Keller @ Large: Volleyball Doesn't Deserve 'Official State...' Recognition

BOSTON (CBS) - I understand that while I was on vacation down the Cape with my family, the state Senate voted unanimously to declare volleyball the official "recreational sport" of the Commonwealth.

We already have an official state sport, basketball, which was invented in Springfield, apparently considered a part of Massachusetts. But it seems volleyball was allegedly invented in Holyoke, and the state senator from there apparently thought he could cook up a new category and get it slipped through while everyone was away on vacation.

Sorry, senator, I caught you.

And I am here to say that in no way does volleyball, however enjoyable and popular a sport it may be, deserve to be our state's official "recreational sport."

Not if reality is considered an appropriate criteria.

There is a long list of other pastimes more worthy of that designation, beginning with the sport of watching – and complaining about – our local sports teams.

This sport is in high season right now what with the Red Sox finding creative ways to lose each night, and considering how it's been nearly nine months since one of our teams last won a title, whining about them promises to continue to be a major focus.

Then there's our favorite year-round sport, bad driving. On the way up from the Cape yesterday, I saw a world-class exhibition of tailgating, speeding and cutting off – and that was just in the Orleans rotary!

And how can volleyball be considered more of a local sport than politics, where there's no I in "team" but there sure is "me"?

I call on the House to kill this silly volleyball thing.

And while they're at it, maybe it's time to re-think basketball's status, too.

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