A. RIP Olympics
The first step is saying the words out loud. The Olympics are over. While no one is expecting you to be emotionally prepared to move on quite yet, the end of the Olympics doesn’t have to mean the end of joy. There are still a number of Olympic postmortem issues we’ll need to work through (remember Seda?), a 2017-2020 code to have a lot of deep feelings about, and sooner than you think, the NCAA season.
If you’re new to the site as of this year’s Olympic process, welcome! I’m delighted to have you. Now be advised that NCAA gymnastics is the cool jam around here, and I’m going to force you to become obsessed with it whether you like it or not. It’s the best. A wonderful complement to modern elite. It’s like if gymnastics still used the 1992 code and the Unified Team and Romania competed against each other every weekend, except with a lot more temp tattoos and erratic and unprompted screaming to make fun of. And if you enjoy melting into a pool of sludge about crack-a-doo judging, NCAA gym is more than here for you. You’ll have a blast.
The thing I love most about NCAA when compared to modern elite is the increased stakes on every single skill. In elite, difficulty is decisive enough that whether Laurie Hernandez nails her layout stepout on beam or has a one-tenth check is sort of incidental. As long as there are no major errors, her score is going to be fine. In NCAA, a one-tenth wobble is the difference between an amazing routine and a disastrous one. The stakes on every single landing are gigantic, not just to hit it but to hit it ideally, resurrecting that feeling of constant tension and urgency through every movement that has been lost in the era of US elite dominance.
So, if you haven’t been drinking the NCAA Kool-Aid, pull up a chair and grab a glass. Let me be your guide. You’ll never be the same. In a good way. Mostly.
B. Ding Dong the Yurchenko Arabian Is Dead
Our long national nightmare is finally over. The NCAA Committee decided to release its adjustments to the 2016-2017 rules right in the middle of the Olympics so that exactly no one would be paying attention (solid work as usual), but it redeemed itself by doing the sensible thing (WHAT?!?!?!?!?!) and bringing all variations of the Yurchenko 1/2, arabian or otherwise, down to a 9.950 start value.
PHEW. No more “Was that an arabian? IT WASN’T!” for us next season!!
The other development on vault is the removal of all “back pike 1/1” vaults from the code, presumably operating on the belief that a twisting pike shape just ends up looking like a sucky layout. Exactly no one was doing back pike 1/1 vaults before now anyway.
In further news, of all the problems with the NCAA postseason format (see: everything about it), the committee got together and finally decided to address the…geographical seeding of the 19-36 teams? Because that was the part that needed fixing?
Reverting to pre-2011 rules, the 19-36 teams will no longer be seeded into pots and will simply be distributed to the closest possible regional site regardless of ranking.
Also more fun with participation trophies…
Important work.
C. KAROLYI
In the second part of NBC’s genuflection to Bela and Martha— following the glorious epic The Ranch—we go back in time (it’s like a prequel, you guys) to learn the origin story of how Bela and Martha came to be. It will obviously need a full recap at some point, but you should watch it now because of A) Bela and Martha carriage ride through the snow, and B) “Romania had Nadia Comaneci and vampires.”
D. What even is Bruno Grandi?
Bruno has decided to open his spew-hole again and release the insane ramblings of a dementia patient.
“The only thing with which I don’t agree with the judges, and it’s a personal opinion and not a criticism — for me the gymnastics of the second American (Raisman) is more artistic than the first (Simone Biles). The first, it’s acrobatics,” International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) president Grandi, 82, told AFP.
“Artistic sense is related to personality but also to the morphology of the body. She (Biles) is almost like a bomb, with amazing height. Whenever she tries to make artistic movements, they seem a bit forced. But she won, and she didn’t steal it.”
Yeah, Simone Biles is just acrobatic tricks. Not a true artist…like Aly Raisman.
I don’t….I can’t even…like what….I….is…
Muuuuuuuhghghgh. If you want to argue that Simone isn’t made of all the artistries, that’s fine, but use Thorsdottir as your counterexample, or Millousi or Yilmaz or Hernandez or someone. Picking Raisman as a COUNTEREXAMPLE TO ACROBATIC POWER GYMNASTICS, a gymnast that even her most fervent admirers will note is made special because of her intense acrobatic skill, is insane. You totally just picked the highest-ranked white girl and said, “She’s the one I like.” Just like always.
E. 65 and Counting
The US dominance is often expressed in terms of the margin of victory over the other teams, but the part of it I find the most impressive is not the fact that the other teams are way worse than the US but the fact that the US doesn’t miss. Even if the other teams came into the meet with routines at the same level, the US would still have won every single one of these team finals.
Since the Mattie Larson 2010 floor fall, the US women have hit 65 consecutive team-final routines. They haven’t missed a team-final beam routine since Sacramone.
F. Retirements
We’re now entering the traditional period of post-Olympics “retirements,” but at this point…grain of salt. Sure, some of them might actually be done, but gymnasts have spoiled the concept of “retiring” for everyone forever because they all come back anyway.
You say you’re done now, but tell that to your March 2018 instagram of a double layout.
