USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials 2012

[Scintillation]

Ugh i still feel awful for Becca but it was nice to see her land that dismount.

[Loves_Shizuka]

Btw, is coverage of gymnastics always this dramamtic/hammy in the US?

It had me in places. And not intentionally.

[centerstage01]

Alas, yes. Al Trautwig is just gawd-awful. Elfi Schlegel rarely says anything worth listening to. Tim Daggett could be really good if he had decent people with him.

[gingercrush]

Alas, yes. Al Trautwig is just gawd-awful. Elfi Schlegel rarely says anything worth listening to. Tim Daggett could be really good if he had decent people with him.

Yeah but he is always going that will be one-tenth. It is bad. Still after London ends and I rewatch gymnastics I'll certainly check out. NBC's 2000 fluff is the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k884DOlx86M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxojWc13f4I

[OnyxRose81]

Alas, yes. Al Trautwig is just gawd-awful. Elfi Schlegel rarely says anything worth listening to. Tim Daggett could be really good if he had decent people with him.

Elfi away from NBC is awesome. Her past commentary for CBC was awesome. NBC is the one who wants them to pander to the lowest common denominator. In their early days on NBC, Elfi was good and Tim was okay but it's just gotten ridiculous now. Al hates gymnastics and wouldn't be good no matter what. I wish they would have gotten Terry Gannon. He didn't get figure skating but he learned to genuinely be interested in it. Al could care less.

[Loves_Shizuka]

I didn't necessarily mean the commentary - although the main guy (Al Trautwig?) certainly does ham it up - just the whole composition of production was very... OTT. lol. It was almost like some kind of edge-of-your-seat movie. ha!

[pollyanna]

They do that all the time. For some reason, they think people won't tune in unless there is drama, drama, drama.

Will Nastia make the team?

Who will win, Jordyn or Gabby?

Will Nastia make the team?

Will Maroney recover from her terrible Nationals FX fall? (show Maroney's fall ad nauseum)

Will Nastia make the team?

Will Rebecca Bross regain her 2009-2010 form and competitiveness?

Will Nastia make the team?

Can Sacramone stay on the beam this time around? (show Beijing beam fall ad nauseum)

Will Nastia make the team?

Who will make the team?

Will Nastia make the team?

Show Marta Karolyi's facial expressions throughout telecast.

Be sure to show gymnasts standing around instead of you know, actual routines.

Oh, and will Nastia make the team?

Why can't they treat gymnastics and figure skating like real sports and just show the competition? You know, like in basketball, football and baseball?

[kylet3]

I missed watching Lori-Strong Ballard or Carol Angela Orchard on CBC because they actually told you what the moves were instead of "This move" or "This release skill" to appeal to the armchair crowd that only. I loved both of their commentating, I learned what the skills and releases were and now I've completely forgot what they are and dont have the opportunity know because the three NBC commentators treat the fans like dimwits.

[Rob]

Why can't they treat gymnastics and figure skating like real sports and just show the competition? You know, like in basketball, football and baseball?

Thank you - shots of the sidelines are shown only during time outs or by replay after the play. Not while the play is on while ignoring the actual play. Can you imagine if during a football game, they showed Peyton Manning's face on the sidelines and talked about his injury instead of showing the plays on the field? The horror!

[skatingfan5]

Thank you - shots of the sidelines are shown only during time outs or by replay after the play. Not while the play is on while ignoring the actual play. Can you imagine if during a football game, they showed Peyton Manning's face on the sidelines and talked about his injury instead of showing the plays on the field? The horror!

I've seen various sports coverage which comes appallingly close to this (baseball is particularly bad). Especially egregious are the "interviews" with coaches while the game is going on -- often missing an important or exciting play because of the pointless chit-chit between network guy and coach. They try to "fix" things by showing a replay of what was happening on the field.

[jeffisjeff]

Can you imagine if during a football game, they showed Peyton Manning's face on the sidelines and talked about his injury instead of showing the plays on the field? The horror!

But they do do things like that - just not nearly as much. It is particularly bad when it gets to be the 4th quarter and the game isn't at all close. They'll talk about all sorts of nonsense!

I distinctly remember last season's Cowboys vs Jets game. The commentary was non-stop talk about the coaching brothers: Rob Ryan for the Cowboys and Rex Ryan for the Jets, with endless shots of the two of them. All the shots of Rob Ryan and his messy hair got to be so bad that I had to ask my husband if I somehow missed Rob Ryan becoming head coach of the Cowboys! (He's wasn't, of course.) And this was a nationally televised game!

[rudi]

I think this year's coverage was especially bad, especially...

...when they showed the "shady and cliqueish" coversation (as I saw it described somewhere else online) between Jordyn/Aly/Becca/MacKayla.

...when they mention a million times that John Orozco is from "The Bronx!"

...when they show Alicia falling off the beam at the 2008 Olympics a million times.

I have to admit that I do like the close ups of Marta because I have fun trying to read her lips (although I usually can't figure out what she's saying.) A friend of mine said to me she thought that Marta said a few "bad words", but, if she did, I didn't catch it.

