Targeting Ben Johns ON PURPOSE — And It's Working

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[00:00:29] Dude, last week I basically kind of like laid into Hayden's performance in Columbus and he texted me. And so much respect for this because he texted me and I'll read it word for word. I was like, dude, this text goes hard. Like, can I read this? Good post. I needed some fire. I will show you ball this week.

[00:00:57] Welcome back to the pickle pod. Obviously this week we had Major League Pickleball over in St. Louis. So we'll cover all things that we're going to debrief the all MLP vibes beat down that I put on Nico the Lefty as well as come up with a brand new draft for that. And we're also going to discuss Nico's weekend and my weekend because we both had huge weekends in our own way. So Nico, where do you want to start?

[00:01:26] Well, I guess we'll start we'll start with my weekend. All right. So right. As you know, I am all about you, Nico. It's always about Nico. We could have seen that one coming a mile away. Oh, my God. Of course. So as as host here, my weekend, super important. I, as you can tell, I am not in my traditional studio in my parents basement.

[00:01:47] I am actually in Utah right now. So I had a long weekend, which I think is kind of still happening. So I'm here in Utah for my daughter's orientation for college. Yes, I started having kids when I was 12. Um, no, but so she is, she's going to college at University of Utah. So I'm here right now. But I got here directly last night from Florida, where I was at the nerdy tourney.

[00:02:11] It's a tournament that is put on by bread and butter. As opposed to you who don't know or who have been living under a rock, bread and butter, one of the pickleball paddle companies that created a paddle of the year for like all of the nerds. So we would say bread and butter now owned by Selkirk, uh, run by Doug, Doug, basically king of the nerds invites all of his nerd minions to Florida, to Vero beach where their headquarters are, where we have like a nerd weekend.

[00:02:39] And it was absolutely that it was wild. Zane one, I will say you would have fit in perfectly to this event. Like, you know, former Deloitte loves to plan, you know, probably irons is underwear kind of guy, uh, with a group of his own. Uh, yeah, you know, you know, so like who all was there? Who are the biggest names that were there? Would you say?

[00:03:08] The biggest names. All right. So we had the Nico, the lefty. That's right. Of course. Um, so we had the big, I think they're like the big three and power reviewers. You had Chris Olsen, which is pickleball studio. You have John Q and Braden Unseeker, who is pickleball effect. Um, but you had everybody, like pretty much everybody. You had Matt's pickleball, uh, a guy who I've never seen. I actually still don't understand how he creates so much content around pickleball paddles. Matt.

[00:03:37] There's, uh, Matt Hoffman. Uh, I forget what his name is on Instagram. They got Matt K pickleball, a lot of mats. You had pickleball pursuit, uh, pickleball blast, uh, whiskey dink farmer lanky. Like if you have gone down this list, like if you know all these people, uh, you guys need to like touch grass and stop listening to all these podcasts, but everybody was there.

[00:03:59] So Nico, how'd they get, how'd they get everybody to go? Did they like pay for flights and stuff? Like how did that work? Yep. They, so, okay. Yeah. So, uh, you know, as you guys know, bread and butter recently sold to sell Kirk. They are flush with cash. Uh, but this is the second time they've done this. So basically they invite everybody. Uh, they rented out like two like boutique style hotels on the, on the beach that are just right next to each other. The hotels pay for. And then Doug strategically said, everybody gets just a check for $420.

[00:04:28] $420. Why 420? You can, you can decide why. Who knows? Yeah. I mean, if it was Zane running this tournament, he would have definitely given everybody a check for $69. Um, yeah. 420, 69. So yeah. So, and then basically, you know, everything once you're there is like all inclusive. So we like ate gator, we ate like a roasted pig, like every, you know, so I spent like five bucks on this entire experience, but it was totally worth it.

[00:04:57] So it honestly, it's something. No wonder the paddle reviewers love bread and butter. Exactly. Somebody asked me that like they're going through with a camera. I was like, why do you think they run this tournament? I was like, well, well, you know, it's like, this definitely doesn't hurt Doug. Like, so, uh, no, there's definitely. And the nice thing is like, so Doug was there also, um, Rob Barnes from Selkirk was there and some other Selkirk guys as well, which was great to see.

[00:05:25] Like if you think of South Selkirk, I think everybody thinks is like this like kind of stuffy corporate corporation, which as a stuffy and corporate as you can be in pickleball. But anyway, they're there letting loose. There's a dunk tank and everything. But in the end, your nemesis, Chris Olsen took everybody down, won the nerdy tourney championship. Can you believe it? What's your reaction? So not only is he the biggest nerd, he's somehow also the best at pickleball of the nerds.

[00:05:55] You know, he's definitely not the best at pickleball of the nerds. He is one of the better pickleball players, but the way the tournament works is there are two pools divided by duper, an upper half duper pool and a lower half duper pool. And they pick at random teammates. So while Chris, I would say is no slouch, right? No three, five, but still on the road to five Oh perpetually forever.

[00:06:19] But I think he was partnered with a guy that probably was almost as good as him. Right. So he was with Lewis from pickleball pursuit, uh, who's probably like a four, three. Right. And some people are partnered with three, five players, you know, so basically how much can you carry the person, you know, it's Anna Lee and Jeannie Bouchard style.

[00:06:38] So he, they won his partner. I would say almost carried him, but they did get the belt, won the title. Um, and you know, he survived credit to Chris because before the tournament, Doug shows up with a wad of cash and he says $50 for anybody who bags Chris Olsen throughout the entire term. Nice. No bags. All right. I'm liking Doug. I'm liking Doug. Not even one. How do you not?

[00:07:07] I didn't get a chance. I didn't get to play him. So, uh, I lost my first round match. They went straight to the toilet bowl and then we won 11 zero to exit the toilet bowl. So I was chewing out. My tournament was over, but you know, Hey, I got something to aspire to next year. I'm going to be training harder. Yeah, that, that was, uh, quite a wild experience.

[00:07:30] Interesting. Yeah. No wonder, no wonder the reviewers love, uh, love bread and butter so much. It sounds like kind of a pretty fun, fun weekend. So are you just like the, the king of the nerds over there or, or what? No, the king of the nerds for sure. And even more so. So Robert Slutsky was there. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's a legend.

[00:07:49] Who is the most interesting man in pickleball for sure. I won. I was thinking, how is this guy not on an, on an MLP team? I was thinking we've had arguments before about who is the most athletic, who would win in a UFC fight. I think that guy pretty much wins almost any athletic competition.

[00:08:07] There is like, he is built best beard, like hairiest back, like better hair than me. You say hairiest back. Yeah. Absolutely. I actually don't know if his back is hairy, but it looks like it would be.

[00:08:21] It's hot enough, dude. The guy is all hair, all muscle. It's probably the smartest guy that was there too. So Robert Slutsky, I'm done with the glazing, but, uh, he played the tournament as well, uh, with Doug's wife, I believe, and played right-handed and for the most part of the entire weekend, a right-handed Robert Slutsky can smoke all of us. Huh? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Slutsky is a legend. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely a legend.

