Hawaiian music lyrics often speak of aloha. 'Aloha' in Hawaiian means affection, love, peace, compassion, mercy, goodbye, and hello. Colt Brennan, Coach June Jones and the Hawaii Warriors football team know this word 'Aloha' well. The voices from these college locker room men, who hoped for so much for the state of Hawaii sang out Aloha.

OK.. so Colt Brennan and Hawaii Warriors did not win the Sugar Bowl, but WOW they gave the State of Hawaii soo much to be proud of!

Hawaii Warriors did not win the Sugar Bowl, score was 41-10, but they have indeed won the hearts of the people of Hawaii. The team showed Aloha, often offering their hand to the other team. You would have to live in Hawaii for awhile to understand this.. you really would.

"If you go to Hawaii, I'll guarantee I'll be there."

~Colt Brennan

The tears from Brennan are now being criticized. The pressure on Colt Brennan was tremendous, not only for the game but because to the whole State of Hawaii he was made a hero. Every child knows his name. Hawaii also considers Colt Brennan and the Warrior football team as part of their 'Ohana. In Hawaiian culture, %u02BBohana means family, both blood-related or extended. It is an honor. it means caring for one another. It has been used to describe not just what Warriors players feel about each other but also how the state has come to feel about them.

"This is everybody's team, which I knew would happen if we got it going. It could take over the whole state. And it has."

~ Coach June Jones

Colt Brennan's career, nonetheless, is still one of the best in college football history.

Outside of the 41-10 loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Colt had an outstanding 2007 season. Hawaii has now won 22 of its last 24. Colt Brennan broke Tye Detmer's TD record of 122 touchdowns and has broken 33 other NCAA records. This season he has a 71.40 completion percentage and has thrown for 4,174 yards and 38 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. Brennan has completed an NCAA-record 70.4 percent of his passes for 14,193 yards and was responsible for 146 total touchdowns.

Also to be taken into consideration in their loss to Georgia is the fact that UH recruiting budget is only $50K, barely a tenth of Georgia's. Coach June Jones had one team, while Georgia had what was equivalent to several, able to swap out team players continually, while Hawaii could not. All those players from Hawaii played their hearts out for the whole game.

There were penalties that should have been noted as well. Brennan was often sacked even after he had thrown the ball. Hawaii players were often knocked down after time was called. Because of their experience of brotherhood within their team and the understanding of what 'aloha' means in Hawaii, they were stunned by it. Hawaii Warriors were seen offering their hand to Bulldogs when they were on the ground after time was called. Their hands of 'Aloha' were refused.

"I'm proud of him and the career he had," Jones said. "I wish he could have finished, obviously, better than he did tonight. But I think that had a lot to do with Georgia and not so much him."

~ Coach June Jones

Aloha, does this matter? Is the 'spirit of aloha' within football or outside of Hawaii something that has no place? Or is it a reminder that society has somehow lost its way? Has winning become the only thing that is important? In the State of Hawaii, people have taken their champions and embraced them as they always have. Why? Because in Hawaii the 'spirit of aloha' is indeed the most important thing. These young Warriors have learned something that cannot be compared to and that is a love for their fellow man and all that encompasses. Hawaiian music lyrics often speak of aloha because the spirit of aloha IS Hawaii. The voices from these college locker room men, who hoped for so much for the state of Hawaii sang out Aloha and did us proud!

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

PS... Looks like Coach June Jones MIGHT be leaving Hawaii. We will see today. Either way..Thank You June Jones for all you did for Hawaii while you were here.

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Three reasons to love Colt Brennan?

Football

Being loyal to UH

His ever changing hair including the Hawaiian Islands on his hair.. darn cool. I guess he is past the stage of dyeing his hair dark on one side of his head in the shape of the islands. Boy, that must have been a lot of upkeep!

Colt Brennan quotes

"For the first time I got settled in out there. Everything felt right in the second half. I wish we had more time out there."

"You watch film and you see mistakes and you learn from it. I think we have a good offense."

"This was like our birthday. Before the game, we said, 'It starts from today.' We came here with a purpose, and I thought we played with one. We got the job done, and, hey, we're in first place, right?"

"Coach (Jones) drew it up for us all week. He said, 'This is how it would be,' and it was. It was awesome."

