Oahu Day Two - 45th Annual Rainbow Classic Opening Night

Being the total tourist I was going to the Stan Sheriff Center, I had to snap a shot of the building I was entering for the first time. The Stan Sheriff Center. I asked the ticket person to give me the best seat I could get, and she told me the lower bowl wasn't for sale, so I ended up with...



That seat assignment would get me this kind of view:


Okay, well it wasn't the greatest view in the world, and there were a lot of empty seats on the bottom, which were filled up for the Hawaii game, but it was a blessing in disguise. More on that toward the end.

George Washington was taking on the Vermont Catamounts in the first game. As I was trying to find my seat way up high, I ran into a George Washington Athletics person who was selling George Washington Gear.


I was thinking of grabbing one of those Colonials hats (same color as a cheesehead), but I don't think I have enough room in my bag to take it home. I stuffed my bag to the max with some of my new shirts, because I never like to underpack. Maybe I'll just get a shirt. Anyway, to the games.

Vermont 83, George Washington 72

Vermont controlled the game early, thanks to great play from Senior Colin McIntosh. He finished with 14 points, but the rest of the team kicked into gear, especially in the second half. Mike Timboli hit a few clutch three's, Marqus Blakely had a double-double, and Maurice Joseph led the team with 18 points. Rob Diggs led all scorers and rebounders with 25 and 14. Too bad he didn't have much help until it was too late.



Hawaii was getting ready for Colorado State in the nightcap. My seat was actually right next to a few season ticket holders. One of the guys' names was Doug. I don't remember the other. But they asked me if I knew the person that usually sits there. I said no, so she must have sold her season ticket for that game because she wasn't going to make it. Either way, they were joined by a Syracuse alum who sat behind us and his son, who is going to Syracuse right now. We chatted a lot about famous Syracuse announcing alums, like our own Mike Tirico, Marv Albert, and others.

What I didn't know is that the son once competed in the halftime challenge, where you have a rack of basketballs at half court, and you have to make as many shots as you can in a certain amount of time. He won $500 in that game years ago. So, I was fortunate to sit next to some long time season ticket holders who made the experience for me enjoyable.

Colorado State 74, Hawaii 58

The first half wasn't the most well played for Hawaii, with some sloppy point guard play from Kareem Nitoto, foul trouble from Sasha Parghalava, and Rod Flemings and Bill Amis taking a little while to get going. But some Colorado State turnovers and missed opportunities on their own end kept Hawaii in the game, and the Warriors lead by two at the break.



At halftime, they have the Jack in a Box blimp fly throughout the center and drop prizes to the loudest sections in the arena. It didn't come by us. To be honest, the people I was sitting with really didn't care. But, two rows behind us, there were these "Valley Girl" like college chicks (some were cute) who were making a bunch of noise, but they were the only ones. They also had the afore mentioned halftime contest hosted by Oahu radio personality Billy V.

The second half was all Colorado State. I was impressed with Jessie Carr, a Freshman guard out of the state of Nebraska, who I would describe as a pain in the neck to guard, and he picked apart Hawaii's defense in the second half. He only had 9 points, but his 4 assists may have been more important. Add to that Hawaii shooting 26% in the second half (6-23 from the field) and Colorado State ran away with it.

One more thing to note. During a media timeout late in the 2nd half, a UH-Hilo student was in attendance for a chance to win some big prizes ( don't remember what they were giving away). He had 45 seconds to hit a layup, free throw, three pointer, and a halfcourt shot. He struggled from the charity stripe before hitting one and then took a small while before he hit his three-pointer. In Saint Martin-esque style, he got the ball at half court with about 2 seconds left, threw it up, and banked it in! The whole crowd went nuts! Too bad the team couldn't feed off of that. Sign him up, coach!

So back to the guys I ended up sitting next to. They left with about a minute left to go in the game. Some were leaving with 6 minutes left when the media time out happened. Before they left, they asked me how long I was staying, and I told them I would be here until Monday morning. They left me with two free tickets for today's doubleheader (Buffalo/Pepperdine and Colorado/Coppin State) right in the same section, just a row higher.



Only problem is...I need to find someone who wants the other ticket or at least wants to go with me! I came on this trip on my own, so if you're reading, you're on Oahu, and you wanna go, send me an email!

Quickly, my thoughts on the rest of the sports world:

__________________________________________________________

- New England is going to put the pressure on the Miami Dolphins to win against the Jets. New England is winning in Buffalo and most likely will hold on with 3 minutes left to go. Meanwhile, the Houston Texans are spoiling the Bears chances of getting into the playoffs, and of course, I predicted that on Friday. And oh by the way, Detroit is doing their very best to get their first win of the year against Green Bay. Uh oh.

- Ben Rothleisberger is suffering from a concussion today. Luckily for Steelers fans, the Steelers have a bye in the first round of the postseason.

- Bill Parcells could go back to coaching. I'm not surprised. It all depends on whether Wayne Huizenga sells his share of his team. Part of the contract Parcells agreed to. Gotta imagine there would be a few teams interested in his services if that takes place.

Back tonight or Monday with the final Oahu trip blog!

Oahu Day 1 - The Blackout on Oahu

It's kinda ironic that on the day the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" comes out in theaters, many parts of Oahu stood still because of a massive blackout. We went from this late in the afternoon....


To this...


Around 6:45 pm here in Waikiki, the power went off, and as I looked outside my hotel room I watched the lights go out across the canal and uphill to more residential areas. I watched people from other hotels and condos walk outside and wonder what the heck was going on. Some were outfitted with flashlights, some weren't outfitted with shirts, but all were curious of what had happened and when power would be back.

During the afternoon, we had lots of thunder and lightning in the area, to go along with good size gusts of wind, but no rain. According to Oahu media reports, some bolts struck transmission lines and knocked almost everyone out of power in Oahu.

The shot above is pretty much how things here in the heart of Waikiki were shut down. The biggest crowd was waiting outside of the ABC store. From what I saw, they were letting only a few people in at a time to shop while power was out. I would imagine they didn't want any kind of looting.


Of course in any tough situation, you need entertainment. Thanks to my iPhone, I caught Sonny playing a conga and a cowbell. Earlier, someone across the canal had popped off some fireworks!

Power was out here in Waikiki for just about 12 hours. It came back at 6:40 am on Saturday. Some businesses are still struggling to get back afloat after being out for so long.


Thats one of the seemingly millions of ABC stores in Waikiki. Many freezer or cold items could not be sold. The McDonalds and Subway locations were closed due to the outage, and anywhere that was open, it was SUPER packed because not too many things were open at 10 am because of the recovery.

So, until things start to get less hectic outside, I'm just gonna stay here, eat some food, watch some football and enjoy this view from the hotel...


Hopefully, you are staying safe back on the Big Island after the stormy weather over the past few days. Now on to some sports notes:

_____________________________________________________________

- As a San Francisco Giants fan, I don't know what to think with my team signing the "Big Unit" Randy Johnson to a one year, $8 Million deal. He's not gonna make the team any better at the age of 45. But, this move is all about dollars and sense. Since San Fran privately financed the creation of AT&T Park, they are still paying off that transaction, and with Randy Johnson 5 wins away from 300, they definitely want to get more people in the stands to watch, and maybe pay it back quicker. I'm still expecting another losing season next year.

- Great Motor City Bowl last night, as Florida Atlantic beats Central Michigan at Ford Field. Can a team from Michigan get a win in that stadium this year? Michigan State lost to North Carolina in College Basketball, Detroit Lions, um, you know, winless this year, and now Central Michigan. Coach Butch Jones for the Chippewas took some gambles late, and yes, they didn't pay off, but its a bowl game, your players wanna have fun, so go out and leave everything on the field! He did, didn't work, but Central Michigan still had a good year.

- College Bowl Madness Challenge Record: 2-5. Yikes.

- I'll be at the Stan Sheriff Center for Day 1 of the Rainbow Classic. At 5 pm, Vermont takes on George Washinton, followed by Hawaii and Colorado State at 7:30 approximately. I'll try to put up some photos in the next blog, but I will write up a recap in the next Oahu installment.

Fighting Irish More Than Lucky in Hawaii Bowl Win

I guess 62% of the Big Island's SportsNation, including yours truly, were wrong in assessing the fate of the 2008 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Meanwhile, the 38% who chose Notre Dame were right on the mark with the points of emphasis in this game, as heard on my show this morning:

- Lack of Discipline by the Warriors

- Better athletes underneath the Golden Domes of Notre Dame

- A win would not be close, whatsoever.

I did say to watch out for some kind of breakout game from QB Jimmy Clausen, didn't I? Yeah, I picked Hawaii to win, but I was afraid of the very kind of game that Clausen delivered on Christmas Eve. He set Notre Dame bowl game records for passing yards and TD's. He even got help from a Warrior secondary that must've sipped on some spiked Egg Nog before kickoff, because they were nowhere to be found all game long.

