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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 12:32:38 GMT -5
That team ended up out in Long Beach, losing to Misty May and company. Nao and Mo were the assistants, with Lynne McDonald (pictured) helping too.
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 23, 2019 12:35:16 GMT -5
That team ended up out in Long Beach, losing to Misty May and company. Nao and Mo were the assistants, with Lynne McDonald (pictured) helping too. Didn't you tell a story about this? You were in the parking lot and Misty May came running because she was late. Something like that? I'm like an elephant. Long memory.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 12:46:32 GMT -5
That team ended up out in Long Beach, losing to Misty May and company. Nao and Mo were the assistants, with Lynne McDonald (pictured) helping too. Didn't you tell a story about this? You were in the parking lot and Misty May came running because she was late. Something like that? I'm like an elephant. Long memory. Yep, I did. I was sitting on top of my Esteem (a rented Suzuki). There's something ironic there, but not sure what it is. Anyhow, I was like three hours early, but it was December and I was in California, not Minnesota, so what did I care? She parked next to me. I vaguely recall she was gimpy, wearing a boot or something. But she played. That was also the trip I walked the beach in San Clemente, like Nixon, only not in disgrace.
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 23, 2019 12:47:12 GMT -5
In 2000, when Minnesota was sent to Honolulu for the Regionals, I saw the team eat lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. We crossed paths totally by accident as I was there with my family on vacation. I don't remember seeing Mike Hebert there but I saw a whole bunch of tall girls wearing Minnesota gear chowing down. I gave a shout, "Woo Hoo! Minnesota!" And a couple girls just kinda looked at me with puzzled expressions. I remember talking to my wife about it. "They fly all the way over to Hawaii from Minnesota and they dine at the California Pizza Kitchen?" And my wife replies with, "Well, they're not going to have pork and poi and all sorts of bizarre Hawaiian plates. They might get diarrhea and they have to play, ya doof."
Can't believe they lost to UCSB. It was supposed to be a Lindsey Berg vs. Hawaii thing for the Regional finals.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 12:54:23 GMT -5
Gophers just kept banging the ball off UCSB's block and UCSB's backrow defense played deep and chased them all down. That was good Gophers team (30-4, 17-3). Branagh and Wichert/Van Oort, Hagen and Fair. Busse was a frosh. But they lost.
2001 was an even bigger disappointment. Then Gentil arrived. Ball control. An amazing thing.
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Post by jdl on Oct 23, 2019 13:04:46 GMT -5
I would also like to know the origin of the "monkeyboy" pseudonym as it's kind of bizarre. Maybe he was good at monkey bars as a kid? Maybe from Buckaroo Banzai?
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Post by VolleyballMag on Oct 23, 2019 13:22:37 GMT -5
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Post by ugopher on Oct 23, 2019 13:51:45 GMT -5
Would be cool if Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Illinois all made it to the FF this year.
I would say New Mexico, too, but I don't think they will qualify.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 14:26:20 GMT -5
One more, because it includes Brook Dieter.
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Post by sptimes2 on Oct 23, 2019 14:35:35 GMT -5
Man, I'm finding myself tearing up today and yesterday reading all of these tributes. I didn't have the privilege of knowing him personally like some of you (for which, I'm jealous), but I did have several personal interactions with him. I was a young volleyball coach at a small D3 school when he came to MN. As I mentioned once before, I attended his coaching clinic a couple of times. In that group of 25-30 coaches, he made himself available to us, answering our questions, etc. I recall bringing him my team stats to garner some input from him and he took the time to review it with me. As I read tributes from fellow coaches and former players, I am so impressed with the dignity that he treated each person, and how he built up and mentored his players. Our society has a tendency to overly glorify the dead, but I think in this case, it is not exaggerated. We lost a good one.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 14:37:55 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 14:43:36 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 14:58:32 GMT -5
So nice to hear his voice.
Last thing from me (today anyhow). It's easy to cheer for a jersey. I've done that (for different jerseys) most of my life. It's another thing to actually care about the people wearing those jerseys, to believe you are cheering for something worthwhile. This is what happened for me and Gopher volleyball -- and Mike was the main reason why. The decency and integrity he always displayed, as well as his interest in me, is something I will never forget.
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Post by Riviera Minestrone on Oct 23, 2019 15:13:19 GMT -5
I only was aware of Mr. Hebert via watching a YouTube vid of the 2004 STAN-MINN Final: where Paula Gentil was injured throughout the end-part of that match. Seemed a classy guy! RIP
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Post by tomclen on Oct 23, 2019 15:18:08 GMT -5
Thanks for linking this blogpost. This was an interesting part about an in-game interaction: Often wondered if the passion, enthusiasm and noise of a boisterous crowd has any impact on coaches. Nice to know that they can appreciate it too. I remember the 2010 regional of death in Seattle. Rich Feller opened his pre-regional press briefing by saying, "Welcome to the Final Four!" The regional was Washington, Nebraska, Cal and Minnesota. I think every Washington fan was hoping Minnesota could knock off Cal in the first match. Not because anyone was aware of Mike or his illness, but because Cal was having an out of this world year. They had beaten UW twice, 3-1 and 3-0. But, unfortunately, Cal defeated UM in the regional semi-final. I think that was Mike's last game. ( P.S. After the Minnesota/Cal match, Washington beat Nebraska in an ultra-thrilling match, but then lost to Cal the next night. So much for the hardest thing in sports being beating the same team 3 times.) ( P.P.S. Cal ended up in the finals, but lost the championship match to Penn State.) ( P.P.P.S While UW, Cal, Minesota and Nebraska were giants clobbering each other, Penn State got to a regional final by tangling with the likes of Niagra, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.) Good to see so many posts about Mike. Hope this thread stays on the front page a long while.
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