2011 Hawaii Bowl

Our friend KFB, who was on her annual pilgrimage to Hawaii, suggested we attend the 2011 Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve which also happen to be during Chanukah.  We now seem to celebrate Chanukah in funny ways; if only we had brought our menorah to Aloha Stadium, as we did to a USS destroyer last year.

Oddly enough, none of us had ever attended a college football game before so we didn't really know what to expect.  After we parked, we saw people tailgating in a true Hawaiian fashion: grilling in their truck beds.  There were also possibly more tailgaters than game attendees.  Also, lots of people were trying to sell tickets for the game.  This year the home team, the University of Hawaii Warriors, did not qualify for the post-season bowl bid so attendance was pretty low since there was not much local interest in watching the University of Nevada play the University of Mississippi.  The ESPN reported attendance of 32,630 was way overstated - we suspect creative counting to satisfy the NCAA's bylaws.

But as the saying goes, one person's loss is another's gain - we had pick of the litter when it came to choosing our seats.  We ended up seating in the first row behind the North end goal post, near University of Nevada Wolf Pack's band and cheerleaders.

R enjoying front row seating

KFB and A with Alphie

The highlight of the game was its halftime.  More hula dancers performed on the field during the show than there were spectators during the entire game.

As almost any other day in Hawaii, the rain and a rainbow made appearances during the game.

And happy belated Hanukkah