For Notre Dame, they throw the bowl game monkey off their back, breaking the streak of 9 straight postseason losses, 4 of them to Oklahoma State and LSU alone. All of the questions surrounding Charlie Weis will remain going into the 2009 regular season, but at least now for Irish fans, they will have a bright glimmer of hope for a better campaign than the one they just suffered, highlighted by a loss to the Orange of Syracuse.

And Hawaii? A winning season with a first year head coach. Sure, it wasn't pretty at times, but I think most Hawaii fans will remember the strong end to the regular season rather than the beginning and the ND game and look to games against Cincinnati and Fresno State, for example, as signs that the Warriors will improve and be better. They will have two returning QB's and a lot of promise at other skill positions. But can their defense improve, especially in the secondary? And can they stop committing stupid penalties?

All questions will be answered in 2009.

Until that point in time, I've got three shows left here in 2008 (Christmas Day, the 26th, and the 20th), so I hope you and your families have a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season, and even more so, a prosperous 2009. Our ESPN Radio family appreciates your support and we look forward to bigger and better things to come in '09!

The Bowl Championship Series Got it Right - MOSTLY

The matchups are set for all 34 bowl games, but everyone's eyes are looking at the Bowl Championship Series today as all 10 berths have been announced.

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi (January 1, 2009 - 11 am ESPN Radio) - USC vs. Penn State

Penn State will have a LONG layoff before they play this game. They didn't play this past weekend, unlike USC, who beat UCLA on Saturday. Penn State also has to worry about the deepest team in the country. USC right now is the better team in this game.

FedEx Orange Bowl (January 1, 2009 - 3 pm ESPN Radio) - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech

This will probably be the game that no one really cares about, as both these teams come from the mediocre BCS conferences. Virginia Tech has peaked at the right time under head coach Frank Beamer, especially after their one-sided win in the ACC Championship against Boston College. Cincinnati rallied to beat Hawaii on Saturday in an umimpressive showing.

AllState Sugar Bowl (January 2, 2009 - 2:35 pm ESPN Radio) - Utah vs. Alabama

Alabama's fate rested in the SEC championship game, and they could not pull off a win over favored Florida, so the Crimson Tide get to play in New Orleans in the Sugar Bowl. You have to wonder if there will be a letdown by Alabama since their National Championship hopes have been dashed.

Utah makes it in with an undefeated record and another chance to shock the world, so to speak, by beating a SEC team. Utah has played the role of a BCS buster before, but I believe everyone will remember what happened in that very building one year ago between the Warriors and Georgia.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (January 5, 2009 - 2:35 pm ESPN Radio) - Ohio State vs. Texas

This is where the BCS got it wrong. Ohio State does NOT belong in the BCS. They are the only at-large in the BCS with two losses, and they get a berth over one-loss Texas Tech (already two teams in the Big XII making the BCS) and unbeaten Boise State (only one non-BCS school can be a part of the BCS). Granted, their two losses come to both opponents in the Rose Bowl game, but either way, I don't think they should be in.

Contrary to what Longhorns fans believe, Texas is right where they should be. Forget the talk about a split national championship (I'm hearing it, and I don't like the idea of it). The Longhorns in the week-by-week beauty pageant of College Football are not as pretty as the Sooners. Time to get over it and play football.

FedEx BCS National Championship Game (January 8, 2009 - 2:35 pm) - #1 Oklahoma vs. #2 Florida

I was a bit worried that the computers would keep us from this matchup, but we indeed get the two hottest offenses in the country. The Gators had a great 2nd half in the SEC Title game over Alabama to come from behind with the win, and the Sooners right now are the HOTTEST team in the country, as they practically wrapped up the Big XII Title in the 1st quarter over Missouri.

Jerry Palm of CollegeBCS.com will join me tomorrow to break down the BCS here on ESPN Radio!

Notre Dame / Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl?

Sources tell the Honolulu Advertiser this morning that a Fighting Irish / Warriors Hawaii Bowl matchup is close to being a done deal.

Now, let's be honest. Notre Dame at 6-6 definitely doesn't deserve a bowl berth. Heck, their coach should be lucky that he has a job for next season.

And, as I have stated for the past few weeks on my show, Hawaii is not a deserving bowl team? Although they had a very good performance for about three quarters against Cincinnati, they didn't have the juice to finish off the upset. Their body of work, however, over the course of the year, has shown only one good win, and multiple bad losses.

But, we all know what the bowl season is really all about....

$$$KA-CHING$$$

Notre Dame has a nice Hawaii following. After all, all of their home games were on NBC for everyone to see, kinda similar to the Braves having their games on TBS not too long ago before TBS decided to carry the national Sunday package. The Fighting Irish have had an honorable past history on the gridiron, no matter how bad this decade has been in the eyes of the Irish Faithful.

More over, Notre Dame will want to play in Hawaii because they want to woo Punahou senior and Butkus Award winner Manti Te'o their way. There's been no secret that the Irish want him. Coach Charlie Weis made a visit after the USC game, and Te'o has made a visit to South Bend. A impressive win in Hawaii would go a long way for them.

Certainly, to be fair to Hawaii, this season has exceeded a lot of people's expectations, considering the players that moved on and a first-year head coach. Seven wins is considered a great year, in my opinion. But having a great year and deserving to play in the postseason are two different things. Heck, next year, a great year for Washington Huskies fans will be winning at least three games. Won't get them into a bowl. Even more so, a great year for Miami Dolphins fans this year would've been more than 4 wins. Right now, they may go to the playoffs. We must put it in perspective.

More importantly for ESPN Regional and Sheraton (the organizer and sponsor of the Hawaii Bowl), this would be a given for a solid Aloha Stadium Crowd. Heck, I may even decide to fly up and watch! Big crowds, especially if a lot of South Bend faithful decide to fly over, equals tourism and dollars.

We'll see if this gets finalized today. My thoughts on the BCS pairings coming up tomorrow.

UPDATE: It indeed has been confirmed, as Notre Dame and Hawaii will meet in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. ESPN Radio will have coverage of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl at 2:35 pm on Christmas Eve.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Ob behalf of all the staff and management here at ESPN Radio, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and hope that you have the chance to spend time with family and friends and celebrate all that we must be thankful for.

To our friends who are serving or have served in the military, I take this time to say thank you for everything you do for our country. You help to keep our country free, and allow people like me to speak freely every day. I salute your service and your dedication to our country.

Finally, I want everyone who is reading this to remember how much we must be thankful for. As I write this, I'm watching CNN and they are showing live coverage of the unfortunate and sickening events in Mumbai, India. Innocent people have lost their lives, and will not be able to spend time with their families and friends, regardless of what their nationality or ethnicity is.

You, the reader, as well as myself, are fortunate to spend this holiday with our loved ones. Unfortunately, halfway across the world, there are people who will not see another day. Please keep these families in our thoughts and prayers as we spend the next few days with the people we love.

- Posted by Josh Pacheco

First Hawaiian Bank / HHSAA State Football Tournament Information

Big thank you to Lyle Crozier, the Interim Executive Director of the BIIF, for giving me a hollar and asking me to pass along the following information:

All HHSAA State Football Games will start at 7:30 pm on Friday. The games are as follows:

Division I:

Kealakehe vs. Farrington (Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium, Oahu) - Aired on OC16 and Starcomm Sports Radio Network

Leilehua vs. Baldwin (War Memorial Stadium, Maui)

Division II:

Campbell vs. Konawaena (Julian R. Yates Field, Kealakekua) - Aired on ESPN Radio

Radford vs. Kauai (Vidinha Stadium, Kauai)

BIIF Mathematics, er, Division Championship Implications

You might as well give the first person to solve this BIIF Football Division 2 mathematical equation a state title.

Oh wait, that would be me.

On behalf of my iPhone's Calculator, newspaper archives and radio highlights, and my smart brain, I would humbly accept this prestigeous award of BIIF Football Mathematician of the Year.

Okay, all kidding aside, thats pretty much what it takes to figure out all of the tiebreakers for a possible Kamehameha win. You ready?

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 7 points or less, the Konawaena Wildcats are DII Overall Champions

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 8 points, it creates a 2nd tie between HPA and Konawaena

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 9-10 points, HPA is the 2nd round champion and would play Konawaena next week

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 11 points, it creates a 2nd tie between HPA and Kamehameha

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 12 points or more, Kamahemeha is the 2nd round champion and would play Kona next Friday.

Of course all of this means nothing if one thing happens:

KONAWAENA WINS

Good luck.

You can hear this matchup on Saturday beginning at 7 pm on ESPN Radio.