[00:08:49] You know, we should have him on the podcast at some point. Yes. We should have him on the pod. We should have him on an MLP team. I think pickleball needs more Robert Slutsky. And if it's so funny, I posted a video of him playing. We were like a match point playing against him. And he did, I think two, three sixties hit the ball behind his back, hit the ball between his legs twice, did like a no look, whatever, like basically embarrassing us, you know, four or five to five Oh players. But I posted it.

[00:09:14] And there's like 75% of my audience and like probably the pickleball world. It's like, who is this guy? And then everybody that knows him is like, this guy is a fucking legend. We need more Slutsky. And so I think we need to introduce him to the pickle pot at some point for sure. I agree. I concur. Uh, Nico text that man.

[00:09:37] I will. I will. Um, you know what? We need to get him in the pro pickleball talk discord too. My man's a discord legend from what I understand. And we got like, we got Mari in there. We got Blaine in there. Like, yeah, we got to get, uh, we got to get, we got Zoe in there too. We got to get the Slutsky in there. We got to invite these people.

[00:09:56] I agree. I agree. Uh, pro pickleball talk discord to the moon. A bunch of you guys joined after, after last week's, we had a good, good time talking about the, uh, about everything that went down in, in, uh, St. Louis this week already popping off in the chat about Austin. We put our results of our vibes bracket in there. Actually, we put, we put the poll from our vibes bracket in there and Nico pro pickleball talk discord.

[00:10:26] They know ball and they know that you don't know ball because that was a beat down of a poll. What were you thinking? What was going into your head? Drafting that team from last week. You know, this was like one of my more embarrassing moments of my pickleball career. Like maybe the most embarrassing I went through.

[00:10:43] And like, you have those experiences when you're like, what the just happened? Like what? Like, I think I short circuited. I don't know. I knew the draft was coming. I didn't prepare for it. Um, I, it was obvious. I don't, I don't know. Like I literally, I think I blacked out that entire like 10 minutes of the, of the segment. I'm thinking like, how did I miss Blaine? How did I miss some of these other people?

[00:11:05] And I just came up with the first thing that came to mind. Like there's this story. I always make fun of my daughter for, because like when she was a freshman in high school, they asked her, they were like, um, they're like, Oh, Hey, you know, introduce yourself. And then it's like, Oh, and what do you want to do when you grow up? And she short circuited in that moment. She's like, ah, mechanic. And she, and I was like, what the fuck? What? I was like, I'm a mechanic. Like since when? Like, what do you want to be? She's like, I don't know. I just said the first thing that came to my head.

[00:11:34] Blaine Hovignier, I, I know I owe you an apology, but that guy took it personally. My goodness. Like I have got a text from him every day, multiple times a day and, and, uh, comments on every single one of, of my posts that I've made since then, uh, talking about this draft and, uh, rightfully so. Yeah. Blaine fell to the fourth round in that one. So if you guys missed last week's pickle pod episode, we did a fun segment where we drafted an MLP team based only on vibes. Uh, I,

[00:12:03] we, we went back and forth. Nico got the, or I got the first pick. Nico got the next two. I got the next two. I got the next two. We got six players. My team ended up being Danny Townsend, Elise Jones. I drafted myself, Blaine Hovignier, Rachel Rohrabacher, and CJ Klinger. Undefeated vibes team. 82 and 0 for sure. Do you get that reference? You're a goat. Uh, team Nico, what he went one with Grayson Golden.

[00:12:33] He took Zoe wheel second, which was a, which was a great pick. She was on my draft board, Georgia Johnson. Good pick. Then he went Federico, Kate and Travis. And yeah, the poll showed 80, 24. 80, 20. Now Nico, that's tough. Are you ready for a rebound this week or an attempted rebound? First off, I think you're going to get your ass kicked again, but are you ready for this week?

[00:13:00] I'm ready for this. There is no, there's no chance. I get my ass kicked this week. None. Yeah. Okay. You actually came prepared. So this week we're going to draft the perfect MLP team, but you have to have all of the different ages represented. You have to have 15 and under teens, twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties. Nico, you want the first pick or the next two picks? Uh, I'm going to take the next two picks because I'm scared.

[00:13:30] Okay. Uh, for the, for the teens, give me Annalie Waters, number one overall. Okay. I figured you'd go there. The thing is, I know you had to protect this spot. So I had the second and third pick. If you don't pick Annalie or Ben Johns, I take Annalie and Ben Johns and the turn, the draft is already over.

[00:13:50] So I'm taken in the twenties. I'm taking Ben Johns and I want Tama Shima Bukuru or Shima Bukuru, however you pronounce his last name. I always a short circuit there, but give me Tama in the under 16 draft.

[00:14:15] Ooh. Okay. That's a good one. Okay. I'm going to go. I'm going to go Cam Chafin really good weekend this weekend in, uh, in St. Louis for, for him playing good ball and then give me Tina Piznik in the forties on the lady side. You're cooked.

[00:14:41] That's a good one. That's a good one. Now you made the fatal flaw already in this draft and what you did. Okay. You have to take one person from each age group, right? So the age group under 16 is, is protected. I can't take anybody else. And you took Cam. Can you could have taken Cam with the last pick in your draft and you took him with the second pick.

[00:15:09] So I think, I think at this point, if I don't win, it's going to be a miracle for you. Um, that's true. I did kind of fuck that. Didn't I? Yes. All right. Wow. Nico came to play today, but I'm still liking my chances. I was like Piznik. That's a good poll. Not a deep crowd in the 40 pluses.

[00:15:29] There's not, there's not. Tina was definitely number one on my draft board when it came to the 40 plus. So right now I am trying to think who I need between. Catherine Parenteau and. Jade Kawamoto in my thirties.

[00:15:55] Let's see. Give me. Let's. Okay. So I have Ben Tama. Okay. Um, yeah, I'm going to go with Catherine Parenteau. Look, I think that both of the Kalamotos are better doubles players, but I need the dream breaker experience from Catherine Parenteau. Give me Catherine. She's going to wipe the floor with Tina. No problem.

[00:16:23] With the next pick. I am going to take. Give me Lee Whitwell. Okay. That's a good poll. So 50 senior, senior pro, anybody senior pro I'm taking Lee Whitwell. Ah, I was, I had a Lee Whitwell pretty high on my list. Okay. And that's fine. That's vibes draft too, right there. We, we could have put her on a vibes draft pick that she was a, she was there.

[00:16:51] All right. Well, for me, give me Anna Bright in the twenties and Andre De Escu in the thirties. Okay. I can hear the sadness in your voice from how bad you're getting your ass kicked in this draft right now. Um, bro. He wasn't even excited to make those picks. I am excited to make those picks. I'm visibly excited. I can't see lower the camera. The desk, the desk is coming up.

[00:17:21] Guys, we're filming this at 724 central time. It is 524 where Nico is and we're making boner jokes out here. The producers are going to have a fun time with this. Okay. So I'm taking, so I got two picks left. Uh, I have my spot in the forties and my spot in the 16 to 20 range. I need one male, one female in the forties. Give me Matt, right?

