Did Jay Cross the Line? The Body Bag That Blew Up MLP

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[00:00:30] I was hearing, you know, Paris didn't play the tournament because she refused to play with Dani. I actually commented. Where'd you hear that, Nico? Come on. Was that, that wasn't enough? No, no, because it's commented like all over like all of the posts. I think people see you and they see Paris and they think completely polar opposites and then nobody knew who was going to play the right. No one knew who was going to play the left and then they just thought, all right, we got like a double alpha situation of two people that are polar opposites. They can't get along.

[00:00:58] So I technically take the spotlight less than Pyra would. That's what people are saying, but I don't think that is the issue. But I, in my mind, because me and Paris are so different, like how am I taking the spotlight? I'm not the f***ing, what's it called? The princess of pickleball? Come on now. So it's like, I'm not, I'm not threatening at all of her. If not, I just make her look even better, right? Like, I want her to look good. Like, I'm like, yes, f*** you look hot as s***, like on the court. Like, let's go, queen. Like, come on.

[00:01:33] Guys, we have so much to talk about this week. We had a lot to talk about before Dani Townsend went and got herself traded and Tyra Black got traded as well. We have the Leia and Jay blow up from Austin. We've got all the other stuff that happened in Austin this week. The double standard of body bags? Maybe, maybe not. I'm probably missing some other stuff. We've got Dani Townsend stopping by the podcast to discuss the trade.

[00:02:01] We've got Zoe Wheel coming by to just be an all-time great hang. This is going to be an action-packed episode. Probably one of our best. I don't know. We'll leave that to be determined. Nico, what did I miss? I feel like there's even more to cover in the little intro. So much. I mean, there's some stuff that's verified, some stuff that's not. Are people actually sick? Who's attending MLPs? Who's not attending? Who doesn't want to be there?

[00:02:31] Who wants to be traded? Like, so much speculation. I spent, like, all night last night just on the phone, on our Pro Pickleball Discord, also getting roasted on the KOTC Discord, trying to understand for all of you what exactly is happening in the world of pickleball and MLP. I think this might be, like, the biggest news week this year. So excited to get into it.

[00:02:56] Tend to go over, but why don't we start with what happened at MLP Austin, where we had the New Jersey Fives come in, clean house, just wreck shop, looked unbeatable, got their second event win of the year. I'm putting them on the top of my power rankings, even though the shock weren't there. They look pretty good, and I'm afraid they're probably going to get a little bit better in the next week. What do you think about their performance? I actually disagree.

[00:03:24] There was nobody for them to lose to if they tried. And they kind of almost lost to the Dallas Flash without Tyra. They went 22-20 in a dream breaker randomly. So the big problem point being everybody who was supposed to win won for the Fives, right? However, Will and Noe can't catch a good and important win. They're just 9-8 on the season. They've got hardly any great wins, one or two.

[00:03:52] I mean, they beat the Shock boys, which gave them the win over in Columbus, but just 9-8 on the year. And so, I don't know. I actually have them separating a little bit more from the shock in the power rankings after this weekend. Interesting. So they beat the Shock handily, win two events, and you're putting them down below. Man, that's tough sledding for the Fives. It must mean that they need to make a trade to actually stay relevant. Maybe?

[00:04:22] Stay relevant. I mean, they're going to be... Stay relevant is a wild pull, but I do think that they didn't gain ground on the Shock from this weekend, in my opinion. I just think that the boys are struggling a little bit too much. I think to... Yeah. They had a good opportunity to continue the momentum. They went undefeated over in Columbus, Will and Noe, and they went, I think, 2-4 this weekend.

[00:04:54] So, yeah. So you think they need to make a trade, huh? I do. I do think they need to make a trade. I think I hate the fact that they're going to make a trade. I think the fact that they can get really good, pretty much 2-OP for my liking with a trade is probably going to happen. I think Georgia is settling in. The women's team is unbeatable. I think, you know, whether it be Noe or Will and Anna Lee is getting unbeatable. And, yeah.

[00:05:24] I think that if you get somebody like, I don't know, a JW Johnson or a Federico Staxdrew in there to join that team, we're going to be in a world of hurt. I think they're playing good enough to win. I still think they're number one in the power rankings, but to your point, I think the worst thing for the league is that the men's team looks a little bit vulnerable, which makes them incentivize to do something about it, which is not going to be great for everybody else, not name the fives.

[00:05:52] So you think, I mean, like, look, I think the JW Johnson trade is the most obvious one. They're looking to rebuild. Obviously, when they got rid of Tyra, you know, Julie has got to be just yapping in their ear about get rid of JW. They got no chance of winning. Like, you can't keep them on this team for this year. Like, let him go somewhere where he can win. Let me get my kids back together. Julie's obviously going to be wanting to get to Jersey as well.

[00:06:23] Who do you think that would be for? Do you think that's for Will or do you think that's for Noe? Because Noe would at least be able to rebuild with them for one year. They would have Noe back at $50,000 for the following year. Yeah, that's tough. I think my original thought was it would be for Will. I think Noe is the better player versus Will. So just straight up in a vacuum, I think that the fives want to keep Noe.

[00:06:49] But to your point, there is some incentive for the flash to demand Noe. And I think at this point, honestly, the fives would trade either of them. No problem to get JW Johnson. So the biggest question, though, Zane, is. I guess if you think about this, who hates the New Jersey fives most in the entire planet? I think it might be the owner of the Dallas Flash.

[00:07:16] So it's got to be killing him inside to even think about a trade for JW Johnson to the fives. Can he stomach this? It's got to be tough. He's got to hate them with every fiber of his being. He has ripped away his prized possession in Georgia and destroyed his team. Do you think he's actually going to trade JW over to the fives? I don't think he—first off, I don't think that he hates the fives.

[00:07:45] I think that they probably recognize that Georgia being swooped up by the fives was their own damn fault. So you can't really blame the fives for that. Or at least I wouldn't. So I don't know. I don't think that he'd get his ego somehow in the way of something like this. I'm curious where you got the Federico information. Was that in the ProPigWellTalk Discord too? No, that is not. That is a Niko trade machine exclusive.

[00:08:14] So I went through—here's the thing. Our guy, Eric Tice, has a fantastic sheet that goes over all player stats and their keeper year that they can be kept and everything. If you haven't seen it, go on X, find Eric Tice, find his spreadsheet. It's going to be super helpful. But I took a list of all the players that have to be dropped this year, Federico being one of them. Now, the question is, the squeeze are on the fringe. They're definitely a playoff team.

[00:08:42] They, as currently constructive, have no chance of winning at all, for sure. So either they have to improve, or I would recommend, if I were them, trade Federico. Now, to me, that also makes that team unbeatable. You improve your singles over JW. So I just think that the fives have multiple options to improve that number two male. And if they get Federico or JW, that's their new number one.

[00:09:09] So could you see a world where the Orlando squeeze part ways with Fed? I could see it. I just—you know, who do they get? Noe and some cash for Fed? Cash. Yeah. Yeah. So—and then, obviously, like, Fed having the ability to kind of play both sides a little bit more than Noe and Will. Noe and Will kind of both preferring the left over there. Fed could slot in with the right. Probably wouldn't see a lot of balls.

[00:09:37] But, yeah, I mean—and, honestly, like, Dream Breaker helped, too. Fed makes them a—both of those trades make them a clear favorite again as well. Oh, so that's going to be my next question is, you put either Fed or JW on that team. Are they the number one team? Is the Sliders the number two team? Where does the top three or four—what is that—what are the power rankings if you make those trades? Okay, let's go with the Sliders trade first.

[00:10:06] So you've—I think the Sliders, Mad Drops, and Brooklyn were out of—we're tier listing. You've got— Yeah. You've got St. Louis and New Jersey, S-tier, pretty obviously. I think you've got Mad Drops. You've got Columbus as they were previously. And you've got Brooklyn as A-tier. I think you have to—you've obviously moved Columbus up to S-tier.

