Is it just me, or has this been the longest off-season ever? And I don't know about you, but I am ready, ready, ready for some gymnastics. Oh, I was OK for a little while after last season ended, what with the Olympics and all. The football team helped a lot, too, with their season-long 'triumph over tragedy' story. But, now that the fall teams have started winding down and the old north wind has started to blow - well, it's time for the GymTide! And here are a few things I came up with that might be fun to look for this season:

• Will GymTide fans once again fill up Coleman Coliseum meet after meet in an effort to retain their NCAA-leading attendance per home meet average?
• Last season, Ashley Miles won the NCAA vault title outright, tied for first on floor, and tied for sixth on the uneven bars. With the addition of a balance beam routine, where will she rank among the nation's all-arounders?
• Who will be the first freshman to make the line-up? No fair, I have inside information - I went to the Tide's last intra-squad on January 2nd. (Which, incidentally, was my and Salsa's anniversary - happy 28th, honey! What? You don't go to gymnastics practice for your anniversary? How odd!) I think the first might just be Kaitlin White with her dynamic bar routine. Kaitlin has got 'that Bama look' on uneven bars - that smooth, no deductions look, but with a healthy dose of major power to go with it. Sort of a Natalie Barrington with several of dashes of Andree Pickens added in.
• Will Bama's lone returning 2004 four-eventer, Shannon Hrozek, also contend for national all-around honors after adding a 10.0 start-value vault to her repertoire last season and some impressive upgrades and refinements to her other routines this season?
• Other than Ashley and Shannon, which gymnast or gymnasts will go all-around this season? Which one will be first to do so?*
• Fans in Tuscaloosa, be sure to tune into WVUA-FM 90.7 for live radio coverage of every GymTide meet, both at home and on the road. Plans are also in the works to provide an internet link to the live feed so Bama fans around globe can keep up with the team. The coverage team will consist of Chad Anderson of WVUA-FM 90.7 radio and our own Leesa Davis of the Medalist Club (one of the much beloved PBA's).
• Attention, fans! Get ready to rock during Dana Filetti's floor routine this season. That's all I'll give away about it for now except to say that you're going to love it!
• On the subject of floor exercise, it sure looks like Bama will have every possible type and combination of types of floor routines this season. They will run the gamut from fun to dynamic to elegant to powerful to dynamically elegant and powerful in a fun sort of way. The only question is, beyond 2004 NCAA floor co-champion Ashley Miles being all but certain for the anchor spot, in 'what in the world' order do you place the rest of the Tide's floor exercisers?
• Here's an idea for some fun at away meets: Try to sit near fans of the other team during Alexis Brion's first tumbling pass on floor and listen for their gasps of disbelief at how high she flies on her double-back.
• For quite some time, two states, Louisiana and Texas, have been battling it out for having the most GymTiders from their state on the team. Texas surged ahead this fall when walk-on Jessie Silver joined fellow Texans Kaitlin White, Ashley Miles, and Shannon Hrozek. Although the Lone Star Staters will lose Shannon after this season, the Louisiana contingent will also go down by one, losing Michelle Reeser, leaving only Brittany Comeaux and Rachael Delahoussaye to represent the Pelican State. The 2006 signees provided help for neither group. The question is, what about 2007?
• Terin Humphrey's club team, the Great American Gymnastics Express (G.A.G.E.) Dragons have a well-deserved reputation for wearing some really imaginative, eye-catching leotards. Bama has worn the occasional 'eye-catcher', as well. Hmmm, I wonder...
• How about a 'Pick to Click', as the Chicago White Sox TV broadcast guys used to choose before each game? Not a 'dark horse' choice, necessarily, nor always one of the 'usual suspects', but someone the broadcast team thought was rounding into shape for a peak performance. Although I was tempted to choose one of the two Danas based on their strong efforts this pre-season, my 'Pick to Click' has to go to Erin Rightley. Erin has always had that 'elegant look' on floor and beam, a la Mari-Christine Bayer or Raegan Tomasek, but she has added some definite power that, if she can bring it to the vault and floor, could give her a shot to compete on at least two events this year.
• Who will emerge as the 'anchor' on bars and beam to replace departing 18-time All-American and 2004 NCAA All-Around champion, Jeana Rice?
• I have been simply amazed at the vault that Meredith Laxton has been perfecting all fall. I won't even attempt to describe this full-twisting-whirlybird-in-the-'I-meant-to-do-that'-position except to say that the PBA's advise me that it is referred to as an 'Hristakieva'; so-called, no doubt, from the involuntary sound one utters when attempting to execute the vault properly. If you see Meredith preparing to vault this season, make sure you have an unobstructed view - stand up, if necessary. (If she sticks the landing, everyone else will likely be standing up afterwards, anyway. If she doesn't stick the landing...well, let's just say that she pretty much needs to stick the landing...)
• Just what is a 'Humphrey', exactly?

That's all I could think of for now. I'm sure there will be a lot more things worth keeping an eye on. In fact, why not post a few to the new, easy access GymTide.com message board and let's see how our prognostications turn out? On to Gainesville!

Roll Tide!!!

*If memory serves, Mari-Christine Bayer and Dana Pierce are the only other Tiders to have performed in all four events, although neither has done so in one meet. Alexis Brion, who has been brilliant on floor and vault for three straight years, added a very solid beam routine last season. This fall she has also made a very favorable impression on uneven bars. Speaking of making a favorable impression this fall, Dana Filetti has done just that on beam and floor. Over the past two seasons, her steady performances on vault and bars have become a real mainstay for the Tide. With depth an issue - especially early on - don't be surprised if Dana shows up very early in the season on two, three, or even, all four events. Kaitlin White has, of course, been slowed by her knee surgery and subsequent rehab. Without question, she has the credentials to be an all-arounder, having finished ahead - as an all-arounder - of several gymnasts that 'you would have heard of' during her elite career. However, with floor being both the one event you'd like a gymnast coming back from a leg injury to take the longest time to return to, and the one event the Tide has a fair amount of depth on, it would seem a safe bet that it might be toward the end of the season before Kaitlin makes it into the floor line-up. Finally, of course, there is Terin Humphrey. I was very disappointed that, due to understandable, if (admittedly in hindsight) somewhat dubious team considerations, Terin didn't get the chance to compete for the Olympic all-around championship. I will be as surprised as I was disappointed if she doesn't get a chance to compete as a Bama all-arounder as soon as she and the coaches feel she's ready.