Beach volleyball - boring excess or exciting display of skin and talent?

[tigereye]

Poll question: Beach volleyball - boring excess or exciting display of skin and talent?

I admit - I'd much rather see swimming, diving, track and field, even water polo. Yes, there is talent there, just not my speed.

[mokawanis]

1. I chose "snore" because

beach volleyball is the one Olympic sport I just can't enjoy watching. Serve, return, block, serve, return, block. How exciting.

[redqueen]

2. Skin? Only for women. Men's beach volleyball is on right now...

and I'm not seeing much skin.

And yes, it's boring.

[flvegan]

3. Exciting display of skin and talent.

For the women, at least. The men are fairly covered. The talent is there, though. I challenge any two DUers to go out and take on a couple of those ladies on the beach. After doing so, they must post pics of the volleyball tats they received post-spikes.

[redqueen]

4. Okay fine I voted for the hot bald guy.

But I do think it's unfair that the guys wear all those clothes. x(

And it's still boring!

[tigereye]

7. yeah considering that the swimmers leave little to the imagination

well, the guy swimmers...


There is a strategy and skill element to beach volleyball, sure - but why is so much of it on? Is it that big of a deal? I'd really rather see skateboarding, actually, if the truth be told.

[redqueen]

9. Ratings / advertising, I guess...

I can't figure any other reason... :shrug:

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. Women's beach volleyball should replace baseball as the national passtime

[BOSSHOG]

17. I'll drink to that

and add an excessive use of slow motion instant replay.

[Redstone]

6. How about "less-than-exciting display of sin and talent?" And remember, this is from a guy

who used to play volleyball until his brains fell out.

If I could pick just ONE thing to be able to do again, out of all the things I can't do anymore because of my damaged body, I'd pick volleyball.

But as much fun as it is to play, it's just boring to watch. Even if bikinis are involved.

Redstone

[SteppingRazor]

8. I dig it. It serves up an exciting volley of action!

Ahem. Triple puns aside, I do like beach volleyball. But I like playing it, so I may not be the best example.

[tigereye]

10. no, it seems like it would be fun to play

but as an organized sport, it fails to excite me.


But then, the only sport I was ever good at was swimming, so that might explain my preference.

:hi:

[Monk06]

11. Afternoon entertainment for off duty Malibu porn stars - Jackie Treehorn says, "100% electronic !!"

[tigereye]

19. ah, so that's why!

:rofl:

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Rally scoring is boring

IMO, that ruined the sport. Particularly indoor volleyball. It used to be tense as hell when the score would get stuck because both teams sided out perfectly. Now once a team has a lead it's all but over.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Other - solution to wars: Georgia beats Russia

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/13/sports/AS-OLY-VOL-Beach-Roundup.php

The BBC contrasted this with the 1956 "Blood in the Water" water polo match of Hungary vs. USSR:

The "Blood In The Water" match (in Hungarian Melbourne-i vérfürdő, "Blood Bath" of Melbourne) was a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and is arguably the most famous match in water polo history. The match, which happened on December 6, 1956, was played out against the background of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and saw Hungary defeat the USSR 4–0. The name was coined by the media after Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged from the pool during the last two minutes in the game with blood pouring from under his eye after being punched by a Soviet player.
...
Going into the final minutes of the game, when Hungary was leading 4–0, Zádor was marking Valentin Prokopov, with whom he had several verbal exchanges, abusing his family, etc. At one point when Zádor looked away, Prokopov hit him with a powerful fist, causing a deep bleeding gash above the right eye. Zádor was forced to leave the pool, and his bleeding face was the final straw for a crowd which was already in a frenzy. Many angry spectators jumped on to the concourse beside the water, shook their fists, shouted abuse and spat at the Russians<3>. To avoid a riot breaking out, police entered the arena with one minute to go and shepherded the crowd away.

Pictures of Zádor's injuries were published in the press around the world, leading to the "Blood in the Water" name, although reports that the water did actually turn red were probably an exaggeration. When asked later, Zádor said that at that moment, his only thought was whether he would be able to play the next match.

Hungary was declared winner since they had been leading at the time, and they went on to beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in the final and win their fourth Olympic gold medal. Following the Olympics, half of the 100-member Hungarian Olympic delegation defected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_In_The_Water_match

[tigereye]

20. thanks for the serious note, Muriel!

:hi:

as opposed to blood in the sand, I guess...

[Number23]

14. Considering that the women in beach volleyball

Are built like the poles holding up the net, I don't see why them showing skin would be all that interestin'.

Cool sport, though. Love the face prints they make in the sand when their attempts to return a serve go south.... :)

[ellisonz]

15. Exciting display of skin and talent..

[Iggo]

16. One vote for broad jumping. (n/t)

[Fran Kubelik]

18. I'm enjoying it

:shrug:

But since when can you hit the net on a serve? I played v-ball in high school and am sure this wasn't the rule then.

[tigereye]

21. I think the rules are quite different at this level, I guess

I hated volleyball in high school. I was pretty much a klutz who was always whomped with the ball. The pool was my friend.


but for serious beach volleyball you need a fire, and surfers and other trappings of late 50s/ early 60s bohemia!

[pokerfan]

22. Welcome to the "Let Serve"

It along with Rally Point Scoring is destroying V-Ball,

I can sort of understand the Let Serve. Cuts down on arguments over whether the ball ever so slightly nicked the net. But RPS is EVIL! It used to be that the a six point lead was vulnerable, now it's virtually insurmountable. Side Out Scoring also means that the winning team has to actively earn the final point rather than sometimes simply watching the other team serve it into the net.

[Evoman]

23. I choose Snore because after I'm done watching it, I turn around and go to sleep.

For some crazy reason, I only watch it in 20 minute intervals....