pearl TOP 500

Omrcen is going to play in Japan next year, so Lube needs a new opposite. At first they thought about Lasko, now it seems pretty clear they have changed their mind and chosen Zaytsev. And Zizzo himself said (in the interview that Kjeldhor linked here below) that he's not afraid of changing role and playing as a pure opposite if necessary.

Zaytsev in Macerata would be a dream come true for me.

San Giustino vs Padova è appena finita. 3-0 per i veneti. Ci credete se vi dico che, malgrado abbia seguito la partita dall'inizio alla fine, è come se non avessi visto niente?!...sono talmente sottosopra per Vigor che tutto il resto (i punti, la classifica, chi si salva e chi retrocede) mi sembra totalmente irrilevante ?

Thanks for opening this space here where all volleyball lovers can leave a message or simply say goodbye to a dear friend. Yes, a dear friend: ‘cause when you see a player like Vigor playing so many times and for so long (21 years in Serie A) as I did, he becomes a sort of friend, even though I never had the opportunity of meeting him in person. I saw the beginning of his career as well as when he announced he would withdraw from serie A months ago. I have fantastic memories of him: on court and away from it…good player and nice guy! On YT you can find videos with him kidding with other Italian players when in NT. I shall miss him a lot…and my heart is with his wife and children now. I’m watching S.Giustino- Padova: before the match started there was a minute of silence in memory of Bovolenta, with people clapping their hands and showing a banner where you could read “Ciao Vigor” and Vincenzino Simeonov crying on the playground.

In Rugby when a player passes away so young and in such tragic circumstances, they say “a rugby player never dies….at worst he passes the ball to someone else”; I like to think that in V-B is the same, “a volleyball player never dies, at worst he sets the ball to let another player spike”.

Ciao Vigor… have fun in Heaven too…and show angels what a nice “muro” and “primo tempo” are.

@champion: once more i've got the proof that we're from the same blood type dear ?

@nagor: really?? you really like some Italian players and Italian clubs?? 'cause honestly i haven't noticed that.

@HCLT: the world is the same wherever you go. Evidently some people accept that, others can't.

@pesazi: LOL

...Rafa was completely outplayed by Valerio today...I'll take solace in the thought that this have made my favorite Italian on Earth happy

Are you talking about me, dear? ? Anyway, you're spot on !! I'm really happy for Valerio, he deserved a huge reward for the great setter he is (although very underestimated on many occasions).

volleyball changed. Because rules of the game changed. To win a point today, rival has to make a mistake. It doesn’t matter where: in defense, offense or on serve. It’s all point. Before, to win a point, you had to defend yourself, and after defense you won a point with counter attack. That is very important. The game was more interesting, the ball was more time in the air, players were more concentrated, the old rules were better for audience too. Methodology of training changed as well. Once, games lasted three to four hours, now two. So, you need to train less, and if you train less, you play worse.

Honestly I agree. And sometimes I think this is also true for Men's Volleyball. I definetely like old volleyball better...maybe 'cause i'm a little older than most of the users here and when I started watching and playing v-b old rules were in use.

@bitka- 'cause i'm the biggest Lube's supporter here and a PJ fan (haven't you noticed my nick "pearl"=pearl jam) :) BTW next time combination between music and images will be better, trust me ;)

HCLT, if i'm not wrong also Velasco was the team manager of an Italian football club (Lazio??) after he left volleyball and Giampaolo Montali (Italy's coach before Anastasi) after leaving Italy NT became the team manager of a couple of Italian soccer teams. Also in Europe we have many examples of Football clubs or NTs recruiting great coaches from other sports to improve their management, but also something more: f.e. in France ex France Rugby NT coach Bernard Laporte was named French Secretary of State for Sport.

Zaytsev is as Italian as Juantorena

Sorry mate but can you really put on the same level a boy (Ivan) who was born and spent all his life so far in Italy with a boy (Osmany) who was given Italian passport 2 minutes ago?? 'cause, honestly, I can't.

@proud: ciao "amore mio" ?...it's been a long time since we last talked!! where have you been lately?? BTW the fact that Trento's site calls Juantorena Italo-Cubano doesn't mean that Juantorena is Italian...he isn't....he himself said many times that he was, is and will always be Cuban...and he's right!!

@EPINEPHRINEable: no way mate...me and ray have a deal...Pearl Jam's songs are going to be the official soundtrack for Lube's videos from now on ;) Ray...movie is nice but we can improve... next time tell me if the video has mainly slow-motion or normal speed actions in order to choose the best song.

@Someone: hahaha it's true!! Andrea is a very common man's name in Italy!! Fantastic match...incredible players. I would like you to notice two things: 1. Marco Bracci in this video shows what a great spiker he was; 2. Fefè De Giorgi...14 years and 40kg ago LOL @HCLT: what is Bebeto currently doing? I mean, the last thing I know about him was his commitment as a football manager :o

@raylight: ако използвам Google Translator, аз мога да разбера на вашия език LOL I can't guarantee about the quality of this translation ?

@Kjeldhor: non ci hai capito perché non presti attenzione ragazzo...l'amore ti distrae LOL

@Daniel_e92: molto brevemente, mesi fa in questo stesso topic io e Kjeldhor aka "lo smemorato di Trento" ? stavamo discutendo di qualcosa inerente Trento e lo abbiamo fatto in italiano; ad un certo punto ray ha lasciato un commento dicendo "ehi, cos'è questo italian job qui?" ed abbiamo ripreso a scrivere in inglese. Poco tempo dopo, sotto un video relativo alla nazionale bulgara, si è sviluppata un'accesa discussione tra gli amici bulgari, fatta in bulgaro...ed io, per scherzare, mi sono intromessa chiedendo a ray "ehi, cos'è questo bulgarian job qui?"...da allora non è più finita hahahaha

Sorry guys for my OT

@Daniel_e92: guarda, la faccenda dell' "Italian/Bulgarian Job" è una vecchia storia tra me e Ray LOL ... tu frequenti poco e, relativamente, da poco quindi non ne sei a conoscenza...magari un giorno ti racconteremo ?

@volleymaster: maybe i'm wrong 'cause i can't follow Russian League but i thought there was a sort of limit for foreign players in Russian clubs. Only two non Russian players for each team..so I don't think Vermiglio, Juantorena and Priddy could play at the same time in the same club. But I say it again, maybe the info i have is wrong.

@Daniel_e: hai ragione, da Cuneo ci si aspetta di più...ma anche da Roma io mi aspettavo mooooolto di più e invece stanno "muro muro" (come si dice dalle mie parti) con la A2 ? Diciamo che questo è il bello (e il brutto) del nostro campionato ?

And before our friend Raylight posts something like "Ehi, what's this Italian Job here?" I formally apologize with him and all the other foreigner users for writing my comment in italian ?

@champion: LOL

@Daniel_e92: as a matter of fact it's pretty impressive that Cuneo didn't win with trento's B team....on the other hand if you consider who actually play as Trento B team (Zygadlo, Sokolov, Della Lunga etc.) we cannot exactly say that trento's second team is weak o_O

Guys, can you tell me one thing if you know that: what happened to Marutti last match with Trento. All I know is that he and Osmany hit and Gabriele got injured in his ankle. What did occur exactly??

Since Kjeldhor didn't record Trento - Cuneo (questa proprio non me la dovevi fare ragazzo!! LOL) is there any chance to see a video about this match by someone else here (NightFox, Ray)???