SoBe Sports: Chefs Get Spiked on the Volleyball Court

Josh Capon, volleyball champion

By James Mulcahy

Before the nighttime festivities get underway today, a bunch of pasty/hungover chefs took to the beach outside of the James Hotel for the first annual Let's Get Spiked Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Spike Mendelsohn. There were four teams, and each came prepared to represent: "There's been some serious smack talk going on in an email chain," said Mendelsohn. "It almost got cancelled - we had to check in and be like 'guys, we're all just kidding, right?'" Before he donned his team uniform (a brown T-shirt and inappropriately short shorts), we asked the host who he thought would be a contender. "We're all pretty afraid of Curtis Stone - he's like six five."

Unfortunately for Stone, the fears turned out not to be justified. His blonde hair glistened in the sun, but his volleyball skills - not so much. "Curtis Stone is kind of bad," muttered our bikini-clad neighbor. "I know," her companion excitedly replied. "It's the talk of the beach!" After watching another of his serves hit the net, a a second reveler refused to give up hope. "Well, maybe they don't have volleyball in Australia." Bless her heart.


He did manage an impressive rally at the end, after a pep talk of sorts. "The [censored] ball [censored]." But it wasn't enough to best Team Dolphins, led by Josh Capon and Andrew Zimmern (even when a late game sub in of Art Smith almost doomed them, a move quickly corrected by actually-good-at-volleyball chef Kris Wessel).

Well, at least he looks good....

Next up it was Team Love Machine, featuring barbecue maestro Tim Love and Justin Warner (who did a robot-style pop and lock dance for the cameras as he took the court) and the Beach Cutlets led by Mendelsohn and Johnny Iuzzini, who modified his T-shirt toga-style - perhaps to intimidate the opponents with his tattoos, or perhaps to provide better access to the female fans who sprayed him with water between serves.

In the end, Capon's Team Dolphins took home the trophy, but it was the crowd who was the real winner, having witnessed a spectacle like no other. "They should really stay in the kitchen," said one observer. Nah - they surely enjoyed their day in the sun. Ok, by "day," we mean two hours, because no sooner did the tourney end than they headed back to the bar to get spiked in an entirely different way.