AUTHOR'S NOTE: Much of the following article was to have appeared in a 'weblog' during the week of the championship. However, due to circumstances beyond my control (but likely only because I don't know enough about computers!) I was unable to post on a daily basis while in Los Angeles. Better late than never, as they say, here is my Nationals diary:

Saturday, April 10, 2004:
Birmingham, Alabama: We started our quest for Los Angeles and the 2004 Gymnastics National Championships at the Birmingham Airport. As usual, we had carefully and economically packed for our trip by jamming full two huge rolling duffle bags and two right-a-the-size-limit carry-ons. The bag inspector groaned and grunted as he power-lifted the duffles onto the x-ray machine conveyor-belt. The Magic City's terminal had it's usual early morning light crowd. Our gymnastics buddies and traveling companions, Bob, Sara, and their boy, Bert, soon arrived on the scene. Although the weather was threatening a thunderstorm, only a light sprinkle showed up before our plane took off.

In the Air: The flight over was largely uneventful - just one crying baby ( but, Oiy!, what a crier - and right in front of us!). The cloud cover over Birmingham persisted, for the most part, from coast to coast, only breaking up for a short time over Arizona. And the famous "brown LA haze" was in full force over the City of the Angels when we arrived.

Los Angeles: Our first big hurdle to overcome was the choice of a rental car. I could have gotten a really cool PT Cruiser in a lovely shade of crimson. But, after one look at the smallish trunk and the giant pile of bags and suitcases that had to go in there, I decided to go with a Grand Marquis in UCLA light blue. Hey, I thought, maybe it'll give us some good luck! I had, at first, hesitated about driving in LA traffic. However, what with living just off the infamous Highway 280 in Birmingham and also with making frequent trips to and through Atlanta, I decided I was LA-driving ready. And so far so good, although one person too many for comfort has said something like, "Yeah, but this is the weekend, what 'til Monday!"

After dropping our bags at our hotel, which sat just a block off of Sunset Boulevard in the lovely, rolling hills of Brentwood (yes, that Brentwood!), we set off to find a restaurant down on the nearby Malibu coast called Gladstones. What a gorgeous place Malibu and the surrounding area truly is. Very hilly and rugged with thousands of homes and condos, mostly of the red-tile roof variety, perched on the hillsides and nestled among the exotic-looking trees and smaller vegetation. And lapping at the foot of the hills - they would be mountains back home - is the Pacific ocean, which I saw today for the first time since I was 9 years old, almost 40 years ago.

Gladstones was a 1 ˝ hour wait, so we took a reservation card for a later day and drove on down the coast. (We were supposed to pay to park our car at Gladstones, but our parking valet, a congenial fellow originally from Georgia, wouldn't take our money.) We went south towards the famous Santa Monica pier, the lights and Ferris wheel of which we could just make out in the distance.

By the time we arrived, parked our car, and found our way to the carnival-like midway of the pier, we had but one ambition: find food! A quick question to another friendly face, this time a smiling lady working a trinket kiosk, and we were soon on our way to Rusty's Restaurant. After a bracing meal of fish and chips, hamburgers, and chicken tenders, we were energized and ready for yet another adventure. . . unfortunately, little Bert, after a full day of 'planes, trains, and automobiles', was out on his feet and ready to call it a night. Reluctantly, we returned to our hotel and brought to a close our first day in LA. (OK, maybe us 'old-timers' weren't really all that charged up for another adventure!).

Easter Sunday, April 11, 2004:
We spent a fair portion of this special day in a place seemingly made for reflection and wonder, the incomparable Getty Center. Perched on a mountaintop overlooking the Los Angeles basin, the billion dollar (that's billion with a 'b') museum, gallery, and gardens are a legacy of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The Getty Center is a definite must-see attraction, with amazing statues, paintings, gardens, and views of the city of Los Angeles at every turn. And, just like a gym meet, there's "no flash photography!"

After spending about half of the day, and half of the time required really to do the Getty Center justice, we headed off to the Sunset Strip for lunch. Much is justifiably made about all the things to do and see in the Los Angeles area, especially how this fact negatively affects the crowd size at any given sporting event - college gymnastics, say. However, after our first trip to the Sunset Strip (which turns out to be an odd combination of Rock City, the Southside in Birmingham, Victory Drive in Columbus, Georgia, and, I don't know - Acapulco or the French Riviera without the water?) we began to have a suspicion that there might be another, at least, contributing factor: parking. We have learned that, to a large extent, the only type of parking in short supply in LA is 'free'. In fact, by this time we counted ourselves lucky if we were even allowed to park our car ourselves.

