Tag: volleyball

(Not far from) Madding Crowds

Last night, the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball team played the fourth match of their 2023 campaign. College volleyball doesn’t get much coverage sharing seasons with (American) football, but this match made the sports headlines for several reasons. One, it was played outdoors. Two, it was played in Nebraska’s massive Memorial Stadium (normally a football venue). And three – most notably – the Huskers brought home the straight-sets win in front of 90,000 riotous fans… at $25 a ticket.

Volleyball instead of football

I know what you’re thinking.  How do you get 90,000 people to cough up $25 for a college volleyball match?  Well, it helps to throw in a country music concert for starters.  Then add a second match to double the volleyball (Nebraska-Kearney vs. Wayne State).  Finally, most importantly, let fans know they just might break the regular-season attendance record for a women’s volleyball match… the same attendance record that volleyball rival Wisconsin stole from Nebraska just last season.

Memorial Stadium on any given Saturday

It fascinates me to read about sports competitions played in front of massive sold-out stadiums, weekend after weekend.  Nebraska has filled those same 90,000 seats for every Husker football game for the past sixty years (making the venue the “third-largest city in Nebraska” for several hours each Saturday).  Michigan’s Wolverines compete in the largest college stadium in America – 108,000 seats – with every seat taken more often than not.  And like Nebraska’s volleyball match last night, my fascination is not just with the number of fans but also with how much they’re willing to pay.  I’m in the market for tickets for my beloved Notre Dame; the football team headed to nearby Clemson later this season.  Unless I’m looking for a nosebleed I’ll be paying north of $450 no matter where I sit.

My weekends are busy so I’m lucky to watch a football game on TV, let alone attend one in person.  Yet every Saturday (and Sunday with the NFL) you have tens of thousands of fans gladly opening their wallets and purses to do just that.  It’s a loud, colorful thread (rope?) in the fabric of American society.

Denver’s “Coors Field”

Major League Baseball (MLB), with an average of 45,000 seats per stadium, is even more confounding to me.  In an endless spring-summer season of 162 games, half are played at the team’s home stadium.  The majority of those seats are taken by season ticket-holders.  With an average ticket price of $36 you’re handing over $3,000 for the season before you’ve even seen the first game.  Besides, who has the time to watch so many baseball games (mostly at night)?  Do what my friends back in Colorado do: split the season ticket in half with another fan and sell most of the tickets to family and friends.  You’ll make a small profit and still go to as many baseball games as you can stomach.

My appetite for baseball games is about two a season; that’s it.  Frankly I enjoy sitting outside in the summer air beside a friend as much as I do the game itself.  Otherwise, keep me far from those madding crowds.  The investment of time, money, effort (and sometimes hassle) to watch a game in person is almost always won over by the convenience, commentary, and cameras of television.

San Diego’s “Rady Shell at Jacobs Park”

Of course, this is sports we’re talking about.  If the topic was music and concerts, my post would take on a decidedly different “tone” (heh).  Tempt me with a chart-topper from the 1980s – Billy Joel comes to mind – and I’d give up the time and money to see a live performance.  Even better, dangle classical concert tickets in front of me, such as the San Diego Symphony at its cozy waterfront bandshell, or a summer concert in the outdoor gardens of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace (see below video).  Classical concert crowds are not nearly as madding as those for sports.

Nebraska is a five-time national volleyball champion

About that regular-season attendance record for a women’s volleyball match.  Wisconsin set the bar with an impressive 16,833 fans last season by filling its basketball arena.  Nebraska’s official tally last night was 92,003 fans… more than five times as many (on a Wednesday night, no less).  Way to crush those rival Badgers, Husker Nation.  That’s what I call a madding crowd.

Some content sourced from the ESPN article, “How Nebraska volleyball plans to pack Memorial Stadium”, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.

The Times of Sand

I’ve often thought the airport is the best place to people-watch. With downtime while you wait for your flight and the close proximity to others, it’s inevitable you’re going to look around. Every kind of person can be found at the airport (sporting every size, shape, fashion statement, stress level, and age). Travelers are unknowingly entertaining to those who watch them. But today let’s explore perhaps an even better venue where people do their thing: the beach.

As I type today, a sweeping look at the sandy shore beyond my patio shows me (in no particular order): A mother and daughter in animated conversation with a lifeguard; a group of teenagers (male) playing an aggressive form of beach four-square called Spikeball; another group of teenagers (female) sprawled on beach towels in giggly conversation; a father dragging his young son through the shallow waves on a boogie-board; a surfer wiping out in the not-so-shallow waves further out; and an ambitious child shoveling dirt out of a divot of sand as if digging to China.

I look away for a second and then look again: A pack of aggressive seagulls pecking away at someone’s leftovers aside their abandoned beach chair; that same lifeguard sprinting into the water to rescue a struggling swimmer; an older couple having a (clearly) not-so-happy conversation at the water’s edge; a jogger attempting to put in the miles while dodging the less active in his way; and a paused beach volleyball game where the players can’t determine if the ball hit the (sand) line or not.

It’s a rare treat when I can create a blog post from the goings-on on right in front of me, but the beach allows me to do just that.  More to today’s point, an active beach like this one changes character throughout the day.  In other words, there are the sands of time and then there are the times of sand:

  • Dawn: Seagulls, sand, and surf.  The beach at its most peaceful and pristine.
  • Early morning: Serious runners at the shore (unlike the casual joggers later in the day); an Asian elder performing a standing form of meditative yoga; a surf camp for pre-teens to the north; a lifeguard training camp for teens to the south; a pickup truck clearing the trash from the evenly-spaced cans.
  • Mid-morning: The gradual arrival of the masses (and all they bring with them).  Also the arrival of the lifeguards, with bright cones marking the “no-man’s land” for emergency vehicles, flags indicating the adjacent street number so people know where to find you, and more flags to mark the beach’s “surf zone” versus “swim zone”.
  • Midday: Everything I observed at the start of this post (and so much more).
  • Mid-afternoon: The gradual departure of the masses, and (hopefully) all they brought with them.  Also the departure of the lifeguards, signing off with a megaphone farewell to those who remain behind.
  • Early evening: The ritual of the sun-worshippers, who simply must remain behind to witness the (West Coast) sunset.  There’s nothing like a setting sun to bring a person to a focused standstill.
  • Dark: An umbrella of stars, a rhythmic ribbon of white foam as the waves crash to shore, and an occasional party of two out for a romantic stroll at the water’s edge.

Trust me, it’s easy to be mesmerized by the times of sand if you watch them long enough.  They’re the reason I never make progress with my latest “summer read”, and the reason I can abandon my electronic devices for hours at a time.  Frankly, it’s a wonder I was able to turn away from the sands long enough to bring you this blog post today.