Ben Johns Is Out. Anna Leigh Waters Is Wobbling. Now What?

[00:00:00] I've said it forever. I'll take this to my grave. Death, taxes, and Kawamoto's being underrated. You just mentioned Jeannie Bouchard. I don't know if I would put Jeannie Bouchard in a Dreambreaker lineup over Jade Kawamoto. It is about who's in rhythm, who's confident, and who can play a couple of clutch, grindy points.

[00:00:21] The stat that blew my mind is that the greatest player to ever step on a pickleball court lost 17 points in a row. 17! MLP playoffs are heating up. I think this is potentially the best weekend of the playoffs that we have ever seen.

[00:00:45] We had two, three gamers between Brooklyn and Columbus as well as LA and Dallas. We had Antics. We had Anna Leigh and Noe struggling against Palm Beach, a match that really should have been a beatdown. So much going on. Guys, if I sound like I'm brain dead, it's because I am. It's 10pm. It is way past my bedtime. Normally we do these at like 5am.

[00:01:15] So that is the dedication that we have. I am literally going to China at 5.30 tomorrow morning. So this is the only time that we are going to be able to get this to you guys. So if you appreciate the dedication, do us a favor. Subscribe. Check out the newsletter. Like. Smash that like button. All that stuff. Yeah. Do the YouTube things. And support the pod. We appreciate it.

[00:01:45] I don't know, dude. I feel like I'm hooked. Nico, you might have to carry. Zane, this podcast is not starting off great. That was the best introduction that you can do. I'll take it. I think I might be better at working at 3am my time than you are at 10 o'clock your time. You truly are. Unk. Zane, I mean, we're going to get to the, we'll get to MLP. You were definitely snubbed on Match Day, the app for Unk of the Year.

[00:02:12] I think you might have even come up with the award and you didn't even get nominated. Everybody, I don't know how many people wrote in your name. It was incredible. They're like, Zane, Zane, Zane, Zane, Zane. I think AJ Kohler might have won it by default, but Zane, you are definitely Unk of the Year. Yeah. You know what? The disrespect there was pretty crazy because I, in our Pro Pickwall Talk Discord, I sent it to Cantino and the Match Day guy. I'm like, dude, we should do Unk of the Year. And he's like, that's a great idea. No respect.

[00:02:41] No respect on this Unk right here. I am high energy from 5.30 a.m. until 9 p.m. At 9 p.m., my IQ goes down precipitously. I am just, I am cooked after 9 p.m. So this podcast might be even more of a disaster than normal.

[00:03:05] You are three hours worse than your favorite Disney movie, Cinderella, who turned into a pumpkin at midnight. Man, I sold that draft by picking Cinderella. I sold it. But we had our closest draft ever this time on the fast food draft. I honestly thought that I absolutely murdered you in that draft, but I feel like the order was off. Also, people were not talking about the flaws in your lineup.

[00:03:34] You had two different types of fries that you picked, right? And you also made the, you basically picked somebody who's going to be on the injured reserve the entire time in the McDonald's blizzard. It's like, you're not even going to be able to use that. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? What is it? McFlurry. I'm cooked, dude. I'm cooked. I panicked. I panicked. The thing was, my top four carried hard. My bottom two were absolutely atrocious.

[00:04:05] Luckily, they don't play. I didn't pick single specialist. I just picked four people that could ball, which apparently is all you need. Single specialist. We're going to get to this in a bit. I think RIP. Sunday, August 16th, the death of the single specialist. Well, I mean, should we start there with the Mad Drops? We saw that in two different Dream Breakers. Let's start there. Let's start with the Mad Drops.

[00:04:33] The Dallas women on the first day win 11-7, which I thought that they would be slight favorites in that one. Interesting. But then Ben John's team, the Mad Drops, wins the next three. Pretty easy. And we were just wondering. We figured Ben was going to be full effort. And he was. So round one goes to the LA Mad Drops.

[00:05:04] Round two. They force it to a Dream Breaker this time. Same exact results until the last match when Augie and Danny face off against Connor and Catherine again. Connor and Catherine had beaten them earlier in the day or the previous day. They force it to a Dream Breaker where pretty much everybody plays just about even or 3-5, 5-3, whatever.

[00:05:28] Sam Parker gets absolutely cooked by Danny Townsend. 8-0. Sam Parker, their single specialist in the lineup instead of Jade Kawamoto. Which, like, yeah. Zane, here's my thoughts on this. And I feel bad for Sam Parker. I truly do. A couple things.

[00:05:56] One is she has been riding, like, on the coattails of her, like, two years ago finals appearance when there was no Annalie Waters and, like, half the people didn't play. And she made the finals of the weakest draw PPA I'd ever seen. And since then, she's become single specialist. I haven't seen her name in a quarter final since. But she's supposed to come in, be a single specialist. And what's tough, poor Chris Cantino.

[00:06:25] That spot was supposed to be Jeannie Bouchard, who famously refused to play MLP. Who then got shipped off to the Hogs. And they got Sam Parker. So, maybe this, maybe we're talking about a different story if Jeannie Bouchard is playing singles. I think we definitely do. But what you said, which I think is inaccurate, is Danny Townsend obliterated or beat down Sam Parker. No, Sam Parker basically forfeited when she stepped onto the court. I felt terrible. Like, I was watching just an implosion in real time.

[00:06:55] I think she hit, like, four or five shots into the ground before the net. Like, the points were over in, like, two or three hits or one hit. It was a tough watch. Poor Sam Parker. I mean, single specialist. We're going to continue this topic of single specialist having a struggle this weekend. But I don't even know how good she actually is in singles. And then putting her in and having to play on a team that has been John's recipe for disaster. And that was the difference.

[00:07:25] Well, I mean, like, she's a good singles player, right? But Dream Breakers, I've said this for a while. And I've been somewhat bearish on the single specialists as well. Dream Breakers come down to clutchness, like, confidence, nuts, right? Nuts. It's basically anything but pickleball. Like, it's not pickleball at that point. Like, yeah, it's correlated with your singles game.

[00:07:55] But it is not everything, right? You've got people like Augie who way overperformed their PPA results. And then you've got other people who way underperformed their PPA results. I've said it forever. I'll take this to my grave. Death, taxes, and Kawamoto's being underrated. You just mentioned Jeannie Bouchard. I don't know if I would put Jeannie Bouchard in a Dream Breaker lineup over Jade Kawamoto.

[00:08:23] That's how much I think that it is about who's in rhythm, who's confident, and who can, like, play a couple of clutch, grindy points. Sometimes your singles specialists go try and play PPA singles. Nah, you kind of got to just make some more balls, right? Like, it's not about smacking Chris Hayworth winners. It's sometimes you just play some freaking ugly points and wait for your opponent to miss in a Dream Breaker.

