CeeBeeGee

I know that episode very well (I even wrote a review of it for imdb 🙂) but Kristy's situation is never made clear to Mrs. Garrett or the other girls. When the other girls are at the diner, Jo immediately figures out that Mike is a pimp but Kristy isn't in that scene, I don't think. Yes, I would've loved it had Mrs. Garrett figured things out and put her foot down to get Kristy out of there but that's part of what gives that episode its bleak power--that last shot, Kristy and Tootie looking at each other through the window, knowing that nothing is going to change for Kristy. It's really a very strong episode, even though Tootie is prominently featured (I can't stand her either a lot of the time either).

They must be going crazy from the lack of exercise. I know I am (used to walking miles every day as I work all over the city).

It's a Russian thing, but not really a Romanian thing. They have hardly ever been favorites--maybe in '96 but they were surprise winners in both 2000 and 2004. The Russian thing--well, I can't really fault someone for being upset they didn't win, that is the essence of very strong competitors. I can fault some of them for pouting (Komova in 2011), trash-talking the winners by accusing them of juicing (Komova in 2015, Paseka re: Simone in the media), general poor sportsmanship (Khorkina ad nauseum). I'm not sure where it comes from--part of me thinks it's a hangover from the Soviet days when they really were expected to win ALL the time, but we're a generation past that. At some point, you move on. There is a general attitude among some Russian fans that the Americans aren't "legitimate" winners, that the Russians are unquestionably better and when they lose it's due to shenanigans, or favoritism, or PC. They'll bend over backwards to rationalize why Gabby beat Komova--"they wanted a black girl that year." No, Vika took several steps out of her vault. That's it. That's the explanation. Vika probably should've won that year but she herself lost it, and also Gabby performed perfectly at the right time. There's one blog in particular that's notorious for its Russian chauvinism. I do think this attitude is starting to go way over time though--for one thing, you can't rationalize Simone's prowess, at some point you simply have to acknowledge how much better she is than everyone else.

The Maggie story is unbelievable. She threatened suicide if gymnasts left her? Jesus Christ. I'm so, so glad Laurie and Riley are out of that hell. I can't imagine how unsafe her gymnasts must've felt. I also coach kids--different sport and much younger than these--but why the hell do these terrible, abusive coaches who apparently hate kids decide to work in this field? Yelling at them? Hitting them? Screaming at them? I don't follow RG and barely follow the men so I can't answer. But--diuretics are banned? That seems weird, how can diuretics improve your performance? Or pot for that matter? Fuck that shit! People, be better! Jesus. Don't use a personal, horrific tragedy to relitigate a long-past sports meet.

She absolutely should've gotten a ten on her vault. That vault was perfect. That would've won it for her. But I will admit, I loved Gutsu's tricks--that double layout with split legs in her floor routine! Epic (even with that dreadful, herky-jerky choreography. I was very surprised to see a (former) Soviet gymnast with such bad choreo, they typically had fantastic dance.) And it's a shame that she's had to bear a lot of the brunt of the famous switcheroo--SHE didn't make the decision, and I doubt she knew what was even happening. *vomit emoji* OMG that is horrific. Jesus Christ. Sure hope she's never in a position to know just how Gutsu felt. I've posted before about how horrificly sexist and even misogynistic Russian culture can be. It's awful. Poor Tatiana. After the news came out and I saw the beating she was taking in the press, I posted on Tatiana's FB page "A lot of people believe you and I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. You don't deserve this." Ugh, fuck Vitaly, I was so SO happy when Simone out-medaled him last year.

And that is why the Karolyis were never known for their artistry. (OMG, some of the choreography from the '90s--Kerri Strug comes to mind...) Yes, I know they didn't actually choreograph the numbers but it was under their aegis and they had to approve it. The Simone beam move was I think a double-double dismount. Crazy difficult.

Banned substances don't really help gymnasts, though--from what I know of them, they can't either add too much bulk or affect their timing. Russia overall had a problem but I doubt any gymnasts or skaters were using PEDs. Khorkina was skin and bones in the early aughts, she certainly wasn't juicing.

She has every right to be pissed about 2000. They should've just started the whole thing over. They damn well knew falls like that would seriously rattle the gymnasts and compromise the rest of their routines. One gymnast was so injured she had to scratch the rest of the competition.

I honestly can't stand her, although I like her gymnastics, her creativity and her longevity. She's like Trump but with actual talent. Everyone else is to blame, there's always an excuse for why she didn't win, the judges want the Americans to win, yada yada yada....not to mention this shit. I'm not saying she has to be the typical self-effacing, modest gymnast--I like that she was confident and openly competitive, I like that she embraces being a diva (a weaponized and misogynistic term in the mouths of the NBC team, especially Troutmouth). And I can appreciate her bitterness in Sydney--as bad as I feel for Raducan about being stripped of the gold for a ridiculous reason, the fact is everyone who vaulted in the first and the first part of the second rotation of the AA final got hosed. I feel as bad for Svetlana as I do for Andreea because I honestly think 2000 was her year. (God knows she got held up by the judges for another three years to give her another shot.) But the constant display of poor sportsmanship and trash-talking just drives me crazy. You did really, really well for a long time, Sveta, and you contributed a lot to the sport. Let it go. Simone has surpassed you, and then eventually someone might surpass Simone (okay, this seems unlikely but still...). It's just the way of things.

