God bless Oreos and House Hunters

[emilyj]

I love Gabby Douglas. She has been awesome tonight.

And Marta Karolyi can suck shit through a straw.

[emmybean]

Dup

[pixy0stix]

Jun 29, 2012 22:24:09 GMT -5 emilyj said:

And Marta Karolyi can suck shit through a straw.

I have no idea who this is.

I wonder if gymnasts get embarrassed when their buttcheeks hang out of their leotards.

[basilosaurus]

Their butt cheeks are firmer than mine will ever be, so I'd be proud, not embarrassed.

[emilyj]

Marta is the "woman's team coordinator", ie, she'll be the old woman wearing glasses they keep showing. She decides who makes the team. I think she is pretty much a horrible person, and I have absolutely zero respect for her.

[pixy0stix]

DH keeps eating my oreos.

How many gymnasts will make the US team?

[taratru]

Why do we hate Marta Karolyi? I thought it was Bela who was the ass.

[emilyj]

As a former gymnast, I was never embarrassed at my butt hanging out unless I had a huge wedgie.

[pixy0stix]

I find Phantom of the Opera to be a weird music choice.

[emilyj]

5 girls will make the team. The one who wins trials is automatically named to the team - the remaining 4 will be selected by Marta.

My hate for Marta is slightly personal. I was an elite gymnast for several years, so while I never trained directly under her, I did train in the same circles. She is a massive cunt. I have absolutely no respect for her.

Separating out my personal feelings - after the US women won the gold in '96, Marta and Bela decided "Oh, we need to completely change the system of how our national teams are selected", and they devised this new system and selection process which makes sense to only them. Instead of the top 5 or 6 finishers being named to the team, now it's this whole process over multiple meets, and there's no clear rules or guidelines.

And interestingly, since this whole new 'system', the US women have not won another Olympic gold. So...yeah. Nice job, Karolyis.

[taratru]

That's just a shitty way to do things. So you can kick ass at the trials but be replaced by someone that Marta Karolyi just likes better? Lame.

Do you think she'll pick Sacramone? I like her.

[pixy0stix]

So the rankings in the meet don't matter? How does that make sense?

[pixy0stix]

Also, I'm loling at the felt board the commentators were using. Real high tech there.

[taratru]

Jun 29, 2012 22:39:19 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Also, I'm loling at the felt board the commentators were using. Real high tech there.

LOLZZZZ! Can't even get a telestrator up in there?

[ESF]

H is visiting his mom. I'm chilling on the couch with the dog, drinking wine and (re)watching Damages on Netflix.

[emilyj]

I had to fast forward through the felt board. That's the first year they've done that, and I wish they hadn't. But then again, the female commentator is kind of an idiot...so....

No. The rankings pretty much don't matter unless you are #1. You don't even have to compete on all 4 events to go.

Their 'rationale' is that they want to compile a team that will put up the best scores on all the events - and they don't have to have all of the same gymnasts competing on each event. So they could take Sacramone (which I hope they do) and just have her do vault and beam because she could score higher on those two than another gymnast could.

So yeah...you could kick ass at trials, but they're looking at the combination of several different meets. So if you fucked up at Visa's and Nationals, then it may not matter how awesome you do at trials.

[taratru]

This is why I love track. Just you and a watch. This subjective crap makes me craaaaaazy.

[emilyj]

It didn't used to be like this. It used to be top 6 went, and 7th place went as an alternate. It worked fine that way for years.

[msmerymac]

MY husband picked up a case of Saranac summer variety. It's pretty good.

[marie427]

So then why were there 7 gymnasts on the US gymnastics team in 96? I didn't realize the number decreased since then.

Also, I can't hate Marta because her husband is the most adorable old man on Earth even if he might be an asshole.