I know, cute headline. Sometimes, however, these 'Clash of the Titans' matches - like Bama vs UGA last Friday night - cause me to lose my perspective. Now, it's true enough, when we win a meet like that I have a tendency to overlook the perspective angle. But after a tough loss, by less than '3 tenths' at home - and to Bama's rival of all rivals, no less - well, I'm ready for anything positive, even if I have to search for the proverbial 'silver lining'.

Forget silver, a platinum lining showed up in the GymTide's first rotation. Bama's vault team zoomed up to a 49.675; within a tenth the Tide's all-time high of 49.775 set at the historic Baton Rouge Regional in 1996. Especially exciting was Shannon Hrozek's tremendous lead-off vault for a 9.925, her best so far. I think it is safe to say that Shannon has mastered her new Yurchenko 1/1. In fact, I believe that every Bama vaulter tied or bettered her season high except Ashley Miles. (It's a sign of just how amazing Ashley's vaulting truly is that we were a little disappointed when she scored 'only' a 9.95!) Lauren Holdefer and Dana Filetti both look to be just a 'stuck landing' away from the 9.90 zone. And finally, Alexis Brion got the 10.0 she has deserved for quite some time for her 'pike 1/2 twist' vault - alas, from only one judge - never-the-less scoring an outstanding 9.975.

Bama's good work continued on the bars scoring a 49.425(their season high is a 49.500). Even so, it might have been higher with just a little more landing... well, I was going to say landing 'luck', but I guess that luck doesn't actually factor into it. Let's just say a couple more 'stuck' landings and 'hit' handstands might have made for a fourth rotation that was even a more interesting than the one we actually had. As with the vault, Shannon led off and once again posted a great first score, this time a 9.875. There were several well-executed routines, including Mari-Christine Bayer's for a season high score of 9.925. At the time, we were quite happy with the bar team's performance. After the meet, when we started in on our typical fan 'what ifs', we realized that Bama might have saved a tenth or two on bars.

The beam, the mean old beam. I make no secret of the fact that I get a little, let's call it 'anxious' during the beam rotation. What I said about the bars and saving tenths goes doubly for the beam. To be completely honest, the beam is where the GymTide has had the farthest to go in their quest for consistent, or rather, consistently high, scoring this season. Consistent they actually were, scoring a 49.150, as compared to their beam team average of 49.1607 for the season. The scores that night were very consistent, too, with the first four beamers (Michelle Reeser, Rachael Delahoussaye, Dana Pierce, and Shannon Hrozek) scoring identical 9.825's. Mari bucked the trend with her 9.85. Then, in a shocking development, Jeana suffered a fall and scored a 9.375. We saw it happen, we still don't believe it, and it just goes to show what kind of an unusual night it was. However, in spite of all that, Georgia had managed to take only a .175 lead after three rotations - a significant, but far from insurmountable lead.

Well, there's no use in denying it, Georgia took care of business and in a big way in the fourth rotation. The visiting team has a tough 'row to hoe' in a dual meet, of course, having to end on the balance beam. However, far from bowing to the pressure, the GymDogs stood up 6 routines and, as a team, scored within .025 of their season high on the beam. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat and accept defeat as gracefully as you can. However, I would like to point out a few positives from Bama's floor rotation, which - with a floor team score of 49.300 - actually wasn't all that bad at all.

First of all, Shannon posted a 9.875, her season high score and a well-done routine. This gave her an excellent 49.500 in the all-around, only her second all-around of the year and good enough to earn her a tie for second place in the all-around. After rummaging around through all my media guides and web sites and what have you, I believe I am correct in saying that 49.500 is not only her season high, but also Shannon's career high all-around score. In any case, congratulations are definitely in order. Next, when Alexis' floor score of 9.775 came up, I have to admit that I was as upset as almost everyone else in the tremendous crowd of 12,971, mostly Alabama fans in attendance. However, my daughter, a former 'age-group' gymnast (and a good one - not that I'm prejudiced or anything!) quickly noted that Alexis had left something out of one of her tumbling passes and was surely deducted because of it. In the long run, we found out that my daughter, and the floor judges, had it exactly right. However, Alexis' mistake - like Jeana's fall on the balance beam - was a 'physical' one. And, as the 'old coach' used to say, physical mistakes you can live with, it's those mental ones that are tough to take.

We later learned that Ashley had encountered a slight difficulty with an ankle and the coaches decided, rather than risking further injury, to 'err on the side of caution' by substituting Dana Pierce in Ashley's anchor position on floor. Naturally, this was a tough decision for the coaches and a tough spot for Dana. To her credit, even though victory in the meet was out of reach at the time, Dana responded with just a beautiful routine for a 9.90 - a great score at any time, but truly remarkable under the circumstances.

As for my search for 'perspective', well, I think I found some. It's true, the Tide lost the meet and lost it to their biggest rival. However, they did score a 197.550, their third highest team score of the year - this while still not being quite where they need to be on beam and while suffering a little bit of a down night on floor exercise. Also, even though Georgia won the 'pressure-resistance' competition, so to speak, Bama - a much younger team - stood up to the pressure fairly well. And if, as seems probable, the experience of competing under pressure helps a team to perform better under similar conditions later on, the Tide is unlikely to face any greater pressure than was on them Friday night.

After spending a few weeks in first place and winning meets fairly handily, it's only natural that the Tide might be a little down after a tough loss. Having said that, I will be shocked if this group of outstanding women doesn't find a way to turn this setback into a catalyst for moving forward, and soon. I'll even tell you the first sign to look for; when you see that immensely talented, but fun-loving sophomore class get that mischievous look back on their faces, you'll know that the Tide has righted the ship and set sail for a new horizon. Roll Tide!!!

The Tide's upcoming opponent, the Arkansas Razorbacks, improved from a 'crawl' to a 'walk' last year, their inaugural season. This year, the Gym'Backs have progressed to a brisk trot and are currently ranked 17th (one slot above the Auburn Tigers). By all accounts, the Tide received a warm and appreciative welcome in Fayetteville last year. I'm looking forward to returning the favor, and also to seeing a very competitive gym meet on Friday night. Now, fans, you don't want to miss this meet, you don't even want to be late. Yes, it is once again Senior Night, the night we get to show our appreciation to the Tide's senior class: Lauren Holdefer, Stephanie Kite, and Jeana Rice.