The rest of the story

Purdue does not go up on Michigan 2-0. They not only lose that game, they also lose the match 3-2.

No other near upsets this Sunday, although Washington State does give Oregon a good match.

I will post my Top 30 when I have it done. Still some tricky stuff this week.

If you were an AVCA voter ...

It's never too early to start this discussion. What's tomorrow's poll going to look like and why will it offend us all deeply?

But, first of all, a few disclaimers. Yes, I know it doesn't really matter -- except, of course, in terms of how programs are perceived by the volleyball community and, more to the point, by prospective recruits. (In other words, yes, it does matter.) No, I don't claim to know more about the sport than the coaches doing the actual voting (but I may put more thought into it than some of them). No, I don't claim to have seen more than a few of these teams play (but who has?). Yes, I have my own personal biases, some formed from a lifetime of perceived slights, actual slights, and petty jealousies. And, yes, the girls who treated me so badly in junior high school factor in this somehow! You know who you are!

OK? OK.

1 - Penn State. Last week, the Lions collected 50 of the 60 first place votes. I've been voting them #2 in Ron Kern's poll and Pablo has them at #6, probably due to that DIII schedule they've been playing. (Do I need to explain what Pablo is again? I think not.) But they absolutely destroyed Illinois in Champaign last night, and Pablo (sadist that he is) will love that. I may have to rethink my vote, too. Regardless, the AVCA folks will keep them at #1.

2 - Texas. Big win for the Horns in Lincoln, a real barrel of monkeys off their backs. This has been my #3 team and Pablo puts them at #2. Probably no changes here, although they may lose some of their 7 first place votes from the coaches, depending on what impressed them more, PSU's win at Illinois or this bit of monkey removal.

3 - Washington. I am starting this blog Sunday morning, so the Huskies still have Oregon State to play, but I'm going to assume (for now) they win. This has been my #1 team since the preseason poll and Pablo agrees with me. They handled Oregon fairly easy, one game of the sweep decided by two points, and the Ducks are a Pablo fave. Still, as I mentioned above, PSU is starting to sew some doubts in my all too fertile mind. I will probably stick to my guns, bucking the AVCA contingent who will keep them at #3.

4 - Hawaii. The Wahine, as always, are hard to peg. The UCLA win looks much less special now, but they did sweep Stanford and also pushed Cal to 5 after falling behind 0-2. Pablo picks them for #7. The WAC schedule won't tell us a lot, unless they should stumble. What to do? What to do? One thing you cannot do is move them higher than #4, even if one of the top 3 is upset. That just would not be right. I have them at #4, as does the AVCA. They will stay there. But this is not a confident placement from me.

5 - Florida. Alabama match is still to be played, but I don't see any change here. Pablo sees some weakness (as do I, based on the UW and FSU matches) and can only give them #11. I had them behind Iowa State last week and they've done nothing this week to warrant a move up, my doubts about ISU at #5 notwithstanding. I still think there is a huge upside to this team and they could be really dangerous. But that's what I thought last year, too.

So, #1-5 will not change, barring today's results. Here's where things get really interesting and also where I regret re-upping for the Kern poll, let alone starting this particular blog.

6 - Nebraska. Not the best week ever in Huskerville, a team I had at #9 last week. First, there's the hassle of having to play at College Station on Wednesday against an underrated Texas A&M team, in spite of the fact Texas is coming to Lincoln on Saturday. Then, they go and lose to that underrated TAMU team, which really does not help them focus on the enormous task at hand, and the Horns show them little mercy, winning at the Coliseum for the first time since 1988. (I read that on Volley Talk. This has not been fact-checked.) What to think about the Huskers? So many teams are affected. Michigan's win does not look as impressive, Minnesota's loss looks less forgiveable, UCLA's win also is tainted a bit. What we do know is that Nebraska will drop. But how far? Read on, but I predict #11.

7 - Oregon. The Quack Pack, depending on whether Washington State cooperates (and loses for the first time in 2009), stands to move up to #6 (replacing Nebraska) even though they were swept on Friday by the Huskies. It's possible, should Michigan beat Purdue today, that the Wolverines could slide past them, since they were only 55 points back in last week's poll, but this would overlook that Michigan loss to Oregon State, something that really needs to be front and center in the discussion. I had Oregon at #7 last week and will be moving them up to #6 as ISU falls back.

8 - Michigan. I don't know why the Wolverines were only dropped two spots last week after losing to an unranked team, but I suspect it's because the voters had a hard time dropping them further while giving Nebraska the #6 spot. If there was some sort of hand-in-hand adjustment this week, with Nebraska bound to fall, Michigan would fall with them, but this won't happen. Purdue, of course, could be the correcting factor this afternoon, but if the Wolvies win, the AVCA moves them up to #7. I had them at #12, so I am not as boxed in. (But I have other problems, as you shall see.)