[00:17:51] Yeah. Uh, the best male player in the 40, the best player in the forties. And then 16 to 19. Give me Georgia Johnson. Okay. And then I've got the, the last pick and I'm fired up about it. Cause this player rounds out my roster perfectly. Altaf fucking merchant. You are cooked. You are absolutely cooked. Altaf for my 50 plus pick. And so that's a good pick.

[00:18:22] He's not even the best player that you could have picked, but it's definitely the best player you could have picked. If that makes any sense. That's vibes. No, it doesn't. But he's the, you, you were right when you said he's the best player I could have picked. You could have, you had, you had Steve Deacon on the board. You could have taken him. He's wiping the floor with Altaf, but I know you got a soft spot there. Stop. Stop. Grow up, Nico. Grow up. Okay.

[00:18:45] So we've got, my team is Annalie Waters, Cam Chafin, Tina Pisnick, Anna Bright, Andre Deyescu, and Altaf Merchant. Nico's team is Ben Johns, Catherine Parenteau, Lee Whitwell. Matt Wright, and Georgia Johnson. Guys, join the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord. And Tom, I'm sorry. Join the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord. Let us know whose team you think is better. We're going to have another poll on that. It's obviously my team.

[00:19:15] Again, Nico thinks he knows ball. It's not. He doesn't know ball. And also, let us know what other random nonsense MLP drafts you want to hear from us. Because, as you can probably tell, we're having a great time with these. I think these are a lot of fun. So let us know which ones you want to see next. After this week, we're definitely going to be one and one. So the next week is going to, the week after this is going to be super important. Like, Zane thought he could sleepwalk his way through this draft.

[00:19:44] And he did that by selecting Cam Chafin with his second pick overall. Now he knows. I mean business. I'm not saying that it's a no-brainer that I won. But just use your brain. And you'll know that I won. Thank you, everybody, for voting for me. And I appreciate it. It's time for Zane to be put in his place. You know what? We need to do season-long standings on this, too. We do. We do. Agree. Okay. Well, I'll put that in the Discord chat. And guys...

[00:20:11] If I win any week, the thing is, Zane, you produce so much content, have a billion, gazillion followers. You are the most influential man in pickleball. So if there's any week that I even come close, let alone beat you in a head-to-head poll, it almost should be worth two. But it's going to happen this week. See, but here's the thing. I've trained my audience, and I selected my audience to be people who just know ball. They'll tell me if I'm wrong, okay? They will. Trust me.

[00:20:39] What I was saying, Hayden has the highest ceiling. Even though I was still logical about that, they let me know. They let me know about it. So my audience is not afraid to vote against me. Then again, probably neither is yours. We just got no loyalty over here. No, I think actually you're right. I think our audiences both would prefer that we lose. There's extreme schadenfreude or whatever you pronounce that word against both of us by both of our audiences.

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[00:22:00] That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash the dink. ZocDoc dot com slash the dink. Thank you, ZocDoc, for sponsoring this message. And I need this because honestly, I don't know anything about healthcare. I need their help. I'm checking out ZocDoc as well. Okay. Zane, I was going to ask you about your weekend, but before I forget, I do have one fun story that I just want to mention from the nerd attorney.

[00:22:30] Speaking of audience, right? One of the participants there comes up to me at dinner and he goes, Hey, Nico, my wife is like your biggest fan. She's like, Oh, make sure you get a picture with Nico, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so we're at dinner. He's like, I'm going to surprise her. And he's like, give me a second. And then he goes and he FaceTimes his wife and she answered the phone. She's like, hi.

[00:22:59] And you kind of like see like the top of her head. Right. And he's like, surprise. Look what I got. And then he turns the phone to me and I'm like, Hey, it's Nico. And then I just hear her yell his name and goes, I'm on the fucking toilet. I'm in the bathroom. I was like, Oh shit. Literally. I just like have so much embarrassment. I'm just like, hi. She's just like, what the fuck is happening? Like, so, uh, I guess, you know,

[00:23:28] Who takes up a FaceTime on the toilet though? Hold on. Like you gotta, you gotta take a step back on that. Like who's, who'd be FaceTiming and shitting at the same time? You know, I think when you're married, you bet there's like the boundaries go like this. You know what I mean? So you're married and maybe you don't have, this hasn't happened at all. Maybe they weren't shitting. I don't know. But, uh, definitely in the bathroom. Uh, uh, yeah. I mean, like, look, here's the thing. I would be lying if I haven't taken phone calls while also taking a dookie.

[00:23:56] However, I have never FaceTimed while also pooping or, or peeing for that matter. You know, there's a first for everything. You've, how long have you been married now? One year, year and a half, two years. We've been married two years, but we've been together for 13. That's true. Once you have a kid and you have seen it all, then maybe that's when that happens. I don't know. But, uh, yeah. So that was, that was the most awkward fan interaction I've ever had. Uh, but also the greatest.

[00:24:25] And I immediately, I was like, it's, it's funny how my brain works. I was just like, this is, I'm sorry. This is so embarrassing, but also this is going on the pod. I'm God. I can't, my hands are tied. Like you're going to hear about it. I will, I will, I will admit anybody's name, but, uh, uh, it was Chris Olsen's wife. No, I'm just kidding. It was not Chris Olsen's wife. I'm just kidding. Uh, but yeah, so that was, that was my funny experience. Anyway, how was, uh, how was your, your goaded weekend? What did you do? So my weekend was honestly, uh, not bad.

[00:24:54] Played some Padel. Uh, I've been playing a little bit of Padel. Funny enough, uh, Paddle Tech makes Padel paddles now and they're pretty good. I mean, like, I don't know. I'm obviously not a pro or anything, but I'm like, these are way better than the crappy ones that you get when you just demo paddles. Um, probably not selling Padel Tech too hard, but anyway, I liked them. Played some Padel. Uh, really? I deep cleaned the house. Jenny was on a bachelorette trip.

[00:25:18] So I, uh, I cleaned the house, did my recap video, biked around Austin a little bit. Fun, chill weekend. Wow. Yeah. One of the rare weekends I have at home coming up, I'm home like three days over the next, uh, like month and a half craziness. Uh, so it was nice, uh, nice kind of chill weekend with the dogs. Nice. You watch a lot of MLP then? Um, I did watch a good amount.

[00:25:46] I watched, I definitely watched a large amount on, uh, on Sunday and I tried to get as much of the, the important matches. Like realistically, you kind of know there's, it seems to me that there's a pattern of like, all right, there's one really important pool play match each day. Uh, I'm sorry. Or, or each like pool play. And so that was obviously, I think Brooklyn pickleball team versus the mad drops.

[00:26:12] I think everything else was a little bit of a, of a shoe in, uh, other than that. So anyway, you probably didn't get a chance to watch too much MLP, but any, uh, any thoughts from, from the weekend overall? Yeah. So for me, um, all right. So everybody was asking, is this like a must win for the St. Louis shock? Which I don't think it was because they're shoe ins for the playoffs. They're going to get a buy. Uh, I think they're fine.

