How Russia Must Weep

     The Russian Men's Volleyball team took home the gold in the 2012 London Olympics.  After my own US Men's team fell to Italy in the quarterfinals (they fought valiantly!), I shifted my allegiance to Russia.  I've been a big fan of volleyball on the international level for a while now, and countries like Russia, USA, Brazil, and Serbia have always produced powerhouse programs.  It's always been fun to watch these teams lunge for each others' imaginary jugulars.  
     BUT! Just a few days ago, I read that Maxim Mikhaylov,  arguably the world's best wing spiker, was TAKING A BREAK from the national team! Apparently he had a really long, really grueling season with his club team, Zenit Kazan.  Zenit Kazan, might I add, is really the house of volleyball giants, both literally and figuratively.  I mean, such names as Reid Priddy (USA), Clay Stanley (USA), and Matt Anderson (USA) have played there as well.  It is also coached by the best of the best, Vladimir Alekno.  
      Anyhow, I was pretty near heartbroken that Mikhaylov wouldn't be participating in the 2013 World League.  But I consoled myself with the fact that there would still be Alexander Butko and Sergei Grankin, two of the world's most prolific setters, as well as  Alexander Volkov, Dimitri Muserskiy, and Nicolay Apalikov, three of the scariest giants to ever dominate the net.  Out of all of those superstars, only Apalikov returned to the team.  I love the Russian team, and I know their entire starting lineup as well as most of their reserves.  Nearly all of the familiar faces are gone.  Obmachaev, Illinkh, Berezkho, Khtey, and Biryukov are all missing, in addition to Mr. Maxim Mikhaylov.  
     This got me to thinking.  Can this possibly be a coincidence?  They were all in their late twenties, early thirties...It simply isn't possible that ALL of them were injured.  I mean, Lady Luck isn't that capricious.  So I did some pretty stalkerish research on the internet, and found out that Vladimir Alekno resigned.  How sad, right? But then I also found out that the man replacing him is the very man HE replaced, years ago.  That change, as the volleyball community knows, lead to a monstrous run that cumulated with the Gold in London.  But now?  This smacks of conspiracy!
      What if Alekno was fired? What if all of these players left the team in PROTEST? A lot of them played for Zenit, beneath Mr. Alekno.  What if this new coach is a sketchy character? Did money change hands?  How can Russia compete at the level it had previously been dominating with such a crew of unknown variables?  What will I do without my heroes?


Woefully Yours,

Cynthia

P.S. sorry about the misleading title.