June Jones Profile, Cheer, Road Unis, Libre, Etc.

Stephen Tsai has a great feature article on June Jones. Here are the opening sentences:

The dream should have ended before it was conceived.

It should have been buried in the rubble that was once a black Lincoln Town Car, left abandoned among the broken glass and crushed metal on the H-1 Freeway that February morning in 2001.

The car accident was so horrendous that the driver's mother was told, later, that paramedics were calling in a "DOA" (dead on arrival).

Tsai recounts the story of June's accident, his recovery, his outlook on life, the good he's done -- a summary won't do it justice so go read it! And when you're done with that article, be sure to check out J. David Miller's Hawaiʻi Warrior Football if you haven't already. I'm in the middle of reading it, and so far it's awesome -- you get to know the kind of person June is, and how he's affected people in and out of football, what he's done for the program, etc. I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to review it anytime soon, but you can read Gigi Hawaii's review here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. And you can buy the book from Warriors Respond, and many other places.

Ferd Lewis has a glossary of terminology for the people traveling to New Orleans. Some examples:

• Beignet (bin-yey): French doughnut, minus the hole, that resembles a square malasada with powdered sugar. The width of one is about how close Georgia came to playing in the Bowl Championship Series national title game.


• Do-do (dough-dough): Sleepy, said to come from the French verb dormir (to sleep). What happens if you try to figure out BCS formulas.


• Elleshew (ella-e-shoo): LSU, as in Louisiana State University from down the road in Baton Rouge. The pride of the state and the team UH would have played if the Tigers didn't vault over Georgia for a place in the BCS national title game.

Gary C.W. Chun writes about the UH band, dancers and cheerleaders, who will be performing at the Sugar Bowl.

Finals were done that day and an aftermath of post-test weariness was evident. Still, the band gamely ran through their 5-minute pre-game performance, one that will be televised nationwide on New Year's Day from the New Orleans Superdome before the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

With the help of assistant band director Gwen Nakamura and a trio of student conductors, the 270-piece band went through their paces and formations in a brief program that includes the school's alma mater, the "Hawaiian War Chant" and a bit of "Hawaii Five-O."

The show features the band in full-dress uniforms -- plus featured baton twirler Shannon Dresser, the 20-member cheerleading squad and 25 Rainbow Dancers.

Brian McInnis writes about UH wearing their road uniforms in the Sugar Bowl.

Once the hallmark of Hawaii's futility away from Aloha Stadium, the Warriors' road white uniforms have become a symbol of the team's grit and resiliency against long odds in their first BCS bowl season.

On four occasions during the regular campaign -- road games at Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Nevada, and the home finale vs. Washington -- the Warriors pulled off comeback wins through a number of different playmakers and heroes.

There was some consistency there, however. Gerard Lewis' batted pass, Colt Brennan's rousing fourth-quarter and overtime performance, followed by Myron Newberry's interception, Dan Kelly's kick and Ryan Mouton's pick. All of that occurred when the Warriors donned their white-and-silver road garb.

Not surprisingly, coach June Jones has no problem with his Warriors wearing their roadies in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against No. 4 Georgia on New Years Day, where the Bulldogs, the designated home team, claimed their all-black uniforms as their attire of choice.

Brendan Shriane has a great profile of running back Daniel Libre.

Undaunted, Libre went right back to Hawaii, where he's made his mark this year, rushing for 183 yards on 22 carries with a long of 44 yards in three games for the Warriors after converting from slotback to running back in coach June Jones' spread offense.

"It's real exciting. It all came on pretty fast," said Libre, the only Big Islander on the current Warrior roster -- incoming freshman offensive lineman Levi Legay of Kealakehe will join the team next spring.

Libre said he was looking at a probable redshirt year in 2007 before moving his way up the depth chart with what is quickly becoming a trademark for him -- hard work and determination.

"Finally," his father, Lydell Libre, who's a JROTC instructor and riflery coach at Konawaena High, said. "He never gave up -- he perservered -- he finally got to where he wanted to be.

Marc Weizer of Online Athens profiles Georgia QB Matt Stafford. Comparisons with Colt Brennan get brought up a lot.

Stafford has been pegged with NFL potential written all over him. He sees the 4,174 passing yards that Brennan put up this year and knows that he's capable of putting up similar numbers if asked.

"It'll come," Stafford said. "I'm still young. Obviously I expect a lot of myself this year, but I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing and keep plugging away."

If he does, Richt believes Stafford's career will continue on the upswing.

"He's been a very good leader for us, a winner for us," Richt said. "I think his best years are yet to come statistically. He'll be much more grown up at his position and up front, I think our skill players will be mature enough for him to have a really fine season as a winner but also, statistically, I think those numbers will rise."

And finally, Chawan has a compilation of last night's news from KITV, KHON and KHNL:



...okay, forgot to include this article by Derrick DePledge about the various factions at UH already fighting over the BCS money. Fun!

The push and pull over whether to spend the payout on the athletic department — which is most responsible for the bonus — or the rest of the campus — which is in much need of repair — started soon after the Warriors' come-from-behind victory over the University of Washington that helped send them to the Sugar Bowl.

It would probably not be an issue at all, since the amount of money is marginal in the context of Manoa's budget, but it is symbolic given the university's persistent complaints about aging facilities.

...and here's a great season recap video by Leila Wai.