June Jones contract dispute a sad situation

This is definitely a way to show the youngsters how important a signed document is.

The $400,008 contract disupute continues between June Jones and the University of Hawaii, with mediator Clyde Matsui intervening to help try to find a solution to keep both sides from arbitration.

How did all of this start? June Jones left Hawaii for SMU, violating his contract, which meant that leaving before the end of the contract would result in his repayment of half of his salary, the afore mentioned $400,008. It was supposed to be paid within 60 days, which would've meant March 7th, 2008.

As you can tell, that money wasn't paid. Jones and former AD Herman Frazier had a verbal agreement exchanged via e-mail, but according to the contract, the agreement to nullify the money issue must be done via writing and signed by both parties, and that wasn't done.

It all comes back to Herman Frazier, doesn't it? In all seriousness, I can understand why June would be a little upset after Herman's email, but at the same time, a contract is a contract. You signed it, so now you must abide by it. Whether your agent, Leigh Steinberg, or you yourself didn't see the fine print doesn't matter at this point. Time to step up and fulfill this obligation.

No need to rush back, Tiger

I think the golf world is doing just fine without Tiger Woods. Just look at what has happened since he has gone down. Phil Mickelson survived a terrible start to the 18th hole this weekend to win the latest PGA Tour Stop, meanwhile Sergio Garcia finally decided to show up and win The Players.

Now, Tiger Woods may be back soon. According to the Associated Press...

"The knee's doing better," said Woods, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee April 15. "The rehab is boring. It gets really old riding that bike, man. But everything's on schedule. Just been training and trying to get this thing organized for the Open, and it's right on schedule for that."

A lot of people have been quick to write off the game of golf without Woods, but look at who has carried the torch since. Young star Boo Weekley and great golfer Adam Scott.

The St. Jude and Memorial are still to come before the U.S. Open, but for those that think Tiger couldn't come back soon enough, you obviously haven't been watching.



Thanks to EA Sports!

Jason Taylor's Ego Too Big For Himself

I feel bad for the Miami Dolphins. They have had a bad couple of years. Only one win this past year, a brand new regime coming in, and the realistic expectation that as long as the Bellichick dynasty continues in New England, the Miami Dolphins will NEVER win a division crown.

With that all understood, it gets worse now with their best player saying he won't be attending training camp, among other team events. Their two best players appear to be out before this coming season. Zach Thomas is now with the Cowboys, and Taylor may either retire or ask to be traded.

This is all on Taylor. Apparently, his ego has gone through the roof since being a part of "Dancing With The Stars." For example, go to youtube.com. The first bunch of videos are from him on the hit show, not of him on the football field. I think that has gone to his head. In fact, take some of the quotes he has made:

"I know what the reaction's going to be: Oh, he's the leader of that team, and he needs to be there," Taylor wrote. "But, see, there're different types of leadership in sports. There're guys that can talk all the time, and try to lead by saying: 'Oh, this is what we need to do, let's go, rah, rah rah.' They're rah-rah guys.

"And then they're guys, like me, who lead by example. And people are saying now, 'Your example should be being there working out with the team.' Well, at the end of the day, I will show up and I will do anything I need to do, and I will be the best football player I can be."

Some leader by example, huh? I'll lead, as soon as I'm ready to. Yeah, whatever. And more...

"Yes, there's a new defense to learn," Taylor wrote. "But we've had a lot of coaches the last five years, and I've learned all those defenses. We'll make it work, trust me. We're not reinventing the wheel here."

Come on. Every coach has certain wrinkles to their defenses. Even Jason Taylor should realize that. Bogus.

Maybe it is time for Miami to get rid of this "distraction." Just like the Cincinnati Bengals should get rid of Chad Johnson, it's the same thing here with Taylor. Get rid of the monstrous ego. Now's the time to completely re-build the team.

Oh, in case you don't know what makes Jason Taylor famous now...



