JESSICA: 5’9!!! That’s awesome! She was an elite and she competed at the ‘06 US Championships. She has scored a 10 on vault in college at 5 foot 9. So all you kids out there, don’t ever give up. All you tall kids, you’re the tallest one in your class, people tell you oh you’ve got to be short to do gymnastics, you tell them unhhhh. Tell them to shove it and you show them Shatilov’s video, you show them Sarie Morrison at LSU and you tell them I am not too tall. I can be a world champion or an NCAA All American. I can get a 10 on vault!
[EXPRESS YOURSELF INTRO MUSIC]
JESSICA: This week, when is a 10 really a 10 especially in NCAA?
ALLISON TAYLOR: Hey gymnasts, Elite Sportz Band is a cutting edge compression back warmer that can protect your most valued asset, your back. I’m Allison Taylor on behalf of Elite Sportz Band. Visit elitesportzband.com. We’ve got your back.
JESSICA: This is episode 73 for January 28, 2014. I’m Jessica from Master’s Gymnastics.
UNCLE TIM: I’m Uncle Tim from Uncle Tim Talks Men’s Gym
EVAN: I’m Evan from life and Twitter. Find me there at @yoev.
JESSICA: This is the best gymnastics podcast in the star system bringing you all the news from around the gymternet. [LAUGHS] star system.
EVAN: A system of them.
JESSICA: That’s what they would say in the 70s on the science shows and in Star Wars. Hello? Well I had to come up with something new instead of saying galaxy all the time so I went to the thesaurus and said what are some synonyms. It’s very chic. So let’s talk about our John Orozco interview that we put up on Friday. What stood out to you guys? Evan, let’s start with you first.
EVAN: I think it goes without saying but his confidence to be so candid about his performance at the Olympics and using the word crap, it’s just endearing. John’s such a great person as well as gymnast. And I think that him just being so open, honest, and candid endears him and really just puts tons more people in his corner. But I’ve already been there so go John!
UNCLE TIM: Well I guess the one thing that really stood out to me was the fact that he had to relearn how to do a roundoff on the other hand going on to the vaulting table. That’s not necessarily like a big reveal, like emotional reveal in the interview but I was kind of shocked that he had to do that. Like wow, that’s got to suck.
JESSICA: I cannot even imagine…and into your Yurchenko. It’s not like it’s into your back handspring, into Yurchenko so it’ll be terrifying.
UNCLE TIM: It’s doing his half on on to the vault, not for his Yurchenko.
JESSICA: But it’s still like a Yurchenko entry, like a roundoff on to the board I guess.
UNCLE TIM: On to the vaulting table he was talking about
EVAN: Like a Kas
UNCLE TIM: Yeah
JESSICA: Oh wait so he’s not doing the roundoff onto the board the other way, he’s doing the regular entry and then half turn the other way?
UNCLE TIM: Yeah.
JESSICA: Oh now I understand. I was like horrified. This is so much better than I thought. I thought for sure, I had this so much worse in my mind. I totally thought he had to learn his round off the other way. Oh my God. Thank God. Oh then pshhh. This is going to be no problem for him. He’s got it. That’s how I feel about it now. So my thing that really stood out to me was so open about why he was so pissed off when he hurt his knee on tour. I thought that it was great that he stood up and said what he was dissatisfied with and why. I think a lot of people are afraid when they are on the tour or things that have to do with USA Gymnastics to kind of be open and honest about areas that they see room for improvement and so I’m glad that he was able to say he didn’t feel like he got the care should have. That’s what I took from it. My mouth was hanging open when he said that so I’m glad. And I hope next tour, they’ll hire a full time athletic trainer to be there. That would be great.
EVAN: So obviously some differences being seen between touring and regular every day international competition for gymnastics but we’ve been getting a lot of feedback from listeners about differences between NCAA and elite. We keep mentioning difficulty and Uncle Tim as our sexy data and overall information expert in sexy, could you explain what this difficulty and the difference truly is in a nutshell?
UNCLE TIM: Alright. So some people are confused about whether you can have a start value of 11 in NCAA if you do a lot of difficulty
JESSICA: Like me
UNCLE TIM: The answer is no unless you’re Jessica O’Beirne doing math. In that case, you probably can get like at least a 13. But in NCAA, all routines max out at a 10, no matter whether they do a double layout, a triple full and a full twisting double pike, it doesn’t matter on floor. But there are some teams that pride themselves on doing more difficulty than is required. For instance, if you read former Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan’s book titled Perfect 10, she claims that she and the Georgia team kind of started this trend of doing more difficulty than what’s required. I don’t know if that’s true or not but whatevs. The other thing to mention about difficulty is some claim that harder skills aren’t judged as harshly as an easier skill. So if you do a piked full in vs a
EVAN: Rudi
UNCLE TIM: A Rudi exactly, the judges aren’t going to be as hard on your piked full in. We don’t really know if that’s true or not but that’s what some people say.
EVAN: Thus is the beauty of a subjective sport. Everyone embrace it. It’s the hand we’re dealt and unfortunately, it’s what we’re looking at this NCAA season and every NCAA season. So same story different year but let’s just hope for great gymnastics done in a really beautiful and artistic perfect way. Speaking of difficulty, are you guys ready to talk about NCAA this week? Because there’s a lot going on. So speaking of difficulty, of course I’m a Michigan enthusiast through and through. They competed against Ohio State this weekend. They went over 197. It was amazing. I want to talk about their floor rotation. Six out of seven gymnasts, so including their exhibition, they had one exhibition athlete, showed double flipping E mounts on floor, which as Uncle Tim mentioned, teams doing more difficulty sometimes are looked at, you know you can’t really tell how the judges are interpreting that. So at their intrasquad, they actually showed eight double flipping E mounts which I think is tremendous. Especially when you’re looking at teams who traditionally are challenging for those national titles, like Florida, UCLA, Oklahoma, they’re not doing that many E mounts. They have beautiful beautiful E mounts buried, hidden somewhere in their lineups but it’s not happening there. I want to talk a little bit about a couple unsung heroes who haven’t been getting a lot of attention this year but are phenomenal phenomenal athletes, particularly on floor exercise. Natalie Beilstein, who is back for her fifth year competing back from a torn Achilles. She dismounts with a front handspring front double full punch pike. So that’s her dismount.
JESSICA: What?
EVAN: And then Sachi Sugiyama who is a phenomenal athlete on vault, bars, and floor exercise for Michigan. She also competes balance beam on occasion. She is mounting with a Bridget Sloan-esque from her elite days, piked full in. The type where she goes up, does the twist and then kind of compresses into the pike and it’s very beautiful. So my next notes are about Oklahoma and Arizona. I feel like Oklahoma came back to earth a little bit this time around. I wasn’t blown away. Their score was still very high but Arizona almost scored a 197 this weekend which I was kind of surprised at. The one thing that I did notice again, talking about some of those unsung hero gymnasts is an athlete named Shana Sangston from Arizona. She set the table so well. When I say set the table, like Amanda Borden, Jaycie Phelps like 1996 first athlete up at the Olympic Games like quality quality routines, really setting her teammates up well. Then we go to the battle of the U’s, Utah vs. UCLA. If you had to sum up this meet in one word Jess, what would it be?