[00:08:52] Because everybody is so freaking tight. Yeah. I mean, everybody will always, like, every coach tells you, play to win, not to, don't play not to lose. But maybe the Dream Breaker strategy is play not to lose, and your opponent is going to crumble. And that happened with poor Sam Parker. Happens in a lot of these Dream Breakers. It seemed like it happened a little bit with Alex Crum. We'll get to that in a bit. But, yeah, that was tough. I mean, the Madrops had their chances. They got obliterated in that Dream Breaker.

[00:09:21] And then, should we talk about what just happened, like, two hours ago? You know, we're recording this, as you guys know, on Sunday night. Like, Ben Johns. 0-2 Ben Johns. What happened? Yeah, I mean, he was 4-0 through the first two matches. And then, in the final match, him and Max get up 2-0. And they get down really, really fast. They end up losing that one 11-2.

[00:09:50] And in the entire second half of that match, it looked like a Ben tank job again. Like, the body language was awful. The effort level seemed awful. I don't know. It's harder to tell in men's doubles. But, like, yeah, just the overall vibe was bad. And that continued into Mixed, where J-Dub and Brooke got up 6-0 start. And then, out of nowhere, Ben goes god mode for six points.

[00:10:20] He's completely back. Brings it to 6-6 on one run. And then, J-Dub and Brooke turn it around for the match in that one. I don't know. I honestly don't know what to make of it. Because, like, Ben was in La La Land for a little bit of that match. A god, untouchable, for, like, two and a half minutes. And then, you know, just kind of, like, okay for the rest of that game.

[00:10:49] The stat that blew my mind is that the greatest player to ever step on a pickleball court lost 17 points in a row. 17! They were up 2-0 in men's, lost 11-2, then lost the next six points in the next match. For sure, that's never happened in his career. Ever. Not PPA, not MLP, nothing, not in rec. Never. Like, I don't know how that's possible.

[00:11:16] What are the odds that Ben Johns ever loses 17 points in a row? It's crazy. But what's interesting is, like, the stat, when you see it, is insane. As you're watching it, and even Adam Stone mentions this on the broadcast, like, if there's somebody who, when things are not going his way, just kind of checks out or has a hard time coming back is Ben Johns. You know, he went down and they're like, the worst thing for him is that he's going to be on the court next and he has no chance to recover. And he didn't.

[00:11:46] Eventually, he figured it out at the end change. But yeah, that was tough. 17 in a row. Wild. Yeah, that was something. So anyway, the Mad Drops, they end up going on. I'm sorry. The Dallas Flash end up clinching it in mixed doubles. Afterwards, Danny Townsend and Augie Guh take out Catherine and Connor Garnett. 3-1. Not even a dream breaker there. So let's debate.

[00:12:16] Was Dallas the right pick for LA? Or should they have gone with Brooklyn? You didn't like the Dallas pick. So I actually, I don't mind. My thought, and this is where I was way off, was I thought that the Shocks should have picked Dallas and now I'm going to, I can eat crow as we learned last week. Um, so that's a phrase that people say. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:12:45] Um, so, but I think, I still think it was the right pick. I think Brooklyn is pretty scary and I think that the Fives will pick the Flash as well. So what I wasn't still sold on was the fact that maybe Danny Townsend's actually better than Tyra Black already. Um, that JW is now, JW mixed with Ben's movement and Hayden's movement. Uh, I've seen it for like the last month.

[00:13:15] But I think you famously said that they still had 0% chance of winning a title. I said maybe they're contenders. So I think neither of us were complete believers. I still think they made the right choice. I think though, I don't know. I don't know who's tougher, Brooklyn or Dallas. But I think those are just two tough choices to make.

[00:13:36] I think what I do, no shade to Alex Trong who played fantastic all weekend is I would have picked the team with her on it because I felt like she would have been the weakest player on the court out of the, out of the eight players on both teams. Yeah. I mean, I wonder about that. Well, so first off, they lost. However, you know, as we'll talk about Brooklyn beats Columbus as well. Like I still think that, that Dallas is a weaker team than, than Brooklyn. Um, particularly for the Fives. The Fives advance. We'll talk about the Fives later.

[00:14:05] The Fives, I think are going to trounce, uh, Dallas pretty good. I think the Fives are favorites at every single lineup spot other than men's doubles and then favorites in a dream breaker there as well. But, um, yeah. Brooke Buckner playing really, really well from the right side. I wonder if she gets a call for women's doubles with Danny. I don't know. I, I don't know why they haven't, uh, done that at all. She's playing great with, with J-Dub. She is.

[00:14:34] I don't know if, I don't think that's happening because, uh, I mean, Danny and Alex won two against Catherine and Jade, which, I mean, you said you expected them to be the slight favorites, which I was surprised you said that. One is, that's Catherine and Jade. Two, I think Catherine and Jade put the beat down on them earlier in the year twice already. So, I don't know. I think what I said was, like, I think that what I said is, like, on paper they're underdogs to Catherine and Jade.

[00:15:02] But, Alex and Danny play better as underdogs. Yes. You're right. They do. So they, and they did. And they're going to be underdogs for the rest of the playoffs. So. They're going to be underdogs for the rest of the playoffs. They've got, okay, I think their run is over, but they've got Columbus Sliders 2025 vibes, right? A team that just got hot at the right time. I, I do think that their run is over. I do think that they're going to get stomped by the fives next round.

[00:15:30] But, like, I don't know. I hope maybe you haven't heard this yet, but I do sometimes eat in hotel rooms laying down. I try to avoid this. I try to make better decisions. I don't always make the best decision. But one of the best decisions I ever made was to work with Merrick Health and get some blood work done so that I could understand a little bit more about my body. I'm learning about my body every single day. Merrick Health and their diagnostic program, Merrick Diagnostics,

[00:15:58] allows you to take a simple blood test and get a bunch of different markers that let you know either where you're high or low, what supplements you need, etc. As Blaine Hovenyer would say, whether or not you are or are not low T. Maybe you could utilize some GLP-1s and trisepatide. Maybe you're low in vitamin D. There's a ton of different things that you can find out.

[00:16:25] I wish the test would tell me why I like to eat in bed at night in hotel rooms. I think that might be beyond blood work. We all are now. I don't either. But, but you can find out anywhere from like one or two markers. So, like, if you just want to know, hey, am I low T or not? You can do that. All right. So, Jimmy, I'll send you a test right away. But if you want to get the full blood work done and find out if there's other problems, like maybe, you know, like I said, like just low vitamin D or whatever, you can get a full panel.

[00:16:54] All you have to do is you go to merrickhealth.com. And if you use code the dink, you get 10% off. And that's merrickdiagnostics.com. Use code the dink for 10% off today. Yeah, I feel like just preemptive work is so important. So you can at least establish a baseline too. Like if you get your blood done every certain period of time, you can actually track those changes rather than just doing it in a vacuum.

