I was all prepared to deliver a detailed and insightful analysis of Bama's 196.875- 196.125/ 188.650 victory over the University of Denver and the Air Force Academy. One small problem, I wasn't there! Not that 'not being there' has stopped me before, but I thought I would take the occasion of an away meet to clear the decks of a few random items:

• Six meets down, six to go. Alabama was selected third in the pre-season coaches poll - the position they once again occupy at the halfway point of their season. In fact, the coaches had it UCLA first, then Georgia, Alabama, Utah, and Nebraska in their pre-season projection. Right now it is actually UCLA, Utah, Alabama, Georgia, and Nebraska - how good is that?
• Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem possible that the gymnastics regular season is already halfway over. To be honest, because we've had only one home meet, it feels as if the season has just begun. One real bonus of all of Bama's early season travel is that from now until the NCAA Championships in late April the GymTide will leave the state of Alabama just one time, to visit the Gators next week in Gainesville. So sit back, settle in - get your tickets early - we've got a lot of gymnastics to enjoy right here in Alabama the Beautiful for the next two and a half months.
• Speaking of Gainesville, Florida, there is an Alabama connection. Both Gainesville and Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island are named for the same person, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. General Gaines served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek and Seminole campaigns. He later led a campaign against the Seminole in Florida. (A fact that may account for Tallahassee not being named Gainesville!) General Gaines is perhaps best remembered for having arrested (North of Mobile in Washington county) former Vice-President Aaron Burr on charges of conspiracy to commit treason.
• OK, OK, enough of the history lesson, back to the present. Bama remains in first place in the all-important Central Region standings, which for the time being are being determined by the total season average. However, the Tide has competed in enough meets to receive a 'Regional Qualifying Score' or 'RQS' (196.860 as of this week). The Regional rankings (and the National rankings, as well) will begin using the RQS to determine the standings beginning with the week of February 24th. These rankings are important, of course, because the top six teams in each region get to compete in the Regional Championships. The RQS is determined in this fashion: First, take the team's top three away scores, then take the top three other scores (home or away). Next, throw out the highest of those six scores. The average of the remaining five scores is the RQS. (The RQS for an individual is determined in the same fashion, but using individual apparatus or All-Around scores.) As complex as all that is, the rules for determining in which Regional Championship a team competes are even more Byzantine; involving National seeding, travel considerations, making sure that certain teams get to Nationals (just kidding!), etc. However, I think that I am safe in asserting that - if they make the cut - Alabama would be assigned to the Central Region Championship (since we are hosting it!).
• As long as we're on the subject of the standings and the RQS, there are some interesting issues concerning the individual rankings. Alabama currently has three gymnasts in the Nation's top 25 of the All-Around: Jeana Rice (no.2), Kristen Sterner (no. 12), and Shannon Hrozek (no.25). Of these, it appears that only Kristen can have as many as the six All-Around scores required to compute her RQS by February 24th. Naturally, if you don't have an RQS you can't be ranked. Jeana has three All-Around scores with two meets to go before the 24th and Shannon has only two All-around scores. UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher, currently the Nation's no.1 All-Arounder, also will not have enough scores. Beginning with the 24th, it will apparently be some weeks before the standings come close to once again showing us the true 'pecking order' in the All-Around.
• As the Tide traveled to Denver to show the Pioneers the way, the first-year Arkansas GymBacks were doing a little trail-blazing of their own. Arkansas competed last Friday night in quad-meet in Lexington, Kentucky. The meet also included hosting Kentucky, Illinois-Chicago, and Texas Woman's University. By coming in first place at the meet with a 194.475, the Razorbacks got not only their first ever wins, but also their first road win and their first SEC win - all rolled into one. I have a feeling that some day, and sooner rather than later, the University of Arkansas is going to be a force to be reckoned with in college gymnastics, just as they tend to be in every other sport. For the time being, I'll just say congratulations and "Whoooooo, Pig! Sooie!" (Yeah, I know, I know, I have my fingers crossed as I type this - and those passes are still incomplete!)
• Let's fill up Coleman Coliseum this Friday night to watch the Tide roll over those pesky LSU Tigers. The first home meet had a nice crowd of a little less than 9000, but we need one of those big ol' Bama-style crowds for the team's first SEC home meet. So come early and bring a friend - heck, bring all of your friends. Hey - and it's 2002 National Championship poster night and 2003 gymnastics magnetic calender night, to boot!
• Finally, a word of thanks to a most deserving group, ' Pooh Bear's Assistants', better known as 'the PBA's'. I'm sure I may speak for Pooh Bear, our peerless website leader (did I get that right, boss?) in saying that we couldn't do what we do without this hardworking group. Just who are these PBA's anyway? Well, I'm not at liberty to say, at least, not here. But if you go to a meet, you will see the PBA's hard at work at their appointed tasks; be it entering scores and commentary onto the website, taking many of the wonderful pictures you see on Gymtide.com, or maybe just tapping two or three keys on a laptop computer and making the silly thing work right. The PBA's have logged thousands of miles following the Tide and sending the story back to us: in numbers, in words, and in pictures we can get through no other source. And all of this they do without remuneration, simply because they love gymnastics, especially college gymnastics, and even more especially, the GymTide. If he will forgive my quoting his entry on the message board, 'Expres' said it best, "...[the] PBA's and on line scoring have made Bama Gymnastics so much better. Used to be we'd have to call everyone we knew and hope someone had heard how we did when we went off to the hinterlands to do an elephant stomp on the opponent of the week. To be able to monitor the computer, have a running total not just of the scores, but get a feel for the atmosphere in the gym and running commentary on warm-up, attire, and competition is awesome. It's as close to being there as it gets without streaming video. Guess that's my next project." (We might hold you to that last bit, Expres, have you seen this?) Roll Tide!!!