Recent content by firstflight

I think the Howells are the best NCAA coaches over the past decade. They share a lot of what Kindler and Co managed to do at Oklahoma, and they of course didn’t manage to win 6 championships. But the big difference, IMO, is the starting point. OU was hovering around 8th when Kindler was hired...

Courtney KC out at Georgia! Who do you all think is in contention to fill that role? Garrett Griffeth is the most obvious choice IMO but there were rumors his contract keeps him at LSU for the time being. Sara Carver-Milne at Auburn is another top option.

Roadtonationals (the official ranking site) released final rankings for programs outside the top 8 this week. I emailed them last night because they had mistaken rankings for teams 32-36. They fixed it by this morning, but it was still confusing how they neglected to follow the clear Regional...

All those names are ones I've rooted for through their seasons, including Webb as the overlap gymnast with this new core crew that started with Ragan Smith. It's not Ragan's fault at all for what OU gymnastics has become- obviously the coaches set the tone. But it's interesting we both stopped...

The thing is Oklahoma used to be unique in choreography and had variety in tumbling and beam elements. Like the 2014 team or even 2017. They won those seasons with the same coaching staff. I don’t get why they just got more and more formulaic the deeper we get into the 2020’s. Their beam...

I watched college gymnastics for 24 hours total last weekend. There were so many available meets, especially the day after. My favorite performance overall was Cal. Just great to see the precision rewarded. My biggest question for this weekend is whether Arkansas can repeat a 197 and/or stay...

Farden is out at Utah: https://utahutes.com/news/2023/11/21/utah-athletics-announces-change-in-leadership-of-gymnastics-program.aspx

The reporters don’t explicitly make the connection, but they do point out the timing of Farden being placed on leave soon after they reached out to Utah about the threats by his lawyer to take legal action against Kara Eaker and Kim Tessen. Interesting…

Unless something goes poorly for F-B/S in Espoo, it looks like 3 Canadian teams qualify for the Grand Prix Finals. That must be a first, right?

I apologize is someone else had already listed this song, but if so, I am enthusiastically co-endorsing. For a different feel/mood than what’s out there, I wish someone had picked “Let the River Run” from the movie Working Girl. It would be triumphant and celebratory in the right hands...

This was a delightful interview. And I think for the ice dance fans, they give really good insight into the not-easy process of selecting the music for the 80's rhythm dance this season. They expressed their personal need to stay away from 80's rock and were very forthright about the other...

And they'll take the 10 point score increase from one week to the next! 4th is a fantastic result for this rising team.

O/P’s RD is all Madonna: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6tuKVoc8k20&pp=ygUPb3JpaGFyYSBwaXJpbmVu

I love Gi/Po’s FD music. It’s been awhile since I’ve been so gripped by a piece(s) I had not heard before.

They’ve graduated from my favorite “guilty pleasure” team to the team I most look forward to watching so far this season. I love both programs and find Orihara to be such a refreshingly giddy performer. At the end of each program, it’s clear she had a blast just dancing. And Pirinen, IMO, has...