CU Buffaloes vs. UH Warriors

By a very roundabout, impulsive and even tragic way, David and I went to Oahu for the weekend of the University of Colorado vs. University of Hawaii football game held Sept. 3rd.  The former Dean, and well known American Indian law scholar, David Getches, who was a mentor of David’s, had suddenly passed away in July.  After David gave a sizeable donation to a scholarship fund in his honor, the Law School Development Director called to invite us to the game, since we were in Hawaii.  David could meet the new Dean and talk to people who knew Dean Getches.

CU Buffalo Cheerleaders

We were able to stay at the beautiful Marriott Ihilani Hotel at Ko’Olina.  That is also where the CU Buffalo football team and cheerleaders were staying.  The school chartered a plane for the team and some fans got to fill up the plane with a package deal.  None of the Colorado Law School people were allowed to do this, however.  They flew commercial and arrived at all sorts of times and left at all different times.  Thus, the new Dean, Phil Weiser, staying in Waikiki, was over an hour late for the alumni reception held for him. 

Sunset and Paradise Cove Luau

That evening the whole Colorado group, including the team, attended the Paradise Cove luau.  This is one of our favorite luaus which we were happy to attend a second time.  We spent the early afternoon, swimming in their cove where you always see sea turtles.  Because the Dean was late to his reception, we were late to the luau.  We saw him and his family trying to get into the luau faster by going through the cove walkway, which is closed off at night.  We tried to tell him that wasn’t an entrance, to no avail.  We never did see the Dean that evening.  But we had a wonderful time with several of the CU fans at our table. 

Friday we spent the day on the lagoon beach in front of the hotel.  It is also the lagoon in front of the new Disney resort, Aulani, which opened the week before.  David had wanted to try stand uppaddle boarding.  You could rent a board from Ihilani or Aulani.  The Ihilani price was $40 for a half hour.  Aulani’s was $35 an hour.  Their paddleboard had a window in the front so you could also lie on it and look at the fish.  It was really cool to actually stand up and paddle around the lagoon.  We did it!  We could stand on it and paddle, fulfilling a Hawaiian goal. 

View from 'Ama'Ama

Aulani definitely had the better toys and the better prices.  We made reservations to their premier restaurant that evening called ‘Ama‘Ama.  The menus lit up when you opened them.  Each item had a suggested wine pairing.  Seating was right on the ocean with a spectacular view of the sunset.   It was probably the most expensive dinner we have ever had in Hawaii but a cut above any restaurant we've been to anywhere.  We took the opportunity to tour the rest of the hotel before dinner.  They have thought of everything.  This resort is a dream vacation to Hawaii.  We haven’t seen anything here that can compare, including the Four Seasons Resort.  The prices are in the $500 a night range, but what an experience if you can afford it. 

Saturday was the big game.  It started at 4:30pm and was broadcast on ESPN2.  The tail gate parties began early afternoon.  We were told to arrive around 2:00pm and to go to Gate 6 where the Colorado party was being held.  We knew we would have lots of traffic, which we did, so we left the hotel before 1:00pm.  The traffic pattern signs near the stadium told you to go to Gate 1, 2, or 3.  Not Gate 6.  We went around twice, even stopping to ask a parking lot attendant what to do (and promptly got rear ended).  He said that the parking lots were reserved and people paid $300 for a spot.  So around we went again and eventually parked in a shopping mall, walking 25 minutes to Gate 6.  Along the way people were trying to buy tickets from passersby.  The parking lots were full of tents and UH Warrior logo wearing fans  ctually around tailgates with families and friends, barbecues and beer kegs and lots of food.  Coming from Alaska, we have never experienced the tailgate culture before.  David got a hat recently at a Lids store that he thought was the UnderArmour logo.  However, it was a UHlogo hat.  Luckily he didn’t wear it to the game; however he did wear it to the luau.  Oops.

CU Fan at Pregame party

We finally found the Colorado pregame party in a huge tent.  We didn’t know a soul, but luckily someone put us “on the list”.  The lively party was catered and with a disc jockey, balloons and lots of happy Colorado fans full of beer.  None of the people we had met from the law school were there.  That didn’t bother us, we got right in and ate the hot dogs and hamburgers and sat with some fun fans.  We brought two bags of Kona coffee to give to the law school Dean and Development Director.  But we gave one to a couple we met there because they were so enthusiastic about Kona coffee.  They have since purchased Kona coffee from our friends, Mike and Mary MacCheyne. 

We left for the start of the game.   We were directed to our seats by a CU fan and saw the Development Director and his wife next to us so we knew we were in the right spot.  We gave them the other pound of Kona coffee and proceeded to enjoy the game and their company.  We had a spectacular view near the endzone of the very first touchdown.  We could see the cheerleaders and the mascot up close, but we were still high enough to see the whole field.  It was a beautiful day. Even the sun came around putting us in the shade.  The Dean didn’t make it, he got sick.  The whole reason for the trip was to meet this man that David Getches had handpicked to replace him, and we barely got to see him at all. No coffee for you!

At the game

An hour and a half into the game, Colorado was obviously losing.  They had scored a touchdown, but U of H has those huge Polynesian players so there was no contest.  We noticed that it took an hour or so for the  stadium to fill up.  Suddenly, we got interrupted by an usher.  A family was on the aisle saying we were in their seats.  We looked again at our tickets which showed the correct row and seat number.  But the usher looked at them  closely and told us we were in the Yellow section, not the Blue section.  This was written in small letters sideways on the left of the ticket.  So we left our great seats.  David and I had to catch our plane back to Kona and we were going in 15 minutes anyway, so we decided to just leave. The other couple left soon after and caught up with us. They told us that the Yellow section was at the very top of the stadium in the nosebleed section.  Their hotel was  1 ½ hours away, so they decided to leave as well.  This misunderstanding saved us from watching the rest of the slaughter of the CU Buffaloes.  We actually got to finish watching the game in the Honolulu airport sports bar.  The final score was 17 to 34.  Colorado still hasn’t won a game this season.