"For us, it's like getting ready for what we got ready for a couple of weeks ago."

"If you go to Hawaii, I'll guarantee I'll be there."

"There's a pace coach Jones kind of set from day one. No matter what happened, he's never veered from that pace. Now we're seeing the positives of that pace coming through. Now that it's the fourth game, the guys want to do more. If they threw everything at us right away, we would be here right now trying to slow things down instead of trying to accelerate things."

"We've got guys who can fill in, it's just getting the guys in there and getting them reps and getting them up to speed. Chad Mock did a terrific job stepping in last week."

"Nobody said it's easy being a walk-on. Maybe next time I'll park next to coach (June) Jones. I don't think they would tow his car."

"I'd love to give each of (the receivers) the same number of throws, but I have to go through my reads, and see what's open."

~Colt Brennan

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Update to below..

First off here is a Blog that includes the latest news, videos and pictures, by Stephen Tsai :

"The Warrior's Beat"

Stephen Tsai knows University of Hawai'i sports, down to the last decimal of a 40-yard dash. He's lived UH sports since 1987. Few reporters get the inside information like he does. What Tsai writes is a daily must read.

http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/index.php?blog=9

University of Hawaii Haka Controversy

During a hugely successful 2006 football season, it became tradition for the University of Hawaii Warriors football team to perform the Haka. Typically, the Warriors performed their version of the "Kapa O Pango" haka 20 minutes before the opening kickoff. After home wins, the team also performed a post-game version. However, before its final regular season game against Oregon State, the team was alerted by a university professor that the team may be infringing upon a copyright by performing the dance. The team ended up doing a 'variation' of the Haka before the Oregon State game, and planned on unveiling a 'new haka' before the team's Hawaii Bowl appearance against Arizona State on December 24. The All-Blacks rugby team does their Haka with permission from Ngati Porou tribe.
Through a spokeswoman, Hawaii's athletic director said: "Our legal department is looking into the issue. We don't believe we're violating any copyright laws at this time." Players on the team add that their version of the dance is not 'step for step' with the All-Blacks Haka.[3]
While team has adopted the "Kapa O Pango" as its game day ritual haka, it should be noted that the words speak of a black jersey, which is the official home color of the UH Warriors. However, the black jersey refers specifically to the All Black jersey, for whom the haka was written. The original version of the haka also mentions "Aotearoa", which is Maori for New Zealand, and "Ponga-Ra" meaning silver fern, both not applicable to the University of Hawaii football team. However, these words are dropped when the Warriors perform their version.[citation needed]
2006 Heisman Trophy Candidate Quarterback Colt Brennan was also filmed saying that he was learning the Samoan words to the haka when the haka is clearly Maori. (It should noted that Brennan meant learning Samoan would assist him in learning to pronounce the Maori words, not that this haka was in Samoan. Also the Warriors do not say "Aotearoa" or New Zealand when they perform their version)[citation needed].
On December 24, 2006 the University of Hawaii Warriors performed a haka prior to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game. in contrary to what was stated prior to the game,the Warriors, did not perform an entirely new haka but used the same gestures as "Kapa O Pango" as they have done all season. However it should be noted that the chant itself could not be identified and it could not be confirmed if it remains the same or if certain words were changed to accommodate the team and the university specifically as the haka was not televised[citation needed]. There are submitted clips of the Warriors' haka prior to the 2006 Hawaii Bowl game submitted on the popular website "You Tube" but there remains no good footage with quality audio to decipher their chant at that time.
In 2007, linebacker Timo Paepule has now taken the leadership duties of the haka. The Warriors performed their usual version of "Kapa O Pango" for over 4,000 fans in attendance at their annual "Football Ohana Festival" which included a 90-minute practice session.
Paepule was quoted in saying that they plan to adjust the haka before the start of the 2007 fall season. Paepule also noted that the team actually prefers to perform the haka just for themselves and not as an attraction for the team.

Haka in popular culture:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The haka is a traditional M%u0101ori dance form. The use of haka in popular culture is a growing phenomenon, especially in New Zealand. Traditionally, haka were used only in M%u0101ori cultural contexts, but today haka are used in a wide range of public occasions to impart a sense of importance of the event.

