Wednesday, August 11, 2010

This and That


Bridget Sloan keeps mentioning the phrase "take a break." That is not a good sign for the teenager. The baby of the Olympic Team came back to competition rather quickly in 2009 but then had some down time and skipped the US Classic. She was rusty at Nationals but pulled out a win when others made mistakes. The same scenario played out at Worlds. It was far from a clean competition.

Since Worlds, Sloan has competed a total of three routines. Kayla Williams went to Worlds and was back in January. Rebecca Bross competed multiple times since Worlds and is raring to go. It is not a good sign that the World Champion has done so little since winning Worlds and basically hopes to verify routines at camp and be right back on top. I could be nice like some other bloggers or Inside Gymnastics and claim that she has an excellent shot at repeating at World Champion, but we all know that that is about as likely as Aly Raisman winning a World Title on Uneven Bars. Sloan learned a new bar routine but has yet to really hit it in competition. While she did make the Pac Rim team, sources report that she needed another month or two to be back on top. Bridget continues to claim that she'll do a triple twisting front at Worlds, but we all know that reality of that coming to fruition.

All in all, it has pretty much been a wasted year for Bridget Sloan. As the rising juniors work their tails off to improve, Sloan has rested and hasn't shown many upgrades since Beijing. Her quest for London, like her new floor routine, can be summed up in one word: Uninspired.


Sang Lan is planning to sue the organizers of the Goodwill Games. While they are already paying her lifelong medical bills, she claims that her standard of living was never accounted for. I feel for Sang Lan and think it is a crying shame that she is paralyzed. But I must admit, as far as paralyzed gymnasts go, Sang Lan has been treated with the utmost concern and empathy. Sang Lan continually receives media attention and has had success on television in China. NBC even did an update on her during the 2000 Olympic Games.

Sang Lan is claiming that organizers are to blame because coaches were moving mats while she approached the table. Frankly, this is a common occurrence during gymnastics competitions. I feel for Sang Lan. I really do. But I just don't see the case in this situation. Taylor Lindsey Noel and Elena Mukhina were never treated nearly with the same concern or support as Sang Lan. And why now? It has been twelve years. It makes you wonder.


Sho Nakamori is returning to Nationals after suffering a torn ACL a year ago. He is now coached by Zhang Jinjing and even has a website where he blogs about his progress. Sho is aiming toward the 2011 Worlds and 2012 Olympics. He feels that the new Olympic Team format will help him, as he is one of the country's stronger all-arounders. He hopes to make the National Team this weekend.

Belgosto updated their schedule. They'll officially be skating at All The Skate LA, October 2-3. The duo is off to quite the professional skating career. They are also skating in Shall We Dance, Skate For The Heart and Riverdance On Ice.

The Gymnastics Examiner has a live blog for the Junior Men's competition.

Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek had some sort of twitter drama this weekend, only it was rather one-sided. Evan apparently tweeted a friend that Johnny's gender was still up in the air but later apologized, but also claimed that his account was hacked. It was not the best thing to say and he should likely know to avoid the topic of Johnny, but he does claim his account was hacked. Unfortunately, the tweet was one in a cluster of other innocuous tweets about his day. It appears somewhat unlikely that someone would hack into his account and only tweet something about questioning Johnny's gender. Had he owned it and apologized for making a joke in poor taste, he would've actually come across far better. The next time anyone bitches about comments I make, know that this blog was hacked. Evan was on vacay in the Hamptons when it all went down. Perhaps he had a few too many glasses of vino or just doesn't know how to direct message? All in all, it is much ado about nothing.

In other news, has anyone noticed how Anne Phillips is on a giant kick of making the Nationals experience way more than it is?

Anne has some new questions lately:

'"I know you were injured last year. What are you remembering about this meet?"
"Are you nervous?"
"What does it feel like out there?"
"How is championships different than other meets?"

I can't wait til that girl has a child, because she likes to spoon feed like nobody's business.


Universal Sports posted a TV schedule for this weekend's Nationals television broadcasts.

36 comments:

  1. Bridget is doing this right. She wants to be an Olympian again. No one outside the gym community cares about worlds. Bridget is trying to get healthy for 2012. Chellsie Memmel proved 2 years ago all that matters is what Marta see's you do. Jamie Dantzscher can also atest to this.

    What you do in 2010 has little impact on 2012.

