Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
And greetings from, eh, well, this is embarrassing -- NOT Rio de Janeiro, but my office in Tallahassee. Never did get that visa to Brazil. Not in time, anyway. So we pulled a switcheroo, subbing in Denise Austin on the comms while I stayed at home with my real kiddos and Florida State kiddos. Love me some travel adversity.
But wonderful beach volleyball still happened, and Cherif Younousse had it right with the quote above: The people won. In so many ways.
The Brazilian fans, who I adore, won, being treated to an all-Brazilian final, where the new resident queen, Carol Salgado, won alongside Rebecca Cavalcanti. A battle of worlds No. 1 and 2, in Rio, when both teams are Brazilian?
C'mon.
The men's final, despite not having a Brazilian team, was electric. Qatar vs. Cuba, a 19-17 third-set decider. Doesn't get better than that. Per usual, I have the full recap, discussing:
- Why Carol is the new iron queen of Brazil, and might set an unbreakable record for most tournaments played
- Cherif and Ahmed setting a new career-high with three gold medals
- How Cuba demolished Norway in an eye-opening quarterfinal
- Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot will get a statue made of bronze one day
- Why Martins Plavins loves Rio, and Rio loves Plavins
- Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson: the Beach Pro Tour's unluckiest winners
- George and Saymon FLYING up the World Champs standings, now No. 24 and in position to qualify
- Chase Budinger and Miles Evans careering
- The stats behind why Chaim Schalk and James Shaw are struggling
- Ditto for Andy Benesh and Miles Partain
- Why Terese Cannon, with another medal, is officially one of the best option players in the world
Packed. The podcast with me discussing all of that is on YouTube here and it'll be up on Spotify shortly.
The good news: I don't need a visa to travel to Newport Beach, which is where I'll be next.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured me, chatting all things Joao Pessoa:
News Around the Beach
- Bailey Higgins is always asking why. It's what makes her so dang good, and one of the best sophomores in the country. Read up, and listen to the SandyNoles Podcast, with me and Bailey here.
- Chase Budinger and Miles Evans shocked Norway. It was the highlight of a huge day for USA Volleyball as a whole early in Rio.
- Beach Pro Tour hits Veracruz, Mexico. The final qualifying tournament for World Champs is this weekend. Cannot overstate its importance. God speed to all the teams traveling from Brazil to Mexico. That is not light work. Here are the entry lists.
- Laguna Beach photo gallery. Rick Atwood did his thing in Laguna, dropping a ton of sweet photos.
- We now have an ad free tier for audio. Tired of listening to ads? I saw a bunch of comments on the ad frequency in Rogan podcasts, and figured I'd give our listeners an ad-free option. For 5 bucks a month, you no longer have to listen to ads, and you support the show. Win win. Here's the link where you can become a patron.
- Watch SANDCAST Episodes Early! Become a member of our YouTube Channel and you'll get every piece of content days or weeks or, now, months, even, before anybody else.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Charlie Brande, a Hall of Famer in the sport who sits down with Tri Bourne in a sweet episode from a guy who has more wisdom in his pinky finger than most do in their entire brain. Don't miss it.
Much Love to the sponsors
We've been with Wilson Volleyball since day one, and we love the products they make -- the best ball on the market, hands down, no questions asked. Use our discount code: SANDCAST-20 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
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We've got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
SANDCAST adds another year with AG1. One of our longest-running sponsors, AG1, is back on the pod for another year. We've re-signed with the brand, and have changed our model with them, to a fully affiliate-model. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
We're officially partnered with Better at Beach! If you want to get Better at Beach, use our code SANDCAST for 10 percent off all of their products, from online classes to in-person camps and more.
SHIELD is the new presenting sponsor of our Beach Access episodes following Elite tournaments. Get yourself some athletic tape that actually works, and use the code SANDCAST to get a little discount.
Appreciate y'all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