[00:10:34] But where they are in that is a very interesting question. Because what I put out in my video this morning is they are clearly the kind of murderer's row of doubles. Every other of those—actually, let's just say the—all the other top five have weak spots. And these are relative weak spots, right? So I'm going to say that Anna and Kate are a weak spot for the St. Louis Shock.

[00:11:04] Top four doubles team, top five doubles team overall in MLP, but a relative weak spot among the contenders, right? You've got their second mixed doubles of Kate and Gabe as a relative weak spot in the fives. You obviously have Noe and Will as a weak spot there. You've got Will and Georgia as a relative weak spot relative to some of the other top five teams.

[00:11:33] Where is the weak spot on the new Columbus sliders? You could argue that Paris and Tyra are now the second best team in Major League Pickleball. You've got Andre and CJ who haven't played phenomenally this year. But you could also argue that they're the best team after Hayden and Gabe, right? Who else would be in that conversation? I don't know.

[00:11:59] They're the second best—I would probably put them at second best team. You've got Andre and Paris who are at worst number three behind Ben and Jade and Hayden and Anna and Annalie. I mean, I might put them as favorites over Annalie and Noe, right? And then finally, you've got Tyra playing her preferred side with CJ playing his preferred side.

[00:12:27] I mean, that's potentially a top five mixed doubles team as well. Top six maybe, right? So, I mean, there's just no crack in that lineup anymore. That's tough. I think that their issue is not the fact that they have no weak spot. It's the fact that they do not have any killers. They don't have a one or two ranked player, right? They don't have Ben. They don't have Annalie. They don't have Anna Bright. They don't have Hayden. Boom, right? So that's an issue.

[00:12:54] So that means they can probably lose to anybody, right? So if you said Andre and Paris lost to Ben and Jackie or Ben and Jade, if they lost to any of those teams, I wouldn't be surprised. They could beat them all, but they don't have a sure thing. And that's what's the issue with their men's is Andre and CJ should be possibly unstoppable or close to it. And they lose all the time, right?

[00:13:21] And CJ has never really turned it on in Mixed that I've seen ever, right? Like CJ has always been a question mark for me in Mixed. That's why I always think that lefties have a tough time in Mixed. And so my question is like, they got the highest floor, maybe the lowest ceiling. I don't know. So I'm not sure how much better they got. They definitely improved their floor. But is their ceiling good enough to actually win a championship? It was good enough with Lea Jansen. It has to be good enough with Tyra Black.

[00:13:52] But I don't know. So yeah, I mean, that'll be interesting. Now let's talk about if you end up with Noe or Will being traded for JW or Federico. I think that that I think that that probably puts the fives again. It doesn't bump the other two out of the S tier, but it puts the fives at the top of S tier. I think pretty clearly. S plus tier that team. That's probably that. I think that team is almost unbeatable.

[00:14:19] At that point, you have the second best possibly Mixed team. You might. I mean, if you were to put Annalia and Noe in PPA, they'd probably be a top two PPA team as well. So you have crazy Mixed teams. Annalia and Georgia are never losing ever. And then the men's team is the weak spot of their roster, which would be Noe and J-Dub or Fed and Will. Some combination of those four players is insane to be your weak spot.

[00:14:47] And then their dream breaker would be just as unbeatable. Yeah. Yeah. And then you've got the Hogs on the other side. Man, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in this one. But I mean, the poor are just, I guess they're making money, but they're just intentionally being bad. Essentially, you got teams that want to win and you've got teams that just want to lose seemingly. Definitely.

[00:15:16] Zane, you know, this might be a conversation for another time, but I'm hearing some MLP structural changes with salary floors possibly being raised as much as what? I said, thank God we need a salary floor. I've been yapping for that for a while now. I heard that they were going to try and raise the salary floor 6x basically of what these teams are paying now. And my question is, if they do that, I wonder if like four to six of these teams just fold.

[00:15:46] We end up having 12 MLP teams. Like the Hogs want to pay 6x, you know, the Florida smash. I don't know. Like there are some very intriguing changes to kind of the competition committee, I think, with regards of a franchise tag, a salary floor, a salary cap that are all in discussions here that are definitely not going to be finalized before the trade deadline. But can have major impacts on what happens next year.

[00:16:16] And so for me, what I am really hoping is that that puts just enough caution in the Dallas flash and gives them the idea that maybe they should keep JW Johnson. And that way I don't have to pack it in and just say the fives are going to win. But a franchise tag and some of these things, I think huge for MLP if they happen. Yeah, I mean, I think it's got to happen at some point or another. Especially, I don't know about a franchise tag, but a salary minimum just has to happen.

[00:16:45] Oh, a little dust box action. I'm going to fool her. Just then I just fooled that. That's a good poll. I've got three hits already out of two packs. Let's go. Wait, hold on. Open one clean. Open a new one. Yeah, I'm about to. Dude, I've got like, I've got, I've got. This is crazy.

[00:17:14] She bought these at the airport. Oh, that is wild. You're not getting anything good at the airport. Hey, you cannot say that. When I first got here, this airport, same vending machine, I pulled the chase card out of Phantasmal Flames. Thank you very much. That means absolutely nothing to me. That's a $1,000 car USD raw, not graded. Wow. It's only going to go down when you don't grade it. That's a PSA 10 poll. No, no, no, not graded raw.

[00:17:43] If it's graded, if it's graded, it's worth like $5,000. Are you going to get it graded? I don't sell them. I keep them. That's crazy. And I, and, and I battle with my brothers during Christmas time. I was about to ask you, do you actually play Pokemon cards with the. I actually play properly with like a deck. I have like six decks. Do you have a mat that also has like all of the, you know. I don't need a mat. I just, I already know how to play.

[00:18:13] Hold on. Are we all just going to pretend that Pokemon is a better card game than Yu-Gi-Oh right now though? I've played Magic the Gathering too. I really like the artwork of that card. I like this one. He's so cute. This is crazy. Yeah. Literally before we had you come on, Danny, we're like, let's start the recording before she comes on in case she does something crazy. And here we are. Dude, I got another hit.

[00:18:42] Danny, how's your day going today? Dude, I had to wait around the airport so early. Cause Sarah and Ben are going to Beijing. And so I thought, I just came with them in a car. And then I've been here since like six, six 30s. Just sitting at the airport and then sleeping on a desk. Responding to comment. She, so basically.

[00:19:10] So to be in a 15, such a good friend to be in a 15 minute car ride with Sarah and Ben, you showed up to the airport six hours early, could not even check into your flight for like three hours from the time that you got to the airport and then have been here for another three hours since. Yeah. My flight's up till 150 now. You don't, you don't know, you probably don't know this, but Zane won't even give his wife

[00:19:36] a ride to the airport, let alone do whatever it is that you just, this is insane. This is, this is next level support. Crazy. Well, I told Brooke that if she needs, I have a rental car so I can pick her up from the airport when she gets to Florida to come train with you. I said, I'll ride it, drive her around the whole time. Well, there's just that. Rarely am I at a loss for words, but there's just so much to unpack here. We should probably trade it. Talk about that trade.

[00:20:05] Um, what'd we get? I can't even tell. Another full art. Dude, I've done five packs and I've got like seven hits. Anyway. Yes. There's a lot to unpack. Okay. Uh, so Danny, I mean, from the outside looking in today, obviously the news breaks that, uh, that you're traded from Columbus to Dallas.

[00:20:35] Um, but there was a lot of speculation before that. Nico, you want to take us through a little bit of that, a little bit of, uh, uh, the stuff ahead of time. So, yeah. So last night was a wild night. Um, this is what happened. Yeah. And, and, and, and by the way, good thing that Danny is like ripping like winner after winner on these Pokemon decks so she can pay for any potential fine that she's going to have.

[00:20:58] Um, but I, I see all of a sudden a tweet from hurricane tire black that says excited for my next chapter. Uh, and so we're, everybody's already wondering what's happening. Where's she going? And I think people knew that the flash was ready to kind of unload, uh, for the remainder of the year. She didn't show up to the tournament. She was sick and, and the flash, um, you know, pretty much people left them for dead. Right. Um, sorry to your new team.

