With this week's announcement that the AVP is in crisis, I began to wonder what the world would be like without the pro beach volleyball league. Of course, we would all continue to go about our business and our individual lives wouldn't change that drastically.

But for the sport of volleyball in America, it would be a disaster. The AVP has been around in some form or another since 1983. It is THE place for professional beach volleyball in this country.

Without it, there would be no place for good players to go. The great ones could play in FIVB events, but those never touch our shores. So American fans would be relegated to watching the players compete in far away places. It could take the game completely off the radar in this country.

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A World Without the AVP originally appeared on About.com Volleyball on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 11:47:53.

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Forgive me for the indulgence, folks. But you know I love my Stanford men's volleyball team and I have openly admitted that I can't be trusted to retain my journalistic integrity when it comes to them. That said, I still think this is news.

The 2010 National Champion men's team just won another big contest - they've been named the winner of the AVCA Team Academic Award. They are the 13th team to win the Academic Award and the National Championship in the same year.

According to an article on the Stanford website: "Of the 20 players, 17 were over 3.0 for the academic year, 11 were over 3.5, six were over 3.8, and two -- Jake Vandermeer's 4.109 and Ian Connolly's 4.002 -- were over 4.0, which can only be achieved with grades of A-plus."

What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that they did it in the face of an extremely difficult and emotional season in which the team lost family members and a beloved coach succumbed to cancer. To have come out at the top both in volleyball and in the classroom in spite of it all is an amazing feat.

Congrats go out to the Cardinal. These guys are bringing new meaning to the word well-rounded.

One More Feather for the Stanford Men originally appeared on About.com Volleyball on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:57:23.

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Sophomore quarterback Thomas D'Ambrisi, a Monmouth Regional High School graduate, threw for 277 yards and three TDs as Kean University (5-1, 5-0 New Jersey Athletic Conference) defeated the College of Brockport 40-22 to improve on its best conference start in school history.

The quarterback to ex-quarterback combination enjoyed a banner day Saturday for the Monmouth University football team.

St. John Vianney has become the team higher-seeded teams do not want to play in the early rounds of the Shore Conference Field Hockey Tournament.

Mary Solimine picked up where she left off in the postseason.

There can be little doubt now that Lookin At Lucky is a very good horse with the chance to prove he is a great horse.

Calvin Borel couldn't have asked for anything more than to have his Kentucky Derby-winning colt, Super Saver, in a head-to-head duel with Preakness winner, Lookin at Lucky, at the quarter pole in Sunday's Haskell Invitational.

Town of Hamburg Beach Blast ends with a Bang! July 31, 2010 Hamburg, NY The Town of Hamburg celebrated their 11th annual Blast on the Beach today...with food, music, beach volleyball, waverunner rides, and beautiful beach views for all to enjoy.

The west side of Cadillac is taking center stage this weekend. Last year, the west side decided to celebrate summertime fun with its own summer festival.