[00:26:38] Um, but you know, I was taught, you know, I was talking to Gabe before the tournament. He's like, I don't know what's happening to us. He's like, maybe we get nervous. I don't know. Like he, like he was confused. Like why, why are we losing? Why do we suck? You know? Uh, he's like, Ross is going to give us the belt if we don't win this time. And, um, they didn't get the belt. They, they, they got the championship belt. They destroyed everybody. So I think my thoughts were false alarm on any kind of shock panic. Uh, they absolutely demolished the mad drops.

[00:27:06] I think the mad drop scored nine total points in three games, which is utter destruction. Ben Johns, who was on a tear, lost 11, three. It kind of looked like the reverse experience of last weekend when the fives just demolished the shock. Uh, right. So no, I think, uh, no more panic for St. Louis. I think there is a clear, for me, what I realized is there is a clear top three in my opinion. And then there is a clear four and five.

[00:27:35] And then there's everybody else who I think at this point, barring a trade don't matter. I don't know. To your point, you said there's one important pool play match every weekend. And it's between those five teams, which is. Yeah. But there's, I mean, there's like interesting ones, right? There's like shock versus Palm beach, but I'm sorry. There's like the squeeze versus Palm beach, but neither of those are like competitive or, or at least championship competitive. Exactly.

[00:28:02] And like the more that you are like obsessed with MLP, the more that you care about some of these other matchups. Like I'm watching our guy, Blaine Hovignier play against his former team that traded him and disregarded him on the side of the road, the, uh, the hard eights. So you watch, you know, those teams and you're like, all right, is there a revenge matchup or whatnot? Or when you're playing against the fives, you know, you're most likely going to get your asses handed to you, but that's fun to watch. Um, but outside of the top five, uh, you know, I think that there's a huge drop off.

[00:28:32] So do you think Zane, any other team outside of shock? Uh, mad? No, I don't need to hear the rest of the question. Do you even think one of those teams and another one of those teams, like the Royals or the squeeze could compete with a trade? Like, is there a trade out there that could make a sixth team? I don't know. I mean, like aside for like, yeah, maybe you trade for Ben Johns or Anna Lee, but like a realistic trade. No, there's no realistic trade.

[00:29:01] And I would guess no top, no team outside of the top five beats a team like inside the top five. No. Yeah. I don't think that's, that's happening with the exception of maybe Brooklyn's got more injury problems. Yeah. Uh, Riley Newman had to be out. Uh, Chris Hayworth stepped in for him and stepped in. Well, they finished third and they beat the Orlando squeeze who were also playing good ball, dude.

[00:29:26] Uh, so last week I basically kind of like laid into Hayden's performance in, uh, in Columbus because Hayden's performance was bad in Columbus and he texted me and like, first off, so much respect for this because he texted me and I'll, I'll read it word for word. He's, I was like, dude, this, this text goes hard. Like, can I read this and like post about it? Cause I'm like, I'm not going to post stuff that's not out there. And he's like, yeah.

[00:29:54] Uh, so he said all good, but he said, I, I put out a YouTube video. Like is Hayden Patrick when holding back the St. Louis shock? Like obviously, you know, maybe a little bit clickbaity, right? Like I explained that in a little bit more nuance, but he texts me good post. I needed some fucking fire. I will show you fucking ball this week. And I'm like, damn, my guy didn't make excuses. He was not butthurt about it. He was like, yeah, you know what?

[00:30:23] You're Zane was, was right about it. Like I was bad. And he showed up this week, went 10 and O brought it to Ben Johns in men's doubles. I had real clear stats. Are you familiar with real close stats? Of course, dude. First off, Ben is a goat. He ran the stats on this because I'm watching this finals, this men's doubles match. I'm like, they not only are they not attempting to avoid Ben Johns, it looked like they were

[00:30:53] actually trying to target Ben Johns in that men's doubles match. And the numbers supported it. Ben hit 73% of shots. Like, yes, he's playing a good amount of the court, but that's shots, right? Right. And Max has to hit the serve. He has to hit the return. And at the kitchen, it looked like they were literally hitting like 90% of the balls at or to Ben and they beat them 11 to three. Like, which was absolutely nuts.

[00:31:22] And anyway, I texted Hayden afterwards. I was like, dude, you, you showed up this week. This is exactly what you, what you needed. And he was like, yeah, man. He said, yo, you actually lit a fire under my ass. I needed it. I was like, dude, this guy's a legend. Like, I respect that so much. Like, look, I throw out criticisms sometimes. Like, I don't think any of them are ever unreasonable because I don't say stuff that I wouldn't say to the person in conversation.

[00:31:50] Like, I'm not just talking shit, right? And so Hayden took that like a freaking man and dealt with it. Unlike somebody else that I, you know, had some criticisms of that called me up crying. So, um, yeah, very different, uh, different worlds. Yeah. And I think that that kind of attitude is why Hayden is going to be great for some time.

[00:32:17] You know, people call him like a whiny baby all over Facebook, but he's not, he knows when he sucks, you know? And I think that's the good thing about Hayden and Gabe is like, they know when they F up. Um, they know that when they need to be better. Uh, I didn't get the same text from Gabe when I texted him. His, his exact quote was, we're going to fuck this weekend. And, uh, they did. Is that a language barrier? Or like, is he saying like, like, let's diagnose that tag.

[00:32:44] Like, is it, we're going to like you and Gabe are going to fuck as the St. Louis shock team all going to fuck? Like what we are going to fuck the other people. We will fuck. We will fuck is what it specifically says. Um, so, and, uh, if you understand, uh, you understand if you know ball, they did, uh, all weekend. Um, they got, they got, uh, they got the W. Um, they played great.

[00:33:13] And, and, uh, you know, to your point, we talked about maybe the exact opposite last week. And I want to get your take. Cause I actually, I think that their strategy against Ben is the way that you beat Ben. Like, I think it's the exact opposite of how you beat Anna Lee. And that is Anna Lee. You got to put her on an Island and, and, uh, make her press Ben. I feel like is better when he's trying to move, covering all the court, um, looking for any kind of mistake that you make.

[00:33:41] But if you are consciously targeting him and I think the person that does this better than anybody is Anna Lee. So whenever she plays Ben in mixed, it seems like she wants to beat Ben directly. You've seen Georgia Johnson have, have success like that. Is that the way to beat Ben Johnson? A hundred percent. Like just let's broaden this out. Like when a guy is playing so big like that, funny enough, I just put this YouTube video out on my channel, like a week and a half ago, how to beat poachers.

[00:34:10] And Ben is proving this point like as the best poacher possible, right? He's playing the entire court. Yeah. It's, it's called shut down aggressive pickleball players. Basically you have to make them play suboptimally and like go behind them a good amount and keep them honest. I mean, there's a bunch of different things that I, I don't know, like 10 or 12 different things there, but I mean, first off, it's awesome to actually see this from Ben.

[00:34:38] And then second, they did a really, really good job of exploiting Ben's overextension. That's what you, you have to, you can't just play passive. Like they in the post-match interview, they kind of said like, Hey, look, we weren't expecting that out of Ben in, uh, in Dallas. Like we were prepared this time and yeah, they did a great job keeping him honest. They caused some confusion with certain balls where Jade didn't know she's all the way off the court. She didn't know whether she's taking it or not.