[00:21:26] Um, then I get this text from somebody else that's like, oh, there's an interesting, uh, happening in Danny's Twitter bio. Um, so people start putting the pieces together. Um, that was an accident. Danny accidentally changed, uh, her Twitter bio to a, uh, a lightning bolt. I'm new at this Twitter thing, guys. I only just got it like two days ago. Yeah. So, so it's amazing.

[00:21:54] The sleuthing that people like all of a sudden Zane and I get this text. It's like, what's happening here? Like, could Danny get traded? And I was like, no, there's no way she's getting traded. And then they're like, well, look at this. And so then at that point it was, it was pretty obvious what was going to happen, uh, that you were going to get traded for hurricane tire black. And I think it just exploded the internet. The discord was going crazy. Twitter, Instagram, everybody was speculating. It was the worst kept secret in all of pickleball. Uh, the kitchen reported it. The dink was reporting. Everybody's reporting it.

[00:22:23] Uh, myself being the wonderful friend that I am decided to actually, I told Zane, I was like, I'm going to pull my video just so that nobody gets fined. Um, we'll have this conversation once it's a, it's official. But yeah, uh, here you are. The news is official this morning. You are now the newest member of the Dallas flash. So Dan, I, that's the wrong Jersey Zane. I wish. Oh, that'd be fun.

[00:22:49] It'd be cool if I could just like rip on a random Dallas flash Jersey for this, but you've got the Jacksonville Jaguars, so you should be good. How far in advance do you actually know about something like this? Like when did you change that Twitter bio? Like, did you know this entire week that you were going to be on the Dallas flash? No, I found out like straight after the final. Really? Yeah. Do you think that other players knew, right? Does...

[00:23:18] I don't think they, I don't think they do. They were quite surprised. Hmm. Unless they're very good actors, but I don't believe them. Like it was kind of a bit of a shock to everyone. Cause like, even I talked to Paris and she was like, yeah, at the start of the year, like we looked to try and get Tyra, but like, it wasn't really a possible thing. And like, after we got you, we were just like, well, that's going to be, that's going to be great. Like, I don't know. I feel like I made a pretty good relationship with nearly everyone on the team, even though

[00:23:47] we kind of had people rolling through. But I know I get along with J-Dub and stuff. So, and you had quite, you had quite the difficult, like tenure on the sliders. You played with three different partners, uh, in three different tournaments, making it to the finals in two, never really kind of get your footing. You know, there was a lot of hype, a lot of excitement. I think, you know, you played your way into kind of the situation you're in now, which

[00:24:16] is Danny is good enough to be traded for Tyra. But there was even speculation, uh, and I, you were talking about this earlier about maybe this is how, you know, you made it when there's rumors and there's hate. But I was hearing, you know, Paris didn't play the tournament because she refused to play with Danny. Yeah. No, I actually commented. No, this is like a huge, like conception that like, I don't understand where it came from. Dude, we're like best buds. You heard it first. They're best buds.

[00:24:46] Yeah. Like, dude, I've even got. Gifts of her on my phone. Oh boy. You just. Everyone's just silly. Yeah. That feels, that feels a little too much. Where'd you hear that Nico? Come on. Was that, that wasn't. No, no, because it's comment. It's commented like all over, like all of the posts. And I'm just like, like Paris is funny. They think that we hate each other.

[00:25:15] I, I, I, I just think that, uh, I think people see you and they see Paris and they think like, like completely polar opposites. And then nobody knew who was going to play the right. No one knew who was going to play the left. And then they just thought, all right, we got like a double alpha situation of two people that are polar opposites. They can't get along. So they got to ship you off, um, to get Paris, her old, uh, partner in Tyra Black. And so here it is. But I, I technically take the spotlight less than Tyra would.

[00:25:45] No. No. So like, you think it's a, some sort of a, a spotlight issue is what people are, are discussing? That's what people are saying, but I don't think that is the issue. But I, in my mind, because me and Paris are so different, like how am I taking the spotlight? I'm not the fucking, uh, what's it called? The princess of pickleball. Come on now. So it's like, I'm not, I'm not threatening at all of her. If not, I just make her look even better. Right. Like I want her to look good. Like, I'm like, yes, fuck you look hot as shit.

[00:26:14] Like on the court, like let's go queen. Like, come on. Like, like I'm like probably one of the bigger hype people when it's like that. Like all of my friends in high school as well were like dancers or like now swimmer models. Like I'm not, I'm not like in competition with the same thing they're going for at all. So it's like, how would like there be an issue? Fair enough. I didn't, I don't really see that one. Like I didn't know anything about that or, or see any of the comments really, but I'm curious

[00:26:42] cause I've never really been just traded. Like, I mean, I knew about the, the trade from the, the, uh, the fives to the slice. I was kind of involved on both sides of, of that one. Like, so how does that happen? Does, uh, does your owners just like sit you down on Sunday? The owners didn't even know. So I got a phone call. The owners didn't know. Who the hell knew if it wasn't the owners? No, no, no, not, not all of the owners knew.

[00:27:12] Sure. So talk, just take us through what happened like last night after you guys play the final against the fives. Drive home. I'm sitting on the couch with Sarah. We're talking shit. I don't know. Just watching Grey's Anatomy. And then I get a call from Fern, my boy, and he sounded sad. And I was like, what's up? Like, you okay? And I was, who called you? From Fern, Fernando. Oh, Nando. He has to do the dirty work.

[00:27:41] Um, and then he was just like, you've been traded to the flash. And I was like, oh, okay. I was like, wow. Okay. And then do the flash owners call you up or you're just chilling over there? We said that they will like message you soon and stuff like that. And then they've been really great, like helping me out with everything. Um, like, because obviously I had a flight to St. Pete that was meant to be catching today.

[00:28:09] So then I quickly just booked like my stuff and they said like, whatever you need help with, like let us know. And then, yeah, it was pretty easy. It was stressful at first because like, obviously now I have a different schedule and I was planning to go to Japan, had a flight for Japan. Cause if you're staying in this country, you need a flight out. Otherwise you're not allowed in. That was my flight out. So now I need to change that to a later date and I'm not playing Singapore anymore and yada yada.

[00:28:36] So it's just like a bit of a, you know, like put my head through a loop at first notice. Like obviously I was a little stressed out of that stuff and like upset cause I made a good relationship with like my teammates and even the owners and stuff like that. They've been so good to me. Like it literally felt like a little happy family, but I guess like that's kind of like part of the sport, just business. But yeah, that's what I tell everybody.

[00:29:01] Uh, you know, I was in, everybody knows I was in, in corporate tech for like the last 10 years before doing pickleball stuff. And I always said that if, if any company tells you that, that you guys are a family, just run because it's, it's insane. Uh, and I'm sure that a team actually feels like a family, but in the end it's business. I always, I wonder like if, if you guys would have beat the flash or, uh, if you guys would have beat the fives in Austin, what would have happened if there was any kind of a revisionist history where like you stay on the sliders?

[00:29:31] I don't know. Or I wonder if like they were, they were going to get Tyra no matter what. Um, yeah, they just needed the leverage. They needed the opportunity. And as soon as you became, you know, big enough, good enough, marketable enough, the flash finally says yes. Yeah. Like, obviously I thought about that. I was like, Oh, if we win that, do they change? But like, I'm assuming that the deal was pretty much or like, it was already talks, obviously. Like, it's not like it just happens.

[00:30:00] And then it would have already been talked about. So it was already probably planned before that match, that everything. And so it's like, there's no really point thinking about it like that to me. Um, I think it was just going to happen no matter what, but at least I put them in like a pretty good position. Like they can't not make playoffs now. And I'm just going to probably just focus on trying to get Dallas there as well. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:27] I got to work out of you, especially if they end up in full, full rebuild mode. We were hearing some good rumors of potentially J-Dub getting shipped off as well. So you might have an entirely new squad over there on, uh, on Dallas with you. Yeah. You know, and it's going to be interesting, Danny. I think like there's a huge shift now because you went from the fourth player on a championship

[00:30:54] team, you get another, how much money have you made on these cards right now? Like what's happening here? Dude, I got another two shits out of one pack. I got an SIR. That's like a chase card. That's a fucking chase card. Dude, it's got texture. That's an SIR. Dude, I think that's one of the top chase cards. That one, this one might be like 200 bucks. I'll be honest. My Pokemon card pack days, like it was like full on first generation.