JESSICA: (sighs)
EVAN: That might come as your word. Just like an audible sigh
JESSICA: It was frustrating.
EVAN: [LAUGHS] Okay. Uncle Tim, do you have a word?
UNCLE TIM: I didn’t get to see it so I can’t give you a word.
EVAN: Question mark.
UNCLE TIM: Question mark yes.
EVAN: Okay I actually think that my word is question mark…or my words are question mark. Maybe my symbol is question mark. So obviously, UCLA was a bit rough on bars. But I felt like the Utah fans were like within an arm’s reach away from and swinging bars. I mean I know that that’s the traditional setup but I was like they are so close. Ellette Craddock after her routine was like standing on the steps and I was like is she going to leave right now? She might just go up the stairs. She could. And then Hallie Mossett has a Stalder and I just really struggle with the Stalder, almost as much as Hallie appears to. She just bends her arms so much. And I wish and hope and put good joo joo into the atmosphere that she just replaces that or kind of figures it out. Because right now, she’s executing her Stalder before her dismount with a really really bent arm. So now, Uncle Tim, I know you’re the king of sexy data, but I might be the up and coming prince of sexy data because I did a little work and looking at UCLA this week, I was like this seems familiar. Like, why do I know this? And I feel like it’s kind of the same story different year. We go back to 2011, all the way back to 2011, the year after they had won the national championship in 2010. On January 23, they scored a 194.825 at Stanford and a 47.825 on balance beam. 2012, January 27, away at the University of Washington, 194.6 with a 48.2 on balance beam. Last year, in 2013, that was the last year, vs. Arizona on January 25, they scored a 196.375 which seems pretty alright but it was actually their third lowest team total of the entire season. So I just think this is a really weird time for UCLA gymnastics in general. And I definitely think they can overcome it. But I do feel like this is kind of the pivot point in their season. They kind of need the reflection, they look back and they do what they do.
JESSICA: They are sooo. I mean obviously their system works. But like they don’t even do full routines until so late in the season. Like it’s a completely different philosophy. I feel like it’s a dance philosophy instead of like a normal athletic team philosophy. And obviously, many different systems work. But it’s one of those things, I was like, it’s just so totally different from how all the other teams start. I want to revise my one word, which I’m making into three. I would summarize this meet as frustrating star power.
EVAN: Oooh okay.
JESSICA: To elaborate, let’s talk about Dabritz.
EVAN: vroom vroom. Do you hear that? That’s Georgia Dabritz’s engine warming up because she’s still going from last weekend. She just like drove laps around the entire competition. 9.975, 9.95, 9.975. I mean who has a weekend like that? I like Georgia Dabritz and her gymnastics. I think she enjoys the comfort of home and the scoring but really I think she’s the shining star on the Utah team. What did you guys think about Dabritz’s performances this past weekend?
JESSICA:Her floor routine is, I think, the best floor routine I have ever seen. Let me rephrase that. The best tumbling execution I have ever seen in NCAA period. Period. The fact that that routine wasn’t a 10 is an absolute crime. Especially comparing it to Florida’s 10s. Are you freaking kidding me? What? No, that should have been a 10. That was the biggest outrage of the weekend as far as I’m concerned. So for everybody that didn’t see, she stuck every one of her landings. I mean stuck like men’s floor routine in the Olympics Uchimura-style, except standing straight up and down.
EVAN: You can call it man stick if you want.
JESSICA: Man stick! I will call it a man stick! Yes!
EVAN: And you will like it.
JESSICA: That is what she did. Except now we are going to call it the Dabritz stick.
EVAN: She Dabritzed it.
UNCLE TIM: So to give our listeners some idea, she did a piked full in as her first pass, and a triple twist as her last pass right?
EVAN: Right. And I like me a good stuck triple full. That’s doing it for me nowadays. But Jess, remember our conversation last week about the perfect 10. Don’t you want Georgia to have something to work towards?
JESSICA: No. No. If she did it now….that might be the greatest routine she’s ever going to do in her entire life. I feel like that was a once in a lifetime routine. I don’t know. I don’t watch her in the gym. Maybe she does that every day. But I just can’t imagine that is the normal routine that she does all the time in the gym. It was incredible. Seriously, I was like that’s the best tumbling I’ve ever seen in NCAA period. Nobody lands like that. And her form in the air was beautiful. I defy anyone to show me a routine that was better than that. So Uncle Tim, you saw my boyfriend Stacey Ervin and his friends this weekend. What happened? Give us the lowdown.
UNCLE TIM: Well that’s actually false. Unfortunately, I was not able to say Mr. Sam Mikulak compete which disappointed many of my friends. So if you told a group of gays that Sam Mikulak is competing in spandex nearby, they would storm that gym like Evan Heiter would storm a Miley Cyrus concert. Or like Jessica O’Beirne would storm Nellie Kim’s office if she had the chance I think. So yeah we didn’t get to go. To give you an idea of what happens at this meet, it’s the Stanford Open and the meet is held in conjunction with a little boys meet. So all the little boys and their families stick around to watch the big boys compete. And this meet is also held in the small gym on Stanford’s campus so getting tickets is really hard unless you buy them early enough. And so far during my time in the Bay Area, I’m 0-6. I’ve never been able to go to this meet because I have never been able to figure out when to purchase my tickets. Anyway, but the good news is that there are a few videos on the internet, on Youtube, including a video of Sam Mikulak’s new floor routine which included the air flare. What did you think Jess? You’re a huge fan of the air flare.
JESSICA: It was legit. It’s so much better than when we saw the video when he was first learning it, when he just got it. It’s beautiful now. It is straight up and down. HIs back is extended. His arms are extended. It is legit. Max Whitlock, you better watch out.
UNCLE TIM: Yeah it was pretty legit. Evan, do you have any comments?
EVAN: Not surprisingly, I applaud Sam. He’s one of those gymnasts who you look at him, and you’re just like you were meant to do gymnastics. This is your thing, your element. And you can tell that he enjoys doing it. So that’s what I take away from it all the time. Go blue.
UNCLE TIM: Yeah and Michigan ended up winning with a 433.050. Stanford came in third, Cal came in second. Stanford might have done a little bit better had Akash Modi not whacked his head on the parallel bars and had to get stitches. Had that not happened, they might have done a little bit better but yeah.
JESSICA: What skill did that happen on?
UNCLE TIM: I don’t know. I read the write up. It sounded like it happened right at the beginning of his parallel bars routine. It wasn’t on his dismount or anything. But yeah unfortunate. The other meet that I watched was Nebraska vs. Iowa on the women’s side. I guess the way to characterize Nebraska is that they are kind of my collegiate Oleg Verniaev. There are so many ups and downs with this team. So last year, they had huge meets leading up to regionals and then they choked and didn’t make it to the national championships. This year they beat Alabama but that meet wasn’t broadcast anywhere so I couldn’t watch it, anywhere that I could see. So I was looking forward to seeing them take on Iowa. Unfortunately, Iowa decided to only show Iowa routines for the most part. So I didn’t end up getting to see too much of Nebraska. But from what I did see, I’m a bit concerned about Jessie DeZiel. Jessie was a member of the 2011 US Pan Ams team with Shawn Johnson and they won gold.
