University of Houston Athletics
Football Wraps up First Full Day in Hawai'i
12/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 20, 2003
HONOLULU - The University of Houston football team enjoyed its first full day in the Aloha State on a Saturday busy with activities.
Making their first bowl appearance since 1996, the Cougars will meet Hawai'i in the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl at 7 p.m. (CST), Thursday, in Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
The Cougars' 2003 bowl start began early enough with everyone meeting at the Hilton Hotel on the UH campus with registration beginning at 6:30 a.m., Friday morning. Once that was finished, the team and travel party left the hotel and enjoyed a police escort with a short trip to Bush Intercontinental Airport.
After flying out of Houston around 10 a.m., (CST), the team plane landed in San Francisco about three-and-a-half hours later to refuel. Once that important task was finished in 45 minutes, the Cougars took off and finally landed in Honolulu at 9 p.m. (CST).
The team then took a lengthy bus ride during Honolulu rush hour before arriving at the official headquarters. Following a team meeting and early dinner, many members of the Cougar travel party called it a night after a long day.
With a four-hour time difference from Houston, it wasn't surprising to see many Cougar travel party members enjoying breakfast around 5 a.m. (Hawai'i time) Saturday morning. While the jet lag proved to be difficult for some people, most of the travel party seemed to overcome its effects by the next afternoon
Head Coach Art Briles began Saturday's activities around 11 a.m. (Hawai'i time) with a press conference at Murphy's Bar and Grill in downtown Honolulu. After charming the local media, Briles returned to the Cougars' hotel for position meetings and pre-practice preparations.
The Cougars headed to the University of Hawai'i practice fields for a short walk-through session and then wrapped up the practice with a workout in the Warriors' weight room.
The team then returned home before hitting the beach that evening for a Beach Party BBQ, where Cougar players, coaches, administrators and travel party members celebrated the end of the first full day in Hawai'i.