[00:31:23] And I still have like the whole pack, but so many Pokemons. I can't even tell you, you know, if, if I do a legendary pool or not, but, uh, this is insane. Yeah. Unless it was like an OG Charizard. Yeah, exactly. I know. I know those. I know the ones that are around Logan Paul's neck and that's about it. Uh, but, uh, no, I, I think just the, the one thing I was going to mention, Danny, is, um, you go from the kind of like the fourth player on a championship team to now being on a rebuilding team.

[00:31:52] That's probably shipping JW off. You are the new face of the franchise, right? So, and we talked about this, you going on your villain are going full Darth Vader mode. I'd even changed the background of the screen of, uh, of, uh, my light. Usually it's blue. We got full red for Vader here just for you. Um, but does anything change anything, any mindset shift for you now that you're on the flash and it's like, Hey, maybe this is kind of like my team or, you know, this, like I'm here and we might build around me.

[00:32:21] Um, well, that's something that was talked about. Like when I called Mark, uh, well, Mark called me, he was like, we've got you now. Like, let's, let's work things out. Like we're going to build a team around you. Like, um, like there's a little bit of like belief. I think the other thing as well is like everyone's saying I was the fourth player in that team in the sliders, but I played with a different women's partner at each event. Um, like the number one woman wasn't there and it was like my responsibility to still get the job done, which I almost did each time.

[00:32:51] Like, I still feel like, like I'm not happy with how like I performed actually. Like, I still think there's like way more that I can do, but it's like, I think I did my part even when that wasn't meant to be my role. Like I was replacing Leia and I feel like I ended up replacing Paris because Paris wasn't there for two of the events. So it's like, I was, I was already put into the position of like the number one female,

[00:33:16] but I had good players like beside me and I'm in a championship team, but I was playing in the championship team without Paris two of the times and was sitting like second or something on the ladder. Sure. I mean, I think that, I think that honestly your success probably is what made this trade available, right? Because like you said, they were trying to get Tyra from the beginning. You play very well as a dominant female for the first three weeks.

[00:33:42] And then Dallas is like, all right, well, we can actually get Danny for three years in this position. And I think that Tyra is the somewhat of a perfect fit to, to take that spot. Paris and Tyra play together. Tyra loves playing with a lefty. So I honestly think that your success in that role is what led to you being shipped off because realistically too, like they're going to be offloading.

[00:34:08] They're going to have zero players after this upcoming year on the, uh, on the sliders. Now nobody that they can keep, but anyway, Danny, appreciate you coming on, making some time in between ripping Pokemon decks and flights and all that stuff to come break the news with us. Anyway, best of luck with Dallas. Hopefully you have some teammates in the next couple of days. We'll see. Um, we'll see what happens. It's traded. We're going to try and get him on too, but I don't know. Maybe he'll be ripping Pokemon cards. I kind of doubt it.

[00:34:38] I know. I'll see him some, I'll see him later today or tomorrow. So awesome. Oh, safe travels. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. It was fun. All right. Welcome to the podcast. This is going to be an electric guest. We have Zoe wheel, Zoe while, how the fuck do you say your name? Uh, Zoe while you had it for a little bit. I think you maybe had it in your head that it was Zoe wheel and then learned it was Zoe while, but now you're back to your old ways. So here to get you right, Zoe while, tell your friends it's not that complicated.

[00:35:08] Zane is the worst at pronunciation. I can keep calling me whatever the hell I want to. So yeah, you can call me whatever you want, Zane. I'm not going to be mad. Don't worry. But you have been mad about me shitting on the Florida smash. This is honestly, mostly just Travis. I just, it's just like, I shit on your Solson. I shit on Travis Rettenmeyer. I shit on the, the Florida smash by association with Travis Rettenmeyer. But yes, I'm going to issue a rare apology.

[00:35:34] You guys are playing good pickleball Florida smash are pretty fun to watch. Honestly, mostly because of you most because of your, your whole squad is fun, but just the energy that you have is extremely entertaining in my opinion. Thank you. Yeah. I would say we're definitely playing well. Not, not difficult to underestimate what we were capable of, but I think, yeah, we had a decent week here in Austin and excited to head to St. Pete next weekend. So I do appreciate the apology.

[00:36:04] All my teammates were very, very excited to hear you repent about your, your cold take. Repent. On paper, it's not a good team. But no, you're not wrong. In practice. That's why we love MLP. Yeah. All right, Nico, anything going on this week that we want to talk to Zoe? We'll while I don't remember already about. It's where you get in your head saying you have the pronunciation.

[00:36:33] Yips is what happens as it goes to your head. You know the right thing to say. And then you go, it's like for me, every time I say Thomas last name, I'm like, is it Thomas Shima Bukuru or Thomas Shima Bukuru? And then I get embarrassed and I can't remember. And I just, I just short circuit. So. See, my last name is four letters though. It's not even close to Shima Bukuru or whatever it possibly could be. It's wild. It's wild. Even though you would never guess by reading. So. Never guess. Okay. We can talk about this another time.

[00:37:02] No, but so you, you, you're, you're a super active now on, on Twitter, on X, just came in with a hammer and have become one of the best follows on X. So if you guys are not following, you guys are not part of pro pickleball Twitter, you guys should be. And one thing that, that I see the comments every single time that you win is, Oh, the worst team in women's doubles won yet again. Who called you the worst team in women's doubles?

[00:37:33] So my man, my man, Jim Kloss pickleball.com. You know, again, it's not hard to underestimate the Florida smash on paper. Um, but yeah, he did his season preview and little blurb about the Florida smash was Florida smash probably have the women's worst women's doubles team in MLP. Um, we started our season in Columbus a couple weeks ago. We won our first match. So I was like, Oh, we've, we're wanting to know. We've never lost. So I said, thank you, Jim Kloss. Like the worst women's doubles team just won.

[00:38:02] Um, but yeah, Martina and I have actually been playing pretty well. We have now we haven't lost in like three days. So feeling pretty good. I actually bought. Yeah. I actually bought premium Twitter to fight with Jim Kloss. I wanted to make sure that my arguments weren't getting broken up into a bunch of different like threads. So I was like, you know, I'll spend the $4. Like, I think this was when he posted his, um, top 20 women's doubles players rankings list.

[00:38:28] Um, which I thought was pretty inaccurate rankings wise. But I also thought was just very, very poorly worded. Um, a lot of focusing on negative things. Um, which I was like, come on, like you're talking about Anna Bright. And he basically was like, yeah, she's only good because of her partners. I was like, um, yeah, there's a reason that she's playing with Annalie Waters. Like she's really freaking good. So yeah, I, I'm not afraid to admit it. I bought premium Twitter just to fight with him. Um, and I'll be keeping it cause I plan on fighting with him a lot more.

[00:38:58] We appreciate that. Honestly, that exchange was fantastic between you and Jim. He was like the math beer of the shit sandwich. You know, if anybody's familiar, it's where like, it's like compliment that's just there so that you can say something shitty and then you have another compliment to close. And like Jim Kloss was like, oh yeah, Anna Bright is so good, but also she sucks only because she's, she's only good because she's got good partners and also she's going to do great. And it's not even a shit sandwich anymore though. Maybe that was Jim Kloss. Like when you first started writing now, it's just like, wow, like you're a liability. Like you're bad.

[00:39:27] And then it's just Jackie's bad and she's the same as Jackie. Like yeah, it could have probably phrased it better at this point. Huh? Yeah. It's just, it's like ship shit. Like spaghetti. Oh, it was just all over the table. Ah, a shit cootery board. If you will. I like it. Oh my God. Oh that.

[00:39:51] So Zoe is a, like Nico said, a phenomenal Twitter follow or X or whatever you'd like to call it. And most recently he decided to punch up a little bit more from Jim Kloss and Tom Dundon. Oh, I mean, since the Canes won the Stanley cup, will you pay for the hogs to travel now? So you just got like, no, no fear, huh?

