Amemiya leads fund-raising drive

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

In a continuing sign of the economic times, the state's public high schools are facing drastic cuts in athletics.

In a significant and considerable effort to deal with the situation, Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya busily worked behind the scenes to raise money.

Yesterday, Amemiya announced that some of the state's leading corporations and foundations had pledged to come up with $430,000 to assist the public schools.

And in conjunction with his wife, Bobby, the Amemiyas will personally donate $30,000 – of which $20,000 will be earmarked to the Molokai and Lanai athletic departments.

The other $10,000 will go to the Pearl City High, whose football coaches had said they would work without pay this season in order to stretch the program's shrinking resources.

The total amount raised to date represents about one-third of the recently announced 36.45 percent overall budget cut to public school athletics for the coming school year.

Other donations include $200,000 from the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, $100,000 from First Hawaiian Bank, $50,000 each from Bank of Hawaii and the GIFT Foundation.

Hawaiian Airlines will provide discounted interisland airfares for teams traveling to state tourneys, and Hawaii Medical Services Association will sponsor radio spots to publicize a fundraising drive.

Details are still being worked out, but Pacific Radio Group generally and ESPN 550 specifically will be initiating a local effort to raise money for local public high school sports.

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Central Maui wins state LL title

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

After suffering their first loss of the double-elimination tournament on Sunday, the Central Maui Little League Major All-Stars bounced back for a 9-5 victory over the same Aiea team to the win the state championship on Oahu.

It marked the first time a Valley Island team has won a state title in the 11-12 divison since Kihei took top honors in 2004.

The win earned the Central Maui a berth in the West Regional that runs Aug. 7-16 in San Bernardino, Calif. The winner of that event advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., August 21-30.

Central Maui suffered a 7-4 loss in the opener but rebounded with 11 hits in the winner-take-all nightcap at the Aiea Annex Field.

Another Valley Isle athlete claimed a title yesterday. But he did it on the water, and not on the diamond.

Kai Barger, the reigning world junior champion, won the Nike 6.0 Pro Junior surfing contest at Huntington Beach, Calif.

The 19-year-old Barger edged Tonino Benson of the Big Island to win the pro junior final and the $2,500 first-place check.

Barger trailed for the first 16 minutes of the heat, but then took the lead when he received a score of 8.5 (out of 10) with about nine minutes remaining. His final two-wave score of 15.5 (out of 20) topped Benson's score of 14.3.

Hawaiian Canoe Club, seeking to regain the state title it lost by three points to Lanikai of Oahu last year, will have 37 canoes in the water for Saturday's regatta in Hilo.

Hawaiian had its streak of six state titles snapped last year. Hawaiian qualified 31 canoes while capturing its 25th straight county crown earlier this month and also purchased six other lanes for the state event.

In golf, Michelle Wie closed out with her third straight 70 to tie for 23rd at 283, nine strokes off the pace, at the Evian Masters in France. Wie earned $34,350.

Tadd Fujikawa shot an even par 72 after faltering on the back nine to finish tied for 15th place, seven strokes behind winner Rich Barcelo, in the final round of the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic in Omaha.

The 18-year-old Fujikawa entered the day tied for sixth place but just two shots back. He kept pace with the leaders until a double-bogey at the par-3 No. 12. He finished at 13-under 271.

Dean Wilson was tied for 37th and Parker McLachlin was two strokes back of him in the rain-delayed Canadian Open, which was suspended yesterday and will continue today.

In baseball, Shane Victorino continued to swing a hot bat. He collected a pair of hits and scored twice for Philadelphia in a 9-2 win over St. Louis. On Saturday, Victorino went 4-for-4 with a homer.

Oakland's Kurt Suzuki also went 2-for-4 and drove in a run as the Athletics suffered a 7-5 loss to the Yankees.

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An obsession with quarterbacks

By Fred Guzman
ESPN55O.com

With the opening of training camps right around the corner, our collective obsession with quarterbacks is rekindled once again.
And not just over whether or not Brett Favre decides to play with the Vikings, which I think he will.

There's Tom Brady's return from knee reconstruction, opening the way for Brady's fill-in at New England, Matt Cassel, to land the No. 1 job in Kansas City. Cleveland's Carson Palmer and Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck also return from injuries.

Jay Cutler talked his way out of Denver and will take over in Chicago, with Kyle Orton moving to the Mile High City.

Then, there are the various quarterback battles.

There's a three-way duel in Tampa Bay, featuring Luke McCown, Byron Leftwich and rookie Josh Freeman. In Cleveland, Brady Quinn enters camp with a slight edge over Derek Anderson.

The Jets must decide between Kellen Clemens and rookie Mark Sanchez. In Detroit, Daunte Culpepper is likely to start but the Lions are itching to see Matthew Stafford, the top overall draft pick, show off his incredible arm at some point.

The Raiders will stick with JaMarcus Russell, for the time being although the veteran Jeff Garcia is in the wings.

