There’s this movie called “Made” that stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. It’s not all that great, but it used to be on HBO late on weekends and I’ve seen it way more times than I’d care to admit. Vaughn’s
There’s this movie called “Made” that stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. It’s not all that great, but it used to be on HBO late on weekends and I’ve seen it way more times than I’d care to admit. Vaughn’s character, who is a fairly major screw up, has a line towards the end in which he tries to be profound and says “A lot going on. But there always is, isn’t there? A lot going on.”
Peter Falk responds with a great look of steely disdain.
While it’s a fairly forgettable film, I think about that line pretty frequently. Because today, like always, there is a lot going on.
It is most likely finals day for both the Hurley Pro and Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles, Calif. The surfers have all been off since Saturday, so they should be frothing at the waves filling in from a new south southeast swell. But Surfline projects the swell to dissipate through the weekend, meaning they will probably aim to finish all heats today.
The women are down to the final four as their bracket has been anything but predictable. One thing we don’t have to predict is that Carissa Moore will definitely take over the points lead for the season, no matter what happens today. She will face Dimity Stoyle in the semifinals, a result that coupled with Courtney Conlogue’s quarterfinal loss puts Moore back into the yellow jersey. Moore made the semifinals in the year’s first four events, but has missed out on the past two. She’s back to her old routine and the clear favorite to take home this title.
Lakey Peterson and Bianca Buitendag make up the other semifinal, Peterson having taken out Conlogue last round. Both bring lots of power in their repertoire, but Buitendag is the one on a serious roll. The South African has now made the semifinals in four straight events. She and Moore are the only two on tour who can make that claim this season.
I think we’ll get Moore and Buitendag in that final heat and it wouldn’t surprise me if today is the day Buitendag earns her first ever Championship Tour title.
The men are down to eight and it’s basically the Brazilian Storm against the Aussie, um, Mates? How’s that? Four Brazilians remain — Filipe Toledo, Wiggolly Dantas, Adriano de Souza and Gabriel Medina. Dantas is the longest shot, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see any of the other three take the victory. Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning and Ace Buchan, along with American Nat Young, will be trying to impede their progress.
I’m projecting a Toledo-Fanning final, which would be enough to send Fanning into first place for the year, creeping ahead of de Souza for the points lead.
Action gets underway bright and early and can be seen live on Oceanic Surf channels 250 and 1250.
KIF Week 4
The Kapaa Warriors (4-0, 2-0 KIF) will look to keep rolling as they take on the Kauai Red Raiders (0-4, 0-2 KIF) tonight at Vidinha Stadium. Kapaa is yet to give up a point in KIF play and will remain a huge favorite to take home their second straight KIF title.
A big part of their shutdown defense is Mana Kupihea, who was named Division II Midseason Defensive MVP on Thursday by ScoringLive. Kuphiea, a junior outside linebacker, has become a team leader, a defensive playmaker and a special teams standout. His contributions have helped Kapaa hold its four opponents to just 12 total points on the season.
He has plenty of support, as evidenced by Mosese Fifita and Kapena Texeira each receiving honorable mention for the same award.
The Warriors offense has been firing on all cylinders. Quarterback Kurt Napoleon continuously found open receivers down the seam in last week’s 68-0 win over Waimea. He also received honorable mention for D-II Midseason Offensive MVP.
‘Bows returning home to face UC Davis
In a seven-day span, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors are going against the two most extreme opponents on their schedule. After last week’s 38-0 loss to No. 1 ranked Ohio State, the ‘Bows come home to face Football Championship Subdivision opponent UC Davis.
Despite the shutout loss, the trip to Columbus still showed plenty of positives for Hawaii. They fought hard defensively and competed for 60 minutes. But action around the country last week should give UH plenty of reason to take UC Davis seriously. These are the biggest games of the season for these FCS schools. Jacksonville State came within a few minutes of knocking off Auburn last week. Georgia Southern took down Florida two years ago. Appalachian State famously bested Michigan in 2007.
Hawaii hasn’t lost to an FCS school since Portland State crushed the ‘Bows, 45-20, back in 2000. But while they’ve displayed lots of reason for optimism early in 2015, UH should enter Saturday’s contest all business and looking to exit at 2-1 on the season.