    Johnny started the war and if Evan finishes it oh well. Johnny can run his mouth all day but when Evan fights back you call him out? That is what makes you a hypocrite Auntie.

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  2. I have called out Johnny plenty as of late---you must be blind.

    Bridget is getting passed by other gymnasts in the US because she hasn't put in the necessary work. There are only five slots open for 2012 and she is quickly being passed by. She just isn't standing out anywhere.

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  3. Evan is vacationing at the Hamptons, being wined and dined, enjoying the benefits of being Olympic champion, and Johnny is still on his mind? That boy needs therapy (Evan, that is).

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  4. To be fair, someone asked him about Johnny. They did run into one another out at a club in LA last week.

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  5. Followed the Evan Twitter drama this weekend. Random question: Does anyone know if Evan twitters for himself, or if he has a publicist do it, or if it's a mix?

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  6. Totally agree about Bridget. @ Classics the comment was made that Marta is getting frustrated w/ Bridget and I agree. Sure, "rest up" in hopes of shinning high in mid-late 2011 and early 2012 but others are proving that they are getting better while Bridget sits back and chills. I doubt she'll be on the team in 2012, too few slots and too few contenders.

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  7. Aunt Joyce has been awfully quiet about Evan since the new blog started up- I wondered if he, (Evan, or his army of PR people) had anything to do with the last one going down? I'm kind of surprised at how quickly Evan dropped off the media map after DWTS ended....maybe he ought to rethink that big acting career he fancied.

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  8. Thank god AJ isn't commenting about Evan. The less talk about him, the better. Evan's latest misadventure may have to do with him needing publicity to keep him relevant and newsworthy. Please keep him obscure!! Enough of him!

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  10. Marta may have not liked Chellsie's weight but Chellsie was someone who showed up for the US when the team needed her, and that earned her merit. Marta certainly cares about Worlds.

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  11. Marta was annoyed with Chellsie Memmel in 07 too and Chellsie made the Olympic team. In 00 no one would have seen Dantzscher on that team. Jamies refused to do things at camp and was an all around pain in the ass yet she made the team to.

    Bridget is doing what will help her and just because fat ass Peszek says something that doesn't make it fact. Now all of a sudden Bridget is lazy when before she was such a hard worker.

    It doesn't matter what Bridget does this year if she is healthy, upgraded and hitting in 2012 then that is what Marta will look at. Marta won't even remember what happened in 2010 just like she didn't care in the end what a pain in the ass Jamie Dantzscher was.

    You seem to hate whomever is on top at any given time. I think you are a closeted wanna be gymnast.lol

    I didn't say Bridget was a lock to make the team. Learn to read. I said if she is healthy and hitting she has a shot and I am comparing the situations. They do make sense.

    Gymnastics is a sport. Falling is part of the game. How long do you think Marta will want Rebecca Bross if she is going to fall at every competition which is a fact. I don't think she has hit four for four more then once in her senior career and that was the scam cup.

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  12. Marta doesn't make her decisions on the Olympics based on worlds. All that Memmel did in 03 didn't help her make the 04 team.

    Marta was way more annpyed with Chellsie in 07 and early 08 then she is right now with Bridget who by the way is injured.

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  13. The point isn't whether Marta will take people or not but whether its a good idea to slack of and assume that you'll be ready by 2012. In the case of Memmel, she was mainly about getting the skills she already had for 2008, and she was coming back slowly to do that.

    In the case of Bridget, there's a very good chance that not only is she going to have to keep her old skills, but that she will need NEW skills. The reality of the situation is once Wieber is eligible, things change. Sure Becca is inconsistent but with a fall on beam, she can still score about a well as Bridget. Worlds showed that one. And Becca is more consistent on bars by far than Bridget is.

    The USA is pretty deep on all of the events Bridget is good at, and so it can be an issue. And if your absolutely needed for a team than its okay to P*SS of Marta. But you can't be sure at all that you won't be a bubble girl at the end. And Chellsie may have had Marta annoyed in 2007 but Chellsie had also earned a lot of credit for before. Don't think she hadn't. Far more than Bridget has its not like memmel was that needed in 2007 but Bridget is needed right now.

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  15. Bridget stepped in and did pretty well after Memmel was once again injured in 08. Taking Chellsie was a hugh risk since she is always injured. Her entire career was a walking injury.