As it happened, we did find a deck to park the car just off the Strip that was very convenient to our lunch destination, Wolfgang Puck's Café. True to the eclectic nature of the area, our table provided a view of some gorgeous villas clinging to the side of the steep, rocky hills, tattoo parlors, quaint shops and boutiques, every known style of human being, and ... hmm, how to put it nicely...dance clubs, so to speak, or hot wing restaurants with all the 'hot', but none the 'wings'?

After a break, we finally made it to Gladstones. Most impressive were the desserts. In fact, the chocolate cake dessert looked to be about half of a full-sized cake!

Monday, April 12, 2004:
Having become seasoned LA tourists, on this day we decided to get out the maps and strike out a little farther afield. Our main concern was to find some places that just might interest Bert, a first-grader with a middle-schooler's knowledge of all things 'dinosaur'. Our first stop, the La Brea Tar Pits, had plenty of old bones but - alas - no dinosaurs. Never-the-less, Bert was quite interested in the skeletons of giant sloths, mammoths, camels, horses, saber-toothed cats, and hundreds of other species of animals. After a couple of hours browsing the museum and grounds of the tar pits, we headed out for our next destination, the Natural History Museum.

We were happy to see that the museum was located just across the street from another LA landmark we wanted to see, the University of Southern California. Bert, however, was even happier to see the Tyrannosaurus Rex fighting the Triceratops statue right at the entrance to the museum grounds. With Bob, Sara, and Bert off on a dinosaur safari, Salsa and I decided to have a look at the other exhibits. Naturally, with a degree in anthropology from the Capstone, I was quite interested in the prehistoric human artifacts. Salsa, on the other hand, was more impressed with the gemstone collection!

Tuesday, April 13, 2004:
Disneyland. All day into the night. Too tired to say more...must...sleeeeeeep.......

Wednesday, April 14, 2004:
Malibu, California: After securing a table for 16 at a Marina Del Rey restaurant for 7:30 pm sharp(more about that in a moment), Salsa and I took off for Malibu by way of the Ventura freeway and the Las Virgenes and Malibu Canyon Roads. Of all the sights we have seen, including even the famous landmarks, the homes of the stars, the magnificent vistas of the city of Los Angeles - even the amazing collections at the La Brea tar pits and the Natural History museum - the drive through the canyon on the way to Malibu and the view from the cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean have to be the most stunning of all.

Driving through the beachside city of Malibu on the way back to the hotel, we spotted a sight we had long sought, but had little hope of finding in the upscale West LA area: the Golden Arches. Yes, we can now say with pride that we have had Oreo McFlurries from the McMalibu McDonald's !

Since a large contingent of the BamaNation had by now arrived, we decided to gather up a bunch of them and invade a restaurant we had been seeing on the LA 'things to do' TV channel, The Warehouse in Marina Del Rey. Alas, we finally got the payback for all the (relatively) moderate traffic we had encountered. As our 6:00pm departure time approached and passed, the traffic on our preferred route, I-405 right next to the hotel, had reached true '10-mile parking lot' proportions. There was nothing for it but to route our little caravan through the winding roads and surface streets paralleling the beach. So, after a little involuntary sight-seeing-including the world-famous Venice Beach, we finally arrived at the restaurant with just minutes to spare for our 7:30 reservation. True to her word, Monica, with whom we had spoken with earlier in the day to set up our reservation, had gotten our tables arranged overlooking the water - just as we had requested - and we were seated precisely at 7:30.

We had a great time, the view of the marina was lovely, and the food was really good. However, the most fun we had was when Salsa had to take charge of dividing up the bill, which the restaurant, "Regretfully, ma'am," could not. She looked like a bank teller at closing time!

The traffic now cleared on I-405, the trip back to the hotel took about 20 minutes. Thankfully, for we were tired out and needed to rest up for the Thursday sessions at Nationals, which, with the possible exception of the Regional competition, are the most nerve-racking of all.