[00:17:21] I'd imagine there's a lot of good insights that you have from, from doing that. So anyway, good for you, Nico, taking control of your health, doing it before something breaks, not after. It's the best way to do it. That's right. Free diabetic, not diabetic. Let's go to the fives because the fives played tight as hell against Palm Beach. Super tight. Their women in the first round or the first game, they won.

[00:17:50] Dekel and Casey crushed Will and Federico 11-4 in the first game. Dekel goes on an absolute tear and him and Tina beat Analia and Noe 11-4 as well. Fed and Georgia tie it up. Actually, talking about Sam Parker kind of giving that match away.

[00:18:16] Like, honestly, it felt like Casey and Sophia more so gave that match away to Fed and Georgia. Just tons and tons of unforced errors. But they were up 4-0 in that decider and then kind of just fell apart a little bit. Even the dream breaker. The dream breaker was so tight. I think it was like 14-14 at one point. Like, Tina Pisnick, I'm sure anybody who's listening to this has watched that ATP a hundred times. Might have been the best shot I've ever seen. Yeah.

[00:18:45] I can't think of a better one off the top of my head. Basically, like... No, it's definitely the most surprising. Like, never in my life did I think she was going to catch up to that ball and then do what she did with it. It had to be the most mind-blowing shot I've ever seen. That and then, like, I think three years ago, a James Ignatowich chase down behind the back ATP. The smack that also made, like, probably the first shot that ever made ESPN SportsCenter. And then Tina's made number two on SportsCenter. So we're right there.

[00:19:14] But, yeah, that was insane. Yeah. But then they end up winning 21-17. Sophia goes 5-3 against Annalie in a dream breaker. Yeah. So, but still, like, 21-17, I mean, that's... If I had to give a line for that, I would have put it at, like, I don't know, 11-1⁄2, 12-1⁄2 in that dream breaker. Yeah. If that. Like, so, first match, super tight. Second match, the boys turned around 11-4.

[00:19:45] Willie and Fed played way better. Decl and Casey played way worse. But Decl and, um, Decl and Tina get up 8-0 against Annalie and Noe. Did you, did you watch that match? So here's what happened. So for me, uh, I'm driving back from California, which is what I do basically every Sunday. Uh, and I'm going over the mountains, uh, and I'm in, like, Auburn, California.

[00:20:14] And I lose service at the start of that match. I make it to a gas station. Um, like, three minutes later, I get service, and it is 8-2. So I missed the entire part where they, they obliterated, so you'll have to tell me what happened. But it was like this. I missed almost none of the match, and it was 8-2. Yeah, I mean, they were just like, like, just Noe had, like, nothing going on on the left side.

[00:20:40] I think it's a, I just could not believe that, A, they put Annalie and Noe against Decl and Tina to begin with. They just played them back in Orlando a couple weeks ago, and Annalie and Noe had match points against them. And then Georgia and Fed lost to Casey and Sophia. So I'm like, why on earth would they put that same matchup out?

[00:21:03] And then, the previous day, Annalie and, and, um, Noe lost to Decl and, and Tina as well. 11-4. But they decided to run it back. With the same result. 8-0. Decl just playing really big. Noe is a rough cross court for Decl. Because the way that you can beat Decl in mixed is by going behind him with aggressive backhands, right? When you are just cutting backhands over to Decl, he can get really, really big in the middle.

[00:21:34] But if you keep him honest with a two-handed backhand, he's, you know, a little bit more susceptible to being attacked. Tina's got to cover more court. All that stuff. So, even from the beginning, just conceptually, it didn't really make much sense to me to have that. But, they get up 8-0. Decl playing huge. Tina playing great. Not missing anything. Winning all the hands battles. And then, Annalie says, alright, Noe. Get the hell off the court. You're playing the right side. She was hardly seeing a ball.

[00:22:04] She puts Noe on the right side. Still is hardly seeing a ball. She's playing mixed doubles the opposite way. She's, like, coming over. She's speeding everything up at Tina. And, they make a huge comeback. Huge. And, Annalie is going, Bang! Bang! Bang! It was hilarious. That's what I was asking. Did something happen? Like, why does she keep saying that? I was dying. I was like, this is awesome. I was like, I'm going to the gas station. And, I'm like, Liz, I need you to be on, like, investigative journalism.

[00:22:32] Tell me why she's saying bang every single point. Because that's Decl's thing. Decl was just yelling bang. Okay. But, the people at home, man, for me, I had no idea. I think she was sick of it. It worked out great. I told, my wife was like, dude, Nico, it's Noe Navratil. What is this guy doing on the right side? And so, she just kept calling him Noe Navratil for, like, the next 30 minutes.

[00:23:02] They almost come back. Not enough. You know what? Real men play the right. Honestly, if I was playing with Annalise, I would be in basically, you ever see those matches where, you know, somebody is just so much worse than the other person that they're in, like, almost permanent Ernie position? Yeah. Right? Like, I'd just be in permanent Ernie position and just let Annalise cook. Yeah. Instead of Noe Navratil, we need Noe Newman and just have, like, the Lindsay Newman style.

[00:23:29] Just have him straddle through the Ernie line and do that. Yeah. I was surprised at how well that worked, too. So, they brought it pretty much all the way back, but Dekel and Tina win, I think, 11-9 or 12-10 or something like that. And, okay, so the Fives get through this, right? They win in two straight games or two straight matches, but, I mean, the book is out, right?

[00:23:58] The book has been getting out. But, in Orlando, the Five, they had three separate matches where they fought off match points and won. Now, they lose two in a row to Dekel and Tina. Like, you know Eric Lang is watching exactly what went down in this one. And, I said from the beginning when they got Federico, I can't believe they don't have Annalise and Federico.

[00:24:25] Because, if Annalise and Noe aren't just a complete lock for them, like, if Annalise's mixed doubles is not a lock, I don't think they beat the Five or the Shock. No. No, no, no. I think you're right. I thought, I mean, they were, like, 29-3 or something like that. And so, I said, you got to keep bringing it back. It's almost a guaranteed lock. They lost twice in a row. Noe looks like he's getting worse and worse.

[00:24:53] Like, or maybe less and less confident. He's Sam Parkering out there. Oh, my God. Poor Sam Parker. I apologize. All right. Friend of the pod. You can come back. I feel bad. But, you are not a verb. But, yeah. I think they had. Are they going to switch it up? Like, do they have to switch it up in the finals for the first time ever put Annalise and Fed? Can you do that? I mean, that would be crazy.

[00:25:18] But, I mean, the other crazy part is this is Federico's second tournament with the Fives. This was. Like, his first tournament was Orlando. This is his second tournament. I don't know. Or they get a lot more practice with Annalise on the left, right? I do think that potentially they can screw around with their lineup a little bit against Dallas.

[00:25:46] That's a really risky thing to do in the playoffs. But, like. Look. I don't think. I mean, having been a member of the Fives, it is. If you're not first, you're last. And I don't say that in a derogatory way. Like, I think that they would rather screw around with the lineup, work on something, like, figure out the best possible thing. Even if it increases the risk of, you know, maybe losing in a semifinal than anything.

