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.

Around the Horn

Firstly, Congratulations to Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers on their 3 Set Gold Medal win last night 23-21, 17-21, 15-4. in the men’s beach final. It was a great match and I was glad I was able to stay up for the duration. The 3rd set was taken over by the best player in the world, Dalhauser who made the Great Wall of China pale in comparison to his giant wing span . He was blocking everything in sight as the US team dominated the Brazilians to claim gold. It was hot, humid and sunny for the match, a far cry from what Kerri Walsh and Misty May had to play through the day before.
Now the Beach is closed in Beijing.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw his bronze medal to the mat, and walked off the podium.
What a child, everyone knows that a bronze is the second best medal. If it was a silver I would understand.
Gold= Win
Bronze= At least you get something
Silver= FIRST LOSER.
Maybe he just had to put his medal down because his soup was ready (Huh Mr. Sundin??)

So they are canceling Woman's Softball from the Olympics because the US is too good?
Interesting, if that were true would Japan not just upset them, Explain to me that logic.

U.S. 400m relay teams drop their batons and will miss the finals
Someone must have said " is that a syringe coming behind you?" and they panicked and it dropped (allegedly)

Water Polo is impressive in the fact that they never touch the bottom of the pool during a match.
What is even more impressive is that it is the closest thing to a death sport in the Olympics... it would probably be the closest thing to MMA at the games. Water Cube or cage...Think I’ll take the cage...what happens under the water stays under the water

I just saw BMX as a sport being demonstrated in the Olympics
The is the Olympics not the X games, get out of Beijing and go back to Cleveland.

Jose Calderon has a ‘strained adductor’ not good news for the Raptors and their point guard
We here in Ottawa know all too well that a strained adductor can prove to be more troublesome then the actual injury itself...Dominic Hasek, I am looking in your direction.

IOC president Jacques Rogge made some comments regarding Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for showing a lack of respect to other competitors
This guy is head of the IOC - not the most credible organization in the world, clean up your judging (actual event judging and not your judgemental high and mighty judging first) Just remember about people living in glass houses.

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.