[00:35:07] Like, yeah, it was, it was an impressive performance on Ben redlining and playing quite well. I mean, like some of the balls that Ben was coming over and taking with a forehand all the way over and then pulling them back towards Anna bright, super hard and heavy or just like impressive shots, but they handled it. Yeah. And then, and he does that shot better than anybody. I'd never see anybody kind of like hook that ball and just bring it back aggressively cross court. It, it's, it was great.

[00:35:36] And I think that the, that's the, the, what you want from, from these title contending teams is I think these teams are all so good that maybe throughout the year they're going to beat each other up. But the question is who learns from it? Who figures out what is the right way to play? Who watches enough of the transitions on pickleball Zane's YouTube videos and figures out how to win. Cause this is, this, this is the biggest, uh, you know, self-promotion I've ever seen.

[00:36:03] Uh, because Zane has this out of beat poachers and all of a sudden get, uh, Hayden is texting, texting Zane. Um, is this coincidence? I don't know. Texting Zane, probably watching Zane's videos and now, um, they're crushing poachers. So. A loyal subscriber. No. Uh, yeah. I mean, the timing couldn't have been better though on that. Cause they did, they implemented all the, a bunch of the different things that I mentioned in that video. Guys, this is not a shameless ad plug. This is for you. All right.

[00:36:31] So Midwest racket sports and the dink are partnering up together. Anybody, but Zane to give a $500 giveaway to Midwest racket sports. Right. Uh, so, uh, if you enter one lucky person is going to get a shopping spree of their choice and three other people are going to get a paddle of their choice. Now, my question Zane is what, what would you do with a $500 shopping spree to Midwest racket sports?

[00:36:59] You could get paddles, shoes, bags, like what do you need? Dang. I could have used that back in my tennis days. I always shopped at Midwest sports, uh, Midwest rackets now, uh, like back in the day for, for all my tennis shoes, tennis gear. Cool to see them in, in pickleball now. So obviously, uh, if I'm, if I've got 500 bucks, I'm going my new paddle tech honey foam paddles. They're crushing it. And these new square shoes. There are four.

[00:37:28] This is kind of hard. I'm trying to. Yeah, there we go. Four. There's only three up there. Four different colors of the new squares and they're pretty, they're pretty awesome. But, uh, yeah, I'm getting me some, some paddle tech stuff and some square stuff. You probably could have seen that. Probably could have seen it. I was going to say, I, since I am a free agent here, I'm just going for whatever the hardest hitting paddle I can possibly find is. Um, so give me that. Uh, I'm going to blast the hole through people's chest. Um, that's, that is what it is. Uh, maybe shoes with a six month warranty.

[00:37:57] If you know, I love a six month warranty, but if you six month warranty, if, if you are for those four shoes, this is why is this so hard to do backwards? It's terrible. Uh, it's actually really not that hard, but, uh, good job. So if you're interested in basically free money, guaranteed, well, it's not guaranteed, but if you're interested in free money, you can head over to giveaway.thedinkpickleball.com. Contest ends June 10th. So make sure you enter.

[00:38:24] And then when you do win tag Zane, tag me, let me know what you bought and we'll let you know if it was a good decision or not. I think there's no wrong answers at Midwest racket sports. One thing to talk about though, is this weekend I kept hearing them talk about like, look at the effort Ben John is giving Ben John is giving full effort. Like how can we never hear that about anybody else? Like why, why are we talking about Ben John's giving full effort? Like, yes, first off, let's acknowledge that that's fucking awesome.

[00:38:53] Like an engaged Ben in MLP is a very, very good thing. They lost 11 to five or whatever it was in that mixed match, but it was fricking entertaining. But can we stop glazing him for trying? Like, is the bar so low? Like, Hey, you tanked last year. Now you're trying good. Like, let's, can we stop talking about Ben's effort level? Like that should be the trying should be kind of like the, uh, the minimum. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:39:23] It's like when basically every, every dad ever gets credit for things that their, their wife and the mom does on a regular basis. Like anytime I go to the grocery store with like my daughter, who's one people will be like, Oh, this is so nice of you. Look at you. Good dad. And my wife is just like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like all he's doing is going to the grocery store to pick up dinner that I'm then going to make myself. Like stop glazing him for just being your bare minimum dad. This happens to moms all the time.

[00:39:52] And I feel like Ben is the dad of MLP where he has, he historically has put no effort that now that he is doing what everybody else is doing, he is, uh, getting glazed. So I think it'll wear off, uh, once he actually continues to put the effort in if he does. But that's the biggest question is like Ben, I think has to feel like he can win if he's going to put this effort in. And after last week's beat down, does he still feel that way? Is he going to come out with more effort, better strategy?

[00:40:22] Are they going to win or like how long can it sustain? So I don't know. Maybe we have to continue to glaze his effort to get the best. And I think I am okay with some Ben glazing as long as we continue to see the same level of Ben. For sure. If that's what it takes, let's do it. But like, uh, like it shouldn't, shouldn't take that nor should it be like everybody else should get the, get, uh, all the other 48 or whatever the hell there's like 120 players.

[00:40:50] Basically everybody else except for like a majority of the Atlanta bouncers. Um, that's true. Fair enough. That who, who had a tough time, uh, you know, and I'm always rooting for them, but some of them seem a little disinterested. So I've been underperforming, but yeah, I, I agree. We'll see what he can do. See if he can, can, um, can sustain. But, uh, I think that team also still has now they have some unanswered questions. I never put them at number one in my power rankings. And I think I am vindicated.

[00:41:17] Finally, I got, I got roasted after the first week when I put the shock as my number one team power rankings. And I think, uh, multiple people said, do you even know how power rankings work? This is not just a quick power rankings. What do you say? I want to hit. Yes, let's do it. All right. So let's go, go. Let's go in order. Uh, we'll go, well, let's go pretty quickly unless we disagree on something like this. Number one, I've got the shock. I got the shock too. Uh, I think, I just think that they control their own destiny. Should we tier?

[00:41:48] Why don't we sort of tier, tier and power rankings? Okay. I like this. I like this. Okay. So S tier, I've got the shock and the fives. I think the shock control their own destiny. So that's why I put them as, as number one. But like, again, if they don't bring this level, they lose again. Yeah. Shock is clear. Number one. I actually think the argument can be made that shock have three of the best five players

[00:42:17] in, in the world on the same team. So, um, so yeah, if they lose, that's their fault. So, and then I said slightly behind them, but still in S tier finals, favorite has to be the fives. Yeah. All right. The next three, I've got eight here. I've got, um, Columbus at number three, Mad Drops at number four and Brooklyn at number five in the eight here. Okay.

