Warriors At Aloha Stadium

I’ve been attending University of Hawaii football games since I was a little girl. To be quite honest, my favorite part of the game was when my family would arrive about five hours early and set up the barbecue and stuff ourselves with food that of course we didn’t need but obviously severely wanted. Then we would waddle walk down to the entrance of Aloha Stadium and take our seats to watch what would hopefully be an exciting football game.

UH Football Game

The best part of the event was that when we were done watching the game, we would go back outside to eat the leftovers. So in reality, the football game was never really about football to me. From my childhood perspective, I never really paid attention to the game. I simply cheered when everyone else was cheering; stood up when everyone else was standing up; and followed the football with my eyes and pretended that I knew what was going on.

Yet, now that I am older and an official UH Warrior, football is so much more than a game. Football is a culture. And although everywhere in the United States, you’re going to see football cultures spring up, I believe Hawai’i has a unique football society.

Last Friday, a whole train of UH students dressed in our team colors of green and black (with palm fronds and green face paint to boot) piled into three sets of six school buses and fought through rush hour traffic to get to Aloha Stadium. When we arrived there, we rushed into the gates and bought as much food as we could carry and trudged to our assigned student section. We heard the noise before we saw all the masses of people. Even though the noise was loud, nothing could have prepared us for that sight as we entered the arena. We still had an hour left to kick-off and already the sideline and end-zone seats were packed with fans.

I felt the energy surge through the shaking stadium. It was an energy of excitement and anticipation. It was all good vibes seeping through everyone. Everywhere I looked I saw people shaking hands, some of them meeting for the first time, others long time friends. I saw keiki running away from their parents who were yelling after them, “Only one andagi, okay!” I saw people grinding Hawaiian plates and kalua pork wraps. I saw over guys with their bellies painted green doing chest bumps.

And the beauty of it all was that we hardly knew anyone in the stands, but because we had a logo blazoned on our shirts or maybe simply because we looked friendly, the fans accepted us and everyone else. Because when our players ran onto the field, we forgot about the problems in the day and the tons of homework we had to do. It wasn’t about that. It was just about being together and laughing together and cheering together. There are lots of things that exemplify the aloha spirit, but nothing is quite as uplifting as a football game–where you can turn to the person sitting next to you and not see a person of different race, of different religion, or even of different financial status. All you see is a fellow fan. That is the epitome of Hawaiian lifestyle–showing aloha to everyone.

After a dominant win in Seattle over Washington State University, the Warriors are undefeated with 2 wins. The team will travel to play UNLV then Louisiana Tech, before returning home to face Fresno State on October 10, 2009. Below is the remainder of their 2009 – 20010 schedule:

9/4/2009 Central Arkansas Aloha Stadium W 25-20
9/12/2009 at Washington State Seattle, WA W 38-20
9/19/2009 at UNLV Las Vegas, NV 8:00 p.m. PT
9/30/2009 at Louisiana Tech* Ruston, LA 7:05 p.m. CT
10/10/2009 Fresno State* Aloha Stadium 5:05 p.m.
10/17/2009 at Idaho* Moscow, Idaho 2:00 p.m. PT
10/24/2009 Boise State Aloha Stadium 5:05 p.m.
10/31/2009 at Nevada* Reno, Nv 1:05 p.m. PT
11/7/2009 Utah State* Aloha Stadium 5:05 p.m. (University of Hawaii Homecoming)
11/14/2009 New Mexico State* Aloha Stadium 5:05 p.m.
11/21/2009 at San Jose State* San Jose, CA 5:00 p.m. PT
11/28/2009 Navy (Military Night) Aloha Stadium 5:30 p.m.
12/5/2009 Wisconsin Aloha Stadium TBA

*Western Athletic Conference (WAC)