AVP Media Day: Honesty, and towing the company line

Three guys just hoping to get a glimpse of Rachel Wacholder

While AVP matches may be played by the Manhattan Beach pier and on artificial beaches, the AVP Media Day was definitely more upscale, taking place at the Beverly Hilton last week.

Fancy!

But don't look for the tour to abandon its core values, as the press release on AVP.com describes the gathering folks as "lounging poolside," which brings to mind images of Karch and Walsh reclining on chaise longues while AVP commish Leonard Armato talks about how swell things are, with new stops, more money, and more innovations.

Besides most of the tour pros, also in attendance was Crocs chief exec Ron Snyder, who has made a miraculous amount of money by bringing the American people what they've apparently been wanting for a long time: really odd-looking casual footwear.

But ya' gotta give him this: He's honest.

"The reason we're the title sponsor is we want to sell more shoes," Snyder said.

No wonder Crocs is making dough. This guy doesn't beat around the bush.

"While that may seem to be the only reason, what we want to do is build our brand."

Don't muddy the message! Stick with the "sell more shoes"!

"As we help grow the tour we can help grow the sport in other countries."

Honestly, I stopped listening after the word "While."

New to the tour are the innovations of Bob Bowman and MLB Advanced Media, who helped relaunch AVP.com and will help stream video of matches during the summer. Bowman's company revamped Major League Baseball's MLB.com, apparently one of the most-visited sites on the Internet.

"This is a great and exciting sport," Bowman said. "There are only six exciting sports and this, along with baseball, is one of them."

Wait, there are only six exciting sports? Let's see: 1) volleyball, 2) football I assume, 3) basketball's pretty exciting...hm...4) hockey, not soccer...5) street luge, I guess?

And we appreciate that Bowman has been instrumental in upgrading MLB's online experience, and therefore wants to put a good spin on his meal ticket, but baseball? That's like saying "There are only six exciting movies, and this, along with 'Kazaam' is one of them."

And if baseball's so exciting, why is everyone in the bleachers drunk all the time?