Watcha doin' this weekend?

Huskers v. Nittany Lions - You do know that Russ used to be an assistant at Nebraska, right? How about that John Cook used to be the high school coach at Francis Parker? And their coach now is Eric Sato?

Gopher Ball - Hebert's Henchwomen host Johnny D and the All-Stars, Brent Hilliard's Jen Petrie's Toreros, and G-Off's Cats of the Bob.

Mahalo This - UCLA, Louisville, and Russian-led K-State will attempt to prolong Hawaii's state disaster. Gov. to declare a state of emergency.

FLA, Santa Clara - Remember the magical '05 Santa Clara season? Remember how much fun that was? No? Was that just me?

Irish and Tigers and...something else--OH MY - Kreklow, Kreklow, Feng, and Yang v. Brown, Smith, and Brewster.

Dude, Ft. Collins - UOP and the Buckeyes gather in Colorado for a meet 'n' greet at Moby Arena.

At the 'Bu - PEPPERDINE! ARIZONA! NEVADA! LIP...Lipscomb?

Ivy League: What the hell is going on over there?

According to the Columbia website, head coach Monica Holmes quit the day before preseason practice began last week, leaving assistant Brie Katz to run the program as interim head coach this year.

You know, at least when Deitre Collins left Cornell for Georgia (Danger! Danger!), she had the decency to do it in January AND the decency to come back, four months later.

Nicole Vargas' Complicated, Improbable Plan Comes to Fruition

Looks like Long Beach setter Dyanne Lawlor is leaving the Left Coast for the West Wing, following in grand tradition of Long Beach State political alumnae such as Sally Havice and Huey P. Shepard. Huey!

Vargas knew if she was just patient, if she just waited long enough, Lawlor would apply for a highly sought after internship, beat out thousands of other applicants, and then vacate the starting setting position, enabling Vargas to once again take the reins.

Amy Stroder and the power of chocolate

Look, I know that these Q&As that the Interwebs do are lots of fun, and sometimes things get misconstrued, but witness this exchange between North Florida's Amy Stroder and UNF media relations staff assistant Kristian Martin:

KM: If you were a food, what kind of food would you be and why?

AS: Chocolate. It is incredibly satisfying.

I'm not, um, really...I am SO uncomfortable right now. Not gonna say anything else...just, minding my own business.

Totally unfair characterization of Becca Baldwin's quote

"We play really well as a team," she said. "We have a lot of fire; we're like a sort of underdog, so I just think we're going to have a lot of fire come out."
--Becca Baldwin, Texas Tech, from "The Daily Toreador"

Wait...Underdog can breath fire?

Either that or Texas Tech's team is suffering from some kind of gastrointestinal disturbance that we've already learned too much about.

Quotent Quotables

"We weren't marvelous." - Dave Shondell, on his team's loss to Duke.

"My hats off to Dayton. They will probably be in the NCAA Tournament and may win a game." - Don Hardin, after losing to Dayton.

"With the win, the Paladins' record improves to 1-0." - From FurmanPaladins.com. Yes, I suppose 1-0 is an improvement from, you know, 0-0.

"I was proud of how (we) responded to getting our teeth knocked in in that first game.” - Tennessee coach Rob Patrick, on the Vols winning a 4-game match after losing game one 10-30.

Your Monday Morning "Whaaa...?"

Colorado loses to Tulane and FURMAN. Hard to imagine new assistant coach Billy Egbert is having THAT much of an impact in his first year with the Paladins.

Kentucky gets blanked by Western Michigan, mostly because Ashley Vogl played out of her freakin' gourd, hammering 16 kills and hitting .552, while the Wildcat offense stayed well within their gourd, hitting a collective .162. But just to bend your mind like a pretzel, Kentucky beat UNI in 5 the next day.

K-State comes out of nowhere to upset collegiate beach volleyball darlings Cal Poly SLO, thanks to the efforts of State Siberian Technological University transfer Nataly Korobkova. I think we all grew up as fans of the State Siberian Technological University, didn't we? Remember when they were in the Russian Greco-Roman Championships against the Iron Collective Calculus Institute of Putchezh? Good times.

Michigan beats Hawaii in 5, AT Hawaii, which is a lot like the local militia of the land-locked nation of Malawi defeating the British navy...of the 1600s...on the high seas of the English Channel.

Baylor loses to Stony Brook in five. Seriously, I'm losing my grip on reality. Are we still the third planet from the sun?

Missouri loses to Mississippi in five. I wasn't there, but I'm guessing not enough Chinese.

Odds...ends...

Volleyball's own Gabbi Reece is coming out with her own line of workout DVDs.

I don't know about anyone else, but nothing inspires me to get in shape like watching a supermodel with an unnatural metabolism tell me how easy getting in shape is...

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"That kid is as good as they come and she's just plain good," said Moore about the promising junior. "So if somebody wants to call it a breakout season, then maybe, since I don't know of anybody who's better offensively." When asked to clarify, Moore responded, "In the country."

Oregon coach Jim Moore talking about transfer Gorana Maricic...I think.

So in case you thought Pavan or Foluke were pretty darn good offensively, uh-uh. There's a new sheriff in town. A new, Serbian sheriff.

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Hey, everybody! Erin Lindsey and M.C. Richmond were the guests on last night's Sharon Dingman Show on WJBC! If you missed it, just keep your dial tuned right here every Mon-

"The show will air twice this season."

Huh...that's, that's really more of a mini-series than a "show," isn't it?

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Those of you who were with us last spring know that I was a fan of Kristina Baum's blog on the U of A website. Last we heard, Baum had been granted an extra year of eligibility after blowing her knee last season.

Well, now the blog is gone and she's no longer on the roster. The only trace I can find is from this blurb in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, written by Lance Madden: "Kara Bauman, who was a middle blocker on last year's team but did not play, was in attendance for the exhibition game."

"Kara Bauman." Nice, Lance. Real nice.

The Summer That Was

Just to recap:

1. No one has left the Georgia volleyball program in over a month. No judgments, I'm just sayin'.

2. No one has seen Lindy Vivas since she renounced her American citizenship and boarded a private jet for Monaco.

3. Did you see the BREAKING NEWS on the cover of the August issue of Volleyball Magazine? Apparently, Airial Salvo and Sydney Anderson are leaving Utah! What? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?! When did this happen?

(Today's exercise in sarcasm brought to you by the letter S and the number 2.)

4. Speaking of which, Airial Salvo is now in Washington. Shocker. Never saw that coming. Not at all. I'm aghast with surprise.

5. Florida got a commitment from a freshman DS...because we all know how difficult it is to find a decent libero, especially one born before "Friends" went on the air.

6. There's a facebook page to elect Barboza to the position of Stanford Tree. I'm in.

7. Thousands of volleyball campers across America spent hours in smelly gyms and un-air conditioned dorm rooms receiving mostly quality instruction from coaches, some of which MAY have been hung over.

8. Pavan won a bunch of awards. I'd list them here but, what's the point? If you know of an award, she won it. Best supporting actress in an animated short? Won it. Car & Driver's Best Sedan of 2006? Won it. In a landslide.

9. Dave Boos nervously traipsed through the ruins of the Ball State athletic department asking people "But I'M okay, right? Right?...Hello?"

10. Misty May and Kerry Walsh are obviously still not sure how to play this whole two-person, on-sand, beach...game...thing.

Worst. Year. Ever.

Toone is out at Utah, for the year. I repeat, Toone is out.

And somewhere, on top of a mountain, Beth Launiere shakes her fist at the skies and yells, "Why hast thou forsaken me?!"