ITT Greekchat talks sports

[KSUViolet06]

Thunder in six.

/from my Laker fishing boat.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Thunder in six.

/from my Laker fishing boat.

Missed all of this discussion. Series went significantly downhill after game 1 for us Thunder folks.

That said, it appears we've done well in the draft picking up Perry who could have landed top-5 last year (let's just hope the knees hold up), we just resigned Coach Brooks to a 4-year deal. Now if we can keep Harden and Sefalosha, 2012-2013 could go very well.

[lovespink88]

Boo, Heat.

[AGDee]

I hadn't followed gymnastics in a while but I watched the trials tonight. Gaby was freaking me out on beam tonight but she is so darn cute. She has the Mary Lou Retton kind of shining smile. Jordyn is the Michigan gal to root for and she is obviously very good but I found myself wishing she would smile, especially during her floor routine. I only caught the last hour tonight because I didn't realize these were on. I have to admit, since they changed the scoring method and a 10 isn't the best score anymore, I don't really understand what the scores mean so it makes it a lot harder to watch for me. I feel the same way about figure skating, FWIW.

[pshsx1]

Detroit sports teams have done nothing but shatter my hopes and dreams all year.

[AXOmom]

Originally Posted by melindawarren

I've been banking on Douglas, Maroney, Raisman, Ross, Weiber, with Finnegan and Price as alternates.

Saddened to see Bross and Sloan not have such great nights. I miss the days when we had fiery Bross.

Posting this because MelindaWarren called it right down to the alternates - I just concurred with her, so I don't think my prediction counts. My daughter called it quite a while back, but she never put it in writing so....tough beans for her.

Looking back at my prediction, I said I would take Finnegan over Price as an alternate and I'd switch that now. I really wasn't sure in the end they wouldn't take Price over Maroney.

Anna Li as an alternate surprises me a little bit but she does have great bars and they need that.

AGDee - The gymnasts and coaches generally weren't happy with the scoring change either. They have two scores. The first is difficulty - there's a complex formula based on elements and combinations of elements that determine it. Basically it goes from 1-7 (no one actually has a 7) and most elite gymnasts should have routines that are high fives or somewhere in the sixes (the better routines are middle sixes).

The second score works the way the old system did - they start at a 10 and take deductions (although they are a little more extreme with the deductions than they used to be). They add them together.

Generally a 16 or above is fantastic, a 15 is pretty darn good, a 14 is okay and a 13 is a disaster, but floor and bars tend to score lower. On those a 16 is almost unheard of, a 15 or above is fantastic and so on. ....Yeah, this probably way more information that you wanted or needed. Oh, and this can all vary some (not much) depending on the judges.

Jordyn is an all business type of girl who just isn't a big smiler, but WOW! A credit to the state of Michigan.

[AXOmom]

^^^They are amazing on bars and literally a joy to watch on floor, but they struggle with vault. It's hard to get much "spring" off a spring board when you way 48 lbs soaking wet. LOL.

[TonyB06]

While gymnastics rank nowhere near my favorite in terms of sports, it did deliver the single most courageous thing I think I have ever seen in sports.

1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. Kerri Scrug? had broken her ankle but the team's gold medal chances were somewhat in doubt (if I recall correctly?) Anyway, she took her final run and vault, on a broken ankle, to ensure her team got the gold (or whatever team medal they were in contention for).

Single most courageous thing I think I've ever seen in sports.

[KSUViolet06]

There has been controversy in the past 2 or 3 games regarding the age of Chinese competitors. Guessing it will come up again. Haven't seen much of international teams myself outside of Goodwill Games and Worlds, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm actually a fan of the newer scoring system. I think the initial "OMGWTFNOOOOOO" over it just had to do with the number looking different (as in, there are 2 scores involved instead of one.) I'm a fan of more "technical" events (beam and vault), though and I like that the new system rewards being cleaner in technical elements.

There are definitely ways to be more artistic while still scoring well technically, though (ex: You're still required to connect skills in beam and that's where art comes in.) You just have to kind of sneak it in with connective skills and little things.

[AXOmom]

^^^ Yeah, I agree, and I think Nastia Liukin (last time around) was an example of adding the difficulty and maintaining the artistry. The Chineese manage it on floor.

TonyB06 - The Kerri Strug moment was cool...but we did have the gold in hand and didn't need it. Still, it made for a great moment and I'm not sure SHE knew that when she vaulted.

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by AXOmom

TonyB06 - The Kerri Strug moment was cool...but we did have the gold in hand and didn't need it. Still, it made for a great moment and I'm not sure SHE knew that when she vaulted.

That's why it stands out for me, 16 years later. I don't think she knew the gold was already in hand, so, in her mind, she was risking her ankle for her teammates. That's good stuff!

[AGDee]

Thank you for the scoring explanation. That does help. I miss the artistry of the "olden" days too though. I know it is because they do much more difficult moves, but the pauses while they set up to do the tumbling runs on the floor or the big moves on the beam make it choppy. There used to be more elegance to it. I have the same complaint with figure skating. Big pause... big jump/turn/tumble. It used to look more like dancing. Some girls still get that element in there, but some are just all business/athletics.

Ultimately, I'd rather see a clean routine than a super difficult one with lots of bobbles in it too. But, I know they wouldn't get the difficulty points then.

[Hockeynut]

Only 3 more months to go. :|

[lovespink88]

What a collapse. On one hand we did FARRRR better than we were expected to do. On the other, it sucks getting your hopes up. Glad the Tigers finally put us out of our misery yesterday.

I'm comforted by the fact that Cubs have lost 100 games this year LOL

[AXOmom]

^^^The 10.0 system didn't reward for creativity either. In other words they didn't give one girl an 8.9 and one a 9.8 because they thought the latter was more creative than the former (at least they weren't supposed to). Every routine (well, there were a few differences in vault start values) under the old system started at a 10 assuming the gymnast performed all the required elements and then they deducted for "mistakes" or execution errors.

That led to gymnasts or their coaches "playing" the code of points (which are the elements a gymnast has to perform to value it at a 10.0) and often having them do several easy things that added up to a 10 but would get them fewer deductions rather than risking difficult elements that wouldn't/couldn't increase the value but would probably lead to higher deductions (this is still an issue at the lower levels which still use a 10 scoring value).

The new system does reward for trying riskier and more difficult moves. What happens however (and this is the creative element) is that in order to pack in that difficulty and get the first score up as high as possible, the artistry element often suffers. That shows up on the beam and floor.

Unless something changes dramatically, you will be disappointed when you see the Romanians. They've suffered a huge fall from grace, and aren't even close to their glory days, but they have returned to their old coach, so I'll be anxious to see how much that's helped. The Russians have improved since the last Olympics actually...the Chinese will be good. They' also probably be 8.