JESSICA: And she’s on my fantasy team, more importantly.
UNCLE TIM: Well over the weekend on uneven bars, her swing looked a little weird. And when she did her shoot over the to the low bar, her arm kind of buckled so I’m wondering whether maybe she has an elbow injury or something. I’m not sure what’s going on. Plus when she was out on the floor, she just did not look happy. She was so over it. So I don’t know what’s going on with her. But you know who looked super happy? Also on your fantasy team?
JESSICA: Lindsey Mable
UNCLE TIM: Nebraska
JESSICA: Emily Wong
UNCLE TIM: Emily Wong. She looked super high….hot not high. She looked super happy.
JESSICA: [LAUGHS] I thought you said high. I was like what?
UNCLE TIM: High, hot whatever. It all starts with an H. Last year, she tied for third in the all around at NCAA championships. And again, I didn’t really get to see too much of her but I saw a little bit of her floor routine and she’s just such a little firecracker out there. She just exudes so much joy. And I think that’s so impressive considering the fact that her father passed away a few months ago. Yeah I just can’t imagine going through all that and putting this huge smile on your face. And it seems like a genuine smile while she’s competing. So I’m that she’s maybe finding some solace in gymnastics. The one thing I did find…pardon?
JESSICA: Isn’t the team doing something special to honor her dad? Aren’t they like wearing armbands or they’re doing something right, to support her?
UNCLE TIM: Yeah during their first meet, they were wearing almost like bracelets or something on their wrists I want to say. The one thing I did find a little bit weird about Nebraska is the fact that the fact that they have the word Big in rhinestones on their leotards. So it stands for Big 10 Conference obviously but it just seems weird to put the word Big, well B1G on your leotard. I don’t know. It just seems wrong to put that on a woman’s leotard.
JESSICA: Where is it exactly on their leos?
UNCLE TIM: On their hip bone.
JESSICA: Oh hmmm
UNCLE TIM: Yeah in rhinestones of course.
JESSICA: I think it’s weird to put your conference on your leo.
EVAN: It’s pretty common nowadays actually. Obviously its advertising for the conference but those are usually the leotards you wear during your conference competition.
JESSICA: I mean, what, are we going to end up like Brazil and have 17 advertisements on our leos? I feel like it’s a bit much. You already have the leo makers’ logo on there and now you have this additionally? I don’t care for it. I mean they’re already branding the screen the entire time. Let’s talk about a team that does none of this nonsense because they are perfectly artistic…Minnesota. So Lindsey Mable. Lindsey Freaking Mable. She got a 39.6 all around which means she only had 4 deductions. That was some O’Beirne math. Four tenths the entire meet. Okay so this is what I love about her.
EVAN: Use your words.
JESSICA: I just want to show you with my arms and legs how much I love her. She is super precise and extended on everything. Coaches out there, make your gymnasts watch her and see how precise and extended she is on everything. Her floor routine, honestly, I saw zero deductions. I think that that could have gone 10. She had a 9.975, which I mean I guess that’s a good score. I think it should have been a 10. According to me it was. I just feel like Minnesota is like the quiet, the Gophers are going to slowly chew all the wires and everything around your house and then one day your house disappears. Or is that groundhogs that do that? Maybe I’m confusing my rodents. But anywho, they are slowly coming along and they are going to take down the big houses. That’s what I’m saying about Minnesota. They are fantastic. I love them. Lindsey Mable yessss!
UNCLE TIM: Alright, so we’ve started talking a little bit about scoring. We alluded to the infamous perfect 10s from Florida. But before we get to that, we want to mention an email that we got from a former judge and it’s in relationship to comments that we made last week. This judge wrote, “I guarantee that many NCAA judges judge in quarter tenths. Even though the final score has to be in half tenth increments.” So as a judge, you can’t give a 9.975. You have to give a 9.95 or a 9.9. But she thinks that some people only take a quarter tenth off here, a quarter tenth off there. Anyway, she goes on to say, “I judged NCAA for five years and while I can’t recall anyone in an official capacity telling us to judge in quarter tenths, it’s something I learned to do from more senior judges when I started doing NCAA. And it was something I had to do in order to have my scores be in range when I made the transition from judging only Junior Olympic to doing NCAA.” She also says you have to remember the really important thing is ranking the gymnasts correctly. High scores are only a problem insofar as they prevent judges from being able to do that. So let’s say you start off and you give the first gymnast a 9.95, you really have nowhere to go from there if three other gymnasts do a better routine. So you can only really give the other gymnasts a 10. So that was her point. Now moving on to the Florida meet. Two gymnasts got perfect 10s, the first perfect 10s of the season. Bridget Sloan got one on floor and Kytra Hunter got one on floor as well. Did you guys think they were 10-worthy? Let’s start with you Evan.
EVAN: I did not think that Bridget’s was 10-worthy, pretty plain and simple. Sorry to not be terribly insightful. I also think that Kytra has done that routine before, maybe performed it a little better. But the thing with Kytra is I feel like she’s changed the game a little bit in NCAA floor exercise. So I don’t want to say it’s a long time coming for her. But that’s what I’m going to say. I think that Kytra and the execution of her double layout, the innovative second pass that has a bounder out of skills. And sidenote, doing a bounder out of something might seem like oh she’s just doing a bounder but try that ish. Because that is so difficult to control. And the free double tuck where she doesn’t grab her knees or really pull, she’s just using her own Beyonce powers to make it happen. I think that she is long overdue for a 10. And I applaud and support her getting a 10. I do think she can perform it better but I was okay with Kytra getting a 10.
JESSICA: Are you okay with it for this routine or are you okay with it because she deserved it in the past?
EVAN: I am okay with it for this routine. I think with Kytra, she kind of does the same routine week in and week out. And if we’re looking at staying consistent to the rules and staying true where you can step into the lunge as long as you’re displaying control, I’m fine with it.
JESSICA: I think these were 9.975 routines. I took a quarter tenth on both which you’re not allowed to do but as we know, this is how judges do it. The judges who wrote in, she said exactly what I have heard from other NCAA judges. I’m so glad that she wrote in because you don’t want to take a full half tenth for like a tiny wobble on beam. But if there is two tiny wobbles, okay now that’s a half a tenth. So I’m so glad that she wrote in and talked about that. I think their landings were the problem. I think Bridget’s jumps from what I could see and then Kytra’s landing that double layout is gorgeous but she had like a little hop on her landing so I’m kind of like eh. I just don’t think they were both 10s. And this is the thing. When you compare Georgia Dabritz’s floor routine, she only got a 9.975 to Kytra’s routine or Bridget Sloan’s, there is no way in hell they should have gotten 10s. No way. They are fantastic. They did amazing routines. They were super clean. They were great. I love watching them. Kytra Hunter’s double layout, as we know, is incredible. But compared to Dabritz, there’s just no way. At that meet were they 10s, you know maybe, if you’re ranking and you have nowhere else to go. But compared to Dabritz, no not even close.
