Gold.

I will always remember Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor as the team that caught my attention during the 2008 Olympics and helped me realize that beach volleyball is more than something to do when you've been drinking since the early morning and you need to find a way to slow the pace. This sport has been, aside from basketball, my favorite to watch throughout the entire Olympics. It's fast, it's intense, the competitors are incredibly athletic (try jumping in beach sand without a running start and see how high you get), and the overall ambiance of the matches is one that I find endearing (see cheesey 70s and 80s music and cheerleaders running around the court; this is not your typical high pressured Olympic event).

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have dominated Olympic Beach volleyball (and international beach volleyball in general, really) like nobody else in history. Last night, they became the first team to repeat as Olympic champions. 108 straight matches won, 14 straight Olympic matches won, and two straight Olympics without losing a single set. The Beijing games will always be remembered for the accomplishments of Michael Phelps, but I would argue that what Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have done is equally as significant. Not only have they dominated in similar fashion, but they have helped to open their sport up to a new and much larger audience.

If there's anything that I regret about this whole experience, it's that I got on the train extremely late. Those who are in tune with the volleyball world have known about this pair for a long time. Just as I'm starting to be roped in, it looks as if Walsh and May-Treanor may be stepping out of the limelight. Fatspike reports, as have many throughout these games, that Walsh and May-Treanor are both eager to have children once these games end. At this point, there's no way for anybody to know how this will affect their careers. Have we seen the last of them in Olympic play? It's very possible

While we're on the topic of the gold medal winners, I just have to talk about Misty May's tattoo for a second. Now, it has been reported throughout the Olympics that she idolized Jason Kidd growing up. She sought him out back in Athens and the two have been friends ever since (note, she is married to Marlins catcher Matt Treanor. There have been rumors of she and Kidd hooking up, but I doubt it). She even has a roman numeral of the number 5 tattooed on her lower back in homage to Kidd. I can't decide how I feel about this. On one hand, it's sick that she watches the NBA and cares enough about it to get league-related ink. But, JASON KIDD? I hate Jason Kidd. Not only do I hate him because of his role with the New Jersey Nets and their conquest of the once-great Truth/'Toine Celtics, but he was also part of my least favorite trade in NBA history (note, some trades have affected me more, but the Dallas trade for Kidd offends me the most because of the high level of incompetence required to pull it off).

Here is the tattoo:



It kills me. Why not a green 34 or a green 5?

Here she is from the front though, not bad:

The Dominance Continues

After defeating their most difficult opponents to date in the form of two very feisty Norwegians, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will take a perfect 3-0 record with them as they advance to the medal round. May-Treanor and Walsh, dawning navy blue uniforms for the first time since official Olympic play began, the top seeded American team knew that they would be challenged by the Norwegians, whom Walsh said was the best serving team in the pool (the round robin pool obviously, there is no swimming pool in beach volleyball).

Decades of ping pong experience tells me that any competitor with a tough serve can be especially dangerous (my girlfriend has defeated me in ping pong about 97 times utilizing a very tricky serve that her grandmother taught her). The Norwegians' strong serve allowed them to make this matchup respectable, as they gave Kerri Walsh some problems when they sent the ball her way. But, in the end, we'll remember these Norwegians as nothing more than another notch on the Americans' belt. This thing was over in straight sets, 21-12 and 21-15. At this point, it's hard to imagine anybody taking May-Treanor and Walsh to three sets, never mind actually beating them.

What stood out to me most in last night's match, and remember I'm new at this so I really need to be guided by the announcers, was Misty May-Treanor's ability to dive fully extended and save a ball and then immediately recover and be back in the air in time to get a kill off of an assist by her partner. I'd like to see how many up-downs she can do in 60 seconds. I bet she would beat every single person in the world that I know, male or female.

Really, you don't like this song, you heartless empty-souled son of a bitch?




Russia and Georgia also faced off in beach volleyball, and I think this quote from Jim Caple's article really touches on the things that make this such a great sport. In comparing this match yesterday to the famous "Blood in the Water" water polo match between Russia and Austria-Hungary in 1956, Caple says:

"If it lacked the animosity -- to say nothing of the violence -- of the water polo match, perhaps it was because this venue was the beach volleyball pit. And the competitors wore sunscreen, sunglasses and bikinis. And tanned, long-haired cheerleaders strutted in the sand. And the sound system blared such classic Eastern European folk tunes as "La Bamba," "Highway to Hell" and the "Ghostbusters" theme."

At this point, there's no denying the powerful impact that this sport has had on me.


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Chad Johnson wants to legally change his name to Ocho Cinco. Needless to say, I'm going to be very upset if he doesn't follow through. (From profootballtalk.com via shutdown corner)


This whole story just looks really bad for Spain, and it gets worse every time I read about Gasol and Calderon defending it.