And whatever became of Vince Young and Matt Leinart? Backups both. Young is playing behind Kerry Collins in Tennessee and Leinart is playing the role of caddy for Kurt Warner in Arizona.

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Strong get stronger in NBA

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

I never had thought about it this way before, but ESPN.com's JA Adande makes an interesting case as to why the strong teams will only get stronger as the NBA lowers its salary cap and luxury tax threshold.

Adande notes that the NBA elite is "a stagnant circle, while the rest of the league has been taxed into timidity. No one's willing or able to take the bold steps to vault into contention, he writes, so we're stuck with the replay."

If anything, the trend will only get worse if the salary cap and luxury tax levels continue to drop as forecast, with potential low points of a $50 million cap and a $61 million tax threshold.

He quotes one general manager as saying that "the haves will be further separated from the have-nots."

The tax doesn't deter the best teams from pursuing more free agents, while teams that fear the tax will have to shed players even more furiously in order to stay tax-free.

Meantime, the Miami Heat continued its pursuit of free-agent forward Lamar Odom, although Kobe Bryant expressed confidence that Odom will end up staying in LA.

The Heat also have expressed interest in dealing with Utah for Carlos Boozer. The veteran power forward became expendable with the Jazz decided to match an offer made to restricted free agent Paul Millsap by Portland. The deal included a lump-sum, up-front payment of $10.5 million.

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Father Time overtakes Tom Watson

By Fred Guzman
ESPN.550 com

Plenty of 59-year-old men play the challenging game golf. But never has a person that age won a major pro title.

Julius Boros won the 1968 PGA title at the age of 48, becoming golf's oldest major champion.

Since then, there was Jack Nicklaus' win as a 46-year-old at the 1986 Masters, and Hale Irwin's 1990 U.S. Open championship just past his 45th birthday. Greg Norman was 53 last year when he led the British Open through three rounds before finishing tied for third.

Through 71 holes of this year's British Open, it appeared as if Tom Watson had turned back the clock. But then, reality struck, as Father Time and Stewart Cink caught up with Watson as the shadows lengthened late Sunday afternoon at venerable Turnberry.

A bogey by Watson and a birdie by Cink on a 12-foot putt on the final hole of regulation forced a four-hole playoff. Then, the wheels fell off on the Oldie But Goodie Express, and Cink capitalized to win the playoff by six strokes for his first major title.

Still, Watson provided us with a great story. He led by one stroke after the first round and was tied for the lead after two – although the focus at that point was on the failure of Tiger Woods to make the cut in a major for only the second time in his pro career.

Watson again regained the lead going into the final round and stubbornly held on before running out of steam after coming this close to doing what no golfer his age had ever done before.

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Victorino bids for All-Star berth

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The polls close at 10 a.m., Hawaii time, on Thursday in an election that could put a Maui boy in the major league all-star game for the first time.

But as of last night, Philadelphia center fielder Shane Victorino was still slightly trailing San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the 33rd and final berth on the National League roster for next week's game in St. Louis.

The one frustrating aspect of this process is that mlb.com doesn't provide updated numbers. Instead, the website merely reported that Sandoval was narrowly ahead of Victorino for a second straight day.

So fans of Victorino and the Phillies must continue to blindly cast their ballots and hope for the best. You can do your part by going to mlb.com, and voting as many times as possible.

Victorino and Sandoval aided their causes with spectacular efforts on Monday. Shane had four hits, including a homer, to go with four RBI and five runs while Sandoval slugged a grandslam homer to power the Giants to a win.

Neither candidate was as impressive yesterday. Victorino was 1-for-5 in Philly's 4-3 loss to Cincinnati, while Sandoval went 0-for-4 in San Francisco's 3-0 win over Florida.

Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds, Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp and Washington shortstop Cristian Guzman are also on the NL ballot.

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Local boys: Tinoisamoa signs with Bears

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

Jobs in the NFL are hard to earn and, as two former University of Hawaii standouts recently found out, even harder to keep.

That was the case with linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who was released after six years by the St. Louis Rams despite leading the team with 104 tackles last season. Pisa wasn't out of work long, recently signing a new deal with the Chicago Bears.

Earlier, Arizona cut defensive end Travis Laboy one season into a five-year, $22 million contract that included a $7.5 million bonus. LaBoy was released despite having 38 tackles and four sacks in 13 games in his only season with the Cardinals after spending three years with Tennessee.

LaBoy, who has been prone to injuries both in college and in the pros, may end up sitting out the coming season after opting to undergo surgery on an ankle. There are indications that, if LaBoy's rehab goes well, there might be spot for him with the Oakland Raiders.

From the gridiron to the diamond:

Shane Victorino had a pair of hits – including a double – and drove in two runs for Philadelphia in yesterday's 5-3 win over San Diego. Victorino has been on a recent tear, lifting his average to .295. His four triples are tied for the National League lead. The win helped Philly maintain its half-game lead over the Mets in the East.

Meantime, Kurt Suzuki went 0-for-4 in Oakland's 6-2 loss to the White Sox, dropping his average to .278.

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