Friday, December 01, 2006

High School Football

I had been hoping to finish writing this entry before Thanksgiving. One memory from my childhood growing up in Hawaii was the big Thanksgiving Day Doubleheader. This event was held by the old Interscholastic League of Honolulu in the old Honolulu Stadium on Isenberg St., before Aloha Stadium was built in Halawa. I doubt if we will ever see anything like it again.

The Old ILH - high school football is big in Hawaii, but I don't think the current alignment is as exciting as the way it used to be. Considering that there is really only 1 major university in Hawaii it's not hard to understand how high school football among some very good teams could catch on. If you've read Friday Night Lights or have seen the movie, you can see how intense high school football can get. The old ILH had a mix of public and private/parochial schools from Honolulu - the public schools teams were the Farrington Governors, Kaimuki Bulldogs, Kalani Falcons, McKinley Tigers and Roosevelt Rough Riders; the private schools teams were the Damien Monarchs, Iolani Red Raiders, Kamehameha Warriors, Punahou Buff-and-blue and St. Louis Crusaders. The top four teams after the regular season had the privilege to play in the Thanksgiving Day Doubleheader. It was not uncommon that the game had title implications.

Unfortunately, the public schools pulled out and reorganized with the schools from the rest of the island in the Oahu Interscholastic Association (they felt that the private schools had too much of an advantage by being able to recruit Island-wide). The private schools kept the ILH intact, although much smaller. Teams had to play each other twice and they set up a team which collectively combined players from other smaller schools such as Mid-Pacific, University High, and Maryknoll.

I will always remember the quality football that the old ILH had - and miss it. I can't really get too excited over the high school football around Ithaca. In contrast, I do enjoy Ivy League Sports where real students are playing sports. They may not be powerhouse teams like some of the other Division I schools, but you know most of the players graduate and become something else besides athletes. The Ivy League schools are quite evenly matched so the games are still exciting.

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