The Volleyball Network

Live Updates, 3/8/10

// March 8th, 2010 // Uncategorized

On the show today we’ve got the Lambo+Lambo punch! Mike Lambert is going to fill us in on life after volleyball, his injuries, and his family. And Rich Lambourne will discuss an unfortunate event that just happened…We’ll also have Dan’s customary Co-Opetitive Slamdown Trivia! BAM!

A little Geeter hugging Bob Barker (youtube)

What Rich Lambourne Did (youtube)

Geeter is talking AVP and its schedule. He says it’s smart for AVP to scale back to 12 events, loves the Cali events, Chicago, Cinci…But it scares him because it’s tough for most of the players to survive, and the prime of a beach player is late 20s and early 30s. Volleyball has so many players in their prime but without an avenue to play. Reid is concerned that the fewer events isn’t conducive to sponsors paying big dollars for the rights…The one thing that has always botherd Geeter is to see his close friends going 3-2 in an open event and only making $1,200.

RICH LAMBOURNE Interview
Short version of his indoor incident: He flipped the bird to his coach and got fired for it.
Long Version: He came into the Polish team as a libero to help Delecta Bidgosh (spelling) reach their potential and win the indoor league. The coach was a bit of a strong personality…the coach said, “Rich, put the ball in the air.” Rich reacted with the middle finger because…The team was in a losing streak, they subbed out a passer for a stronger passer, Rich asked the new guy to take a different part of the court, he nods, the serve goes to the new guy’s spot, he doesn’t take it, so Rich dove to pass it and he shanked it. So the coach yelled at him, and Rich, unable to respond with language, responded with the bird. He’s disappointed in himself, of course. His agent called him a couple days later that the team wants to fire him, and it boiled down to “either the coach or Rich”. Rich got the ax. Bummer.

Barney saw an article about how hugging makes teams closer and better. Check it outz!

MIKE LAMBERT Interview
He’s in the USA right now, looking for work and to move his family back to SoCal…He blew his achilles out this summer during a tryout with a Greek team, trying to catch up with the pace of the indoor game. It was tough to tell the wife about the new injury to his GOOD leg, after he had rehabbed his knee. He thought he was hit by a baseball bat. He had been on antibiotics while he was playing. Coincidentally, Misty was also on antibotics when she tore her achilles. Woah!

He says it’s time to get a real job. He thinks he can probably still play, crank out a few more years, but no. Now’s the time for a job. Looking in the sports world, sports marketing sales, advertising sales, or that type of profession. Coaching probably isn’t in the cards. If he were still single (not a husband and a father), he may approach the sport differently. It’s hard for him to consider playing at a level that is considerably lower than he’s used to playing.

He has no regrets with his career. He went to 2 Olympics (1996 & 2000), played indoor overseas for many seasons. He wishes he could have had a better Olympic career and committed more, but instead he got to play AVP with Karch Kiraly, so that was a good option. And after that, he got to play and win many tournaments with his childhood friend Stein Metzger.

Co-Opetitive Trivia Slamdown (Tune in to the show for the answers!)
1. Who won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1977, the year Star Wars came out?
2. Who hosted the 2010 Oscars?
3. What TV show stars Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey?
4. (Bonus for specific type of animal) During his Oscar presentation, what type of animal was Ben Stiller dressed as?
5. Give the full title of the movie “Precious”
6. The Big Lebowski won the Oscar for Best Actor. What’s that actor’s name?
7. Who won the Women’s NCAA national championship before Penn State?
8. Mike Lambert has 16 career AVP titles with 4 different partners. Name 3!
9. The 2010 AVP schedule is out and according to Google Maps, which location is the farthest from Los Angeles?
10. Who won the 1999 Men’s NCAA Volleyball National Championship? (from the chatboard, Thanks Ryan Millar!)