Cuervo Celebrity Qualifier Falls
Flat for Sport Insiders
By Dave Wegbreit
It felt like déjà vu. Or maybe the odor of a certain smoke lingering in the early morning Huntington Beach sea air.
Stacy Keibler, third-place winner on last year’s ABC reality TV series Dancing With the Stars and former WWE diva repeated nearly word-for-word what she said in an interview with Extra before she and Jessie Cooper lost to Montana Curtis and Juliana Evens in the AVP Huntington Beach Open Qualifier: how glad she was that Cuervo was at Hungtington with the AVP so she could enjoy a nice, cold margarita.
Just the latest celebrity sideshow in the AVP’s attempt to attract a media circus. “Come see the celebrities! Come see the Cuervo girls! Come see the sponsor tents! Come see ... the game?”
You wouldn’t know it from the media coverage, but Stacy Keibler’s showing was pure slaughter (21-7 and 21-11) where, for the most part, Curtis and Evens served only Cooper. We heard they were asked not to hit any balls directly at Keibler’s dome. While Keibler did better than last year’s Huntington Open celebrity guest, actress and model Molly Sims, the underhand serves and near falls (she actually fell like a redwood on one botched passing attempt) did little to win over the always-critical peanut gallery. The fact that Keibler dashed to the Cuervo tent to reapply makeup before her interview with Inside Edition didn’t help much, either.
Most admitted that she was “a pretty good athlete, actually” but, standing in the shade of a court-side tent, one qualifier captured the general attitude of players.
“It doesn’t make any sense. If they sat there and, like, coached the chick for a week, that’d be pretty sick,” the player commented.
But Keibler’s only training seemed to be the last-minute lesson on the sand from "Team Gorgeous" Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger that bumped Jill Dorsey and Sara Fredrickson from the No. 1 court. And for their trouble, none of the TV crews bothered to interview More and Stonebarger, at least that we could tell. They simply got their sound bytes from Kiebler, then packed up and were gone. So much for bringing true notoriety to the sport.
Keibler’s was not the first celebrity appearance this season. Former Dallas Cowboy tight end Jay Novacek paired with Curtis Pitts at the Dallas Open and former Miami Heat center Rony Seikaly paired with Gaston Macau at the Miami Open.
Macau said he, too, was impressed by his celebrity teammate’s athleticism. (After all, Seikaly was NBA’s most improved player in 1990). Still, Macau was surprised by how improvised the event seemed.
“We met Thursday prior to event, which is pretty ironic; you’d figure someone of his athletic stature would be given more notice,” he said.
Toby Whitmoyer, the Jose Cuervo brand director at Diageo North America (the folks who distribute Cuervo) said these celebrities bring the AVP media attention.
“Pro beach volleyball is still seen by a lot of media and sports fans as a niche sport and doesn’t receive nearly the attention of the traditional ‘stick and ball’ sports,” he said. “At the end of the day, increased exposure is only going to help the AVP and its players.”
The Huntington match did help at least one player. Rumor on the sand was playing with the celebs also brought their AVP qualifier partner the same cash as if they’d placed seventh in the main draw. According to players we talked to, the celebs earned as much as $15,000 for merely stepping onto the court. Neither purse is listed on the AVP Web site, and Whitmoyer seemed to suggest that neither the guests nor the players were paid.
“We had hoped to pay out part of the prize purse to each of the celebrity guests who attempted to qualify, however none of them successfully made it through the qualifying rounds,” he said.
But with their victory over Keibler and Cooper, Curtis and Evens did go on to the next round. But this virtual bye brought the 42nd-seeded team in the 50 team women’s field against 10th seeded Suzana Manole and Lauren Mills. Playing against superior opponents (or rather two legit players instead of one plus a celebrity hack), Curtis and Evens lost 21-11 and 21-7.
As I left the sand, pushing my way past the crews from Extra and Inside Edition as they, too, left for the day, I had to wonder: What do these sideshows really bring to the AVP qualifying experience besides a watered down field and heartburn from some star receiving a nice pay day when the other qualifiers have trained their butts off in an attempt to merely break even on their entry fee?
Sadly, there was no ice cold margarita waiting for me to help with the answers.
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