Thanks to DanceWTS1

NFL Labor Deal Issue A Matter of Greed

The NFL Owners decided today to opt out of the current labor deal, which could lead to, among other things, a possible lockout in three years. They feel that the rookie pool salary is too high, labor costs are high and rising, and getting money back from players who don't perform or cause problems is too hard to do.

The rookie salary issue is huge. Take this comment from ESPN.com

Giving some rookie more money than veteran is an insane practice. I would be upset if a new hire was paid more than me to do the same job I've been doing for years.

Jake Long is getting paid more for not even taking a snap than any other offensive lineman on his team who's worked hard and given up a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It's not right.

Everything else is straight up greed. The owners are unhappy that the players get 60 percent of all revenue, and they get only 40. They will make sure that that part gets buried behind the headlines, but it's the truth. The greed between the two unions, and the fact that they always fight for what is good for themselves, not for the game, is sickening.

And guess who's money is tangled in all of this? You buy NFL Sunday Ticket? What about the jerseys and hats? Yea, people are being greedy over your money.

Odell Thurman Saga Disappointing

Both the Cincinnati Bengals and Odell Thurman were going for thhe same goal...cleaning up their negative image. The Bengals were pretty much known as the "Jail Cats" for their players' numerous offenses with the law. Thurman had just been re-instated after missing two years for a substance abuse violation.

Now, the Bengals are shooting themselves in the foot. The Cats released Odell Thurman "due to a dispute over the amount of time Thurman was away from the team dealing with a family matter," a team spokesman said. Thurman had taken a leave of absence due to his grandmother falling seriously ill, and later passing away. He had been away for a few weeks to be by her side, and when he was about to leave his family's side to go back to the team, they let him know that he was no longer a Cincinnati Bengal.

This is a touchy issue, because it deals with a death of a family member and the rights of a team. The team has the right to tell you when you have to come back to work, while dealing with the death and severe illness of a loved one is a tough burden to bear. It's hard to work in that sort of situation. Some people would say that work is a good cure to those trying times that ail you, but in this case, the organization is being a little unfair.

I feel bad for Thurman. He is trying to do the right thing. It's unfortunate that the leash was short on him to begin with, due to the past suspension, but we are 3 1/2 months away from the regular season. The Bengals could've cut him a little more slack.

Too bad this is what the Bengals will be missing out on:



Thanks to whodey9857

Greed overcomes the NFL again

The NFL Owners are talking about opting out of the labor agreement they are in with the players association. According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com:

One management source called it a "high likelihood" that the owners will exercise their option to terminate the agreement, which will trigger a number of alternatives, including a potential work stoppage by 2011. Another source said "be prepared" for the action, although it was "not a 100 percent proposition yet."

This could mean salary cap-less play in 2010, and the lack of a system for the following NFL draft. Unrestricted free-agency would change as well around that time frame.

What is the most important entity in the NFL? It's not the owners, and it isn't the players. It's us, the fans. Our money, attention, and want for the NFL product has led to the NFL being the most popular sports league in the country. We've supported them through allegations of steroids and lots of greed from players.

Yet, the greed continues. They both have it good on each side of the aisle. But, how are they going to get the message to show them that what they are doing is hurting the fans and the game?

When we stop spending money on them.

Oh, and because we spend money on the NFL, this is what we get:



Thanks to
Fantasy Sports Girl!

Time to be creative with flying to sporting events

The Honolulu Advertiser came out with a story on the airline problems that face the Athletic Department at UH Manoa, and I'm sure the athletic departments of every athletic program in the country.

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

"Charter costs are just unbelievable now for us," Donovan said. "It is getting to be stratospheric."

For example, Donovan said the Warriors paid $85,000 to charter to San Jose, Calif. for last year's game with the Spartans and $125,000 to Idaho for the game with the Vandals, but have been quoted a $319,000 fare for Fresno State this year.

This is not meant to be-little what us average joes are going through with the rising costs of flying, because most of us don't have the money that the UH Athletic Department is dealing with. But, let's look at this from a sports perspective. Do we want competitive teams on the Division I level? Rising airline costs can jeapordize that. Look at the UH-Hilo baseball team. The lone DI program in a DII school, will go down to Division II next year, as rising costs to travel and play big named teams are beginning to be too much.

