Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Want to play pick-up volleyball? You better bring your A-game.

Ive been playing volleyball for over three years now, and I really love it. It's a sport I wish I would have started playing ten or fifteen years ago because it's a wonderful team game and it suits what I like to do. Mainly, diving and hurting myself.

My first real experience with structured team volleyball was when I played 6-on-6 recreational volleyball in the Pittsburgh Sports League in January of '06. My teammates were quite good and we actually won the championship, and that's what fueled my desire to learn and improve my skill-set.

In-order to learn the sport and sharpen my skills, I decided that in addition to playing in the Pittsburgh Sports League, I thought it would be fun to play pick-up volleyball at wherever I could find a game. I signed up for some newsletter about pick-up and that's how I found most of the games.

I figured it would be fun, inexpensive and pressure-free. I soon discovered, however, that playing pick-up wasn't always pressure-free.

Pick-up volleyball is unlike just about any pick-up sport I've ever played. It seems that in-order to really get involved with it, you have to know what you're doing before you even set foot on the court or you might get left-out.

My first time playing pick-up volleyball occurred in December of '05 when I played one evening at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. It was there that I first encountered the vibe. The silent vibe that really good volleyball players give off if they're in the company of someone with an inferior skill-set.

I didn't pay any attention to it at the time but it was a foreshadowing of what was in store in the future.

You don't really get that vibe when you're playing other sports. When you're at the basketball court, in most cases, if someone wants to get a game of 5-on-5 going, they don't care what your skill-level is, they just want to play. In-fact, basketball dudes can be over-heard scouting you before they even approach you for a game. "Damn, my man can't go to his right at all. You can guard him, I'll take the other dude."

That's why you'll often see five Michael Jordans going against a Dad, and his four kids because they just really want to play some basketball.

You can be playing a game of "Around the World" with a little kid and they'll still ask you if you want to play 2-on-2 half-court.

And when you're playing pick-up volleyball, you're hit with terminology that others just assume you know. "OK, let's play a 6-2. Got that? Set it right, OK?" You don't see that when you're playing a game of pick-up football with your buddies. The quarterback doesn't get in the huddle and whisper, "half-back option pass on two. On two, ready? Break!" No, usually, he just tells you to blow past the fat guy and get open near the Buick Skylark.

I remember this one time last year, I was playing at Club One in Shadyside and there was a dude there who I could tell was super-serious about his volleyball. He would scream stuff like, "The setters out! I'm down. I'm out of the play!" I almost asked him if he needed an ambulance. I was hoping a doctor was available. I didn't know what to do.

Back to that newsletter. It was there where I discovered this church on the Northside that has pick-up a couple times each month. Of all the places I've played, it probably has the lowest skill-level. You have a few that know what they're doing, but mainly, it's just a place to go and have fun.

One of my nights playing there, in-between games, this guy came up to me and said, "great game. It's nice to see people playing volleyball the right way." That was probably the biggest compliment I've ever received in regards to volleyball. He was a pretty good player and the fact that he picked me out of the crowd as someone who knew what he was doing really gave me confidence.

As far as that vibe goes, I have encountered that more times than I'd like. I remember back in 2006, when I first started playing, I sent someone an email regarding the pick-up sand games in Highland park. The reply I got was filled with that vibe. The guy, I forget who it was, suggested an indoor pick-up league and that I might be more comfortable there. But he also said that anyone was certainly welcome to play and that as long as you can pass the ball around a little, you should be fine. Well, not to brag, but I do tend to pick up on things pretty fast, and even though I was still a below average player, I knew I'd get it sooner rather than later.

When a few of my buddies and I showed up to Highland to play in this "open to everyone" pick up league, the attitude we basically got was "what the hell are you doing here?"

These were people who were dead-serious about their volleyball. All age-ranges, too.

That Summer playing in Highland Park with that network of very serious volleyball players taught me that if you don't know what you're doing, it's best to stay away. I'm pretty stubborn and determined so I didn't give in to that vibe even if it did shake my confidence. I continued playing elsewhere and I think I continued to improve my skills and I started playing at Highland again last year. But that vibe was still there. That vibe that said, "You're not as good as us. We'd appreciate it if you'd leave the court to the volleyball gods. After all, we play with our shirts off, so we must be good."

