Haka! Haka! We Got Your Haka Update!

Well, I got some more resolution on my Haka post from earlier today. Nico at Roll Bama Roll has a firsthand update about what happened (as well as this awesome picture you see to your left here). Click for the full-sized picture where you can see a few Haka warriors tossing up a deuce to the crowd.

I got an even more detailed description from Warren St. John who e-mailed me this update this afternoon:

[The loud booing] might be a bit of an overstatement. Sweet Home Alabama was playing (as usual) for much of the pregame; it wasn't played on top of the haka on purpose. And the only booing I heard was the usual BDS welcome from a few of the rowdies in the student section when Hawai'i ran onto the field. It wasn't haka specific. And on the boo-at-Bryant Denny scale (Phil Fulmer's 2005 entrance being a 10 and La. Monroe being a 1) I'd put the Rainbow Warriors welcome at a 2. It was a pretty friendly affair actually. Although I did see a pic circulating of a Rainbow Warrior giving the finger to the fans during the haka.... maybe he was reacting to the crowd, dunno. Having spent a lot of time in New Zealand, and as a fan of the occasional All Black game, I'm very pro Haka myself...

Seriously, who isn't pro-Haka?

Also kudos, I suppose, to a commentor who directed me to this example of a warm welcome from an Alabama crowd. Stupid Austrians, they don't know the difference between Alabama and Alabama State.