Ignoring Hawaii and St. Louis Sports

On Christmas Eve, while the Eastern half of the United States was sleeping and many in the Midwest were attending midnight mass, the Hawaii Warriors were beating the Arizona State Wildcats senseless in the Hawaii Bowl. Colt Brennan, the Warriors QB, demolished the previous NCAA single-season touchdown record of 54 by tossing five of them, finishing the season with 58 TDs. Along the way, he threw a school-record 559 yards, and finishing the season as the nation's leader in TD passes, passing yards, total offense, passing efficiency, points responsible for and completion percentage. Of course, few people even knew who Brennan was. In fact, Hawaii has been a very dominant football team that is continually ignored. Just look at:

1) Timmy Chang

One of the few Chinese Americans to play football, Chang was part of the continually underranked Hawaii squad and holds the NCAA record for total passing with an astonishing 17,072 yards. He blew past Ty Detmer's record 14,665. But, while Detmer would go on to win the Heisman during his time at BYU and be considered one of the best college QB to ever play the game, Chang would be relatively unnoticed.

2) The 2006 Hawaii Warriors

They finish the season unranked, even though they run over San Jose State 54-17 and win against Purdue 42-35. Both of those teams are playing in a bowl game. For a team with the nation's most dangerous offense, you would think they would be in the the AP Top 25. Nope.

3) Colt Brennan

I already explained my reasoning for this in the beginning, but this guy announced he will be most likely return to Hawaii for his senior season. What a class act.

But, since I haven't had a chance to express my opinion about this year's World Series, let me sound off about the St. Louis Cardinals. And their 2006 World Champsionship:

When the Cardinal's made the playoffs, they were 83-78 and had finished the season with a loss. Every media critic wrote them off. They would lose to the red-hot Padres. When they won that series, critics were certain they would be beaten by a talented Met's squad. And when the Cardinal's won that series in a thrilling 7-game set, critics bet on Detriot to sweep or win in 5 games. Nobody but St. Louis fans believed that the Cardinal's could do it. Yet, the story of the World Series was that it had record low-ratings. Of course, if the World Series featured teams like the Yankees or the Red Sox, ratings would have been much higher. How come nobody realizes that the Cardinal's are one of the most dominant teams in baseball? They now have 10 World Champsionships, second only to the Yankees (with 26). Tony LaRussa is only the second manager to win World Series champsionships in the American League and the National League.

The problem is an East Coast sports bias. Nobody watches games without huge sports markets. There's no love for the Hawaii Warriors or even the World Champion Cardinal's. Talented teams are ignored. And it's a shame.