Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kelly Miura Kelli Miura standing in front of one of the University of Hawai‘i buses in front of the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans.

Media Credit: Kelly Miura Kelli Miura's parents, Max and Jan Miura, in front of the Superdome in New Orleans on game day.

A first outright Western Athletic Conference title, a 10th-place finish in the final Bowl Championship Series standings and a berth in the 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the final outcome for the 2007 University of Hawai‘i Warriors football team after an undefeated regular season.

After the Dec. 2 announcement that UH would face the University of Georgia on New Year's Day in the Louisiana Superdome, my family and I began a stressful venture of making travel arrangements. The opportunity to witness this historic event in UH football history was impossible to pass up.

On Dec. 29, my mother and I departed on a Honolulu flight bound for New Orleans. After 10 hours on three different flights, we arrived in the Big Easy. My sister and her boyfriend had arrived the day after Christmas, and my father joined us on New Year's Eve from Portland, Ore.

Believe it or not, we discovered we were staying at the same Marriott hotel as the football team. The athletic department distributed free beads, fans and ti leaves in the lobby until game day for the thousands of Hawai‘i fans who literally invaded New Orleans.

My sister, her boyfriend and I were also among about 5,000 fans who attended the Warriors Rally on New Year's Eve at a local venue called the Sugar Mill, near the convention center. Augie T., Willie K., a Polynesian dance group, Vili the Warrior and Nalani Choy of Na Leo Pilimehana entertained us as we got energized for the game and welcomed 2008 in a sea of green.

Despite the outcome of the game on New Year's Day, the tremendous outpouring of people who made the sacrifices and effort to attend was indescribable. The bright, white T-shirts stood strong in the Superdome and were an unforgettable sight.

"It is always a pleasure to see my former band students excel and be successful. Seeing Michael Lafaele, John Fonoti and UH band member Jeanette Asto makes all of us from Dole and Farrington proud," said my father, Max Miura, who taught band at Dole Middle School for 19 years. "We are also proud of Keala Watson of Nānākuli (High and Intermediate School), where I have been teaching since 2004."

My mother, Jan Miura, also valued the experience of traveling to New Orleans to support the Hawai‘i team.

"It was such a special feeling and huge accomplishment to play at this level," my mother said. "Hawai‘i, being apart from the continental U.S., oftentimes seemed to be at such a disadvantage, but their believing proves anything is possible."

My mother also reflected on attending UH games with her late father, who was an avid fan, and wished he was alive to witness this past season.

As UH alumni, my sister and her boyfriend were also thrilled to show their support for the school. Both agreed that witnessing UH in a BCS game was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"As a UH alumn(a), the experience was so rewarding and amazing," said my sister, Janelle Miura, who graduated in 2003. "For so long, UH was not respected in the college football world, and to make it to a BCS game said a lot."

My sister's boyfriend, Adrian Chang, graduated from UH in 2001 and said he felt proud and grateful to be one of many in white shirts in the Superdome.

"The atmosphere of New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl was full of energy and exhilaration, as fans from both sides filled the town with school flags, cheers and beads," he said. "I have never experienced anything like this before."

The day after the game, my parents, my sister and my sister's boyfriend took a tour of the city guided by a woman who has lived in New Orleans for 34 years. Within the three-hour tour, I witnessed some of the most shocking and horrific sights of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Although three years have passed since the hurricane devastated the area, I learned that two-thirds of the city is still in disrepair. Many live oak trees have a black dot indicating they will be cut down before they collapse from saltwater damage. Former residents cannot afford to rebuild their homes.

"What stood out the most was the devastation surrounding downtown and the French Quarter," my father said. "If not for the tour, visitors would not know the damages have been neglected and the people (are) still suffering."

Our tour guide also showed us the remains of a levee and told us that Canal Street, where our hotel was located, was flooded with four feet of water within 15 minutes after it broke. Until this day, the levee has still not been repaired.

So even though UH lost the Sugar Bowl, I gained a lot more than I bargained for. I walked through the famous Bourbon Street and French Quarter, tasted gumbo for the first time and devoured delicious beignets, or French deep-fried doughnuts.

But more than that, I saw the devastation that still plagues the city, the livelihood of locals thrilled with the visitors from paradise and the spirit of the people of New Orleans. So thank you, UH football players, coaches and staff for a most memorable season that allowed me to experience so much more than a football game.

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