9 - Minnesota. The team I watch the most finally came home for a pair of matches, both sweeps, over the toothless Badgers and the wingless Hawkeyes. OK, that latter description is overly harsh. I had the Gophers at #8 last week and ISU's loss to Baylor means they probably rise to #7. The AVCA has an open spot, too, due to Nebraska's loss to TAMU, so the Gophers probably end up at #8.

10 - Stanford. My guess is that Cal (3-2 winners over the Cardinal at home) move to #9 and Stanford remains #10, with Nebraska ending up in the #11 spot. This seems reasonable and therefore probably won't happen.

11 - Iowa State. What to do with the Cyclones? The AVCA voters didn't have them at #5 last week, as yours truly did, so they don't have that stall to muck, but they still have to do something. Since I had Baylor at #17 (as opposed to their #24 ranking), they still have some explaining to do. Complicating matters are the less than stellar results from Arizona for #13 USC and #14 UCLA, #15 Illinois's flop against PSU and #16 Michigan State making all those AVCA voters look silly. Sillier. Who does that leave them with for #12? Kentucky? Florida State? Pablo has FSU at #5. I'm guessing ISU only falls one spot and they reward Baylor. That's what I'd do if I had Baylor has underranked as they do.

12 - California. Up to #9. I already had them at #10, so they won't jump as far for me. Good team, getting better. I originally had them at #4 to start the season.

13 - USC. Arizona loss offset slightly by ASU win. Good news for the Trojans is that there's no one banging on the door behind them. Although I'd make a case for Baylor, I doubt the AVCA folks will pop them this high.

14 - UCLA. ASU loss offset slightly by Arizona win. Good news for the Bruins is that there's no one banging on the door behind them. Although I'd make a case for Baylor, I doubt the AVCA folks will pop them this high.

15 - Illinois. PSU loss offset slightly by the fact it was Penn State. Good news for the Illini is that there's no one banging on the door behind them and that PSU is PSU. Although I'd make a case for Baylor, I doubt the AVCA folks will pop them this high. I had Illinois at #11 last week and I'll be watching the Purdue-Michigan result closely.

16 - Michigan State. Say goodbye to the Top 25 for 2009, I'm afraid. Way overrated, but could still put together a decent season. Indiana loss, however, did not help.

17 - Kentucky. Up to #16? I'm thinking AVCA puts Baylor at #16.

18 - Florida State. Pablo ranking of #5.

19 - Arizona. Big win over USC and then that darned loss to UCLA. Treading water?

20 - Wichita State. Loss to Missouri State will probably knock the Shockers out of the Top 25, perhaps replaced by Northern Iowa, keeping the MVC in the poll?

21 - UC Irvine. Gauchos push Anteaters to the cusp. Room needs to be made for UCSB.

22 - San Diego. An uneventful week, with only the sweep of San Diego State.

23 - Saint Louis. Also an uneventful week.

24 - Baylor. Seriously underrated and in need of a big jump up. This will finally happen this week. Pablo has them at #4. I had them at #17.

25 - Long Beach State. Nice win over Fullerton, solidifying their spot in the Top 25.


Conspicuously missing? TAMU, Purdue, UCSB. Notre Dame? WSU?

I'm going to go ahead and post this, but I'll tweak things after the Sunday matches. Purdue, for instance, is about to go up 2-0 on Michigan.

Great blog idea

The news is playing in the background, which is a little distracting. Something about someone kicking a blind woman's dog. She was arrested after someone alerted the owner and the building security looked at the surveillance footage. Then something about a 16-year-old girl faking her own kidnapping to extort $500 from her family.

I've decided to stop listening.

The great idea for a blog? Top ten TV cliches from volleyball telecasts! Who cares that I haven't really thought this one through? I'm going for it!

Let's see. We'll put them in order later.

*The aces to error ratio for serving, part of that whole end-of-the-world attitude toward service errors. No one ever mentions that you have to break some eggs to make the hen cry. Is that the right saying?

*There's also that whole "seven times you can never miss" blather about serving. Who owns that again? Pink slip her! Like telling someone they can never miss is ever going to be helpful.

*Someone on VolleyTalk mentioned this one, but I'll use it anyhow: "hitting efficiency is like a batting average" or comparable to it. No it's not. When's the last time someone batted .500?Stop.

