The Beach Is Closed

THE AVP

July 21, 1983 - August 13,2010

It was a sad day on a personal level when I learned the news that the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) was forced to suspend operations and prematurely end the 2010 season due to financial hardships.

Commissioner Mike Dodd had this statement following the announcement:
"Through the course of this investor search we have encountered individuals and groups with intelligence, common sense and a passion for the game of beach volleyball," said Mike Dodd, AVP commissioner. "Unfortunately, the time constraints were such that pulling the trigger on the amount of money necessary to salvage this season were too great. Ironically this sad news comes as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Manhattan Open, our sport’s crown jewel and the one event that showed us all we could dream big. The Open has seen its ups and downs over the years and always persevered. I’m sure our sport will do the same."

This was a tough thing to hear but also a tough thing to learn. It was nearly a week before I was even aware that this decision was made which I was a little put off by. The first that I had heard of this news was that I got an SI alert that involved Keri Walsh’s name when she threatened to boycott the revamped Manhattan Beach Open because the beach volleyball tournament won’t be played under the accepted international rules.

Until that point I was unaware that the AVP was no more. The fact that there was no news reports I guess speaks to just how niche the sport really is. Volleyball is far from easy to find on the TV dial and only for 1-2 hours every few weeks could you find one or the other Men’s or Women's finals on ABC. You can almost never find Indoor matches even during the times when the World Championships are on.

Unfortunately for the sport people only see it every 4 years at the Olympics and when it is out of sight it is out of mind. It is too bad I always looked forward to when there were games on the tube. Hopefully some more FIVB tour games will be televised in Canada/US but only time will tell. It would be best if they could get a real strong title sponsor and could make the AVP financially viable but that could be tough.

Beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996 and it was helped by the quality of play and players on the AVP tour that helped bring the sport to the foreground.

A committed group, a strong title sponsor and network help will all have to come together to get this back up and running and keep it strong. There is a lot of talent on the beach and unless these games are going to be played on North American TV and on North American soil and not just overseas.

As a fan and a televised sports viewer I cross my fingers that there will be more Volleyball on TV, ether on the beach, indoor, NCAA, International - whatever.

Volleyball And My TV

Recently, as there usually is on TV , the provider gives you a free preview of new channels or featured channels that may be struggling or are perhaps unknown. In the grand scheme of things all it comes down to is a drug dealer "offering you a free ‘taste’." You accept an bang! Next thing you know you are on A&E on an episode of Intervention.

This is what Bell ExpressVu did with the Centre Ice Package. They give it to you for a month, get you hooked then when you get accustom to having every game at your fingertips they rip it from you like you were a breast feeding baby forced to go bottle. You still get some games via TSN and the like, but not everything. You don’t get all the goodness of total variety but you get a good mix. 1000+ games was tempting but I choose to pass, maybe game centre on NHL.com next year (especially after I adopted not 1 but 2 Western out of market teams to my favorites list).

Bell has decided to do this to me again with the introduction to the CBS College Sports station. Right now the main focus is College Football but they also have gotten my attention by throwing some NCAA Woman's Volleyball (the A-10 Conference Championship and the Conference USA Championship). Outside of an hour and a half of beach volleyball maybe 3 or 4 times a year on NBC when they show the AVP or if it is an Olympic year you might get a little more coverage...but just a little, there is not a lot of volleyball to be found.

The beauty of the game is that it is fast paced, strategic, athletic and entertaining. What is not to like about that? Also because there really isn’t a Pro League, at least not in North America you aren’t spoiled by having 1 big name or team. You can enjoy the game for the game and even if you don’t know the participants you can still be entertained by the game and not be blinded by the hype of a name.

It is because of this that I will have to put some serious thought into adding this channel to the package. It is sad that it has to get to this point just to see volleyball on TV but what can you do. Anything to get just a little exclusive American sports on my TV has to be taken VERY seriously.

