Games getting more tense

MICHAEL VILLANI

It’s getting hard to move from place to place in the venue now

without the proper credentials. Yes, security is tightening as the

volunteers, hundreds of them, move in to complement the hundreds of

paid staff members tending to business in this venue alone.

Several women’s teams came to the main court today to practice on

the field of play on which they hope to earn gold. They were big,

strong and fast. This is going to be some competition. The Russian

girls were at the net with their fiery coach of many years, Karpol.

He didn’t let them down. You could hear him from one end of this

20,000 seat venue to the other.

I also met the NBC broadcast team, Jim Watson doing play-by-play

and Mike Dodd, silver medalist in Atlanta, from Manhattan Beach,

doing color. Jim’s now living in Washington but graduated from

Foothill High School in Tustin, lived on Balboa Island for quite some

time and is now with Fox Sports Northwest in Seattle. He said the

thing he missed most about SoCal was Wahoo’s fish tacos ... kind of

brought things closer to home.

Longtime president of the international volleyball federation,

Ruben Acosta and his wife, Malu, also graced the venue. There were

people snapping to attention all over the place as they strolled

through smiling and waving to everyone.

*

It’s early Saturday morning in Athens now ... I’m filing this

story today after last night’s crowning achievement by the people of

Greece. From all of the wire-service accounts, the opening ceremonies

were this country’s grandest moment of glory, and I certainly agree.

Several colleagues and I viewed it in a quaint, portside restaurant

with a widescreen TV, and we were just as thrilled as when we saw it

live a few nights earlier.

Well, the competition for most events officially begins today. I’m

calling four women’s preliminary matches this afternoon and tonight.

My days are going to get longer, my schedule busier and my focus

keener. After all, that’s what they’re paying me for. In light of

this, my reports may not be quite as often, but rest assured, they

will come with the same enthusiasm as I report “From the Games.”