“UH hopes to reverse its 'step backward' - Honolulu Advertiser” plus 4 more

UH hopes to reverse its 'step backward' - Honolulu Advertiser
The Brooks Group - Mediabistro.com
Phillies-Rockies Game 3 postponed - Lafayette Journal and Courier
Olympics add length to golf's global reach - Tacoma News Tribune
Snow Forces Postponement Of Game 3 In Denver - CBS News

UH hopes to reverse its 'step backward' - Honolulu Advertiser

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 09:59 AM PDT

The Hawai'i football team believes it was a victim of identity theft.

How else to explain last week's loss to Louisiana Tech, in which they missed 41 tackles?

"That wasn't us," middle linebacker Blaze Soares said. "That wasn't Hawai'i football."

The Warriors, to a man, have vowed to correct those breakdowns when they play Fresno State today at Aloha Stadium. Kickoff is at 5 p.m.

The players staged an unsupervised workout a week ago, and they have stressed tackling techniques in meetings and practices the past week.

Soares, who has emerged as a leader of the defense, also implored teammates to return to "Warrior football."

Soares was 5 when he first appreciated the importance of big hits.

"That's the type of defense you want to play, that kick-butt mentality," Soares said. "You can't forget it. That's just Warrior football."

He reminded teammates of a time when UH was a school of hard knocks: linebacker Alvis Satele, rover David Maeva, the brothers Niko, Pete and Al Noga, Jeff Ulbrich, Pisa Tinoisamoa ...

"Growing up, I saw that type of style, old-school football, hard-nosed, just flat-out whack guys," Soares said. "That's the kind of team I always wanted to play for. Hawai'i has that type of identity. It's awesome. We're a unique team. We're the only team that represents an entire state. We're ready to represent the state of Hawai'i."

There is little sand left for both teams' pursuit of a Western Athletic Conference title.

The Warriors are 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the WAC. Fresno State is 1-3, having lost to teams with a combined 15-0 record, and 1-1 in the WAC.

"This is an important game for both programs," UH head coach Greg McMackin said. "You're only as good as your last game in people's eyes. We have to come and play as Warriors. We took a step backward last week. There's nothing to talk about now. We have to go under the lights and play."

Bryant Moniz, who entered training camp as the No. 4 quarterback, will start in place of Greg Alexander, who underwent season-ending knee surgery last week. Moniz, a 2007 Leilehua High graduate, is a walk-on who delivers pizza to help pay for college expenses. He joined the team in January as a third-year sophomore.

"I have a lot of confidence in Bryant," McMackin said. "He's a good quarterback."

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are trying to remain upbeat entering their fourth consecutive road game. This season, according to an Fresno State news release, the Bulldogs will travel more than 23,000 miles and play in five of the United States' six time zones.

What's more, because of the California state school system's financial problems, the coaches were forced to take three furlough days last week. That meant no practices, no meetings and no cell phone calls.

Still, the first game in 14 days has left the Bulldogs feeling "fresh," safety Moses Harris said.

Of the losses, Harris said, "we can't let them tear us apart. We have to use them as motivation. We're focused, and taking it one day at a time, one play at a time."

UH and Fresno State have developed into the best of rivals.

Nate Ilaoa, now a UH student manager, remembered representing UH as a running back in the 2007 Hula Bowl. The Fresno State coaches were in charge of Ilaoa's team.

"We got to see the other side of (Fresno coach) Pat Hill," Ilaoa said. "He's a great guy. Everybody is like, 'Hate the Bulldogs.' But he was cool, a great coach, a great staff. When we play each other, we're at each other's throat. But it's exciting to play them. You know they're going to bring it. It's guaranteed to be a good game. It makes for a good evening for the players and the fans. Fresno is always the highlight of the year."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.