[00:40:18] I mean, I think I say things that everybody's thinking, like honest question. Canes won the cup and you're making people pay for their own travel. I think we can set a higher standard. I don't think Tom Dundon will see my tweet. If he does, I might be a little bit scared. But yeah, I think it was, I think it's a fair question. I think the disparity in MLP teams, but also in the way that Tom Dundon treats his professional sports teams. I think he also maybe is involved with the Portland Trailblazers.

[00:40:48] I don't think they're paying for their own travel, but I'm not, not, I'm not afraid to say what I think. I love that. I've honestly been saying that the, the hogs are a reason why we need a salary floor in major league pickleball, just because, you know, obviously they've got their own objective of just making as much, you know, money they, they can from this, but the team's just not competitive. They're currently on a 10 match losing streak.

[00:41:13] They won two singular games in, I think it was five matches this week in, in Austin. And basically whoever shows up in the hogs pool has an automatic playoff berth that week. Um, in, in the, so just like completely competitively imbalances the league. So anyway, good for you. Ballsy. We'll see if there are any repercussions. It's so funny. Exercising my first amendment rights.

[00:41:41] I saw this tweet this morning and I reached, I immediately thought of Zane. I was like, man, I bet you this makes Zane's stomach hurt right now. Just like seeing what she put, like, oh, this is, this is, this is, this is, uh, impressive. So glad you're saying it. So, yeah, you mentioned obviously, um, the, uh, sort of difference in the league. Yeah. We obviously have now the, the top teams getting even better after the Danny, uh, and tire trade.

[00:42:08] Uh, you got the bottom teams, you know, who just aren't going to be making playoff spots. What does MLP need to do to, uh, to, you know, make it so that there aren't any just gimme matches? Yeah. I mean, I think you mentioned salary, salary floor, but I also think salary cap. Um, it's essentially just who has a rich owner that's willing to invest in their team. Um, you have the, the St. Louis shock who spent $1.23 million on Anna Bright.

[00:42:38] Um, and yeah, she's a great player. And I, I like how sought after she was by her owners. I'm sure that made her feel good. It maybe made her feel a little bit of pressure to play well as she's talked about a little bit. Um, but then you have other ownership groups that just simply can't afford that or they don't want to spend that money. Um, so yeah, salary cap, salary floor. Um, you mentioned maybe a franchise tag on some players. I'm not super familiar with how that works in other sports. So I don't want to speak as much to that.

[00:43:04] Um, but yeah, we definitely need a little, I mean, and I think on paper, there is still a huge disparity in teams, but then you see things like the Dallas flash literally being like half an inch from beating the fives this weekend. So it really just depends on energy. It depends a lot on chemistry. Um, but obviously money talks as well. Um, so it'd be good to see maybe a more balanced league moving forward. Um, you really don't see any other professional sports league that has such a disparity between,

[00:43:33] I mean, obviously some teams stuck, stuck in every league. Um, but things like the suit, like the golden state warrior super team when Kevin Durant joined them, like there was outrage. It was like, Oh my gosh, like, I can't believe you like the Warriors, Nika. Love the Warriors. I grew up in the area. Oh my God. That's ridiculous. Been a Warriors fan since like they were terrible, you know, Chris Moore and all that stuff though. All right. Fair enough. Well, I like the Cavs. So the only team to ever blow a three, one G a lead in the NBA finals. So you have to sit with that forever. I was, um, channels games.

[00:44:04] Were you, you were the bad luck charm. Maybe I was, um, but you saw like absolute outrage. It was like, how could Kevin Durant do that? Like, that's ridiculous. But now you see people jump and ship owners buying off players, um, to just make super teams. I mean, credit to the sliders, you know, they're investing in when now all four of their players are going to free agency next season or yeah, next season, they got to be dropped back into the pool. Um, so like we're wanting to win the title again. We want to go back to back. And I mean, smart move. Obviously I think Danielle Townsend was playing, is playing well.

[00:44:33] I don't know if she fits in with that specific team super, super well. Um, but it'd be cool opportunity for her to go to Dallas and hopefully be more of like the face of the franchise. You know, you're playing with Paris Todd, you have Andre Desk you on your team. You're not going to be the star no matter how entertaining you are. So good opportunity for her. I think it was mutually beneficial, but certainly puts the, I think Columbus sliders probably would be the most complete team now. You know, there's really no hole in that lineup where as things like the fives men,

[00:45:01] um, you know, I think the shocker are a very, very complete team. I think there are maybe some cases to be made for some of their mixed doubles. Um, but on paper, certainly the most complete team now. Um, yeah, interesting. So something, uh, I wanted to switch gears to ever so slightly was the, and we, something we had to talk about this weekend was obviously the, the Jay DeVilliers and Leia Jansen blow up. We saved this just for you, honestly. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

[00:45:31] But we just wanted to get to it at some point. So I'll give a little bit of a, of a backstory. Um, basically like Nico just tags Jay pretty well. It looks like somewhere between a body shot and a full bag, like on the very first point, like it was, it was clearly going way out, but it wasn't the same as, you know, my tag on Jack sock or Jay's tag later on Nico. Right.

[00:45:59] So anyway, they're going hard at Jay's body for most of the day. Jay just absolutely lets one rip destroys Nico going, you know, back to Waco, Texas from Austin. And Leia, Leia just lights them up. You're a joke. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It continues. Pickleball.com gets involved. They start claiming, she starts claiming like that Jay made, you know, these misogynistic

[00:46:29] comments online. I'm just curious about a couple of things from your perspective. Where's the line? Where do you not like, is it okay to bring in stuff from outside of, of the match in a case like that? Did Jay cross the line in his comments, making it warranted is, I don't know, just, just pour more fuel on this fire for us, please. Oh God. So I was actually commentating this match. So I had a front row seat.

[00:46:59] I would say, I think all, I think Nico hit Jay three times. All of them were totally okay. I think smart shots off pace, even like just to where Jay wasn't ready for it. That body bag that Jay hit, I have never seen anybody hit a ball harder than that. I think I'm on the mic and I'm like, Oh my God. Like I was like, I was a little scared. Um, I do think that Leah has some issues with Jay from off the court.

[00:47:26] I think some of the comments that he made, not super classy, you know, he's a dad, he's a married man, some other things that she didn't even mention. Um, so I, I understand why she's maybe not his biggest fan. Um, I think she probably would not have reacted the way she did had it not been Jay. Um, yeah. And then I think Jay actually followed her. Or the pickleball.com had them kind of in the grass talking. Leah left the court and Jay followed her to kind of, I think, continue to poke the bear a little bit.

[00:47:55] Um, I will say though, Jay's bag on Nico totally changed the match for the bouncers. So tactically and energetically, it was, it was a total game changer. Um, yeah, I don't think I'm going to fuel a fire quite as much. I actually had a, I had a similar, similar interaction with Pablo Tejas this weekend. Did not get quite the screen time that, uh, Leah and Jay did. Um, but Casey Campbell and I, I know here, I'm going to air it out. Pablo, just kidding.

[00:48:25] Pablo and I are cool. I think, I don't think he's a bad guy by any means, but I just think so case and Campbell and I are down. Two nine and mixed just not playing well. Like just no reason that you need to get super creative with winning points against us at that point. And he just winds up nails case and ends up hitting him in the head. He ducked into it a little bit, but hit him in the head. And like, I'm like, Pablo, like, why, why are you doing that? To case and Campbell nonetheless. And he did the Augie the day before.

[00:48:53] Um, so I think I said something along the lines of like, can you maybe hit like an asshole with a body bag? Like, why are you doing this to the nicest guys? Um, and he's like, what, it's the right shot. And I'm like, yeah, sure, Pablo, because it's been so difficult for you to figure out a way to win a point without hitting the ball as hard as you can by case and Campbell's chest. Um, so to me, it was kind of just like I, at that score line, I was like, it's basically going to like a flagrant foul when you're up 20. Like what, why, why would you do that? Like, I get it. If you're, you're in a close game and you're like, oh, I think I can win a point this way.

