Power football

What did Chamorros and Carolinians on Saipan use for lights before lanterns and candles?

Give up? Jim Valvano would be ashamed of you.

The answer: electricity.

Yes, that is a joke. An unfunny joke because it is on us.

But is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Oh, puh-leeze. Puns are no fun, especially when you have greater concerns such as your refrigerator or new television or old computer burning out due to voltage problems.

Local sports have ground to a halt. Since returning from vacation on Monday, I have struggled to put together my show for KSPN2, like trying to cook dinner without food. The only story I did was on the junior tennis team. That’s because they are going off-island to play.

For my top plays of the week, I was thinking about showing a fuse blowing out.

The 2008 Saipan Major League season is in danger of becoming the 2008-2009 season. When I left more than two weeks ago, they were in the first round of the playoffs. I saw Rangers manager Craig Tenorio at the Guam airport Monday. I asked him who had won the championship. He laughed. They are still in the first round of the playoffs!

All basketball games at the Ada Gym last week were cancelled due to power outages, both scheduled and unscheduled. Officials became so frustrated they called off the games rather than give Mobil and Shell shareholders even greater profits from players driving back and forth to the gym only to find out they can’t shoot baskets in the dark.

At least the Fishing Derby is on for this weekend. That’s only because it’s during the daytime and out on the water. Oh no, the banquet! Puh-leeze, let there be light!

Having spent most of my life in the islands (do the math), I consider myself to be fairly laid back and pretty much a non-complainer used to insular hardships. When the power goes out at our house, my wife curses while I do yoga and meditate. Doesn’t bother me a whole lot. Even MCV not getting the Olympics live doesn’t ruffle me much as I am only mildly interested in them. I would like to see men’s basketball but wouldn’t get frazzled when women’s gymnastics suddenly unexpectedly goes off the air.

Sports on television during the summer is like our current weather, the doldrums. Nothing to get excited about.

But then Monday night I had a revelation.

The NFL Hall of Fame game was on Channel 42. Coincidently, call it a miracle, the power was on and I saw rookie quarterback Colt Brennan out of Hawaii have a tremendous game. That’s when I realized that I would go ballistic if I was watching the Gators or Brett Favre or any good football game when the power went out.

Now it just so happens that CUC is supposed to have additional generators and eliminate regular outages around the first week of September, which happens to be the start of football season.

I sure hope so.

However, just in case, I have instructed my wife to remove anything breakable from our living room.

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