The O'Connel Center. What were they thinking? Oh, there's really nothing wrong with it - it's just so odd. It always looks like you could fold it all up into a briefcase just like George Jetson's flying car. It has to have the most retractable seating of any gym in college sports. But, the Florida faithful turned out in force and - with a little help from Alabama, Georgia, and LSU fans - provided a tremendous atmosphere for the Super Six Challenge. What a challenge it turned out to be!

My main concern (surprise!) was for our team. How would our newcomers respond? How far along would our gymnasts be who were coming back from injury? News reports had indicated that the Gymtide would be talented, but starting slowly. If the 'meet the team' intra-squad and preseason workouts I had attended were any indication, I knew that the gymnasts were in good overall shape and (to this amateur reporter, anyway) seemed to have their 'gamefaces on' right from the beginning of fall practice. Even the pre-meet warm-ups seemed to have an air of anticipation, with the usual display of amazing skills and eyebrow-raising little bits of 'this and that' going on (well, I did say that Georgia was there!).

We started on the beam (yikes!), with the meet being of the '4 teams competing at one time, two on byes, and 6 rotations' variety. (I have a 'modest proposal' concerning this type of meet, but more about that later.) The Tide seemed to be relaxed and confident. Raegan Tomasek lead off, and put in one of her patented solid routines. Many years ago, before the current emphasis on difficult skills, gymnasts were also judged very closely for grace, precision, and balletic skill (thus the use of many 'ballet' terms in gymnastics). If this were still the case, Raegan would win every balance beam and floor X she entered, hands down. (And, of course, like the other gymnasts, she does difficult skills no one ever even dreamed of in the 'old days', as well!) Thus, when her score came up (9.65), we all looked at each other, wondering why so 'low'. I claim no real expertise, and what little I have learned probably works against me on the balance beam, but the Tide scores that followed seemed low, as well. Because of this, we tried to watch the beam scores a little closer for the rest of the night. They appeared to be low, too, so perhaps it was just Alabama's leading off on the beam that caused their scores to be lower than we might have hoped.

The floor followed, and where the beam was a little disappointing (scorewise), the floor was, well, just as astonishingly wonderful (scorewise). I especially want to commend Alexis Brion for her awesome 9.925 - we thought it was underscored, too! (I hope, for Alexis' sake, that we don't go to any gyms with low ceilings this year - Wow! has she got 'ups'!) It is actually difficult to pick out anyone else; all the routines were so thoroughly enjoyable, and so well done. The new music is really good, too. I do have a couple of questions. Lauren's mom, does Lauren have as much fun doing her floor routine as she seems to have (and we have in watching her)? Kristin, did you wiggle your ears out of step with your music or did you do something else we couldn't see from the stands? What were the .05 deductions for? (I know, no one will comment on judging, so knock it off, Salto!)

Next came the 'one shot and you're done' vault rotation. Sorry, coach, but I still don't like it! (I've tried hard, but I just want more, not less gymnastics when I go to a meet.) I miss the good old days when you did two and took the best. However, I have to agree that the vault was more important than it should have been in the 'old days'. Now it is about where it should be, so, mission accomplished! The Gymtide's previously mentioned 'slow start' was most apparent on the vault. Many of our current 9.90 'start value' vaults, the coaches assure us, will be upgraded to 10.0 'start value' vaults as the season progresses. It seems only right that the vault should end up playing a big role later in the season. If you surprise me with a question like, "What is your most vivid memory of Alabama Gymnastics?" I am just as likely as not to describe Danielle McAdams' reaction to her landing, what turned out to be, a perfect 10.0 vault in our last National Championship. It just seemed that the whole team worked overtime that year polishing those vaults and trying to get as consistent as possible, culminating with wonderful performances in the Regionals and the Nationals - as epitomized by Danielle's vault. (By the way, back to my usual 'Monday morning' judging, Andree's vault was too a ten!)

The big finish for us was on the bars, our perennial powerhouse. This meet was no different. We came in second, as a team, to UCLA (by a slim margin). The scores seemed low, but we had been forewarned that the judges were looking for better, more vertical handstands this year and that they would be taking off from .05 to .1 for 'short' (of vertical) handstands. This they did, but on a very consistent basis, from what we could tell. I am happy to report that in Shannon Hrozek we seem to have a candidate for continuing the Stephanie Woods-Dara Stewart-Natalie Barrington line of silky smooth uneven-bar-workers. I think the Tide has, once again, almost unlimited potential on this apparatus.

Next up: the Gymdogs, in 'our gym'. That is almost enough said (OK, I said "almost"). This will be a must-see meet, so by all means, come early and bring a friend. The 'number 1' Gymdogs are just outstanding, as usual. Personally, I can't wait for Friday!

Oh! The idea for a six-team meet: I have noticed that, since the inception of the 'one and done' vault rotation, the bars and the vault get finished long before the floor and the beam in each rotation of a multi-team meet (keeping in mind that all four apparatuses are going at once during a rotation in a multi-team meet). What if the bars and the vault took it time and about, as they do in a dual-meet? One of the problems that I have with the typical 'everything going on at once style' meet is that it is hard to keep up with the action. If the bars and vault teams took turns, I would only have to keep up with three apparatuses at a time, rather than four - a definite improvement! I think the bars and vault would still get through before the floor and beam, even with those two going on simultaneously. Well, it's just a thought!