There have been rumblings that if the UH can't bring in enough revenue to sustain itself on the DI level (because DI is all about money), that they may eventually have to make the step down to DII. They are already at a disadvantage compared to every other top tier team in the country. It's expensive to fly there, and expensive to fly outta there. Most big name teams will think twice about going there after this year, and Hawaii may think twice about making flights to Florida.

Let's give Jim Donovan, the new Athletic Director, a lot of credit. He is trying to be creative and cut costs. Mixing commercial with charter flights, albeit not the most star-studded way to fly, is the plan for this coming year. If you have to save money by going on commercial flights, you've gotta do it, even though the players may have to fly coach with the "normal people."

People have suggested the UH get their own charter plane / jet. Seriously? Stop it...UH doesn't want to, and shouldn't have to, pay for a pilot, gas, and plane. Not under a budget that is expected to be $1.5 Million in debt.

For now, and ALL athletic departments need to look closer into this, it's especially important to go after those corporate sponsorships and agreements. No other way to get what you need without strong support from the business community. Who knows what they could provide?

It's all about making the effort now to put all of your resources together to find the most cost-efficient way to get where you need to go. Good luck.

Sit Down, Senator Specter

That was Tuesday in the NFL press conference regarding Roger Goodell's interview with Matt Walsh, and the revelation that nothing new, generally, had come from the interview, therefore closing spygate. And now today, Senator Arlen Specter:



Please, sit down and shut up, Mr. Senator. The only thing you are succeeding in is putting your name out there for everyone to hear, feeding your ego, and making yourself look good.

Problem is, you are representing a mass constituency of people in Pensylvania who have needs, issues, concerns, and feelings. Have you thought to ask your people in Pennsylvania if this is what they want? You represent them, not yourself.

With all due respect, there is nothing more to gain from any kind of investigation. It seems like we know all we can know. Are you trying to set us all up for another letdown, similar to what it felt like when our hopes were high, expecting to get breakthrough information, only to realize that we got the same thing that we knew already. And, I have a good feeling that any internal investigation would reveal the same thing here.

Please, stop wasting taxpayer dollars. Focus on things your people actually care about.

Goodbye, Spygate!

If you were waiting for a huge revelation from the NFL, Matt Walsh, and all parties involved regarding "Spygate," you were left empty. It's like watching an overdone promo for a brand new show on television that is supposed to be revolutionary, only to be left with a dud that did nothing for you.

That's what many felt like they got today from Matt Walsh.

For months, we waited while the NFL and Matt Walsh worked out an agreement so they could talk, thinking that we would get new information that we didn't know before, that Matt Walsh held the key to unlocking the secret items in the dark closet of the Patriots' videotaping operations.

Instead, we heard Roger Goodell tell us that the meetings revealed nothing that people didn't already know.

Thanks a lot.

At least we can finally, and I mean, FINALLY, put Spygate to rest. It's something I called for months ago, and if not for Matt Walsh leading us along, it would have ended months ago. Punishments won't change, nothing new will likely emerge, and we can all go back to talking about stuff on the field.

Maybe we should talk about the cheerleaders on the Chargers videotape.

Oh, and I guess Bellichick was right after all, somewhat:

(Thanks to the Associated Press)

Kobe Bryant injury more important than you realize.

Kobe Bryant has a back problem. And it was evident on Sunday during Game 4 vs. the Utah Jazz, which the Jazz won in overtime. But, this is an important injury that may impact the rest of this series.

According to J.A. Adande of ESPN.com, Kobe Bryant says he will play in Game 5, but he obviously isn't the same player with the injury. The back is an important part of the body of an NBA player. He needs it as he explodes through the lane to score at the rim, or rise up on a jump shot. That is two big factors in Kobe's game.