[00:49:24] But like, at that point I didn't think it was a classy move, you know, Pablo and are cool. Now I don't, I'm not going to, you know, fight with him off the court or anything. Um, but I, I definitely think there's a line. It's so hard to tell where it is though. And I don't necessarily think that Jay's shot did cross line. Cause in that case, like I said, it had a super big impact on the match for Pablo. I was more just situationally frustrated at when he did it more so than I was frustrated at the shot. Right. Yeah.

[00:49:53] I mean, this, this really, to me draws a ton of parallels to, to baseball, right? Where there's kind of just a, an honor code. And I do think that this code is changing and changing very quickly. Right. Because first off, I see people online talking about body shots. So inaccurately, there is a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge difference between going hard at the body and going for a full bag.

[00:50:21] Going hard at the body is 100% unanimously accepted by pro pickball players, right? There is no ifs, ands about it. It is a strategy. The full bag. The full bag. The is a shot where the point is over. You are either hitting that person or the ball is going into oblivion. There is no, like, you know, I'm trying to hit them in the, in the right shoulder and, you know, jam them up for the next shot. The point is over.

[00:50:51] Right. And previously, this has been seen almost exclusively as just like a fuck you, right? It is a fuck you shot. But now the way that Jay used it changed the complete momentum of that match. And so I think context matters. Again, you're up 10-2. You don't need to change the complete momentum of a match that honestly could have backfired just the same for, for Pablo. Right. Because it just. Yeah. And Kacen actually, we took a medical. Cool.

[00:51:21] We didn't have any timeouts left. And I was like, he got hit in the head. We need a medical timeout. We, we played better when he came back. We still lost, but it was like nine or 11-5 maybe. Definitely a little bit more energy out of him. So I was like, come on Kacen. Like, let's go dig deep here. Like this guy just hit a fuck you shot at you with that down nine too. Like, let's get fired up. Sorry. Continue though. Yeah. So, I mean like there's, there's clearly context to it and some of the context has been you don't hit that at women. Right. Yeah. And so Anna Bright talked about that in her newsletter.

[00:51:51] And I think there is a slight double standard. However, is it okay to have a double standard? Right. Like for me personally, like, yes, I treat everybody as, as competitors and whatnot. However, I'm not going to, you know, rocket a ball as hard as I can at a lady. Right. Like. You're a gentleman. You're a gentleman despite what people say about you, Zane. Despite what certain people say about me. Despite what people say.

[00:52:19] I would also say you don't see a lot of women trying to pull back other women. For me personally, I don't think that I would let myself hit a ball as hard as I could at somebody. I'm going worst case scenario. I hit him in the eye. I hit him in the mouth. Like, I would feel absolutely awful. So, um, for whatever reason, maybe men are just wired to be a little bit more reckless. Like they'll just send that thing and they're like, oh, hopefully it doesn't, you know, cause irreparable harm.

[00:52:46] Um, I've never tried to hit someone, uh, as hard as I could. I don't, yeah, I don't think my body would let me do that, but you just don't see it. Maybe. Sorry. Well, why don't we talk about, why don't we ask Annalie, right? Like she's probably the only person that I've seen from the lady side actually go for a couple of full bag shots, right? Simply just trying to, to hit them. She's the only person that I can, that comes to, comes to memory.

[00:53:12] So context again with her though, is like, she's running forward. She knows she's not going to get the drop down. She's like, I'm just going to try and hit them. Like, let's see what happens. Like to me, that's still is like, and I don't think she's hitting that ball as hard as she can. I think it's just kind of like, let me just get this ball on him really fast. The one on Jay was as hard as she can. Well, I'm going to. I'm pushing back on that. Being there, like seeing that, that's as hard as Annalie can hit that ball. Hey, don't underestimate Annalie Waters.

[00:53:41] I think she can hit the ball a little harder than that. I don't know. Go watch that again. She just ended Jay's life. He's a big boy. He can handle it. So I think there's, there's two things at play that I want your perspective on. First, it works better against guys. Guys are bigger upper body and they also play up on the line. So if you get a lady who's got a similar game style and build, do you think you actually see that more tactically at them?

[00:54:11] I would say, well, because you basically just described me. I'm a large woman who plays more on the line. I don't get hit at or get hit with the ball probably more than an average person. Yeah, I'll get tagged every once in a while. But like, I don't think it's a strategy of, oh, like Zoe's 5'11 and like broader shoulder, like let's nail her. Specifically too, I feel like a lot, well, the full bags typically come off the bounce, but you see the women are like dropping back. I just think it's easier to leave a ball.

[00:54:40] And sometimes when the full bag's coming, like I'll be watching, I'll be like, oh, like I really feel like they should have known that was coming for them. But like guys are just like so staunchly like parked on the line that they're not necessarily ready for like, oh, this ball is probably going to come on my chest like as hard as it possibly could. Um, I don't, I just don't think you'll see it transition into the women's game the same way it has come into the men's. Yeah, I do think that it's, it's like a brushback pitch in baseball. I really think that this is going to happen more and more on the men's side of things,

[00:55:10] because if you do that early in a match, that person, instead of being two inches behind the kitchen line and leaning in, they're going to be six inches behind the kitchen line and, you know, have their head on a swivel the entire match. I really, really, really think that this is something that we're going to see 10x come a couple of years from, from now. And curious your perspective or your take on good thing, not good thing, entertaining. You think both men, you think men and women? I think definitely the men.

[00:55:37] I don't think that it's, I don't think that it makes sense tactically in the women's game, because again, ladies are generally smaller and then also generally play two, three feet off the line. So it was super difficult to, way more difficult to actually tag them. Yeah, I think 10x might be a little bit of an exaggeration. I definitely think you'll see more of it. I don't think it's going to be like dodgeball out there, like, oh, who's going to get hit with the ball more? Like that person's going to lose the match.

[00:56:08] But yeah, I definitely think sending a message early as well. Like, I mean, in rec games, if I get nailed with a ball, like I'm probably a little bit more ready to cover my body. I'm maybe a little bit less ready to cover the middle. So it definitely makes you second guess your positioning and, you know, where you're sitting. But I also think everybody is so good that if you get hit once or twice, like it's not probably going to happen again. You're going to be definitely ready to leave that ball. It's kind of like one of those shots that you hit that's so bad it's good.

[00:56:36] Like a like a floating middle ball that both people think their partners are going to hit or they both think it's going to go long and ends up landing. Like you can't do that again. Next time you do it, it's going to get absolutely murked. So I think you'll see it maybe once, maybe twice a game. But I would say that's probably what the standard is right now. It depends on the person. It depends on your opponent. But I think, yeah, I don't think 10x is quite where we're headed. Okay, but I mean, like realistically, we don't see that more than like once per weekend.

[00:57:06] I would guess that this turns into a once per game or once per MLP match type of thing, right? When somebody does it. Yeah, I suppose that's true. I think you're seeing a full full bag once a weekend. I think a lot of people are not clipping and talking about like some of the more subtle full bags that would still be sent into oblivion, but aren't like, oh my God, I can't believe that just hit me. Got it. Yeah.

[00:57:33] You know, I think it also comes down to like whether or not pickleball is like a gentleman's game, right? Like if it's like tennis where there's like unwritten rules of like this certain level of respect or if it's like hockey or if it's like baseball or, you know, where you have these things where you can do a full bag or like, you know, in the weekend when like Annalie tagged Eric Onsen's in the head and then she kind of gave the oopsie, you know what I mean? Like, um, so I think honestly it's better that pickleball is not a gentleman's game

[00:58:02] that it has a little bit more fire to it. And I think that, you know, right now it's, it's kind of a shock factor to saying your point. It happens once an MLP or once every two MLPs, but when it happens once a match, people are going to kind of just accept it as part of the game. And I don't think there's going to be any kind of outrage when it does happen. Yeah, I think that's a good point. I definitely like the separation that pickleball has from tennis. I think for a long time people were like, oh, the etiquette is the same. It's absolutely not the same at all, especially MLP.