[00:26:16] But, like. It's all or nothing. And I think everybody is in alignment with that on all the teams left, right? So, I don't know. I don't think that they'll do it. I don't think. I think they're going to commit to it. But I could see them playing a lot more Noe on the right. Yeah. It would take a lot of balls to switch their lineup. But I think they have to do something.

[00:26:42] I think with men's, it's pretty easy to make some changes. Because you don't have to win men's to win the match. But you have to win mixed. And so. You got to apologize to my boy Willie. You've been a Will hater the entire time. Like, what is going on here? Look. He has underperformed pretty much all season. So, I don't think he's done fantastic. I don't think he's done well. He wasn't doing well in PPAs before this. Like, I haven't seen a lot from Will to give me a lot of hope.

[00:27:12] He was injured in PPAs. He was doing pretty well until he got injured in the PPAs. He, like, he sprained. Remember he sprained that ankle? And he was out. He did. He did. And then I remember him playing with Hurricane Tyra Black and losing 0-1 or something like that in mixed. And so I was like, all right, I think I might be off. I was on. I liked Will. You know, he got me off. The stench, it was bad. He got you off? What is going on? No wonder you like Will. Oh my God. What is up with you? Oh my gosh. Zane, it is late.

[00:27:41] You can't talk like this. You said it. I didn't say it. I'm just like, I didn't say it. You said it. Um, so speaking of Willie, um, no, but, um, he played better, but even the first game, they just get worked by Casey and Dekel. Like, I mean, you got Federico who's supposed to probably be the best player on the court. Uh, and you would assume that will is better than Casey, but it doesn't, doesn't work out. Then it worked out the second time. So, you know, maybe I'm wrong.

[00:28:11] I still said you should put no way in instead of will. I don't know what the right situation is. Tyson said, I think, I don't know if he was talking to, to Dave Fleming or whatnot, but he said that he volunteered to not play men so that Casey could play both because it's hard to only come in for one game. Don't tell that to Brooke Buckner because she's fucking awesome. But that was Casey and Tyson and that deal. And I kind of think the same thing where I think whichever guy you pick for mixed, just

[00:28:39] put that person in men's because you don't have to win men's odds are in these next matches, you are not going to win men's. So just put the guy that needs more reps and more confidence in, uh, and maybe that'll help. I don't know. I think men's can be your experimentation and maybe that'll give no way some confidence or you say no way. Sorry, you're on the bench. But regardless, I still think maybe, maybe we, I don't know if we agree on this, but you should have shipped either will or no way off the team when you made the trade. So we don't have to have this conversation.

[00:29:09] Uh, yeah, it's honestly probably true. Like it's, it's kind of an interesting, like just burn the bridge, like you're committed one way or another. Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I think best for the fives is Annalie and fed and then will and Georgia, um, in their lineups. Uh, yeah. And then fed and, and Willie as well for, for men's. But the interesting thing is this, this surprised me too.

[00:29:36] They had will in against Casey diamond instead of no way. Um, which I would have thought like, I mean, no, he's certainly a better singles player than will typically. Yeah. I thought that too, or during the dream breaker. Yeah. Yeah. I was surprised. I had no idea. Um, so like, and I had to double check, like went on the rankings and then I had to go through like the stupid PPA new rankings and I still don't a hundred percent understand. Actually, I think it's kind of cool. I'm not sure.

[00:30:04] Uh, but no, it's the number nine ranked singles player in the world. And he's sitting on the bench in a dream breaker. What? And I think Will and Casey went relatively even, I think. Like, my best guess is that Will and Casey like know each other's games quite a lot. Like they probably played a bunch on the APP and maybe Will has a really good matchup or record against him.

[00:30:32] That's what I had surmised. Um, but, uh, that, that'd be my assumption. Yeah. In the end, they won their dream breaker. Um, and my guess is they're gonna be playing the Dallas flash. I think we know we're making that assumption right now. What's this Sunday? We'll record an emergency pod. This is not the case. Um, but I still think they're super vulnerable. Like they're not going to win at all. If they play like they just played this weekend, but they can still beat the flash.

[00:31:00] And I just feel so like I'm, I'm already taking a ton of heat. We're going to talk about this in a second from the Dallas flash. Um, but the thing is, I think Anna, if they put Anna Lee and fed together, as good as Brooke Buckner's playing, as good as J-Dub's playing, they're going to win that mixed matchup. They're going to beat anybody with that mixed matchup, except maybe like Hayden and Anna. Um, and then Anna Lee and Georgia are obviously going to win women's like that one, I think is also a given. Um, and their dream breaker team is just so good.

[00:31:29] So I think they'll be okay in the semifinals if they pick the Dallas flash, but Zane, I want to tell you, and this is why I actually think the Dallas flash are done. All right. They've had a good run and I've been so pro Dallas flash. So these are my credentials. I have debated saying Danny Townsend is MVP. All right. I have said that the Danny Townsend tire black trade is the best trade of the year and that they won the trade when the trade happened.

[00:31:57] Uh, I, like I said that they were a contender first. Uh, you said they weren't and, uh, maybe they still aren't. I don't know, but they're in the semifinals. And with all this, the freaking Dallas flash Twitter account is like pulling out receipts. Like I thought the Palm beach Royals were going to do bookmarking posts and just going on

[00:32:20] this like rampage over the past hour, putting, shoving it in everybody's face, mine, NML, Jim Claus, all the regular subjects, you know, suspects like fuck you guys. And if he or she thought that they were going to win, they would hold this for another round or a second round, but that was their finals. They, they won against the contender. Now they can go out and lose against the fives.

[00:32:49] No shame in their game, but man, I just want to say this. I've the same person who is roasting me on Twitter. I also reached out and said, can I please have a custom Danny Townsend double XL men's jersey because she's freaking awesome. And I'm rooting for you guys. Doesn't save my ass. This guy, he, he, it's MVP of the night as a Dallas, Dallas Twitter guy. Jesus. Oh no. Okay.

[00:33:18] So I messaged the account. I even texted the owner Mark because when Dallas and, uh, who else was it? Somebody else like didn't pick the Chicago slice to, uh, to in the playoffs. Uh, it was Brooklyn, Brooklyn and Dallas didn't pick us. And so I tagged them on Instagram. I was like, you guys didn't want the smoke. And they said, we heard AJ Kohler was playing. So I was like, all right, fucking touche. That shit's hilarious. I like them.

[00:33:47] Nico, when you're right every once in a while, like keep the receipts. You can dunk on people too. I know it's a rare occurrence, but the end of the craziest thing is the tweet that he, that they saved to dunk on me is a tweet that said, it was my preseason power rankings. We put Dallas flash as playoff team. I'm like, I did not say they were bad. I just put them below the top four. Uh, and then I thought it was funny. It's like contenders flash and fives.

