Maybe the thing is cursed.

During the groundbreaking ceremony for Aloha Stadium back in 1971, a woman protesting the project interrupted the ceremony with a chant in Hawaiian. Back then, not as many people understood the language and the woman refused to translate, but state officials were clearly unnerved.

Maybe the curse was something like, "May this place reveal the weaknesses of all who play here," or something like that. Over the years, through the construction problems and the rust, the political favors and inside deals, many who have played on that field have come away with dirt on their names as well as on their jerseys.

It rained through the first game ever played there. Big vacuums had to be brought out to suck the puddles off the Astroturf. The fans didn't notice, though. They were too lit from the beer they bought from the stadium vendor.

This business now with the proposed alcohol ban is just the latest in a long, long string of embarrassingly arbitrary rules and rulings designed to unapologetically squeeze maximum profit from the little guy sports fan.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's intention in proposing a total ban on alcohol was to make the UH football games more family-friendly. What parent wants to subject their child to drunken screamfests and the simmering potential of beer brawls and other alcohol-fueled misbehavior?

But families are exactly who will be penalized by a ban on alcohol at tailgate parties.

It takes a village to make a tailgate. Somebody has to soak the meat, somebody has to make the three bean and mac salads, somebody has to come early to kapu the choice spot in the parking lot. The point of tailgating is not to get plastered, the point of it all is fellowship. And eating.

Uncle Barry and Auntie Linda-dem with their little pupu party and couple Miller Lites out the back of their Aerostar are not the ones causing trouble in the stands. And what, they're going to have officers or security guards milling about the parking lot poking into coolers and sniff-testing sippy cups? Yeah, that'll make things less violent in Halawa.

To impose a glaring double-standard of "alcohol bad in the parking lot — alcohol not bad in the stands (when purchased from the vendor who gives us a cut)" clearly reveals how, no matter who is in power, money talks.

All or nothing. Have some guts. This half-measure is ridiculous and insulting to the very people it's supposed to "protect."

But, here again, the game at the stadium so clearly points out the weaknesses of the players involved. Not the players on the field, but the ones behind the scenes drawing state salaries — state salaries plus a little something extra from that cursed rust palace.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.