Thursday, April 16, 2004:
UCLA,Westwood, Los Angeles California, 9:30 am:

"Have you seen the paper this morning?" Bob asked.
"No," answered Salto,"anything about the gym meet in there?"
"I'll say, looks like UCLA is pretty confident," said Bob. "And, the article doesn't even mention Jeana Rice as a contender for the all-around championship."
"Sure hope Jeana sees that!"said Salto, shaking his head in disbelief.

The morning session, the one with UGA and Florida, got started right on time, LA-style (i.e., 20 minutes late). I guess every event out here builds in a little extra time at the beginning to allow for traffic and parking issues. (As a matter of fact, the parking 'deck' - which was actually under the nearby soccer field - was very convenient to Pauley Pavilion, although it was almost completely filled with the cars of students during the day.) As is customary with the afternoon preliminary session, the atmosphere was somewhat subdued. Georgia flexed their muscles early on and were sailing for an easy qualifier for Friday's Super Six. However, in the sixth rotation, the mean old beam decided it was pay-back time for the GymDogs' good fortune on beam at SEC's. After a few bobbles and bounces, and after all the dust had cleared, UGA's 196.775 ended up third, with Stanford and 'surprising' Florida tied for first at 196.850. ('Surprising' to folks in LA, not surprising to us from the SEC.)

After a quick trip back to Malibu to show Bob, Sara, and Bert the canyons and ocean vistas, we hurried back to Pauley Pavilion for the night session. And I mean 'hurried'! We got caught in a terrific traffic jam and head navigator, Salsa, had to apply all of her orienteering skills to get us to the meet on time. We walked inside Pauley Pavilion on time, but were met by an unhappy sight. Shannon Hrozek was on her back on the vault podium having ice applied to her shoulder and arm. We had heard that she had encountered a problem the day before during the vault practice rotation. The chance of Shannon competing Thursday night didn't look good, to say the least. Shannon did try a few warm-ups on beam, but looked a little 'ouchy'. And with the evening session, by chance really, being by far the most competitive of the two preliminary meets, our concerns were doubled and redoubled.

Warm-ups were concluded, introductions were made, the anthem was sung, and before you knew it, the three minute touch began for the first rotation.

Alabama started on a bye and then went to floor in the second rotation. Michigan had warmed up the floor fairly well for the GymTide, posting a 49.225 in the first rotation. We had some concerns after watching the floor routines in the afternoon session and Michigan's routines in the night session's first rotation, however. The combination of the 'podium', which is nothing more than a raised platform like a stage set up in a mall, and a very bouncy floor-x mat made for some large hops when the gymnasts tried to land their tumbling passes. Never-the-less, Lauren Holdefer really got the Tide started well with a 'no doubt' 9.85, a score later matched by Mari-Christine Bayer and Stephanie Kite. The incomparable Jeana Rice posted a 9.90, followed by twin 9.925's by Bama's high-flying Ashley Miles and Alexis Brion. Total team floor score: 49.45

Rotation Three found Alabama at the vault. And, although not quite up to Bama's SEC Championship vault rotation standards, the Tide did well. Lauren once again led off and once again set the table by posting 9.775 for her 9.90 start value vault, the front pike. Dana Filetti put up a very nice 9.80 for her version of the 'egg-beater' vault, which Brittany Comeaux bested with a fine 9.875 for hers. Jeana and Alexis matched each other with 9.90's and Ashley 'the exclamation point' added a 9.925 (she had maybe a medium-sized scoot-back on her landing). Bama's team vault total was a 49.40.

After a bye, the GymTide moved on to the uneven bars. As the team marched out to salute the judges, the Tide trainers were leading Shannon over to the side with her arm covered from shoulder to wrist with what looked like a cold wrap. So the bar line-up was Brittany Comeaux leading off, Jeana anchoring and Dana's Filetti and Pierce, Ashley, and Mari. Despite Shannon's absence, the team ended up with an excellent 49.45. In fact, Ashley and Jeana did so well, 9.925 and 9.95, respectively, that they both qualified for Saturday's bars final. Mari and Dana Filetti both just missed qualifying, each scoring 9.875.

