Hawaii Is Who We Want To Be

[jgb0607]

Minus all the big Samoans this is the offense we want to run!

[jgb0607]

Did I mention the wood the D has layed tonight?

[eulessismore]

Minus all the big Samoans this is the offense we want to run!

I don't know if that's the most ignorant post I've seen on this forum, but it's right up there. The capital city of American Samoa has produced more NFL players per capita than any other city anywhere, and there's certainly no close second. I hope none of the guys I'd like to see come to NT from Euless Trinity, yes many from Tongan, but also Samoan and Hawaiian, take your attitude as typical of Mean Green supporters. We thrived when we were ahead of other schools in the south on racial issues; let's not forget where we came from!

[jgb0607]

I don't know if that's the most ignorant post I've seen on this forum, but it's right up there. The capital city of American Samoa has produced more NFL players per capita than any other city anywhere, and there's certainly no close second. I hope none of the guys I'd like to see come to NT from Euless Trinity, yes many from Tongan, but also Samoan and Hawaiian, take your attitude as typical of Mean Green supporters. We thrived when we were ahead of other schools in the south on racial issues; let's not forget where we came from!

You totally took the comment out of context.

My intention was we would not have that many Samoans on our squad because we are not located on the islands. I was recently married in Maui and love the state and people of Hawaii.

If you think TD should take the 8 hour flight over and recruit, then by all means, but as was mentioned during the game last night, many of the Hawaiians wish to stay home and attend the U of H. Can't say I blame them as their heritage is important to them not to mention it's paradise.

Edited November 24, 2007 by jgb0607

[Mean Green 93-98]

You totally took the comment out of context.

I think most of us understood exactly what you meant--not that we don't want big Samoans on our offense, we simply do not have them to put on our offense.

[Huff]

I think we need to remember the phrase "Offense sells tickets.....defense wins championships". I want to be the best DEFENSIVE team in our conference. If we do that we will be in New Orleans regardless of the offense that we play.

[eulessismore]

I think most of us understood exactly what you meant--not that we don't want big Samoans on our offense, we simply do not have them to put on our offense.

Sorry if I took the original context wrong, but if the Intended context is that we cannot recruit players of Samoan. or more generally, Polynesian heritage to North Texas, I also disagree. Perhaps it is not as well known to most of the board members that the Euless Trinity football team has performed very well in recent years (state 5A Division I champ 2005; lost in bidistrict to SLC 22-21 in 2006), due in no small part to the large Tongan population in Euless (although, as I said, there are also players of Samoan and Hawaiian heritage here). Trinity had 4 players recruited to D1 schools in 2005 and 2006; I am glad that 2 of those, Marcus King and Jordan Scoggins, went to North Texas (I do not know whether Marcus King is Tongan; I'm sure Scoggins is not, but King helped convince him to choose UNT over Iowa State). In both those years, Trinity players of Tongan heritage were recruited by other D1 programs, including BYU and Arizona State, but none to Hawaii.

There is so much out on the Internet about the Polynesian influence on American football that it could become the subject of a web site, but just thought I'd add a link to the third of a 3 part series (has links to parts 1 and 2) from CBS sports. I would like to point out that there's a story about a player from the islands going to play at Kansas State (I don't think Manhattan, Kansas has that much more to offer than Denton), and that there's mention about the"second generation" of Polynesian footballers in the U.S., those born on the Mainland, some from mixed marriages.

Please be aware that, although I consider it a very good idea for UNT to recruit yet more players from Euless Trinity, I don't think it's that bad an idea to "recruit the islands"; that is a long flight, but we do have a convenient location with respect to an international airport. Other mainland Universities, such as the University of Colorado do so. It's a big world out there, we need to think big occasionally.

Link:

Polynesian influence on American football

And, if you haven't seen this, it's from a recent CBS evening news special, mostly about Euless Trinity football.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/...in3497992.shtml