The WAC / Warrior Spirit

Kalani Simpson writes about the bottom rung of the WAC, and the hopes that they'll soon PLAY UP!

You just hope they get better. Nevada got better. San Jose State is getting better. You would hope that Fresno State is already bouncing back. Louisiana Tech has been fairly good in the past (but when the Bulldogs are bad, they are very, very bad).

Utah State is in a tough spot. Idaho's best chance, Dennis Erickson, bailed out on the Vandals after just one year, setting them back even more.

Of course, maybe that's the beauty of it, in this Cinderella's conference, that the bottom of the WAC is so bad, that all you have to do is be better, and you can pick up a few wins. And from there any team can dare to dream -- of Hawaii in 1999, and Dick Tomey getting doused after a bowl game, and Tulsa and UTEP coming out of nowhere.

Let's hope.

And grad assistant and true Warrior Brian Kajiyama has written a great post up at Warriors Haka. Here's an excerpt:

I became friends with coaches and more players, as they would see me regularly and took the time to get to know this guy in a chair who was always at practice. At this time, I had no communication device so I relied on paper and pen, which meant the people I communicated with had to be very patient. Coaches were amazingly kind and caring, as they took time to know me for who I was, Coach Dennis McKnight really opened his heart to me and we quickly became great pals. Coach Cavanaugh, Coach Miano, and the rest of the staff began to see me as part of UH football. I suppose if you're seen regularly, you become to be expected there. Coach Jones also was very generous with his time, regularly asking me, "Hey how are you doing with school?"

"I'm doing good, Coach," I would reply.

A must-read.