We're that good, they're that bad

So last Saturday the Warriors trounced hapless Utah State 63-10 on the road to go 7-2 on the year, assured themselves of a winning season, and earned a berth in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve to most likely play the 6th place team from the Pac-10. Colt Brennan and the team are starting to get some recognition nationally for the insane offensive numbers he and the team are putting up. It's great to see a UH earn a bowl berth so early and being more than deserving of it. And hopefully Colt will end up at least getting an invite to the Heisman Trophy award presentation.

But I still am a worry wart. When you think about it all of UH's wins with the exception of Nevada came against teams that are down this year (Fresno) or just plain overmatched (everyone else). The offense has proved they can score on anyone, but can they overcome the slow starts that proved fatal in the losses to the two teams that were equal to or better than us (Boise State and Alabama)? As hard hitting as the defense has been you have to wonder how long they can hold off a quality team if the offense should somehow get stagnant. A lot of Warrior fans are very excited and I can't blame them. But any talk of a top 25 ranking or matching up with upper level BCS teams is a bit premature in my opinion. I think if we reach the 9 win mark before the Purdue game we might get some consideration to be ranked.

In any case it's a winning season so congrats to the Warriors for getting back on the plus side of the ledger.

Because it's in HD

I've been experimenting with HDTV for the past year or two. I believe my interest in it started when I read in the AVS forums that more channels in Hawaii were broadcasting digitally. So I went down to Circuit City and got myself a Samsung SIR-T451 HDTV Tuner and a Terk Antenna. I figured if it didn't work out I'd just return it. Early on it didn't seem to be worth the bother--spotty reception, and a lot of stations were broadcasting digitally but not in HD. Plus I didn't have a widescreen HDTV to really experience it's potential. Lately though I've seen some improvements by leaps and bounds. The stations have to make improvements anyway since the VHF band will be given up in a few years.

Recently I just got a small widescreen LCD TV that's HD ready and added an HDTV card to my home-made HTPC (home theater PC) and now I am able to record HD programs that I can catch over the air along with programs on regular cable. Only troubles are a) the HDTV card can't catch all the channels my Samsung unit can (especially KBFD, which is too bad), b) you need a fast computer with a decent graphic card to display HD in full screen and c) HD streams take up an enormous amount of disk space. We're talking about 10 gigabytes per hour versus 1-4 gigabytes for recording an hour of an analog channel in DVD quality. I wish I could get additional channels via digital cable and a cool DVR like this guy did ;-), but unfortunately digital cable is not such a popular idea in my household.

The picture quality of HDTV is so far superior to that of conventional TV that I find myself watching programs simply because it is in that format.

So here are some shows that I give a chance because they're in HD:

American Primetime Dramas - I have to admit that the last few years of my primetime TV viewing have been spent almost exclusively watching Korean dramas on the local station KBFD. K-drama came around at the right time--American network (and a lot of cable) TV seemed to be a bunch of crappy reality shows and none of the primetime dramas really held my interest. But now with shows like ABC's Lost and NBC's new show Heroes you're getting an almost movie-like experience when you watch it in HD and that's pretty exciting. Speaking of exciting, Eva Longoria looks that much better in HD, haha.

Public TV - KHET just started brodcasting HD over the air and the music programs are especially fantastic. I usually don't watch orchestral performances but I watched one about two weeks ago and it was really almost like being there in the concert hall. If I had a decent audio system it would probably be an even better experience.

Dancing With The Stars - OK normally I wouldn't touch this show with a fifty foot pole...but then this season I saw it in HD and for some reason I felt drawn to it. I'm not watching it religiously, but I do check it out for a few minutes now. Just like sports and music I guess it's a live (on the mainland anyway) thing where you feel like you're there. Jerry Springer looks a bit scary in HD.

Baseball - OK it's still not as good as football, but it looks great.

NASCAR racing - can't watch the whole thing but HD brings a whole different perspective to watching it.

Yep, the future looks bright for HD programming. Hopefully in a few years prices will go down for TVs with ATSC tuners and more stations will get their act together and catch up with the mainland network affiliates in broadcasting all the shows in their lineup that are in HD.

Starbucks: The end of the universe now in Aiea?

Anyone seen this sketch by comedian Lewis Black?


