HCLT TOP 1000

I think you meant Kate’s opinion – Zyta explained that our Russian friend has a thing for Butko. Myself, I like Grankin a lot. Like I said, he’s aggressive and helped Russia to reach another level.

Are you serious? Kate, this guy will help your team a lot.

No Zyta, he started in the NT in 1998.

I think someone is upset because his NT wasn’t even mentioned. lol

Poor Raylight, I think he got confused once again... Let me help you.

There’s no problem in booing a player in a sports hall – German supporters showed no mercy on Spiridonov during the last WL. Maybe you’re upset because your god was booed – the freaks in the gymnasium were upset, too. My American friend took some pictures of those angry Bulgarians, some of them making nice gestures to us, but since I don’t wanna make you cry, I won’t show them. lol

Once I’m a really nice guy and I’m concerned about people’s safety around you, I’ll give you some tips, based on previous Bulgarian fans behaviour.

Please, don’t use flares inside the hall – it’s savagery, a real risk to other people. Hope we won’t see this at 2012 WL finals. Watch the video on the link below.
https://volleybox.net/flares-at-volleyball-match-cska-resovia-m971
Never spit on other people. Lily Bernardi (hey Pearl, is she related to Lorenzo?), who played for the Italian NT, got spit on her face during a tournament in Sofia in the eighties. Italy was leading against Bulgaria, the venue was small… As she approached the stands to serve, one guy spit on her face. She started to cry and left the court. Some supporters celebrated that. Players from other countries were afraid of the crowd. Heloisa Roese, a Brazilian player, said she never saw such savages anywhere else. This tournament was held in 1981 or 1982. Later, in 1985, both Heloisa and Lily played for the “World’s Team” against China, when they remembered, during an interview, this shameful behaviour of Bulgarian fans.

Now that I gave you a few lessons, please behave yourself. I don’t know if in London I’ll have the chance to make the freaks suffer once again, as we don’t know if Bulgaria will qualify. lol

Cheers,
Henrique, the good man, always concerned about his Bulgarian friends :-)
Hahahahaha

Kate, I believe both Grankin and Butko are excellent setters. Grankin has the merit of speeding up the game for a team who used to play almost in slow motion years ago. He’s aggressive, but not a reckless setter. I don’t think Grankin is that bad in other aspects of the game, though Butko seems more comfortable doing other stuff than Grankin. As a setter, Butko is also creative. Please, watch again the third set against Poland, the third when Russia played USA or the crucial moments against Italy. You will see all the variation he used, even when he set the same player – that’s how a wise setter does when he has to repeat the play without being obvious. Some teams are lucky to have one great setter, Russia has two. Regarding the fight for the top, I recently made a bet with a friend about the results in London 2012. I put Brazil in fourth – once we lose in the semis, we don’t care about bronze, it’s our attitude. I believe Russia will get the gold they’re looking for since 1980. I hope I’m wrong, but the internal issues on the Brazilian team are getting very serious. I know you’ll probably mention Brazil beat Russia 3-0 at the World Cup – they had that as an objective (not to drop even a set to Russia), but I think things are getting worse on our side. Bernardo wanted to leave the team in the beginning of 2010. This one will be his 12th season in a row with the NT. When Doug Beal was with the victorious American team in the 1980s he stayed there for five years. Julio Velasco could stand seven seasons with Italy in the 1990s. I don’t know how Bernardo could handle all these years, but he has been telling people he needs more time for him and his family, and when you see him with his women’s team at Superliga he’s way more happy and relaxed than with the guys in the NT. Recently, during an interview, the reporter asked him what was responsible for all those wrinkles on his face (he’s 52). He remained in silence at first, but then he said “this one is called Giba, this one is called Dante, that one is Sergio...” You saw him and Sergio fighting over nothing during an easy match against Argentina. If Brazil NT was okay we could put up a good fight with Russia. However, the way things are going I see the path open to your NT. We must keep in mind that Italy has improved. With Fei back to the middle now Italy has a strong block all the time, as Mastro also carries the load when he comes to the net. Lasko is finally a good opposite – I was tired of seeing this guy struggling since early 2000s. Zaytsev is more experienced, Savani is good, and Travica, if not brilliant, is good, reliable. They have a guy like Berruto, a smart coach, one of those few guys who can notice what’s going on very quickly and provide some changes in the attack line or in the block switch if necessary. Team Italy is very close to Brazil and Russia. These are the three best teams, followed by Poland, Serbia, Cuba, and USA. Have you thought that MAYBE one of the Norceca teams won’t reach London 2012? The loser at their qualifier will fight in Japan at the world qualifier with two European teams, among others. Perhaps, though I hope not, Cuba or USA won’t qualify. BTW, nice to see you here, Kate. It’s a pleasure discussing with you. :-)

Hey, I was there! I had so much fun that day talking to some American and Italian friends. We spent more time talking than watching the match – just booing Matey once in a while to tease the freaks. Believe me, the freaks got really mad. Every time Matey made some mistake, an American friend shouted really loud with a funny voice, “what a loser”, and the Bulgarians went nuts with that. lol This gymnasium was the second one, not as comfortable as the main venue.

C’mon Saku, you can do better. Make a more detailed description – which part of the court each player was on, where did the ball go, if they had to dive... ;-)

So you like accordion? I got something better for you. Here it goes a link for a song from a Portuguese band called Madredeus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b-RehmqZUE Enjoy!