UNCLE TIM: I guess the thing that I want to insert here is the fact that with NCAA judging, it’s not always the case that it’s the scientific execution deduction. So when you look at the deductions that NCAA judges can give, it’s not like the FIG where they give you this 100 page document with all the different deductions, like we’ll talk about in a little bit. It’s more you know, precision on landings. You can take up to I think it’s 2 tenths. So there’s more wiggle room there. So ultimately, what it comes down to is ranking the gymnasts at that meet correctly. That’s what the scores are for. And I think that’s hard for us to do especially if you’re used to judging elite gymnastics rather than NCAA gymnastics. One other thing I want to mention while we’re talking about judging is a quote from The Balance Beam Situation, our buddy, probably one of the best NCAA bloggers out there. And this is his quote and it’s related to floor routines and the 198 that Florida scored: “But now we’re not talking about how beautiful and well executed those routines were. We are picking them apart because the scores were too enthusiastic. It’s a case of the judges taking the attention away from the gymnast and bringing it onto themselves when the attention should be paid to the gymnast. No one should notice the judges. They should disappear and here they clearly haven’t.” What did you guys think about that quote?
EVAN: I think it rings pretty true. We always circle back to the subjectivity in the sport and one judge sees something differently than another. Then there’s an uproar. Or judges feel influenced by home scoring or gymnasts with prior accomplishments or accolades. I mean we’ve seen it time and time again in all aspects of the sport. Is it fair? No. Is it a reality? Yes. So arguing that fact, I do see the point but I probably won’t be partaking it in heavily because unfortunately, it’s the nature of the sport. Do I think it’s 100% fair? No.
JESSICA: I mean this is the thing. This is the frustrating thing about NCAA’s judging and it’s the great thing about NCAA’s judging. And that is that NCAA judging has what elite doesn’t. And that is that it has the 10 definitively. And what that does is create excitement for the crowd, it’s easy to understand. People can understand how close you are to the 10. It’s a marketing tool for these schools. I am not accusing anyone of cheating or intimidation but I do think there’s a reason everyone’s talking about every time it’s UCLA and Utah or Georgia at Utah, there is nonstop discussion about cheating and scoring and how Utah gets insane home scoring. And they also sell out and have like 15,000 people at every single home meet. Or 10,000. It’s frustrating that scoring is a problem but it’s also great because the crowd understands it. When you get a 198, it’s really really exciting. It’s good for programs. And here we are talking about it. I think we’ve said the word Utah like 25 times in one show already. The job is done. They have marketed themselves well whether it’s fair or not. Yeah I just think it’s like one of those things. I don’t think it really matters unless, I mean it does matter. It doesn’t really make an impact unless one school or one individual doesn’t make it to nationals when they should because of cheating. Then it’s not okay. So then we can talk about when it’s really serious but for right now, eh. I don’t know.
EVAN: We are watching you guys out there. We are watching.
UNCLE TIM: I think The Balance Beam Situation, the person who writes it is very intelligent but I do find this quote to be rather naive in the sense that the judges never really disappear. Gymnastics fans are always going to nitpick routines and yeah. Gymnastics fans are always going to notice the judges. I just found that part a little bit naive on the writer’s part. So moving on though.
JESSICA: Well now I feel like I should have mentioned something about like there was like Tory Wilson and
EVAN: Haley Roe
JESSICA: Yes and Sam Peszek
EVAN: And Breanna Hughes
JESSICA: And Sam Peszek’s bars. I was like what? There was no way in hell that was a 9.875. But then again, I wasn’t watching her from the side. I just I don’t know. Yes it’s frustrating. Let’s move on. Let’s talk about Coach Rick. He’s been on the show before and he writes gymnasticscoaching.com which is fantastic. It’s an aggregator site and he gives his opinion. It’s a great place to go if you want to know what’s going on everywhere in gymnastics. Fantastic fantastic. And he has great insight and great connections. He was a FIG Brevet judge so he has a very interesting point of view. He penned a very thoughtful response to Evan’s nomination as the head of the Chest Position Enforcement Bureau. So Evan, I would like you to clarify your point first. Like what it is that bothers you and what you think is a correct landing position and what NCAA judges are not taking. What position drives you nuts that you feel like is an automatic deduction and they don’t take it and then I’ll let the listeners know what Coach Rick said.
EVAN: Yeah it’s really just from an aesthetic standpoint. Like Uncle Tim was just talking about, we’re gymnastics fans and when we care this much to have a podcast or something crazy to discuss these things, we pick up on the nuances of the sport. And it’s really just the chest positions that take away from the aesthetic qualities of skills and landings. So let’s say a gymnast, their chest is, their shoulders are in front of their knees and then all of a sudden it’s just this monumental throw back into this arched salute. You see the Yurchenko fulls that, oh that girl just stuck her Yurchenko full but she just scored a 9.55 on that. It’s kind of hard and you’ll probably get into it when you clarify what Coach Rick was saying because he did a great job of illustrating it. You can continue and then I’ll jump back in.
JESSICA: Okay. So this is what he said. He said, “too much deduction for landings for chest positions is an error. Deducting chest low is like deducting a gymnast for lack of toe point on the run towards the vault. Medically and biomechanically it is unethical to deduct for that kind of position because the gymnast is protecting themselves.” And he used Uchimura and Uchimura’s very distinct landing position as an example. I think it’s interesting that he chose Uchimura because Uchimura definitely has like a body protection landing. Like he can stick everything because he uses every joint crunch down on that position. And one of the people who wrote in said basically aren’t we just talking about if your shoulders are lower than your butt then you should take a deduction because that does not count as protecting your body. What do you think about what he said?
EVAN: Well first of all I really appreciate him kind of taking it further and showing them, showing the listeners and myself that there is a really big difference between what’s going on. Obviously your chest can be low if you’re showing a good solid stick position, as a lot of former gymnasts might know. That’s usually how you’re taught. You’re not kind of sitting straight up with this kind of I’m doing a sound with my voice because I’m craning my neck and having my chest all the way up. It should be a relaxed comfortable position. I do, Coach Rick, have a degree in movement science from the University of Michigan.
JESSICA: Oh snap!
EVAN: So my biomechanically I am on board with what you’re saying. But I am not seeing any girls in NCAA gymnastics land like Kohei Uchimura. So, you know I think it’s really just looking at the spectrum as a really wide array and just knowing that there are girls just lurching forward and throwing themselves back. And you just know. So I appreciate all your kind words about me and the follow up. I think we’re on the same page. And I like it. I like the page we’re on.
JESSICA: So I was talking to a friend about this and she said you know judges should deduct really heavily for chest positions being too low in women’s gymnastics. So this would be the your shoulders are below your butt. This is the I went to lift up my suitcase and I threw my back out when you’re 50 years old or 40, or I don’t know, 25 for some NCAA graduates. So she’s like judges should deduct heavily for chest positions because women’s NCAA gymnasts are doing easy gymnastics, relatively speaking. So she’s like if you were Uchimura doing a triple twisting double, then you can be more forgiving about chest positions because you don’t want his body to actually explode into pieces on impact when he lands. But you know when you’re doing a yurchenko full that’s not that crazy difficult, you should expect a good chest position landing because it’s not a triple yurchenko, it’s not an amanar. You should have a good landing position on that.