    You don't know what Bridget will be capable of in 2012 because of the time she is taking off now. She is getting up there in age and this might just help her keep healthy for 2012.

    In 2012 the US is going to need someone that won't fall in team finals. With only five members consistancy and staying healthy will be key.

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  16. [Quote]Taking Chellsie was a hugh risk since she is always injured. Her entire career was a walking injury.[/Quote]

    They had no choice but to take Memmel. Without Memmel they would be even further behind against China on bars. Memmel with a hobbled foot was by far the second best bar worker on the US team. She as indispensible there.

    [Quote]In 2012 the US is going to need someone that won't fall in team finals. With only five members consistancy and staying healthy will be key. [/Quote]

    How do we know Bridget won't fall in team finals. Bridget's only done one event in Team finals for entire career-vault an event that requires the least amount of thinking. She had her mess ups at Worlds too. Yes she's a better competitor than Bross. But we don't know that she'd be the rock of all rocks in competition either.

    And in the end "solid" might frankly not cut it. The US is facing a bars deficit still. Don't think the Chinese and Russia won't be showing up in 2012 with some really kick Ass Bars D scores. The writing is on that wall. The US is going to need people who can put up some big scores to be competitive. Yes she has one of the best DTYs in the world right now but if others upgrade, the fact is the only real event Bridget can possible do that is on floor. And in the case of Memmel she was mainly just about getting her old skills back, not so much about learning new ones.

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  17. Evan had sex with one of Johnny's "Dingles".

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  18. I can't decide which is worse: Bridget's music or Bridget's choreography.

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  19. Maybe Bridget doesn't care about London. She's already been national and world champ, had the Olympic experience, and it's not like she'll be a star on the next team. Maybe she's over it.

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  20. I can't blame Bridget if she's slightly uninspired. Why should she feel this urgent need to upgrade? She won Nationals and Worlds last year without upgrading anything. Most of the girls in this country cannot do bars to save their lives. If Bridget can pull out a decent set, she'll have as good of a shot to make future World/Olympic teams as anyone else.

    I don't think Bridget needs to panic because Wieber will be a Senior next year. So what? It's just one girl, a girl who already has a history of injury. As for the others top Juniors, some of them aren't even age-eligible for 2012... And if they are, who's to say they will have more difficult routines/better consistency as Seniors than Sloan?

    Basically, if Bridget is chilling right now, it's because she CAN... At least for now. But she's injured. I'm sure she would have done AA here if she was actually healthy enough.

    And let's not forget that this is Bridget Sloan, the girl who made the Olympic team at the 11th hour. That girl was NOT ready for the Olympics at Nationals and clawed her way onto the Olympic team team a month later. I have complete confidence in her to be ready for Worlds this year if she is healthy.

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  21. I don't think there are that many spots where Bridget can upgrade. She's obviously fiddling around with her bar routine, albeit not with great consistency, but it's probably the easiest place for her to at least try to make some changes. She's already doing pretty hard skills on the other events, and beam will be hard for her upgrade since it's her weakest.

    The expectations are too high for Bridget. She's not going to win Worlds again, probably, but it should be considered a big success if she can get there this year and be in contention for a medal. I hate when we knock athletes for not "repeating their titles". So what? It's hard enough to win it once, never mind again and again.

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  22. I think you are being far too confident in Bridget. There are plenty of other girls who are coming up the ranks. Kyla Ross comes to mind. Someone like McKayla Maroney looks to be a sleeper coming through the ranks. She has an Amanar and has some impressive tumbling and form on floor. Someone like Maroney is young and certainly capable of putting it all together. Bridget's best hope is to really improve on bars, but that also could be unlikely. Then there are always the Nastia/Shawn possibilities, which could actually be real...no matter how far out they seem at this time. Should one of them get back in form in a year or 1 1/2 yrs, Bridget will be screwed. Wofford also looks to be someone who is on pace for having the gymnastics to make the 2012 team.

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  23. Thank you for being mature and not making a big deal out of the Evan vs. Johnny Twitter drama. The whole thing felt so "Junior High"... "Omg, you called Johnny a girl!" "Omg, your apology wasn't good enough!" Like seriously?

    It's bad enough Evan and Johnny have an immature relationship with each other ("omg, you're so gay!")... Why should the people on Twitter care about these two taking jabs at each other over their sexuality?

