Long before I joined The Honolulu Advertiser, I knew Stephen Tsai.

Not personally, but through the many stories he'd write for the sports section while I was out here on vacation. It always seemed that he had two or three stories in every paper.

Now that I work here, I appreciate him all the more.

Tsai covers one of the most important beats at the newspaper, University of Hawai'i football, and this is his 16th year. Covering the same subject for so long would tend to bore most of us, but Tsai thrives on being the best there is in writing about something that is as close to professional sports as there is in Hawai'i.

I asked for his weekly routine during football season and what he gave me is too long to recite here, but I'll give you a taste with Monday's schedule:

He's already working at 6 a.m., reading articles online or working on his blog, and by 6:30 or 7 a.m. he's talking to the WAC associate commissioner and participating in a WAC conference call. He attends conditioning drills for the team at 8 a.m., interviews about 20 players and coaches at 9 a.m., goes to the Na Koa luncheon at 11:30 a.m. where coach June Jones shows videos of previous games, attends the Jones news conference at 1:30 p.m. and goes back to interviewing players and coaches at 3:15 p.m. He's transcribing tapes at 4:30 p.m., writing a story at 6 p.m. and studying news releases at 7:30 p.m. before knocking off at 9 p.m. or so.

And that's just Monday.

Tsai is a familiar face at practice. They call him "Shark" and when they see him coming, they hum the theme from "Jaws" — but it's all in fun.

We asked Tsai to write a blog this season so all those fans who crave everything UH football could get their fill, and he delivered. In November alone, his blog attracted 153,759 page views, which makes it one of the most sought-after features online. A lot of that has to do with the popularity of UH football (especially this season), but it also has to do with how fun and fresh Tsai keeps "Warrior Beat" throughout the season by having contests, singling out readers and doling out great tidbits of inside information. Many non-sports fans say they enjoy reading it even though they care little about the subject.

I'm singling out Tsai this week because of his Colt Brennan story that appeared on Nov. 25. I asked that we do a story for Page One that would give some insight into how Brennan came to be here and some sense of what kind of person he is. For all the stories we've written about him, I wanted something about Brennan I didn't know.

Tsai was aware of Brennan long before this latest story, having cultivated him along with other potential recruits Tsai knew were coming here. Tsai's rabid about following recruits to UH from the earliest point possible and he has given The Advertiser exclusives on more than 20 signings this year alone.

Because of accurate and fair reporting on Brennan, the quarterback trusted Tsai and leveled with him about his troubles in Colorado.

For this story, Tsai did something he never does: He read everything written about Brennan. Normally, Tsai doesn't want to pick up information used elsewhere and read other stories for fear of picking up someone else's writing style. But in this case, he delved deep into what was available on Brennan.

He reviewed all his notes on the quarterback, interviewed teammates, coaches, family members and others before talking to him. Brennan knew the information about Colorado would be coming up and was completely honest about it. Tsai assured him he would be fair and Brennan opened up.

I thought the story was handled with great sensitivity and I felt that as a reader, I had all the information I needed about his past troubles. I was equally impressed with how Brennan handled the adversity and has moved into a successful season. Tsai also provided a great example of how Hawai'i has accepted Brennan and how grateful the young quarterback is for being here. For the record, Brennan liked the story, too.

Maybe the next time players see Tsai coming to practice, they'll hum a different tune.