EVAN: Right. And here’s my last point on this I promise. And I think it ties back to the rest of our conversation today really well, is that chest position is one of those key differentiators. You look at yurchenko full after yurchenko full after yurchenko full and we’re relying on the judges to draw some distinction between these. Chest position is usually, correct me if you guys don’t agree, but is usually something that you can say that was a 9.9, that was a 9.95, and that was definitely a 10.
JESSICA: Yeah I agree. This is also why we need to have on the back there should be a virtual wall like they have on the NFL. I don’t know why we don’t have a whole graphics department for our gymnastics on television. Hello. Clearly we can afford it. Because we’re saving money on all the sparkles now final [inaudible] those. There should be just like they have in the X Games and skateboarding you have a graphic behind the vault and behind the landing area where you can actually see like you guys have had you know in your gym did you guys have a line on the wall with like a half circle on it so you could actually see what your positions were? On bars usually people have those. Did you guys have that?
EVAN: Yes
JESSICA: Yeah so you should have that on vault too. So when you land like the judges can kind of see or there’s something very objective rather than subjective about the exact angle where they land. And then we could also have the same thing they have in elite on the mats to see how far people go. This is something you could really see with Utah on vault. They’re the top ranked vault team. I don’t know if they still are probably after this weekend they’re even more higher ranked than they were before because they go so freaking far on their vaults. I would be afraid to vault there if I was them because there’s a wall right behind them. A big ass wall. Ok I’ve totally digressed into my fantasy about vaulting being like X Games skateboarding competitions for height. I totally forget what we’re talking about. Where was I? Chest positions. Ok. To sum up, what did we learn in NCAA this week? Uncle Tim?
UNCLE TIM: I’d say that NCAA videos are harder to find than a Furbie in 1998. They like, so back in the day-
JESSICA: Video contracts
UNCLE TIM: Exactly. Videos used to be so easy to find on YouTube and now when you’re looking for a routine, it’s impossible to find the routines.
EVAN: And you just hear [Furbie noises]
UNCLE TIM: Exactly
JESSICA: In the middle of the night while you’re trying to sleep
UNCLE TIM: So that’s mine. It’s really hard. So if you go to a meet though please gymternet, please even if you have an iPhone and you think oh it’s going to be a crappy video, still take that video because a lot of other people will appreciate it
JESSICA: Evan how about you? What did you learn this week?
EVAN: So I was just watching a recap of LSU’s meet versus Auburn, which they won. And I just want, I’m 94% certain that I want DD Breaux to be my life coach in some capacity, maybe just a friend and a confidante. But-
UNCLE TIM: Like a Golden Girl?
EVAN: Right, exactly.
UNCLE TIM: From the song, sorry
EVAN: Uncle Tim caught on. He knows what- not knocking DD at all because legitimately I just want to speak with her. I think she’s so eloquent in communicating what her team is going for this year, and I am 100% certain that I want her to win an NCAA championship within the next three years because I think that she and associate head coach Jay Clarke are on a really good path to doing that.
JESSICA: Ok so what is your absolute must watch meet for next weekend? What do you our listeners have to watch this meet if you can?
EVAN: Mine would be Florida versus Oklahoma at Florida. And this isn’t in the CBS sports package. Florida does their own video. So you will have to pay per view, but it’s only one time. So you’ll just have to pay one time. And Florida’s obviously coming off of their 198 but they’re staying at home. Oklahoma conversely, they’re coming off a pretty solid performance at Arizona, but now they’re moving to another kind of more I don’t want to say hostile but difficult environment to compete in like Florida. So I’m interested to see how they both meet in the middle and clash like titans.
UNCLE TIM: Mine would probably be number 3 LSU versus number 7 Alabama. Lots of reasons. Primarily Rheagan Courville. She’s just lovely everywhere. Then there’s also the DD Breaux factor as you were saying earlier Evan. I don’t know I just love her. She’s in her late 50s I’m assuming, spotting girls on double back dismounts off beam. And I want to be like DD when I’m in my 50s. Jess do you have a match up?
JESSICA: No. Totally relying on you guys this week.
EVAN: I’m sure Minnesota’s having a meet that you’d be into.
UNCLE TIM: Versus Nebraska
EVAN: Oooh
JESSICA: That would be pretty good.
EVAN: It’s going to happen, so you can-
JESSICA: Is Owen still coaching there?
UNCLE TIM: Yes. He was not wearing his red pants last weekend though. **48:07
JESSICA: Bring back the red pants. I mean Emily Wong and Owen and Lindsay Mable and Hannah Nordquist and Dusty, I want to call her-
EVAN: Russell
JESSICA: Thank you. Russell. I knew it started with an R. Yes all at one meet. Can we let Owen know, can we put a request in for the red pants? I mean, it is Nebraska. Their colors are red. He should wear them.
UNCLE TIM: We can tweet to him.
JESSICA: Ok let’s do that. A gymternet request. I mean marketing is important, people. You can’t overlook that. So Uncle Tim, will you tell people how they can support the show?
UNCLE TIM: You can support the show by subscribing to us on iTunes or on Stitcher or via our email on our website. You can also shop on our Amazon store. Remember as long as you start through our Amazon link, a little portion of what you buy goes back to us. And if you decide that shopping via our Amazon store is just such a hassle or you don’t really believe in online shopping, you can support the show directly. There is a donate button on our website. And Evan, can you tell us how our listeners can contact us?
EVAN: Certainly I can. So if you want to leave us a review, tell us what you think, positive and negative, we roll with this judging thing. We’re ok. There’s judging involved in gymnastics. There’s judging involved in GymCastic as well. Leave us a voicemail by calling 415-800-3191 or our Skype username is GymCastic Podcast. So, you can also email us at gymcastic@gmail.com. Or, follow us on Instagram and/or Twitter. I suggest and. The handle is @gymcastic. And we want to know which routines you’re talking about. Jess I’ve seen a couple mentions that I promise we will get to in the coming weeks. Sometimes they get buried in the heat of the moment. So thank you for all your tweets to us. I know I thrive on notifications on social media. So every one I get makes me a little happier and you’re helping the show as well. So let us know what you feel, think, and want from GymCastic. You can also watch our video playlist that I was so surprised were happening and existing last week. So check them out. They’re on our website. Or you can just subscribe to us on YouTube, which, correct me if I’m wrong, username is GymCastic.
JESSICA: It is indeed. Thank you so much. So Uncle Tim, can you give us an elite update? There was a camp at the Ranch last week.
UNCLE TIM: I know. Unfortunately today is Monday, January 27, and our buddy Scott Bregman is not on his A game. He has not put any videos up of the Ranch but they’re supposed to come out this week sometime. So if you follow us on social media, you’ll be up to date with those. If you don’t, you’ll just have to wait till next week till we talk about it. Anyway-
JESSICA: Could we get a satellite, a direct satellite? Could the gymternet fund a satellite being sent into space just to get better reception and wifi at the Ranch so that Scott could upload things faster? How much do you think that would cost? Think we could do it? We get like a satellite on a Russian or China, China would do it. They would totally be interested in a direct link to the Ranch.
