Can we have a moment of appreciation for Olly Hogben, the great commentator-poet-philosopher of our times.

"Ports are strange places aren't they. Places of mixed emotions. It's where your journey starts. It's where all journeys ends. Sometimes the journey is smooth, simple, calm, unexpectedly tranquil. At other times, it's full of complexity, full of obstacles to overcome. Sometimes, it's not the destination, it's the path itself that you take to get there that teaches you the most. The Japanese have an expression, mono no aware, a sense of sweet sadness at the impermanence of things. All things come to an end. Careers, competitions. It's the final day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu, the 50th of their kind. These will come to an end."

Hello! 

- Spencer has a 10.0 execution score on the feuds this week. I am firmly on team check the box and team top three people get medals and that is not... not top three scores overall or whatever bumfuzzled logic Kensley and Jessica were creating out of thin air yesterday. 

- Further, at this level of competition, I do not think there should be ties. period. end of story. There should not be ties in world finals. I'm fine with ties for event titles in dual meets in January of NCAA season. I am not okay with ties in world finals. There should be 12? 15? E-score judges. There should be enough judges that there are unique and individual scores for each gymnast. If it goes down to four or five decimal points then I'm fine with that. Oh, and the judging should be completed and the score posted within two mins of the final salute of the gymnast. The judges need to have mock meets or something to practice and get up to speed*. Literally need to finish the scores faster. The delays today were nuts.  

-With the new NIL rules for NCAA, can Kayla and Leanne accept prize money for the medals that they won? 

-When Melnikova's score came up for floor she immediately got up from the winners chair in the kiss/cry area and ran over to her coach. She was credited with 5.6 D score today but in qualifying she got 5.8 D score. I was wondering if she went over to ask the coaches if she should submit an inquiry? 

-Three medals for the USA womens program this worlds. Is this more or less than what the expectation was? For reference, the last time the United States women had only medals at a world championships was 2002.