In an article on Slate.com, the author asks “Why are beach-volleyball players always patting each other on the butt?”

He even tries to argue somehow that it is not “worthy” to part of the Olympics.

“…beach volleyball is unworthy of the Olympics. While it is clearly a healthful pastime, a fun athletic-ish endeavor, and a fine way for four friends to work off a case of canned beer, it is just as clearly not an actual sport.”

I read an article that beach volleyball was in the top three sports viewed during the Olympics, in the United States, together with gymnastics and swimming. From spectator feedback via Twitter, everyone has said how the beach volleyball has been one of their favorite events. Music, cheerleaders, bikinis, sun and sand, what more could you ask for. Well, an actual beach would be nice, but you can’t have everything.

Beach volleyball was first introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to make the Olympics more appealing to the younger market. Snowboarding has been successful in attracting a new and different market to the winter games BMX will be part of the Olympics for the first time in Beijing.

Beach volleyball is a great spectator sport, both live and on television. I saw a bit of the greco-roman wrestling the other night and to be honest, that has to be one of the strangest sports to have at the Olympics. The only reason it is in the program is because of its long history. Watching two hairy, 100 plus kilos guys rolling around on a mat is what I call entertainment.