On September 10th, 2020, The University of Minnesota announced it was cutting 4 men's sports, including men's gymnastics. The stated reasons were budget considerations and Title lX compliance. Last week the University let it out that women's roster spots would be cut as well. Now the men's teams are considering a Title lX lawsuit on behalf of [...more]
Three NCAA Division 1 men's gymnastics programs have been unceremoniously dropped in the month of September -- William & Mary, Iowa and Minnesota. The timing of these announcements was not only cruel, but also most certainly unnecessary. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sports world. All collegiate spring sports were canceled amid the abrupt premature ending to the winter sports season. There was no NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, no March Madness... No nothing. The decision to drop William & Mary's men's gymnastics program was not even a financial one. The program enjoys an endowment, [...more]
A week ago today (March 7), fans enjoyed a great day of gymnastics, highlighted by the American Cup and NCAA competition. Little did we know at the time, is that it would be the last weekend for quite a while. In fact, Thursday, March 12 became the day that all college sports got shut down. The announcements generated shock waves throughout the country. Sports got shut down by [...more]
By now, most people in the gymnastics community know that Winter Cup 2020 ended up looking as much like the pilot of a reality TV show as it did a gymnastics competition. It drew attention to men’s gymnastics, but not the kind USAG wanted (or needed). The meet itself was great, but many fans, coaches, and athletes were not happy with [...more]
A discussion is heating back up about whether or not NCAA Men's Gymnastics will switch from the current F.I.G./open-ended scoring system back to the "10" system. To be fair, the system many coaches are calling for is a "10-conversion" system, but nevertheless, to the naked eye, it still looks like the old system. Immediately after the 2019 season ended, the coaches discussed changing the scoring system starting [...more]
The Russians are coming! Wait, they've arrived... They delivered perhaps one of the most dominating performances in years, earning their first World Team title in convincing fashion, taking the top-2 prizes in the All Around and earning three more medals in Event Finals. Thanks to Nikita Nagornyy, a Russian has now won the All Around title [...more]
The weekend gave us twelve rotations and ninety-four routines. Eight gymnasts, vying for five coveted spots for next month's Men's World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, gave it their all. Only four falls were recorded in the two-day World Team Selection Camp. It was an extremely clean display of gymnastics that made it a difficult decision for the committee. But after two hours of [...more]
After having 48 hours to fully digest a great two-day competition, a glaring term came to mind, which became the overarching theme -- Team Building. Sure, Sam Mikulak won by over 5 points. So what? It wasn't vintage Sam, it was neo vintage Sam. He's now performing at a higher level than he ever has, and that has a lot to do with his good health and highly palpable confidence level. The Team needs that. However, fans need to be reminded that the top 5 gymnasts [...more]
Sam Mikulak (174.45) and Yul Moldauer (169.95) will lead a five-man World Team squad at next month's World Men's Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar. A two-day selection camp competition was held over the weekend to determine the fate of eight gymnasts. Mikulak easily topped the field, posting the best scores on four of six events (FX,PH,PB,HB), outlasting Moldauer by 4.5 points. The two gymnasts earned automatic [...more]
An article entitled "The Future of Men's Gymnastics Is Not Well-Balanced" recently appeared in the New York Times. The fluff piece fed into the failed narrative that is part of the reason for the sport's relative unpopularity. The worst part of it was the reference to a lack of a "Magic Mike effect." The last time I looked, none of the major men's sports (Olympics or otherwise) are marketed via such an "effect." It does not exist. The only time in sports history when Magic and Mike coexisted as a marketing force was in the late '80s and early '90s -- Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. The double standard exhibited in the article is typical, of course. The author seems dumbfounded as to why Men's Gymnastics has not "captured the imagination of American spectators with the "male ogling" big business aspect inspired by [...more]
