Battle on the Beach - May/Walsh VS Ross/Kessy

Looking forward to the Woman's Beach final between the two USA Teams: 

Keri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor vs April Ross and Jen Kessy.

It has been a long time since I have blogged and hope to get back to it more consistently again. Figured now was a good time to dip my toe back in as I am getting excited for the 4pm Gold Medal Woman's Beach Volleyball match.

I have been a huge fan of the team of Walsh and May since the beginning watching the old AVP tour on TV. I even have my Misty May autographed picture on the wall in a frame still. As much as I want this team to do what everyone seems to think they are going to do and that is go 3 for 3 in the Olympics with gold medals, I am not so convinced that Ross/Kessy are as big of underdogs as everyone thinks they are. This is a good team and it would be unwise to under-estimate them. Sure May/Walsh are the sexy pick and the ones getting all the spotlight (and deservedly so), but being disregarded as second class citizens like Ross/Kessy have to give them some added motivation. Even NBC only showed the last few point of their match last night despite having to have a huge comeback just to move into the finals. It is too bad that even their own country isn't getting behind them.

In any event it should be a great match regardless of the outcome. Ross and Kessy are playing against May and Walsh. May and Walsh are playing against Ross/Kessy and history...it is like a 2on1. Gotta love beach volleyball. I hope that there is a domestic North American League for beach volleyball again soon so we can see this great sport more and increase its exposure.

Quick Hits

After a big win in the Big House my Michigan Wolverines have made it back to the cover of SI (look real close, top right corner). After a year of dread they are bag in the top 25...Sure it will likely only last a week or two but after the last couple years a 2 week rise to the top is worth celebrating. Wow, what a sad state of affairs when a 1" pic on the cover of SI is monumental.

John Tavares made his debut with the Islanders last night and was left off the scoreboard. I have heard more then one of the so called sports people say he disappointed by not scoring. Good lord people settle down. He's 18 in his first game action and it is only pre-season. I know that he comes in with high hopes but lets be realistic about what he is going to do and how quick he is going to come along. It took Steve Stamkos half a season to get his stride and Bobby Ryan (second pick after Sidney Crosby) played his final year in the OHL and then time in the AHL before he started lighting it up with the Ducks.

In soccer news, guys ran around, balls were passed back and forth and a bunch of players fell down in what appeared to be in immense pain - only to be back playing minutes later. In one game there was even a few shots taken and a couple actually went in....crazy all the action.

Kerri Walsh recently made a call to her Olympic partner Misty May-Treanor and the two have decided to pair up in the Ryder Cup style beach volleyball match. Though Misty may not be at 100% it will still great to see the two of them playing side by side again.

The sooner baseball can get to the playoffs the better. When we can get to a time where all the games count and every pitch is more important then the last the more exciting things will be. When you are at the end of September the majority of the games are basically garbage time...Time to bring on the playoffs!!

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.

Dream In Gold

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh managed to do a couple of the more difficult things in sports last night. Misty and "6 Feet of Sunshine" didn’t need any sunshine as they played in a driving rainstorm that perhaps helped the Chinese even the playing field a bit. Not only did they go into Beijing as the favourites (not ranked #1 which makes no sense but whatever) to win gold in Beach Volleyball but that is what they actually did! Not always easy to live up to lofty expectations. They not only accomplished that but they did it without loosing a single set and have pushed thier record to 108 matches since their last loss and 14th straight at the Olympics. That is over a year of competition both domestic on the AVP Tour and Internationally and covers this and the Athens Olympics. They also are the first team to ever win back to back gold at the Olympics.

With the 21-18, 21-18 win the duo have cemented them selves as the greatest female team ever on the beach and have made a strong case as the greatest team ever - male or female. For Walsh, the win marks her 100th career victory, becoming the youngest and fastest to ever reach the 100 wins. Misty has 103 wins. They are the only 2 women in an elite group that includes beach volleyball legends Karch Kiraly, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos and Kent Steffes.

The only troublesome thing now is that both May and Walsh are looking to start families very soon and will most likely take 2009 off to have babies. Hopefully this isn’t the end of this dominating pair and they have at least 1 more Olympics left in them and a few AVP seasons left.
As Misty joked following the match maybe they can both start the next great team...no pressure for any yet to be created babies. But wouldn’t that be something?!

Like Misty says; individually they are good, together they are GOLDEN!

I am a huge volleyball fan and love to watch the game even if TSN and Sportsnet think that fat guys playing poker, dog shows and spelling bees are more compelling and offer higher ratings. If that is true then that is just wrong.
You know that I will be rooting for "The Thin Beast" Phil Dalhauser and "The Professor" Todd Rogers to grab the men’s gold tonight but it is not as sure a thing as May Walsh I am afraid, should prove to be a good match.