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Sports teams

Sports teams who perform a haka before international matches do so not only as a reflection of the importance of the game that is about to be played but also to motivate themselves and their supporters to greater efforts; indirectly then, as in days of old on the M%u0101ori battlefield, they are paying a compliment to the perceived skills of their opponents. The regular performance by New Zealand's national rugby union team, the All Blacks (see Haka of the All Blacks), is the most widely known use of the haka.
Other New Zealand sports teams that perform the haka before commencing a game include rugby league (the Kiwis), Australian rules football (the Falcons) and basketball (Tall Blacks) teams. The haka is also performed by the football teams at Brigham Young University and University of Hawaii before games, as well as the Euless Trinity (Texas) high school football team, Euless Trinity first performed the Haka on August 26, 2005 at Pennington field in Beford TX before a game against DeSoto High School). the 2005 Class 5A Division 1 state champions, a team with many players of Tongan descent. In addition to Euless Trinity High School, some high school football teams in Hawaii also perform the haka before their games. Recently, American Fork High School has started to perform the haka before home games to excite fans and players, while intimidating opponents.
The Haka is also performed by Los Borregos Salvajes (Borregios)de Monterrey (México) and other colleague football teams in Mexico (UDLA, Los Aztecas, etc)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka_in_popular_culture

Struggles off the field make Brennan stronger...

After all he's been through -- the trial, the sentence, the seven days in jail, the criticism, the embarrassment, the island escape, the fresh start, the rise to glory -- Brennan can't decide whether or not he's a fatalist.

QB Colt Brennan leads Division I-A with 43 touchdown passes.
"There is that whole belief, things happen for a reason," said Brennan, Hawaii's superstar junior quarterback. "I go back and forth on it. I believe it sometimes, but I try not to believe it fully. I like to think you have a lot of say in what happens to you."
It makes sense why Brennan doesn't choose a side.

Right now, he's pulling all the strings in his life. No football player in America (sorry, Brady Quinn) possesses more control over a game than Brennan. He leads Division I-A in touchdown passes (43), total offense (401.9 ypg) and passing efficiency (189 rating), topping all three categories by wide margins. He steers a Hawaii offense that leads the nation in scoring (48.7 ypg), total yards (542.4 ypg) and passing yards (436.7 ypg).

Behind Brennan, the Warriors have scored 61 or more points in four of their last five games and have been held to fewer than 34 points only once this season. They enter Saturday's matchup with San Jose State on a seven-game winning streak.

"I can't imagine anybody in America is playing better football than him," Hawaii coach June Jones said.

Brennan is living the surreal life.

He spends each day in paradise. Practices in postcard conditions. Masters an offense most quarterbacks would give their non-throwing arms to run. Immerses himself in the carefree island lifestyle.

"I'm out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just doing my day-to-day thing," Brennan said. "Living out here changes you. I didn't fight it, and if anything, I embraced it."

He had to. For Brennan, Hawaii was more than a refuge. It was a place to regain control, something he lost on Jan. 28, 2004.

That night, Brennan, then a freshman at Colorado, drunkenly entered a female student's room uninvited and didn't leave. He was charged with several crimes including sexual assault. Colorado, which at the time faced accusations of sex crimes involving several football players, quickly dismissed Brennan from the team.

Brennan was convicted of first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree burglary, but was acquitted of charges of sexual assault and indecent exposure. He was sentenced to seven days in jail and four years probation.

Brennan went through plenty of "rock-bottom things" after the events of that January night, but mixed in were moments of hope. "Sitting in that courtroom with not one person sitting behind the district attorney," he said, "there was not one person that sat behind him and there were 50 people sitting behind me. That's a statement. I almost felt like I won that case even though I kind of lost."

Brennan received similar support from coaches, teammates and teachers at Saddleback Junior College in Mission Viejo, Calif., near his hometown of Laguna Beach. He enrolled at the Southern California college after his dismissal from Colorado and led Saddleback to a conference title in 2004. But the sting of shame remained.

"I was embarrassed," Brennan said. "I wanted to get away and then come back a new man, somebody different, somebody new. Hawaii really presented that to me." Brennan had scholarship offers from five or six schools, including San Jose State, where his cousin, Brent, served as wide receivers coach. Jones didn't offer a scholarship but rather a promise: to make Brennan the first quarterback selected in the NFL draft.

