Thursday, December 20, 2007
USA Today Feature Story on the Warriors
Asked if he's going to the Sugar Bowl, Don Murphy (longtime UH football booster) said:
"Are you kidding? I'd go to this game if it was in Newark." (USA)
"This is the biggest thing in the history of Hawaiian sports. It's something that may never happen again. It's the chance of a lifetime." (USA)
About the impact that the Warriors have had, Tony Guerrero (VP of First Hawaiian Bank and chairman of the UH Athletics booster club) said:
"This team has had such a tremendous impact. We have a concept of family here we call ohana, which means caring for each other. June has really instilled that into the program, and it means a lot to the locals." (USA)
About committing to the Warriors, Hercules said:
"I visited here and committed on the spot. It just seemed so natural for me to be here, sort of like coming home." (USA)
USA Today: "Satele is one of a large group of cousins who are former or current Warriors. Among his relatives are Samson Satele, a center for the NFL's Miami Dolphins; Melila Purcell, a Cleveland Browns defensive end; and current Warriors Amani Purcell and Brashton Satele, whose father, Alvis, played at Hawaii and with the San Diego Chargers."
About doing the ha'a, Bess said:
"We embrace it. We're all in this together." (USA)
About creating the environment where they are all like family, JJ said:
"I know my X's and O's, and we're providing them an opportunity to play a great game. But what wins games are the things you can't put your finger on, the intangible things. I love to teach them how to love each other and how to make sacrifices. Once they understand that, good things happen." (USA)
"This team is very connected. They really love each other. And they believe in fighting through adversity. … That's what makes it special." (USA)
About his 7am practices, which helps them adjust to mainland time for road trips and helps their academics, JJ said:
"They're up and awake. They don't sleep through class." (USA)
About their limited football budget, JJ said:
"I would probably say the women's basketball team at Ohio State or one of those schools have the same budget we have." (USA)
USA Note: "Down the hall from Jones' office are the "new" offices and meeting rooms he thought he'd move into three years ago. They are just a shell, sort of an indoor abandoned construction site with unfinished walls and floors. They have been like that for three years. Across the way from his office sits a concrete field, awaiting an artificial turf to give the Warriors a practice field when rain causes their grass field to become too soggy. It has been like that for four years. Both projects await funds to complete them."
USA Note: "Jones says his recruiting budget is $50,000. Ohio State, by comparison, spent $522,857 on football recruiting in 2005-06, the most recent year for which its NCAA financial report is available. Jones doesn't even send his staff to the mainland any more. Too expensive. Jones does travel more than 2,500 miles each way to American Samoa to recruit, and he has four players from there, three of them starters. Other than that, he recruits by telephone and from watching tapes of high school players. Despite those limitations, he has players from 15 of the continental states, including Florida, Maryland and North Carolina."
About how they get some players due to their legal troubles, JJ said:
"The three best players I've had in this program were Pisa Tinoisamoa (now a linebacker with the St. Louis Rams), Colt Brennan and Davone Bess, and I recruited all three of them from jail. We can't get a kid like that to come to Hawaii. If a kid like that doesn't have legal trouble, he's going to USC or Colorado or somewhere." (USA)
About how they overcome their poor facilities, Colt said:
"We don't have things other programs have. But maybe they don't have things we have, like love and community spirit and a family atmosphere." (USA)
USA Note: "Visually, the Warriors are striking, many with elaborate tattoos and long hair (in the Polynesian tradition) cascading from their helmets. At home games, they are a dark force — black shoes, black socks, black pants and jerseys, black helmets. Stitched into their pants, above the left knee, is a pattern of triangles called the kapa, symbolizing body, mind and spirit."
About critics of their offense who just call them products of the system, Colt said:
"That's a joke. If (critics) can't tell the difference between a guy who's a product of the system and a guy who's legitimate, maybe they should be in another line of work." (USA)
"Are you kidding? I'd go to this game if it was in Newark." (USA)
"This is the biggest thing in the history of Hawaiian sports. It's something that may never happen again. It's the chance of a lifetime." (USA)
About the impact that the Warriors have had, Tony Guerrero (VP of First Hawaiian Bank and chairman of the UH Athletics booster club) said:
"This team has had such a tremendous impact. We have a concept of family here we call ohana, which means caring for each other. June has really instilled that into the program, and it means a lot to the locals." (USA)
About committing to the Warriors, Hercules said:
"I visited here and committed on the spot. It just seemed so natural for me to be here, sort of like coming home." (USA)
USA Today: "Satele is one of a large group of cousins who are former or current Warriors. Among his relatives are Samson Satele, a center for the NFL's Miami Dolphins; Melila Purcell, a Cleveland Browns defensive end; and current Warriors Amani Purcell and Brashton Satele, whose father, Alvis, played at Hawaii and with the San Diego Chargers."
About doing the ha'a, Bess said:
"We embrace it. We're all in this together." (USA)
About creating the environment where they are all like family, JJ said:
"I know my X's and O's, and we're providing them an opportunity to play a great game. But what wins games are the things you can't put your finger on, the intangible things. I love to teach them how to love each other and how to make sacrifices. Once they understand that, good things happen." (USA)
"This team is very connected. They really love each other. And they believe in fighting through adversity. … That's what makes it special." (USA)
About his 7am practices, which helps them adjust to mainland time for road trips and helps their academics, JJ said:
"They're up and awake. They don't sleep through class." (USA)
About their limited football budget, JJ said:
"I would probably say the women's basketball team at Ohio State or one of those schools have the same budget we have." (USA)
USA Note: "Down the hall from Jones' office are the "new" offices and meeting rooms he thought he'd move into three years ago. They are just a shell, sort of an indoor abandoned construction site with unfinished walls and floors. They have been like that for three years. Across the way from his office sits a concrete field, awaiting an artificial turf to give the Warriors a practice field when rain causes their grass field to become too soggy. It has been like that for four years. Both projects await funds to complete them."
USA Note: "Jones says his recruiting budget is $50,000. Ohio State, by comparison, spent $522,857 on football recruiting in 2005-06, the most recent year for which its NCAA financial report is available. Jones doesn't even send his staff to the mainland any more. Too expensive. Jones does travel more than 2,500 miles each way to American Samoa to recruit, and he has four players from there, three of them starters. Other than that, he recruits by telephone and from watching tapes of high school players. Despite those limitations, he has players from 15 of the continental states, including Florida, Maryland and North Carolina."
About how they get some players due to their legal troubles, JJ said:
"The three best players I've had in this program were Pisa Tinoisamoa (now a linebacker with the St. Louis Rams), Colt Brennan and Davone Bess, and I recruited all three of them from jail. We can't get a kid like that to come to Hawaii. If a kid like that doesn't have legal trouble, he's going to USC or Colorado or somewhere." (USA)
About how they overcome their poor facilities, Colt said:
"We don't have things other programs have. But maybe they don't have things we have, like love and community spirit and a family atmosphere." (USA)
USA Note: "Visually, the Warriors are striking, many with elaborate tattoos and long hair (in the Polynesian tradition) cascading from their helmets. At home games, they are a dark force — black shoes, black socks, black pants and jerseys, black helmets. Stitched into their pants, above the left knee, is a pattern of triangles called the kapa, symbolizing body, mind and spirit."
About critics of their offense who just call them products of the system, Colt said:
"That's a joke. If (critics) can't tell the difference between a guy who's a product of the system and a guy who's legitimate, maybe they should be in another line of work." (USA)
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