It should be noted at this point that the judges on beam, the Tide's next event, had been scoring very 'tight' all day. And, although the Tide had gotten itself into a pretty good position in the first three events, we were a bit concerned that the low beam scores might make it difficult to make up a fall if we had to count one. Then the totally unexpected happened, beam lead-off Michele Reeser fell on her flight series. Well, to be more specific, she fell 'onto' the beam - always a scarey proposition. However, she hopped right back to her feet and finished well, saving vital tenths for a 9.30. Naturally, I immediately started searching around for my smelling salts. Rachael Delahoussaye followed Michele and put up a confident routine for a 9.70. (Remember, it was a 'low score day' on the beam, Rachael's routine might have scored a 9.80+ on another day.) The story of the night then began to unfold.

Shannon had still looked 'ouchy' earlier as she warmed up with the beam team during the 3-minute touch. Frankly, we weren't sure that she would compete. At most, we thought the coaches might change the usual order and put Shannon last, trying to get five good scores in before she gave it a try. So, you can imagine our surprise when Shannon's regular turn came up and there she was, ready to go. Our surprise soon turned into complete amazement. Although the beam was all the way across the arena from us and the scores on beam were very low all night long, we thought that Shannon's routine was one of the best we saw. Her score, 9.775, sounds low, but was actually quite good (that night, with those judges). More than that, the coaches' faith in Shannon's courage and determination proved to be well founded. I know that Shannon must have been extremely disappointed that her most unfortunate and untimely accident ended up costing her the chance to make All-America and the individual event finals; nothing I can say will change that. However, along with all the great memories of tremendous success she has been a part of, the Bama fans in the stands that night will never forget Shannon's fortitude in the face of adversity and the fearless way she laid it all out on the line for the GymTide.

Alexis matched Shannon with a 9.775 of her own and was followed by Mari, who put up a beautiful routine for a 9.875 (barely missing event finals on beam). All the above set up a perfect situation for Jeana - one metric ton of pressure squarely on her shoulders. Result: 9.90, Bama moves on to the Super Six, nothing to it. OK, I'm kidding, actually Bama's score of 197.325 put them in second place, quite an accomplishment since the evening session was, by far, the tougher of the two sessions. And, although she didn't know it at the time, Jeana's 9.90 on beam was just enough to earn her the 2004 Individual All-Around National Championship.

Friday, April 17, 2004:

Hooray for Hollywood!
Hooray for Hollywood, that screwy, bally hooey Hollywood.
Where any office boy or young mechanic can be a panic with just a looking pan.
And any barmaid can be a star maid if she dances with or without a fan.
Hooray for Hollywood where you're terrific if you're even good.
Where anyone at all from Shirley Temple to Aimee Semple is equally understood,
Go out and try your luck, you might be Donald Duck! Hooray for Hollywood.
Hooray for Hollywood, that phony super Coney, Hollywood.
They come from Chillicothes and Paducahs with their bazookas to get their names up in lights.
All armed with photos from local Rotos with their hair in ribbons and legs in tights.
Hooray for Hollywood, you may be homely in your neighborhood,
But if you think you can be an actor, see Mr. Factor, he'd make a monkey look good.
Within a half an hour, you look like Tyrone Power! Hooray for Hollywood!

- from the movie Hollywood Hotel (1937), lyrics by Johnny Mercer, music by Richard Whiting

Yes, this is the day we visited Tinseltown, USA. Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign, the grifters, John Wayne's boot prints, the T-shirt shops, the HUGE mob of people...

I am going to admit right up front, this whole Hollywood deal 'ain't my thing'. However, I was impressed to see some of the landmarks of the film industry culture first hand. The best part of the visit, for me, ended up being the very place we parked our car, the 'Hollywood & Highland Complex'. Really a mall, the Hollywood & Highland Complex has a large underground parking deck and opens right out onto Hollywood Boulevard, virtually next door to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Believe me, this multi-level collection of shops and restaurants (which also includes the spectacular Kodak Theatre, site of the Academy Awards Ceremony) is a real oasis from the 'hustle and bustle' out on the street. With Kodak being involved, quite naturally there is a well-thought-out picture taking spot where you can get that perfect shot of the Hollywood sign.

Even better, the Hollywood & Highland Complex is the home of the flagship California Pizza Kitchen, the restaurant we had picked out for lunch. The restaurant's greeter led us to our table, which our waiter called "the best seat in the house". And so it seemed to be, as it was a large round table right in the corner 'bay window' of the restaurant that looked out at the Hollywood sign and the outside of the familiar glass-enclosed studio of the TV show On Air with Ryan Seacrest. In fact, the table was so good that I had to endure some good-natured ribbing from our little group. Their theory was that we got such a good spot because of my alleged resemblance to some homely TV psycho-babbler named 'Dr. Phil'. Personally, I can't see it.