If the YouTube (or is it now GoogleTube?) doesn't come up for you, Lewis talks about how he discovered the "end of the universe" in Houston, Texas when he saw that there was a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. Here is a webpage that is a takeoff on this sketch.

Well my friends I believe this phenomenon has struck my part of town. For within a one mile stretch there are now (at least) FOUR Starbucks and/or Jamba Juice locations. There's one in the Aiea Shopping Center, THREE in Pearlridge Center (in the same general area), and now one that just opened in Waimalu Shopping Center.

Are there that many people in Aiea that need a Starbucks/Jamba Juice fix so bad that we need four freaking locations within a mile of each other? I know gas is expensive but come on!

Retribution

So if it wasn't for the earthquake and subsequent power outage yesterday people in Hawaii would probably have been talking more about the Warriors' absolute dismantling of the Fresno State Bulldogs 68-37 last Saturday, on their home turf no less. Sure the Bulldogs were in a slump at 1-4, but you had to think they were going to give it their all. And they did at first, scoring on a long touchdown pass. It looked like it would be the same old song and dance with the Warriors' road curse rearing its ugly head. But UH struck back quickly and efficently, and pretty soon the Warriors' firepower on offense coupled with timely turnovers from the defense resulted in Fresno State reeling like a boxer that walked into a punch that he didn't see. Fresno put in a new QB who gave them new life, but by then it was too late. FSU had no answer for the Run-n-Shoot this time around. Payback was exacted in full for the 70-14 embarassment two years ago in Fresno where coach Pat Hill decided to go for an onside kick in the last few minutes.

Colt Brennan was deadly accurate again--32 of 39 for 409 and five touchdowns. People like to use the term "Playstation numbers" for outrageous scores and stats and I have to say that's true in this case. The receiving corps was excellent in getting yards after the catch, and Nate Ilaoa did his thing as usual. It's pretty exciting to watch an offense like this click on all cylinders.

The next test is a New Mexico State team that is almost a mirror image of Hawaii. The Aggies gave the Broncos a battle at home before being overwhelmed but their passing attack looks pretty good and their QB is as accurate as Colt. Looking for a big shootout this Saturday, but I say we can win by two touchdowns.

I'll take the win, thanks

UH held off Nevada 41-34 at Aloha Stadium last Saturday night. It looked like the Warriors were on their way to another blowout of Nevada at home, but in the end a gritty goal line stand by the Warriors' defense late in the fourth quarter prevented the Wolfpack from tying, or if they were gutsy enough to go for 2, take the lead. The defense had to make this stand because Colt Brennan fumbled as he inexplicably scrambled near his own goal line and got blindsided by a Nevada player. It looked like one of those scenes out of NFL Films' "Fantastic Finishes"--in particular the play known as "The Miracle of the Meadowlands".

So one of the most spectacular offensive performances in UH history nearly turned into one of the biggest meltdowns ever. Once again mental mistakes continue to plague the Warriors--personal fouls, fumbles, special teams bloopers. This time they were able to overcome them. In the end a win is a win right? This keeps UH in the hunt for a possible share of the conference championship.

Lots of fans seem to be confident that we're gonna run over Fresno State at Fresno this week. Granted our offense looks unstoppable and Fresno at 1-4 looks like a team in "killfight" mode, but we only won once there and there's no way that the Bulldogs won't be worked up for the game. Two years ago we went in there confident and got spotted for 70 points and nearly 700 yards of offense. I predict that we will win by a touchdown.

No consolation

I was gonna write about my thoughts on last Saturday's UH-Boise State game which ended with UH falling short 41-34, but Advertiser sports columnist Ferd Lewis pretty much covered it in today's paper, and he's a better writer than I am.

Warriors stymied by slow starts

From the article:

"In the past those kind of turnover inequities would have doomed them to blowout losses. In fact, they did in the last two visits to the tidy bowl turf of Bronco Stadium, where the scores were 69-3 and 58-31. As Jason Rivers, veteran of the last one, observed, "that's something we couldn't have done two years ago."

That is noteworthy and indicates the progress the team has made on several fronts. But it should hardly be held up as a consolation. With the team the Warriors have assembled, especially on offense, not getting blown out isn't good enough. Not giving up isn't the standard that is being looked for here."

