Back to the Future?

A lot of things that Doc Brown might have imagined in "Back to the Future" seemed to have come true in some form. Fans of the movie noted that the date set in the DeLorean for Doc's first jump to the future came to be last month.

What also came to be in October was the anticipated end of the Norm Chow Era of UH Football. Last night's 58-7 drubbing by Air Force is widely seen as the last straw that will force AD Dave Matlin to take some immediate action to change the direction of the program. The official attendance of over 15,000 is a head-scratcher unless they counted many of the service members in attendance twice. Turning that trend around quickly would be vital for the newly-minted head of the department as he establishes his mark on UH Athletics history.

Looking at the situation from his view and the first thing you notice is that there is no bye-week that will allow for any chance of easing a new Head Coach into an already tough situation. Any mid-season shake-up is a challenge but doing it in a game week is even more unenviable. Doing it in a week when the team is on the road falls into "wishing my worst enemy" territory. With an eye to trying to push out as many tickets as possible after the upcoming UNLV game when Hawaii returns for its final 3-game homestand, I am sure Matlin still has ghost and goblins leftover in his head with images of mausoleum-like settings in Aloha Stadium.

If an announcement is made that Norm Chow is relieved as Head Coach this afternoon there would be about 144 hours until the team kicks off against the Rebels in Sam Boyd Stadium. With 5-hours of flight time from the nearest mainland airport, travel time to get to that airport, time to wrap up any issues, and even a little time to pack some basics, the earliest someone would be in Manoa is probably midday Monday. Once on the ground that person would have less than 72 hours to evaluate his personnel; watch game film of the opponent; formulate a game plan; meet with his staff (assuming the entire Chow staff remains) to announce the plan and his system; setup a practice plan; conduct 3 home practices where he introduces an offensive and defensive and special teams system, scheme, and methodology to the team; coordinate a trip for 100 people that is 2600+ miles away; then finally, coach a CFB game in a venue that he may or may not have ever seen before. (BTW, I use the male form of the pronoun because it is virtually impossible that a female would fill the position)

If there is such a person that could or would take all that on be aware that he was probably sitting by the phone in the middle of the season waiting for ANY opportunity. That doesn't seem to be the kind of hire any AD would be willing to make at any stage of his tenure. So go ahead and rule out anyone from the mainland coming in this week to take the job.

That would leave someone who is already in Hawaii. Does Matlin turn things over to the OC who promised 70 TD's and hasn't produced anything much more than being shutout in 4 of the seven games so far this season? (Last night's lone TD came from the Special Teams). How about the DC who would be wearing the "Interim" label for the 3rd time? Wait...you mean he has been on 2 other staffs that ended up having its Head Coach dismissed in the midst of the season? Not a strong resume.

Who then?

Apparently, there is a guy who has been seen on the practice field in the next valley over from Manoa all season. June Jones has been sort of an unpaid consultant to his long-time running mates, Cal and Ron Lee during St. Louis' ILH season up through and including last week's playoff win over 5-time champion Punahou.

The man who formulated the greatest turnaround in NCAA history in 1999 seems poised to be thrust into the role yet again. He already knows the landscape in the Quarry and has probably been following the "progress" of the team for at least this and the previous season. His "system" probably doesn't even need to be run thru the printing office since his "playbook" is in his head. The players, and most notably the QB's, should be fairly familiar with parts of the system already. (What D1 QB is not familiar with the Choice route?) And if not, there's gotta be hours and hours of game film somewhere in the football offices.

And did I mention he's already done a big turnaround before? The last soldout game I recall is the UDub game before the Sugar Bowl. If the new AD is concerned about attendance, Jones' name can certainly pique some interest and probably some ticket sales (and fewer season-ticket holder no-shows) People love him or hate him but either way they will turn out to see if they were right.

Hopefully, someone is already digging up the 1999-2006 game tapes and maybe even Netflix copy of "Back to the Future."

It's been a while

I haven't posted anything here since the beginning of the year but decided to "re-activate my membership" mostly due to the current failings of the UH football program.

Last night was truly a horrific Halloween debacle that saw me walking out of a FOOTBALL GAME in the 2nd quarter! Being one of those who would admittedly pull over to the side of the road to watch a bunch of school kids play a game of two-handed touch, I would never have imagined that the level of play of a CFB game would be so bad that I would readily get up and walk out of Aloha Stadium before the teams actually left the field to head into the locker rooms for halftime.

Granted, it was Halloween and my new granddaughter's first one at that, so the plan going in was to watch half the game and head back home for trick or treating; see what her Mom had put together for her 1st costume; and host the in-laws from out of town for dinner. But I thought that I would be a reluctant participant in that plan. However, after watching UH punt it after 1 first down to open the game and then Air Force take the ball at their 10-yard line and march at will for a touchdown, reconsidering that stance seemed to be a good idea. The next 24 points only served to reaffirm the notion. (I was already walking through the gates when "Wild Blue Yonder" was being played by the PACAF band to celebrate the late field goal that made it 34-0 at the half)

At least the Halloween celebrations turned out to be fun but whenever the game came to mind it wasn't hard to imagine that the next time I get to see a Hawaii victory the most popular comment might be, "It's been a while."

Scoped Up!

Months of bothersome pain has probably come to an end today with the arthroscopic surgery that was done on my left knee this morning.

I checked into Pali Momi a little before 8am.

Kudos to the entire staff at Pali Momi for their helpfulness and professionalism. Pre-op was very efficiently handled by Leia. I thought that I was fairly calm but when she first checked my BP was on the plus side of 180 over 90! I received visits from Dr. Tanaka-the anesthesiologist and Dr. Vernoy-the surgeon who were both very reassuring and I noticed that the BP had dropped down quite a bit as I waited.
About 9:25 I was wheeled to the OR. A few moments later I was told to take a deep brea....zzzzz. (That's my recollection of the surgery)

I woke up outside the OR and was shortly wheeled back to the pre-op area. Reyna and Wanda were attending to me and were very helpful and cheerful. I could peek outside my recovery cubicle to see that nearly all the other cubicles were occupied and the entire area was buzzing with activity. I asked Reyna if this was a particularly busy morning and she said it was fairly normal although they do get busier right after the holidays. I suppose a lot of patients hold off on doing surgery over the holidays if it is possible. In my case, my surgeon was away for the month of December and I may have been part of the "catch-up" for him because I was told that he had four other surgeries this morning in addition to mine!

Juliet was already waiting by the time I was out of the ER and they brought her in from the waiting room shortly after I was moved to the cubicle. Check-out was smooth as was the ride home.

So far, so good! I was sent home with crutches and painkillers but haven't been needing to use either. Not much pain like I was experiencing pre-surgery (lateral movement) and I reported to Dr. Vernoy that all was good when he called at about 2:30. He said that the surgery went as expected regarding the meniscus tear removal. He also found some scar tissue around the knee cap that was removed and did see some more arthritis. He also removed the cartilage on the outside of the knee cap that he said should retard more arthritic progression in the future.

I am looking forward to getting back out for my walks soon and no more pain!

Scope down. Full speed ahead!