Does Lady Luck Have a Curfew?

There has been build-up before. Huge moments...showdowns...opportunities for an athletic team from the University of Hawaii to fulfill the dreams of every island fan. And how many times (countless according to my memory), have they ended bitterly?

The Rainbow Warrior basketball team upsets nationally-ranked Michigan State to open the season, and then slips up against UNLV. Timmy Chang's would-be crowning moment in the pursuit of the NCAA career yards record turns into a record-breaking performance....for career interceptions. The UH men's volleyball team behind Yuval Katz goes up two games to nothing on UCLA in the national championship match....only to lose. Even when they do eventually take the title, it gets stripped by the NCAA.

And on and on it goes like this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan to the very end. And we have achieved great things...beating BYU in football, Wahine volleyball national titles...but when it comes to achieving the fantasies of a propulsion to the proverbial "next level", we have by and large avoided catching the breaks.

But this season for the Warrior football team has been different. Lady Luck has flashed her dimples on many an occassion for us. Think about it.....Idaho, San Jose St., Fresno St....all teams with vaunted running attacks, who have been without their star rusher when Hawaii came through. An early-season schedule as sugary as a pixie stick goes unpenalized through eight games in what is widely considered the whackiest season in the history of college football. Penalties, fumbles, bounces, that have overwhelmingly gone Hawaii's way in close shaves against Louisiana Tech and San Jose St. That kind of stuff just doesn't normally happen to us. Could it be that now WE are what we always commented on others being...a team of destiny?

Oh, but of course, the inevitable occurred. The event that would send us reeling back into reality...grounding us faster than a Fausto Carmona sinker...Colt gets cleaned by Marcus Riley and suffers a concussion. I along with the rest of Warrior Nation, saw it all flashing before my eyes. The BCS bid, the WAC championship...all at our fingertips, all suddenly jerked back beyond our reach.

But then it started to happen again. They called it a "mild concussion" even though it appeared that Brennan had been knocked out. He claims to bear no symptoms in the days to follow, and by all accounts, the docs agree. Could it be that Hawaii is being presented with yet another break? Could it be that Colt WILL play against Nevada, focused on leading Hawaii to its first win in Reno? Could it be that the run of UH's high-rises and abrupt let-downs will be halted for one glorious celebration?

It is the reason we all watch these teams with hopeful eyes. For that next moment in which the greatness that always seems to belong to "them", finally belongs to "us". And with a little luck, this time, it just may.

- Kanoa Leahey