2008 Olympic Gold Medalists

2008 Olympic Gold Medalists
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Brasilia 2010

Brasilia, Brazil is different from what you would expect of Brazil. I would say it is the most similar city that I have been to in Brazil, to a city in the USA. Fairly clean and well maintained. City is only 50 years old so everything is relatively new.

On the playing front we won so bonus. We had a tough road. We played a Venezuelan team, 2 American teams, Jake/Rosy and Matt/Nick, German World Champs (Brink/Reckermann) and 4 different Brazilian teams out of the 5 that were in the main draw. We lost to the new Brasilian team of Thiago and Pedro Cunha. Good team. They will be in the qualifier for awhile but I could see them making it into the main draw eventually. We played and beat Pedro Salgado and Ricardo, Benjamin/Bruno and in the finals, Allison/Emmanuel.

The story in the finals was simply we played well and they did not. Certainly was not their A game. Did seem as though Allison was having trouble consistently setting Emmanuel. Can't blame it on the wind though. There was a light breeze but it was mostly stopped by the wrap they put around the whole stadium. Nice for us to take the crowd out of the game quickly. The score was 7-2 in the first and 12-6 in the second and not much was heard from the pro-brasilian crowd. I expect that Allison and Emmanuel will be back. They are a good team and will keep getting better as the season progresses.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Ft. Lauderdale AVP

Hello everyone. Have not blogged in ages and frankly it has been kind of nice. Just hanging with kids and the wifey enjoying life at home without all the travel. But, since the season has started and I am on the road trying to fill up the time, I figure I should get back on it. This year I don't think I will go as in depth as I have in years pass. Just give you any interesting tidbits about the tourney and maybe a game or two.

In Ft. Lauderdale Phil and I played very well in pretty windy conditions. We mostly breezed through the first 4 rounds and into Sunday. On Sunday we played John and Sean in a close good match. Back and forth with everyone siding out pretty good for the most part. In the end we won in two.

In the finals I have to clear something up that I have heard. I have heard it said that the players didn't want to play because they were afraid of getting injured. All the players were fine with playing. Not one of us ever said we would not play or that we should not play. We all said we would do whatever the AVP wanted us to do. After a couple minutes of back and forth, Matt Gage, the tournament director, said he thought we should not play. I was shocked. I have never heard Matt Gage say he thinks we shouldn't play. Lightning can practically be hitting the courts and he has always said, "keep playing, it is just a little lightning!" Then a minute or so later the management team at the AVP said, "you guys aren't playing." That was it. The players did agree it would be ugly volleyball for TV in that kind of rain and that the balls would be awfully heavy and tough on the shoulders. But everyone would have played. Ended up a tie for first and a split of the Prize Money.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

AVP Men's Finals on Universal Sports - TV Coverage

COVERAGE ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, available in 57 million homes, presents same-day delayed coverage of the following matches of the AVP Tour:

Apr 18 Fort Lauderdale Men’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
May 2 Santa Barbara Women’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
Jun 20 Virginia Beach Men’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
Jun 27 Belmar, NJ Men’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
Jul 18 Hermosa Beach Women’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
Aug 22 Manhattan Beach Men’s Finals 10:00-11:30PM ET
Sep 19 Hermosa Beach Invitational 10:00-11:30PM ET

Find TV coverage here

Wednesday, April 14, 2010