Estes, Tuioti, Kids Camp, Fuel Prices, Etc.

Brian McInnis profiles UH center John Estes.

Hawaii offensive line coach Brian Smith lauds Estes for his balance and strong hands - assets that will be needed for a unit that sorely missed him during spring ball, when capable but untested players like Austin Hansen and Sila Lefiti had to adapt to a new position as redshirt freshmen.

"It's extremely important (to have him back fully healthy)," Smith said. "Like we all saw, the difference on the line vs. when he's not, there's a lot more confidence in the group, so the level of play was raised when he was in vs. when he wasn't."

Former UH player Tony Tuioti may be joining the UH staff soon in an administrative/recruiting coordinator role.

KGMB's Liz Chun has a report on the first day of the UH football kids camp. Here's a slightly different version, which includes an interview with Ron Lee.

Stephen Tsai has photos from the camp. And from yesterday's post, photos from the banquet that raised money and helped launch the UH camps. Lots of former UH players were there, including Ikaika Alama-Francis, Davone Bess, Jason Rivers, etc.

The cost of rising fuel prices is affecting the UH athletic department in many ways.

So when oil costs began shooting up this year, they caught UH's attention for several reasons. Not only does a rise impact what UH pays to compete on the Mainland, it shapes what UH must pay to bring opponents here. And, in addition, UH fans, forced to spend more of their income on gas, can be left with declining disposable income for tickets, pay-per-view subscriptions and logo apparel.

And here's more potentially depressing news.

A key state senator and top aides to Gov. Linda Lingle went directly to University of Hawaii administrators to buy prime seats for the Sugar Bowl after UH sold out of its initial allotment of tickets, e-mails obtained by the Star-Bulletin show.

The actions appear to violate state ethics laws.

And to leave on a happier note, here's video of some techno kitties.