Hawaii was a big part of Election History

Credit: ElectiveDecisions.Wordpress.com

I was honored to sit inside of a studio, in front of a microphone, and turn on the microphone just after 6 pm on General Election Night to make the announcement that Senator Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii and played prep ball at Punahou who is the current senator of the state of Illinois, was projected to be the next president of the United States.

The last two presidents to represent this country have come from Sports backgrounds. President George W. Bush was the former owner of the Texas Rangers, and his parents often frequent Rangers Ballpark at Arlington. If Senator John McCain were to be voted in, he would've brought an athletic background as well, being a former wrestler and football player in his prep days.

As a first time presidential voter, I was excited to be one voice among millions in the history books, yet the nervousness of casting that first presidential ballot was very big as well. I was quivering as I filled out that electronic ballot machine because I knew the magnitude of what we had all gathered in many sites across the island and country to do.


Credit: KonaTimes.Blogspot.com

And of course, here on the Big Island, we would vote for the first new mayor of the County of Hawaii since Mayor Harry Kim took office two terms ago. I personally want to say a big Mahalo to both Billy Kenoi and K. Angel Pilago. Our reporter at Pilago HQ's, Claude Barnett, described this race as a "Gentelmen's Race" and that is very accurate. Supporters may have had their own things to say on blogs and in papers, but the two candidates were cordial, professional, and ran a positive, issues-oriented race. Young up-and-coming politicians (which I won't be, I'm sure) should take notes on how those campaigns operated and use that as an example.

Whether you were a first time voter, a long time voter, an off-and-oner, your voice was one of many who spoke loudly during the 2008 General Election. Thank you for being a part of the process.

Happy Halloween from ESPN Radio!

We may not be trick-or-treating tonight for Halloween, but at least we "tried" to get in the spirit of the day!


JE Orozco, BIIF Football Color Commentator, dressed as his man-crush Tony Romo. Someone please do a urine test, because I see some unusually large guns here.


Actually, they are number 3, in their only division. By the way, the costume needs a little addition. Like a pinky brace???
And speaking of the pinky brace...



Mike & Mike in the Morning as Batman (Golic...not to be confused with Fatman..lol) and Robin (Greeny...definitely fits the Boy Wonder mold)


Rocket Rod Pacheco, Play-by-Play guy and ultimate crummy-joke teller (I kid!) as a confused tourist. What he's holding in his right hand is a mini-size box of Milk Duds. I guess that goes along well someone who's confused, right? Sorry for the darkness of the quality. The back hallway in our office is pretty dark.


Aaron Yes-No-Maybe-SoNaka as Dwight Howard


JE didn't Aaron off on where to get the fake roids, apparently.


Just wanted to make sure you saw Aaron's cape to go along with the Howard jersey, circa the 2008 NBA All-Star Game


The Big Island's Famous Mason Souza, dressed up an overweight plumber, maybe Joe the Plumber, and making sure he picks his nose live on the air! Not pictured: The plunger that he brought in.

Coming soon, yours truly as Aaron Rodgers circa 2006!

Philadelphia Phillies World Champions!

Put aside the mess that was the television ratings of the World Series, the last three innings of the World Series proved to be memorable, especially if you are a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. In what turned into a shootout of a Game 5 ending, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays to win the Series 4-1.

This World Series had the local flair, as Shane Victorino of Maui, with Big Island Roots, not only played for the World Series Champs, but was a pivotal contender. The significance of his performance will mean something for his wallet, which I will get to in a second.

The storylines were compelling for this team: A much maligned closer pitching for redemption, who had not blown a save, and would keep it that way, an offense that could not drive in runners to save their lives for the first two games, a city that was so starved for a championship that they were turning from the "City of Brotherly Love" to the "City of Grumpy Whiners."

Now that the series is done, let's look forward:

Thanks to our good friends at the Hawaii Sports Page for passing along a link to a baseball blog which follows contracts of Major League Baseball players called Cot's Baseball Contracts. From that site comes the info they sent me:

Geoff Jenkins 5 Million
So Taguchi $900,000
Pedro Feliz $3 Million
Matt Stairs 1.6 million
Ryan Howard $10 million
Jimmy Rollins 8 million
Chase Utley 7.7 million

PLAYERS WHO MOST LIKELY WON'T BE BACK:

Pat Burrell of
6 years/$50M (2003-08)
6 years/$50M (2003-08)
avoided arbitration with Philadelphia 1/03
$1.5M signing bonus ($1M up front, $0.25M 1/04, $0.25M 1/05)
03:$1M, 04:$4M, 05:$7M, 06:$9.5M, 07:$13M, 08:$14M
full no-trade clause
award bonuses: $0.1M for MVP ($75,000 for 2nd, $50,000 for 3rd), $0.1M for WS MVP, $50,000 each for LCS MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger or All Star selection
5 years/$8M (1998-2002)
$3.15M signing bonus
98:$0.75M, 99:$0.75M, 00:$0.8M, 01:$1.275M, 02:$1.275M
drafted by Philadelphia 1998 (1-1)
agent: Greg Genske
ML service: 7.131

Jamie Moyer lhp
2 years/$10.5M (2007-08)
2 years/$10.5M (2007-08)
signed extension with Philadelphia 10/06
$1M signing bonus
07:$6M, 08:$3.5M
2008 salary increases to:
$4.5M with 170 IP in 2007
$5.5M with 180 IP in 2007 (had 199.3 IP in 2007)
2008 performance bonuses: $0.5M each for 165, 175, 185 IP in 2008
1 year/$5.5M (2006)
re-signed by Seattle as a free agent 12/05
performance bonuses: $0.2M each for 160, 170, 180, 190, 200 IP
acquired by Philadelphia in trade from Seattle 8/06
Phillies added $4.75M 2007 mutual option ($0.5M buyout)
Seattle paid undisclosed amount of cash to Philadelphia
3 years/$15.5M (2003-05)
re-signed 12/02
$1.5M signing bonus
03:$6M, 04:$6.5M, 05:$8M ($1.5M base)
performance bonuses: $6M based on GS, 2003-04)
award bonus: $50,000 for All Star selection
2 years/$12M (2000-01), plus 2002 club option ($2.5M buyout)
Seattle exercised $6.5M 2002 option
agent: negotiated own contract
ML service: 19.126

Add to that players that are likely to get raises before the start of next year:

Cole Hamels $500,000
Shane Victorino $480,000

Who knows what may happen here? Oh, Hawaii Sports Page also sent this little comment along on the Phils for next season:

But they still need a left
fielder.... Manny is your phone on?

Good luck with that.

NBA Star loses to ordinary Joe

I said on Wednesday's edition of "The Josh Pacheco Show" that I would put this up. The New Jersey Nets' Devin Harris was playing one-on-one with some average guy named Stuart Tanner. What you're about to see is Harris get a beatdown:



If you're the NBA, I would pretend that it never happened.

BIIF Girls Volleyball for the ages

Saturday Night on the campus of Konawaena High School, I was witness to the most exciting high school volleyball action of my life. Two championships were on the line, along with a Division II State Berth:

HONOKAA def. ST. JOSEPH 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 15-12

You had to believe that Honokaa was a tad bit fired up after their upset loss to the hands of the Lady Ka Makani of HPA (more on them in a little bit.)

Meanwhile, looking at St. Joseph for a second, their attack is very predictable. It's Chelbie-Lyn Hanohano, Chelbie-Lyn Hanohano, and more of the same. When she's in the backrow, that is when the team really struggles. Let's give credit to Hanohano for her exceptional play. The volleyball genes have certainly run in the family. But, she can't do it alone, and the longer a match wears on, the more tired she gets, and the less likely she's able to continue to produce at a high level. Shoddy serving did the Cardinals in at key moments as well, but give credit to Honoka'a for a TEAM effort. You may not be able to name a player on that squad, but I'm sure that's just how they like it.

Honoka'a joined Hilo and HPA as representatives of the BIIF at the state volleyball tournament from November 5th thru the 8th.

HILO def. HPA 25-15, 25-19, 14-25, 12-25, 20-18

Which Hilo team will we see when the state tournament comes around? The team who played Games 1, 2, and 5 in a dominating fashion, attacking the middle with success and playing great defense, or the team in Games 3 and 4 that made mental mistakes and couldn't handle the volleyball?

Give credit to Coach Brennan Wong for the Vikings. After Game 4, I was surprised to see how lose the team was. They didn't hang their heads at all, and actually seemed like they were in decent spirits. Coach Wong even told me after the match that the team needed that wake-up call. To blow games 3 and 4 in lop-sided fashion is tough to handle psychologially, and give the Viks credit for overcoming that.

