Whatever your personal feelings are about MMA and at what age young enthusiasts of the mixed martial arts fighting sport should be allowed to show off their skills in the cage, you’ve got to raise your eyebrows when considering the incredible record of Makaha teenager Nainoa Dung. A kickboxer since the age of 6, a [...]
I love this time of year. March Madness. Just saying the two words together gets me going. I’m currently on a plane, flying to Bellingham, Wash., for the NCAA Regionals. Over the years, I’ve been to NCAA Division I and Division II regionals and national championship competition from Hawaii to California to Kansas, North Carolina, [...]
It’s been quite a year for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team. For the first time in many seasons, there is talk of a possible conference title and perhaps a trip to the NCAA tournament. First-year head coach Laura Beeman has molded a team of veterans and newcomers, with Kamilah Jackson Martin playing [...]
Can it really be 30 years ago that golf fans saw the most historic shot in Hawaii golf history? Thirty years – how long has that been? Well, Ronald Reagan was president, George Ariyoshi was Hawaii’s governor, Dick Tomey was the UH football coach, and MidWeek editor Don Chapman, then a Honolulu Advertiser columnist, was [...]
Chaminade’s Tony Randolph and Virginia’s Ralph Sampson sat courtside last month at Lahaina Civic Center, laughing and joking and having a great time watching Chaminade play the Giant Killer role again as the Division 2 Silverswords beat D-1 power Texas in the Maui Invitational. Randolph and Sampson are good friends these days, nearly 30 years [...]
I liked Manti Te’o the other day. I also liked the Manti Te’o Official Fan Club and Manti Te’o for the Heisman. All of these are Facebook pages and a growing indication of social media’s impact in the race for the Heisman Trophy. All of Manti’s Facebook pages have been “liked” thousands and thousands of [...]
I was walking past the TV the other day, perhaps it was The Dr. Oz Show, and I heard someone suggest that kids shouldn’t be playing tackle football before the age of 14. The reason given: risk of head injuries or concussions during important developmental times. Then, I received a survey from a group that [...]
My old friend state Rep. Mark Takai gave me a call the other day to excitedly tell me about a new title he is adding to his name this month. “I’m the new president of the UH Letterwinners Club. I owe a lot to UH athletics,” he says. “Now, this gives me a real opportunity [...]
When I recently wrote a column about a historic photo of Duke Kahanamoku and Babe Ruth on the sands of Waikiki, I received an enthusiastic phone call from my good friend Jim Gaddis. It turns out that Jim is the calabash nephew of Duke’s official biographer Joe Brennan, author of Duke of Hawaii and several [...]
When “Linsanity” hit the sports world in early February, perhaps no other group of sports fans smiled broader than the people of Hawaii. From basketball gyms to Facebook, local fans are enthusiastically expressing their pride in Jeremy Lin, the overnight sensation of the New York Knicks who grew up in California, but whose family ties [...]