Moving on. This past Winter, I found an indoor pick-up league in Monroeville and I played there for a couple of months. It was very competitive, but I did continue to encounter that vibe. Not as much as other pick-up leagues, but it still existed.

In a way, I can see the point of a very good volleyball player. If you're good at a sport, you want to play it on the highest level possible. Believe me, I get frustrated too when I play pick up and I see the same people year-after-year making the same fundamental errors and using the same poor-technique. If you're a regular volleyball player, you know what I mean. The open-palmed bumping that most all of us do when we first start playing and the tennis-like back-and-forth smacking of the ball without any thought of "bump-set-strike." And the people that show up with jeans on and just stand there letting the ball hit the ground or refusing to move even an inch when the balls anywhere near them. Yes, that does tend to get on your nerves. You wonder if these people have been paying attention at all the whole time they've been playing over the years. That's basically a perfect description of what goes on at church.

But at the same time, if you're playing pick-up, you should accept the fact that you're going to be playing with people who aren't necessarily looking to improve their skill-set. They're just out to have a good time and maybe socialize like the people I play with at that church on the Northside.


Those of you out there who are really serious about it, be a little more understanding. We all suck at something when we first start doing it. And you people who have been playing pick-up for a while. Work a little on improving your skills.

As for me. I'd like to think that I've turned myself into a pretty decent player. I'm not great at any one thing, but I can hold my own.

I will continue to play volleyball any chance I get because it's just a beautiful sport.

Monday, July 13, 2009

The last true icon?

Michael Jackson's death on June 25Th was a surprise if not a total shock. I mean, the man abused his body for his entire adult life. From what I understand, he was addicted to pain-killers since his hair caught on fire back in 1984.

Now that he's dead, his family is screaming that he was murdered. They want to get to the bottom of his untimely demise and they want justice.

Where were they all those years when he was slowly deteriorating? Why didn't anyone try to talk him out of his many nose-jobs and skin bleaching?

But enough about that. There have been many tributes to Jackson over the past couple of weeks, and for good reason. The man changed the music industry. He changed the video industry, and he made the biggest selling album of all time. He's idolized by not only fans, but fellow musicians.

Of course, a lot of people have had a problem with the tributes because of MJ's many demons. The child-molestation accusations, mainly. People have a right to feel that way, I suppose, but the man was never convicted.

The evidence was pretty strong, however, and he did pay 20 million dollars to the family of one of his accusers in order to keep them quiet. Maybe he did that because he was guilty; maybe he did it because he didn't want his reputation tarnished. Either way, he did it and that all but convicted him in the eyes of many.

It's hard to argue the strong evidence and I'll bet his lawyers were glad Jackson was famous because that's probably the only thing that saved him. I'm not saying he was guilty, maybe they really were just innocent sleepovers, but it sure didn't look good.

But then again, in the movie, "There's Something About Mary," Ben Stiller's character was thought to be a Peeping Tom, a solicitor of sex, and a cold-blooded murderer, but they were all just misunderstandings.

Michael certainly was misunderstood, and weird. So was Elvis Presley. I mean, the man had many demons, and if the movies made about him were accurate, those demons weren't just limited to his weight-gain and drug abuse.

Much like Jackson, Elvis Presley's death in 1977 was a surprise but probably not a shock to most people. And I'm sure there were many who thought "The King of Rock" would be the last true entertainment icon of that level, but five years later, "Thriller" was released.

Maybe there will be another icon on the same level as Michael, but I find it hard to believe.

Back in the early 80's, a Michael Jackson could come on the scene and capture the imagination of the entire world and sell 50 million albums.

Today, there are just way too many entertainment options out there for people. And our attention-spans are very short.

In this "on demand" society, people have many ways to entertain themselves. Thanks to Youtube, if you want to watch your favorite artist perform live, you can probably see that. And with I-Pods, and the ability to download music on your computer, you can basically have your own little entertainment world.

Our attention spans are so short and our options so many, I doubt anyone will ever produce anything that will even sniff the same neighborhood as 50,000,000 records.

And with reality tv, it seems like everyone wants to be the show instead of watch the show. Everyone thinks they have talent, and maybe they do, but there are only a few who can be icons.

Michael Jackson is an icon. You, yes you, sitting there making your Youtube singing debut, nice try, but you're no icon.