And at the same time, give the same credit to the Ka Makani for not giving up and rallying back. Their confidence was there, they played cleaner volleyball, and did not quit. Coach Sharon Peterson told me that this is the best team she's had there at the private school, and it has showed. It didn't seem like anyone wanted to finish this match. It was a treat to watch this one.

This game will be re-aired Sunday night approximately 6:20 pm after Emily Gail Talks Golf on ESPN Radio. Because of the length of the World Series, the DII Championship didn't get on the air Saturday Night until the end of Game 3. We are re-airing it from beginning to end on Sunday night, and I should also have it online at a later date.

WAIAKEA def. KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAII 20-25, 20-25, 25-16, 28-26, 15-11

Just when you thought you couldn't top the first two distance matches, Waiakea's comeback may have topped it all.

The regular season matchup between these two teams went the distance, with Waiakea winning, thanks in part to a key Kamahemeha player going down to injury. No injuries here, but Waiakea certainly didn't quit after the first couple of games.

Hard to really pinpoint anything that Waiakea did differently, but I would say that their defense was a lot better later on the game, and the battle at the net shifted. Kamehameha won on the front line in the first couple of games, but not when it mattered.

It's amazing what a team has to do in order to stay unbeaten on a season. Both of these teams will represent the BIIF in the Division I State Tournament.

Big Trouble in Big D

Photo Credit: Fort-Worth Star Telegram


Boy, don't you just love the storylines coming from the Ranch after another poor Cowboy performance against the Arizona Cardinals, resulting in an overtime loss? Let's count the ways that the 'Boys are hurting big time:

- Tony Romo is out for 4 weeks due to a broken pinkie finger.

- LB Greg Ellis sounded off, saying, among other things, that he is "disappointed in the organization"

- And we still haven't forgotten about Adam Jones' situation, as the NFL is still investigating the incident, and captain Bradie James warned him not to alienate himself from the team.

Wow, let's shoot a special edition of "As The World Turns" from Valley Ranch. Also scheduled to appear in the Big D drama are the entire offensive line, as Tony Romo was knocked down 19 times in the game (no wonder he got hurt), Terrell Owens chewing out one of the offensive linemen for not doing his job of protecting his quarterback (no tears included, but I actually don't blame TO for being vocal there), Wade Phillips for coaching comparable to a job an Oompa Loompa could do, Jason Garrett as the Offensive Coordinator who makes more than the head coach and is sure to get the job once Wade Phillips is ushered out any time now, and Jerry Jones as the owner who loves it all.

Oh yeah. The Cowboys are only a mere 4-2!

4-2 is a pretty good record in the parity filled National Football League. But, here's why everyone's making a big deal of this:

Over the past three games, they were out-played by Washington, they somehow were playing with Cincinnati all four quarters of the game, when they should've had them beat by Halftime, and they merely woke up late out of bed against Arizona, while the Special Teams was atrocious (opening kickoff returned for TD, field goal blocked but nullified by own coach's timeout, punt block return for game winning touchdown).

They should be better. Now, we'll see if the forty-something Brad Johnson can lead them to victory.

A couple of weeks ago, I said that the cure for the common ailment in the National Football League was the Cincinnati Bengals. That only made them sicker. The St. Louis Rams just got their first win of the season, and they play the Dallas Jerry Jones' this weekend. Don't chalk this one up just yet.

NFL Picks for Week 6

Since we ran out of time on Thursday's program, I figured I'd make up for forgetting to make my Week 6 picks by putting them right here on the ESPNHawaii.com blog:

CAROLINA PANTHERS vs. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS - 7:00 am

I think it is a huge surprise right now that the Panthers are 4-1 and on top of the NFC South Division. Then again, when you look at the rest of that division:

ATLANTA (3-2)
TAMPA BAY (3-2)
NEW ORLEANS (2-3, easily could be 4-1)

DeAngelo Williams has been a great catalyst for the Panther ground game, helping Jake Delhomme (and helping my fantasy team)to expand this offense. But, being as how these two teams are very close in talent, I'll take the home team, the Bucs, to win by a field goal.

DALLAS COWBOYS vs. ARIZONA CARDINALS - 10:15 am

Cowboys fans beware! Pacman is up to no good again, T.O. is making more headlines for his tears and words than his catches and scores, and maybe more importantly, THEY JUST HAVEN'T PLAYED WELL LATELY! In the past two weeks, they lost at home to the Washington Colt's, er, Redskins and played un-inspired football at home against the Cincinnati Ocho Cinco's, er, Bengals. AT HOME! Imagine how they might play on the road!

With that said, the Cardinals are nice at 3-2, but Anquan Boldin is out because of the nasty hit he took against the Jets. Look for the Cowboys to be comfortable enough to double up Larry Fitzgerald because he is going to be the go-to guy. And, look for Kurt Warner to throw some picks. I'm taking Dallas by 10.

CHICAGO BEARS vs. ATLANTA FALCONS - 7:00 am

To be honest, I'm a little biased. Those damn Falcons beat my Packers last week at Lambeau, so I'm still a little steamed. Outside of that, this will be a fun game to watch. There are a couple of rookies on display that you should be paying attention to. Rookie QB Matt Ryan has been good for the most part, and has a good ground game to compliment his air attack. And speaking of the ground game, Bears rookie runner Matt Forte has been a big surprise (I would say a 'pleasant' surprise, but I'm a Green Bay fan, remember?) for the oft-doubted Windy City offense. And Kyle Orton, speaking of oft-doubted, is coming off of a career game. Chicago by 9.

Can't leave the blog without a bonus pick:

LOUISIANA TECH vs. HAWAII - 5:59 pm Saturday

Again, I can't afford the PPV. Plus, it looks like I'm going to Waikoloa to see Styx at the Grand Ballroom (and take a mini-vacation). I think Hawaii is flat out a better team than La Tech, but we all said it last year when they went up to Rustin, and they needed overtime to beat the team from the Boot State. I think Hawaii wins the homecoming showdown by 7.

TO RECAP

Tampa Bay over Carolina by 3
Dallas beats Arizona by 10
Chicago downs Atlanta by 9

AND THE BONUS...

Hawaii over Louisiana Tech by 7

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Show's back on the air on Tuesday due to Major League Baseball...so far, we have lined up the NFL Week 6 Rewind, Daniel Brock of the West Hawaii Today, MMA Talk with Luke Thomas of MMA Blog BloodyElbow.com, and more. I'll leave you today with this...

Just to clear any confusion on the BIIF Football Championship Race

Many of you read the article from Kevin Jakahi in the Big Island Papers on the BIIF Football 1st Half Champions Race. I read from it, and I was wrong because the information was wrong. Thank you to Lyle Crozier, the interim Executive Director of the BIIF for clarifying things for our listeners and for myself on the program.

In case you missed it, here is the procedure on how it would work and the scenarios in play tonight:

Division 1: Kealakehe 3-0, Kea'au 2-1, Honoka'a 2-1

- If Kealakehe wins over Keaau - Kealakehe is first half D1 Champion

- If Keaau wins over Kealakehe, and Honokaa beats Waiakea - First half champion would be determined by a point differential tiebreaker between Kealakehe, Keaau, and Honokaa

- If Keaau wins over Kealakehe, and Waiakea beats Honokaa - Keaau would be First Half champion based on head-to-head tiebreaker with Kealakehe

UPDATE: Honoka'a loses to Waiakea on Friday night 14-0, so they are eliminated from the first-half crown picture. Tonight's Kealakehe / Kea'au game on ESPN Radio will determine the first half champion.

UPDATE #2: As heard on Saturday night here on ESPN Radio, Kealakehe's 27 - 13 win over Kea'au gives the Waveriders the first-half championship, as they finished the first half 4-0, to Kea'au's 2-2 and Honokaa's 2-2.

Division 2: Konawaena 3-0, HPA 2-1, Kohala 3-1

- If Konawaena beats HPA - Konawaena is the First Half D2 Champion

- If HPA beats Konawaena - First half champion would be determined by point differential tiebreaker between HPA, Konawaena, and Kohala

Kohala has a bye week this week, and have decided to not play a game, so they will wait for HPA and Konawaena to duke it out.

UPDATE: HPA beat Konawaena 12-0 on Saturday at HPA, but because of the point differential between the three teams in question (HPA, Konawaena, Kohala), Konawaena takes that tie-breaker to get the first half title. Here's the numbers:

Konawaena: 40-6 W over Kohala, 12-0 Loss to HPA (40 PF, 18 PA = +22 Point Differential)

HPA: 12-7 Loss to Kohala, 12-0 Win over Konawaena (19 PF, 7 PA = +12 Point Differential)

Kohala: 40-6 loss to Konawaena, 12-7 Win over HPA (18 PF, 47 PA = -29 Point Differential)

All that equals a Konawaena first half championship.

That begs the question: Should point spreads be used to determine champions?