The Brooks Group - Mediabistro.com

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 09:59 AM PDT

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Phillies-Rockies Game 3 postponed - Lafayette Journal and Courier

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 10:06 AM PDT

DENVER Game 3 of the Philadelphia Phillies-Colorado Rockies playoff tonight has been postponed because of cold, snowy weather.

Major League Baseball rescheduled the game for Sunday night, and Game 4 was pushed back to Monday. Game 5, if necessary, will be played as scheduled on Tuesday in Philadelphia, without a day off for travel.

The NL division series is tied at one game each.

A cold front moved into Denver overnight, dropping temperatures into the teens with record lows for the date. Coors Field was covered with a thin layer of snow and ice this morning and flurries were expected to continue through the night.

Olympics add length to golf's global reach - Tacoma News Tribune

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 10:06 AM PDT

Can you say "Tiger Woods" in Portuguese? Mandarin? Hindi?

Because by the time the next truly great golfer comes along, chances are he'll be coming from Brazil, China and India rather than the United States or Britain. That's what Friday's vote by the International Olympic Committee really means. In the same way the British owned the 19th century and Americans most of the last one, placing golf on the Olympic menu - the IOC voted to add rugby to the 2016 games as well - virtually guarantees one or more of this century's emerging powers will dominate it.

"Golf cannot compare with football because here it is a religion" Rachid Orra, president of the Brazilian Golf Confederation, said over the telephone from Rio de Janeiro, site of the 2016 Summer Games.

"We have a lot of work to do, but also a good opportunity to make golf jump among the people. Can we find a Tiger Woods of our own? Ha!" he added chuckling softly. "At least we have seven years to look."

True believers such as Orra argue the Olympics will give golf legitimacy as a sport that it's lacked outside the English-speaking world - and restore its democratic roots in the process

"In China, for example, it's licensed as entertainment and taxed the same as, say, a karaoke bar," said John Strawn, president of Hills/Forest, a golf course architecture and design firm that has completed projects in 20 countries and has another 10 on the drawing board. "Once it's treated as a sport, and becomes part of the sports establishment, they'll build facilities and work at identifying talented young golfers and training them.

"Now, when you travel across China, you see basketball courts and soccer fields everywhere. Once golf becomes an Olympic sport, countries like China and India will use the Tiger Woods model - stressing things like his fitness and dedication - and change the perception that it's a nonathletic hobby for rich people.

"And that might be the best thing about it," Strawn said. "When you go back to golf's beginnings in Scotland, it was very much a game of the people."

Yet cynics flip that same argument on its head. They say markets in the West have largely matured and that adding golf to the Olympics was little more than a slick move by the game's most powerful interests to find new customers for everything from tees, balls and clubs to higher TV rights packages.

If so, golf's governing bodies in those emerging nations sound happy to play along. Brazil, the most populous country in Latin America, has about 200 million people and, according to the golf confederation, only 25,000 golfers playing on 110 courses. The United States, by comparison, has around 300 million people and 27 million golfers playing on 8,000 courses.

"We're never going to see another explosion of golf in the U.S., but in places where the middle class is growing, who knows what the growth rate might be," said Strawn, the president of Hills/Forrest. "Just imagine at some point if the participation rates in China ever approached the 10 percent or so that they are in the U.S."

"Even half of that," he concluded, "is a very deep pool."

Truth is, you don't have to look any further than the current golf season to see the golf globe already spinning faster and faster. Rosters loaded with international stars face off against U.S. squads in the President's Cup and Ryder Cup in alternating years. At the Accenture Match Play, which draws the top 64 ranked players in the world each spring and is the first of four designated "world" events, 20 different nations were represented.

"We are excited about the progress that's being made," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "It's just a long, difficult process. If this was basketball and we could hang a hoop up, with the caliber of players, starting with Tiger right on down to Lorena Ochoa, to create enthusiasm it would be very easy, but it's not. You need real estate, you need space, you need money, you need resources."

And apparently golf has decided the best place to start looking is somewhere inside those five Olympic rings.