After an enjoyable lunch, it was back to the hotel to rest up before heading back to Pauley Pavilion for the centerpiece of our LA trip, the Super Six.

It never gets old, watching the Tide compete in the Super Six. I remember a funny incident that Coach Sarah Patterson talked about in the press conference after the Tide won the Super Six Challenge, way back in January. It seems that the team had come out onto the floor of Coleman Coliseum for the long warm-up and "[the coaches and gymnasts] were standing out there looking at the banners and Mari-Christine Bayer, a sophomore, said, 'Look at all the Super Sixes!', and David said, 'No, no, no, that's not the Super Six banner for the Super Six Challenge - that's how many years we've been in the top six in the country,' and then he counted up and said, 'Mari that's 20 years, that's more years than you are old!'"

And 2004 makes it 21 years in the Super Six, an incredible record. However, unlike most of those previous 20, Alabama drew 'Olympic rotation' for this Championship (vault, bars, beam, floor). As is our wont, we arrived as early as we could to watch the long warm-ups. The Tide looked loose and relaxed, at least, loose and relaxed under the circumstances. Especially exciting for us, it looked like Shannon Hrozek was going to be able to compete on everything but floor. Before long, warm-ups completed, the teams retired to the locker rooms to prepare for competition.

After a quick march-out and a spirited singing of our National Anthem, the teams took their first rotation positions for the 3-minute touch. Bama then proceeded to have an excellent vault rotation, scoring a 49.375 despite having a fair amount of trouble 'finding their landings'. As Bama fans know, it's worth the price of admission to any gym meet just to see the Tide's vault team in action, especially the thrilling, high-flying vaults of Ashley Miles. Once again, however, the real story, for me, was Shannon. Returning to the apparatus she had gotten hurt on earlier in the week, Shannon fought the 'nerves monster' during warm-ups, prepared herself for the inevitable 'ouchiness', and then performed just a beautiful vault for a 9.85. This year, in order to remain an all-arounder for the Tide (just like Kristen Sterner last season) Shannon had to learn a new 10.0 start-value vault, the Yurchenko 1/1. And did she ever! Shannon's vault has developed into one of the best - powerful, sure, and featuring Shannon's trademark flawless technique.

After a bye, the Tide moved to the bars where, alas, they ended up with their low score of the evening, a 49.050. Brittany Comeaux and Jeana Rice had the high scores for the Tide, 9.875 and 9.90, respectively. Once again, just as with the vault, those pesky 'stuck landings' were hard to come by. In addition, by this time it had become obvious that those low-scoring beam judges from Thursday had pulled up stakes and shifted over to the bars for the Super Six. Full disclosure compels me to admit that we just never felt comfortable with the scores on bars, even when Bama wasn't on them. And I think it's fair to say that the judges never really settled into a 'groove' either. It's true, the scores were - for the most part - low for everyone. However, it was one of those nights when 'Judge A' would give a 9.80 and 'Judge B' would give a 9.95. Then they would flip-flop on the next gymnast, 'Judge B' kind of low, 'Judge A' kind of high. I supposed that a little of this sort of thing is inevitable, what with the judges coming to the National Championship from far and wide. However, I also know that the judges and their professional organizations work hard to keep inconsistency to a minimum.

Things got back to normal on the beam, starting with the usual 'one-two punch' by beam lead-off extraordinaires Michelle Reeser and Rachael Delahoussaye, who each scored 9.85 for their excellent routines. Shannon, who had 'wowed' us on bars with a 9.80 - bruised-shoulder-be-darned - had to put a hand down to keep from falling off the beam after her sheep jump, settling for a 9.45. Of all the 'ouchy' stuff Shannon had to adjust to, her sheep jump seemed to be the 'ouchiess'. (I promise I'm through with the 'o' word now.) Alexis Brion's routine looked better than the 9.75 she received, but we were so far away from the beam that we were only certain it was Alexis because her leaps and flights were so unbelievably high off the beam. Mari was at her elegant best, just a joy to watch perform, matching Michelle and Rachael with a 9.85. That set up a must-hit routine for Jeana in the anchor position. Naturally, we knew it was in the bag and we just sat around and relaxed while Jeana went through the formalities for a 9.925. (Yeah, right! Actually, we were completely stiff with fear. Jeana calmly coming through in the clutch never gets old, either. We're going to miss that!) Total beam core, 49.225 - we were more than happy to take it and move on to Bama's bye before floor.

