This weekend: spike a volleyball and see a great band
Non-athletic people beware: Going near Dorchester Street on Saturday and Sunday may make you feel very bad about yourself. The Toyota Pro Beach Volleyball Tour will host 32 men's teams and 12 women's teams for the 10th year of competitions in Ocean City.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, and it's certainly no way to show off your volleyball skills either. The double-elimination tournaments will feature the finest beach volleyball players in the country, with a $8,500 prize for the men and $5,000 for the women. The matches start at 10 a.m., and free seating is available on the beach.
The athleticism and skill of these players are amazing. It's a struggle for many just to carry their beach gear in the shifting sands, but these competitors manage to leap to huge heights and still maintain perfect form on their hits and spikes.
If you didn't get crushed by a haphazardly hit volleyball, head up to Dewey Beach on Saturday night to see one of the best bands in the area. Full Effect will be playing at the Rusty Rudder (113 Dickinson St.) starting at 10 p.m. If you did get hit by someone's ill-aimed spike, suck it up and walk it off, champ, because this band shouldn't be missed.
Full Effect used to play in Ocean City at Seacrets on a regular basis, but they have been ghosts in OC this year.
It's more than just music for Full Effect. It's an entire show. You've never seen a Michael Jackson cover better than theirs. It brings a chill to watch Picasso, B-Nice, D'Andre "The Danimal", Disco, Bobby Digital, Shaolin and Jeff shift modes and flawlessly perform the next tune. (Poor Jeff, he must have been out of the room when they were handing out nicknames.)
Catch them while you can. They won't be back in town until Aug. 16 when they play at the Rusty Rudder again.
Of course, if volleyball and an awesome concert don't keep you entertained, you can pick something off this short list: go-karts at Baja, Grand Prix or Speedworld; try to complete five rounds of mini-golf in one day at the Old Pro courses; or, go parasailing, unless you're afraid of heights like I am.
Comments
Peter, are they selling this volleyball as a tune up for the Olympics?
That's a good question. They aren't actively promoting it as a pre-Olympic match, but the timing certainly is right.... -- Peter
Posted by: JTK | July 25, 2008 10:00 AM
Once again, women get less then the men. Why are women $3,500 short of the prize that the men are getting? Only one answer: gender prejudice.
Possibly. Also there are 20 more men's teams involved, and two more rounds to eliminate the extra teams. I'm not being sexist, but a male team has a 1/32 (3.125 percent) chance of winning, while a women's team will have a 1/12 (8.33 percent) chance of winning. That's means a random man's team is almost three-times less likely to make the money, with only a 70 percent increase in payoff. OK, my head hurts. -- Peter
Posted by: sara monk | July 28, 2008 12:24 AM