UNCLE TIM: I’m sure Martha would love that.
JESSICA: She would
UNCLE TIM: In news though, Laurie Hernandez did not attend camp because she slipped off the beam and fractured her wrist. And she will be in a cast for six weeks. According to Maggie’s Girls, the Facebook page for her gym, she’s still doing conditioning and flexibility. And they’re using this time to work on beam upgrades. I’m guessing those are dance upgrades rather than like a full twisting back handspring swing down or something with a broken wrist.
JESSICA: At least this is better than the time she broke her face on bars though. If you’re going to break something, it’s better wrist than knocking out your teeth.
UNCLE TIM: True story
JESSICA: This is a good improvement in injuries.
UNCLE TIM: The other big news- as we predicted, the American Cup lineup has changed for the US women. Elizabeth Price will be taking Kyla Ross’ spot because Kyla has some kind of back pain going on right now. So yeah, we hope that Kyla gets better, but we’re also very excited to see Ebee who competed at the Parkettes Invitational this past weekend. It was the 40th Parkettes Invitational. That’s a lot. And she competed on uneven bars and vault. Those are the videos on Gymnastike. What did you guys think of her routines? Let’s start with you, Jess.
JESSICA: Hot bars. Oh my gosh. This is how bars is supposed to be done. And she does it like men’s high bar. She catches at the most extended point, hips turned all the way over like they’re supposed to be, right into the next move. You’re like is she going to catch it and this is going to be perfect or is she going to fly into the stands? It’s so exciting to watch her on bars. I loved it loved it loved it. I could watch her all day on bars.
UNCLE TIM: Yeah I loved her Church release into her bail right away. And then into her shoot to high bar too. It was a great combination. On vault, she only did a double twisting yurchenko, so she didn’t throw her amanar. What vault would you guys like to see her do in college?
JESSICA: I’d like to see her be the first to do an amanar just to do it. Just to win everything. Win all-
UNCLE TIM: Evan what about you?
EVAN: It was kind of hard for me to say. I don’t know. Unfortunately, as glad as I am to see Ebee back competing, I know you guys are going to throw tomatoes and/or eggs, but Ebee is just not my favorite gymnast. I think that there’s some aesthetic things going on. I think she’s awesome and has a wide array of the Parkette bag of tricks where she can just do a lot of amazing things. But it’s not the total package for me. So, I decline to comment on my hopes for her in college. But I hope she has much success there, whatever vault she is doing.
JESSICA: Well. I would just like to say that we know she probably won’t do anything very interesting because has anyone since Pechanec done any cool unusual interesting skills at Stanford?
EVAN: You know I think Taylor Rice has some pretty innovative things on beam. I remember last year she mounted with a handstand and then kind of dropped down to her forearms. And I believe it’s on YouTube. But yeah. So I think we need to give Taylor Rice some props for her showing at Stanford.
JESSICA: I do and I love love love her beam. I could watch her all day on beam. She’s super innovative. Her dad’s like a circus guy too.
EVAN: I could watch her for 12 hours on beam. Not all day but 12 hours.
JESSICA: I just feel like Stanford needs more Pechanecs and more Rices. So maybe Ebee will be that.
UNCLE TIM: And I mean you can’t deny that Kristina Vaculik’s geinger has life saving properties. And she also does a full twisting back handspring swing down on beam, which not lots of college girls do. Carly Janiga used to do it back in the day as well. So I don’t think they’re quite as dull as you’re making them out to be, Jess. You are just pro UCLA and Stanford tends to be a rival with UCLA.
JESSICA: Whatever. I’m just saying I’m always excited for more, then I just get smatterings of it. That’s all I’m saying. Except that my McNair sisters are finally kicking ass. Did you see their scores this weekend? 9.9, 9.9, just like I said they were going to get. So even though I know you think I’m totally biased, which I am, and it’s not because they always have those meets in those tiny places and even you can’t get it, which obviously they should always have a ticket especially set aside for you, I would just like to say that I’m a big fan of theirs and they’re doing fantastic like I said they would. So, go trees. What are they? Trees.
EVAN: Cardinals
JESSICA: Red- Cardinals
EVAN: Redinal. Rewriting the history books tonight is Jessica O’Beirne.
JESSICA: Anywho.
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ALLISON TAYLOR: This episode is brought to you by Elite Sportz Band. Elitesportzband.com. We’ve got your back.
JESSICA: Visit elitesportzband.com, that’s sportz with a Z, and save $5 on your next purchase with the code Gymcast.
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JESSICA: It’s time for Gymternet news. First, let’s start with the bad news. Mattie Larson has officially retired from UCLA from gymnastics. So she injure retired and she gave a very good interview with IG, International Gymnast, the New York Times of gymnastics magazines, as we like to call it around here. And she gave a really, she gave a really touching answer. And she said when they asked what has gymnastics brought you as you got to this point. And she said I had a lot of success in gymnastics but it’s taken an emotional toll. And this is something that Miss Val referred to in an interview earlier this season when she said Mattie has a lot of anxiety when it comes to floor and vault and it seems like that was left over from her elite career. So we are wishing her the best and happiness. And she’s been at some of the meets doing some guest tweeting. And she looks pretty happy and stoked. So we’re wishing her all the best. Hopefully she’ll go into dance. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
EVAN: Yes.
JESSICA: Yes. I think So You Think You Can Dance. I think she could just win it. Walk on and win it. In other sad news, it is confirmed that Kayla Williams has a partially torn achilles and will require surgery. So we wish her the best. And of course this means she’s going to have a fantastic next year, much like oh I don’t know, the Romanian Izbasa, Olympic champion after an achilles tear. Or perhaps one Kupets, NCAA champion. In other news, over in Georgia, we have been talking you know we’ve been asking everybody this early recruiting stuff and what’s happening at Georgia and all the decommits from people that have committed to Georgia when they were just wee babes, barely into high school committing to college. So Danna Durante gave an interview to International Gymnast about early recruiting and she said the following: “Call me old fashion, but when you make a verbal commitment, it should mean something. The athlete should continue to work hard and keep up their end of the bargain by improving each year, and college coaches should respect the athlete’s commitment and not continue to pursue the athlete.” What did you guys think of that? I thought this was a direct jab at Jay Clarke and LSU. What did you guys think?
EVAN: Well also, you know Lexie Priessman decommitted from Georgia, but also Breanna Brown who decommitted and recommitted to University of Michigan. So it’s kind of two fold in Georgia’s case. I would simply respond with then don’t give them a reason to decommit.
JESSICA: Oooooh. Uncle Tim what do you have to say?
UNCLE TIM: I don’t know. Being a teenager, I think it’s a little ridiculous to expect a 14 year old to really know where they want to go to college. I’m trying to think where I probably wanted- I don’t remember where I wanted to go to college when I was a freshman in high school. It’s probably not-
EVAN: I wanted to go to Arizona State.
UNCLE TIM: Exactly. And where did you end up going? Michigan. When you’re in high school your opinion changes night and day.
