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Joined: Dec 1969
...is far, far better in person. Â Baseball, basketball, football, all translate reasonably well (to different degrees) to television, perhaps because of the years of experience, multiple camera angles, etc.; but men\'s volleyball is best experienced in person. Â Most Americans think of picnic volleyball or women\'s volleyball...trust me, men\'s volleyball is a very different game. Â My father in law was a basketball center at Stanford back in the 1950s, and he had zero knowledge of volleyball, as did my father who was a very good basketball player. Â Both of them started to attend competitive volleyball matches and couldn\'t believe the power, agility, dexterity and sheer athleticism on display. Â For my father in law\'s birthday, he wanted (and received) a libero jersey from my son\'s club...and for those of you who know anything about the sport, there aren\'t too many 6\'9" liberos around...;)
Last night\'s match was a lot of fun. Â I thought Ohio State would get cleaned out, but their defense was better than I thought. Â Their passing was just so-so, but Stanford\'s serving was very strong. Â Stanford\'s experience was just too strong. Â While Stanford starts many young players, their MPSF schedule means that every match builds a strong experience base, while Ohio State\'s schedule is not nearly as strong. Â Still, a great match. Â And Penn State, which plays very few difficult challengers beat Northridge yesterday.
I strongly urge everyone to attend the game, you will see some future Olympians in action, and I do mean action. Â Had Kawika Shoji\'s father been an NFL coach, that guy would be a QB and a very good one. Â They have two of the very best liberos in the country, and Lawson and Romero are spectacular hitters.
Kosty has, not-so-quietly, assembled a pretty incredible roster...it would be the equivalent of having nothing but four and five star football recruits. Â Every year, virtually every recruit is ranked in the top 50 in the country...I think there are only two players on the roster who didn\'t hold that distinction.
Go to the match. Â You won\'t regret it.
And as for the NCAA championship?
Book it.
Audaces fortuna iuvat