Shaq VS

For those who haven’t see the show yet the premise of it is for The Big Aristotle, Shaquille O’Neal challenging star athletes to a competition in their respective sports. There are rumors that he may have stole the idea from former teammate Steve Nash - This may or may not be true but Steve Nash does have an Executive Producer credit, so draw your own conclusions.

He did manage to get some good names to sign on to the project:
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in football, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, tennis pro Serena Williams, and beach volleyball Olympians Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Cyclist Lance Armstrong may also get involved .

The show was actually not as bad as I initially thought it would be. That being said, I think for the most part after last nights episode that pitted Big Shaqtus against AVP players and Olympians Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh I may be done with it... the novelty has now worn off. I watched part of the first one with Ben Roethlisberger and it was ok at best.

I made it a point to watch all of the Beach Volleyball for a variety of reasons. I am a big volleyball fan and actually watch the AVP during the year even if it is not just an Olympic year when it is en vogue. I am big fans of Misty May (whom was cool enough to send me an autograph) and Kerri Walsh (who is not as cool just yet). Plus as an added bonus they are clearly not hard on the eyes, especially in HD. I think that these ladies doing this show in combination with everything else they do have made a big impression towards the mainstream sports scene and help keep it in the minds of the casual observer. Lets face it as much as the AVP may try and do the national coverage of the sport is weak at best. You just don't see highlights on Sportscenter in either Canada or the USA nor do you get much actual match coverage on TV, except a crappy half hour show on Sportsnet when they need to fill some time and they are out of episodes of Poker After Dark and you don't even get the entire match.

The show itself was pretty decent as the sport lends itself well to adapt to that style.
Shaq and his partner, which alternated between "The Professor" Todd Rogers and Casey Jennings (who is married to Kerri Walsh), engaged in a 2-on-2 match on Hermosa Beach. The competition consisted of a best of three, match with rally scoring, 1st to 11 points. The net was set at a height for women’s beach volleyball. The favorites - May/Walsh ended up taking the event 11-6, 11-8. For loosing Shaq had to walk down the beach in a giant pink Speedo...that was, well unpleasant for all.

Goodbye Holly

The AVP is losing one of the true greats in the sport and one that was a pioneer in helping grow beach volleyball in the US. Olympic medalist and 72 time beach champion Holly McPeak has decided to hang up her bikini for good as she has announced her retirement effective immediately. It was believed that she was going to retire after last year but decided to take another run in 2009, but a few tournaments in and a few 9th place finishes was enough for her to decide to retire. McPeak who is married to former AVP commissioner Leonard Armato, he also recently stepped down from his post.

Holly was one of the first players that I became a fan watching. Well watching as best as one can when you get little to no TV coverage in Canada except for during the Olympics or on Country Canada (a sister station to CBC) at 2:00am.
McPeak won the Bronze with Elaine Youngs at the Athens Olympics.
A true pioneer of the game Holly was the first woman’s players to reach the $1 million mark for career earnings (she currently ranks 3rd behind Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh).

McPeak has done some announcing work with the AVP on NBC in the past and has done a good job. With her vast knowledge of the sport she is a natural and hopefully she will do more TV work. McPeak was a standout at UCLA and then played her way to being a great champion and a great ambassador. I was lucky enough to get an autographed and personalized promo piece from Wilson of her. She is A-OK in my books for sure!

I am sure that whatever she decides to do going forward that she will be as successful as she has been on the court.

Changing Channels Not An Option In Canada

After my last post it has lead me to make a comment on the state of TV in Canada and the US as it relates to sports. Now I have little problems with Canada’s existing sports specific channels, those being TSN (The Sports Network), Rogers Sportsnet and to a lesser extent The Score but I want more. Being a Bell Express Vu subscriber I have a respectable selection of live sporting events to choose from. Now that TSN has come out with TSN 2 allowing for both the ability to show 2 live sporting events at the same time (in the winter usually either 2 hockey games or a hockey game and an NBA game or perhaps tennis, maybe even curling) nationally as well the ability for time shifting showing programming on a 3 hour delay to allow you to watch the complete games of both matches if you so choose or if you missed the original broadcast...a nice option o have. Sportsnet does well with regional hockey but shows far less live games as it used to when it held the rights to broadcast NBA games but makes up for that with most Jays games during baseball season.