[00:42:43] So for me, the Mad Drops biggest problem is none of their matches. They don't have any match. That's really a lock, right? The ladies are the worst of the top five. Now I'm not saying there's a bad team, but like against the top five teams, I think that they're the weakest of the top five. Ben and Max might be one of the weaker men's doubles teams. Now, a lot of this is contingent on Andre and CJ meshing the way that they did last year

[00:43:13] and the way that they have previously. And then they're too mixed. Ben and Jade win most of the time, but not necessarily against an Andre in Paris or an Annalie in no way. Like they might be the third or fourth best team in that top five. Right. So like I just put them at number four because they have zero automatic wins. Okay. That's I, I, I agree with your logic. I still put the Mad Drops at three and I put Columbus at four.

[00:43:42] I think Columbus has had some question marks like CJ and Andre have been underperforming all year. Paris and Danny have to work things out to figure out how to be kind of a cohesive women's team. I think CJ and Danny are going to do really well. And I think with the question marks that are around the sliders, just give me the best player in that series, which would be a Ben Johns. So that's why I think I put Ben Johns and them at three. But I also agree.

[00:44:09] I would put the Brooklyn pickleball team at five. But I, I, it wouldn't shock me if they won the whole thing. Like that's, that's where I'm at with them. Like, because you get them to a dream breaker and then, uh, it's tough. So. Right. Yeah, definitely. Great dream breaker team. You got Christian, you got Chris Hayworth, you've got Jackie Kaomoto and you've got Rachel Warbacher, neither of whom are playing singles, but are very good singles players.

[00:44:38] And then pair that with two top fives. So I'd say that's the A tier. In B tier, I've got three more teams kind of in their own sort of B tier. I've got Dallas, which is actually, you know, we've only had one tournament from them. They're actually still pretty good. You got Brooke, Tyra, J-Dub and Augie. Uh, you've got the squeeze who I might not have put in this B tier before they're pretty strong performance. Yeah. And then I've got Palm beach.

[00:45:05] So I've got the, I've got that six, seven, eight, and I've got those three teams in the, in the B tier. Okay. Okay. This is, I think where we make, uh, probably the biggest, like we have biggest different disagreement is one is I would put Dallas in B tier, but I'm putting them at the bottom of B tier. The team that I'm actually going to put. So I actually, I had the ranchers at six. I'm going to bump them down because I think the squeeze did really well this weekend. I'm, I'm impressed. I'm surprised.

[00:45:34] Like I think Federico is another player that has kind of mailed it in sometimes in a MLP matches. Like if he can't win, he kind of just goes, but they're looking good. I would put the ranchers with, with Nico, the righty, um, as the number seven team. Then I would go, I think you can flip flop Dallas and you can flip flop, um, Palm beach. I think that Palm beach might have the more overall talented team.

[00:46:01] They have definitely the, you know, they're, they don't have really a weak spot, but the vibes are off for me, which is surprising on a Tyson team. Uh, so I would put Palm beach and, um, I think I would put Dallas and then Palm beach, but I'm surprised you don't have the ranchers in B tier. You got Eric. I've got them though. That's a, that's a solid men's team. Solid. And that's also, I think a really solid two guys to play mixed. True. But I think their ladies are the problem, right?

[00:46:31] Like laying in and Leah, I don't think are, are competitive in that, in that, like in that range compared to some of those, those other teams. Like I'll be, I'll be proven wrong. Sure. But like, I think that those other two teams are a little bit stronger. I also, you know, we don't, haven't seen any of Nico on the right. And so I've got to assume Nico on the right is a downgrade from Dylan on the right, at least in the short term. And this season is over in like six weeks.

[00:47:00] So like, but I think it's an immediate upgrade in mixed. I think it's an upgrade in mixed immediately. Nico and mixed. Fair. So. And singles probably, I would assume. So anyway, I had. I don't think Nico's actually that great in singles. I think it's probably. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't play that much, but he's, he'd be good at singles. He's got good ground strokes and he's athletic. Fantastic. I've got C tier next, which is Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Texas, and Utah. I didn't order any of those. Like.

[00:47:30] Yeah. I just didn't. I think that that's kind of a, the, the, to me, those are the last, those are the five teams looking at the last four playoff spots. Okay. So I think realistically we've got 13 playoff contenders for 12 spots. And so I think either Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Texas, or Utah will be left out.

[00:47:53] And my guess would be Utah of that group or Atlanta of that group missing the playoffs. Interesting. Okay. I would have, I might've thought it would be Vegas. I could, I could see Vegas too. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, Vegas is not doing well in their dream breakers right now. No, I was surprised. I mean, they, they beat the, they did win a dream breaker, I think against Utah, but they played the, the flame, the Phoenix flames, I think.

[00:48:23] And I think Cam Chafin went 10 and two against Roscoe in the dream breaker 10 and two like, and Roscoe is top five. Yeah. Top six. Yeah. That singles player. That's crazy. That was crazy. And then what was even crazy. Cam Chafin's a baller though. Yeah. Was that Cam Chafin? Cam Chafin's a baller though. That's why I drafted him to my, uh, for the team. Oh yeah. Callback. All right.

[00:48:50] Uh, still, still trying to, uh, lobby the crowd for that shit team. Yeah. You're just, you're just gassing my team up actually. So thank you. So, so what's the next tier Zane? Is there, is there, are there multiple tiers below this? Yes. Oh yeah. There's a couple more. The next tier I've got as kind of like a D tier plus, and I'm, I'm not grading on a scale. Like I'm a harsh grader. I've got Miami, SoCal and Bay area in the, in that sort of D tier.

[00:49:18] I think that they're kind of on the outside of the playoff pictures looking in. I would put them as unlikely playoffs and then D tier minus. I've got California and Phoenix, both of which are like, look, interesting teams and growth teams. Like I liked them longterm, but I don't like them for making playoffs this year. After that, I've got the, I've got F tier, which consists solely of the smash.

[00:49:46] And then I've got a tier of our own, the sell the team tier for the Carolina hogs. Okay. I, I, I support these rankings. I actually think that some of these teams can be more frisky for that last playoff spot. Then you might give them credit for. We'll see. I'm a little bit higher on the California black bears. Cause I really like Sarah Dennehy. Um, but I think that like F tier F minus tier is probably the right two teams.

[00:50:14] So Zane, I want to ask you, we're going to have a new team. We're going to do this every week. I think we have like eight weeks left, uh, of the MLP season. And we're going to do the James Ignatowich terminated team of the week where each week we will eliminate one team from playoff contention. They're out hogs. Yeah. The hogs, the hogs.

[00:50:40] It's just like the Carolina hogs, the team that if they could, they would, they would still be playing Gina Bouchard and cash. Uh, yes. And cash. I agree. The most profitable team in the league, but the, the, yeah, they just, and the biggest thing is if one of their players does well, they just immediately trade them for cash. So yeah, hard to, hard to win that way. Exactly.

[00:51:07] They, uh, Miami pickleball club is, uh, their dream team, what they aspire to be. And they're just not as good at it. But, uh, they, yeah, I think anytime they show signs of life, they're like, how do I trade this person away? How do I pick up $10,000 more and take somebody that you honestly, at this point, Zane, I wonder if somebody gave them $10,000, if they would drop their number three male player and pick me up?

