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The good news is that now the University of Hawaii has moved to a new level of collegiate football competition, our most talented high school players have another option to consider if they believe they have the skills eventually to go on to a professional football career. The multi-million dollar Sugar Bowl payout to UH will enable the athletic department to upgrade facilities and develop a first class recruiting program. One TV analyst reported the team's recruiting budget last year was only $50,000--not enough to allow head coach June Jones to budget even a single Mainland recruiting trip.
Even though Coach Jones on Monday announced he was leaving UH for Southern Methodist University in Dallas, I am sure with more resources, his successor will head this way. And I certainly hope the June Jones Football Academy scheduled for here this summer will go ahead as planned. That is an important way to showcase our talented youngsters. But it also raises another point I want to make.
As much as I applaud the UH team and particularly the Samoan players, and join others in congratulating the two Samoan professional players, Lofa Tatupu and Troy Polamalu, who recently were named to the Pro Bowl, it is also important that we place football in its proper context. Yes, perhaps some of those youngsters on the Sugar Bowl team will wind up in the NFL, but most will not. It is important that all of us who are parents teach our children, yes, to hone their physical skills but then apply them towards achieving the higher education they will need to compete in our increasingly complex world, where no society can survive in isolation.
Football should be seen as a means to an end, not an end unto itself. It is not a matter, as some have suggested, of athletes choosing football over rugby because football is where the money is, but rather guiding our children realistically to prepare themselves for life and to use all the talents they possess make meaningful contributions to society. Remember that Al Lolotai, the first Samoan ever to play in the NFL, who returned to American Samoa where he had a long and much appreciated career as an educator after his football and wrestling days were over. However, for every Al Lolotai, there are many others who have done the same thing without passing through the NFL first and they deserve just as much applause.
A young Samoan woman who was raised in the San Francisco Bay area and is now in college there recently e-mailed me in frustration to ask if there were any way we might showcase our people for more than just their athleticism. I responded that she was doing it: getting an advanced education so that someday she could add her skill set into the mix. At some point, I told her, she needed to think about how she could contribute that skill set to our people and offer a pair of shoulders for others to stand on.
A long-time Samoan educator recently made much the same point to me when she expressed concern that we sometimes over-emphasize the athletic achievements of our people at the expense of other, real achievements outside the world of sports, which are under-reported and under-acknowledged. Both women make an important point.
Make no mistake about it. We should have first-class facilities for our athletes so our student athletes can hone their skills to their highest level. But this must not come at the expense of or be given higher priority by the government than to providing educators all the essential tools they need to have to find, develop and hone the skills of all our students, from the chemistry labs to the playing fields. Our children watch closely for signals from their parents and other adults send on priorities. And the politicians watch, too.
In the latter days of the Roman Empire in the late first and early second centuries, the poet Juvenal wrote that the population was satisfied to have panem et circenses (bread and circuses), even if it meant sacrificing other things, including individual liberty. Over the centuries the phrase that has come to stand for any government's effort to divert the public's attention from genuine, unsolved societal problems by providing the people plenty of food and entertainment (i.e. bread and circuses).
We must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that by celebrating the successes of our athletes on the football field we can make our problems go away. Yes, we should bask in their accomplishments but not raise false expectations that glory on the gridiron is the ticket to lifelong security and productivity.
The native Chamorro people of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are not particularly noted for producing football players, but the University of Hawaii is their major regional college, too, so I am sure they cheered for the Rainbow Warriors as loudly as we did. Moreover, it would have come as no surprise to me to have learned that Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, of whom I have written admiringly in the past, was in the Superdome stands for the game.
However, I could not help but notice in the Guam media on New Year's Day that a bi-partisan, dozen-member Congressional Delegation led by no less than House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) was on the island that day, with Hoyer saying "(we) came to Guam at the urging of Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo." With a beaming Bordallo at his side, Hoyer went on to tell KUAM-TV news: "I don't think there's one of us here, Republican or Democrat, that has not had the opportunity to spend hours with your congresswoman learning about the challenges and learning about the partnership that is necessary to make sure we overcome those challenges [of Guam's needs] successfully."