ALDS Live Blog: Chicago vs. Tampa Bay

So many storylines to follow here for this ALDS Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays. Hmm, let's see....Ken Griffey Jr. (pictured above, Thanks to the Chicago Tribune) with his son. He hasn't been to the playoffs for over a decade. What about the entire White Sox team. They did something that had never been done before just to get here. They beat three opponents in three days to earn their spot.

OH, and those pesky Tampa Bay Rays. First playoff appearance in the franchise's 10 year history. And all they did was just take the devil out of the name. How simple! All kidding aside, it was more than just the devil. A good mix of players and a manager who held them all together. And they were only the best in the East division, which also includes the Yankees and Red Sox.

Some storylines, huh?

WHERE: Tropicana Field - St. Petersburg, FL
TBS Television Broadcasters: Don Orsillo and Harold Reynolds
ESPN Radio Announcers: Gary Thorne and Chris Singleton

PREDICTION: I'm not really sure where to go on this one, but I'm someone who looks at pitching as key, especially when you have a team that has never been to the playoffs before. The Rays have James Shields. Not their ace, and not someone with big time playoff experience. Javier Vasquez does have the experience and can be considered one of a group of aces on the White Sox staff. I'm going Chicago in game one.

By the way, management has told me that we are joining the game in-progress on-air at 9 am (Honolulu is joining at 10 am, so I guess it isn't so bad). I'll be keeping the blog updated as the game goes along, however, so you don't miss anything here.

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And we are underway! James Shields off to a great start for the Rays, getting his first strikeout of the postseason to DeWayne Wise for the second out after a fly out. Jermaine Dye grounds out, and a 1-2-3 inning for Shields!

Javier Vasquez off to a great start in the opening frame. A couple of quick outs to Iwamura and Upton (I think he hustled) and now the team's best power hitter, Carlos Pena. Vasquez was criticized by his Manager, Ozzie "The Mouth" Guillen after his last start of the regular season. Pena strikes out and the inning is over.

AFTER ONE INNING: Chicago 0, Tampa Bay 0

To the second inning, and the Home Run hero from the AL Central tiebreaker Jim Thome is up first. The 38 year old has set some home-run milestones this year, and whether you believe it is juiced or not, this has been a comeback in regards to numbers. He grounds to short, however, for the first out.

Konerko grounds out on one pitch for the second out. I wonder how much better this team would be if a healthy Carlos Quentin was in the lineup. He had a MVP-like year for Chicago until he went down with a bum wrist. Shields strikes out Griffey on a changeup way out of the strikezone, and we head to the second with no score!

Bottom of the second, and the Rookie of the Year (in my opinion) is at the plate in Evan Longoria. And the first ever playoff homer at the Trop! Evan Longoria knocks one out to left center for the first run of the game. 1-0 Tampa!

Let's see how Javier Vasquez reacts to giving up the homer. Gets Carl Crawford on a foul tip for the strikeout, and then Cliff Floyd flailing away for the second out. Navarro gets a double on a tough pop up for the defense. Give credit to Navarro for hustling out the two-bagger when he easily could've just jogged like he believed it would be an easy out. Gross strikesout to strand Navarro in scoring position, but the damage is done from Evan Longoria!

AFTER TWO INNINGS: Chicago 0, Tampa Bay 1

Our first injury storyline comes here in the third as Carlos Pena leaves the game. Gary Thorne just said that Pena was hit in the throat with a practice ground ball from, of all people, Evan Longoria earlier in the game. Willy Aybar comes in to play at first, and that is a HUGE power bat out of the lineup early on.

ROY Runner-Up Alexei Ramirez with a single, followed up by a Pierzynski single to put a couple of runners on as the White Sox try to answer the Rays homer. Uribe moves both runners into scoring position on the sacrifice bunt, and now Orlando Cabrera with his enormous amount of playoff experience with the Angels and Red Sox steps up. And Shields gets him to pop-up to second! Big at-bat for the Rays starter.

HOME RUN! DeWayne Wise, the fill-in for Carlos Quentin, hits a 3-Run Homer! White Sox go up 3-1 here in the 3rd....what a clutch at-bat! What a way to send Tropicana Field's fans from a frenzy with the Longoria shot to a huge low with Wise's crack. And now, Dye picks up a double to deep left-center. Shields is really shaky right now. Someone might wanna go out and talk to him. And almost on cue, the pitching coach comes out to chat.

Thome grounds out and the inning is finally over. But, DeWayne Wise turns this game around for Chicago to make it 3-1!

***Just an FYI, the live blog takes a break just before 10 am for a little bit. Yours truly is filling in for Jill Taylor on the KBIG-FM Middays. There is a possibility that I may have a guest live blogger for the time being.***

Bartlett bounces one by third to get on base to start the inning, followed by an Iwamura swat to deep center that bounces off the wall! Akinori goes for a triple as Bartlett goes home and the Rays get within one. 3-2 Chicago!

Strikeout on Upton by Vasquez, and Javier has a lot of work to do to keep that tying run from coming in at third. I'm surprised that the infield is coming in here in the 3rd inning. Aybar hitting for the first time and immediately makes a difference with the fly ball deep enough to left field to drive in Iwamura. 3-3 Tie! That was a close play at the plate. Good throw by Wise.

WHAT!?!? Longoria goes out again! Down the left field line and Longoria hits his second home run! 4-3 Tampa Bay!

I have a feeling that Javier Vasquez won't be lasting too much longer for the White Sox. He's been tagged over the past inning plus. Carl Crawford up, hard to top the act that Longoria has put up so far. Crawford flies out and ends the inning, but the Rays answer the 3-Run White Sox inning with three of their own!

AFTER THREE INNINGS: Chicago 3, Tampa Bay 4

USELESS STAT OF THE NIGHT: Evan Longoria is the youngest 3B since 1951 to hit two home runs in his game. Good work.

INJURY UPDATE: Slightly blurred vision in the left eye of Carlos Pena has knocked him out. He suffered the injury at home last night. Yikes. How many times have we heard of injuries suffered outside of the game (a la Monta Ellis moped incident) that has cost players some time? Hope Pena is okay.

Shields starts this half of the inning with a strikeout to Konerko looking and a Griffey grounder, and now working hard against Rookie Alexei Ramirez to try to end this frame. Gets a grounder to first and Shields retires the side!

To the bottom of the frame we go, and this is an important recovery inning for Javier Vasquez. The offense for Chicago will get more runs, I'm sure. But can the pitching staff hold down the Rays attack? Cliff Floyd strikes out for out number one.

Navarro up, and he doubled his first time up, but he pops up here. I didn't realize that Vasquez already has six strikeouts. Maybe the trouble has outweighed the K's so far. He's close to walking Gabe Gross, however. And there it is.

USELESS STAT ALERT: Evan Longoria is the first player in MLB Postseason history to hit home runs in his first two postseason at-bat's

Nice aggressive base running by Gabe Gross to steal 2nd with two down. Bartlett pops up and the inning is over. We're done with four!

AFTER FOUR INNINGS: Chicago 3, Tampa Bay 4

***BREAK TIME: Gotta fill in on the KBIG FM Mid-days. Be back in a little bit!***

Alright, we're back, and what did we miss?

SCORING PLAYS:

5th - Evan Longoria RBI Single followed by a Carl Crawford RBI base knock

AFTER SIX INNINGS: Chicago 3, Tampa Bay 6

James Shields has loaded the bases thanks to a walk, HBP, and a single, and his night is over. Grant Balfour has two outs to keep all of the runners on base, and Juan Uribe is the first man to face him. And Balfour delivers with a key strikeout to keep em loaded with two down!

Uh-oh. Tempers are flaring! Grant Balfour and Orlando Cabrera are kicking dirt and yelling at one another. I'm not sure what may have happened there, but it's the playoffs, and this is the time where emotions come out!

WOW! Balfour strikes out Cabrera! Now Ozzie Guillen is screaming at his players to get control of themselves. Yeah, he should be one to talk, right? Balfour saves the day for Shields and the Rays still lead by 3!

***PROGRAMMING NOTE*** Tomorrow on "The Josh Pacheco Show", BYU-Hawaii Women's Volleyball coach (and Laupahoehoe alum) Wilfred Navalta joins us to preview the matchup against Hawaii-Hilo, and Rosey Rosenthal calls in to talk BIIF Football. We run until 11:35 am as we will have Game 2 of the ALDS between these two teams.

Bottom 7, and BJ Upton goes after a slider in on him, and flies to right. One down. Nice stab by Uribe to get Aybar, and now comes the game's star, Evan Longoria, who's driven in three runs! And, to be expected with a nice sized Rays lead, Longoria gets walked to bring up Carl Crawford.

Also, not to be surprised at this, but Ozzie Guillen jawing at Rays fans. Who doesn't he jaw at?

