Olympics: Gymnastics Scoring

Let me first say that I fully understand that scoring in Olympic sports like gymnastics, diving, and figure skating is completely subjective. However, with that said...the scoring system that the FIG has set up for gymnastics is not working.

I like the idea of having a start value/difficulty value in addition to a score for the execution of the routines. Diving has a system similar to this one, and it seems to work fairly well from what I've seen. But in the world of gymnastics at the Beijing Olympic Games, something isn't working.

Why did they institute allowing judges to not only view instant replays of the routines, but to view them in slow motion? And do they really think this is going to solve any of the problems they have in scoring? Granted, I am not a gymnast, nor have I ever been. But why is it necessary for these judges to scrutinize every tiny detail of the routine after it is over, in order to determine how many tenths of a point they are going to deduct from the execution score? Why should they have phones at their station to call the head judge and discuss these deductions? None of this makes sense to me, and frankly it is creating needless delays and what seem to me to be unjust deductions.

And in addition to that, I've got another beef with the scoring of gymnastics at these Olympic games. It may sound like sour grapes, but it is something that just doesn't make sense to me. I get the feeling that too many of these judges are scoring with a bias as opposed to attempting to score fairly.

Again, I am not a gymnast...just a fan. But I am a fan that has been watching gymnastics my entire life. I know what a perfectly vertical handstand on the high bar or parallel bars looks like. I know how to spot a "balance check" on the balance beam. I can see with my own two eyes when someone FALLS OFF of their apparatus. And I can tell when a gymnast has delivered a virtually flawless performance, possibly with a small step or hop on the landing.

So judges, please explain to me, how does a routine on the balance beam with a high start value that is virtually free of visible errors wind up with a score that is virtually the same as a routine on the balance beam with a lower start value and multiple visible errors? How does that happen? Especially when you consider that it happens during the same event, with the same judges, just minutes away from each other.

Or can you explain how you give scores to a gymnast whose only real errors of the entire night are small steps on his landings instead of sticking them like he did a few nights previously wound up in the middle of the pack, with so many other gymnasts who had multiple major errors (such as falling off their apparatus) finished ahead of them? How do things like this happen?

I know I really shouldn't be complaining about this, since the U.S. men's team finished with a bronze medal, the women's team finished with the silver medal, and two of the women's gymnasts won the gold and silver in the All-Around. But frankly, something stinks here. If I was seeing the same kinds of errors from the American gymnasts that I am seeing from these other gymnasts, and then seeing the scores that they are receiving, it would be understandable. But those errors are just not there.

How can some of these deductions be justified? How is it possible to have more deductions taken from a virtually flawless routine than from one that is riddled with balance checks and connected elements that do not connect?

The FIG needs to seriously do some major work on their scoring system. The way it is now, the judges can seemingly arbitrarily take deductions at will, without justifying their scores. This needs to be fixed, and the sooner it happens, the better.

Olympics: Men's 100 Meter Butterfly

Michael Phelps is seriously blowing me away. Heck, he's blowing all of America away. No, more than that...he's blowing the world away. He rocks.

In what is the closest race he has won of the Beijing Olympic Games, Michael won his 7th gold medal in 2008, his 13th gold medal overall, and his 15th overall Olympic medal. Wow. With 7 in one Olympiad, he tied Mark Spitz for the most ever won in a single Olympiad, and he is still expected to win another one tonight in the 4 x 100 Medly Relay. He is just unreal.

This race he won by only .01 second. Seriously...one of the closest races I've ever seen in swimming. And everyone thought he had lost it by taking that last half stroke, but in actuality, that is what made sure that he won. He thought he had lost it. His Mom thought he had lost it. His coach thought he had lost it. The delegation from the silver medal winner's country thought he had lost it. Everyone thought he was going to take the silver, and his hopes to beat Mark Spitz's record instead of simply tying it would be dashed. But instead, he won it in one of the most exciting races you'll ever see.

