Three things

Here are three things from my week of volleyball, stuff that nudged its way into my consciousness. I won't pretend that they are profound, or even worth the time you will spend reading them, but I'm humble that way. They probably are profound and worth your time. I'll leave that to future generations to determine, the ones who will be writing all about me and lamenting about how poorly you all treated me.

*Conference tournaments are inherently stupid in their own right, but when the #1 seed is not rewarded with the home court advantage, they are downright criminal.

*TV networks should do everything in their power to insure they are not placing their main camera behind the up ref. When they do this, it just shows remarkable incompetence -- or proof that they don't give a fig about what they are televising, probably the more likely reason.

*Mary Slinger is terrific. Maggie Mac is too, but everyone knows that.

What I've learned (so far this week)

The Pac 10 uses five different brands of volleyballs. I learned this from Karch and Paul during the Oregon-Oregon State match, and I subsequently asked Volley Talk if it were true. Apparently it is. Money, of course, is behind it all.

Mikasa and Spalding, however, are not in on this action.

That's it. I knew everything else.


Best wishes to TheSantaBarbarian.

My top 30 (again) + a few more (again)

Not proud of this list, but here it is.

1--Penn State 24-0
2--Texas 18-0
3--Washington 19-2
4--Iowa State 19-3
5--Hawaii 20-2
6--Illinois 18-3
7--UCLA 18-6
8--Nebraska 16-6
9--Stanford 15-6
10--Oregon 15-5
11--Kentucky 22-2
12--California 13-8
13--Minnesota 17-7
14--Michigan 19-6
15--Florida 18-3
16--USC 15-8
17--Florida State 21-2
18--Arizona 16-6
19--LSU 18-5
20--Baylor 19-5
21--Texas A&M 14-6
22--Washington State 16-6
23--St. Mary's 16-4
24--Notre Dame 16-4
25--UCSB 18-5
26--Ohio State 18-7
27--Northern Iowa 22-2
28--St. Louis 17-6
29--Colorado State 18-4
30--LBSU 14-6

HM--Dayton 21-3; Florida International 24-2; Ohio 19-5; Oklahoma 15-7; San Diego 15-5; Tennessee 17-6; UC Irvine 17-6