Congresswoman Bordallo undoubtedly had the clout to get a premium seat at the Sugar Bowl but, even if there were Guamanians on the team, I rather doubt she would have made that a higher priority than steering a major congressional delegation to Guam on New Year's Day and being there to receive them. The visit of that delegation, which the local press described as one of the most important in Guam's history, undoubtedly will pay legislative dividends in 2008 and beyond towards meeting Guam's critical needs. No bread and circuses for Madeleine.
Although the delegation's itinerary out of Washington reportedly did not include any other territories, the group did make a stop here for a couple of hours yesterday on the way home from Australia and New Zealand. I wish it could have been longer. The bowl games are over.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. Call me at 699-9609 or e-mail Amata.aumua@gmail.com.
Osini Faleatasi Inc. dba Samoa News reserves all rights.
Amata's Pacific Notebook: BREAD AND CIRCUSES
by Aumua Amata
Reprinted from Samoa News
January 10, 2008
Except for the privileged few who actually could be in New Orleans, I - like virtually every other Samoan on the planet who had access to a television - was glued to my set on New Year's Day to watch the University of Hawaii play the University of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Because the Rainbow Warriors are the only team playing big time American college football anywhere in the Pacific Ocean, many of us always have rooted for them over the years. However, this year was especially significant for a number of reasons.
Going into the bowl season, UH was the only undefeated team left in the country; this was the first time the Warriors were invited to participate in the Bowl Championship Series; there was an extraordinary number of Samoans on the team; and the team has made a special point of paying tribute to our Polynesian heritage, complete with a pre-game ha'a or haka, play-calling in the Samoan language and students leading the team's cheering section dressed like ancient Polynesian warriors.
With just a quick glance at the roster, anyone could spot all the Samoan names and, even if the hometowns listed in many cases were in Hawaii and California, the names belonged to families still well represented here in the islands. But we were even better represented than would have been apparent to the untrained sports fan's eye, because some of our Samoan players carry names of European or Asian origin (such as Purcell, Hisatake and Ah Soon) that long since have been absorbed into our culture.
Regrettably, our heroes found themselves matched against a Georgia team that believed it should have been in the national championship game; they clearly wanted to make that point at the Sugar Bowl and gave us a pretty good thumping to prove it. Nevertheless, I was so proud of our UH team, Samoans and non-Samoans alike, who gave it their very best right up to the final whistle and upheld both their honor and ours.
The good news is that now the University of Hawaii has moved to a new level of collegiate football competition, our most talented high school players have another option to consider if they believe they have the skills eventually to go on to a professional football career. The multi-million dollar Sugar Bowl payout to UH will enable the athletic department to upgrade facilities and develop a first class recruiting program. One TV analyst reported the team's recruiting budget last year was only $50,000--not enough to allow head coach June Jones to budget even a single Mainland recruiting trip.
Even though Coach Jones on Monday announced he was leaving UH for Southern Methodist University in Dallas, I am sure with more resources, his successor will head this way. And I certainly hope the June Jones Football Academy scheduled for here this summer will go ahead as planned. That is an important way to showcase our talented youngsters. But it also raises another point I want to make.
As much as I applaud the UH team and particularly the Samoan players, and join others in congratulating the two Samoan professional players, Lofa Tatupu and Troy Polamalu, who recently were named to the Pro Bowl, it is also important that we place football in its proper context. Yes, perhaps some of those youngsters on the Sugar Bowl team will wind up in the NFL, but most will not. It is important that all of us who are parents teach our children, yes, to hone their physical skills but then apply them towards achieving the higher education they will need to compete in our increasingly complex world, where no society can survive in isolation.
Football should be seen as a means to an end, not an end unto itself. It is not a matter, as some have suggested, of athletes choosing football over rugby because football is where the money is, but rather guiding our children realistically to prepare themselves for life and to use all the talents they possess make meaningful contributions to society. Remember that Al Lolotai, the first Samoan ever to play in the NFL, who returned to American Samoa where he had a long and much appreciated career as an educator after his football and wrestling days were over. However, for every Al Lolotai, there are many others who have done the same thing without passing through the NFL first and they deserve just as much applause.