And frankly, who cares that he didn't break the world record in this race? I don't think that is what anyone is going to remember after this is all said and done.

When I find a decent video of it, I'll post it here.

Date Night - Late!

Jason Castro has vlogged again. Check it out.

Olympics: Men's 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay

So I mentioned in a previous post that I am an Olympics junkie, or at least something to that effect. So far in the Beijing Olympics, I haven't had as much time to watch as I would have liked, but I've been recording it all so I can try to catch up on my break. I was watching last night, though...so I saw this.



All I can say after that performance by the U.S. men's team is WOW. Yeah, it doesn't hurt that I've been rooting for Michael Phelps since the Athens games, when he tried to win 7 gold medals in one Olympic Games. He didn't get it in 2004, but he did get 6 golds which is nothing to sneeze about. The first two races he has had in the Beijing Games have been two he wasn't supposed to be able to get gold in, or at least the ones that should give him the biggest problem out of all of his races...but he has come away from both of them with the gold. I can't wait to see what else he has in store for this country.

I don't know what else I'll be blogging about for this Olympiad...we'll have to wait and see. But so far, I am enjoying the games. I think the Chinese crowd have been very appreciative of all of the athletes from what I've seen. And as expected, there has already been a lot of excitement. I'm sure much more is yet to come!

SYTYCD - Finale

Sorry it took me so long.

Top 20 Group routine - Shane Sparks


Group routine with former SYTYCD cast members:


Pop-Off between Philip Chbeeb and Robert Muraine


Joshua Allen WINS!


Katee and Will - Pas de Deux - Reprise


Katee and Joshua - Bollywood - Reprise


Katee and Joshua - Hip Hop - Reprise


Kherington and Twitch - Viennese Waltz - Reprise


Katee and Twitch - Contemporary - Reprise


Courtney and Mark - Jazz - Reprise


Chelsie and Mark - Hip Hop - Reprise


Comfort and Twitch - Hip Hop - Reprise


Courtney and Gev - Rumba - Reprise


Mary Murphy danced with Season 2's Dmitry Chaplin!!!


And Nigel Lythgoe danced with the kids from the Debbie Allen Academy:


All in all, this was a fabulous season, with all the things I expected and a lot of things I didn't expect. Until next year!

SYTYCD - Top 4 - Video

I'm sorry it is so late in coming! Enjoy.

Katee's Solo


Courtney's Solo


Twitch's Solo


Joshua's Solo


Katee and Joshua - Contemporary


Twitch and Joshua - Russian Trepak


Courtney and Twitch - Hip Hop


Katee and Courtney - Broadway


Katee and Twitch - Foxtrot


Courtney and Joshua - Jive


Top 4 - Contemporary


After tonight's finale, I'll be saying goodbye to my first summer obsession, and moving on to my every-four-years summer obsession: The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing!

SYTYCD - Top 4 - Commentary

Courtney and Twitch - Hip Hop (Tabitha and Napoleon - We know Twitch can hit it hard, but I've definitely got questions about Courtney. I see some definite improvement from her, but I'm not sure this is something that I really would want to see any more of from her in the future. I wasn't really all that into the routine by Napoleon and Tabitha either. It wasn't a bad performance...but it wasn't anything I loved at all either. Not my kind of hip hop.

Katee and Joshua - Contemporary (Wade Robson) - I can't wait to see what Wade has choreographed! I can't think of anything of his other than last season's fox routine that I haven't absolutely loved. Seeing these two working together again is really exciting for me. I love Joshua and Katee together. The little touches that Wade puts in like kissing her elbow are really just beautiful. Really lovely routine with tons of emotion, and these two pulled it off insanely well. I'm nuts about everything about this.

Katee and Courtney - Broadway (Tyce Diorio) - Parasols, Tyce? Hmmm...I just really don't know what to say about this one. I typically really love Tyce's choreography, but this one is doing absolutely nothing for me in any way, shape, or form. And I'd have to say...I don't think it is the girls' fault. They did what they could with what they were given, in my opinion. But this piece just really didn't work for me. These two could have been amazing together in so many things, but this one, to me, just isn't the right piece for them.