After the fifth rotation, any kind of adding and re-adding of the scores we did pretty much looked like UCLA was destined for the title, with everyone else having a reasonable chance for second through fifth, except Utah. Utah started off the evening on bars and just had an awful run of bad luck, ending up with a 48.325. That had them chasing their score all evening, with not much chance to catch the rest of the pack. Bama needed a good effort to get 'on the podium', that is, in the top three.

The floor team, a strength all year, was up to the challenge. We watched through misty eyes as Lauren Holdefer and Stephanie Kite performed their very last routines in the crimson leos, each receiving excellent 9.85's. For some reason or other, Mari only received a 9.675 for her effort. (The poor judges always have a hard time pleasing us where Mari is concerned. She's just one of those gymnasts who manages to look good even when she's falling down.) Alexis had another couple of 'first-timers' sitting near us gasping and rubbing their eyes after her first tumbling pass. Her 9.90 was huge in the rotation. Jeana performed yet another beautiful floor-x for a 9.925. And Ashley, well, what can I say? 9.95.

After the dust had settled, the Tide ended up tied for third place with the Stanford Cardinal, 0.075 behind the second place Georgia GymDogs. UCLA won the meet easily by nearly a full point, a well-deserved victory, topping the all-time highest championship score (previously held by Alabama) with a sparkling 198.200.

After the meet, we decided to head over to the Cheesecake Factory in Brentwood for a late night snack and a 'de-briefing session' with the PBA's. During the season we try to avoid saying too much to each other after the meets, just to try to keep our post-meet articles somewhat original and unique - or, at least, not too repetitive. Our one certain exception to this rule is the National Championship. Luckily, while one regular season post-meet article can be pretty much like another, the PBA's and I usually take different tacks on Nationals. (And here is the PBA's post-meet report, which, unfortunately, for the reasons cited above, I can't read in full until I finish this report!)

Saturday, April 18, 2004:
With nothing on tap for the day until Event Finals at 7:00 pm, the shopping bug hit certain members of our party. Or more specifically, the Rodeo Drive shopping bug. I offered to drop off and pick up, since I needed to go on a little shopping trek of my own, in search of AA batteries for my camera. (I know it sounds crazy, but it would have been far easier to buy a designer gown than AA batteries anywhere near our hotel. Earlier in the week I asked a friendly attendant at the nearby Getty Center where the nearest WalMart was. To his credit - although he looked at me like I had asked him if there were any 'gators in that thar ceement pond - he mildly answered that it was a long way off, past the airport.) Luckily, we had chanced upon a couple of small grocery stores down in the Brentwood area, quite near the hotel by Los Angeles standards. After finding some batteries and collecting back up the Beverly Hills shoppers, we decided to have one last fling: lunch at The Chart House in Malibu. And, by talking the PBA's into tagging along, we were able to press them for information about who would be competition for Ashley, Alexis, and Jeana in the Event Finals. The PBA's are real fans of the sport of gymnastics and have gone here, there, and everywhere for years following their keen interest. Consequently, it's a rare gymnast about whom they know nothing. In fact, if there was a demand for such a thing, I have little doubt that the PBA's could be the 'Rodney Orr' of gymnastics recruiting. (Truth is, they have an imposing volume of knowledge about football players, as well. They are Bama fans, after all!)

The Event Finals took place in a relatively relaxed atmosphere. As you all know by now, Ashley was able to defend her vault title, making her not only Bama's only vault champion, but, of course, Bama's only two-time vault champion. It is actually impossible to imagine what a better vaulter than Ashley would be like. Just to keep warmed up, Ashley also took a turn at the bars final, placing sixth. This was in some ways just as impressive as her vault result. I think it goes almost without saying that Ashley's forté is her tremendous power. However, scoring well on bars also requires finesse and an attention to detail. Much to her credit, Ashley honed her bar routine this year until until it was almost flawless. The power is still there, but the polish is, too.

