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Post by bunnywailer on Aug 25, 2008 23:14:28 GMT -5
Congrats, dude. You did it! It's been a long time coming. Through World League 2008 and the Olympic tournament, that's the best I've ever seen you play.
Best of luck to you and your family, and whatever the future holds for you. I'm glad you had this opportunity to not only win the gold in the Olympics, but also do it in front of your family.
P.S. Your dad's still a goof and I'm still gonna heckle the hell out of IPFWQZTKELMNOP (aka "alphabet U") whenever they come to play in SoCal. ;D
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Post by baywatcher on Aug 25, 2008 23:35:18 GMT -5
Ditto, although I think your Dad's just fine.
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Post by ucsdfan on Aug 26, 2008 0:04:44 GMT -5
Congrats, dude. You did it! It's been a long time coming. Through World League 2008 and the Olympic tournament, that's the best I've ever seen you play. Best of luck to you and your family, and whatever the future holds for you. I'm glad you had this opportunity to not only win the gold in the Olympics, but also do it in front of your family. P.S. Your dad's still a goof and I'm still gonna heckle the hell out of IPFWQZTKELMNOP (aka "alphabet U") whenever they come to play in SoCal. ;D Great post. Given that you rode him pretty hard before the World League final and Olympics, my hat's off to you for coming clean and giving props where they are do! Lloy played amazingly well and in my eyes was the MVP. Stanley was a hammer, but without Ball playing the greatest volleyball of his life, they don't get a medal. He set a very smart 8 matches. I feel for the next setter if they don't get the same amazing passing Lloy was fortunate enough to get.
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Post by doctordubya on Aug 26, 2008 3:27:19 GMT -5
I second that. Lloy Ball has taken a lot of flak on boards like this throughout his career, but the fact is that he has now added an Olympic Gold to his Champions League and Italian Serie A winners trophies. Those achievements speak for themselves - he may be the only man to have won all three (?)
This season he really has looked a world-class player, both for Kazan and USA. Hats off to him.
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Post by cyberVBmidwest on Aug 26, 2008 7:32:19 GMT -5
Ditto all of the above.
I think the time Ball and Stanley played together in Russia last season was a key contributor to that powerful connection during 2008. Stanley was Ball's go-to-guy at Dinamo, probably to the frustration of some of their teammates...
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Post by Phaedrus on Aug 26, 2008 7:47:17 GMT -5
I think having kids and getting older has more to do with this more mature and more successful Lloy than anything else. There is nothing like staring age in the face.
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Post by midwestfan on Aug 26, 2008 8:11:18 GMT -5
I think having kids and getting older has more to do with this more mature and more successful Lloy than anything else. There is nothing like staring age in the face. I totally agree! Lloy always had the ability to play very, very well but just could never harness his temperment. Having his children and them getting older has really softened him.
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Post by doctordubya on Aug 26, 2008 8:27:03 GMT -5
I totally agree! Lloy always had the ability to play very, very well but just could never harness his temperment. Having his children and them getting older has really softened him. I can only contribute amateur psychology on this one, but part of the more mature temperament might be that Ball had felt at Athens 2004 that his last chance for Olympic gold had gone. Let's face it, Suxho had ended that tournament more strongly as setter, and with a new coach replacing Beal it looked as though that would be the end for Ball internationally. So, Beijing 2008 was a 'bonus' opportunity that Lloy never thought he would have. He has certainly played with a lot more freedom in the past year or so.
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beachdude
Junior
The Volleyball Made Me Do it!
Posts: 423
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Post by beachdude on Aug 26, 2008 11:39:34 GMT -5
Apology accepted. For what it is worth, Lambert and Roumain should take the brunt of the the 1996 & 2000 debacle. Never stepped up I don't care who sets them. The unsong hero on this team was Riley Salmon who stepped up bigger than Roumain and Lambert combined. He took pressure off the rest of the hitters and put away ball after ball in the final. Great team effort by all.
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Post by USAFAN on Aug 26, 2008 13:11:32 GMT -5
I had to agree about Salmon. I kept saying to myself over the past few years, please someone replace Salmon because he never seemed like anything spectacular in the front row. But he totally proved me wrong and he is one of the most crafty and gutsy players the USA has.
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Post by itsallrelative on Aug 26, 2008 13:16:49 GMT -5
I'll agree...I thought Salmon was the wrong choice, that Rooney should be in there.
Tiley doesn't impress, but just produces! The more I think of it, the more I think he will step into the captain's role--replacing Tom Hoff.
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Post by bunnywailer on Aug 26, 2008 15:43:17 GMT -5
Apology accepted. For what it is worth, Lambert and Roumain should take the brunt of the the 1996 & 2000 debacle. Never stepped up I don't care who sets them. The unsong hero on this team was Riley Salmon who stepped up bigger than Roumain and Lambert combined. He took pressure off the rest of the hitters and put away ball after ball in the final. Great team effort by all. Beachdewdette, I know you're not Lloy Ball, so you can't accept on his behalf. This ain't the Grammys. How many times I gotta tell you? Roumain wasn't on the team in 1996! Come on now, I know you're almost eligible for AARP, but this is ridiculous. ;D Salmon did indeed figure out the riddle of slime hitting just in time to make an impact on the leftside for Team USA. Prior to this Olympics, I would just about chalk up a minus in the stat sheet every time he got a transition set on the left with 2 or 3 blockers up. He was quite good at blasting straight into the block. I think the reason Ball played so well in this, his last stint with the USA Men is due to a number of reasons: 1. The culture of the team itself - from Hugh through the assistants, to the team itself. Everyone was comfortable with everyone else, so he didn't have to feel any pressure to fit in or carry a certain role or load. The team had already been playing well with Hansen at the controls for most of 2007, Ball stepped in and they began playing even better. 2. Hansen stepping aside into the backup role when Ball returned mostly without incident. Like a quarterback controversy in the NFL, a setter controversy could have destroyed the culture of the team real quick. In the 1996 games, many like myself felt the team would have performed better with Stork at the controls instead of Ball. Ball himself didn't perform as well probably because he was always feeling the pressure of having a 2-time Olympic medalist as his backup. 3. The team itself was better at every position than it has been probably since 1992, the last time the USA medalled. 4. The team finally rid itself of individuals who were counter-productive to their overall success. One was a coach, at least one was a player.
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Post by EP on Aug 30, 2008 2:23:21 GMT -5
dont know if this was posted yet
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Post by volleyballer4life on Aug 30, 2008 8:19:33 GMT -5
dont know if this was posted yet ... I don't even know what to say after watching this. I think I want the 3 minutes of my life back though.
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Post by Keystonekid on Aug 30, 2008 9:52:04 GMT -5
Vietnam, sa sa saigon!
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