Twitch and Joshua - Russian Trepak (Youri Nelzine) - I'm really, really intrigued! I've seen some dancing in this style before, and this is difficult stuff. Oh yeah, and I love the Nutcracker Suite! Wow! Joshua's leaps are insanely high. And the floorwork they've got Twitch doing is unreal. I don't know that any other combination of guys from this season could have pulled this off like these two are. And how cool is it to see so many different styles of dancing this season? Awesome! It will really be a shame if one of these two doesn't win.

Katee and Twitch - Foxtrot (Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin) - I really hope for Twitch's sake that his smooth ballroom skills have improved! His frame is improved! I don't feel like his shoulders are up next to his ears any more on this. And I really think they both are doing well with this, the footwork, the lines, the lifts...all really pretty good. I love the choreography for this foxtrot. And Twitch really played the part of a gentleman with it. Not bad at all.

Courtney and Joshua - Jive (Jason Gilkison) - They may have finally found a style that I won't love Joshua dancing. His footwork is okay, but his kicks don't seem quite right. I don't feel like he's kicking high enough, and not getting the retraction down quite right. I have to admit, I didn't pay much attention to Courtney in this one. It was a really insanely tough routine though, without a doubt. They got the tricks down really well though, and they were spectacular!

Top 4 - Contemporary (Mia Michaels) - Katee really shines next to Courtney in this one for me. They are performing the same movements, but my eyes go to Katee. And the same for Joshua over Twitch. Which surprises me a bit. I love what Mia created with this one - it is truly gorgeous, the movements involved in creating this dance. Oh yeah, and shirtless Twitch and Joshua on one stage...hell yeah. This was just a really amazing performance from all of them, all said though.

Solo order: Courtney, Twitch, Katee, Joshua

I'm still not thrilled by Courtney's solos. She has really nice lines, but her movements in her solos feel almost frantic. I love her when she's choreographed, but not as much when she does her own choreography. She, for me, has to be the biggest surprise in the Top 4 though. Not because she isn't a beautiful dancer, but because she never really was one of the stand-outs. She just kept plucking her way through it all, and here she is. You go girl!

Twitch...what can I say? I love him! I love watching him dance. It doesn't matter to me if he is adding some comedy to his routine or just doing a straight hip hop kind of routine. He loves what he is doing, and he makes me love him. He is fabulous.

I love Katee's lines. She has a way of finishing off her movements that is very unique, and very polished, and it makes her so incredibly easy to watch her and love her. For someone I wasn't so sure about coming into the Top 20, she has proven me wrong and the judges who voted to put her through right. She is an amazing dancer, and I am in love with so many of her performances from throughout the season.

I love that Joshua went up to the judges' podium and danced there. He really brought a lot of personality into his solo, which for me is the only thing that is ever really missing in his solos. He is absolutely adorable, and he brought that into his solo tonight. I love him too. He's fabulous!

Jason Castro is NOT Engaged

SYTYCD - Top 4 - SPOILERS

Spoilers are in for the final show. It should be awesome, by all accounts!

Read more about it here and also here.

What has me most excited? WADE ROBSON!!!

SYTYCD - Top 6 - Results

Sorry it took me so long this time. I've got a lot going on!

They opened the show with a group routine choreographed by Emmy nominee Mandy Moore.



Each of the Top 6 performed another solo, to show what they can do in case they were eliminated.

Courtney:


Mark:


Katee:


Joshua:


Chelsie:


Twitch:


Lil Demon, a six-year-old hip hop/break dancer came out and entertained the crowd to fill some more time. He's too cute for words!!!



And in the end, a tearful Chelsie and gracious Mark were eliminated, leaving the Final 4 of Joshua, Katee, Twitch, and Courtney. Finale is next week!!!