I first heard about the Hawaii Football School when I was watching KGMB9. I had just finished my segment minutes before and I heard that Chad Owens was going to be on. I was excited since I hadn't seen Chad play, and I knew he had injuries in the NFL Season.

He told Steve that he was putting together a football school. Not just any football school, but one that taught the fundamentals of football while they were young so that way when they got older in middle and high school, there was no learning curve. They were already be ma'a to the game and they could jump right into it. They were taking all ages. It made me excited being a football fan!

My son is 6 years old. I didn't know if he would like football. However since he attends a bunch of football games that I'm working at, he would see it all the time. We bought him the playstation game NCAA Football' 07 so he's been playing football for a while. It's also the way I taught my wife football in general (she wanted to play so I taught her; she beats me now.)

Since my son started to attend HFS, he plays differently now. He watches the plays in slow motion. He sees the stance of the players and mentions (and points), "That's what we did in the last class!". He's started to put things together.

The coaches started changing how they teach too. They were always about football, team and working together, but in the last month they've been mentioning that schoolwork comes first before everything else. If they cna't do good in school, they can't do good on the field. They're setting them up for that long journey called middle, high school and college. I think it's a natural progression. They're also giving out awards monthly for excellence, inviting the kids to strive, to do better, to get recognized for it. It's been an awesome program that I'm glad my son is in on Sundays

Note: The coaches are all people I've grown up with in sports. They're some of the names we've heard associated with some of the greats in UH Warrior Football. OFten the coaches have been rotating out because Some are still active either in the Canadian Football , Indoor or European football leagues. Occasionally there have been "guest" coaches. Colt Brennan has come by. Timmy Chang when he's been in town. It's been kewl to see these coaches and people coming back to give back again.http://www.hawaiifootballschool.com

Congratulations to Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho for winning the Grammy Award in the catagory "Hawaiian Album of the Year". This is the first year that a "vocalist" artists or group has won this award. Since the catagory's addition into the Grammy's in 2005, it has always been won by Slack Key Releases.

A note about "Slack Key" releases". The name itself may be misleading to some. The music contained on a lot of the "Slack Key" releases used to be just that - instrumental. You would think of a CD filled with music by one guitar, or several guitars with one playing the lead in the song. Not anymore. Our best slack key players are also some of the best vocalists in Hawaiian music, or they are enhancing songs with their particular style of Slack Key. All if not most of the tracks on Slack Key CD releases out now are indeed vocal tracks, but they are performed by these Masters in their craft of Slack Key.

Taking a look at the Grammy nominees in the last couple of years, there really haven't been any "instrumental" releases, but there are "Slack Key" genre releases. Perhaps the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts could take up the possibilities of adding that catagory in the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.

A good point was made in Howard Dicus' blog that not only our Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, but the Grammys, awards for classical music etc.. that it is the human element that comes into play. To quote Howard, "In classical music, which I follow closely, it has not been unusual for a Grammy to go to a group that has a lot of voting members." I would say that would probably go the same for almost any award type, in any media or otherwise. It's the human quotient. I also used to complain in my youth about why so and so got the award...The more people that are in the academy (that qualify) the better it is that you can avoid people questioning the results...

Tia Carrere is an extremely talented actress that has taken the options afforded her (remember that Tia and Daniel Ho are from Hawaii, grew up here on O'ahu) and has excelled in almost every avenue she has chose to go down. Her name will attract some attention, and we are always hopeful when it happens with any of our Hawaii celebrities; that people will not only appreciate what was presented, but will also dig deeper and get to know and appreciate the other music in the catagory and genre as well.

There's no doubt about it. I'm a Nissan fan. I've owned what I call 3 generations of Nissan vehicles...I wanted them ever since Nissan had the pathfinders that looked like boxes. But somehow I loved that look. My co-host Lina Girl used to have one. I always liked the look of that car. Now I have one myself.