Agree with all of this--Nastia was gymnastics royalty because of her father who had also been an Olympic gymnast. The story was irresistible--would Nastia be a second-generation gold medalist? Plus she was a comeback kid--she'd been injured and then Shawn the trickster came along and won everything. Would Nastia be able to pull out the win against the reigning world champion? Plus Nastia had appeared in Stick It and that awesome commercial where she appeared to be doing bars with Nadia. That really cemented her status as gymnastics royalty. And it didn't hurt that she was thin and blonde. My favorite story about Cheng Fei is how she gave her competitors little gifts at the Games, as a gesture of sportsmanship. That is just such a sweet, kind thing to do.

They tried their hardest to cook the scores in the All-Around as well--Nastia and Shawn did not get nearly the scores they deserved--but those two were just too good. Fucking ridiculous though. And it has unfortunate consequences--I think it was during the London AA final, they'd mentioned that the Chinese coaches had gotten bonuses after Beijing from the Chinese federation and after the London team final they demanded them back. And that team had two returnees from Beijing, He Kexin and Deng Linlin! How could they have gone from first to fourth? It's because your expectations were too high after Beijing. (Demanding the bonus back is way uncool though.) And yes, ties fucking suck. I'm still angry about the broken tie in the AA final in London. Although I was thinking--the whole time leading up the final event, floor, Tim and Elfie were speculating if Ally was going to throw that punch-front-layout at the end of her first pass--she'd left it out during the team final. And again, this time, she left it out--but if she'd included it, she would've beaten Mustafina.

It wasn't particularly sketchy but it was cringe-inducing. It was a montage of girl gymnasts, the younger and more adorable the better (Moceanu was prominently featured so it must've been '96), doing floor routines to the tune of Aaron Copland's "The Gift to be Simple" with Tesh saying over that "Listen! Little girls...dancing!" It was hilariously terrible, it infantilized these amazing athletes to a ridiculous degree. However, if you want sketchy, I offer you fluff from the '92 Games--a montage of all the women gymnasts, "posing" like they have them do in these things, with Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" playing underneath. Your jaw just drops at the inappropriateness. I can't seem to find videos on YouTube but if you watch the whole broadcasts they'll pop up.

On the other hand, '96 was the year of the infamous "Little girls...dancing!" video. (That was '96, right?)

I have a fond spot for Dick because of how crazy he went when Tonya Harding finally landed the 3A in '91 Nationals. You would think that she would not be his cup of tea because she's an athletic jumper and spinner and not particularly flexible or gorgeous in the other stuff (not the way say, Michelle or Sasha were). Nope. He appreciated the history that Tonya was making and hearing his ecstatic "Good girl!! Oh, how terrific!" in those well-bred tones makes me smile. He's just happy for the sport.

Right??! "Let's relive the bonding you all did at the Ranch!" *vomit* It's like watching 2012 trials and seeing Mack carted away after her concussion and Dr. McFuckFace is trotting next to her. It's shocking all over again. ETA: They're showing the AA final now. OMG Aly and Simone holding hands as they walk from the beam to the floor! That is adorable.

Watching NBCSN's re-airing of the women's team final in Rio. Great to see the team again but, uh, some of this coverage (the fawning over Marta) sure hasn't aged well.

LOVE that skate. G*dd*ammit, she left it ALL on the ice that night. An incredible long program. I love comparing her beautiful, mature skating with her entirely teenage reaction upon learning she'd won the gold.

It's official--the Games are being pushed back to 2019.

From the article: FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUU. Fuck you and your oh-so-Russian obsession with black athletes (cf. Maria Paseka, the Russian media, etc.). Friendly reminder it was the Soviet bloc that started the juicing trend--not the Americans. GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Oh my God, these people should just STFU if they can't be compassionate. I always thought Ludmilla was a class act but this is awful in a particularly Russian way (it's an extremely sexist culture). Gross gross gross. Also I thought it's been commonly accepted for years that Olga suffered under her coach.

Good God, what a hot fucking mess the Columbo family is. I feel really bad for that kid, and can completely understand his aversion to negativity and drama. But literally everyone else is a dysfunctional bag of drama and grudges. I go back and forth on whether or not George Chandler should've been prosecuted. Mostly I think he was a victim as well, because he didn't know about the game fraud--but the prosecuting attorney made a very good point that as far as George knew, he was helping to hide assets that a divorcing spouse should've known about. The brother became best buddies with the prosecuting attorney???? I'm just shaking my head here. Gumb is scum. "Tomorrow." Yeah, you pretty much learned nothing. Trash is trash, I guess.

.......what??? What does this even mean and what does it have to do with this show? What a strange comment.

Laurie?

Yes, you could see it in the eyes. absolutely. She had the two falls (one was a step out, IIRC) and then she skated exquisitely. It's a testament to how gorgeous her skating was that she got the silver, which Slutskaya's team naturally contested. (Please, Irina. There's no contest.) And she was so GOOD in her short program! I loved Dark Eyes.

Oh God, yes. She was always her own worst enemy.

I was 100% Team Oksana in Lillehammer--she fucking fought for it. She doubled that triple and then threw it in at the last minute which always impresses me. Todd Eldridge did the same thing in Nagano--Nancy seemed very...complacent.