CeeBeeGee

I totally remember the New Mickey Mouse Club! I absolutely loved it--my best friend and I used to make up our own choreography to the songs. Shawnte Northcutte, one of the Mouseketeers, was also a guest on one of the episodes. Those attempted put-downs never worked--in no universe is someone as gorgeous and rich and sophisticated as Blair is, in any way intimidated by a midwestern middle-class girl like Sue Ann. It just rang completely false. They kept trying to make Sue Ann a big deal--she was the best track runner, she was the smartest, she developed an eating disorder--and it was annoying mainly because Julie Piekarski wasn't a good actor. Just watched the episode where Tootie writes a ply about Eleanor Roosevelt--oh my God, I think I've reached peak Annoying Tootie saturation levels. She pesters Natalie to read her play, asks for feedback, and Natalie tells her it needs a lot of work. So Tootie is snotty about it, treats Natalie coldly and Natalie backtracks and says it's great. Then Tootie performs the play on stage, it and she suck, and she blames Natalie for not telling her it sucked! I just--she did! And you were a snotty entitled b**** to her! In no way did she take any responsibility for her embarrassment, it was somehow all Natalie's fault. My palm was itching to reach through the screen to slap her.

Apologies if this podcast has been mentioned before, but y'all need to download Blind Landings. It's 5 short-ish episodes (20-30 minutes each) about the vault debacle in Sydney. It's fantastic. Maria Olaru's interview is incredible, as is Lisa Mason's (Team GB who was in the first flight).

So I've been hearing that Malone is a QAnon nutter? I searched the web, couldn't find anything--what did he erase from his searchable social media accounts? What exactly did he say? I loveloveLOVE sushi, as in would happily eat it thrice weekly were it not for the fear of mercury poisoning. From the time I first heard of it, I knew I would like it (I love seafood of any kind). That said--it's not that easy to eat. It's not easy mastering chopsticks. And even when you're experienced, sushi has a way of slipping out of the sticks--plus there's the whole "do I put this huge roll piece into my mouth or do I try to take a bit--which will then cause the whole piece to fall apart?" Sushi's complicated. I don't mind raw food but some people don't like it. tl;dr--they're allowed to not like sushi. Maybe the Today team should've tried introducing shrimp and vegetables tempura instead :) I LOVE that ad! I proudly told my friend (I'm turning him on to women's gymnastics) "she won a World vault medal a couple of years ago!" I just love the whole "the climb gets steeper and steeper" theme plus the music. Great ad.

Canada won!!! So happy for them!

OMG why am I not surprised that Jay fucking Leno is recycling his own tired jokes?

YES. I'm so, so so proud of Team USA. Especially that team silver. But really, all of them. Mykayla, Jade, Simone, Suni--just GO you guys. Super proud. A friend of mine who has a podcast recruited me for an interview after I'd posted an obnoxiously long comment in response to a mutual friend's FB comment about Simone: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s-3-ep-25-forensic-biles-clara-barton-green/id1459310296?i=1000530639396&fbclid=IwAR0jnjrwq0HPfmF40o2L2lUS17x8B63kqpymhxgGNvDkwcFM_SwZZw988Iw Don't forget the myriad floor routines accompanied by screechy violin music! *Sigh* Delusional fools, there is only one Shannon. They skipped Ellie Black and Larisa Iordache. SO pissed.

In 2004 I was at work, studiously ignoring the internet, when one of the senior analysts said approvingly "Well, all right, Carly--All-Around gold." My head shot up out of my cubicle and the glare I sent his way could've melted Siberia. He noticed immediately and was properly abject but by then the damage was done.

At my semi-advanced age, I have to stick to a bedtime or I'm exhausted for days. So I can't watch it live but I also want to stay unspoiled so tomorrow I'm like must--not--open--phone--for--fear--of--spoilers.

So, so proud of Mykayla and Suni!!! (I know Jade won floor but I haven't seen that routine yet.) So happy for our US team and also thrilled for the non-Big Four countries (South Korea, Great Britain, Belgium) winning. I love seeing the sport grow! Also, thanks to whoever is posting to NBC links to the full event finals, with every routine. Praying for Simone tomorrow on beam.

Does this mean Mykayla is in the vault final? Never mind, just found out the answer is yes.

As thrilled as I am for Suni, I would've been happy with Rebeca as well. And YES on the Toccata! Sometimes for Worlds gymnasts will choose Halloween music, I loved hearing it in July! Very happy to see some Brazilian success, they are such lovely gymnasts.

I collect vintage gymnastics memorabilia and I have the issue of Time magazine from Montreal '76 with Nadia on the cover. The article on her has this horrifically misogynistic depiction of Olga Korbut--according to the writer she was very jealous to no longer be the center of attention. I can't remember the exact writing of it but they sure do love to set these girls up and then tear them down four years later. I didn't even find out GB won the bronze until later. I love their gymnastics and am super annoyed NBC didn't show any of their sets. Nina is gorgeous on bars! I'm very excited for the bars final. Fuuuuuuck Steve Rybacki. I well remember that tirade. And then in 2000 that cringe-inducing interview with him and Beth during Trials. JFC people, have some pride and don't beg the gymnast you abused to come back to you--on TV! Just admit you hate Black women already, Piers. What a POS. This is adorbs. Oh, she's lovely! Sooooo elegant.