G. Fetus Verbals
We’re also getting a lot of NCAA verbal commitments for the 2020-2021 season rolling in right now, which…SHUT UP. Go to Life Science or a boy-girl pool party and talk to me in two-and-a-half years.
My new rule is that I’m no longer acknowledging college verbals coming from junior gymnasts. Because I’m totally fighting the power. Like a hero.
H. Gabby’s reactions to things
Oh wait. That’s nothing. So I don’t have anything to say about that.
I actually just realised you DID force me to be obsessed with NCAA after 2012. So. Thank you!
Excited to join the NCAA bandwagon! Where do I get a crash course?
Ncaagymnews.com!
Two additional thoughts…
1. Did you miss Greg Marsden’s tweet a while back about no more leo deductions? If it was bad before…
2. Grandi only picked Aly because he probably doesn’t realize she’s Jewish.
I. Our Lady Catalina of Ponor
Yup last fall I accidentally stumbled upon your blog, have absolutely no recollection of how I got here because we have no such thing as college sports here so I had no idea, and boy did I gulp down some Kool Aid. I am now a NCAA gymnastics addict (also, a bbs addict). Cannot wait.
I just hope I’ll be able to get some of the meets on youtube. A lot of the people who uploaded them got blocked last season 🙁 but I have no other way of watching them here. No espn and stuff over here where I live.
Please never stop blogging!! 🙂
You’re surprised Bruno is still racist?? HAHAHAHAHAHA
1. We should replace Bruno with Aimee Boorman
2. I thought Mattie Larson missed a CR on floor. She only fell in TQ. Which…why would you put her up in TF if she fell in qualifications MARTHA!? I’m totally not still bitter about it, i swear
Mattie missed a CR in her third pass and fell on her dismount. Apparently, Martha didn’t want to use her for the team final but was talked into it by the coaches.
Ugh Can someone just fire Bruno Grandi already or can he just DIE already?
This is his last year. He’s not running for re-election.
Thank god, I’ve been waiting for that for like ever.
What is the best way to watch ncaa?
ESPN, Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Network. ESPN shows quite a few meets on ESPNU and the SEC Network.
I found your blog when you did the “When Wolf Turns Go Bad” episode and chuckled so much I shared it around. Now you owe me some excitement and education on NCAA. Purty please.
I will never ever watch NCAA but please cover more elite, your writing makes the gymnastics world even better.
biggest mistake ever putting Gabby the Grouch on the team. It’s like if its not about her it doesn’t matter. Such a Team Player. Oh well – she was like a painful pimple on the rosey cheeks of the team. Grow Up for pitty sake – at least pretend to be happy for team mates who truly worked for the entire time prior to the Olympics. She is a beautiful gymnast with amazing lines and has the ability to light up a room – just not this time. Missed the natural enthusiasm of Maggie Nichols and Mykayla Skinner. Will look forward to their “Team” participation in the NCAA – Short of a death in the family or major catastrophe she should have been there with the “team” for the finale. She needs to look at some of the college girls who might only do one routine but know that they contribute to the team with support and encouragement. I love the ncaa’s can’t wait for December. Gabby, I’ve loved watching you but please retire and be happy again.
She had to start classes at Ohio state. That’s why she left early. But I do agree she didn’t really look happy her entire time in Rio. I was more worried that something personal was going on. Regardless, I hope she finds her joy again.
Who cares about Gabby’s mood? She’s there to be good at gymnastics and she did that pretty well. As for being an asset for the team, she saved her best work for the Olympic team qualifying and final (as opposed to her individual Nationals, Trials, and Olympic EF).
If there must be an argument about Gabby’s mood, let it be noted she’s not saying mean things to her teammates, nor sabotaging their performances like Tonya Harding, nor bringing shame to her team and sport through vandalism like Ryan Lochte. She’s always been a serious competitor since 2011, same facial expressions, context, and everything, and it puzzles me why her critics have never noticed that at all until now. It would be more puzzling to me except that it’s obvious people are buying into the whole narrative of Gabby being mean and upset that she’s been dethroned as Olympic AA Champion and won less medals than her teammates and that she has a vendetta against them because of it. When she’s in the arena, she’s mostly serious, focused on her work, goes through her routines in the sidelines with her coach; this was true in the Chow era as well, nothing has changed in that respect. The only thing making her sad and upset is the unfair criticism levelled at her from the flag ceremony, and the accusations she’s not supportive of her teammates just because she’s not jovially screaming like Bella and Mary Lou in the sidelines. If anything, Gabby is more like Marta and saves her cheer and joy for special occasions and otherwise has more stern, cool, serious expressions inside the competitive arena. That does not make her any less supportive or a worse gymnast.
If Grandi was American he’d be a Trump supporter. Just saying.
Donald Trump thinks Aly Raisman is artistic?
Bruno likes the second best power gymnast in the world over the absolute best power gymnast who ever lived. He justifies his preference in the name of artistry. WTF????
Is this a belated April 1 joke?
No– Donald Trump is a racist ass. Like Grandi.