I know there are many artists that have influenced upcoming musicians over the years, but an icon doesn't just influence other artists, he or she influences their fans. That's what Michael Jackson did.

And a true icon is someone who doesn't just do something different, he or she IS different. Their mere presence and entire being is something that never can possibly be duplicated.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think we've seen the last of the truly great icons.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Super Memories Finale

Thanks for joining me in my new home. The myspace blog was giving me problems. I will not get rid of it since I have 200 blogs posted there, but I figured I would start blogging elsewhere. It's kind of like what David Letterman did when he left NBC for CBS. He didn't screw around, he just walked down the street. That's what I did here.

Onto my blog, if any of you read my previous blogs about my favorite Steelers Super bowl titles, you probably know what number one is.

Number one:

Super Bowl XL.

Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks.

Before I really get into the game, I want to talk about what an incredible and fun time I had following the Steelers at the end of 2005. I really had the time of my life and it was the most fun I've ever had following sports. I'm not sure if anything can ever top it. During halftime of the game, my uncle turned to me and said, "It's weird. I can't believe we're sitting here watching the Steelers in the Super Bowl." It really was unbelievable. The two months that led up to that Super Bowl were great. The do-or-die football that Pittsburgh had to play; the weekly trips I took to the Strip District to watch tapings of "the Joey Porter show"; watching the city's enthusiasm grow with each victory; the helmet cakes from Dave's Terrace bakery, etc, etc.

I knew even before the game was over that I would remember those weeks forever.

For those of you who don't know, the Steelers were dead-to-rights with four weeks left in the regular season. They didn't appear to have much of a chance at a wildcard spot, but somehow, someway, they managed to make it in as the number six seed in the AFC. People didn't give them much of a chance to advance very far.

Advance, they did, as they became the first 6th seed to make it all the way to the Super Bowl. They defeated the top three seeds in the AFC, and they did it all on the road. Pretty impressive.

The Bengals were first up. They were the 3rd seed and the team that beat out the Black and Gold for the AFC North crown.

Final score: Steelers 31 Bengals 17. Who dey? We dey.

Next up were the number one seeded Indianapolis Colts. The team that was the odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl that year. The Colts won their first 13 games and there was talk of them going undefeated. Well, even though they eventually lost in the regular season, their Peyton Manning-led offense still seemed pretty invincible. The game was one for the ages. Pittsburgh jumped out to a 21-3 lead, but had to hold on for their lives as Jerome fumbled, Ben made the most famous tackle in team history, some guy had a heart attack, and some drunk, idiot kicker missed very wide right.

Final score: Steelers 21 Colts 18.

I was pretty nervous for the AFC championship game played in Denver against the Broncos, but deep-down, I just knew Pittsburgh would win. Even though the Broncos were the number 2 seed, they had Jake Plummer and Pittsburgh had Big Ben. No contest.

Steelers 34 Broncos 17.

Onto XL.

Even though Pittsburgh was the 6th seed in the AFC and the Seahawks were the 1 seed coming out of the NFC, the Steelers were favored by as many as six points. The AFC has been superior to the NFC for many years, and this was the most glaring example of that.

The Steelers were the designated home team for this game, but since Detroit was the host city and Steeler Nation travels quite well, this was pretty much an actual home game for Pittsburgh. I'd say about 75% of Ford Field was waving Terrible Towels. As I said, Pittsburgh was the home team, but since they had such a great run on the road wearing their white jerseys, they decided to wear them for this game.

The game was pretty controversial with a lot of crucial penalties going against the Seahawks and Seattle fans like to whine about that to this day. "Oh, Daryl Jackson didn't push off Chris Hope. That was crap!" The fans, players and coaches of the '05 Seahawks love to complain about those penalties but they always forget about 3rd and 28, Willie's 75 yard run, and Randle El's option pass to Hines.

The Steelers made the big plays in that game when it counted and that's why they won it all.

Final score: Steelers 21 Seahawks 10.

Besides, Seahawks fans. Your team was pretty blah. Nobody wanted to see the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Not to sound too cocky, but it was all about Pittsburgh.

Anyway, the Steelers finally won that one for the thumb after 25 years of trying. I, along with the entire city, was in party-mode for weeks.

I will post more later. Welcome to my new blog home.