stay." (HA)

HA Note: "The players, who received $338.50 each on Friday as part of their Sugar Bowl per diem, will also get gifts, totaling no more than $500, from the bowl game. They will receive another $338.50 in per diem when they reach New Orleans."


Excited about the challenge of playing UH, Georgia coach Mark Richt said:
"You watch film of your opponent, and when they are as good as Hawai'i is, it doesn't take long for your guys to get excited about it. To play Hawai'i in the Sugar Bowl is a treat for us.'' (HA)

About how it was his duty to lobby for the BCS championship game, Richt said:
"The rules of engagement in this BCS are that the teams that play for the BCS title have to win a beauty contest. You have to do the best you can to filibuster your team, and that's what I did, I wanted to say what I could about our team. The goal is to win the national championship, and as long as the goal is there, you fight for it.'' (HA)

About how they got over missing the BCS championship game, Richt said:
"We moved on. We're definitely over it, I can promise you that.'' (HA)

About how have kept Boise State's Fiesta Bowl win in mind, QB Matthew Stafford said:
"Yeah, you look at that game. But you look at Hawai'i and no matter what conference they are coming from, they are 12-0, and that's enough motivation for us.'' (HA)

About how they are looking forward to playing UH, safety Kelin Johnson said:
"We're excited to be playing against the only undefeated team in America, so we have an opportunity to be recognized as well.'' (HA)

About how they won't underestimate UH like Oklahoma overlooked BSU, Johnson said:
"We know what happened in that game. We'll take care of our business; we can't worry about what happened to someone else. We know it will be competitive, but we have to look at ourselves in the mirror.'' (HA)

About the Sugar Bowl matchup, Richt said:
"It's two contrasting styles of plays and different traditions. Just the cultures are so different. I think it will be really entertaining and educational for the fans, too.'' (HA)

Excited about having UH in the Sugar Bowl, Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan said:
"That's an exciting team right there, and we're looking to get some new blood in New Orleans.'' (HA)

About how UH will be a tough opponent, Richt said:
"You can see Hawai'i is passionate about the game and very resilient. They will not panic and they will not quit. I've seen them down, and they got off the mat.'' (HA)

About the games that he watched UH play, Richt said:
"San Jose State, they played in horrific weather, then Washington and Louisiana Tech, Hawai'i has had some games that are heart-pounding barn burners and they came out on the winning end, and that gives a team confidence. You turn the film on, and our guys are smart enough to know when they see a good team, it's undeniable. There's no complacency here.'' (HA)