Die-Hards, Rivers, 15, Unlicensed, Etc

Dan Nakaso profiles some die-hard fans who have supported the team through the years, through thick and thin.

No matter how lopsided the score over the years, no matter how much it rained and no matter how many other University of Hawai'i football "fans" were already in their dry cars headed home, the real UH faithful stayed to the end of every game.

"There was plenty of good cause for us to leave early, but we didn't," said Gilbert Leong of Kailua, who has held season tickets for more than 30 years. "I told my grandsons, 'We're sitting through these games as penance to get to heaven.' "

Stephen Tsai writes a great profile of Jason Rivers.

Linebacker Timo Paepule and Rivers have been teammates and close friends since their freshman year at Saint Louis School.

"I love that guy," Paepule said. "He's really grown and matured. One thing about Jason is he's had a rough life. A lot of people don't know that. That's something personal for him. To see how he grew up and how he changed his life, that's something. He's really spiritual now."

Dave Reardon has a few notes from practice and writes about the calls to have Colt Brennan's number retired.

"His number should be retired, for what he's done for the state of Hawaii and what he's done for the football team," junior linebacker Solomon Elimimian said. "Not just wins and losses, but how he's touched people outside of football. He's such a giving person, with such a big heart. He'll never tell a teammate no. He's so humble, he reaches kids. He's such a good person, his heart.

"People ask Colt for a lot of things, and there's a lot of stress on him, but he never says no."

UH is warning fans about counterfeit merchandise.

With the popularity of the unbeaten (12-0), Sugar Bowl-bound Warrior football team, UH said it has been made aware that non-licensed products, including "some with designs that some people may find offensive," have surfaced, according to Carolyn Tanaka, UH vice president for external affairs and university relations.

Josh Kendall of the Dawg Post writes about that mysterious offense known as the run and shoot.

If the system is so wonderful, why aren’t their more copycats? The spread offense seemingly has swept the naton due to its success at places like West Virginia and Florida, but the run-and-shoot remains marooned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only one true devotee. Neither Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt nor defensive coordinator Willie Martinez can remember facing a true run-and-shoot.

“I don’t think anybody is willing or patient enough to do that,” Richt said. “A lot of people feel like you have to have some kind of balance in your running game or you can’t survive in anybody’s league. You’ve just got to be sold out to it. The head coach has got to be sold out to it, and the coordinators have to be sold out to it.”

Another reason why Hawaii is lucky to have Coach Jones.

And finally The Wizard of Odds has a very interesting post about which teams and conferences log a lot of miles for out-of-conference games, and which ones don't.

* Georgia has traveled a total of 358 miles for nonconference road games since 1998. By comparison, Hawaii has traveled 72,918 miles.
* Teams from the Southeastern Conference hold down seven of the top eight spots for teams having traveled the fewest miles. This includes Florida, which last played a nonconference road game outside of the Sunshine State on Sept. 21, 1991, at Syracuse (a 38-21 Gator loss).
* The Western Athletic Conference is the most traveled conference, having covered 327,521 miles. The SEC is last at 42,141.

Road Warriors indeed.