Longoria nearly caught in a run down, but it's been his night tonight. Konerko could release the ball from first, and Longoria steals second. Crawford grounds out to end the inning and strand Longoria.

AFTER SEVEN INNINGS: Chicago 3, Tampa Bay 6

***One more break on the live blog...gotta go to the bank***

That's it! Dan Wheeler made this one interesting, but Tampa Bay holds on to win 6-4!

Milwaukee and Philadephia coming up in about 15 minutes. Thanks for logging on!

NLDS Live Blog: Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia

Photo Credit: Associated Press

We are at that time, everyone! Postseason baseball! We kick off the postseason with an NLDS matchup between the Wild Card Champion Milwaukee Brewers and the NL East Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Here's what you need to know

WHERE: Citizen's Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
TBS Television Announcers: Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson, and John Smoltz
ESPN Radio Announcers: Michael Kay and Steve Phillips

PREDICTION: Phillies should win game one. I don't like the Brew Crew with Gallardo on the mound, but that's what happens when you have to put your big name pitchers on the mound toward the end of the year to make sure you get in the playoffs first. But, looking at it right now, Yovani Gallardo vs. Cole Hamels? I don't know many people that would pick Gallardo here.

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PRE-GAME STUFFS:

In case you need a guide to help you cram for this NLDS Series between the Brew Crew and the Fightin' Phils, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt and Anthony Witrado did a position-by-position breakdown here, and not to my surprise, they aren't biased. If you check out the breakdowns, the Phillies should dominate the series against Milwaukee. But the big key will be pitching. Can anyone else step up besides CC for the Brewers?

BREWERS BATTING ORDER:
1. Mike Cameron, CF (0-3, 2 K's, BB)
2. Bill Hall, 3B (0-3, K)
-----Ray Durham, PH (1-1, 1B, R)
3. Ryan Braun, LF (1-3, 2B, K)
4. Prince Fielder, 1B (0-4, 3 K's)
5. J.J. Hardy, SS (0-3, BB)
6. Corey Hart, RF (1-4, 1B, K)
7. Ricky Weeks, 2B (0-2, 2 K's)
-----Carlos Villanueva, P
-----Tony Gwynn Jr., PH (0-1)
-----Manny Parra, P
8. Jason Kendall, C (0-3, 2 K's)
9. Yovani Gallardo, P (0-1)
-----Mitch Stetter, P
-----Craig Counsell, 2B (1-2, 1B)

BREWERS PITCHING:

Yovani Gallardo (R)- 4 IP, 3 R (0 ER), 3 Hits, 3 K's, 5 Walks
Mitch Stetter (L) - 0.2 IP, 1 Strikeout
Carlos Villanueva (R) - 2.1 IP, 3 Strikeouts
Manny Parra (L) - 0.2 IP, 1 Walk, 1 Hit
Guillermo Mota (R) -

PHILLIES BATTING ORDER:

1. Jimmy Rollins, SS (1-4, 1B, K)
2. Jayson Werth, RF (0-4, 3 K's)
3. Chase Utley, 2B (1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R)
4. Ryan Howard, 1B (0-1, K, 3 BB)
5. Pat Burrell, LF (0-2, GIDP, BB)
-----Eric Bruntlett, LF (1-1, 1B)
6. Shane Victorino, CF (0-2, 2 BB, RBI, SB)
7. Pedro Feliz, 3B (0-3)
8. Carlos Ruiz, C (1-4, 1B, R)
9. Cole Hamels, P (0-2, Sacrifice Bunt, Reaches on E4, R, 2 K's)

PHILLIES PITCHING:

Cole Hamels (L) - 8 Innings, 2 Hits, 9 K's 1 Walk
Brad Lidge (R)

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Last thing I wanted to hear from Michael Kay is that there's a chance that we could have some kind of weather problem that could affect this game. "Ugly clouds"...as opposed to nice clouds?

Good start for Cole Hamels as he gets the strikeout on Mike Cameron and Ryan Braun to help complete a 1-2-3 inning start the game.

Gallardo up in the Bottom of the inning. He's got a tough assignment with a lot of pressure on him. For a pitcher who hasn't thrown much coming in, this is as big as it is going to get.

And Gallardo responds with a strikeout of his own to help lead to a 1-2-3 inning to keep it nodded at nothing as we quickly move to the 2nd!

END OF FIRST: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 0

Cole Hamels is looking fantastic so far. Four strikeouts, including his latest to Prince Fielder. And, maybe more importantly, he is working very quickly. As has been mentioned by Michael Kay, and I'm sure by the TBS guys, 3:00 local time is looking more like it is 6 or 7 pm with the dark clouds and the threat of rain. So, it is very important for Cole to work as quickly as possible. Same for Yovani.

Another 1-2-3 inning for Cole Hamels. He's definitely dialed in with the crowd here in Game 1.

First little mistake made by Gallardo with the walk to Ryan Howard. Then again, that might not be that bad of a mistake, especially because Howard can knock one out if you leave him a mistake pitch.

And Yovani quickly helps erase that mistake as Burrell grouds into a 6-3 douple play. But, he quickly walks Shane Victorino on four pitches to put the base-stealing threat on the basepaths. You think watching Hamels dominate is psyching him out a little bit?

Yovani gets a hard ground out from Pedro Feliz to end the inning without any further trouble. 2 innings complete in 27 minutes. Maybe I might have time to do a quick show before the pre-game of the Dodgers game?

END OF SECOND: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 0

We're still looking for our first hit of the game, and it doesn't appear that we are going to get it anytime soon as K-ole Hamels picks up strikeout number 4 with Weeks. Struckout with a pitch out of the strike zone.

Watching TBS Hot Corner along with the radio broadcast (Hot Corner is way behind) and I can see how dark it is. It doesn't look like it is 3:40 pm Eastern Time. I really hope we don't get a rain delay, because my goal is that we get to hear the start of the Dodgers game.

Nearly our first run of the game as the pitcher Gallardo, yes, the pitcher, sends one to the warning track to Burrell before the wind keeps it in the ball park. I have a feeling that the first to two runs will win the game.

8-9-1 hitters up for the Fightin Phils here in the bottom of the third. 26 pitches for Gallardo thus far, and he gives up the first hit of the game to Carlos Ruiz. The great thing about NL baseball is that the strategy comes in with the pitchers spot.

We see the bunt, and we get our first error! Weeks can't hang on and Philly is charging with two on and nobody out. I think we've kinda forgotten how bad the infield has been this year for the Brewers here. Weeks covered first on the bunt defense and thats a tough error to have. Tough for a young pitcher on the mound to work with in a pressure spot.

Rollins up, and you would expect him to bunt, right? Nope...fly ball. Bad at-bat especially with the wind and the lack of offense so far. Just move em over, but he doesn't. Let's see if that comes back to bite Philadelphia.

BIG strikeout by Gallardo getting Werth to make this scoring threat look like less of an issue. Chase Utley is always a tough out, however, and he doesn't strikeout, so he will usually just put one in play.

Line drive to right-center and Mike Cameron can't hold on to the tough flyball. He falls, ball falls, Ruiz and Hamels comes in to score to make it 2-0. Ruled a double for Chase Utley. Intentional walk to Howard to make sure he doesn't extend this lead, and now comes Pat Burrell.

Burrell walks to load the bases and then Gallardo struggles to walk Victorino and walk in a run. The struggles of putting a young guy on the mound in a pressure game. Feliz flies out, nine men to the plate, and finally the inning is over.

END OF THIRD: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

Rough stretch for Gallardo in the 3rd. He's thrown 61 pitches through 3, 29 for strikes. Add in the 5 walks and the three runs allowed, and you have a recipe for a possible short night for Yovani. And let's also remember that the Brewer bullpen has been less than stellar this year. Uh-oh!

Meanwhile, Cole Hamels is just business as usual. Four perfect innings in 44 pitches, 30 of them for strikes. Pressure back on Gallardo as we head to the bottom of the inning.

BIG regroup inning for Gallardo, and Carlos Ruiz helps out by bunting it right to him. BUNT? The pitcher is on deck, you decide to do something that doesn't play to your strength! Very very questionable.

Gallardo gets the strikeout to his opposite number and now faces Rollins. Rollins can frustrate pitchers, and with Gallardo's expected pitch limit to 85, he might want to be aggressive to Rollins to end this inning quickly.

Rollins gets a single, pitch right over the upper part of the plate. Rollins knows how to handle those, and now we will see how Yovani handles it. Rollins has 47 stolen bases this year in 50 attempts. Pitch count now over 70 and climbing. I don't think he wants this inning to extend with Utley coming up, and he forces a pop up in foul ground.

