<p>Missy, isn’t it kind of nice to be able to laugh out loud about something that is neither terribly important nor mean-spirited?</p>
<p>Only two more days of going to bed past 1 a.m. I am sooo tired but can’t quit watching this &*#$ volleyball match!!!</p>
<p>Rhythmic gymnastics gets a bad rap–it’s not an easy sport to perform. The young women that compete need to be flexible, strong, have great hand-eye coordination, an ability to move with music, and perform acrobatic routines while handling equipment–ball, hoop, rope, clubs, or ribbon. Rhythmics is scored in a way that’s similar to artistic. The gymnasts get a score for execution, difficulty, and artistry–each of which gets a separate score from a panel of judges assigned to only look at execution or difficulty or artistry. The US rhythmic national team works every bit as hard as the artistic gymnasts. The reason that the US doesn’t have someone in the '08 Olympics is because the sport is very small in this country and most girls don’t even know about it. In Europe, especially in Russia and the former Soviet bloc countries, it’s extremely popular and the gymnasts are like movie stars and every young girl wants to compete. Here, hardly anyone knows about the sport because there are few gyms that offer training and it’s not even a sport that’s played in high schools or colleges. To get to the Olympics in rhythmic gymnastics a country has to qualify–only 24 individuals and 12 groups can compete. Qualifying is through the World Championship meet. The US missed having a gymnast qualify in 2000 as well as this year. In both instances, the top US gymnast missed by hundreths of a point. Rhythmics became an Olympic sport in 1984.</p>
<p>Zm - 
the Onion!!!</p>
<p>Liked it too-- surprisingly mild for The Onion.</p>