[rudi]

I've found some must-see routines that weren't shown on night 2:

Bross on beam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=LyOZT2Qp1tE

Thank you!!! I wanted to see this.

[LuckyCharm]

I think this year's coverage was especially bad, especially...

...when they showed the "shady and cliqueish" coversation (as I saw it described somewhere else online) between Jordyn/Aly/Becca/MacKayla.

I missed that. What happened?

[FSfan107]

I missed that. What happened?

I went back and watched this on DVR and didn't see anything wrong. Jordyn, Aly and McKayla all congratulated Gabby. There wasn't any shady conversation going on that I saw. People are trying to make up drama. Those 3 (McKayla, Jordyn, and Aly) all seem like they're close, but I don't think they are meaning to exclude anyone.

[skipaway]

I went back and watched this on DVR and didn't see anything wrong. Jordyn, Aly and McKayla all congratulated Gabby. There wasn't any shady conversation going on that I saw. People are trying to make up drama. Those 3 (McKayla, Jordyn, and Aly) all seem like they're close, but I don't think they are meaning to exclude anyone.

Jordyn mentioned in one of her interviews, that she is very close with McKayla and Aly and hopes that she becomes closer with Gabby in the next month before the Olympics.

[Theatregirl1122]

I've seen various sports coverage which comes appallingly close to this (baseball is particularly bad). Especially egregious are the "interviews" with coaches while the game is going on -- often missing an important or exciting play because of the pointless chit-chit between network guy and coach. They try to "fix" things by showing a replay of what was happening on the field.

They do it ALL THE TIME in Lacrosse. Let's focus intently on the goalie who just made a great save. WAIT, WHAT JUST HAPPENED AT THE OTHER END?

I missed that. What happened?

Pretty much literally nothing. Jordyn was turned around talking to Aly and McKayla (Becca was next to them but I couldn't tell if she was in or out of the conversation). And that was literally it. I even think Gabby may have been on an apparatus at that point so she couldn't have been in the conversation.

And, on the last rotation, Aly, Jordy, and McKayla were all on Vault and Becca wasn't competing because her group was on floor. Gabby and Kyla were competing on floor. So it is even less surprising that Aly, Jordyn, McKayla, and Becca might have been together and Gabby and Kyla might not have been near them.

[Scintillation]

Ugh...they're teenage girls. Some girls bond together, others don't. I don't think anyone is being excluded, it just sounds like they all have their own social circles.
I also realized that this may be the overall youngest team we have ever sent. Is anyone over the age of 18?

[Spareoom]

Nope. Aly is the oldest and she just turned 18 a few months ago.

You know what boggles my mind is that McKayla is 16, going on 17, but you'd never know it...she just seems so youthful and childish. Not meaning that in a bad way, but she doesn't seem world-wise as a lot of your typical 16 year old tend to be.

The USA is fielding one of the youngest teams at the Olympics, and certainly much younger than all the other medal contenders. China has several holdovers from the last quad (He Kexin, Deng Linlin and Jiang Yuyang), Russia has AFan and Romania of course has Ponor and Izbasa. Of course, who really things He Kexin is 20, but w/e. I'll shut up now, lol.

ETA: Just had to jump in and add my two cents on the whole "catty girls" rumor. Since when do girls have to be BEST FRIENDS with EVERYONE they're around? The fact that any of them are as close as they are is fairly rare since I've never seen any of the USAG girls bond like that before (Nastia, Alicia and Sam to an extent). I mean, the 2004 didn't look like anyone really was friends with anyone else, lol. Jo, McKayla and Aly seem to share a lot of the same interests and likes, and they seem to have a great rapport which leads to tight friendship. If they were acting exclusive and icing out any of the other girls that would be different, but I have seen NOTHING to make that the case. In the aforementioned scenario, Jo was discussing something with Aly, Becca and McKayla. It seemed personal/touchy since they were kind of huddled together and talking in hushed tones. It might not have been something they wanted broadcasted across the whole arena. And Gabby was off elsewhere putting on her tracksuit; she had JUST come off the floor. I saw nothing catty about the whole episode, and I usually have a really good radar for that sort of clique thing. :p

While we're on the subject, I thought it was sweet to note that Aly and Nastia seem to be pretty good friends. Aly always tweets Nastia and during Worlds it seemed like they got along really well (and Aly thought it was the bombdotcom that Nastia got to give her her bronze medal, lol). At Trials, Aly was the first one to rush up to Nastia after her beam and give her a really long hug (like, thirty seconds long), which is unusual to see since competitors don't usually interact with each other much while the competition is still running. And then after the comp ended before the girls headed back, Nastia was giving Aly a big hug and Aly was crying and saying, "I love you". Anyway, I thought it was sweet. It's always nice to see the older girls and the younger girls create such friendships; I mean, just look at Anna and Gabby! They seem to have a great rapport and get along really well.

[judgejudy27]

He Kexin is probably about 16 or 17. She looks like she is going through some massive puberty in the last year. In Beijing she was probably 12 or 13.