Women's gymnastics - Qualifying continued

[Scintillation]

Aly is SO MUCH LIKE one of my old coworkers. Same monotone voice, no matter what the emotion she's experiencing. Like Aly she could use it to her advantage and have great deadpan joke delivery. And unless you know her really well, you think her monotone voice means she doesnt care, which isn't true.

[Mayra]

I want to see said interviews. Were they only on US TV?

Yes, NBC interviewed Aly, Gabby and Jordyn after their subdivision. A visibly crying Jordyn could be seen directly behind both Aly and Gabby as they talked about how excited they were to make the All around. To be fair to them, they did give Jordyn time to compose herself before they interviewed her.

As always, NBC likes to keep it classy.

[senorita]

^ This is probably recorded from tv with a camera, but I believe it is the scene mentioned above, when I saw this in the morning I thought they were interviewing her just to show Wieber in the background..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUF7Re0P_0

[Loves_Shizuka]

Aly is SO MUCH LIKE one of my old coworkers. Same monotone voice, no matter what the emotion she's experiencing. Like Aly she could use it to her advantage and have great deadpan joke delivery. And unless you know her really well, you think her monotone voice means she doesnt care, which isn't true.

That's so funny, because I have a colleague just like this. He is SO deadpan that everything he says makes me laugh, intentional or not.

Funnily enough, he's in the US at the moment and he says people don't really "get him". I think his expression and humour is too British.

[Scintillation]

He can come hang out with me. I may not be cool and classy but I love me some British humor.
My mom is now a full-fledged Aly Raisman cheerleader. She wants her to win AA, especially after I told her that most of the gymnastics community would hate it if she did.

[pollyanna]

^ This is probably recorded from tv with a camera, but I believe it is the scene mentioned above, when I saw this in the morning I thought they were interviewing her just to show Wieber in the background..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUF7Re0P_0

Gah. So heartbreaking. I was very, very glad to see the Jenny Zhang was right there to comfort her and try to hide her from the press in those first moments. Very nurturing. Damn media for honing in on Jordyn's face like that. She's just a kid. They're all just kids.

[Cyn]

After watching the FX yesterday all day and then the broadcast last night, Good grief, it was like watching skating competitions.

I want to humbly offer up my services to find these athletes music for their floor routines - with my er, variety (yeah, let's call it that) of music tastes, I could put together something for these gals that would make the judges and audience wake up from the Tosca/Carmen/[insert tired warhorse] stupor of year after year.

[Hedwig]

Why is it that so many people have the wish for someone to win so that other people are upset?
This is not only meant at you Scintillation, but I noticed that also in skating discussions a lot of time people say "Oh, I wish that XY wins, then the board would explode" and it somehow always has a mean subtext to me. I mean I can sort of understand it if someone like bek goes on and on and on and on and on and on about a certain gymnast that one feels like - aaargh, I cannot stand it any more and how nice it would be to shut that someone up with a result that is the opposite but that feeling normally only lasts a second for me.

[Scintillation]

I vote to get rid of the music entirely. Very few girls actually seem to be listening to the music anymore and it's getting tougher and tougher to watch.

[Theatregirl1122]

I vote to get rid of the music entirely. Very few girls actually seem to be listening to the music anymore and it's getting tougher and tougher to watch.

I agree entirely. Men's floor is SO MUCH more watchable to me. Even with the silly wave your arms at your feet move that Matry loves so much.

[ks1227]

My mom is now a full-fledged Aly Raisman cheerleader. She wants her to win AA, especially after I told her that most of the gymnastics community would hate it if she did.

I'm with your mother.

I vote to get rid of the music entirely. Very few girls actually seem to be listening to the music anymore and it's getting tougher and tougher to watch.

Oh, please, please, please let this happen! I despise the music! IMO women's gymnastics should be more like men's gymnastics in many ways, and this would be a good place to start.

[Scintillation]

I understand where you're coming from hedwig and to be honest I'd like one of the Russians to win because IMO they are the best. But if Aly deserves to win that night I won't be upset if she does. I just think its funny how some people would find it so awful if she did win.
It's my mom who's got the nationalist streak and wants Aly to win. We're also Jewish and Aly is Jewish, so that only adds to the Aly fervor in this house. Add in the fact that Aly is using hava nagila as floor music and you can see why my mom literally screams "GO ALY!!!!!!" every time she comes on screen.

[museksk8r]

I need to wuzrobb for Jordyn just a bit. She was very close to Gabby. And it seemed to me that Gabby made the bigger, more noticeable error on FX. I don't know code, but it did seem to me that the judges did underscore Jordyn a bit and she didn't miss the #2 ranking by much.

Did Gabby's routine have a higher SV?

I say this as someone who prefers Gabby overall.

And I think the rule is stupid. It should be the top 24.