A young Samoan woman who was raised in the San Francisco Bay area and is now in college there recently e-mailed me in frustration to ask if there were any way we might showcase our people for more than just their athleticism. I responded that she was doing it: getting an advanced education so that someday she could add her skill set into the mix. At some point, I told her, she needed to think about how she could contribute that skill set to our people and offer a pair of shoulders for others to stand on.
A long-time Samoan educator recently made much the same point to me when she expressed concern that we sometimes over-emphasize the athletic achievements of our people at the expense of other, real achievements outside the world of sports, which are under-reported and under-acknowledged. Both women make an important point.
Make no mistake about it. We should have first-class facilities for our athletes so our student athletes can hone their skills to their highest level. But this must not come at the expense of or be given higher priority by the government than to providing educators all the essential tools they need to have to find, develop and hone the skills of all our students, from the chemistry labs to the playing fields. Our children watch closely for signals from their parents and other adults send on priorities. And the politicians watch, too.
In the latter days of the Roman Empire in the late first and early second centuries, the poet Juvenal wrote that the population was satisfied to have panem et circenses (bread and circuses), even if it meant sacrificing other things, including individual liberty. Over the centuries the phrase that has come to stand for any government's effort to divert the public's attention from genuine, unsolved societal problems by providing the people plenty of food and entertainment (i.e. bread and circuses).
We must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that by celebrating the successes of our athletes on the football field we can make our problems go away. Yes, we should bask in their accomplishments but not raise false expectations that glory on the gridiron is the ticket to lifelong security and productivity.
The native Chamorro people of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are not particularly noted for producing football players, but the University of Hawaii is their major regional college, too, so I am sure they cheered for the Rainbow Warriors as loudly as we did. Moreover, it would have come as no surprise to me to have learned that Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, of whom I have written admiringly in the past, was in the Superdome stands for the game.
However, I could not help but notice in the Guam media on New Year's Day that a bi-partisan, dozen-member Congressional Delegation led by no less than House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) was on the island that day, with Hoyer saying "(we) came to Guam at the urging of Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo." With a beaming Bordallo at his side, Hoyer went on to tell KUAM-TV news: "I don't think there's one of us here, Republican or Democrat, that has not had the opportunity to spend hours with your congresswoman learning about the challenges and learning about the partnership that is necessary to make sure we overcome those challenges [of Guam's needs] successfully."
 Congresswoman Bordallo undoubtedly had the clout to get a premium seat at the Sugar Bowl but, even if there were Guamanians on the team, I rather doubt she would have made that a higher priority than steering a major congressional delegation to Guam on New Year's Day and being there to receive them. The visit of that delegation, which the local press described as one of the most important in Guam's history, undoubtedly will pay legislative dividends in 2008 and beyond towards meeting Guam's critical needs. No bread and circuses for Madeleine.
Although the delegation's itinerary out of Washington reportedly did not include any other territories, the group did make a stop here for a couple of hours yesterday on the way home from Australia and New Zealand. I wish it could have been longer. The bowl games are over.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. Call me at 699-9609 or e-mail "Amata.aumua@gmail.com".
Amata's Pacific Notebook: THANK YOU, JOHN HOWARD
by Aumua Amata
Reprinted from Samoa News
January 1, 2008
While America's top foreign policymakers naturally are focused on events unfolding in Pakistan as 2007 draws to a close, there are some officials at State Department who are keeping their eyes on events in the Pacific, where two elections last month could force significant adjustments to the U.S. posture in the region.
Rolling into 2008, it is still unclear what the meaning is of the November 19 election in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), which has a parliamentary style government. With 33 seats at stake, the incumbent party and the opposition each have 14 or 15 of the 17 seats needed to form a government; the remaining four or five independents hold the balance. The outcome probably will not be known until early January, when the Nitijela (parliament) holds leadership elections, which includes election of a president.
The opposition has been very critical of the financial package the government negotiated last year under the Compact of Free Association with the United States and probably would try to revisit the issue with Washington if it comes into power. Recognition of China also could be at stake. RMI currently has diplomatic relations with Taiwan but some opposition figures have suggested that recognition might be switched to Beijing.
