Danny Kinda 4 ... The Trailer
We’ve been working hard on the follow-up video to Danny Kinda & the USYVL and we figured we’d share a sneak peek with you. Check it now and then sign up for our newsletter to find out when the real deal is released!
Why isn't BYU in the final four?
My brother Pat wrote this. We think it's interesting. We don't agree or disagree with his opinion. But can you beat his argument?
I want to be up front about things: I am a professor at Brigham Young University. I am a volleyball fan and former player. I still play for recreation, when I can. As such, I am surely biased, but not biased enough to overlook simple facts. I've never once campaigned for BYU's men's volleyball team to be awarded the 2003 national championship (after Lewis, the on-court winner, was disqualified for recruiting violations), even though I probably could. I've never argued that BYU should be the at-large team admitted to the final four when the records and other considerations were obviously in another team's favor.
But this year is different. Three teams qualified automatically by winning their conferences: Penn State in the East, Ohio State in the Midwest, and Pepperdine in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The at large bid went to Long Beach State, for reasons that are unclear to me and most rational, fair-minded individuals. This spot should have gone to BYU. BYU is far and away the most qualified team for that coveted fourth spot in our unfortunately miniscule field-of-four.
Read On...
To Leonard Armato: A Kinda Good Primer
AVP President Leonard Armato is new to the Kinda Good Club. I ran into him this morning and he didn’t recognize me. I figured it was because I didn’t have a mustache or a bandanny on, but it turns out he’s never seen our videos! So I gave him a business card and told him to check us out. So, Leonard, here are a few links you NEED to look at before closing your browser. You won’t be disappointed…
2. The Hans Stolfus Article About Us
3. Ultimate Beach Volleyball Workout, I
4. Ultimate Beach Volleyball Workout, IV
5. Our in-depth coverage of Girls’ Club Tournaments
Colorado Crossroads, 2008
Big South, 2008
Billy's AVP Dallas Open Blog
The AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Dallas Open lasted 57 minutes. For me at least. We got to the event late on Thursday to watch the final rounds of the Qualifier as players battled it out on hard packed sand. Even Davenport was skying. After the Qualifier the Main Draw players started moving around on it, getting some practice in. Seeing the sand condition the players that matter refused to play so the tournament was put on hold until new sand could be brought in. I went to sleep in Austin Rester’s parent’s RV that night not knowing if I had to play the next day. The next morning I went down to the site still not knowing if I was playing. Seems I wasn’t the only one as a crowd of fans stood outside the gates waiting to see if I was going to play or not. The answer was no.
The tournament was postponed until Saturday morning and because of the time crunch the first round would start at 7:00 AM and be single elimination. Ouch. It was my first tournament playing with Paul Baxter and Saturday morning we warmed up in the dark as the sun had not even risen. We lost to Matt Olson and Kevin Wong and my tournament was over before I typically wake up.
Because it all happened so fast I don’t have much to report on my playing, so I’ll close with some things I observed over the weekend.
1. Ty Tramblie is the most exciting player to watch.
2. The Linquists are the best team to watch.
3. Jeff Nygaard’s shoulder is getting better. Just ask AJ.
4. Crocs are becoming less Croc-like.
5. I counted and I think everybody on tour is now sponsored by Cuervo.
6. Dax Holdren’s game doesn’t change much even if he’s injured and can’t run or jump.
7. Braidy Halverson and Jason Lee are starting a new trend with the shorter player running up to block.
8. What’s with the Beach Girls?
9. First round single elimination isn’t that bad if you have a bye.
10. I ate way too many free Nature Valley bars at the event. But that’s probably better than eating way too much Sour Punch like last year.
Dan's Guatemala Blog #5: Handsets and Dance Moves and Dunks!
Guess how many times Kevin (aka Goose) handset during this event. 3 times. And two of those were called lifts by the ref. So that means that I didn’t get any serves or dig any stinkin’ balls (because he handsets exclusively).Or maybe he bumpset everything after getting called for bad hands. Goose never gets called for bad hands. Except in Guatemala.
Upon leaving the site, the crowd of players convinced me to dunk on a nearby basketball court after JJ of the Dominican Republic had already failed. I had done nothing but sit around all day and my body was a bit locked-up. My warmup was a 20ft long jog (I also emptied my heavy pockets). The ball was a big, dusty, raggedy, impossible-to-grip ball and the rim was wicked high. I was in trouble, but I had a LOT of people watching to see if this short white guy who nobody would serve could throw down. Upon liftoff the ball flew out of my hands. It was awful. I got laughed at. But what those laughers don’t know is that in college I silenced a raucous crowd at the YMCA with a thunderous two-handed 360 dunk. Now who’s laughing?
The dinner party was pretty fun. We had the best food in existence (like, every meat, including bacon, and vegetables and fruit and salsa, a gigantic clove of garlic, cake), which made me really happy because it was buffet-style. While everybody else was doing their boring dance moves I broke out the slo-mo worm, a little like the Geeter Worm, but I pop up super-high in mid-air and it looks more like ballet than a convulsion. I also busted the secret (Dan)ce moves that I created in 7th grade. Not sure how well those were received…