[00:51:35] Cause I think they would, I'll play for free. There's only one way to find out. Let's ask Thomas. Hey, let's get MLP Nico. Let's get you a draft eligible. Get that, get that MLP contract. Let's get Nico there. Hey, it'll, it, I mean, and I think it'll be a spectacle. People would watch. Like I could bring eyes to the hogs. I'll sell some merch and then I'll pay to be on the team. Uh, like probably some other MLP people. I don't know how they get on the teams, but, uh, so we, yeah, that's a fun rumor.

[00:52:04] There's a fun rumor that, uh, that some players have paid to get on MLP teams, not going to name names, but like, there are a couple of people that, uh, that are convinced that there are some certain players on MLP teams because they have, uh, you know, paid some, some GMs, which is very interesting. That's wild. That is wild. But while I'm not sure if it's true, I would not. I don't know if it's true. I don't know if it's true either.

[00:52:32] That is a, that's a rumor, but it's a rumor that actually like could make some sense. Yeah. I've heard this happen in PPA partnerships and, uh, it could be MLP, uh, who knows, but if you have the money, maybe you can make your way on the pro football scene. I don't know. So there you go. Okay. I like that. The James Ignatowich terminated team of the week. We can get next week done too. If you want, uh, the Florida smash.

[00:52:59] Um, it's just, yeah, I look, I like the Florida smash. I love, I love Zoe. I love Travis. I love that whole team case in like the whole squad, but like, yeah, they just, you know, they don't have any top, top tier players. Zoe single-handedly like makes that team fun to watch though. So, so yeah, but I'm still on one. All right. Should we get into, Oh, one other thing. I'm curious what your take is on this.

[00:53:26] The announcers kept like just brushing under the rug. The fact that every once in a while the ball would hit the dead spot and just not come up. And then it was just really fun. And it was pretty interesting watching them avoid that subject. And because there'd always be like an awkward pause, like, Oh shit, how are we going to sweep this one under the rug? It's just like, guys, come on. Like the audience isn't, aren't idiots.

[00:53:55] Like you've got to at least address that. Like what are we, what are we doing here? Like, yeah, it's like, it's like when a child plays hide and seek and they go like this and they think that nobody else can see because they can't see. Like what is going on? Yeah. I don't, I think, uh, the courts are basically the emperor's new clothes for, uh, you know, Conor Pardo and, and, and then Samin.

[00:54:23] If you don't say that they suck, then maybe they'll never know. And they think they're great. But yeah, I guess the, the biggest question is like, I mean, one is you got to acknowledge the bad bounce. It looks, it looks really bad, like from a professional standpoint that that happens. Uh, I don't think it, it happens. People are like, Oh, it happens in tennis. Occasionally. That's like a barely, you know what I mean? Like this happens almost never in tennis, almost never in basketball. In football, people complain about the grass when the grass is not laid out well. And that happens a lot.

[00:54:52] Like, you know, when there are cities or places where the grass has to be brought in, like, like, you know, in, uh, Arizona where it's like, it has to be moved. It can't just like stay there all the time. People complain or with turf. And I think that for us, the biggest question is, is it worth it to have bad bounces to play in places like Chaffetz Arena or Vegas or whatnot? Uh, or do we have to have hard courts the whole time?

[00:55:21] And I'm, I'm actually, to me, I'm okay with the bad bounces if we get to have better venues. What do you think, Zane? Yeah. I mean, like, here's the thing. I, I completely agree with that too, right? Like, okay, rollout courts, not good. Don't like them. They're bad. Yeah. Like, however, I've, I've probably been one of the more vocal supporters from pro players of those. Be like, you're telling me, okay, I've got to play on a slightly crappier court and we get to go to Central Park.

[00:55:50] Yeah. Sign me the fuck up. Right. Like, so just embrace it. Be like, Hey, look, that's a bad bounce, but we use this to be in Chaffetz Arena or Central Park or Vegas, or honestly, Columbus kind of pissed me off because they didn't need them in Columbus. But Columbus, there really weren't too many bad bounces because the, these courts were laid on top of a tennis surface.

[00:56:12] So my guess is there must've been some sort of a crack or something underneath that little spot in the kitchen where all those balls were just rolling from. But like, let's not, I mean, can we just address the elephant in the room and be like, yep, bad bounce. Here's why. Like, I'm okay with it. Yeah, I think we should. I mean, I, the, the announcers are more than happy to complain when any player makes a bad, makes, does one of those bad challenges.

[00:56:42] They're like, this is stupid. They need to change the rules immediately. They should just acknowledge, all right, this bounce is yuck. Like, I wish there was almost a rule where it's like, I know you could never do this, but like, if there was some kind of eye test where the ball just dies and you go, okay, that's a, that we re replay that point. Like, do you remember Zane when James Ignatowich hit an overhead against Annalie and Ben and deflated the ball? Of course, and the ball deflated. Yeah, and then they like, I think they replayed the point.

[00:57:12] And I was just like, I was like, look that, no, that's just like a natural cause of James obliterating a ball. You can't replay that point. But if they can replay that, maybe they can replay a bad bounce. I don't know. Like, would you, would you rather them just acknowledge it and never do it? Or if there is like an egregious above the ball just does, just dies on the floor. Like, do we restart it? Like what? Nah, I mean, that's just such a judgment call. I don't think you can, I don't think you can do that. Like, just leave it as is. Like, yeah, I don't think you can do replays.

[00:57:41] Now, you could have the players be like, yeah, that really sucked. Like, can, like the players can maybe request it. Right now, they don't let the players request two overs or lets. But like, maybe if all four players agree, they're allowed to do something like that. But yeah, I don't see a way where the players would even want to do something like that. So anyway, I think it sucks. I think it's just overall a good thing to be in these different, different venues.

[00:58:08] Guys, as you know, for like the last 60 days, I've been doing the lefty reset. It actually just ended a couple of days ago. And I am down like 20 pounds and it's been really fun. And what has really helped has been Merrick Health. All right. I'm not going to lie. I could not do it on my own. So I invited all my buddies to do it in a challenge. And I, and I caught Merrick Health to support me.

[00:58:33] My guy, Peter, you know, if you guys have followed along, Peter, the goat, my health advisor from Merrick Health told me what I need to do supplement wise and helped me really hone in my diet. And the nice thing is it's more than just like diet consultation. But there are so many things that you can do in 2026 to improve your health that people don't think about. And what's crazy to me, I just saw this thing online that said the word peptide just replaced

[00:59:00] pickleball as the most Google search word of 2026. And so many people are just using peptides like candy and they don't even know what the heck they're doing. Merrick Health helps you actually get supplementation kind of at that level. Like if you, if you need TRT, if you need semaglutide or GLP-1s or trizepatide or whatever, all these tides that you could either go to the gray market and talk to somebody on Reddit or you

[00:59:28] can get health professional advice and do it the safe way, the smart way. And as you can tell, Zane, the effective way. You are glowing, Nico. You actually do look like you've lost a good amount of weight. And I know that like, you know, there's some there's certainly some nuance to that and that you can't just go out there and cut cold turkey. Right. So good for you. Good for Merrick Health. Good for the challenge. Yeah, man.

