Surf, sun and football

In case you haven't heard, Michigan is favored for Saturday's luau here in the 50th state by more than 40 points.

And while safe money says that the Wolverines need two or three weeks to score 40 points, it's become apparent after recent games that Hawai'i's football team could not beat an egg.

Recently, the Rainbow Warriors have:

1) Switched their name from "Rainbows" because they wanted a tougher reputation;

2) Learned that it takes more than a name-change to win a football game; and

3) Learned that "Rainbow Warriors" is still a hilariously wimpy nickname.

The Multicolored Fighters have yet to win a game this season, despite facing inept Western Athletic Conference teams and Northwestern.

Now, in a shrewd move, Hawai'i has added defending national champ Michigan to the slate, thinking perhaps that Ann Arbor's inclement November weather would lead to a snowed-in team and a potential forfeit.

But barring any last-second blizzards, the Wolverines will in fact leave for Honolulu tomorrow, and they will in fact arrive at the field sometime before kickoff on Saturday. But even if they're a little late, they shouldn't have any trouble winning.

In the meantime, Carr's weekly, I-don't-think-there's-any-question-that-this-is-the-best-team-we'll-face-all-year routine can't be working all that well, not even on the Detroit media.

Or on his players, for that matter. Rumor has it that Jon Jansen was spotted in a brightly colored, flowered shirt on Monday.

Ready to get out of the continental United States, senior co-captain Jansen? Or do you just know what everyone else knows about this Hawai'i football team?

Here on the island of Maui, between trips to the beach and the occasional basketball game, it's hard to comprehend that the Michigan football team - wherever it is - is actually getting ready to play a game. It seems much more like a little pre-bowl scrimmage.

Because after the Buckeyes perfected their Notre Dame and Syracuse impressions last weekend, it's hard to see exactly what the meaning is for Michigan's season at this point. The Big Ten race is over, and the bowl picture is pretty much set. So this late-season trip to Hawai'i seems to be little more than a lighthearted sightseeing trip with football game squeezed in there somewhere.

Or is that just the way the reporters feel?

JIM ROSE
Rose Beef
- Jim Rose can be reached via e-mail at jwrose@umich.edu

11-25-98