 |
|||
|
September 20, 2008
Last
chance to check out the Golden Girls:
By Phil Collin Sure, the Manhattan Beach Open is different this year. It's been moved to the cusp of the autumnal equinox by the Olympics, a month and a half after the tournament's usual occurrence. Still, the usual suspects made their way through the brackets on the first day of play, with only one mild upset on the men's side and the top four women's teams advancing unscathed. The 53rd men's final will be held on Sunday. The 42nd women's final is scheduled for today at 1:30p.m., and with the double golden girls, top-seeded Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, ready, willing and able to skip the 2009 season, today could be the last chance to see them for what could be an extended period of time. You can thank their children-to-be for that. "That's my biggest goal - I want to win this weekend, finish strong on the AVP and then get going on the family front," said Walsh, whose husband, Casey Jennings, is one of the top men's players. "That would be a dream come true. Casey and I are ready. I'll come and support him on the AVP tour next year, but I want to take some time off. "I'm planning on playing until the (AVP) Hot Winter Nights, January and February, then call it a year. I would say a year off then be back. You never know how priorities change or how your body reacts, but I'm hoping to come back." For May-Treanor, married to Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, today represents her final day toiling on the sand. She plans to skip next week's event in Glendale, Ariz. After all, she also has to practice for her appearance on "Dancing With the Stars." "Yeah, see my husband and dancing," May-Treanor said. "I plan on getting pregnant, so that's in the works. "I would be in no rush to come back, but you need to start a new chapter. You've got to have a journey. There is more to life than playing 24/7. Matt and I - it's just another journey and I know Kerri feels like it's another chapter." Could today conceivably - pardon the pun - be her final Manhattan appearance? "I don't know. It's hard to say," May-Treanor said. "There are different things we want to do. It would be nice to have a child then come back and play. . . . If all the cards went right, that's what would happen." AVP chief Leonard Armato was asked if that would be akin to the NBA losing Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. "That's hard to say," Armato said. "Obviously they're big names and big draws, but we've had events that were successful when they were out qualifying for the Olympics. "I don't want to minimize the impact of them not playing, but at the same time it's nothing we can control. We have to move on and continue to grow with them or if they should get pregnant, without them for the period of time they're not playing." |
|||