Korean Professional Volleyball League

I've always liked playing volleyball, so I have really enjoyed watching the Korean league this year on tv. I find it much more enjoyable than watching the Korean basketball league.

As I watch, though, I wonder about the effect of foreign players on the league. In Canada, I lost interest in the Canadian Football League because so many of the star players were Americans who couldn't make it in the NFL. What did that say about our game? Did we really need those players? Perhaps part of the problem was that ALL of the foreign players were American. It was a constant reminder of how much better they were, and they don't even grow up playing the same rules as in Canada.

I know that there is a constant struggle in Korea over the number of foreign players to be allowed on each team. I think that one of the reasons that I don't like the Korean basketball league is that each team is allowed two players, and, when both teams have two big foreign players on the floor, the rest of the team looks pretty pathetic.

With the volleyball league, each team can have only one foreign player and the men's military team has no foreigner (I always seem to be rooting for them as the underdogs). The foreign players seem to be involved in about 30% of the scores, but they don't seem to dominate the game quite as much as they do in the basketball league. Still, I wonder what the effect on the fans is. Do the fans realize that their own players aren't competive at the international level (Yes, I know that the Korean mens team won in Doha, but they got their butts kicked at the World Volleyball Championships in Japan)?

I like the level of good sportsmanship in volleyball, too. There doesn't seem to be much trash talking (except for Leandro Araujo da Silva and that was off the court - "I think Rooney is not all that great a player") and the amount of complaining to the referee that you see in football and basketball seems much less. And, for some odd reason, the entire volleyball league is composed of attractive, fit players - unlike the basketball league that seems entirely composed of pudgy, unattractive players. Does the volleyball league have a physical appearance policy?

I just wish that the teams would have better names and mascots (Yes, I realize that the Vancouver Canucks and the Memphis Grizzlies leave a lot to be desired namewise.); however:

Korean Airlines Jumbos (Is that named after a jumbo jet? Fast and graceful?)
Samsung Blue Fangs (Ooo...that's scary)
LIG Greaters (What's a "greater"?)









And on the women's side, what does a pink spider have to do with volleyball? It even looks cute, not scary.









And, I kind of wish that the KT&G Woman's Pro Volleyball Club was the "Women's" club. Am I the only one who notices things like this?









Where are the tigers, lions, and bears? Where are the Smashers and Hurricanes? Names to strike fear into the hearts of opponents.