EVAN: Stupid. Yeah it was just dumb.
UNCLE TIM: Yeah so I don’t know. I think it’s hard to hold 14 year olds to this really high professional standard, almost that you would hold an NBA player to or something.
JESSICA: So this weekend the Gabby Douglas movie premieres on Lifetime. So set your DVRs right now. Walk over to the TV. Set it. It’s 8:00, 7:00 central. And we are lucky enough to have a listener who got a screener of the movie which is like a preview they send out to some people. And this is what she had to say about it. She said the movie is not terrible. Good to know. Regina King as Natalie is fantastic. The little girls who play Gabby aren’t half bad. And Chow has a fake Chinese accent, but he uses correct terminology more or less. It definitely exceeded my expectations. But there are things super fans will be annoyed by. Of course. Casual gym fans will definitely enjoy it and it’s much better than Make it or Break It. So that’s really good review I think so far from a hardcore gymnastics fan. I think that’s high praise. So we will of course be discussing this at length next week. So make sure you watch. Do your homework and watch the Gabby movie so we can discuss everything and get your thoughts on it. And of course if you are a teacher and want to show this in your school or perhaps Sunday school, you can download the discussion questions. There are regular discussion questions then there are Christian discussion questions. Both. So check that out on the Lifetime website. I was interested to see that, I will say. Interested.
UNCLE TIM: Yeah. They’re going to annoy the hardcore fans because some of the questions are like “What is ‘the kip’?” So. Yeah. Things you already know.
JESSICA: So we want to give a shout out to Pink because she was on the Grammys last night and she did her signature gymnastics. You know she was a gymnast back in the day in Philadelphia, her hometown. And I just love to see she keeps upping her gymnastics along with her singing. And she did like an acro thing and she was the balancing end of this huge muscley dude. She’s just so fabulous. And I mean, what better way to symbolize the importance of strength and balance in a relationship than being an acro pair on stage as you sing.
UNCLE TIM: It’s true. Evan we better start practicing this move.
EVAN: [LAUGHS] I was just going to go into like who’s on top?
[LAUGHTER]
JESSICA: Speaking of who’s on top, Vanessa Atler-
EVAN: What?
[LAUGHTER]
JESSICA: Vanessa Atler had a baby this week. She posted a picture on her Instagram. Well definitely there was someone on top or side by side in order to let this happen. I didn’t know- how did we not know she was pregnant? Am I totally out of the loop? Did you guys know this?
EVAN: Yeah I knew
JESSICA: Is she married or partnered up?
EVAN: I think she’s wifed up
JESSICA: Wifed up? Good for her. I wish her all the happiness in the world. Kennedy Baker, I should’ve put this in the sad part, maybe it’s good for her- Kennedy Baker has retired from elite but never fear we’ll see her in the future competing at Florida. And perhaps we will see her patterson dismount, the one I am obsessed with. Do you guys think they will let her do that dismount? She’s super consistent with it.
EVAN: I don’t think we will see it.
JESSICA: That sucks. What if she made beam finals at NCAAs?
EVAN: Then we could talk
JESSICA: Ok. Kennedy got that? You have to make beam finals so you can make my dreams come true and do your patterson dismount. Ok in tall and exceptional gymnast news, the 6’2’ tall tall exceptional gymnast news-
UNCLE TIM: Six foot two foot?
EVAN: Six foot too tall?
[LAUGHTER]
JESSICA: In 6’2” tall gymnast news, the 2011 floor ex world silver medalist Alexander Shatilov is doing are you ready for this? You guys should all follow him on Instagram if you’re not already. He’s doing a kolman to a kovacs to a tucked gaylord II. I didn’t even know that was humanly possible to do that. Did your mouth just drop open when you saw this Uncle Tim?
UNCLE TIM: It did, and it brought me back to our conversation with Blythe at the beginning of the year when we were talking about how this was going to be the trend. And sure enough, even guys who are not necessarily considered the top eight in the world on high bar are working these skills. So yeah. I mean, he also did it shirtless we should mention, so.
JESSICA: Important facts. 6’2, shirtless, world silver medalist on floor. I love watching him. On floor it looks like he’s going to run out of space. It looks like it’s a baby floor compared to him. Like cartoon size. And it’s so gorgeous because he’s so tall. Ugh. And then I’m so excited you guys have written in about this. So I mentioned the fabulous Townsend from Iowa State last week, who is 5’8, normal human size. And she went to Legacy Elite. Beautiful gymnast. I posted a video of her in our playlist of her just doing a front aerial on beam. It’s like the most gorgeous front aerial you’ve ever seen because she’s tall for gymnastics. So our listeners wrote in and let me know about another NCAA giantess, and I say that in the most complimentary way ever because you know anyone who breaks stereotypes is my favorite thing in the whole world. So she is at LSU, and her name is Sarie Morrison. And she is a senior and an all american on bars. Now we know what an all american is. Top eight. And she is 5’9” tall. Did you guys know about her?
EVAN: Oh I knew.
JESSICA: 5’9! That’s awesome! She was an elite and she competed at the 06 US Championships. She has scored a 10 on vault in college at 5’9. So all you kids out there, don’t ever give up. All you tall kids, you’re the tallest one in your class, people tell you you have to be short to do gymnastics, you tell them ugh, you tell them to shove it and you show them Shatilov’s video, you show them Sarie Morrison at LSU, and you tell them I am not too tall, I can be a world champion or an NCAA all american. I can get a 10 on vault. Never give up!
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JESSICA: In other news, not tall people, just normal exceptional people news, Louis Smith has invented a skill that actually makes pommel horse cool if you can believe that. He’s doing traveling flares. This is a new- I mean this has never been done before right?
UNCLE TIM: Not in the flare position. So the base of the travel is a blanky, but in the flare position it’s never been done before. So and you know when guys spread their legs, things look cooler. So.
JESSICA: It does. It looks way cooler like this. Do you think Kurt Thomas is super jealous that he didn’t think of this?
UNCLE TIM: [LAUGHS]
EVAN: I think he did enough just invented the flare. So I think he’s probably alright.
JESSICA: Ok. I’m going to ask him sometime if he ever did this. It’s really cool and you guys there’s a video. Louis Smith is all over Instagram so you can watch him working out. And you can watch him play video games. And you can watch him sing. And you can watch his drunken friends at his house. Very entertaining Instagram that he has. Also this week, the FIG put out something that I don’t think I have ever seen before. At least I did not know that this way coming out. They have this thing, it’s the FIG help desk artistic report. Uncle Tim did you take a look at this?
UNCLE TIM: Yeah, it’s really long. But it’s very helpful. So what it does is gives you a bunch of clarifications. For instance, let’s say you’re vaulting and one foot lands on the line, on the white line when you’re vaulting and the other foot is on the inside, how much deduction you should get for deductions. What happens if one, your heels are on the inside of the line, but your toes are on the outside. That should be a .3 deduction. Yeah. So I mean it’s very very fascinating and helpful with lots of illustrations.
JESSICA: Evan did you have a favorite part in this?
