Post by bunnywailer on Aug 27, 2008 0:41:58 GMT -5
Not much. Couple things working against any long-term benefit of the performances of the indoor and beach volleyball teams in Beijing:
1. USA Volleyball - never, ever, gotten its act together in terms of marketing the sport. Sitting on a virtual gold mine in May-Traenor/Walsh, and have been sitting on it for 4 years now. Same thing with the indoor teams - if USA Volleyball were smart, they would partner with NBC and Sports Illustrated and put out one of of them commemorative collector's edition DVD sets of all the Beijing matches for all 4 disciplines - women's beach, men's beach, women's indoor, and men's indoor. You gotta be STUPID not to think the Misty/Kerri DVD set wouldn't sell like crazy - all the non-volleyball people in my office at work were talking about Misty and Kerri and these are 50-something and 60-something year old engineers who have NEVER followed volleyball before.
2. NBC did good by showing the men's gold medal match as the last event of their Olympic coverage - then screwed the men's team over by immediately cutting out for coverage of the closing ceremony. When the USA Men won the gold in LA in 1984, some of the most enduring memories were the post-match celebrations - Timmons climbing the ref stand with his brand new trademark haircut, Marlowe draping himself in the US flag and running around the court. There was a great picture of Millar holding the flag and a big poster of his son in the post-match celebration that I saw someplace, wouldn't it have been great to see that celebration on TV?
3. The major personalities of these Bejing Olympics will be gone in the next quadrennial. If May-Traenor and Walsh make good on the rumor that both want to start families, then say bye-bye to 85% of what has made beach volleyball popular. Dalhausser/Rogers may dominate on the men's side, but honestly, they are as interesting to follow for the casual fan as paint drying on drywall. The women's and men's indoor teams will also see a mass exodus, and many of the main personalities will be gone - Scott-Aruda, AhMow-Santos, Bown, Tom (possibly) on the women's side. Ball, Millar, Priddy (probably) on the men's side.
The success and dominance of the USA Men in the 1980's, and the popularity of the USA women after 1984 caused a brief upsurge of popularity for volleyball through the mid-to-late 80's. Nothing significantly long-term. I believe Beijing will produce a similar short-term effect, and unless USA Volleyball gets off its ass (which it probably won't) then the sport will just ease on back to its status quo.
1. USA Volleyball - never, ever, gotten its act together in terms of marketing the sport. Sitting on a virtual gold mine in May-Traenor/Walsh, and have been sitting on it for 4 years now. Same thing with the indoor teams - if USA Volleyball were smart, they would partner with NBC and Sports Illustrated and put out one of of them commemorative collector's edition DVD sets of all the Beijing matches for all 4 disciplines - women's beach, men's beach, women's indoor, and men's indoor. You gotta be STUPID not to think the Misty/Kerri DVD set wouldn't sell like crazy - all the non-volleyball people in my office at work were talking about Misty and Kerri and these are 50-something and 60-something year old engineers who have NEVER followed volleyball before.
2. NBC did good by showing the men's gold medal match as the last event of their Olympic coverage - then screwed the men's team over by immediately cutting out for coverage of the closing ceremony. When the USA Men won the gold in LA in 1984, some of the most enduring memories were the post-match celebrations - Timmons climbing the ref stand with his brand new trademark haircut, Marlowe draping himself in the US flag and running around the court. There was a great picture of Millar holding the flag and a big poster of his son in the post-match celebration that I saw someplace, wouldn't it have been great to see that celebration on TV?
3. The major personalities of these Bejing Olympics will be gone in the next quadrennial. If May-Traenor and Walsh make good on the rumor that both want to start families, then say bye-bye to 85% of what has made beach volleyball popular. Dalhausser/Rogers may dominate on the men's side, but honestly, they are as interesting to follow for the casual fan as paint drying on drywall. The women's and men's indoor teams will also see a mass exodus, and many of the main personalities will be gone - Scott-Aruda, AhMow-Santos, Bown, Tom (possibly) on the women's side. Ball, Millar, Priddy (probably) on the men's side.
The success and dominance of the USA Men in the 1980's, and the popularity of the USA women after 1984 caused a brief upsurge of popularity for volleyball through the mid-to-late 80's. Nothing significantly long-term. I believe Beijing will produce a similar short-term effect, and unless USA Volleyball gets off its ass (which it probably won't) then the sport will just ease on back to its status quo.