While I'm on the subject, Jeana did something on bars none of us had ever seen her do in competition; she fell. I immediately thought back to Jeana's fall on beam at this year's Super Six Challenge. In that meet, Bama's beam team had taken all the pressure off Jeana by posting a 49.375 before Jeana's feet had even touched the beam. In fact, she said later that she thought she just got a bit too relaxed and lost her focus a little. Then, rather than just letting it 'come to her', it looked like she tried to do a perfect beam routine. This is just conjecture, of course, but I think that in the event finals on bars Jeana did much the same thing.

There was no such trouble for Jeana on beam, however, where she had what she later described as her best routine of the Championships. We were still too far away to be completely sure, but I thought I saw only one flaw in Jeana's entire routine - a tiny wiggle of one shoulder. The beam scoring was so close, however, that one wiggle was all it took to place second with a 9.9125 to the beam champion, Arizona State's Ashley Kelly, who scored a 9.9500.

The Floor final was a lot of fun, not the least of which because we had yet another set of Alexis 'neophytes' nearby. It was fun to anticipate their 'oohs and aahs' during Alexis' warm-up and floor routine. She flipped and soared her way into a tie for fifth place, scoring a 9.8875 (this was actually the third highest score, but the scoring on floor was so tight that there were ties on both of the two higher scores).

Jeanette Antolin of UCLA and Melissa Vituj of Utah tied for third place with scores of 9.9000, each. But the two stars of the floor exercise, all week long, really, ended up tying for first with identical scores of 9.9375: Courtney Bumpers of North Carolina and our own Ashley Miles. There has been a fair amount of debate out in 'internet-land' concerning whether or not Courtney's and Ashley's tie was the correct result. Since I can see merits on both sides of the argument, I suspect that the judges got it about right. Lost in all the discussion, however, is one remarkable piece of information we learned after the meet: Tide legend and volunteer coach Dana Duckworth choreographed both routines. It seems that, as well as doing a fantastic job on the GymTide's routines, Dana also does some free-lance choreography for other teams, including North Carolina. The irony of this remarkable achievement will not be lost on anyone who follows another endless internet debate, namely, the one concerning which teams have the best, most unique, most creative choreography and which team's choreography is hopelessly old-fashioned, boring, predictable, and/or passé. I'd say this just about settles it!

So the overall result for the Tide for the entire week included earning a spot in yet another Super Six, finishing a surprising third; Alexis Brion adding two All-Americas to her collection (vault and floor); Ashley Miles earning All-America on vault, bars, and floor; and Jeana Rice earning five All-America honors, running her total to an NCAA record 18 -surpassing Alabama legend Dee Foster's 17 in the process. (Dee was present and accounted for at the championship, by the way, and I can promise you from first-hand knowledge that no one cheered louder for Jeana than Dee did, a true class act.) Ashley Miles retained her individual NCAA vault championship and added an NCAA floor championship, as well. And last but certainly not least, Jeana Rice won the individual NCAA all-around championship, signifying to the entire college gymnastics community what we have known for a long time, she is simply the best.

Sunday, April 19, 2004:
We went straight back to our hotel after the Event Finals because we had a 7:00am Sunday morning flight back to sweet home Alabama. That meant getting to the rental car place at around 5:00, when they opened, then taking their shuttle to the terminal - all the while wrestling our huge rolling duffles that we had once again over-packed for a trip. Salsa, as usual, had the whole day's intinerary worked out well in advance and it came off flawlessly. She definitely missed her calling, she should have been a travel agent!

On the flight home, I had a little time to reflect back on our trip to Los Angeles and the 2004 National Championship. We had a blast and, even though the Tide didn't win it all, they 'did us all proud', indeed. UCLA had a mighty team and they were not going to be denied on their home turf. Even so, several teams - Bama among them - were right there, ready to put a move on first place if the Bruins had stumbled. Many, if not all, of the GymTiders thanked us and the other Bama fans in attendance, in person, for traveling across the country to cheer them on. We accepted their thanks, not only on our behalf, but also on behalf of those of you who have supported the Tide all season long, but couldn't make the trip. Believe me, the gymnasts knew that you were back home 'watching' on the internet and pulling hard for them. Never doubt that your dedication to the team is appreciated - and treasured. The team knows that their special relationship with their devoted following is what truly sets the GymTide apart from all others. Roll Tide!!!