Why else is it an issue? Phil Jackson called out his team for "bailing out" on Kobe Bryant toward the end of the game. I wouldn't say that they bailed out on him, but they were non-existent in the overtime period. At the same time, Odom and Fisher were especially present with their outside shooting to get back in the game after being down double digits late.

Don't count out Utah now. They've gotten back into the series with wins at home. They could just as easily surprise the Lakers in L.A.

I wonder if Kobe can carry his team on his back now?

Oh, I wonder if Kobe can do this now?

Now that the State Baseball Tournament is over...

Congratulations to Kauai and Punahou, the champions of the Division II and Division I State Baseball tournament. Kauai had solid pitching throughout to beat St. Anthony's of Maui to win the 1-0 contest and take the first ever DII crown. Pitching was solid for Kauai. Jordan Buster picked up the complete game win for the Red Raiders, scattering three hits and striking out eight.

Make it 5 consecutive years that the Buffanblu have taken the title in the state baseball tournament. All Punahou needed was a four-run second inning to take the lead over Saint Louis, and Reece Kiriu did the rest. Kiriu also threw a complete game, striking out eight and allowing only three hits.

Our Big Island teams lasted through the first day and a half of the tournament. But we made some loud noise, especially on the first day. Remember when Kamehameha-Hawaii knocked out Kailua, which many people took to be a big surprise? How's about Blaise Kise's performance for Kohala on opening day, shutting down Kahuku in a fine pitching performance? For another year, we didn't make it to the final four in the state tournament, but we had some solid efforts.

Finally, let's see what the HHSAA learned from this year, especially with the introduction of the DII tournament. Surely, they will find things that they need to improve and fix, including the lack of working scoreboards at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park. Speaking of which....

I was talking to one of the scorers at Les Murakami Stadium about the very subject of CORP, and she said, and I quote, "Thank Mayor Jeremy Harris" in a sarchastic tone. Yep, this was his project. She added that the restrooms were too far away, and there wasn't enough planning put in to this park.

Sure, it has almost everything. 4 Baseball fields, at least. Little league parks, softball fields, tennis courts, pool. It is the hub for everyone in Waipio to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle. But, it seems like they left some things short.

First rule of putting together a tournament, in my opinion. You must hold it in a place where 1) the scoreboards work, and 2) you have an official scorekeeper at every field. There was one set of scorers for EVERY game at Les Murakami Stadium, meanwhile at CORP, they relied on different people to do it, usually stats people from the different schools. Come on, this is the finale to the baseball season. Let's do this RIGHT.

Is holding the DII tournament on the neighbor islands a viable possibility? Leave your comments and we will discuss here and on the air.

State Baseball Tournament: Day Two Thoughts

Tough day for our Big Island teams on Thursday. But it all had a common theme to it. Hitting and mistakes.

Kohala couldn't muster a hit against #1 Kauai in Division II. Some speculate that Kauai should've made an effort at playing Division I, but this is what they decided, and they crushed the Cowboys.

Speaking of a lack of hitting, that accurately describes Waiakea. Only got two hits as they got shut out by Saint Louis. The Crusaders haven't given up a run this postseason.

Now to the mistakes, and a couple of them proved costly for Kamehameha in their loss to Maui High. Kamehameha will play for 7th place on Saturday, as they lost to Roosevelt on Friday.

For #4 Honokaa in Division II, it was both. Three hits and three errors. They lost by 10 to Molokai.

Tough day to see the rest of our teams knocked out. We'll see what we can do in the consolation bracket.


*****UPDATE*****: We will broadcast the 5th place game between Waiakea and Roosevelt on Saturday beginning at 10:45 am from Les Murakami Stadium!

State Baseball Tournament: Day One Thoughts

Hello From Oahu,

Congratulations to Kamehameha, and Kohala for winning in Day one of the tournament. And they both did it with good pitching.

Kohala's Blaise Kise threw a complete game, striking out nine, and getting himself out of trouble in the last few innings. In fact, he left two on base to end the sixth, and allowed a couple runs in the seventh before shutting the door.

