It's strange seeing an NFL game kick off at 8 a.m., with the screams of an agitated mackaw (however you spell it, the bird on the Fruit Loops cereal box) booming from a nearby grove, but that's the scene here in Hawaii on Sunday morning as we pack our bags for tonight's red-eye flight home.
(BTW, this is Doug Ireland using Patrick Netherton's blog space. What has it come to in Hawaii? I have to pinch hit for him last night on the radio, because he's ill, and now I have to assume his identity to post my blog because I can't access my own? Good news is, the phrase "better living through pharmaceuticals" applies to Patrick, who looked the color of the sand on Waikiki Beach yesterday but after bedrest and prescription medication, he's up and at 'em today. Thanks, he says, for the flowers, cards and letters!)
Coach Leon Johnson and trainer Ed Evans are crossing the island to see the fabled Bonzai Pipeline on the Northshore, something I have yet to do in three trips here but have at the top of my wish list. They snuck out under cover of dawn, being two fellows who don't mind seeing the sun rise.
Except for last night's ball game, and Patrick's swoon, this has been another wonderful trip to paradise. The game wasn't a total loss, as Luke Rogers said a few minutes ago -- the team fought through a ton of adversity, both from their inability to make shots and the unwarranted exit of coach Mike McConathy. A lot of teams I've seen would have been blown out last night. These Demons have definitely got a pile of "comebackabililty."
Today they'll crunch as most shopping and sightseeing as possible into the next 5 hours. The team meets at California Pizza Kitchen at 3 (7 back home) and after a wonderful dinner begans heading to the airport. We pull back into Prather Coliseum's parking lot, if all goes on schedule, at noon.
By 1, the Demons will be, true to their creed, back to work. Weightlifting and practice awaits. Improvement doesn't come easy.
But shopping comes first today!