[00:34:16] And then it said, no, it said favorites, flash and fives contenders, Columbus and Brooklyn. And then the next one, number five says, will he show up? Mad drops. And then playoff teams, Dallas flash. My response to them was, did he show up? I don't know. So anyway, um, Ben Johns, he showed up for the first, uh, match and then, uh, checked out for a bit. But anyway, congratulations to the Dallas flash. You won your finals.

[00:34:43] You guys, now you're playing with house money and we'll see what happens. I'm rooting for you. I am rooting for you. I think it's fun. I think you guys are fun. I like Danny Townsend. So let's reevaluate that trade though. Right. All right. I actually, I mean, Columbus is just as a team is completely done. They have zero returning starters for next year. Don't you think it made, yes, they got rid of Danny, of course, but like in theory, if

[00:35:13] Tyra was going to make this a championship team in a way that Danny couldn't was the thought process at that point, like, I don't know, I think it makes sense. Like you're not winning a championship anytime soon as a result of this, like at the time it made sense, but I don't know, whatever that is, like eight, 10 weeks later, eight weeks later only, this shit is going by so quick.

[00:35:38] Like, I mean, if you could have given me Danny Townsend or Tyra Black this weekend, straight up, Danny was a better player this weekend. Yeah. Insane. It's weird. And I think I still make the trade. My, my biggest issue was when I found out that Columbus gave up Danny and gave money for Tyra.

[00:36:04] I was like, man, they're giving away their number one pick and paying additional money and not getting anybody else in return. Like I would have tried to get Brooke. I was Brooke Buckner on the team at that point. I don't remember, but if she was, I would try to get Brooke Buckner or something like give me a dream breaker specialist. I don't know. Um, but to your point, Danny was top five player this weekend. Better. I don't know.

[00:36:34] Like, is she a top five player? Like, let's go through the rankings. All right. So say better or worse. Annalie waters. She's worse than Annalie waters. You want me to say who's better? And worse than Anna bright. Is Danny Townsend. Oh, so if it's, if you think she's better, say better. If you think Danny is worse, say worse. So Annalie waters, you would say worse, worse. Anna bright. Worse.

[00:37:05] George Johnson. Uh, worse. I think you got to go worse right now, but this is where it gets really fricking interesting already. Tyra. Uh, push better, better. I mean, this weekend, clearly better on average. I think you still got to give Tyra the, the edge here. Catherine Parenteau.

[00:37:34] Give me Danny any day of the week. Danny. Yep. Paris Todd. This weekend. Better than Paris. Yeah. Like, again, different. And normally Paris, I would say with some confidence, like Paris, Rachel, better than Danny at this point. Yeah. But next couple get interesting as well. Kate Fahey. You want Kate on your team or you want Danny on your team?

[00:38:03] I know you're a big Kate Fahey stan. These are my two, those are my two favorites. Uh, don't make me pick because they're my, my, my two kids. Um, but I, but with my kids, I also have a favorite. Give me Kate Fahey. Um, but that one's close too. The thing is, the difference is one plays the right, one plays the left. So it's hard to compare apples and oranges, but. True. I mean, Danny can play the right as well. She's played plenty of right. Tina Pisnick. Uh, give me Danny.

[00:38:31] In the, in a certain role, I think Tina is better, but I think, uh, Danny is more versatile. So Caitlin Christian, give me Zoe Wang, Danny, Jade Kawamoto. Okay. Hear me out here. I think finally the lack of play that Jade and Jackie have is kind of dropping them down a little bit, taking them out of like low S tier, maybe high A tier. I think I'm taking Danny over Jade.

[00:39:02] More weapons. Jackie. Um, I think I'm still taking Danny. Yeah. So what does that put her at? We've got Anna Lee Waters, Anna Bright, George Johnson. Tyra Black. I think we said generally Tyra better. Paris. Rachel Roebucker. Rachel. Kate. Yeah. That puts Danny at number eight in our rankings.

[00:39:30] And, and I would say that the Paris and Danny thing is up for debate too. I'm not sure actually who's better. Like I would put Paris at seven and, and Danny at eight right around there interchangeable. The thing is, she's so confident. She's so big. She's scary. Like the thing is, I would rather. Okay. I think Kate's better player, but I would rather play against Kate than play against Danny. Yeah, that's true.

[00:39:57] I mean, like it's, you just know, I mean, that's like me saying I would rather play against Ben Johns than Hayden. Right. Like Ben is, he's just more, you know what you're going to get. It's really good. Like Hayden is definitely, I think a scarier player than, than Ben. Is Hayden, is Hayden the Danny comp for men? Like who is the, she's not the second best player in the world, but like, is that the right comp? I think so.

[00:40:23] I mean, they both just got like attitude, chaos, like fearless. Yeah, that's probably a good comp. Yeah. All right. Danny Tarleton, Newton Patrick Quinn of women's pickleball. Clip it. Zane, it's, we're in, we're in, I'm in Reno, Nevada. Technically I'm in Sparks, Nevada. Right. And it's been the hottest summer on record. Fucking insane. Like a hundred degrees every single day for the whole month. It's probably the same in Austin.

[00:40:52] It's pretty miserable in Austin right now. Hot all the time. Pretty miserable in Austin. Spend me at like 98, 90, 99 pretty much every day. All right. So I don't know if you know, if you guys believe in global warming or not. All I know is it's freaking hot. But anyway, I made the mistake today, right now, sitting in my parents' basement. And they don't believe in AC because they're trying to save money. And I am like sweating through my shirt. I'm on a pod. This shirt is a hundred percent cotton. And it's the biggest mistake I've made all week. That and eating a Choco Taco in the bed of my hotel room.

[00:41:22] But more on that later. Anyway. Six zero. And I can't believe this happened. They sent me some shirts to try out, right? And they're fantastic. They're like mesh. So it's like, it's almost like you're not wearing a shirt. I don't know if that makes any sense. It's like so light. Really fantastic. I think I know what you're talking about. But are these fishnets? Basically. Basically.

[00:41:48] Like if you imagine, instead of like going to the club, it's like the fishnet for the pickleball court, but better. Right? So it actually looks good. Anybody can wear it. You feel completely refreshed. So much so that my wife immediately took them to wear it to bed. So she's like, I'm taking all your six zero shirts. These are my new night nighttime shirts because it's hot at night. And these shirts are perfect. This is true story. You can't make this up anyway. So they're good. You know, it's good stuff when the wife steals it. I do. Yeah.

[00:42:18] You're on to something. That is. Yeah. Six zero. I know that you guys probably had a script here for me, but that is the biggest endorsement that any either one of us could make is if one of our wives takes the product and uses it instead of us, you know, it's good. And with their apparel, they did it. Now she's going to go play pickleball tomorrow morning. She's probably going to take my shirt as well. But if you guys are interested in checking out the apparel line, you just go to six zero pickleball dot com. Check it out. There's a full apparel line.

