People in Hawaiʻi love a scrappy sports activities hero.
Coach Soichi Sakamoto, who educated Olympic swimmers in a Maui irrigation ditch as a result of there was no pool.
Ikua Purdy, who famously received the 1910 Cheyenne Roping Championship using a borrowed horse that had not been educated.
Takamiyama, Hawaiʻi’s first sumo champion who grew up in humble, hardscrabble Happy Valley.
Duke Kahanamoku, who was so quick, when he broke world information, officers have been sure the clock wasn’t correct.
Colt Brennan, could he relaxation in peace. BJ Penn, could he discover peace.
Bet you continue to keep in mind names from the workforce of 12-year-olds who got here from a grassless, hard-dirt area in Ewa Beach to win the 2005 Little League World Series.
So many others.
There have been different athletes from Hawaiʻi who’ve made it massive, however we don’t have a tendency to like them as a lot until they got here up from humble beginnings and struggled their technique to the highest.
But we’re in a brand new period the place Hawaiʻi lawmakers are being requested at hand over $5 million in order that the University of Hawaiʻi will pay scholar athletes with taxpayer cash to play for the college, and the place native companies are being inspired to make particular person offers with athletes to advertise their merchandise.
Scrappy is now not valued. Scrappy is for scrubs.
This new pay-for-play period shouldn’t be the fault of UH or Hawaiʻi athletes or the Hawaiʻi Legislature.
They’re all within the recreation, however not making the principles.
The NCAA settled a lawsuit this summer time introduced by a number of collegiate athletes who mentioned it was unfair for his or her universities to be getting cash off their athletic performances and recognition and never share any of that with them.
Okay. That’s cheap.
But the ramifications of that ruling are troubling.
Schools will pay athletes on to lure them from enjoying for different groups. Athletes can market themselves to advertisers as superstar endorsements.
Say somebody has a enterprise making earrings from wana spines or chili-mango glazed mochiko fried hen.
For $150, they’ll get a UH soccer participant to put on the urchin earrings in an Instagram submit or eat the spicy hen on Tik Tok and proclaim it the most effective fricken hen ever.
Athletes may even promote their autographs or put a value on what an hour of their time at a meet-and-greet will price.
The days of simply aloha-ing the followers or doing a shout-out since you really feel prefer it, not since you’re getting paid, could also be numbered. The entire factor is cringey.
In completely different instances, folks fearful about showing to “sell out.” No one wished to be accused of doing one thing solely for cash and never as a result of there was a deeper, heartfelt or hard-earned connection to the work. Now, promoting out is a profession plan. Putting a pricetag on one’s endorsement is seen as savvy, not slimy.
There’s a lot nonetheless to be discovered below these new guidelines of play, however there’s one factor that may just about be assured: A $5 million request from the state this 12 months won’t be a one-time factor. It will more than likely be extra subsequent 12 months, and extra yearly after that.
It could be inspiring if somebody stood up and plainly mentioned, “Nah, we’re not going to treat these kids like contestants on some warped reality show. They’re students before they’re athletes. What they’re going to get out of the University of Hawaiʻi is the opportunity to study hard, earn a degree, and make a good life for themselves. The bonus is that they get to live, learn and play in Hawaiʻi, where the weather is warm, the people are friendly and we still value things like grit and character.”
That form of discuss is for films. In the true life, Hawaiʻi leaders are going to make the identical mistake they at all times make, considering Hawaiʻi can sustain with greater cities and larger leagues by enjoying their massive video games.
It’s not like $5 million is a giant chunk of the state’s $20 billion finances. Of course that cash may assist extra folks and do extra good elsewhere. But it’s not in regards to the amount of cash. It’s about one other aspect of American life slipping from the healthful period of exhausting work and the worth of an training to quick cash, superficial superstar and the de-stigmatization of promoting out.