[00:59:53] Look, I feel like I'm a pretty competent, just generally overall human being. But the health care system puts that to the test for me. So it sounds like Merrick Health would be a good way of sort of just cutting through a bunch of random nonsense and actually having somebody to help with something like that, which, yeah, I don't know. Like I feel lost with the American system. Exactly. Same. A lot of people do. So go to Merrick Health.

[01:00:21] If you're interested, it's MerrickHealth.com. And if you put in code the dink, you get 10% off a guided optimization, which is the best way to kickstart your journey. All right, Nico. We got two other things. We'll do guess my duper. And let's read some of the comments from last week. What do you say? All right. Let's do it.

[01:00:40] On YouTube, somebody suggested, let's see, on YouTube, Plutonium Core suggested a silent killer draft of JW, Tama, Etta, Kiora, et cetera. Nico, put that shit down. That's a good one. I like that idea. I'm right as we speak. Here we go. I love that idea. Silent killer draft. We had a little funny exchange between you and Webb Smith.

[01:01:10] Webb says, keep being yourselves. Keep cussing. Great episode. People are tired of the buttoned up LinkedIn-ass jargon corporate BS communication. We need more authenticity in this world. Don't listen to the haters. Nico, you clapped back and said, should we try a LinkedIn version of the pod one time? And then Webb says, absolutely. Absolutely. Let's circle back after the all-hands quarterly meeting to make sure that will add shareholder value. Oh my God.

[01:01:38] This is giving me PTSD, post-traumatic stress Deloitte. Syndrome. Yeah. I mean, maybe one day we could do it, ironically. I also hate corporate jargon talk between peanut butter spread and take this offline and whatever else you want to circle back to. Yeah. I'm glad that we don't do that. I'm glad that's not us. Yeah. So I love the fact that everybody is just like, just be you guys, which is cool.

[01:02:06] And I understand people that also are like, hey, maybe you can turn it back sometimes. And sometimes maybe we're just gratuitous. But yeah, we're us. I saw one. We were talking about how to beat Annalie Waters last week. And someone said, the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Arizona. They own Annalie Waters and Ben Johns. Haven't won there in years. So yeah, they generally don't. That's generally where they kind of get more of their losses. Put her on an island.

[01:02:34] Put her in the dusty bowl of Mesa, Arizona. Maybe you got a winner there. I got one more that was funny. All right. Buckwheat 178. Funny enough, that was JW's nickname for some reason. Buckwheat. So maybe this is a JW Johnson burner. Who owns Zane? Three-fourths of the draw. And Nico, obviously always coming quick to my defense, says, just three-fourths? He goes, I like him.

[01:03:03] So I fudged a little bit. I actually thought I was on my burner at that point. And no, it was actually just me. Shoot. I got Kevin Durant-ed right there. That's funny. All right. Let's do Guess My Duper. Guys, you can submit your Guess My Duper clips through the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord as well. Let's see it.

[01:03:34] Okay. Good third. Good mover. Nice fundamental play. This looks like some more college pickleball. I'm liking the pinstripe shorts. Me too. Where do you get those? I wonder. This has to be a tournament match, right? They're not just matching for no reason. That'd be wild. It seems like tournament intensity. All right. So did we just watch a guy that basically watched the entire point and then hit an overhead? No, he had some good little... No, he played the point.

[01:04:03] He had some good misdirects and whatnot. All right. Another overhead. All right. Good mover. Yep. Ooh, a two-y. Oh, he's got hands? Okay. I like that one. Okay. They're playing against the University of Kentucky. Michigan Pickleball. All right. Oh, this is Michigan... Oh, this is my boy Nathan. Oh, he's a legend. All right. Ooh, wait, hold on. That went down the line, huh?

[01:04:33] Oh, that's a nice little misdirect. Damn. He's good. No wonder he submits his own clip. Smart. All right. They definitely avoid him a lot, which is good. They know he's good. Wait a minute. That doesn't look like the same guy now. He's just wearing a different shirt. Is that the same guy? Same guy. Oh, okay. Fair enough.

[01:05:02] He's got a hat on. The hat threw me off. I think he moves really well. He's got that pro-level movement with the split steps and stuff. I'm going to say he's a 5.4. Oh, okay. 5.4-1. I was going to go 5.2 for Nate. All right. The guy that you already know. Let's see if you cheated your way to another way. The big reveal.

[01:05:34] 4.7. Dude. Wow. This is why I don't play 19-plus pickleball anymore now that I'm 35-plus. Fuck that. This 4.7 guy that's probably, you know, if he was 35-plus, would be a 6-0. So, yeah, I think that was much better than 4.7. So maybe he just wanted us to validate that his duper is incorrect. But he's good. Good job, Nate. Yeah. Nate Dogg. Good stuff.

[01:06:00] Guys, if you want to get roasted by us on next week's Guess My Duper, submit your clips in the Pro Pickball Talk Discord. From what I understand, the links are a little bit finicky sometimes, the invite links. So, like, if you try to use it from the link in the description, if that doesn't work, you can shoot Nico a message. You can shoot me a message at your own risk. If I see it, I will attempt to get to it and send you the link.

[01:06:29] I cannot promise that I am going to see it. I'm going to Italy with my wife this week for a luxury pickleball travel trip for a couple days. And I don't normally check DMs too frequently, but I truly shan't be checking the DMs while in Milan. Well, enjoy it, Zane. And I'll throw my own shameless plug here. Not plug, but request is when you need a third on these luxury pickleball trips, they sound awesome.

[01:06:58] I'm like, I have been a 5-0 pickleball player. I could teach some dinking. Or maybe not dinking. I could teach some speed-ups. Yeah, I was going to say, my guy has never... That would be like saying you could teach footwork. Look, hey, I teach, you know, the Colin John slow and steady. And then I teach the all-gas, guang-duang style speed-ups and drives. Take me to your camps. Take me to Italy.

[01:07:23] Maybe that'll be my reward once I beat you in a season-long MLP thing. You can just take me on one of your trips. Yeah, you know what? We need to have... Guys, okay, if you've made it this far, you are a core audience, okay? And we need your help coming up with a punishment for the loser of this season line. No, we don't care about awarding the winner, right? Like, I'm not going to give myself another dink award. But we want a punishment for the loser.

[01:07:53] So if you are a sicko that's an hour and 25 minutes into this episode, leave us a comment. Put it in ProPickballTalk Discord, too. Honestly, I'll throw that in the ProPickballTalk Discord as well. We'll start off with some good ones here so that you guys are thinking straight. It's like, you know, Nico has to go invite Leia Jansen for dinner. Zane's got to play a pickleball tournament with Jared Paul. We've got some other ones that you can think of. But think about what this could be. Nothing is too harsh.

[01:08:23] Nico's got to play his next 4-0 tournament with the nipples cut automation. That'd be a pretty good one. 4-0 tournament. Dang, Zane. Yeah. And you can say it's just for chafing purposes. I just got to feel like Michael Scott. Everybody would believe you. Yeah. Or Andy Bernard. Andy Bernard from The Office. Oh my goodness. Okay. Anyway, on that note, that is definitely the pickle pod. Pickle pod. Pickle pod.