[00:58:31] I think pickleball should be lighter. It should be more fun. It should be more energetic. So yeah, I mean, if that's going to help bring viewers that if that's going to bring more energy, I'm all for it. But I also think safety is a factor. Obviously skill is a factor. You know, you don't want to be that person that just every speed up is just going to nail somebody. You got to be a little bit more creative. And I think you'll see people are going to have to be more creative. They're not just going to be the person that's somehow a professional pickleball player that doesn't have any shots in their arsenal other than a full stand.

[00:59:01] Yeah. Well, also baseball, you don't do it again. Their unwritten code is you don't when you when you throw at the guy, you hit him in like the butt or like the lower back, right? Like it's right there. If you can't control it and you go up high, like you don't do it unless it's a real look. Screw you. And you're trying to start a fight. Like everybody kind of understands it. Same thing. Like if you can't control it and keep it below the neck, right? Like don't hit that shot.

[00:59:29] But anyway, now we're going to have a bunch of amateurs out here going for full bags and people are going to need dental work 10, 10 X. Yeah. Just also unwritten part of it. Don't ever do it in rec play. Don't ever do it in rec play. Like you probably shouldn't do it in tournament play either unless you're playing for money and it's your career. So guys, don't do this on the rec play either. Leave it to us. Leave it to the professionals. This segment sponsored by Pilla Eyewear. Yeah.

[00:59:58] No shit. Okay. So one other thing I want to get your perspective on, and this is totally different, but the New York Knicks won the title two nights ago and New York City is just absolutely chaos. You got them lighting, you know, buses on fire, stomping on people's cars, you know,

[01:00:26] just throwing shit, breaking shit, all that. I'm curious, you know, in Philly, they greased up all the light poles before the Super Bowl. Which MLP city would need to grease the light poles if their team won? Like, and basically the real question is which fan base is kind of like the, the rowdiest

[01:00:51] and the, the, is going to be the hardest partiers if something like this actually happens for them? Oh man. I got to say, it's got to be the fives or the shock. I don't have as much familiarity with the shock fans, but the fives fans, I mean, Ryan Harwood's going to be trying to climb the light pole. Like, let's be real. Like that man loves pickleball. Um, he was probably trying to climb the light poles in New York City too. He's a big Knicks fan. Yeah.

[01:01:21] I'm going to go fives. All those people dressed like clowns. Just causing a ruckus. Yeah. They've got a lot of fans and they, someone uses the word like activate. Well, they activate their fans very, very well, whether it's a team or just someone in the crowd. I mean, you, you were with me in Columbus saying when they had that, like three or four guys just dressed as clowns sitting behind the bench, like they were getting very into it. And it, a lot of, I think a lot of people that come to MLP events are not necessarily diehard fans of teams.

[01:01:51] I think they're fans of pickleball and they like their players. Um, but it's fun if you're, you're sitting in the fan in the stands and there's a fan base that's kind of getting going. Like I'll, I'll join in. I joined in on, uh, the Vegas night owls. They were like, they were doing a thing. And I was like, that's cute. Like I could get behind that. I was whoing in the crowd with my mom. Um, so it is fun to be a part of something, but yeah, I think the fives, fives are going to take the cake on that one. Okay. What do you think? I agree.

[01:02:19] It's either going to be the fives or the, or the, the shock. Um, honorable mention. I think ranchers have a really good fan section as well. Um, they did a good job this weekend. Yeah. The cow, the cowbells out. Marcella Hones was definitely, uh, hyping the crowd up a lot too. She's very energetic. She was a good, uh, good addition to the bench of the ranchers. I'd say. Okay. I need you to help me and Nico settle a marital dispute. Nico has no idea that this is happening.

[01:02:47] However, we are basically deadlocked on last week's MLP ghost or like draft. Okay. We had to draft one player from five, six different age groups, 15 and under 16 to 19 twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties. And we need your help settling this dispute because the Instagram poll is showing Nico at

[01:03:16] 52 to 48. The first poll in discord had me up like 80, 20. Nico's poll had him up like 52, 48. I think we have while wheel, whatever her name is. I think we have her. Wait, I should be nice to her before I phrase this. Oh God. That I drafted on my vibes team that you didn't draft on your vibes team. Yeah. Zane, I'm, I got some where we have to have a, we have to have a debrief after this.

[01:03:46] She doesn't even need your argument, Zane. She already knows. Zane, I will say, I saw how upset you were when Nico picked me. I can tell that you really wanted to pick me, but I just thought we had a good thing going. Like, you know, we've seen each other lately. I don't know. It's fine. It hurt a little bit though. It did. I mean, that's, that's a reasonable, that's a reasonable take, but isn't it a good thing about how I upset I was? Yeah, that was a good thing. I don't think he meant to hurt me. I just think he did. You're not upset enough to pick you number one overall. You know what?

[01:04:13] I really thought I could get, I thought that she would fly under your radar. And honestly, that was more of a dig at me, Nico than anything. So yeah, I'm actually, I, that's not a bad take for me, Nico. I mean, I'm glad that you picked me, but I mean, I don't know you super well, but like, you know, you, you see class when you, when, you know, you know, class when you see it. Yeah, exactly. So which team is better here? We got Nico's team, Tama, um, Georgia, Ben Johns, Catherine, Matt Wright and Lee Whitwell.

[01:04:42] You got my team, you got my team, which is Cam Schaafen, Anna Lee, Anna Bright, Andre Deascu, Tina Pisnick and Altaf Merchant. You are going to be the judge jury executioner of this one. Tama, Tama, Georgia, Ben, CP, Matt Wright, Lee Whitwell. And Lee Whitwell, Cam, ALW, Anna Bright. Uh, who's your thirties? Andre?

[01:05:11] Andre Deascu, Tina Pisnick, Altaf Merchant. And that was your team? Doesn't matter whose team is whose. I don't remember whose team that was, but I think I'm going to go with that team. I think that team. Yes, let's go. Do this yourself. This is, Zane, you already lost two to one. I don't know how you make these rules. That's a tough one though. That's really tough. Sample size matters, Nico. All right. I'm up two zero and we have another draft that was, I think your idea, wasn't it Zoe?

[01:05:42] Uh, yes. We are going to draft and Zoe's going to draft as well. A team of four people to compete in the Hunger Games. Which team can actually win the Hunger Games? We'll just go one pick at a time. And so, Zoe, since you are the guest, we'll let you draft first. Are we going two guys, two girls? You guys, two girls. Yes. Okay.

[01:06:12] Um, all right. First pick, I'm going Ben Johns. Ooh, okay. Elaborate. He's cerebral. He's cerebral, but he's also got that physical build. And he's just a winner. So, yeah, that's why I think he's going to be like a really solid, you know, doesn't have the best leadership qualities, but we'll make up for that with other picks. Okay. Nico, you want second pick? Yeah, I'll go. All right.

[01:06:36] So I'm going my first pick career tribute, Annalie Waters, definitely from district one. She, to the same point of, of Zoe's, she's a winner. She has been bred to, to compete in the Hunger Games basically her whole life. She has her mother who is going to be on the outside, who's going to be lobbying for gifts and all the other, uh, you know, special favors that come in. Um, she's basically connected to President Snow.

[01:07:04] So I think you get Annalie, you get the family. She never loses by far the best woman on the board. Give me Annalie Waters. Wow. You guys went similar strategy to me. I was going to pick somebody from, uh, from the Capitol district. I was going to go Paris Todd, but when some zig, I'm going to zag. Okay. So yourself again, give me Paris Todd. Interesting choice. Paris simply for the sponsorships, the, all that stuff. Right.

[01:07:33] Or even a Jeannie Bouchard. Right. But instead I'm actually going to go. Give me, give me Christian Alshon. He's the best athlete in the sport. Uh, I think, um, you know, we just need some brute force. I'm going to, I'm going to go the brute brute force team. Give me Christian. I think Christian Alshon is kind of like the, the guy from district one who's like super athletic, but then just does something kind of stupid and then he gets killed.