END OF FOURTH: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

Cole Hamels continues the hot streak right now as he sets down Prince Fielder for the second time. Changeup right below the zone and a tad away. 5 Stikeouts for Hamels as he is still perfect.

Hamels had to work a little bit against JJ Hardy, but ended up inducing the ground ball to Jimmy Rollins, who is one of the best at the position.

First hit of the game for the Brewers as Corey Hart got a base knock to right field. On 7 days rest, 14 straight retired to start the game for Hamels before that hit. you know we shouldn't have uttered the word "Perfect"...I think that did it. You know my rule. No one should start on perfection until the 7th or 8th inning. But, he recovers with a strikeout and ends the inning.

Mitch Stetter is the new pitcher for the Brew Crew. You can see Gallardo's line in the constantly updated Box Score above. And Stetter gets the first out on Utley with a ground ball.

Watching Stetter's delivery, it's more of a side-arm than a submarine delivery. With Stetter's slider, left handers might be caught off guard. The slider might start out like it's going right at him, and then it will break toward the plate. Stetter's got more of a chance against Lefty hitters than most might think.

Told you the slider was effective. He got the big lefty on the slider, and now he is done. Double switch coming up.

Villanueva comes in and in two pitches, gets the out on Burrell to end the inning. By the way, on the double switch, Craig Counsell goes over to 2nd to replace Weeks.

AFTER FIVE INNINGS: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

Still working on a quick pace as we go to the sixth, and no better way to start the inning than strikeout number 7 on Jason Kendall on a pitch on the outer half of the plate, maybe a little bit outside.

Double switch is looking good as Counsell gets a base knock, only the second hit for Milwaukee in the game. Let's see if Counsell goes to put pressure on Hamels. Craig is 3-4 on stolen base attempts.

Uh-oh. Hamels is starting to fly open a little bit. Tough walk to Cameron, and now there is two on with one out for the streaky Bill Hall. Ball four to Cameron didn't miss by too much, but the Home plate umpire is holding a tight strike zone right now.

Hamels regroups well to get the strikeout on Hall, who is known to strike out a lot. A Ryan Braun pop-up follows, and Cole Hamels escapes possible trouble to strand the two runners on base.

***REMINDER: Game One of the ALDS is up at 3:35 pm between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell have the call. Our own Keith Vachon of KBIG FM is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. If you're bored, call up the KBIG request line when he is on the air to tell him the score!***

1-2-3 inning for Villanueva. Good solid inning and a third for Carlos to try to keep Milwaukee in this one with 4-5-6 in the order due up.

AFTER SIX INNINGS: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

As we start the 7th, and Hamels gets fielder on one pitch, let's see how much longer the Phils go with Hamels. Cole is due up first in the next inning. If Hamels continues his solid performance, I think he will be hitting after the 7th inning stretch.

Nice play by Feliz at 3B with the diving stab and the throw to keep this inning quick. And then Hardy in one pitch. If I'm not mistaken, this was a 4 or 5 pitch inning.

We apologize for the technical difficulties. I don't think it was an US thing. Satellites have issues every once in a while.

The Brewer bullpen has been criticized over the past couple of months, but they have been outstanding thus far. Stetter was good in his 2/3 of an inning, and Villanueva since has been fantastic including strikeouts of the last two hitters and a swinging strikeout to end the inning. 2 1/3 innings for Villanueva and outstanding results.

AFTER SEVEN INNINGS: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

To the eighth inning, and the Brewers hitters are giving this one away. Great stat by Michael Kay, as they committed four outs in six innings. When you're down by 3, the last thing you should be doing is chasing first pitches and getting desperate.

What's also important here is if the Brewers don't get someone on base, Fielder and Hardy may not get a chance to hit in the 9th.

Yet ANOTHER strikeout by Cole Hamels with a changeup knocking out Jason Kendall. 9 Strikeouts by Hamels to this point, and a groundout will end the inning. 8 in a row set down by Cole!

Back to the bullpen for the bottom of the 8th and the talented, yet sometimes intimidated lefty Manny Parra. The Brewers bullpen so far has worked 3 innings of perfect baseball, but tough time for Parra as he has to face the heart of the order.

Utley grounds out, and it reminds me that the Philly offense hasn't done much tonight outside of the three run third. The Fightin Phils only have three hits in the game and two of those hits came in that third inning.

Walk to Howard, and that's the first baserunner allowed by the bullpen. Meanwhile, an infield single by Eric Bruntlett puts a couple of runners on as the Phillies will try to extend this one.

With Victorino extending the game, the Brewers will go to the pen for their 5th pitcher, Guillermo Mota. If Howard scores, you could put this one in the books and re-focus to game two.

***PROGRAMMING NOTE*** The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs follow this game on ESPN Radio. We won't be live blogging this one, but you can listen to the game as the middle part of our doubleheader.

Victorino gets the uncontested stolen base as this Feliz at-bat becomes more important. Two in scoring position so a base hit drives them both home. And Feliz pops up, great play by Counsell at 2B to snare it and end the inning. Crunch time coming up for the Brewers!

END OF EIGHTH: Milwaukee 0, Philadelphia 3

To the bullpen we go for the first time and the National League Comeback Player of the Year Brad Lidge. I personally don't think he deserves it, and I think it should go to Fernando Tatis, but that is just me. Lidge has been great, though. 41 for 41 in Save Opportunities this year.

Cameron caught looking at a fastball over the heart of the plate! What are you thinking! Phils' two outs away from taking Game 1.

Veteran Ray Durham pinch hits for Bill Hall and gets on base for Ryan Braun. Big at-bat's coming here because Bruan and Fielder both have power that could tie this game.

Ryan Braun comes through in the clutch with a double down the right field line. Utley has trouble with the throw, Durham scores, and now we have a ball game here at the Bank in Philly. Error charged to Utley, taking away the RBI

Why do you pitch to Prince Fielder? Fielder represents the tying run at the plate here. Who would you rather have beat you? Fielder or JJ Hardy? I would choose Hardy here.

WOW! Fielder strikes out for the third time tonight! So much for second guessing the decision to pitch to the big man. Phils one out away from the win.

Great job by JJ Hardy being patient and forcing the walk, which brings the go-ahead run to the plate in Corey Hart, who is hitless against Lidge.

Oh boy. Could the old Brad Lidge be breaking in to the playoffs? Wild pitch moves both runners into scoring position.

LIDGE RECOVERS! Strikeout on Hart ends the ball game. It was looking real tight for a moment, but the Phils win a playoff game for the first time since 1993!

FINAL SCORE: PHILADELPHIA 3, Milwaukee 1 (PHI leads 1-0)

Thanks for reading the live blog. We're back tomorrow for two here at ESPNHawaii.com!

MLB Postseason Live Blogs!

As many of you know, I'm taking Wednesday and Thursday off, as well as the last 25 minutes on Friday, so ESPN Radio can bring you live coverage of the 2008 MLB Postseason. But, that doesn't mean I'm not working. I do have to be here in the office, and that means I need something to do. So, during select games of the 2008 MLB Postseason, I'll come here and start live-blogs during the action in case you are watching the game or listening to it along with the rest of our audience. The live-blog schedule will be as follows:

Wednesday:

8:35 am - NLDS Game 1: Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia

Thursday:

8:00 am - ALDS Game 1: MIN / CWS vs. Tampa Bay


If we get bumped next week for one of the NLCS / ALCS games, we'll do the same thing, so I'll keep you posted.

Best Football Catch Ever?

Let's start the debate: Best Catch Ever? You Decide.

Please don't dirty the kids minds, Greg Oden

Came across this via Awful Announcing and Hard For The Yard in what has to be the most disturbing piece of Karaoke I have ever seen.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Greg Oden:




That, my friends, was a song originally done from has-been boy band *NSync.

And if you knew that, shame on you.

Whew! That was close...

Before I even blog about the Weber State / Hawaii game, I did want to mention very quickly how much of a headache I had earlier from the countless hours I spent watching college football today. I would say I spent almost 9 hours on college football, jumping from game to game. Even for a "sports guy," that can be quite a bit.



Luckily for me, I have this cool thing called High Definition Television, and with it came this channel that showed a concert from one of my favorite bands of all time, Dave Matthews Band. If you are a DMB fanatic, or are just a fan of good music, I strongly suggest you check this out. It was on the Palladia channel on Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

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It looks like the Tyler Graunke era begins sooner rather than later at the University of Hawaii.

And when I meant later, I was meaning Week Four of this season.

After Inoke Funaki went down with a reported concussion, and the Warriors had given up 14 straight points at the end of the 1st half to trail by 10 to the Football Championship Subdivision Weber State team, Graunke was inserted to start the second half and was flat out fabulous.

Graunke finished with a quarterback rating of 206 (I still don't really know the math behind that), threw for 218 yds and had 3 passing touchdowns.

