Attending one of these events was a goal of ours... we have about 35 other goals that can be viewed and searched for on our website (coming soon... we'll also be asking for write-ins and suggestions).If you are ever going to truly embrace the Southern California way of life, you need to gain an appreciation and love for beach volleyball, and we have. Often we get sucked into the endless re-runs of past matches on the FSN Pacific channel. Karch Kiraly is now one of our favorite athletes... he's the only guy to ever win an Olympic gold in both indoor and beach volleyball, and in 2004, at the age of 44, his pairing still held the #1 ranking on the tour. Every Saturday we look for (and usually find) some great pick-up games of 2-on-2 down in Venice. Sometimes we'll even sneak into the expensive apartment complex right next to us, which has a volleyball court, and run basic drills to practice our bump-set-spike. Basically, we love the sport and we're trying to get to a point where we might actually be "pretty good."
In the men's final on Sunday (which featured the current top two teams on tour: Todd Rogers, Phil Daulhauser, Mike Lambert, and Stein Metzger), we got to watch four guys that are "amazing." I think that volleyball and hockey are similar, in that both are exponentially more exciting to watch live... which isn't to say that I don't like watching volleyball on TV (because I do), but it's incredible to see up close... the only hockey I'll watch on TV are playoff games (from before the strike). So if you have the chance to check out a tournament, I would recommend you do so. You're bound to have a great time. The AVP crew keeps you entertained even when you're just sitting around waiting for the next match to be played. While waiting for the finals to start, we were treated to a women's exhibition game featuring Gabby Reese and other stars, 
and we cheered wildly during an all-female "Jose Cuervo" game of inflatable musical chairs (which quickly turned into mud-wrestling bouts/cat fights between girls in bikinis... it was sweet). And if you need one more reason to sway you: The AVP requires all female competitors to wear bikinis... it's mandatory. I'm not sure how much admission costs in other states, but in California all the beaches are public so they actually can't charge you for general admission (although sadly, this very fact might lead the AVP to stop hosting tourneys in Cali).Also, I read this article the other day on ESPN.com that relates to everything I just mentioned: Life, Volleyball, and California. The journalist suggests that, as an East-coaster, everything she's learned about Southern California, she learned from beach volleyball and the AVP tour. I disagree with her on quite a few points (for instance, she promotes valet parking and goes on to claim that people out here will show up to the tournament and spend $200 on sunglasses and bottled water... I bought a nice pair of sunglasses there for $10 and picked up a gallon of water at the supermarket, before hitting the beach, for 99 cents). Nonetheless, I think the article does have some truth to it (people love free stuff and beautiful, famous people are everywhere).
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