Credit: Nir Elias / Reuters

The beach volleyball team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor has won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Walsh and May defeated the team of Jie Wang and Jia Tian in two sets, 21-18, 21-18.

From the Associated Press:

Walsh and May-Treanor, who did not lose a single set in Beijing, extended their winning streak to 108 matches in a row.

Walsh put an early end to China’s chances to add a gold when she quick-hit May-Treanor’s pass between Wang and Tian. The Americans dropped to their knees on the wet sand, hugging each other before shaking hands with the officials and running to the stands to embrace their friends and families.

They were still celebrating, wrapping themselves in U.S. flags, as organizers worked through the rain to set up the podium for the medal ceremony.

Earlier Thursday, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won China’s first beach volleyball medal, beating Brazilians Talita and Renata 21-19, 21-17 for the bronze.

First off, I need to apologize to regular readers of The Aspiring Horseplayer.  I know my blogging has been sporadic over the last few weeks – that daily (or in all honesty semi-daily) rush of content, analysis, opinion, and general randomness has been missing.

I assure you all that there are reasons.  And no, I won’t bore you with my oft-used “but my wife is pregnant” or “I work long hours” routine. No, this time it’s an actual legitimate excuse and something I’ve been meaning to share with you all for quite some time.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but the NTRA put out a press release today that actually mentioned me and a few other TBA bloggers by name. 

http://news.bloodhorse.com/article/46656.htm

That’s right, I’m part of a group that is headed out to Las Vegas next month in an effort to help the NTRA better understand how to attract the next generation of fans to our sport.

Obviously I owe a lot of thanks to those of you who stop over and here read my musings with regularity.  I’m still amazed and convinced that that hit counter at the bottom right of the blog is wrong.  Has there really been 70,000 visitors in the last year?  I remember thinking just a few months ago that the only people who would ever find me here were folks that knew me or that I gave the address out to. 

My how fast times can change.

Now I’ve got the opportunity of a lifetime for a horse racing fan.  The chance to speak out and know that “they” are listening.  So far the group’s going well.  The Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance (TBA)  is well represented.  We’ve got our fearless leader, handride,  and the always well-written Dana of Green but Game.  Those guys (I should say ”guy and gal”) will be joining me in Vegas for the conference.  And of course we’ve got other members in our larger “task force” group as well.  I debated whether or not to list them here and will add to this post if desired, but felt that they might wish to keep private their involvement at this point in time. 

With all of this in mind, I’d like to call upon you guys, the readers, to once again sound-off with any and all ideas you may have to help bring thoroughbred horse racing back to it’s rightful place of prominence.  I’m not at liberty to discuss details of what we’re working on so far (so as not to create any false assumptions or promises), but I’ll tell you that two of the major things I”m pushing for are handride’s standings initiative and a little idea I like to call “Take Back Saturday” – which in summary is a model of how the NFL turned Sunday into “football Sunday”, a day of the week that they absolutely owned, and what we can do as a sport to copy that success by focusing on our marquee Saturday racing action. 

So let slip the dogs of war, fellas!  Let’s hear ‘em.  I know a lot of you have shared some experiences and feelings in the past, and I pledge to do my best to represent as much of what you say as I possibly can.  If this experiment goes well, I have the feeling it just may usher in a new era of two-way communication between the NTRA and it’s fans.  What else can I say?  The phrase “opportunity of a lifetime” doesn’t even really do it justice, does it?

As expected, the team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are on their way to the Women’s Beach Volleyball finals in Beijing.

Credit: Carlos Barria / Reuters

From the Associated Press:

Walsh had no reason to worry on Tuesday, when the defending gold medalists easily defeated Renata Ribeiro and Talita Antunes 21-12, 21-14 for their 107th consecutive victory and the guarantee of at least a silver. The United States has now reached the podium in all four Olympics since beach volleyball was added to the games in 1996.

Walsh and May-Treanor will play top-seeded Tian Jia and Wang Jie, who beat the other Chinese team of Xue Chen and Zhang Xi 22-24, 29-27, 15-8 in a grueling, 1 hour and 14 minutes. Xue collapsed on the sand for several minutes afterward; the medical staff surrounded her, but she waved off a stretcher and instead just took an ice pack to help cool her off.

Xue and Zhang will play Talita and Renata for third place.

Walsh and May-Treanor will be the favorites in the final, even though they are the second-seeded team in the tournament. The team has won 107 straight matches, and I anticipate a 108th straight victory over the Chinese team. Thoughts?