sore left heel, tweaked rt. elbow, black left eye.....and a few other bumps and bruises

Comment from: prideperiod [Visitor]
We had some very spirited dialogue tonight, which I enjoyed very much. Neither party was right or wrong, but just expressed personal opinions from different perspectives. We are each entitled to our opinion, which is the greatest thing about living in a free country. Our opinions differ about different subjects, but what binds us together is a love for the Warrior football program, and a love for the players. We are like a family, with rivalries and skirmishes between siblings, and sometimes between parents. But in the end, a family will always come together because they are bound by the blood that runs through their veins. We all bleed the same color---- green and black. That blood running through our veins is what binds us together.

With that in mind, please if we can, lets be free to share and debate, but not let it get too personal. I may be wrong to be voicing my opinion in this area, this isn't my blog, and I'm not one of the designated leaders. I'm just a freindly lurker who likes listening and reading all of the input from my fellow brothers and sisters. But to call people out and challenge other posters is something that should be done elsewhere and not within the confines of the blog. Again, I am not directing this to any one or two posters in general, but to all of us. Just a reminder to watch what we say and do, and to mind our manners. If you agree with me or disagree, it doesn't matter. I'm putting it out there anyway. Aloha.
Permalink 08/18/07 @ 03:19

I initially clerked for a federal court judge

Hawaii is the most expensive state in the nation, by far, for doing business, according to a report by the Milken Institute.

It's the third straight year Hawaii ranked No. 1 on the independent economic think tank's annual Cost-Of-Doing Business Index, which measures wages, taxes, electricity costs and real estate costs for industrial and office space.

scored 151.5, which meant that the overall cost of doing business in the state was about 52 percent higher than the national average. The score was up from 148.4 in 2006 and 143.1 in 2005, according to the report.

Jim Tollefson, president and chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, said Hawaii's ranking came as no surprise. “We're doing all we can to improve our ranking,” Tollefson added.

Hawaii had the highest electricity and industrial space costs and ranked second in tax burden.

The Milken Institute said its index indicates each state's comparative advantages or disadvantages in attracting and retaining businesses. Those states with a low cost of doing business have, on average, greater job growth than those with high costs.

“I think it's something we're concerned about, and we continuously look for ways to reduce those costs to make it easy for businesses to start up,” Hawaii economist Pearl Imada Iboshi said.

Wages in the islands, however, were not the highest. Wages in Hawaii ranked 22, despite the high cost of living.

It's a long way from Hawaii for two defensive ends in the Great Lakes Classic. Ikaika Alama-Francis is a Detroit rookie via a second-round draft pick. Melila Purcell, who started opposite Alama-Francis for the University of Hawaii last year, is a rookie Round 6 pick with the Browns.

Comment from: gigi-hawaii [Visitor]

ST, how about a Bio of Guava? We all are dying to know him better!

08/18/07 @ 08:59

Rookie fullback Reagan Mauia appears to have a broken or sprained the thumb on his left hand. He's practicing with a cast on his left hand, but was undergoing treatment on the hand earlier today.

Question: In your opinion, do the guys on the OL have the right attitude. To quote Joe Theisman, "... running the ball is an attitude". He was referring to the old "Hogs" of the Skins. In my mind, an OL player needs to have a real "nasty" streak, just like a good hockey defenseman. Do you see a nasty streak in these young Finns OL players ? Thanks.
Rod Penman, Victoria, BC, Canada 8/17/07
A: Yes, Rod. Unlike past years, I am finally seeing a bit of a nasty side in some of these players. Believe it or not, that might be one of Drew Mormino's best qualities. The dude is wired. And Samson Satele doesn't mess around either. You're absolutely right, too. Offensive linemen need to be just as nasty as the guys they are blocking. That's critical.
Jeff Darlington 8/18/07

BY DAVID J. NEAL
dneal@MiamiHerald.com
Fullback Reagan Mauia wore a cast on his left hand and wrist in the locker room Saturday morning. Mauia's agent, Max Hannemann said he thought the cast was ''just precautionary,'' but they were waiting for the Dolphins doctor to learn if Mauia suffered a sprain or something worse.

According to Hanneman, Mauia hurt the hand in Monday's practice, but he practiced through the pain Tuesday and played through it Thursday against Kansas City. Mauia ran the ball twice for five yards and caught one pass for one yard Thursday.

What about the Eagles' running game? Should we be concerned? No, not concerned, but it is something the Eagles absolutely need to improve. The line isn't getting a great push up front, and the Eagles aren't handling defensive players "moving," as Reid said on Friday night. Reid tested his younger linemen late in Friday's game, going for it on fourth-and-short situations twice. Once, Jason Davis was stuffed running behind Pat McCoy and Nick Cole. The second time, Kevin Kolb sneaked for the first down to the right side, where Winston Justice teamed with Cole. The Eagles moved Justice and McCoy back and forth from the right side to the left side. McCoy needs to make more progress and build on his rookie season.