Although the video quality isn’t so good, it’s nice to watch a movie about a setter on the way it should have been done – with the whole play, not only the setter touching the ball. Congrats to the guy that edited this video. Russia has two great setters now. I remember watching Grankin live in Beijing and thinking, “finally the Russians can get rid of that limited Vadim Khamut-whatever”. Little I knew they had another guy on the way. Butko is really clever – Bernardo is a big fan of him. Also, whenever I see Butko I think about my good friend Tatiana, a Russian-Brazilian girl who’s completely crazy about Butko. She says she can celebrate more gold medals than any other vball fan. Tatiana wishes she had some Italian relatives, so she could add more gold to her list. lol

NightFox, noticing the holes on the opponent’s block is one of the roles of a setter – they get paid to do that. Zaytsev took a risk and things went wrong – sometimes the coaches tell their players to do it and assume full responsibility. Once Petkovic noticed Zaytsev was blocking the middle, doing the rest was easy, not impressive at all.

Pearl, I’m not a heavy metal fan, though there is some really good stuff in that style. Once Zyta is a big AC/DC fan, maybe someday she’ll make a video with one of their songs. While you’re waiting for some good thing, mute the videos with unbearable music, that’s how I watch most of them when I hear a bad song. ;-)

@Pearl: LOL

Okay, Petkovic is a good setter, but there’s nothing special on this play. Pay attention, kids! Let’s suppose you’re a setter. The opponent has served, your team received it so well... Now it’s your turn, the ball is coming to your hands... You noticed the left side of the other team is too close to the middle, he surely expects you to set your middle player. So, their position four is an open road. The obvious choice is... Set someone where there’s no block. So did Petkovic. Very simple! Again, he’s a good setter, but even a mediocre one could have done this. Keep watching volleyball, kids. ;-)

This video should be called De Cecco and Sole open the path to Conte. If there are any Conte freaks here, they can calm down – Conte is a helluva player. The point is the merit here goes to the setter and to the middle player, as they got the opponent’s blockers stuck. With that done, Conte did the easiest part. BTW, the play was beautiful, a nice combination.

NightFox, I didn’t even bother watching this one, but you can do me a favour. Please describe, one by one, every dig on this movie. Could you do that for me? ;-)

Regarding the song, c’mon... This is probably the tackiest music I heard in the last months. How can you enjoy a song when you don’t understand the lyrics? People make fun of Michel Teló here in Brazil. The cute girls on the audience are the only good thing on his very popular video. This song is about a guy who loves vball, but hates Polish and Bulgarian game style. In the chorus he sings “ai se eu te pego”, which means (if I’m not mistaken): “I can’t watch those useless players from Poland and Bulgaria, they should stop playing”. Gee, I can’t stand this Teló guy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aihR1YhANYo BTW, check out the link above. A friend posted it on some Brazilian webforums and people are making fun of this. Watch the crowd and the players trying to dance... People here say they dance like they play vball. But hey, I’m there to defend those people and players. Whenever they make fun, I say, “stop guys, this is not funny, I don’t like when you do that”. I’m so nice, eh! :-)

Hahahahaha

Roninho, criticizing something isn’t necessarily saying something bad – especially when it comes from a nice guy like you. Personally, I believe there’s no improvement when there’s no criticism. It doesn’t mean everything has to be criticized – some videos are excellent. However, most people are unprepared to have a discussion.

I saw that “volleyball digs” video and I got bored. Most people here thought it was fantastic. Honestly, after 30 seconds I was like, “what the hell, stop with this never-ending collage of isolated digs”. Part of that video, just 30 seconds of it, would be great, for example, for the introduction of a TV report about defense. I take part in a restricted webforum in Brazil, with only 50 participants, and I showed them that video. Nobody liked it. Some people said, “yes, good editing, but it’s pointless”. In fact the edition was really good, but just that. When I watch some NightFox videos I stop in the middle because I think it’s totally irrelevant showing some guy only hitting the ball (oh yes, I know you have different kind of videos, don’t need to say). A lot of people get angry just reading this. ;-)

Well, you used two words. lol

It’s sad, Emilia. For simply being a man, some guys think they’re smarter than women – that’s a very stupid thought. A friend just finished a study where he shows how women were and still are put in an inferior situation to men in propaganda. I talked to guy who said he doesn’t like to watch women’s vball “because it’s not a real sport, just men’s can be considered that”.

LOL

You never said it was a secret – why would someone’s gender be a secret? You just said, “Hi Henrique, I’m Emilia Nikolova”. ;-)

Good to know you have sense of humour. :-)

It’s “her” – Champion is a girl. I was just teasing you, bitch. No need to get defensive, you know I like you, though you’re a Matey freak. And yes, you’re running cuz you’re afraid of Zyta… NightFox is afraid of a girl! Hahahahaha Punch him, evil Zyta! :-p

Oh, someone is getting aggressive… LOL NightFox, dunno if you noticed, but I answered Champion’s message. Read again. And again. If you still can’t get it, call me. I’ll be patient and will explain to you. :-p Cheers, Henrique (your favourite commentator) P.S.: Bad, bad Zyta. Hahahahaha

Champion, my favourite Bulgarian girl, nobody is mocking anyone here. Some people just showed what they would like to see when watching volleyball movies. Myself, I think watching just spikes, for example, is quite pointless. However, I understand and recognize others’ efforts to make movies. What I really dislike is this thinly-veiled rule that you can’t criticize or have a different opinion. You open some topics and all you can see is, “what a beautiful movie”, “I loved this one”, “I got so emotional… You made me cry in happiness”, “I’d give you 6 if I could”, “you’re such a great movie maker”. Every different opinion from this standard is seen like, “OMG! You hate me”. Please…

What’s the point of a webforum where nobody discusses? People get tense here when a different opinion is presented. That Belgium guy showed his opinion and I thought it was quite interesting – it doesn’t mean he or any other who thinks differently hated the content of this video. I don’t go around judging videos or comments based on who made them, but on what that specific video or remark brings. This video is well edited, I must say – it’s just not my kind. I can see a lot of people liked it – good for them.