*Rotation/overlaps and the libero overhand set prohibition are impossible to explain, so we won't try. No they aren't. Do some prep.

*Volleyball in the Pac Ten is so superior to every other conference's volleyball that we're not sure why they even play it elsewhere. Shut up. Just shut up.

*She needs to drop that hand into the cross court angle blah blah blah. Blocking is sooooo easy.


This isn't working. I should really do some prep myself. In the mean time, I need to go crack some eggs. That hen looks waaaaaaaaaaay too happy.

You say it's your birthday?

Well, happy birthday to you!

For those of you who do not know, Ron Kern turns 83 today. For those of you who don't know who Ron Kern is, well, first of all, shame on you! Second, he's the old guy over at richkern.com who runs the Rich Kern Show. You can't miss him. He's the guy on the porch in his longjohns, the one toting the shotgun.

People often ask me how I know Ron, usually just before they ask me to lend them a ten-spot. I've stopped telling them the truth -- about the bank heists, the cell in Leavenworth, the needlepoint, etc. -- and now give them a poem I wrote for him back in 1962, a poem I am not about to share with you here. What I will tell you is that there are few people in this world for which I would be willing to stand up and fight, and Ron probably isn't one of them. But that says more about me than it does about him. I just don't like getting hit. Sue me.

What was I talking about? Ron's birthday, right. I never forget this event, coming as it does just before the autumnal equinox. I know if the sun's setting pretty much due west that Ron's just about completed another trip around the sun. And that's cool. It's like he has his own celestial milestone.

So happy birthday, Mr. Kern. You want more than that, haul out that poem.

Luke takes a look

First of all, me in my heyday. I'm the good-looking one, on the left.

So where's (R)uffda!? Apparently, he's been traumatized by this morning's viewing of Inglorious Basterds and is upstairs in the bathtub, cowering with his rubbie-duckie.

That means it's time for good old Luke to take his turn at blogging this sucker and I, if I say so myself, have a great idea. What say we take a look at (R)uffda!'s pre-season rankings and see just how well El Grande Bozo is doing?

Forgotten his picks? Of course you have! Well, here they are (were):

1--Washington [Have to hand it to him for this one. Plus he picked the dogs.]

2--Penn State [Duh.]

3--Texas [Duh deux.]

4--California [Oopsie! Looks like the genius needs a map for that clue of his.]

5--Florida [Iffy.]

6--Nebraska [Too high, but credit for not making them the easy #4 pick.]

7--Minnesota [Jury is still out, but this one still looks OK, even if you think it's a homer-pick.]

8--Illinois [Would look good if not for that loss to FSU. But (R)uffda! would look good if not for that face.]

9--Stanford [Credit here, too. Who would have thought they should have been even lower?]

10--Hawaii [Too low, but not embarrassingly low.]

11--Iowa State [OK.]

12--UCLA [Hmmm. The guy has it in for the Bruins, true, but this one is only a little too low, so far.]

13--USC [Good. Trojans done in by Spartans. Go figure.]

14--San Diego [Another miss, thanks to the two Gaucho wranglings. But the Tor-whatevers could still make it back up here.]

15--Utah [Major error, one matched by the AVCA's preseason #17. But there's more Mountain West blunders to come.]

16--Oregon [Team should have been up there with UCLA, USC, Stanford and Cal. 12ish?]

17--Kentucky [Good call, (R) old boy.]

18--Michigan [Understandable. Wolverines' season, so far, is still pretty much the Nebraska win. But too low, by the results.]

19--Long Beach State [His faith in the Beach has once again proven to be misplaced. When will he ever learn? When will he e-ver lah-ern?]

20--Wichita State [Fair enough.]

21--St. Louis [Jury also on vacation about this team. Tough schedule, but bad loss to Cincinnati.]

22--Colorado State [The other Mountain West blunder, although they are playing better and now look like the best of the MWC.]

23--Purdue [Too high. Could improve.]

24--Baylor [Another nice one. Maybe.]

25--Arizona [And another one.]

26--UCI [Three in a row!!]

27--Pepperdine [Done in by the Army Blanket. Bummer.]

28--St. Mary's [OK.]

29--Texas A&M [OK.]

30--Cal Poly [Really, really bad call here.]

HM--Kansas State [Good spot, too high if anything.]

HM--Santa Clara [OK.]

Missing? Dayton, FSU and LSU. UNI and MSU (maybe, but probably not, for both). Notre Dame?

All in all? This dog has some bark to him. So far. I wish I could say otherwise, because now it just looks like he's used a nom de blog to pat himself on the back.

But if that's the case, only a real egomaniac would go ahead and post it, so I can't be he? Now can I?