Dominique looked her absolute best under that Romanian coach, Luminita. She was gorgeous at the Goodwill Games in '98.

Learn to read? FUCK YOU. What an idiot. Hey, that Hitler dude sure painted some nice pieces, plus he had the ambition to write a book. He had some bad ideas though.

OMG I so agree about Fong. I kind of despise him but someone in that gym must be doing something right. They even salute beautifully. Sarah Finnegan was another favorite GAGE gymnast, just beauty in every pore. Eff Marta for dissing Courtney like that. That poor kid. I remember how stricken she looked the day of team finals. I just wanted to hug her.

They did in Athens in 2004. I'm glad Jordan wasn't punished for her beam fall by striking her completely from the lineup for tomorrow. Among Marta's many other sins, it was outrageously cruel of her to remove Courtney McCool completely from the team final lineup. (She was such a gorgeous gymnast, too.) And then I remember some crappy fans saying she didn't even deserve the team silver because "she didn't do anything to achieve it" because of new life.

I'm not suggesting a free for all. And one of my favorite event finals was the vault EF at Worlds 2011, because so many of the finalists were from non-powerhouses. I still remember the look of joy on the Vietnamese bronze medalist--she was thrilled enough to make the final but to medal...she was incandescent. It was wonderful. I'm just saying--when the reigning World AA champion finishes fourth in quals and isn't allowed to continue to the final, something needs to change. They need to strike a balance between honest competition and a hand up to the countries that don't have the background that the Big Three (Would be the Big Four but sadly Romania is not what they were. We're lighting a torch for you guys! Please recover!) do.

Yes! Thank you! I am an old and I remember Sydney--I wasn't a gymnast nor a coach or in the world but I was online and absolutely no one that I can recall reacted to Romania's AA sweep by complaining about how unfair it was. It was all "welp, guess we have to get better then." All of these gatekeeping measures Grandi introduced smack of participation trophies. I'm still angry about Jordyn Wieber--the reigning AA World champion--getting two-pered out after finishing fourth--FOURTH--in quals in London. Not twelfth. Fourth. And because of a stupid tie-break rule, the no. 5 qualifier lucks into a bronze AA medal. I love Aliya's gymnastics, don't get me wrong, but these shitty rules just get in the way of the best being recognized as such. Bring back a six person team! Better yet, a seven person team!

Thank you. Seriously, it's gross. Because Bruno Grandi hates gymnastics and wants to destroy the sport. Seriously, every decision he made as the head of FIG was horribly detrimental to the sport. AUUUUGH. She is so naturally pretty. WHYYYYYYYYY is she wearing these tacky, extra, terrible outfits? I'm embarrassed for her. She seems desperate for attention and Nastia, you're fucking gymnastics royalty. Why are you uglifying yourself like this? Go back to those cute polos! You looked great, professional and like an athlete in those! Stop with the tacky outfits!

Russia will probably take team silver, China the bronze. Not sure who's there but Nina Derwael of Belgium is very strong on bars.

If Sanne Wevers can't come to Tokyo to defend her beam gold, I am gonna be PISSED.

Oh jeez, it was even worse than I remembered. "It goes both ways" fuck right OFF with that, Gabby. No. It doesn't.

THAT IS SO NOT APPROPRIATE!!!!!! She was a child. She achieved a great success in 2012 but she shouldn't have been required to keep doing this one thing at which she's really good just so the money train never stops. What if she wanted to go to college and learn a new discipline? What if she wanted to take a year off and travel? I get that she's really close with her family but boundaries have to be drawn. She grew up poor and I get that the mother probably went into debt for her training but once that had been hashed out, it's the mom's job to find a job and find something else to do and not live through her mother. Ditto the rest of the siblings.

Can you give me some details on Douglas Family Gold? What made you say her family is a "piece of work"? Because I didn't want to watch it (I have no idea why Marta didn't put the kibosh on that project immediately as it sounds like a huge distraction when you're, I don't know, training for the Olympics). And the thing is, her mother got a shitton of flak from certain gymnastics message boards who had posters who were essentially racist and transferred their dislike of Gabby to her mother. So I always hesitated to say anything negative--but I also got the feeling Gabby was essentially supporting her entire family. And yes, I know they supported her during her early training but it's inappropriate for someone so young--she was only 20 years even in Rio) to have a burden like that. When Gabby came back in 2015, I just had a different vibe from her--she didn't seem to have the same love for the sport. And I question if she really wanted to come back or if she didn't feel some kind of pressure.

It was something about (in response to the Nassar crap) "dressing in a provocative/sexual way incites the wrong crowd" (C&P-ed from Nassar's WP page) which is just so spectacularly offensive and awful. Understandably, she was heavily criticized for it--Gabby, you wear a leotard and you're saying crap like that? She quickly apologized profusely and I believe not long after revealed that she too had been abused.