Inoke Funaki wasn't BAD, but its just that the offense didn't move with him at the helm. With Graunke out there, things were exciting again, and the Warriors seemed to have an easy time hitting paydirt.

I guess this means we will have our third different starting quarterback in three weeks as Tyler should get the nod against the 0-2 Beavers, who were demolished in Happy Valley by JoPa's Nittany Lions, which leads me to some other college football notes.

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- Excessive Celebration? Seems to me we have excessive amounts of stupid rules.

The referees MIGHT HAVE cost the Washington Huskies a chance to win over #15 BYU on Saturday, when Jake Locker was called for Excessive Celebration after his touchdown to get his team within a point.

I emphasize the IF factor because we don't know if BYU would have blocked the extra point attempt from the regular distance, so Washington didn't totally get robbed.

But, back to the point. Under the letter of the NCAA's Rules and Interpretations, if you toss the ball up in the air in a celebration, that can be interpreted as part of an excessive celebration. Locker indeed threw the ball up in the air in celebratory fashion, so he was penalized.

Should that really be a penalty, though? I can see this called in High School, because we want to teach Sportsmanship and goodwill to the young moldable athletes. In college, different story. While based on the letter of the law, the referees made the right call, its a call that shouldn't have to be made in the first place.

- ECU upsets another Top 25 foe, this time Top 10 West Virginia

Whatever, Daniel Brock. You've got a surprise coming your way on Monday's show.

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By the way, for those of you who missed Friday Night's BIIF Game of the Week between the Honokaa Dragons and the Hilo Vikings, click here

Regroup Time for the Warriors against Weber State

(Photo Credit - Associated Press)

The Warriors 56-10 loss to the Florida Gators? Not surprising.

I think we all knew this was coming. Whether you are a Warrior Fan or not, you know that the Gators are a darn good football team.

But, it seems like we are back to square one with the most important position on the football team: Quarterback.

On "The Coach Mack Show" on KGMB9, Coach Greg McMackin announced that Inoke Funaki would get the start against Weber State. Coach Mack admitted that Brent Rausch and Greg Alexander still were inexperienced with the system and needed a little more time, which begged the question of why Alexander started, and why Rausch was originally considered the starter in the first place.

Let's get positive, though. What's the best medicine for a hangover after a loss to a Top 10 team on the road in blowout fashion?

Weber State.

Sure, Weber State did beat Montana-Western 62-6 in their season opener, but the Football Championship Subdivision is much different than the Football Bowl Subdivision. Expect a blowout at Aloha Stadium this coming weekend.

USA Wins Gold in Men's Basketball

If you don't have Digital Cable, then you are going to have to wait to see an EPIC of a basketball game. USA beats Spain in a thriller 118-107 to take home the gold in the games of the 29th Olympiad. Three things you should know from tonight's game:

1) The USA's 2-point shooting down the stretch was a big key. Guys like Kobe, Wade, and Deron Williams all have experience on their own NBA teams to make big shots in key moments. So imagine when they are all on the same team hitting those same shots? That's what we saw throughout, especially with Wade in the 1st Half and the 4th Quarter, and Bryant in the 2nd half.

2) Let's give Spain a lot of credit for the way they played. After losing by 37 to the US in pool play, they came out spirited, with a chip on their shoulder, and with no fear. Timely defense, three point shots, and amazing dunks and runners kept this team in the game. In the end, however, USA was too quick and tough.

3) The FIBA officials who worked this game were horrendous. There was a shot of NBA Commissioner David Stern in the stands and I'm sure he was thinking "and they thought our officials were bad! These guys stink! And they aren't even fixing the game!" That was the only part of the game that was embarassing.

As I said earlier, this was an instant classic. This game had me jumping out of my seat, making a ton of noise, and watching every single second. Congratulations to the Redeem Team!

Bud Light / ESPN Radio Ultimate Cruise Party - EAST HAWAII FINALS!

RIP Gene Upshaw 1945-2008

The NFL World lost one of its ambassadors today, as Gene Upshaw died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 63. I wanna touch on cancer issue first before I get to his NFL career.

Imagine being a family member of Upshaw's, finding out four days ago that your loved one was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and then all of a sudden, he is no longer with you. I can't imagine that, and I've been so fortunate that I have never been put in either side of that situation. Many others have not been so fortunate.

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine lost her mother to Pancreatic Cancer. Unlike Upshaw's bout, this bout lasted for a long time. I don't exactly know how long, but it was a sad situation for far too long. She was one of the nicest people you would ever meet in your life. And I'm not just saying that because of her passing, but I firmly believed it. We may not have spoken a lot, but everytime we did, she was a joy to be around. She had a great smile and a wonderful personality. Her kids definitely were raised by a wonderful person, and it shows. She will be missed.

Back to Upshaw. I think many people may know of his career. 15 years, all with the Oakland Raiders, to go along with 3 Super Bowl appearances in 3 different decades. He was one of the best Offensive Lineman the game has seen, a hall of famer on and off the field. Raiders owner Al Davis said that the community lost a "great man."

Let's just put that in perspective. Yes, we lost a great football player and a leader of the players organization. But, we also lost a husband, a father, and a great guy. Gene will be missed.

Where China has crossed the line...

Came across this story in the Honolulu Advertiser today....

Two elderly Chinese women who applied to hold a protest during the Olympics were ordered to spend a year in a labor camp, a relative said Wednesday.

Ok, while that sounds a bit tame, here's where it starts to bother me...

Li said no cause was given for the order to imprison his 79-year-old mother, Wu Dianyuan, and her neighbor Wang Xiuying, 77.

"Wang Xiuying is almost blind and disabled. What sort of re-education through labor can she serve?" Li said in a telephone interview.

Here's what we know for a fact: China's "setup" of protest zones has been a bunch of BS. 77 protest applications sent in, and NONE allowed. China's promised open media journalism...that's not happening either...

The four unfurled a Tibetan flag and shouted "Free Tibet" south of the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said. It put the number of police at 50; a spokeswoman for the Beijing Public Security Bureau declined comment.

"The fact that there were so many undercover police following them it just made them go with the action urgently," said Kate Woznow, the group's campaigns director.

Two Associated Press photographers were roughed up by plainclothes security officers, forced into cars and taken to a nearby building where they were questioned before being released. Memory cards from their cameras were confiscated.

I have a major problem with broken promises and unfair treatment. I understand that different countries have different ideals philosophies, but these are basic things that are being messed with.

It's sad to me how a country operates when it's own citizens, who are sheltered from hearing a lot of the negative already, are applying for protests. It's too bad that these issues will continue to be talked about during what has been a historic Olympic Games

Jam-Packed Show Today on ESPN Radio

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn.

That's kinda how I feel right now, after a 4 am wake up call to get to the studio at 5 am. Normally, on any day, this is an achievable feat, as I have done morning FM Radio and Morning College Radio before, so it was a normal thing when I would fill in for someone and wake up comsistantly at the same time to get in to work at 5.

But, this time, it was a little different. Like many of you, I've been suffering from "Olympic Hangover." You know, when you watch too much Olympic coverage, especially when a lot of it is late at night? I don't know how many days I have strutted into work after my designated start time at 6 am since the games of the 29th Olympiad started. Hope my bosses don't read this.

Today, however, was easy to wake up. I was so excited to come into work at 5 am, for three different reasons:

1) Ted Leonsis. You may know him as the AOL guy, or the former owner of the NHL's New York Islanders. Now, he is the majority owner of the Washington Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics. He's also produced two films, and the one we talked about is called Kicking It.

Anyway, his call-in interview was at 5:30 am. That's right. 11:30 am his time in Washington D.C. Such a cool guy, though. He'll be on today's show at 10:25 am or so.

2) Mike Riley. Mike was a former head coach in the professional football ranks with the San Diego Chargers in the NFL and in the CFL as well. Anyway, he is currently the coach at Oregon State. He's an awesome guy to talk football with, and he told me that I can call him anytime if I need anything. I'm not gonna do that, but maybe we'll have him on again before the Oregon State / Hawaii football game.

His call-in interview? 6 am. That's 9 am there in Corvalis.

3) June Jones. Of course, everyone knows him as the old ball coach at Hawaii, but he's traded in the green for Mustang Blue and Red (and Red is one of my favorite colors). June called in right after practice, and I asked him where has the best food (Dallas or Hawaii?), as well as questions about his transition and his team.

His call-in interview? 6:35 am. That's 11:35 am Central Time in Dallas.

Oh, and I can't forget Kau's football coach Jonathan Roddy joining us at 11:10 am today.

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On another note, I guess I gotta find another way to make our finalist for the Bud Light Ultimate Party Cruise. How does "Name That College" sound? We're gonna do that tomorrow on the program.