[00:42:45] Men, women, light materials, performance gear. If you want to look like a pro, feel like a pro and not sweat your ass off. Check out the six zero apparel line. So, OK, the last thing that we have to talk about from this weekend, unless I'm missing anything, was you are missing something. Before we get to the match we're going to get to. There was a match. I don't know if you remember. It was about 55 minutes of total gameplay. The ranchers did play the shock.

[00:43:16] Oh, that's what I was going to talk about. We haven't talked about Brooklyn and sliders yet either. I know it's late. 1040. I know. It is late. It is late. All right. You lead. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right. All right. If you told me there was two things left to talk about, I would let you keep talking. But I had to protect you from yourself. I don't really know how much I want to talk about this match. There was a match that happened. It was the first, I think, match of the weekend.

[00:43:43] And I unfortunately said that the ranchers might be a dangerous, frisky team. They probably scored like a total of like 11 points total in their first match. They did basically the same thing in their second match. They did not win a game. They got swept. I think they maybe won one game against the shock all season.

[00:44:04] And the highlight of that entire hour and a half of six games of pickleball is Hayden and Leah Jansen chirping at each other. That's the only noteworthy thing other than the shock are really good. Did I miss anything else? No, that was about it. I mean, like, yeah, the shock just beat them down in every single lineup spot. And then, yeah, Hayden was just being Hayden.

[00:44:33] So, yeah, we can add Leah Jansen versus Hayden Patrick Quinn to the ongoing list of beefs. Todd Boss actually put them in a spreadsheet now. So it's official. We have an official list of beefs. There's a lot of beefs. Maybe in one of the next drafts we do is we can draft beefs. Ooh, why don't we do that? We should do that right now. We don't have another draft. Do we get to pull the spreadsheet up first?

[00:45:04] I'm pulling the spreadsheet up. Todd Boss, one of the nicest guys of pickleball. A legend. It's just as so many people here are so nice, then there's you who people think is nice and not nice. And then there's like the rest of us. But like Todd and Eric Tice are just like salt of the earth, wonderful people. Doing work for the people. Doing work for us. This spreadsheet is undeserved treasure that I will always hold dear. Todd Boss, we don't deserve you, brother. All right.

[00:45:33] We're drafting the best beefs in pickleball history. Nico, do you want the first pick or the next two? I'll take the next two. All right. Give me Ben Johns and Rob Nunnery for obvious reasons. Fuck! I did not think you had the balls to say that one. That's got to be number one overall pick. Oh my God. He went there. Incredible. Incredible.

[00:46:03] Wow. Okay. That's insane. But I got to really pick some big hitters here right now. All right. I am going to go. My first pick. Give me Tyler Loon and Tyson McGuffin. Okay. All right. Love it. All right. What's the what's the I mean? What is even the beef there? I don't even remember.

[00:46:31] So the beef with Tyson and and Tyler was Tyler and Jimmy were my favorite. Maybe my favorite podcast woman of all time was, I think, James Inatowich either explaining this to you or explaining this on his podcast. And I quote, he said, Tyler's fat friend, Jimmy was going off at Tyson McGuffin's for

[00:46:58] his wife carrying his bags at the airport. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that shit. I'm at the airport carrying his bags to talk shit on the podcast like normal. And Tyson then flipped him off, basically said, like I said, give him the Will Smith. Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth. I swear they were in a fight. And the best thing about that beef was two things.

[00:47:24] One is immediately after it happened, they played each other first round singles. Like this had to be a Conor Pardo, like WWE Vince McMahon situation where he he rigged the draw. Then, because Conor is insane, drafts the two of them together on the Utah Black Diamonds to which Tyson says, fuck you. I'm not playing for your team.

[00:47:53] You trade me right now. And then they traded him before the season started for Jay DeVillia. Yeah, no, that was pretty. That was OK. All right. That's a decent one. I don't remember what happened. How what happened to Ben and Rob? Anyway, what's your next pick? OK, I have a number. So my second pick, give me Leia Jansen and Salome DeVitze.

[00:48:20] The line calls the one of my favorite matches of all time was when they had to get a line judge within like two seconds of a match where Leia, I think, like hooked Salome like four times and Salome did the same thing right back. Like I'd never seen more hooks, never seen more line judges. That's my favorite on court beef. Oh, OK. Yeah, no, that's that's that's that's a very good one. All right. Give me Tom Dunn and Steve Kuhn.

[00:48:50] I mean, I mean, that's a that's just electric one, obviously. And then I'm going to take one that got physical. You got A.J. Kohler and Federico Stocksrud. So, yeah, I mean, pretty good beef if it ends up with actually getting physical. Yeah, that that that's a good one.

[00:49:19] I remember that. But I'm going to take one that was anything but physical. Give me James Ignatowich and Christian Alshon. The most humorous, funniest beef, real beef, not real beef. I don't know. But any chance that James got to poke fun at Christian, he took. It always landed. I think James that beef propelled James to win a singles gold medal on the PPA tour

[00:49:48] before Christian Alshon just so that he could talk shit in every postgame press conference about Christian Alshon. I'll take that one. Then I am going to take give me Colin Johns and the net, the net cords. I want that. Never seen anybody more upset. It's a one-sided beef, but I want Colin Johns in the net. All right. Fair.

[00:50:19] So, you know how you're always doing like Toy Story 3 or I want Diet Coke. Well, can I have Colin Johns versus the lighting? I like it. I'm a man of principle. I'm going to let you have Colin Johns and his beefs. Okay. I'm not doing that. I want Colin Johns' beef. Clip it. What? Give me Matt and Riley. That one, they were enemies. They got together. They crushed it. They broke up.

[00:50:48] DJ Selkirk was playing We'll Never Get Back Together. All that stuff. That was pretty good. Never the most heated beef, but definitely a very spoken about one. And then, you know what? Give me Leia versus Jay. It got ugly on social media afterwards, too. And I always feel like if it gets ugly on social media, it's a pretty good beef.

[00:51:19] All right. I like it. I like it. I was going to take AJ Kohler and Rafa Hewitt. I'm not going to do that, man of principle. You already took AJ Kohler. I'm not going to do it. So I am going to take Hayden and Annalie. All right. So you can call it a beef. You can call it like flirting. I don't know what you want to call it. But the dancing and the fighting from the last match was electric. It was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.

[00:51:48] Hayden lost the war, but definitely won the battle of that match. Celebrating net courts. Yelling at Annalie. And if you call somebody a fucking bitch, I think there's probably some kind of beef that has to qualify as a beef. I don't care. Fair enough. Do I have one more? I think I might have one more. Yeah, that sounds right. I don't know. Sounds right. All right. So for my last one. No, no, wait. I went first. Yeah, you have one more. Yeah, I have one more. All right.

