Ocean City went similar to Atlanta unfortunately. This time John and Sean won in 2 games and played really well the whole game. I felt I didn't play very well for the whole match.
It takes awhile to get to Ocean City. The closest airport is in Salisbury which is about 30 minutes away. It isn't very big either. We flew into Baltimore which is about 2 to 2:30 hours away. Long travel day when you get up at 4am to catch a 6am flight. Didn't even get the upgrade from LAX to BWI either.
On Friday we cruised pretty easily. Essentially we played Phil's friends. Our first game was against Rance Jones and Tyler. Beat them 16 and 15 or so. Rance and Phil have known one another for awhile now. It was a friendly game at 9am in the morning. In our second game we played Adam Roberts and Mike DiPierro who are both good friends with Phil. All the guys we played were from the east coast. Phil put on a serving clinic in the first game and at one point we were up 9-1 and 11-2. Ended up winning about 12 and 15.
On Saturday we played Hans and Anthony for about the 8th time this year. We won in 3 games. In the first, Anthony went on a serving tear. He scored about 3 aces but also had another 3 or 4 serves that we passed over or barely got back over. In the second we adjusted and he wasn't able to go on a run with his serve. The third was interesting. We were up 14-10 serving. Served Anthony and he hit a ball about 20 feet long trying to go for the tool on Phil. It wasn't close but the ref called a touch after Anthony started yelling touch. Both Phil and I said no touch and went to shake Hans hand who was going to shake our hand in the good game handshake. Phil and I went ballistic and started yelling at the ref. I asked him what he was doing and he leaned down and said, "I called a touch." I thought it was in quite an arrogant manner as well. I told him loud and clear, "YOU SUCK!!" Then I walked away to the other side of the net. He pulled out his cards and I expected a yellow card. He gave me a red. I was livid. This now made the score 14-12 as they got the undeserved touch call on the sideout and now a red card which is a point for the other team. The next serve was a tough serve at Phil and he passed it in the net. I set it out of the net but he hit it long down the line. The next serve was down Phil's line and he barely got it. I threw up the bump set and he sided out to win the game. I have to say that it was the worst red card I have ever received. The amount of things that are said out on the court that are profane ect... and no red card is given is ridiculous. I tell the ref he sucks and I get a red card at the later stage of the 3rd game. Needless to say, my esteem for that particular ref, who will remain nameless, has been knocked down quite a bit.
In our next game we played Nygaard and Mayer in the deluging rain. It was coming down in buckets but it was really fun. Probably because there were about 200 fans that didn't leave and they started yelling and screaming. We ended up winning easily with scores around 15 in both games. We were sopping wet but had fun.
On Sunday we played Matt and Casey in the semis. The first game we came back from a 2 point deficit towards the end of the game and won 21-19. In the second game they were on fire and we were not. We lost 21-15. In the third we played much better and won 15-9. In the finals I felt like I just played poorly. I do think Sean had one of his best sideout games ever against us. I didn't sideout very well. I felt like I played good defense but my transition was not very good at all. I had 3 digs at the end of the 2nd game and converted on none of them and we lost 21-18. Not good.
10 comments:
Good luck these next few weeks in Switzerland and Norway...hopefully you can bring home the cowbells again! As far as Ocean City, we all knew you weren't going to win every tournament...we all have our bad games or days. So what are you doing to pass the time until play starts on friday?
Garret
Thats a funny story about the ref, I know I have had my fair share at yelling at them over bad calls. Then I was unfortunate enough to be a ref since then and learned a whole new perspective. It is a lot harder than you would think, and it is hard not to retaliate when being yelled at. I almost threw down with this one guy after he dropped a few F bombs on me after a game, but luckily he was just all talk and walked away. I never yell at the refs anymore (although I'm not a pro and don't have as much at stake). I'm glad you won the game anyway and were able to make it to the finals. I can't say that I watched much beach volleyball until I saw you guys dominate at the Olympics. You have made me a big fan of the AVP, and of you and Phil, and you inspire me to get out in the sand and play myself. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to watching you guys play again (if they would ever televise the tournaments on a channel that I have)!
Schvanz
Todd, you seem to be a classy guy! I just like screaming for the underdogs in every sport I watch. The top players always seem to get too comfortable in their top spots. The AVP gets rather boring when ONE team wins over and over again. There needs to be some drama in Beach Volleyball again. Like the days of yester-year when tournaments were held in Santa Cruz and "real" beaches. A time when most of the crowds were drinkin beers and talking smack. It would be nice to see those days again! Rosie's Raiders are the ONLY thing close to this and we need more of them! Fan base, rivalries, drama, excitment, variety of winners, friendly/un-threatening obnoxious criticism...its what the AVP needs. Look at all the crazy fans in Pro sports. I think AVP fans would be at the bottom of the list of crazy fans. Now look at how much money and publicity other sports contain. The AVP again probably at the bottom of the list. Lets make something happen to bring the AVP into the spotlight again.
Being a family sport is cool but we can also have some crazyness to it, just no streakers running accross the court in the middle of your match. Okay that would be fun too. lol.