[01:08:02] I could also see that. I was thinking about Christian on my team. Um, I had him on my list, but then I was like, no, Christian's a Marvel forever. So. Yeah, he is. Uh, is it me again or do you like snake? You're up. You've got Ben. Okay. Um, I want, I want Kate Fahey. She's high on my board. That's, that's some brute force.

[01:08:29] That's some, some killer, killer instincts. Um, yeah, she's going to be hunting people down. Um, and maybe also providing some of those leadership qualities that my top, my top career tribute Ben Johns is maybe a little lighter on. All right. All right. Well, my, my second pick, I can't believe I'm saying this. Give me Leah Jansen. I had her on my list as well.

[01:08:59] Leah is uncontrollable. She is also somebody that can go in, make an alliance and then blow it up. You're going to think that she is your friend. All of a sudden she's going to destroy you guys from the inside. Um, so. You think people in the arena are going to trust Leah? You know what? She is now best friends with Anna Bright and Kate Fahey, your girl. So Kate's going to be like, oh yeah, Leah, come be my friend. I'll defend you.

[01:09:28] She defended Leah in that blow up with Jay so quick to come to her defense. Leah is going to do that. And then all of a sudden, boom, your team's destroyed because Leah is uncontrollable. So give me Leah. You've got Anna Lee on your team already. That shit ain't happening. Anyway, your pick is locked. Um, give me Danny fucking Townsend. I just feel like that girl knows how to start a fire in the woods.

[01:09:54] I feel like she probably spent months on her own in the Outback or at least she acts like she does. I just feel very confident in Danny fucking Townsend out there. All right. Um, give me Anna Bright. Again, she's a badass. Good friends with Kate Fahey too. So they're, they're going to be, be locked in. And I think they're going to come after your girl, Leah, Nico.

[01:10:21] Dude, Leah is definitely going to kill them in the middle of Anna Bright's get ready with me for the Hunger Games video vlog that she's doing. And so, uh, she's toast, but I like the pick Anna Bright. She's got her hands in everything. All right. So I need a guy. Here's the question is, um, does a person have to be a currently on MLP team? Can they be a UPA signed player? Where are we at here? UPA signed players. I want to pick Colin Johns.

[01:10:48] So Colin Johns is my BD, wirus, brains of the situation. He's smarter than Ben Johns. He's a hider. Like you're not going to find him. He's definitely not fighting. He's like a smarter version of Zane, you know? So, you know, you don't, you don't trust it. He's not going into the cornucopia. He is going to figure out a way to cheat the system, uh, of the Hunger Games. So give me Colin Johns. Colin's going to get stung by, bit by a mosquito. Yeah. That was what I was thinking too.

[01:11:19] That's a wild pull for the Hunger Games. Um, anyway, it's your, it's your team. You can draft whoever you want. I can't wait to see. I need brains. I need bronze. I need bronze. All of it. Annalite, Leia and Colin get along. Um, okay. Give me. I'm saving her. Cause I don't think anybody else is picking this person. Give me AJ Kohler. I'm just going brute force on the guy's side. But AJ Kohler.

[01:11:47] I mean, I feel like that man is elusive. Most people have no idea where he is at any given moment. We know that he is probably going to kick anybody ass in a fight and, uh, in professional pickleball. He's a lot smarter than I think people give him credit for when you, when you chat with them. Uh, give me AJ Kohler. I like that pick. All right. My last pick, similar vein to you, Nico. Um, I want John Lucian going. That's my, that my brain behind the operation. Oh wait.

[01:12:17] Are the shock like a goaded at hunger games and LP team. I picked like half their team for my, my hunger games team. Keep Elsie Hendershot out of the arena. She's not allowed in there. That's a primrose Everdeen situation. She's not going in. She's going to win just because of her references alone. All right, Nico, you're up. All right. Um, my final pick, I need to pick a guy. All right.

[01:12:46] Um, I'm going with, I'm signing right now between Hayden and Gabe. I, this is, this is, uh, I can't believe, I wish somebody would have picked one of those two, uh, because I'm having a hard time here. Um, I am going with Gabe. Uh, we're taking Gabe. It's your team. Um, what is that? It's your team. You can pick whatever you want. Is he going to even get into the arena? I feel like he might get locked on his way. The guy's not even have a pulse.

[01:13:16] Like, here's the thing is you, people are going to be afraid in the hunger games. Gabe has no fear. He, I don't even think he knows he's there. Um, so he's going to be my surprise pick. Right. So like nobody hates Gabe. He's chilling. He's having a good time. He can make the alliances. Right. Uh, and you know, he's friends with Ben. So he's already getting, you know, he's going to get in there as well, but I just needed somebody that, like I said, has no pulse. That's Gabe Tardio. Give me him to round up my team. Yeah. Same problem.

[01:13:46] What's he going to do when he can't watch hours and hours of blackjack on his phone? He's going to fall apart. Anyway, Nico, your team is trash. This is really just, I think you should leave the rest of the podcast. Just let me and Zoe debate. But with my last pick, this best steal of the draft, Tina Pisnick. She is like, first off, she's super smart, calm, cool, collected. Like she's got that like Eastern European swag.

[01:14:13] Like, I think that, uh, I think that she, you know, whips the rest of the team into shape. Good leader of that team too. I like my team, Christian, Danny, AJ and Tina. Tina, look, Tina, Tina. Who's your team? Colin, Gabe. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Colin, Gabe, Annalie, uh, and, uh, Annalie's carrying on and off the court. Jeez. Dude, my team's great. Look, Tina. Who's your second girl?

[01:14:43] She's Maya. Leia. Leia. Oh, my God. Look, that team is awesome. Quite the squad. It's going to be fun. It's going to be electric. Zane, Tina Pisnick. She's going to start a competing Hunger Games faction and President Snow is probably just going to vaporize her before it even starts. So Tina Pisnick is Katniss Everdeen in this scenario is what you just said. Um, this is the alternate reality. Does Katniss Everdeen die in the end? So she cheated her system. I don't know if she won. I don't know.

[01:15:11] Um, yes, maybe she's Katniss Everdeen. All right. I think some honorable snubs that we have are, um, Travis Ruttenmeier. Uh, let's see. He's going to get hurt. No, he can't last. Rafa Hewitt. DJ Young for just some enforcement. Marty Emrich. Lacey Schneeman. Crafty. Kawamoto's. Oh, yeah. Those two together. I was just worried if I pick one Kawamoto, somebody else takes the other.

[01:15:40] But Kawamoto's would be a cheat code. Jeannie. Tyson. Jeannie. Zouchard. Oh, I guess sponsorship. She's not even going up, though. Um, Tyra Black, I think would be good. She'd just, like, come down from a tree and kill you. You're dead. You didn't even know what happened. This is true. A silent assassin. All right. Anything else, uh, we have for this one? No. I think that's it. I mean, just, uh, go vote for my team. Zane, I will say, I'm still in protest.

[01:16:10] Uh, I appreciate Zoe's vote for your team. But I want two-one before this. Should we even put Nico's team in the vote? I feel like it's going to be awkward when you get, like, one. It's going to be weird when you guys said, like, you guys are shitting on the team now. But just wait until, like, like last week, my team wins two out of three polls. Were we putting these polls on your Instagram and in Discord? No. No. Zane's Discord. Dane put it on Discord. Discord. The Dink put it on Instagram. I did not do that. So, so we are evenly distributing.

[01:16:40] Which team was mine in the Discord? Neither did I. Hey, but I want to say this. So this is what Zane did. Look. When Zane put it in the Discord. So he didn't put it by age order or by draft order. He front-loaded his team for some reason with, like, Anna Lee Waters, Anna Bright, and Andre Descu. And then he, on mine, he's like, Nico picked, or he didn't say who picked it. He's like, but this team is Matt Wright, Lee Whitwell, and Catherine Parenteau. And then put Ben Johns at the very end. I was like, what the fuck, dude?

[01:17:09] Like, if you put Ben Johns at the very beginning, everybody votes. Somebody even said, I was like, this is, so as soon as I put it on Twitter, with the right order, boom. More votes for me. So. Zoe, will you do us the justice or the honor of saying Pickle Pod? Pickle Pod. She's a natural. Perfect. Perfect.