Mr. President loves him some beach volleyball.
I was coming into this summers Olympics with low expectations. In fact, I was pitching a column to Chad in which I would have compared the Summer X-Games to the Olympics as I figured that would be the only way I could write about the Olympics without everyone falling asleep. Well, as with so many other things in life, I completely misjudged how fun the summer games could be.
To my utter surprise the Beijing Olympics have been nothing short of fantastic. And if I’m going to talk about the Olympics, I might as well start with what has been (by a mile) my favorite event so far – women’s beach volleyball! I know I’m supposed to care about Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals, but I just can’t get past the fact that Phelps looks like a combination of Gheorghe Muresan and Eddie Munster. I’ll admit that I took the two minutes it took to watch him win his eighth gold medal while I was in a loud night club, but I just chalk that up to me fulfilling my civil duties. But try as I may, Olympic swimmers just don’t get me into the patriotic spirit.
Now Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, on the other hand, really get the patriotic juices flowing. It’s easy to root for your country when the players representing young homeland are competing in a glorified bikini. There is just something inherently attractive about women playing beach volleyball, even women who are by normal standards only moderately attractive get a huge bump in the looks department if they are playing beach volleyball. You throw in the fact that Brazil has a competitive team and you have yourself some much see TV.
Before you get all riled up that I’m being a sexist pig and I’m only watching the girls play because they are scantily clad and working up a sweat from jumping up and down on a beach, just hold your horses a minute. Sure, it hasn’t hurt that the sport is easy on the eyes, but I’ve taken a real interest into our ladies representing the USA. For example, did you know that our girls (Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh) have won 106 matches in a row since last August? Now that’s some dominance for your ass. And sure Michael Phelps may have won all the races he participated in during this Olympiad, but the dynamic duo have yet to lose a set in these Olympics.
Our girls (Why do I keep calling them that?) are set to face Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro in the semi-finals sometime on Tuesday. It should an easy match for May-Treanor/Walsh, after all they are 4-0 against the Brazilian duo in their careers. If/when team USA defeats Brazil they will face one of two Chinese teams that are playing for at least the silver medal at this point. At this point it seems like our girls are a lock to win the gold, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be watching.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about this, and every other Olympic games, is the fact that unless the games are set in the US, we are going to have some crazy schedules when it comes to TV coverage. So far it has worked out pretty well as almost all of Phelps’ races have come during prime time viewing hours, but it has made watching men’s basketball almost impossible. Being an NBA guy, I’ve been extremely interested in how well the “Redeem Team” was going to handle international competition after getting knocked around a bit by the world over the past couple of years. It’s funny how we went from being a country who couldn’t care less about how America played in international competition, to being pissed off when we sent amateurs play against the world’s best (badly I might add), to now gloating how we are in fact numero uno when it comes to the game we created.
I’ve only been able to see bits and pieces of their games, but there is nothing more impressive than watching LeBron James and Kobe Bryant play man up defense against the World’s best and completely dominate them – well perhaps women’s beach volleyball is more impressive, but not much else. I’m not a big fan of having the three point line so short in international competition. These guys are grown men, I think they can handle shooting from distances further than what most of our high school players shoot from. It was painfully obvious how shotty, pardon the pun, our guys’ mid-range game has become over the years, but in our wins over Spain (119-82) and Germany (106-75) we’ve seem to have figured it out.
I’m not one of those fools who thinks that this team has any chance of living up to the hype of the original Dream Team, but I’d much rather watch these guys play against much better international competition. Blowouts in the Olympics aren’t a whole lot of fun, it’s like watching a powerhouse college team like North Carolina play some ho-dunk division two school in NCAA Basketball. I want to see our guys have to show up and play hard in order to get a W, I have no interest in them showing up and putting on an And 1 like demo, we can leave that for – um - the And 1 guys.
Of all the stories surrounding Team USA my favorite would have to be the reemergence of Dwayne Wade. It was hard to watch him limp around on the Heat last season, and I was glad when coach Pat Riley decided to shut him down. It would have been a shame if his reckless style of play would have diminished the young stars dominance, but all reports seem to be that Flash is back and better than ever. And as he’s shown over the last couple of weeks, when Wade is healthy he is one of the best players in the world.
Team USA has already locked up a spot in the quarter finals against a strong Australian team that pounded Lithuania 106-75. Australia made 16 three pointers against Lithuania, but Kobe and co. have made it very hard for opposing teams to get open looks from long distance. If our boys are able to get past Australia they will play the winner of the China/Lithuania quarter final that will take place on Wednesday.
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A Few Final Notes: Sorry about the extended break, but things have busy for Chad and I lately. Expect the posts to pick up as the start of the NFL Season approaches. We’ll have your Fantasy Football Preview and NFL preview up before the season kicks off, and expect some surprises in the upcoming weeks as well. Enjoy your Monday…