EVAN: I did have a favorite part. They make mention of a gymnast being verbally warned by the judge. And I want to know if there’s a predetermined script that the judge must say like I am warning you right now, don’t do that. And there’s like some finger wagging going on. Or you know if it’s like you’ve got to stop that. I just have never experienced a verbal warning and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it at a meet broadcast or anything. I’m sure it’s happened, but I just want to see that manifest itself in reality that I witness.
JESSICA: I think my favorite part of this was where they talk about how you can repeat your entire routine if your routine was interrupted by something beyond the gymnasts control. And they talk about some examples, like the apparatus falls over. Oh that’s never happened before. A lighting failure, all the lights go out. That has happened before too. Sound system failure. We have also seen that, most recently in rhythmic gymnastics where the poor Ukrainian had to do her entire routine to nothing. And then well it wasn’t nothing, it was going on and off. And then or like your grips break or something like that. But you know what’s really interesting about this is that the grip situation of course is something that you cannot repeat your routine over. That is considered within your responsibility. You should have another pair of grips right there ready to put on as fast as you can. But the first thing I thought of when they’re talking about these examples is I wanted to know if do you guys remember when Tasha Schwikert was doing her routine, I think it was Nationals, she’s on beam and she’s about to do her dismount which I think was a full in at the time, and some guy yells at the top of his lungs “I love you Tasha!” And she responded to him on beam. She was like hmm, thanks. And then she did her dismount. Do you guys remember that?
EVAN AND UNCLE TIM: No
JESSICA: That happened for real. And I was like I wonder if that counts? That was beyond her control. It could be considered something that was kind of unusual and really distracting. And of course she’s Tasha so she was just like of course you do, sizzle, then did her dismount. I want to know some of the examples by video like they’ve been doing these video examples of the falls and what counts. I would like to see some examples as Evan would of when this happened in real life. It was quite entertaining. Uncle Tim, do you have any favorites?
UNCLE TIM: So we finally found out why they put that crazy floor fall on their FIG webpage. And it’s because there are technically two falls in that tumbling pass. So the Chinese gymnast I think is Tan Sixin, she does a 1.5 into a round off onto her head then into a back handspring flop basically. And so they wanted to know if it’s two falls or if that counts as one fall. And the decision is that it is one fall and you can only take one point off of that. So if the first fall leads into another fall, it’s only one point off rather than two.
JESSICA: That seems extremely kind.
[LAUGHTER]
JESSICA: Sure they get some bonus extra fall deduction for doing one fall into another fall.
EVAN: You get a fall! You get a fall! You get a fall!
UNCLE TIM: You would be that brevet judge who judges level 5 bars and gives everyone a 5 or less Jess.
JESSICA: [LAUGHS] Do you know how many 4s I got when I was a level 4? I would because that is the kind of scores I got. Oh yeah. Ok. So. Before we go, we want to remind you guys that we have our listener survey up and we’re taking it down as of February 1st, so this is the last week for you to put in your comments, your thoughts, your suggestions, your deepest darkest desires for us. So I have asked Evan to read a few of his favorites from the listener survey comments and suggestions area to encourage you to complete the survey.
EVAN: Much like Claudia Presecan in 2000, I was cajoled to do this first one. So, a listener wrote in and said “I would like to hear a regular segment with a panel of gay men, see Uncle Tim, Evan. Jess I know you can talk about hot guys with the best of them. This is nothing against you. I just identify with gay men and think it would be entertaining.” Which I don’t disagree with. “Do you listen to satellite radio? Entertainment Weekly has a full channel now and they talk about all things pop culture. But for one of their program hours of the week, I believe it’s the bulls eye hour, a bunch of Entertainment Weekly’s gay writers and editors get together and dish. Pop culture of course, but just fun. Just a thought.” So Uncle Tim, Jess, thoughts and feelings about this?
JESSICA: I like that they were like nothing against you Jess. I know you can talk about hot guys but I don’t really care what you have to say. And I was like oh you want me to do another entire podcast? I don’t need sleep! Sure I’ll produce a show like that. So if someone wants to fund that I’m all for it.
UNCLE TIM: I’m all for it too. We were joking before this that we’d call it like GayCastic or something instead of GymCastic.
EVAN: Branded. I don’t know Uncle Tim can get pretty catty. So we might have some differing opinions and have a huff. There’s more. Jess had more favorites.
JESSICA: I may have picked these for Evan to read. Maybe.
EVAN: She had a lot of favorites. I can’t decide. They’re like one puppy compared to the next. I just value everyone so much. Since NCAA has a focus on education, such as the home schooling, education in other countries a la Romania where they all failed their- sorry I can’t follow this question.
[LAUGHTER]
UNCLE TIM: What is this Jess? Is this a topic we’re supposed to cover?
JESSICA: I just glanced yes. A topic like a panel yes
UNCLE TIM: On education. So they want a panel on education?
JESSICA: Yes in countries where education is failed miserably for the athletes.
EVAN: Alright then our final piece of feedback is a code overhaul. If the panelists could rewrite the entire code from scratch, what would they change, add, and subtract. I can tell you I don’t want to do that at all [LAUGHS]
JESSICA: Bad idea I think that would be so boring to listen to but so nerdy and so awesome at the same time.
UNCLE TIM: I just picture Jess’ with rainbows and stickers, her copy of the code
JESSICA: Oh my god stickers yes
UNCLE TIM: Scratch and sniff pages
JESSICA: I think you should be able to do your routines with special artistic- when I went to my first dance competition for little kids which is horrifying by the way. Horrifying. I can’t even tell you. I won’t get into that. But their costumes were spectacular. And I think gymnastics should be done with costumes. Play a character. Yes! Yes yes yes. Especially men’s. Men’s floor. Costumes. Arghh.
EVAN: I think you’re just wanting us to dress up like mailmen and dance for you.
JESSICA: Oh god. Do you know how much more popular men’s gymnastics would be if you did that?
UNCLE TIM: One year for Halloween I dressed up as a mail escort, and I wore a USPS shirt and I, yeah.
EVAN: I thought you were just going to say-
[LAUGHTER]
UNCLE TIM: No I walked around-
EVAN: Next year I know what I’m wearing.
UNCLE TIM: A label- anyway this will go all as an Easter egg for whoever wants to listen to us talk about nothing.
JESSICA: Oh my god ok. Woo. Let’s wrap this up. Ok. Later this week, we Uncle Tim and I will be reviewing, I don’t know if Uncle Tim knows this yet. We will be reviewing the Cirque show Amaluna. And we have come up with the most fantastic review and rating system just for gymnastics fans because we know what you want. Our rating system is just it’s scientifically tested. It’s perfection. I think it would get a gold star from the consumer reports staff. So later this week, Uncle Tim and I will review the show Amaluna which has the coolest act ever in it which is old school bars married to new school uneven bars. And it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. And we will also be interviewing US great, NCAA great, former Florida Gator Miss Melanie Sinclaire will be on the show. So look forward to that later this week. Until then, I’m Jessica from masters-gymnastics
UNCLE TIM: I’m Uncle Tim from Uncle Tim Talks Men’s Gym
EVAN: I’m Evan from friendship and Twitter. Find me there @yoev
JESSICA: Go take the survey and thank you so much for listening this week.