I started out with the light blue pathfinder. I loved it and drove it everywhere. It was my pride and joy. I made it carry all kinds of cargo, and filled it to the very top. I had food I left inside, I had it cleaned professionally lots of times. I had a lowriding toyota fast car, but when I got serious with my girlfriend, she became my wife and the Nissan would be the first car we would buy together. When we went to go get our Nissan, the staff was nice and helpful. We eventurally found ourselves on the Windward Side going to King Windward Nissan. Whenever I had any questions, they had quick answers for us. Whenever we needed something checked out, they made it as easy as possible, especially with my wife and my busy schedules. Everybody should have the ease with which we had in buying, maintaining and enjoying a car. Now she has an Armada, and I still have my Pathfinder. It hardly had given me trouble, hardly broken down, always been reliable, and I love my Nissan. My wife and my son love it too.

Blogging while at lunch...

I'll try to get this out...so many thoughts:

I'm sure HTA will revote in favor of the NFL Pro Bowl. Too many tourism people that know the value of this major event, probably THE biggest of the year that has come year after year for the last 30 years. Have we gotten to the point where we took it for granted? Or maybe we felt like we could have more pull to get more from the NFL? What would have Mike McCartney done if he had been in the hotseat? I know it's a ways off, and one shouldn't talk about politics way in advance, but if I were Mufi Hannemann, I would be doing exactly what he's doing right now; telling HTA "better hurry up, the clock is ticking and you're out of timeouts". There is a LOT of revenue that comes from having the NFL event here. Especially since we need it in this difficult financial time. Anything to keep the state and city from raising rates. In some instances we don't pay for a bunch of stuff or we pay minimal compared to other states. We need the revenue, we need the goodwill that these national "in-the-spotlight" players and give our kids, the money that gets given back to the community by the NFL for our kids....it's all positives from the way I look at it. I'm sure HTA will use this timeout to regain composure and see this thru.

I gotta get this one off the chest. I was reading that "Pakistani government officials announced Monday an agreement with the Taliban to allow strict Islamic law, or sharia, to be implemented in parts of North West Frontier Province." http://bit.ly/y9TuC

I'll blog this one later, but wanted to get it out of my head while it's still fresh...

David Archuleta sang our National Anthem prior to the start of the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl. Most celebities I've met had to have things a certain way. Lots of lights, they're people constantly around, not willing to talk to anyone. I acknowledge this only because I can see things from their point of view. You never know which one is going to be the wacko one.

I'm at home, using twhirl; it's what I use to track everyone that I'm following while I'm doing work on the computer, putting together tomorrow's show for both radio and tv. I'm seeing twitters from kgmb9, honoluluadvertiser and following along with what others I'm following.

I get a twitter that a friend of mine is at an event having drinks. I send her a msg saying "have fun". About 20 min later she twitters, "I'm drinking wine with (name hidden). Does anyone know this loser?"

It looks like we've found a new use for twitter...using your network of friends to filter potential psychos, losers, possible undesirables...Damn funny. I don't think twitter and twhirl had those thoughts in mind when they made their applications...

What an awesome day. Spent the first part of the morning with the NFL as emcee of the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl Ohana Day. Met Aaron Francisco at the NFL Kickoff Rally at Kapiolani Park, nice to see him again at the Ohana Day festivities. I know I'll see him Monday at Windward Mall. Aaron seems like the rest of his Pro Bowl Counterparts. They don't really "work " the microphone when they do interviews. But it's really evident that Aaron really wants to use his status to encourage the kids to do well. He is an "Ambassador" player with the Pro Bowl meaning he is making a lot of appearances, and there is a real sincerity with him. You gotta be happy with someone from home, who is out making a difference on AND off the field.

Small talk with Kurt Warner, but a very nice guy. We picked fans out of the audience, and they were able to come down, run down the field and catch a pass from him. Who can say they ran out and caught a pass from Kurt Warner!

Shook hands with David Archuleta. It's been quite a while since he was on American Idol and that phenomenal season ending finale, but he STILL looks surprised by people that want his autograph; by people that still cheer him on and remember his outstanding performances week after week. It will be nice to hear him sing Star Spangled Banner, and more so for me to introduce him on national TV tomorrow.

Gotta blog this one a little later at hawaiianbroadcast.com! Talked to Kurt Warner for about 2 minutes, stood next to Peyton Manning for about 4 minutes; NBC will show Pro Bowl across Hawaii tomorrow, shook hands with David Archuleta. Took my son to his football practice with (Hawaii Football School run by Chad Owens) and it was nice to see former UH quarterback Tim Chang...and to see him coach my song for a little while. It was an awesome day...and it's not over yet...I'm at University of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior Basketball.