[00:52:17] So I am going to take I like it on how on on on this spreadsheet, by the way, I don't think Todd Boston actually knows my last name. It says be participant one, Jimmy Miller, be participant to Nico Valenzuela. That's not my last name. It's the lefty. It could also be Valencia is my actual last name. But I'm not going to take that beef.

[00:52:45] I abstain from personal beefs. But I am going to take give me Connor, Connor, Connor, Pardo against Ignatowich, Glossman and Fu terminating their contract, banning them from PPA like this. Not going to say for no reason, but he was waiting for a reason. And then he struck extremely hard.

[00:53:16] Give me that. Should I go? Should I go QD versus fulfilling a contract? I thought that was going to be my my my pick. I thought about that. No, I'm going to go. I'm going to go people. I I think. Let's see. I want to say. I want to say Thomas versus Jared. The kitchen versus the dink. I don't know how many people know that little that little beef. Oh, give me.

[00:53:46] You know what? This is a throwback one, but it was pretty good. Give me a give me Colin Johns versus Julian Arnold. Those were fun. That was a good beef for a little while there. Julian Arnold. I'm glad he made a beef list. I mean, nowhere to be seen for like the last year, but I forgot the call. The call. That's a good pick. That's a good number six pick. I'll give you credit. Good job. All right. Well, I barely squeaked out the fast food draft.

[00:54:16] Let us know who you think won the the draft here. You guys can go in the pro pick while talk discord and vote there. We also gave away a bunch of stuff this week. I gave away four paddles for signed paddles over the last week. Like me and Nico did a fun little like live commentary session during the the ranchers match as well. The ranchers versus shock. So join the pro pick while talk discord. There's like 1200 people in there now.

[00:54:44] It was super, super active this entire weekend. It's pretty cool to see how far that things come. So that's great. And of course, let us know what beefs we missed. There's a ton of ones that we were thinking about on our list. Zane versus pleasuring a woman. There's a bunch of other things. So, you know, but let us know. You know, somebody commented on the on YouTube. That's like Nico's not fair. They were like so serious. Nico's not very nice to Zane.

[00:55:13] He's always throwing these underhanded remarks. I was like, that's what our entire friendship is built on. I mean, he's not my friend. He's my coworker. But wait, like, does he not listen to me? Did he call you fat? What are you talking about? I was like, I'm the one. I'm the abused person here. I don't know what this is. Why Zane is the hero in your story. But Zane is the villain. He is the villain. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I. I don't know. Yeah. I feel like we've just been talking shit. It's just what we do.

[00:55:43] So, yeah. Anyway, I'm okay. I'm not being bullied by Nico the lefty. Yeah. We're all good. Thank you, concerned commenters. All right. Back to pickleball. We have one more match. One more match and then bedtime for Zane. I'll let you lead it. We got defending champion Columbus Sliders versus whoever the hell they played. No, Brooklyn.

[00:56:14] I'm cooked, guys. I like how you're like, I'll let you lead it, Nico. And then you just immediately go into leading the segment. So, congratulations. All right, everybody. So, thanks for tuning in. We have the Columbus Sliders against the Brooklyn Pickleball team. Not the Brooklyn Pickleball Club, which I always get confused. They're not a club. They're a team. Dumb name regardless. But they couldn't come up with a name. So, they just called the team.

[00:56:39] Anyway, this was the, I think, most anticipated matchup of the weekend. And boy, did it deliver. You had the defending champion, Columbus Sliders, against the super dangerous one, healthy but never healthy, Brooklyn Pickleball team. And Brooklyn came out, won match one. Did they win in a Dreambreaker? They won in a Dreambreaker. Okay, this is right.

[00:57:08] I'm getting delirious too. Brooklyn wins the first match in a Dreambreaker with Alex Crum and Yudit Castillo playing single specialist roles instead of CJ Klinger and instead of Tyra Black. And this is important to know because day two, they play Dreambreaker yet again. No single specialist.

[00:57:37] Like we said, today was the death officially of single specialist. Alex Crum even said he needed to take himself off of the Dreambreaker Academy for how he played. He's been playing great all year. But they bring in CJ Klinger and they bring in Tyra Black. The women absolutely. Wait, fun fact. Yes. I looked this up for my recap video.

[00:57:59] CJ Klinger played in their first Dreambreaker of the season, went two and six, and Andre has played every single Dreambreaker since. Tyra Black has not played a Dreambreaker this entire season. Not on Dallas and not on Columbus. Not one Dreambreaker since last MLP season. So, if that's not a shot at the idea of a single specialist, I don't know what is. It's crazy.

[00:58:28] And I think I'd have to do some research here. And I might be talking out of my ass like I normally do. But I think CJ Klinger was one of the highest rated Dreambreaker players of all last year. So, he was like shooting like 60-65% on Dreambreakers. Real clear spots. Please fact check me and tell me I'm wrong. But does that last year. Doesn't play at all. Comes into the Dreambreaker.

[00:58:52] Like we said, it was basically can the guys from Columbus survive long enough for the women to come through and absolutely demolish. Started out okay. Right? I think they were 4-4 after the first two guys' rotation. And then the women proceeded to win seven points in a row. And didn't look cool either. Yeah, Columbus gets up 11-4. 11-4 on the changeover.

[00:59:16] Then, I think, Brooklyn then proceeds to win like seven in a row or something like that. And it gets to the point where it's basically tied. The women don't do as well in the second round. We get to the point where it's 16-16 heading into the third rotation. So, now we have Christian Alshon. Top five singles player. Going up against Andre Descu. Not a singles player. But good at singles.

[00:59:48] He goes up. 18-16. So, if there is like the poly market odds of winning. You are up by two. Only need three points to close out a match. Your next two points are with Christian Alshon. The next four are Chris Hayworth against CJ. Doesn't play a Dreambreaker since the first Dreambreaker of the season. And went two and six in that Dreambreaker. Clinger. Yeah, man.

[01:00:17] It'd be so cool to go back in time and put our odds in. Because, I mean, at that point, 18-16 Christian serving with Chris Hayworth up next. That's got to be 94%, 95% for Brooklyn. 100%. 100%. And the odds that Columbus would win in the middle of those two rotations is basically zero.

[01:00:46] So, what happens is Andre wins the next two. Goes to 18-18. And then I'm sitting, once again, I'm sitting in the car with my wife. We're about to go eat tacos. But we can't because we're watching the Dreambreaker. We're like, we're going to sit in the car for a second and watch this. And she's just like, I can't watch. She literally goes out. And, you know, we have a one-year-old. So, she's like, I'm going to change the baby because I can't watch my beloved CJ Clinger

[01:01:11] lose the entire season for this team at the hands of assassin Chris Hayworth. So, she's at the back of our car changing our baby. And I'm sitting in the front seat watching on my phone. CJ doesn't just win one. Not two. But three points in a row to go 21-18. Beats Chris Hayworth three in a row. Saves their season. They win the Dreambreaker. Maybe the most magical moment of the season.