Totally agree. It's been a year already and it's time for this team to be looked at on it's own abilities and potential rather than being compared to the past (read: Timmy Chang). I have no doubt his team still can post a great record and win the WAC with a little luck. But they have to take care of the little things (SPECIAL TEAMS!) or they could be a looking at a few more close losses and what-ifs and woulda-coulda-shouldas again.

Korea Burger Hunt!

OK since pretty much all of you who visit this blog come by way of the Hawaii K-Drama Fans Board, I should be posting something Korea related. Well here it is, sort of...

A guest blogger by the name of Dram_man has a cool running series of reviews called "Korea Burger Hunt" on The Marmot's Hole, an excellent English language blog on current events in Korea. He said he was inspired by another blog dedicated to hamburgers and wanted to see if you could get a good old fashioned American hamburger in Korea. I think he only started earlier this month and he already has seven reviews as of 09/25!

I am posting links here because it seems that the search on The Marmot's Hole only reveals the last three reviews (at least when I search under "Korean Burger Hunt" or "Burger Hunt"). Anyway here they are, from oldest to newest:

Intro

Kraze Burger

Homemade Burger

Navy Club

Nashvilles

Thunder Burger

Smokeys Saloon

New Phillies

Great reviews and comments from expats living in Korea as well who helped in the hunt and gave other interesting info as well. I will add links if it keeps going!

USC mad over sportscaster revealing "secret shaka"

"No worry brah, their cornerbacks are short!"

Seems ABC football announcer Brent Musburger is in a bit of hot water with some folks the University of Southern California after disclosing on air that quarterback John David Booty told him that he uses a hand signal very familiar to Hawaii residents to tell his receivers that he notices a certain pass coverage by the defense. A formal complaint was filed.

Story: USC complains about commentary by ABC's Musburger

Musburger and ESPN/ABC apologized for the slip. Don't know why it's such a big deal, and coach Pete Carroll doesn't think so either. It's not like that's gonna guarantee a touchdown or give up a sack and I'm pretty sure folks on the opposing side can figure out certain things on their own without Brent Musburger's help. I think it's just a move by the USC sports information director to keep the media in check about keeping certain things said in informal meetings off the record.

Change in late afternoon traffic...

Anyone traveling home to Aiea and beyond notice that late afternoon ewa-bound traffic (from 5 p.m. on) has been much lighter the last week and a half or so? At first I thought it was due to certain events in town like the Waikiki Hoolaulea, but it's been pretty good just about every day. Even the usual bottlenecks aren't as heavy. Could be that we're on a lucky streak of no major accidents or stalls, but there just seems to be less cars on the road now at that time of the day. It's great, but it feels kinda weird actually.

I wonder if this is a result of the big traffic jam from a few weeks ago. Obviously there are still a huge amount of cars coming into town because the heaviness of morning traffic has not changed. Maybe people are not staying in town late anymore and going straight home in order to get home at a decent hour should there be another major tie-up? It would be interesting if that was the case. That would mean something positive came out of that mess. In any event I hope it stays this way! ;-)

Warriors win, online viewers lose

UH looked good in a dominating win over UNLV last Saturday at Aloha Stadium, 42-13. The Warriors were never threatened and if they keep up this type of play they may have a good shot against Boise State on their blue turf next Saturday.

However all was not happy in the Warrior fandom. Quite a few customers of Hawaiian Telcom's live streaming of the game ($9.95 per game, $39.95 for the season), including yours truly, were left out in the cold as it seemed that they had more connections than they could handle. Windows Media Player kept saying "Buffering..." and would occasionally show a few seconds of the game and then cut out again. This lasted for the entire game. I think the most I was able to watch was 30 seconds of the UH Marching Band's tribute to Earth Wind & Fire and the third string QB take a knee to run out the clock at the end. What a ripoff!

I went with Hawaiian Telcom because I signed up for a few games last year and the service was good--not perfect, but good enough for the price. You would think after a year they would have improved on the service, but it seems they don't have their act together. How can you charge for a service that can't satisfy all it's customers? At least I had the replay the next day on K5, those on the mainland and around the world don't have that luxury and must really feel cheated.

Some fans have written complaint letters/e-mails demanding a refund, especially those who purchased that game only. I will write an e-mail to them as well to at least tell them that they should not be putting out such a sub-standard product.