Herman Frazier, Hawaii's athletic director, concurred. "It's Hawaii's Super Bowl," he said. "Our participation in the Sugar Bowl is going to be like Hawaii playing in a Super Bowl." Still, to speak of the Sugar Bowl as a mere football game, even a really big one, fails to capture the mood.For UGA fans looking to wrap your head around Hawaii Mania sweeping the islands, my best comparison would probably be the '91 Braves.
"For many people here," said Bobby Curran, a Honolulu sports radio announcer and longtime Hawaii follower, "this is the biggest thing to hit Hawaii since statehood." (emphasis added)
I remember most of our state staying up half the night watching the Braves west coast swings vs. the Dodgers, Giants and Padres leading up to Sid Bream's Slide. It was a white hot love affair, and everything was so new. We couldn't get enough of it, and they could do no wrong. It sounds like that to me. In other words, it's not like a state full of life long Hawaii Football fans is coming over.
According to the article linked above, their stadium seats ~50,000, and they only have 22,800 season ticket holders. Basically, their stadium is the size of Bobby Dodd, and GT has a similarly sized season ticket holder base. Hmm....I'm sure there's a shot at Tech in there somewhere.
It's more than just "This is new." It's "This couldn't be more different than what they are used to."
See Also:
-- 10 facts about Hawaii - AJC
-- Dawgs return to NOLA - DawgPost
-- Warriors on Guard - UGASports.com ($)
PWD