[01:01:42] Crazy. No, get the fuck out of here. Not the most magical moment of the season. Come on. Give me the Elsie clinch. Are you kidding me? Okay, okay. You're biased. Right. You're right. You're right. I'm a numbers guy. Okay, Nico. What? I mean, generally.

[01:02:06] Like, if you've got Andre versus Christian, what percent of points do you think Andre wins? 40? 40. 40? And then, what about CJ versus Chris Hayworth? 25. 30. 25. 25.

[01:02:23] So, if you gave 40%, 40% times 25, 25, 25, the chances that they win those five in a row based on the percentages, it's 0.25%. Not 0.5%.

[01:02:47] This happens one out of 400 times where they win five points in a row like that. Which, I don't know. I think it's a one in a hundred that they win five in a row against those two guys. So, anyway. That was a crazy, crazy clutch up at the end. But, unfortunately, couldn't get it done in the next round. Tyra and Paris lose again. Two out of three. Right.

[01:03:14] And, honestly, that's like the... I think that's huge for them, right? Like, that's the lineup spot that they've got to rely on. And they won the match where they won that women's doubles, right? The second one. But, like, yeah. Unfortunately for them, they underperformed. Like, you gotta count on that team to win two out of three of those matchups, I would think. Yeah. I mean, I'm a huge Tyra Black fan. She's fantastic.

[01:03:44] Always rooting for her. But she was playing like Dallas put a curse on her before they traded her. Like, not her best match in that final match. I mean, got rolled in women's and then down, like, what? 9-0? 9-0. So, Dallas... Oh, Jesus Christ. Brooklyn is up 2-0. That Christian and Rachel lose to Paris and Andre.

[01:04:11] And then Riley and Jackie are just absolutely destroying Tyra and CJ. They get up 9-0. I think 9-0-1, 9-0-2, something like that. They bring it all the way back to 8-9. And then lose. Then lose. It was insane. It was crazy. They got 7-1 rotation. And I was like, well, they're actually going to do it. 8-9. Then it went 8-10. They had some, like...

[01:04:39] Like, Tyra had some uncharacteristic third-shot misses that, like, hit the middle of the net. It was tough. I mean, I think they figured out the right pattern. And they got the ball over to Jackie more, which ended up setting things up well. But just, I mean, it's impossible. It would come up, like, a 9-0 hole. So, I don't know. I think you guys... I think those two play that match 100 times. I think it's pretty close to 50-50. Like, I'd love to see more. I'm not sold that Brooklyn is the better team.

[01:05:09] I'm not saying that Columbus is the better team. But I think those teams are about as evenly matched as you can get. Yeah. And it's such an interesting rest versus rust, right? Like, I do think that not playing for literally a month was not good for... Would not be good for any team. Also... Is that not fair? Is that a schedule error on MLP's fault? Like, can Columbus blame MLP? No, I don't think that's fair. But, like, I don't think there should be a situation where...

[01:05:38] Going into the playoffs, one team has played four weekends in a row and the other has not played at all. Like, you have either four tournaments in a month or zero tournaments in a month. That's kind of wild. So, I think... I think the best we'll ever know is, like, yeah, of course it, like, factored in. They lost, so it couldn't have helped them. I mean, who has a bigger gripe? You didn't play for a month. You had a scoreboard fall on you. You know what I mean?

[01:06:07] Like, both teams have a gripe. You gotta overcome tough moments. Yeah. Fair enough. So, Zane, here's one of the questions I have is... As we know famously, the number one seed gets to pick their opponents. We're doing this before they get to pick. We are making the assumptions that New Jersey is gonna pick Dallas. I think that's the obvious choice. Christian is playing insane. That team is pretty tough.

[01:06:35] But, my question is, if you are Dallas, and if you're Dallas, and if you are Brooklyn, are you crossing your fingers hoping that the Fives pick you? Do you think both of those teams would prefer to be picked by the Fives? Yes. Yeah, I mean, I think if I'm in either of those teams' shoes, I would rather play the Fives right now. They're a little bit shakier than...

[01:07:02] Yeah, I mean, yes, I agree with you for once. So, I thought that's interesting. You're hoping that the one seed picks you. The one seed that also has Annaly Waters. But, the shock looked unbeatable. So, we'll see what happens. I'm excited to see who picks who. And, you know, we have a week off before the finals. So, we'll have plenty of time to analyze what happens. Absolutely. Who picks who.

[01:07:30] We'll get on once we know the matchups for sure. Maybe we'll do a little preview. We didn't end up following through on that last time. So, subscribe to see if we ever keep our promises. We got a week. We got a whole podcast next Monday to do. So, it has to happen. I'll be reporting back from China. So, that'll be fun. Wow, you said that to side Donald Trump. China. China. China. China. China. Anyway. China.

[01:08:00] That feels like just the best possible way to end the pickle pod and get me to bed. All right, Zane. There's probably a cup of warm milk for you. Sitting on your bed. Waiting for you. Enjoy. Have fun, old man. In your slippers. You are basically the unk. You are the Brian Johnson of pickleball. No screens for an hour. You're toast. But I'll be up for the next six hours. I don't know what I'll be doing. Yeah. But, you know, being a...

[01:08:28] Well, I know there's some warm milk by your bed and probably some Cheeto crumbs in your bed. So, anyway. I've never liked Cheetos, but you are right. My wife's always like, as soon as we get to a hotel, she's like... And it's only happening in hotels. She's like, Nico, do not eat a fucking thing on this bed. Like, it's the biggest pet peeve. I don't know why. I just like plop on the... Yeah, you can imagine. Like, big guy gets to the hotel, plops on the bed, eats something they shouldn't be eating, crumbs everywhere. Poor hotel bedrooms. But, um...

[01:08:58] I can see that completely. Just such a sidebar. I hate eating in the bed. It's just not enjoyable at all. Like, do you lay down when you eat in the bed? No, I don't really like eating in the bed either. I lay down. I just put the food in my mouth. Like, no. It's an embarrassing experience where, like, you don't feel good doing it. You don't feel good after it. You know it's a bad idea the whole time. And it's just, like, a whole bunch of shame just piling up. So...

[01:09:28] I don't find a horizontal eating experience to be pleasurable. No, I don't either. But, like, most hotels are, like, just a bed. And then, like, the chair is not really, like... I don't know. I usually have, like, stuff all over the place. Like, my house, home court advantage. I got my kitchen table. I got other places to sit and eat. Hotel room. I always end up a horizontal eating position. And it's the worst. Wow. This is going to be just great bulletin board. You know, I'm sending this to Jimmy. Anyway.

[01:09:57] You don't think Jimmy's eating a horizontal in bed? Get the fuck out of here, Mike. That's true. He's definitely a horizontal bed eater with crumbs everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Pickle pod. Yeah, pickle pod. Fuck it. All right.