As University of Hawai'i athletic director Herman Frazier sets about filling future football schedules for the Warriors, it is a safe bet he isn't dialing area code 517 to do it.

Or, that the institution of higher learning located therein, would be returning any calls.

That would be Michigan State which, after some legal tussling, bought its way out of a contracted Nov. 24, 2007 game at Aloha Stadium that would have been a 60th anniversary of the first meeting between the two.

The puka has since been filled by Boise State (for an ESPN game on Nov. 23) but, sadly, the $250,000 check required by the contract's cancellation clause five months ago hasn't salved what looks to be an enduring wound in relations with one of UH's oldest and, once upon a time, closer adversaries.

There's no reading between the lines necessary when Frazier pointedly says, as he did yesterday, "When you are dealing with real schools and, again, dealing with the Pac-10, (cancellation clauses) are not going to be an issue."

Or, when he snaps another verbal jab, saying, "You can't be upset because you lose a football game and then decide that you want to take your crayons and go home."

It will be remembered that it was ex-MSU coach John L. Smith who all but had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, here for a 2004 game UH rallied to win, 41-38. Or, that after maintaining it would fulfill the contract through the 2007 game, MSU wanted out soon after beating UH, 42-14, in the 2005 East Lansing rematch.

The Spartans said the 2007 game, contained in a 2002 contract, was dropped because, "When we signed the contract there was no way to know about new NCAA legislation approving a 12th game," according to spokesman John Lewandowski. "And, we don't feel like it is in the institution's best interests to play 13 games with the time element that our student-athletes already have."

What bothered UH as much as the cancellation were some of Smith's comments about the officiating of the 2004 game and the repercussions in the Big Ten. "I would say the comments made by the previous coach at Michigan State also created issues with Purdue, the issues with some other schools even to the point of the officiating and some other things," Frazier said yesterday. "So, the fact is, we decided to hold their feet to the fire on the cancellation of (the) game ... that's just the way it is."

Frazier said UH is working out of the MSU shadow. The 2007 game with Washington, for example, will have a Western Athletic Conference officiating crew. And, Frazier said, Big Ten teams will fill places on future UH schedules.

Unfortunately, the split in a relationship that goes back to the 1940s and included some prominent names on both sides doesn't look to heal anytime soon.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.