Road trip -- day one

It's the weirdest thing. Who would have thought there were Long Beach State fans in Egypt? And from the looks of these things, they've been here for a while, probably pre-Misty May even. Not sure what the fascination is with pointy buildings like these, although they'd be handy if it snowed, I guess.

It's been a long day. I've never liked airplanes. They've always seemed too much like flying buses to me, one of the last things I want to see flying. But I did manage to sleep a little on the Paris to Cairo leg.

Ever notice how hard it is to spell E-G-Y-P-T? It's like R-H-Y-T-H-M. Tricky.

Anyhow, I'm going to take another nap and then call the CAVB. Apparently, there's a match somewhere in Africa this week. How big can Africa be? I'm sure I can get there by taxi. Maybe a bus, but not a flying one.

Hey, cool! Little shampoos in the bathroom. That'll take care of Gorf's Christmas presents.

Later, traitors!

This is the way the world ends...

Not with a bang, but with T.S. Eliot whimpering about a missed touch call.

The season has ended. The Nittany Lions are your national champions. Akinradewo is your POY. Rose is your COY. Faucette is your FOY. Cindy Fredrick has resigned from Iowa. And I am left with this blog and a bunch of BASTA! t-shirts. I feel cheated. Is this all there is?

No, it turns out there is more. Much more. A whole big world is out there just waiting to be explored. All it takes is a little gumption, a passport, and a good pair of shoes. So that's my plan. I will blog from the four corners of the Earth.

But first, a nap.

Awooooooooooooooooooooooga!

My friggin’ blog alarm just went off. Dammitall! Normally, I’d just hit the Snooze button, and go back to not blogging. Maybe I’d blog sometime later this week. Maybe not. Your blog either works for you, or you end up working for it. I may be the sort of guy who lets squirrels push him around (especially the nut-flinging ones), but I am not the sort of guy who’s willing to be bullied by my blog.

On the other hand, the season is building to its climax and we wouldn’t want to miss blogging about it. There may even have been some lesser climaxes on the way to the ultimate climax. You could even say that I have already ignored quite a few, like the first four rounds of the NCAAs, for instance.

OK, so here’s my recap. I’ll give you a Misery Index, based on how disconsolate the team’s fans were after elimination. Scale is 1 to 100, with 100 being suicidal.* Let’s start at the top of the Stanford region:


Minnesota [52.7] The Gopher fans were already braced for a loss to the Cardinal and they were pretty miserable to begin with, due to the up-and-down season. Some of us are already on meds. Same old, same old, in other words.

Ohio [66.7] Two thirds of the way to suicidal. Losing to Purdue was not that surprising, but they were playing at home. It pretty much sucked the joy out of the weekend. And who wants their joy sucked out?

Kansas State [60.3] Up 2-0 on a team whose mascot is a duck, they manage to kick it away. Need I say more?

UNLV [40.2] Losing in five? Never fun. Having to play Long Beach in the first round when they arguably could have been seeded? Less fun. In Vegas, it’s known as losing your trousers.

New Mexico State [65.2] See UNLV. Add the fact that their 5th-game loss was 2 points and LSU was the opponent and that’s gotta smart.

St. John’s [50.2] The second straight team to take USC to a 5th game became the second straight to come up just a wee bit short. Worse yet? USC then sweeps Texas to go to the Final Four. Bummer.

Texas [80.2] Huge expectations can lead to a huge disappointment. Besides, “Everything is bigger in Texas.”

Colorado State [40.7] It wasn’t their fault they were seeded when they should not have been, and it certainly wasn’t their fault they were sent to Ann Arbor to defend that dubious seed.

Louisville [60.1] They didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth and turns out it was full of Blue Raiders ready to ransack and ruin. Don’t forget the Thank You card.

Hawaii [70.5] How does a nice group of gals from Paradise end up in a convention center in Louisville, Kentucky anyhow?

Missouri [56.7] So close to pulling the upset that came to be BYU’s! And what’s the deal with this first round matchup anyhow?

Washington [80.5] This just wasn’t supposed to happen. First the Tigers give them a scare, then the Cougars finish them off. This is no way to treat a pack of dogs!!

San Diego [55.1] Madison in late November? What did the Torererorores do to deserve such a fate? Then they are up 13-10 in game 5 to Iowa State and head home on the short end of the 16-14 stick. As we say in the upper Midwest, uffda! -- and thank’s for coming!

Wisconsin [90.1] A round 3 loss would have been hard to digest, but the round 2 exit was like asking a badger to eat a Buick.

Dayton [45.8] Deep down, the team had to have known they were vulnerable, right? Still, they must have looked at their sub-regional and dared to dream. Silly Flyers.

Nebraska [95.2] What were the defending champions thinking after rallying from 0-2 against Michigan State and then falling behind 0-2 to California? We’ve done this before and we can do it again? Or, sooner or later this habit is going to bite us in the behind? Time for the rabies shots.



*Obviously, there are worse things in Life than a volleyball defeat. My Misery Index, however, has been adjusted to toss out all the worse things in Life and concentrate solely on volleyball defeats. In short, we’re way ahead of you here, so shut up.