Honolulu Diary:
Advertiserπs noisemakers

    When The Honolulu Advertiser reported on Oct. 30 that plans to distribute thousands of controversial noisemakers at the University of Hawaiåiπs Nov. 30 football game against Alabama were being blocked by an Aloha Stadium rule against artificial noisemakers, the newspaper made like an independent observer.
     The headline, attributed to UH officials, offered the opinion, "åThunderπ claps could help UH against Tide." According to the Advertiser, the UH marketing department had received 10,000 pairs of the noisemakers, described as similar to ThunderStix, which roared into national prominence when they were banged and thumped by fans of the Anaheim Angels during the World Series.
     The plastic inflatable tubes produce a sound like thunder or, as ThunderStixπ manufacturer describes, "like a metal drum." The problem is that theyπve been banned from Aloha Stadium, along with other artificial noisemakers, for the past 20 years. Theyπre also banned by the NCAA in indoor sports, and caused such a ruckus that the PAC-10 recently voted to bar them from football games beginning next year.
     The Advertiser followed up its story with a Web survey asking for readersπ opinions, after prompting that distribution of the stix wouldnπt violate any specific NCAA rule. Another news story, on Nov. 7, bemoaned the Stadium Authorityπs eventual unwillingness to lift its ban and let the noise begin.
     But nowhere did the Advertiser disclose that it did more than report on this story.
     That job fell to the UH-Mänoa student newspaper Ka Leo, which reported the noisemakers were purchased by the gameπs title sponsor, none other than The Honolulu Advertiser itself.
     Lois Manin, director of sports media relations at the UH Athletic Department, confirmed the story this week.
     "They [the noisemakers] are the property of the Advertiser," Manin told Honolulu Weekly. "They bought them without asking us first.
     "Itπs not really their fault," Manin said. "The Advertiser was trying to help the university, help the (football) program."
     "The Advertiser didnπt call anybody to ask if it was okay to use them here," said stadium manager Eddie Hayashi, who praised UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier for working closely with stadium management once the issue came up.
     Hayashi responded to the Advertiser stories — and the angry letter-writers stirred up by the stadiumπs no-fun rules — with a letter to the editor explaining the stadiumπs policy on noisemakers. Hayashi said the letter included a reference to the Advertiserπs sponsorship of the devices, but it was apparently nixed by the newspaperπs editors and was not included when the letter appeared in print on Nov. 22.
     —Ian Lind