Less than a week after the RMI polls, Australian voters took a much more decisive action in ending over 11 years of Liberal Party-National Party Coalition government by sweeping the Labor Party back into power with a net gain of 23 seats in the Lower House. The new Labor Government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd now has 83 seats in the 150-seat House. In the process, Prime Minister John Howard became only the second sitting prime minister of Australia to lose his own seat in parliament at the same time his party was losing the election.
 The election of the Labor Government already is presenting some challenges to the U.S. In a coincidence of timing, the Bali Conference on Climate Change opened just a few days after the election and Rudd used the opportunity to sign the Kyoto protocol only hours after being sworn in as prime minister. Under John Howard, Australia was aligned with the U.S. against the protocol, which both countries refused to sign on grounds of the potential impact on their countries' economies.
In addition to Bali, Rudd made a pre-Christmas visit to Iraq and Afghanistan and redeemed another of his party's campaign pledges by announcing that Australian combat troops would leave Iraq by June of next year and would not be replaced. Right after the Australian election, Gov. Togiola voiced a rather strong opinion of Mr. Rudd's pledge, which I will let stand without further comment but while the number of troops involved in this withdrawal is not great, it does represent a further isolation of the U.S. in the Gulf region.
It also remains to be seen what shifts in Australian leadership will mean for our own Pacific neighborhood. During the Howard years, Australia was sometimes described as America's "deputy sheriff" in the region. There is no doubt the Pacific is not the quiet ANZUS lake it was a generation ago. Australia's relations with Papua New Guinea have been strained recently and its role in the Solomon Islands through the Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI) there has not been without controversy. Other trouble spots of one sort or another have included Fiji and Tonga. Nor have many of the region's governments been happy with Washington's and Canberra's environmental policies. How Australia policies in these areas will change and what that means for the U.S. position in the region remains to be seen.
There will be plenty of time to dwell on the impact of Australian elections on relations with the U.S. and with Pacific countries. And, of course, further uncertainties lie ahead with a change of administrations coming in Washington in just a year's time. But, for now, I want to spend a few moments reflecting on John Howard, who was Australia's second longest serving prime minister. I first met him in Canberra in 1986 when, as Leader of the Opposition, he hosted a reception for a group of traveling American young political leaders, in which I was included. At the time, at the height of Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke's popularity, it did not seem likely Howard would ever be head of government, let alone serve for such a long period.
Howard's ignominious departure from government and politics now two decades later reminds me of a conversation I had with our late Governor Tauese not long before he passed away. Tauese already had been re-elected and since he was term limited, I asked him if he might run for something else or maybe wait four years and try to return as governor. A lot of people, including me, were not aware that from time to time Tauese sought my dad's advice on tough issues.
Tauese told me of a conversation he had with my father shortly after his first election in 1996. He said my dad, the second longest serving governor in American history, told him that the one regret he had was that he stayed too long. "Do not wear out your welcome with the people," he told Tauese. "There is always the chance you will run in one election too many." So, Tauese told me that after his second term was over he had no plans ever to run again for public office. "We all benefit from time to time by electing new people with fresh ideas." Sadly, of course, he never had the opportunity to become an elder statesman.
Although we did not view it that way at the time, my dad's forced retirement was a blessing for our family because we had more quality time with him in the four years he had remaining in his life. In his final term, he already had visible health problems, the seriousness of which we did not realize until after he left office. Those problems contributed to his lack of energy on the campaign trail in 1992 and certainly played an important role in his loss.
John Howard might have benefited from my dad's advice not to run one time too many but, at age 68, he still enjoys good health and now can spend more time with his children and grandchildren. No matter how one feels about some of the more controversial policies of his government, he deserves to be thanked for his years of devoted service to the Australian people.
While the Washington media always focuses much attention on Great Britain as the staunchest ally of the United States, so too has Australia been just as reliable under John Howard's leadership. Therefore, as an American as well as a Samoan, I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the departed prime minister. It is our Samoan way. My country is grateful for your friendship and your service. Thank you, John Howard.
As always, if you have any comments, I can be reached at aumuaamata@mail.com.
Osini Faleatasi Inc. dba Samoa News reserves all rights.
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