HondaReport.com - The Asphalt Beckons

Thank God for working cars and on-time football teams. It's that time of year for football junkies who happen to work in the media: Photos, photos, photos.

En route back from a photo shoot of the Waianae Seariders yesterday, I stopped by Tasty Freeze and got my hamburger special.

Had been looking forward to it all day. For $3.10, you get a burger (average), 32-ounce drink (mine was a Coke) and the home-sliced french fries with the house specialty, mustard-mayonaise sauce. Sure, in Holland, they dip their fries in mayo only, and it sounds too greasy, but man, it's good for the soul.

I finally put 2 and 2 together as I ate those beautiful, brown, carmelized, smooth fries. The reason they're so good is because they cut them up in house. The previous time I'd been there, there were dozens of Idaho potato boxes outside the back door. And even Alton Brown says that a countryside joint that slices its own fries is unmatched.

It's true. Another thing that I noticed from my other visits was that the actual Tasty Freeze sign, perched atop a pole on the side of the highway, was now gone. I asked the manager, and she said this: The place was officially changed from Tasty Freeze to Waianae Drive In in the '60s, but the sign remained until the last few years. It read Tasty Freeze at the top and Waianae Drive In at the bottom.

Well, a representative of Tasty Freeze (mainland) came by and told the establishment that the sign had to go down, so it went down. And I wonder now, where is it? I have pictures (somewhere) of that sign, but nothing would be better than to my greasy, mustard-mayo hands all over it. I have memories of standing there for what seemed like hours, waiting for the bus. Okay, that happened just once and it was more than 20 years ago. But if I find out that the sign was junked and dumped, oh I'll be sad. The fries, of course, remain.

I'll gladly wait my turn for another special, even if it's crowded again in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Mmm ... fries.

Asphalt poundage: Why would I go to four schools in one day just to take photos of every football player I see?

I answer with a question of my own: Why not? At the Star-Bulletin, we like to have a player's photo available at all times. You never know who'll score five touchdowns and run for 200 yards, or who will return a fumble 99 yards for a winning score. Stuff happens, and we want photos.

Saturday was a banner day for the week. From Kailua to Radford to Iolani to Aiea, I managed to get my "mug" shots, or as some folks might say, "head" shots. Four locations might seem like a lot, but it was a breeze. No serious traffic logjams. Good weather. Hospitable players and coaches.

Mileage? Come on. Honolulu residents are so spoiled. A "long" drive, like town to Waianae, is 38 miles and takes about 45 minutes. Smooth, sunny and relaxing. On the Big Island, when I covered sports for West Hawaii Today for eight years, 45 minutes is a short drive.

In the 1990s, when we did our annual football tabloid, photo schedules were an insane challenge. Getting from Kailua-Kona to Pahoa was a nice, painfully long drive, but for the sake of efficiency, a shoot at Pahoa usually started the day. Next up would be Waiakea and Hilo, and possibly Honokaa before the end of the day.

That usually meant a 4:30 departure from the West side when the day called for East teams. That's 4:30 a.m. One time, I got my 2 hours of sleep (no sportswriter I know goes to bed before midnight), headed north. Ten miles out of town, I came across an accident scene. Only one police officer was there at the time, but a small station wagon was off the road and the lane was coned off, flared off. I saw our photographer, Baron Sekiya, there, and learned that a goat had strayed onto the road. It was fatal for both the animal and the car's driver. We were all rolling again a few minutes later, beginning the day with a grisly, sad note.

The shortest distance on the West side back then (1990s) between two football teams was the 15 miles between Hawaii Prep and Honokaa. Of course, coming from Kona, HPA was 45 miles away: 40 miles to Waimea, then 5 more miles to the campus, which is actually in Waiaka on the pristine, rolling hills of the Kohala Mountain Range.

One reason why football programs come and go in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation like no other place is cost. Beyond helmets, pads, jerseys and pants, coming up with transportation money is crucial. In the '90s, a bus rental for a Kona-to-Hilo round trip ran up to $300. The number is closer to $500 now. Tiny football programs at Henry Opukahaia, Pahoa and Ka‘u drifted in and out of existence, unable to generate coaches for leadership or players to don uniforms.

After doing the Big Island football photo "tour" for all those years, we came to a simple realization: Teams that were timely, organized and functional at photo shoots always fared well during the season. The clearest example I recall is Waiakea, which was so-so on photo days until Tim Lino came along. He ran his preseason like a general, or rather, a benevolent dictator. He barked and his players marched. It was a thing of beauty. By his second year, the Warriors transformed from a 2-8 team into a title contender. (A loss to Hawaii Prep on the final day of the season stopped Waiakea short of a title, but they went on to win three BIIF crowns in a row.)

Lino resigned after winning his final league title, and an assistant took over. The ensuing photo day was fairly good, but I detected some loose ends in the players behavior and attitudes. By the following year, Lino's imprint and effect was truly dissolving, and Waiakea spiraled out of its status as the league's dominant program. They've never quite been the same since, though they did win one crown under Ed Rocha.

All of this photo talk really has nothing to do with football, but unlike many other sports, team unity and clear-cut discipline are paramount. Show me a team of lollygaggers, trotting out of the lockerroom in different groups and cliques 30 minutes after the scheduled shoot time, and I'll show you a team that is more likely to jump offsides, incur 15-yard penalties and remain disjointed through the regular season. After 16 years of observation, it's just a simple pattern that is undeniable.

That's why photo time is always interesting, even if not a single tackle is made nor a single touchdown scored. The inner workings of a team's culture are laid out in the open when photo day comes. That's why, when Radford coach Fred Salanoa admitted to me that he hates these things, my respect rises. It wasn't even 10 a.m., the scheduled time, and his team was in full uniform and on the bleachers for its team photo with Burr Cox and his "team." No coach really enjoys spending valuable, precious hours in the middle of preseason doing photos, but it's part of the deal.

As for the four teams on Saturday, let's just say three were all sufficiently cooperative. Kailua had an ungodly 9 a.m. shoot (I don't set the times), and by 9:20, I got a head start and began getting my mug shots as most of the team sat waiting near its lockerroom. The 10 a.m. shoot at Radford awaited, so I moved and got what was necessary.

After Radford, some down time with my nephew and mom, then headed to Iolani for a 2 p.m. shoot. Unfortunately, they were still en route to the school after a scrimmage at Waianae, so we — Russ of Island Football (which produces the ILH-OIA program/magazine), Oscar from the Advertiser and myself — had no choice but to be patient. The Raiders, of course, are always on time, and this was an exceptional situation. They marched to the field at around 2:30, which is when I caught them near the bleachers and started firing away.

I got to Aiea late, 3:15, but Burr and Ray had the team lined up for team and individual photo packages, so I was very fortunate. Aiea was the most impressive looking team physically, a ton of linemen. Athletic linemen. And, of course, one of the candidates for Offensive Player of the Year, Lofa Liilii. He's not 6-4 and 225 pounds. He doesn't have a chip on his shoulder. He's just the most exciting player in the OIA Red West, maybe in the state.

The shoot goes well and I count my blessings. Four teams in one day. No 4:30 a.m. departures, no goats on the road and definitely plenty of time to get ready for the coming week of football, football and more football.