Tony Hunt's role is pretty clear, isn't it? He is in on short-yardage situations and is going to help around the end zone.

I am reading between the lines here and I'm looking at how the offense is using the fullback in the preseason, and my guess is that neither Thomas Tapeh nor Davis has distinguished himself yet. The coaching staff wants more from that position.

INJURY UPDATE: Rookie fullback Reagan Mauia sported a hard cast on his left hand as a result of a slight navicular fracture of the wrist, which is a bone near the thumb. Cameron said he will have surgery possibly on Monday and should be in a cast for 4-6 weeks, but once the swelling goes down he can still play with it, even with the cast ...

1-6-DET 6 (5:08) 31-J.Lewis up the middle to DET 2 for 4 yards (91-I.Alama-Francis, 50-E.Sims).

A sack -- at least one measley sack -- by the starters on defense. They didn't get any last week. Ikaika Alama-Francis is starting in place of Kalimba Edwards, who is out with a sprained foot. Rod Marinelli is waiting for Edwards to blossom. Edwards has 23 sacks in five seasons, and only three last year.

Hey Mike, With Kalimba needing to have a good year I was just curious is his job really in jeopardy THIS season? Is there anyone pressuring him to start at D end this year that can put pressure on him to perform? I really hope he steps up, because if we cannot get pressure on the QB in the Tampa 2 defense we are in trouble!! Thanks Mike

I remember the summer before college, when Grease came out, our gang used to sing those songs at grad parties. My friend Johnny (now assistant coach at St. Francis) used to sing Danny's part. Your favorite blog host used to sing Sandy's part. Robert, now the Rainbow Wahine's team doctor, and Harrison used to sing background.

ST, Warrior Mojo, Guava, Al:

Dolphins fullback Reagan Mauia fractured the navicular bone in the wrist of his left hand and is expected to have surgery on Monday.

The Hawaii product, whom the Dolphins selected in the sixth-round of last April's draft, injured the hand during Thursday night's 11-10 exhibition win over the Chiefs.

While the 6-foot, 275-pound fullback practiced on Saturday with a heavily padded cast, and might continue to play with the injury, coach Cam Cameron said Mauia won't return to the field until the swelling goes down.

Cameron also said Mauia will wear a cast for the next four to six weeks.

"It's a pretty common, pretty minor operation," Cameron said. "He'll be casted and once the swelling goes down he'll play with it."

Mauia is presently behind projected starting fullback Cory Schlesinger on the depth chart. He's carried the ball four times, gaining 9-yards, and caught two passes for 8-yards in the Dolphins two exhibition games.

• Gets driven back by the center, former 49er Jeremy Newberry.
• Initially driven back by Newberry before battling back.
• Taken out on 3rd and 6th.

• 1-10: Little pressure on pass rush.
• 2-10: Initial hit on tackle.
• 3-7: Not in the play.

• 1-10: Decent pass rush up the middle, unable to bat down pass.
• 2-5: Quick pass to outside, no chance to get involved in play.
• 1-10: Decent pass rush but taken down after getting off-balance.
• 2-4: Good push inside, drove runner to outside right.
• 1-10: Double-teamed, no chance to get involved in play.
• 2-14: Not in play.
• 3-14: Not in play.

• 1-15: Sheds double-team.
• 2-18: Quick pass to outside, no chance to get involved in play.
• 3-12: Not in play.
• 1-10: Driven back by blocker.
• 2-4: Shed block, missed tackle caused by hold by center.
• 2-14: Not in play.
• 1-10: ???
• 2-10: Driven back by blocker.
• 3-1: Good penetration inside, but Raiders still make 1st dwn by half yard.
• 1-10: Holds back on pass rush to contain QB rolling right.
• 2-10: Driven back by blocker.
• 3-6: Not in play.
• 1-10: Sopoaga driven back by center, tackle by Ulbrich.
• 2-?: Neutralized by blocker, Ulbrich involved in gang tackle.
• 1-10: Little pass rush.
• 2-10: Not in play.
• 3-5: Not in play.
• 1-Gl: Sopoaga neutralized by blocker, Ulbrich unable to stop runner before TD scored.

The referees union maintained that Tim Donaghy is known to be the only referee involved in gambling activities, despite a report that said he was about to provide names of colleagues who also may have violated NBA rules.

The report on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York said Donaghy will provide prosecutors as many as 20 names of other NBA officials and will detail their involvement in some form of gambling, believed to include betting in casinos.