Being 1.1 points behind another competitor as Jo was to Gabby is not that close in gymnastics where judges can find deductions in the most minute places.

Jo needed to be spot on in that FX and unfortunately, it didn't happen for her.

[Hedwig]

I understand where you're coming from hedwig and to be honest I'd like one of the Russians to win because IMO they are the best. But if Aly deserves to win that night I won't be upset if she does. I just think its funny how some people would find it so awful if she did win.
It's my mom who's got the nationalist streak and wants Aly to win. We're also Jewish and Aly is Jewish, so that only adds to the Aly fervor in this house. Add in the fact that Aly is using hava nagila as floor music and you can see why my mom literally screams "GO ALY!!!!!!" every time she comes on screen.

Oh, but why shouldn't she. These are all valid reasons for a fan and even more so for an armchair every-four-years fan!

I also wouldn't mind her winning if she is the best of the day and find the posts that this is the end of gymnastics to be mildly funny and mostly annoying.

But yes, I am with you and hope that one of the Russians win (if possible Mustafina, because Komova makes me wanna shake her sometimes) just because I like their gymnastics more but if they have mistakes it is what it is. And Aly will be ready to jump in - that much is sure.

[liv]

Question: Why doesn't the gymnastics community want Aly to win?

[Loves_Shizuka]

Why is it that so many people have the wish for someone to win so that other people are upset?
This is not only meant at you Scintillation, but I noticed that also in skating discussions a lot of time people say "Oh, I wish that XY wins, then the board would explode" and it somehow always has a mean subtext to me. I mean I can sort of understand it if someone like bek goes on and on and on and on and on and on about a certain gymnast that one feels like - aaargh, I cannot stand it any more and how nice it would be to shut that someone up with a result that is the opposite but that feeling normally only lasts a second for me.

I said I wanted HQS to win just to piss people off. I wasn't being serious What I meant was that there are so many fans (not necessarily on here) who just hand medals out before the competition has even started. It me. Some people just don't like surprises and don't like it when things don't go the way they expect, especially when it involves their faves of course. So many fans are so blindly adoring of their athletes, and so dismissive of others, that sometimes you just want them to be put in their place.

I agree with you though of course. I like to think I'm not so pathetic that this would genuinely give me satisfaction

Raisman winning would be nice because she seems nice, is consistent and is dedicated; I don't want her to win simply to make the gymternet explode

That being said, there are others I want to win more.

[Karpenko]

Question: Why doesn't the gymnastics community want Aly to win?

Because Dick Button would tear her apart like shes Elena Sokolova.

I would only want to see her win because her parents reaction in the stands would be first rate. That was hilarious last night.

[Scintillation]

Question: Why doesn't the gymnastics community want Aly to win?

Because her gymnastics are neither elegant nor graceful. She's a little linebacker with form that's not exactly pleasing to the eye.

Haha and yes "exquisite" is not a term dick button would use to describe her.

[Hedwig]

Question: Why doesn't the gymnastics community want Aly to win?

I don't think that there is a gymnastics community. Or at least none that is united in any wish.

Some gymnastics fans don't want it because in their eyes Aly represents all that is wrong with the code of points and gymnastics at the moment. She is not penalized (or not enough in their eyes) for her form issues (that are there, no doubt about it) and they think that if a more classical gymnast wins that sport would suddenly be like in the glorious 80s again.

I call bullshit to that. Regardless of who wins, if the code isn't seriously overhauled and the judges trained to deduct form issues more and not mark hard elements better than easy elements then the sport will continue on the current way.
If they find a way to emphasize lines and execution more it will go more in the classical way.

I said I wanted HQS to win just to piss people off. What I mean is that there are so many fans (not necessarily on here) who just hand medals out before the competition has even started. It me. Some people just don't liek surprises and don't like it when things don't go the way they expect, especially when it involves their faves of course. So many fans are so blindly adoring of their athletes, and so dismissive of others, that sometimes you just want them to be put in their place.

I agree with you though of course. I like to think I'm not so pathetic that this would genuinely give me satisfaction

Raisman winning would be nice because she seems nice; I don't want her to win simply to make the gymternet explode

That being said, there are others I want to win more.

I agree with your post. Also with your bolded part. The more I think about it the more I understand the posts of "I want XY to win so that the board explodes" even though that always leaves a sour taste in my mouth and a but I would lie if I said that I never had a "I wish she would win just to shut you up" second.

[ioana]

Why is it that so many people have the wish for someone to win so that other people are upset?

It's not a very mature sentiment, but in my case I heard so much 'Oh, the Romanian team is awful, they have terrible form, cookie-cutter routines, blah, blah" directed at the current team even though it's not all that warranted, but more of a left-over from the late 90's. Having done gymnastics in Romania growing up, I can't imagine not rooting for the team, but knowing that some of this (IMO) unwarranted criticism would come back as bad karma, does make me want to get all -ready.