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  24. Ross still needs to upgrade quite a bit. Bars are a bit weak, and she's still doing a double full pass on floor, no? Wofford has no consistency yet... I just wouldn't write off Sloan any faster than I would predict that all these Juniors will just come up and "take her spot" in the near future.

    This very well could be the best time for Sloan to relax a little and heal the injuries. This is a gymnast who had knee surgery 5 months before Beijing... Marvin Sharp knows how to get her prepared close to major competitions.

    And if Bridget doesn't make 2012, who are we to say she didn't try hard enough? Saying you will upgrade your difficulty is a lot easier than doing it, and Bridget may be at her max difficulty level. And if she is, that still may be good enough to get her on another Olympic team. Time will tell.

    How weird would it be though if Sacramone ends up being the only returning Olympian? Talk about ironic!

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  26. I don't think Sloan can "afford to chill", but fact of the matter is that she still has a VERY good shot of making the World team this year if healthy, even if she is "chilling". She can worry about upgrades after that, perhaps.

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  27. I actually do agree that only Bridget can know how hard she's working and how much she has to give, how much she can improve. It is impossible to know where she's at.

    To be frank it is totally possible that Bridget even without upgrades will be on the team. I will say this though my guts says if there aren't some major upgrades though from the US team as a whole a couple of Amanars or better bars, I think the US could end up being in trouble in 2012.

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  28. The Jrs may be improving, but most of them could not beat a 2009 Bridget right now. We do not know how hard she works or how injured she is. We do not know if she is capable of upgrades or what she is working on. But it's way too early, in my opinion, to be calling her 2012 spot in jeopardy. One year at a time. I think she'll be on the World team this year.

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  29. They couldn't afford to leave Bridget off the 2010 World Team, but things are going to get much more competitive in the next year or so. Youth tends to improve much faster and Bridget has not really improved. Tasha Schwikert was in a similar situation in 2001-2004. She started taking time off due to some injuries and chose not to push as she could with regards to conditioning or doing what she physically could handle in training...it caught up with her by 2004.

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  30. While I sympathize about the situation Sang Lan
    she has received much more care than any other injured gymnast. Remember Julissa Gomez? She was left a quad after an unsupervised vault, a vault she was not comfortable with still no one in the gymnastic community will take responsibility.

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  31. girls that want to be on the 2012 team: Sloan, Bross, Hong, Larson, Sacramone, Weiber, Ross, Vega, Johnson...and the list goes on and on. Some will retire before then and then there are some sleepers. There's only 5 slots. Sloan can relax all she wants but her routines are pretty lackluster. It was easy to win in 09 but I wouldn't put my $ on her being on the team. But like someone said, she's done the Olympics, won a national & world title -maybe she won't matter much.

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  32. Tasha wasn't left off the 04 team because she couldn't cut it, she was left off to make a point. The Karolyis despise anyone with the audacity to try to pace themselves. I know everyone wants to kiss Marta's ass these days but I still won't drink the kool aid. Pushing 110% every day for 4 years isn't realistic or feasible, especially with the older bodies because of the age rules. No one gives a fuck about the US National Champion in an Olympic year. Ask the last two Olympic Champions. I ask again, why should Schwikert have peaked in 03 and at 04 Nationals? Marta shot herself in the foot to make her point, because they really could have used her in Athens.

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  33. Bridget was boring when she was peaking and now that she's fighting time and trying to protect her body, she's just as boring. I think I'd be sadder about her injuries and off-kilter performances, and more excited about her uprgades, if she weren't so uninspiring.

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  34. I would think if anyone had a potential lawsuit regarding a gymnastics injury, it would have been Julissa Gomez' parents. I think you could make the argument for them suing Al Fong, as Julissa should have never been allowed to compete the vault she was doing. They would have had an even more legitimate lawsuit against the Japanese hospital. If it was reported correctly, she went from paralyzed to comatose because of her trach slipping out, which is gross medical neglect. I don't think her parents were well off, and they were inundated with medical bills, none of which were covered. I can't imagine how her parents reacted to the ESPN article about Al Fong several years ago talking about what a new, gentle coach he was in reaction to Julissa and Chritie's deaths.

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  35. Mmemmel didn't even score in the 16.000's at the Olympics. Marta ignored her form breaks at Nationals but the Olympic judges didn't.

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  36. I guess the Sang Lan thing stuck out to me more. Anything now is just money grubbing.

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