The offenses may not include criminal activity, according to the report, but could violate NBA policy and lead to firings that would decimate the officiating staff. Twenty referees would make up about a third of the league's roster.

Dolphins fullback Reagan Mauia is scheduled to have surgery on a fractured bone in his left hand as early as Monday, but coach Cam Cameron doesn't expect Mauia to miss any playing time.

Mauia, a sixth-round pick out of Hawaii, practiced with a cast on his left hand and arm Saturday to protect his left navicular bone, which is between the thumb and wrist, in Thursday's 11-10 exhibition victory at Kansas City.

"Our advice to him was to have the surgery, and he thought that made sense," Cameron said. "It's a pretty common, pretty minor operation. Then once the swelling goes down, he'll play with it."

Cameron said Mauia will wear a cast for four to six weeks after surgery.

Mauia played behind starter Cory Schlesinger and has been a short-yardage back for the first two exhibition games. He has 9 yards on four carries.

"He's shown an ability to get something out of nothing," Cameron said.

Garcia was able to run away from a relentless pass rush, run for positive yards and throw pinpoint passes on the run.

The result was Garcia finished 6-of-6 passing for 43 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown to David Boston, who turns 29 today.

No sooner had Jon arrived as coach, than Rob “The Human Sack Machine” Johnson did to “compete” with Brad. That was about as fair a competition as a Ukranian political election, and Brad held the job through 2002 (although two touchdown-less starts from Rob and one awful Monday Night one from Smoothie King followed).

2003 was Brad’s year but 2004 saw the Bucs go from Brad to Chris Simms to Brian Griese and back to Simms again for the season finale in Arizona.

2005 was going to Brian Griese’s year but then he got hurt and back came the loser of the Red River Shootout to lead the Bucs to a post-season appearance.

And then came 2006 when we went from Simms to the Polish Pop-Gun Bruce Gradkowski, to Touchdown Timmy Rattay. And now we have Jeff Garcia with Luke McCown waiting to turn his cap round the right way and put down his permanent clipboard to actually throw a pass that matters.

Where will it all end? Hopefully with a quarterback we can stick with. Like we had from 1978 to 1982 when some guy called Williams was behind center. Any chance of that happening now? Not likely.

Jason said: whitey: A simple program to identify plants? Well, I'm a guy that uses Microsoft Excel for everything, but it's not a database program. Microsoft Access is pretty good, but it's complicated, and I have little experience with it.

Rookie Ikaika Alama-Francis started at right defensive end, then moved to left end with the second team.

Eagles players, coaches and cheerleaders will be out in full force today at Lincoln Financial Field for the 13th annual Eagles Carnival and Auction benefiting the Eagles Youth Partnership.

The Eagles finish the preseason against the Jets, but their game against the Steelers a week from today will be the final test for the starters. You can trust that Reid will emphasize the running game in practice this week and try to get something going on the ground at Heinz Field next Sunday night.

“We looked sharp overall (against the Panthers), but we definitely need to get the running game going,” left guard Todd Herremans said. “We only had 35 yards in the first half (Friday) and we should have 100. But we know we can run the ball. We just have to figure out a couple things and keep working on it.

I expect to see a lot of Nate Ilaoa on Sunday. The Eagles need to find out if he is worth keeping as a fourth halfback. I have to believe Westbrook will only play limited time. Generally, the starters play a half in Game 3 of the preseason, but since the majority played the first half against Carolina, does Reid cut back in this game?

Ashley Lelie led the receivers with 4 catches for 57 yards, including a 1-yard TD catch. Lelie has primarily worked with the second and third units, but caught his first NFL pass from quarterback Alex Smith.

“I finally got to work with Ashley in the game and he did a nice job, especially a couple of times with me scrambling around and staying alive for me,” said Smith. “He had his opportunity tonight and he took advantage of it, caught some balls and ran some nice routes.”

If the regular season did start Monday, however - and isn't that wishful thinking? - the 49ers would feel good about quarterback Alex Smith, who would in turn feel good about the depth of his offensive line and his receivers, in particular, current backups Ashley Lelie and Bryan Gilmore.

Lelie had four receptions for 57 yards and the touchdown. Gilmore, who had been having a quiet training camp, latched onto three passes for 35 yards in a smooth showing of professionalism.

"It definitely felt good to get out there and get the timing down with Alex," Lelie said. "My stride is probably so big I probably get down the field a little deeper and a little faster than he's used to. My step is just a lot different than a lot of other guys."

Trent Dilfer continues to show why he's invaluable as Smith's backup as he was 7-for-11 for 77 yards and a 1-yard touchdown toss to Lelie, who came alive against the Raiders.

"He's a different kind of guy," Smith said of Lelie. "He's so tall, he gets deeper into his routes than other guys. It was good to get out there with him and start working on our timing."