If you hear someone at Yankee Stadium screaming “No Ka oi!!” after we beat Northwestern in the bowl game it’s a safe bet it’s either our punishing rsJR Nose Tackle Jeremiah Taleni or one of his extended family members who flew in from the Islands for the festivities.
It means “We’re the best!!” in the Hawaiian language, which is where Taleni hails from. The Island of Oahu and Kailua town to be precise.
But what is more likely though is that he’ll be fiercely whispering “I goin bust your face haole” to the white Northwestern Offensive Lineman guys across the line of scrimmage from him.
Haole is not a term of endearment by an means especially when it is said directly to you by a 6’2″ and 290 lb maddened Hawaiian/Samoan who wants to vivisect you in as quickly a way as possible.
BTW – that is a Maori in the photo at left but I took license to show how fast us normal sized guys would crap our pants when lined up three feet away from Taleni. Our guy doesn’t have any facial tattoos…yet.
But he’s not just scary – he’s been very effective as the on-deck nose tackle this season filling in after starters Tyrique Jarrett and Shakir Soto were injured back before the Miami game. Taleni had played only spot duty in his Pitt career to that point which honestly surprised me.
I used to go to Hawaii HS football games at every opportunity when I was stationed there back in the early 1980s. They play truly excellent football over there… much like WPA football was played back in the 50s and 60s – hard beat downs to the opponent and the last team standing wins the ball game.
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