We raced home from our vacation so that I could be home in time to watch the Trials live @ 6pm. *But alas, the coverage was delayed here and didn’t start until 9pm. *Yawn. * I’ve got to admit I’m usually conked out by 10pm. *But I made an exception and even convinced Jason (husband) [...] We raced home from our vacation so that I could be home in time to watch the Trials live @ 6pm. *But alas, the coverage was delayed here and didn’t start until 9pm. *Yawn. * I’ve got to admit I’m usually conked out by 10pm. *But I made an exception and even convinced Jason (husband) to stay up and watch with me. *It’s the*Olympic*Trials after all. *Kind of a big deal. * And although it’s not the same as it used to be, it’s still pretty exciting! Here were my thoughts as I watched, pretty much in order of what I saw in the TV coverage…

• I like that tie-style leotard. *That’s a pretty one. *When did that one debut? *2011 Worlds?
• *Gabby Douglas on vault. *Dang! *What a start! *That’s how you want to kick off a competition.
• *I like how Al Trautwig talked about Elizabeth Price bringing her 73-year-old coach to tears. *If there is*anything*I remember about Bill Strauss it’s that he ALWAYS cries. *Not that it isn’t genuine but it’s not like it takes much for that guy to bring on the waterworks, right?
• The scoring help by NBC was a good idea, I think. *The red, yellow, green indicator next to the scores. *It gives the average viewer just a little bit of help in comprehending the complex scoring.
• Maroney had a rough go on bars but I like her lines.
• Anna Li really rocked her bar set. *To quote Jason, “that one handed split flyaway – that’s pretty sweet!” (talking about her 1/1 tkatchev, of course)
• I asked about Elizabeth Price in my*Nationals post*b/c nobody was talking about her and they didn’t air any of her routines. *After her Beam set, it sure seemed like folks ought to be talking about her. *Is she usually that solid on beam? * Aaaaand… Bill Strauss is crying again. *Photo courtesy of zimbio.com
• Sacramone nailed her beam set. *She seriously looks exactly the same to me as she did in 2008.
• Nastia *- what’s going on with her hair? *Looks a little wild. * Ahhh, that was sad to see – really needed to knock our socks off on bars- glad she landed that dismount at least. *”Poor Nast” -Jason
• Raisman on Beam – so… romanian looking with her choreography, but dang, she was solid, nice dismount.
• Ross – gorgeous lines on bars. *Definitely seems to be an asset to the US team there.
• Bross on Bars. *I’ve never been a huge fan of her gymnastics style but man, that was just heartbreaking.
• Douglas – wow – fumbled her grip on bars but stayed on. *Beautiful as usual.

Photo courtesy of sportsillustrated.cnn.com

• Elizabeth Price on floor – pretty awesome tumbling and such controlled landings. *For a “power” athlete, she has such a pretty line and I like how she smiles throughout. *Nobody did her any favors, though, with her music and choreography. *Agree? *Disagree?
• Raisman – that girl has hops! *I suppose everyone else is used to her tumbling now but my jaw still sort of drops when I see her.
• Liukin *did a nice job on Beam to finish up. * Probably the last time we’ll see her compete, I suppose.
• Maroney – I like her look on Floor. *Nice routine. *She’s a bouncy one, too.
• Ross *was gorgeous on beam. *Didn’t look too nervy to me. *Can’t ask for much more than that at Olympic Trials, can ya?
• Haven’t said much about Wieber yet. *She was fine on bars and beam, nothing spectacular. *A great triple turn on Floor and a crazy good floor routine in general.
• Great vaults from Sacramone. *Couldn’t really ask for a better performance from her today. *And it was fun for me to see a brief shot of her talking to Kim Zmeskal after vault.
• Raisman’s Amanar looked scary to me. *Was she having an off day or is it normally like that?
• Maroney still blows my mind entirely with her Amanar. *Amazing. *There aren’t enough adjectives for her vaulting capabilities.
• Wieber’s Amanar was good but not great. *Didn’t seem like she got a whole lot of pop off the horse. * *Overall, she is just a rock. *Wow. *She seems unflappable.
• Gabby Douglas on Floor. *I really like how much she smiles and how she genuinely seems like she’s having fun. *A few minor issues but she still rocked the set.
• Price is so unassuming. *WOW – she also has a spectacular Amanar. If I hadn’t just seen Maroney’s I would have been even more impressed. *They didn’t show her on Bars. *How is she on that event?
• After the competition wrapped, I quickly tried to comply a team in my head. *And as it turns out, I was right on the money with the top 5. *I was a little off with the alternates, though. *And when the alternates came out, I didn’t even recognize the last one – Sarah Finnegan, it turns out. *I saw a couple of her routines at Nationals. *What’s her strength? *All Around? *Bars?
• I was kind of pulling for Sacramone to be an alternate. *I know her particular strengths are not as needed, per se, but she has such a wealth of experience and she would be a good leader and presence for the team. * And ’08 team finals aside, she’s a rock and you could put her up in a pinch.

Well, that’s about all from my stream of consciousness. *What did the rest of you think?

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