US Nats
I was gonna post my thoughts on day one of the US women's gymnastics national championships, but then I realized... no one cares, Nicola, no one cares.
Well, muahahaha, my Figure Skating brethren, you have a reason to care now:
*\o/*
It starts at 6:30pm (EST), when I assume Johnny will be in the pre-show with Nastia, and you can stream it live or later at universalsports.com (follow the links in the right sidebar), no matter where you are in the world. NB. I think the site likes IE a lot more than Firefox.
Mattie Larson winning Floor Ex. in day one. Floor normally bores the shit out of me, but look at the lines of her first tumbling pass. Geez. <3
Rebecca Bross on beam earlier in the year. She is the favourite to win the All-Around, and would have to mess up pretty badly for Mattie Larson to overtake her. Bross is a POW-AH gymnast and thus has always left me cold, but she was the best I've seen her on day one, so I don't begrudge her. (Nastia will likely gush all over Bross because she's coached by her dad, Valeri Liukin, FYI.)
Here is Vanessa Zamarripa, 7th after day one, landing a difficult vault with a stone-cold stick. Zam is the scrappy underdog who I'm hoping will make a good enough impression to be considered for the World team (total longshot, I know). She's a college gymnast for the UCLA Bruins, who won the NCAAs this year, and she's never competed elite gymnastics, until now, at the grand old age of 20.
Alicia Sacramone on beam on day 1. If you watched the 2008 Olympics, your reaction to A-Sac, who fell on beam and went out of bounds on floor, was probably, "goddamnit Alicia, why do you have to ruin everything?!" But she's making a comeback and I suddenly kind of adore her. At 22, she's totally an old lady (literally. She has arthritis. Gymnastics is harsh :/), and as we've already established, I'm all about the older, scrappy underdogs.
Well, muahahaha, my Figure Skating brethren, you have a reason to care now:
*\o/*
It starts at 6:30pm (EST), when I assume Johnny will be in the pre-show with Nastia, and you can stream it live or later at universalsports.com (follow the links in the right sidebar), no matter where you are in the world. NB. I think the site likes IE a lot more than Firefox.
Click to viewMattie Larson winning Floor Ex. in day one. Floor normally bores the shit out of me, but look at the lines of her first tumbling pass. Geez. <3
Rebecca Bross on beam earlier in the year. She is the favourite to win the All-Around, and would have to mess up pretty badly for Mattie Larson to overtake her. Bross is a POW-AH gymnast and thus has always left me cold, but she was the best I've seen her on day one, so I don't begrudge her. (Nastia will likely gush all over Bross because she's coached by her dad, Valeri Liukin, FYI.)
Here is Vanessa Zamarripa, 7th after day one, landing a difficult vault with a stone-cold stick. Zam is the scrappy underdog who I'm hoping will make a good enough impression to be considered for the World team (total longshot, I know). She's a college gymnast for the UCLA Bruins, who won the NCAAs this year, and she's never competed elite gymnastics, until now, at the grand old age of 20.
Alicia Sacramone on beam on day 1. If you watched the 2008 Olympics, your reaction to A-Sac, who fell on beam and went out of bounds on floor, was probably, "goddamnit Alicia, why do you have to ruin everything?!" But she's making a comeback and I suddenly kind of adore her. At 22, she's totally an old lady (literally. She has arthritis. Gymnastics is harsh :/), and as we've already established, I'm all about the older, scrappy underdogs.