2008 Olympic Gold Medalists

2008 Olympic Gold Medalists
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Friday, September 10, 2010

Cincinnati Vibe

Great event in Cincinnati at the Hahana Beach Park and props to the promoters, Mario and Bob. I think all of the players had a great time and look forward to coming back to play. They put on a first class event with an amazing atmosphere. They have a brand new facility with great sand a bar/restaurant area that was the VIP area for center court and a great layout. The place was rockin' from Friday night onward. If you are ever in the 'nati, make sure to go check out Hahana Beach Park.

Phil and I took 2nd to Sean and John. We had a fun event though mixing it up, laughing and playing with the crowd, refs and opponents. It wasn't a "high dollar" event with $40,000 prize purse per gender so everyone was in lets play hard but have fun mode. For Phil and I we played Matt Heath and Nick Lucena in the first round and won 18 and 18. They served Phil every ball and were dropping on him and doing fun stuff. I set a few low and tight balls, on accident of course, when Nick was up blocking Phil. Half the time the three of them were laughing in the middle of the play at something one of them said. Next round we played Matt Olson and Brad Keenan. Little more serious match as they were a new team trying to impress one another as to their abilities. We won the first easily and were up big in the second when I layed an egg. We lost the second in overtime and then the third I pulled it together enough to win. In the crossover semis we played Casey Jennings and Jake Gibb. We won the first in a tight one, got smoked the second and then won the third super tight. Casey was playing the left and was pretty much money from that side. He is ballin' right now. In the finals we played okay but John and Sean were better. They beat us 15 or so in the first and then the second we were up a couple of points in the teens but they came back and tied it up at 19 all and won 24-22. It was fun though as Geeter was making fun of everyone on the court and the players were laughing and having a good time. Still competitive but fun. The funnest part for me was blocking. Phil and I split block the entire tournament and I jumped served the whole tourney too. Have not blocked that much since I played with Dax way back in the day.

3 comments:

Tom Burke said...

Great seeing you and Phil again. By the way, what types of memorabilia did you offer to Hahana Beach to feature in its restaurant?
Enjoy the off-season!
Tom

UmassJSP said...

Todd- Thanks for the updates all season and I hope you are enjoying the family lifestyle. I have one daughter who started Jr High and one that started High School this month. Talk about stress with both girls getting used to the new environments and teachers. What a pain in the arse. You think life gets easier and it just keeps getting harder.

I watched the video on Volleyball Tribe of your amazing comeback at SB a couple years ago. Great stuff...I was down with the flu and had some time to catch up on things. Also saw your interview with Karch Kiraly that was excellent. Keep those coming.

Enjoy the time off...you doing any coaching? I am watching Pats vs Jets now...if Pats lose my office will be like a morgue tomorrow...Scott

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday Todd!!