No but seriously you and Phil are obviously on top of your game...its just nice seeing other teams BEAT you.
Let me start by saying that I am a fan of yours and Phil's, I'm not a ref, just a player and not a particularly good one at that. However, I'm glad to hear that a ref finally decided he'd had enough s*** from a player. The way most AVP players act towards the refs is an embarrassment to the sport. No other professional sport allows players to treat the officials with the amount of disrespect that is constantly shown to the AVP refs. Look at an MLB game, if you argue balls and strikes even without being obscene or disrespectful, you can be kicked out (I'd love to see the same rule on the AVP for arguing hand setting calls). Professional athletes should be conducting themselves in a professional manner and setting an example for the young fans (and the adult fans for that matter) who are watching them. But what message is it sending when the tirades that you see at every AVP event are allowed to occur, most often with no reprecussions.
Arguing a handsetting call will get you thrown out???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iGt6MpGA34
what if you were on the opposing end of this call? I agree using profanity shouldn't be allowed and should result in a red card but voicing your displeasure in a mangled ball, just to let the ref know, you are "owed a call"?
Hopefully you can turn the loss into some additional fuel for the world championship. Good luck.
Where does the ref come off going straight to a Red card? Ridiculous! No logic.
As someone who used to fly every week, its hard to get the upgrade on popular flights LAX to JFK/BWI because so many high status frequent travelers take the flights...Glad you pulled the upgrade to Europe.
Good luck on the FIVB.
Jody from Chicago
Garret- Thanks. Worked out, saw a movie, caught up on emails. It is ridiculous how much downtime there is out here.
Schvanz- Hopefully you get the Versus channel for the AVP events. Universal Sports is also televising much of the FIVB stuff. Will post the link on my next blog.
Anonymous- Undrestandable to root for the underdog. I tend to do the same. I personally think sports are at their best when you have two dominant teams and you see them battle each other over and over. Sinjin/Randy vs. Hov/Dodd come to mind. Lakers vs. Celtics. That kind of thing. I actually don't think it is good for sports in general when different teams are in and out of the finals. Then it is hard to create "stars". People want to follow a team and see them do well. That is why it is great to have two teams and maybe a third doing well so people still have a choice on who they can follow. Good vs. Evil all that kind of stuff. Makes for good TV too.
Adam- Tough call on that one. The history of the game is one of protesting calls and getting in refs faces. There is no coach to "take one for the team" so to speak so it is only the players that can stand up for the calls. I would be willing to say that when a player freaks out, he is right over 90% of the time. To just suck it up and take it doesn't seem right to me. There is a form of arguing that is entertaining to fans and TV. This does not include profanity. In my opinion yelling is okay. The trick is to verbally abuse the ref in a manner that doesn't come accross as verbal abuse to the audience. I think it is part of the beach volleyball game, is entertaining and something I don't want to go the way of baseball where you say something about a ball or strike and you get tossed. In baseball that means someone comes in for you. In volleyball that means the end of the game and that would be extrodinarily lame to see a bunch of forfeits because a ref on his pedastal doesn't like the fact that you are defending yourself and arguing.
Jody- Thanks. See you in chicago.
Todd
Todd-- While I think you are a great ambassador for the sport I love, you were out of line to tell a ref he "sucked" and then not to expect a red card. As a collegiate and high school official I know I have blown judgement calls or thought I saw something that didn't happen especially on touches that you may not have the angle on. While I acknowledge mistakes are made and a player should be allowed to argue calls within reason, what a player or coach is NOT allowed to do is get personal with the ref and say "you suck". This is a cardinal sin that cannot be tolerated or an official will lose control of the match they are tasked to oversee and call to the best of their ability. As a player, I have been red carded and ejected for saying "you suck" to a ref, and as a ref I have red carded people for the same thing. In all instances these cards are appropriate. You and the official you had the disagreement with are both professionals and need to treat one another as such. Even if you think he is arrogant and "sucks" you shouldn't say it. Argue your call respectfully and move on. Easier said then done in the heat of the moment (I've been there), but I think you are wrong to complain about a very appropriate card. (Red was def the right color to give you) Having said all that, keep up the good work!
Todd,
First let me say thanks for actually responding, I certainly have great respect for your opinions, but do I like to argue too (even occassionally with refs). I was certainly exaggerating in my post a bit, especially with the comparison to baseball, the last thing anyone wants to see would be a team forfeiting due to arguing a call. I agree that players shouldn't have to simply stay silent when they disagree with a call, what I don't like is when the arguing continues for much longer than there is any need for. I've seen so many matches where there is a great flow to the match, a number of good rallies back and forth, then a questionable call gets made and gets argued for literally minutes. I believe there was something like this in one of your finals early this year against Sean Scott where he was trying to convince the refs that it was four contacts on you and Phil. Whether he was right or wrong, if you haven't convinced the ref in the first 15 seconds, it's not going to happen. Anyway, enough wasting of your time on this topic.
-Adam
hey your awesome keep up the awesomeness!!!!and lets play some volley ball!!![gotta keep your head in the game] have fun out there!
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