"We were going through some things at the university, ticket price changes, trying to market different," said Jones, who has a history of taking players with checkered pasts. "I just said, 'You have some pending court things that I don't want to deal with right now. But if you're not smart enough to know that you'll be maybe the first quarterback taken in the draft if you walk on here, then you're not the guy I thought you were.' "He walked on, and the rest is history."

Operating an NFL-style offense wasn't the only draw for Brennan.

Brennan's first connection with star wide receiver Davone Bess occurred nowhere near a football field. In the summer of 2005, Bess and several other Hawaii players invited Brennan over to their apartment after a workout. At one point during the night, Bess went outside to take a phone call. When he hung up, he saw Brennan walking up the porch.

"Next thing you know, we had a heart-to-heart," Bess said. "Within 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation, we felt like we knew each other. We'd both been down the same road; we both went through the same situations."

Bess was sentenced to 15 months at a juvenile detention facility after being convicted as an accessory for possessing stolen goods in July 2003, two weeks before he was set to begin his collegiate career at Oregon State.

"Our situations were totally two different scenarios, but we both had the finger pointed to us without the proper evidence," said Bess, who enrolled at Hawaii four months after being released. "We both were pretty much taking life for granted. We couldn't be stopped. Everything was going so good for us. And then all of a sudden, bam! That's a reality check.

" Our offense is designed to put up numbers. I don't understand why people want to talk that down. It's funny because I watch some of the guys, the Brady Quinns, the Brian Brohms from Louisville, and they get credited for big games when they throw for 280 yards and two touchdowns."
-Hawaii QB Colt Brennan
"Now you have no choice but to mature and man up, take it and learn from it, grow from it and tell others your situation." That's exactly what both men are doing.

Brennan lives near Hale Ho'omalu, the main juvenile detention center in Honolulu. Several Sundays ago, the quarterback was walking by the center to get his morning coffee when one of the employees stopped him. They began chatting. After several minutes, Brennan asked if he could talk to the detainees.

He spoke for an hour, sharing his story, instructing the kids to maintain strong relationships with their probation officers.

"They're talking to a convicted felon who also is a kid that's kind of idolized around the island right now," Brennan said. "For them, being in that juvie center, it gave them a lot of hope. They were sitting there thinking, 'God, my life is not ruined. I can make my life a lot better.' "

Brennan hopes to go back to Hale Ho'omalu this week. Last Sunday, he and Bess, who has also spoken at juvenile detention centers, attended a church service where Brennan gave a testimonial.

"Any time I can help out or make a difference," Brennan said, "I'm going to put myself out there to do it."

He's taking the same approach on the field. Last year, Brennan felt "like such an idiot" trying to figure out Jones' offense, but he still led the country in total offense (4,455 yards) and touchdown passes (35). This fall he's been a model of efficiency, completing 72.4 percent of his passes and throwing only seven interceptions in 380 attempts. Brennan is also dangerous on the run, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

"Every time Colt scrambles, I'm running downfield, crossing my fingers, like, 'Oh my God, please get out of bounds or something,' " Bess said. "He wants to stick his head in there, get that extra yard."

Brennan's off-field troubles have made him fearless on Saturdays.

"My biggest weakness now is a poorly developed sense of fear and the fact that I've got no concept of the odds against me," he said. "I don't care about things as much as I used to. The fear is gone."

His numbers are unparalleled, but Brennan, much like Timmy Chang before him, often gets labeled a "system guy."

"Our offense is designed to put up numbers," Brennan said. "I don't understand why people want to talk that down. It's funny because I watch some of the guys, the Brady Quinns, the Brian Brohms from Louisville, and they get credited for big games when they throw for 280 yards and two touchdowns."

Jones is confident Brennan will get his just due when it counts -- on draft day.

"He will be the first quarterback taken," Jones said. Whether that happens this April or next remains to be seen. Brennan's full intention is to return for his senior year, though he plans to gauge his draft stock following the season.

Was all this part of a grand plan for Brennan? Doesn't matter now.

"I'm so happy where I'm at, so happy with the way things are going," Brennan said. "That's the main thing, and that's the way I plan to stay."

Adam Rittenberg covers college football for the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2664279