Team Cup Volleyball : Obradovich Loses but He’s Still Happy

Depending on how you look at it, Steve Obradovich is either unromantic or a great planner. What he isn’t is boring.

“Never a dull moment,” the one they call O.B. said.

There rarely is one with Obradovich, who once helped USC win a Rose Bowl and a national title in volleyball the same year (1977), and is regarded as one of the most colorful players in beach volleyball, his full-time sport of choice. But this week may be a topper.

Wednesday: He was married to his girlfriend of 1 1/2 years in a small, beachfront ceremony. Anticipating that this time of the year would be busy, they honeymooned ahead of time last April in Hawaii.

Thursday: He played on the first of six nights of Great Western Team Cup Volleyball at the Forum. Happy actual honeymoon.

Today: He returns to work as owner of Julie’s, the USC hangout/restaurant.

Neither Obradovich nor his wife, Linda, find anything terribly unusual about forgoing a honeymoon to play in the tournament. It has been their way of life all along, the changing gears and careers from one day to the next. But beyond that, Team Cup, the only professional indoor league in the country, holds special meaning: Winning, all the time.

While his beach career has been filled mainly with injuries and frustration the last four years, Obradovich, as a member of the championship team in each of the previous three years of the Forum event, has found unquestionable success. Only Jeff Stork can make the same claim.

“I’ve got the best of both worlds,” Obradovich said before Team Toyota beat his Team Reebok, 30-23, 31-29, under the event’s unique scoring system. “I’m a businessman who makes major decisions with the restaurant and then I can go out on the beach and play volleyball.”

But not much longer. Obradovich, who has spent 17 of his 34 years playing competitive volleyball, plans to retire as a full-time participant after the Jose Cuervo tournament Sept. 15-16 in San Diego.

Other things are starting to take precedent--such as the restaurant, almost constant pain in his left thigh and knee that keeps him awake some nights, and a baby due in mid-November.

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” he said.

In the first match of the doubleheader before 1,589 fans, Mike Blanchard and Jon Root led Labatt’s to a 19-30, 30-24, 11-8 victory over A’ME.