Now where I have an issue again is with the CRTC and the fact that there is no way that I can get everything that I want. Sure I could pay in excess of $100 for different packages covering sports like NHL Center Ice, NFL Sunday Ticket, NASCAR Hotpass, MLB Extra Innings or the NCAA package but that adds up pretty quick and there is a lot of overlap of crappy games that I wouldn’t want anyway. No, what I want is more choice, more options and most of all more variety. I guess in an effort to preserve Canadian content there is no way to legally get the programming that I want and what I want shouldn’t be that tough to get. Give me the option of having ESPN(s), some of the Fox SportsNet channels, NESN, Versus, YES Network TNT among others. As a fan of watching volleyball I would like to have the option of watching some matches. NBC will show 1 match a week of the AVP tour but the rest of the tournament is not shown, nor are any NCAA indoor games. I understand why Canadian programming doesn’t pick up these games as it is a very niche market but if the games are being televised I would like to have the option to watch them. I don’t need it on a Pay Per View basis just let me purchase the entire channel as I would if it were a specialty channel in Canada. If it comes to a case of matching the numbers in a total package of Canadian to US programming so be it, I may be willing to taking on some crappy Canadian channels in order to keep the ratio where it needs to be. All I am asking for is the ability to choose, ability to watch what I want , and ability to get some different perspectives. The only channels made available in Canada show nothing but crap. They try to fool people with ESPN Classic Canada, but not ESPN Classics so we get Classic CFL games (if there is more of an oxymoron title i’d like to hear it) Matches on Fox Sports World shows Footy (soccer), rugby, Aussie rules football and things of that nature....not entertaining and a weak effort to show “World Sports”.

I want Wednesday Night Baseball in the summer, weekly NBA games, Volleyball games. It is being broadcast, I don’t think it too much to ask that I have a chance to enjoy it, whether I live in Canada or the USA.

Around The Horn

Having the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) being televised over the past few weeks with teh AVP on NBC in anticipation of the Olympics has been a real treat for me. I may be one of the few that truely enjoy beach volleyball for the volleyball. I will watch both the men’s and woman’s matches both with near equal interest.
That being said here is some truths: 1) HD was made for woman’s beach volleyball 2) I think I am in love with Misty May and Kerri Walsh 3) With the fans in the stands being as hot or hotter then those on the court, how does it not get more time on tv and pull in huge ratings?

Roger Federer was ousted in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto in his first match after his epic match with Rafael Nadal.
Well that eliminates the potential for me going to Torono to watch Tennis and makes for a disappointing end to those who have tickets. Just like the Leafs, Toronto has disappointed their fans...again.

Iraq has been barred from the Beijing games.
Apparently politics does play a role in the Olympics, I am shocked. It begs the question how did Beijing get the games in the first place.

Michelle Wie is to play yet another men’s event at the PGA Tour’s Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.
Not only has she never made a men's cut but she doesn’t even know the rules on the LPGA. "Wie" are tired of this song.

Mats Sundin is to make his decision on August 1 on if and where he will play next season.
I guess Campbell Chunky Soup is perishable and it expires within the next week ( Mats, your soup is ready!!)

Steve Bartman, That Cubs "fan" who rightly or wrongly has been blamed for ruining the Cubs chances win the World Series has turned down $25,000 to come out of hiding and sign 1 autograph.
Wisely he has declined and has averted what was sure to have been either a set up or a trap, either way there would be no good to come from that. 25 Ger is a lot of coin but you gotta stay down in teh basement if you are that dude.