DEVON GRANDY (Bariloche, Argentina)
We’ve never been one to brag, but BOTO just couldn’t help it upon realizing that Devon’s beloved high school has recently been named by Sports Illustrated as the best school in the nation for athletics. Although yours truly was never an athlete at Punahou (unlike a reported 62% of his classmates), 13 state titles both this year and last, including a five-peat by the baseball team and repeat titles by both the boys and girls basketball teams, are kind of hard to ignore. Suck on that, Texas and Florida!
Self-importance, self-righteousness, and self-advertisement after the jump:
We’d leave the article at that, but we’d also like to point out how the SI article broaches the subject of how Punahou is viewed by the rest of the Hawaiian community. We’ll let you read it for yourself, but the treatment of said topic by Mr. Murphy is extremely welcome, especially considering the online bickering that’s been occurring at the Honolulu Advertiser’s coverage of the story.
Additionally, the entire state of Hawaii (or at least its columnists) seems to have erroneously taken this national recognition of Punahou to be a commendation of the state’s athletics as a whole. Most obviously is the column written by Ferd Lewis, who claims that the SI article featuring Punahou is in reality a euphemistic recognition of its local competition. Also in the running for most blatant misconstruction of the SI honor is Hawai’i High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya, who offers up this gem in the Advertiser’s article:
“The timing coincides with the fact that many of our teams and recent graduates have reached unprecedented heights,” Amemiya said. “For example, Saint Louis and Kahuku being nationally ranked in football, Kamehameha and ‘Iolani being ranked in volleyball, Castle graduate Bryan Clay being an Olympic decathlon silver medalist, Kamehameha grad Brian Ching and Kahuku’s Natasha Kai being on the national soccer teams, ‘Iolani’s Derrick Low projected as an NBA draft prospect, Baldwin’s Kurt Suzuki and St. Anthony’s Shane Victorino playing Major League Baseball, Waimea’s Jordon Dizon being drafted in the second round of last month’s NFL draft …
“And although Punahou has won its share of state championships, they have been pushed and defeated by several other private and public schools, including this past weekend. These schools have helped raise the bar in terms of athletic excellence, and I know Punahou agrees that the No. 1 ranking is an honor that must be shared with all of our schools statewide.”
No, not particularly. I’m sorry if I’m being obnoxious about this, but Punahou sees this as a singular honor that isn’t and realistically shouldn’t be shared with any other schools. And while we are happy for those teams and individuals from other schools that Mr. Amemiya lists, the Sports Illustrated article would have mentioned them had they been deemed worth recognizing on a national level. Thanks for trying, though.
By the way, did you know that Punahou junior and strongside linebacker Manti Te’o is listed as the best player in the nation at his position? Props to him, and GO PUNS!
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