Meanwhile, from Patssy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park field 1 over to Les Murakami Stadium, and Kamehameha's Blake Amaral. He had his tough moments, including a HBP and some one-run-allowed innings, but the middle to back part of the order helped him out in the sixth, including help from the Kailua defense, as an E6 and E3 helped bring in the go-ahead runs in the sixth. Amaral, however, settled down late, and struck out a couple in the final frame, and eight for the game. Talking to some of the people in the press box after the game, the word they used to describe Corey Ishigo's team: Undisciplined. And it showed defensively in the sixth.

Couple of things already needed to look at for next year. We NEED a working scoreboard at Central Oahu Regional Park. To me, it's a little embarassing that people just walking can't tell the score, and that they don't even have official scorers. In fact during the HPA broadcast we did, the official scorer was actually the guy taking stats for Maryknoll. Oh BTW, you forgot to add the run that HPA picked up in the 5th. The final score in the HPA game should read 15-1, not 15-0.

Oh, and one more thing. No one told me that there is a hospitality room for the media, so I didn't have to go downstairs at Murakami and buy a hot dog and mountain dew. I found out that they had sandwiches and drinks there.

Big thank you to my taxi driver, Nam. Got tipped pretty well Wednesday, as I was pretty much his only client from the hotel to Murakami to CORP and back to the hotel. I'm saving my receipts.

Schedule for Thursday:

11:15 am (after a special baseball edition of the Josh Pacheco Show)

Kamehameha-Hawaii vs. Maui

1:45 pm

Saint Louis vs. Waiakea

And, by the way, Friday's edition of the Josh Pacheco Show will be LIVE from the Ilima Hotel conference room. You can e-mail, call-in, text in, all the same. I just won't be in the studio. But we will have "Yes-naka" running the board and answering the calls.

Do we have a chance in the State Tournament?

First off, I apologize for not posting towards the end of last week. With preparing for the baseball broadcasts, other jobs, and well, okay, I admit, a Thursday late night gathering at the "establishment," I couldn't get on the computer to do the daily blogs. With that said, time to answer the subject question: Can a Big Island team win at the State Baseball Tourney?

YES.

Take a look over at Division II and you will see four teams, all with different roads to get to the crown. The 4th seed in Honokaa has a first round bye and awaits either Radford or Mokokai. I like their arms, yet I'm a tad disappointed with their bats, especially when I saw them on Saturday where they didn't take advantage of opportunities that were handed to them on a silver platter, and waited until the 6th inning to get their first hit.

Konawaena blew the DII championship, and has the task of playing Kalaheo. If they win, they face Waipahu. If they can cut down on the mistakes, they could surprise a few people, even myself.

HPA took third place at the BIIF Tourney, and got the luckiest draw of all. They face winless Maryknoll in the first round. Look for them to advance to the 2nd round against St. Anthony.

Kohala may be the most dangerous team of all. Disappointing showing at the BIIF tourney, which forced them into a first round game against Kahuku, who is more known for their football than baseball. If they get by, it sets up a showdown with Kauai. Don't count out the Cowboys in any round of this tourney.

What about Division I?

Waiakea took the DI BIIF Crown, and draw a bye to await the winner of Saint Louis and Baldwin. Therein lies the first problem. Saint Louis most likely will win, and is one of the top two or three teams in the state. Bar none. Waiakea's pitching is also suspect, as was proven in the BIIF Championship game as they nearly blew a 10 run lead. We know they can hit, but can they pitch and not break down defensively?

Kamehameha-Hawaii gets a first round matchup with Kailua, and that could be a tough assignment, as Kailua was ranked #4 in last week's Star Bulletin Top 10, which I am a voter of. If they get past that, their road looks a little easier, with #4 Maui waiting. We know Kamehameha can hit and score with anyone, but can the rest of their game stay on pace?

I think the best shot to win a championship lies in Division II. DI has talent, but the scheduling may do them in, as I do not think there is any break whatsoever in the schedule. But the less heralded Division II will show an exciting showing from Division II teams that in other years, you wouldn't hear a peep from.