Zane Had Game Point Against Anna Leigh Waters (Here's How)

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[00:00:30] That's usually not a good sign for the duper. Not a good sign for the duper. Good sign for the guy's duper that's probably playing with her. Bad sign guy drops serving. Start with a lob serve. Zane couldn't return that. No, hold on. It was a lob drop serve. Rewind. Rewind this. Rewind this. I want to make sure our facts are straight here. This is my man. Lob drop serve. What is going on? Takes her goal, which is fine. All right. Takes another one.

[00:00:58] He dropped the duper of everybody on that court with that lob serve. Oh, she whiffed. Did you just straight up swing and miss? This is the most wild point I've seen ever. All right, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Pickle Pod. This time, once again, we have Zane on location in Columbus still, Zane?

[00:01:24] Yeah, but I'm actually at Match Point Pickleball, which won the Dink Award for the best pickleball facility. That's actually how they ended up getting in touch with me, from what I understand. And over here doing a day of clinics and having a good time. We just did a six-hour intensive session this morning. My voice was already shot from MLP and then yelling for six hours. Now I've got to talk to you for an hour and a half on the podcast.

[00:01:51] After that, I go back to two more hours of clinics. So, grindy day, but I get home tomorrow. That's insane. I was going to ask about your voice. I saw your top five video recap and multiple people messaged me and said, I know Zane already sounds like a chipmunk, but what is happening? Like, it's a chipmunk plus helium? Your voice is shot, man. So, glad that you're able to rally here and do a podcast. Yeah, well, that's what happens when you've been smoking a pack a day for 30 years.

[00:02:21] You always strike me as like a Zin's guy more than that. No, I don't do any of that stuff. Believe it or not, I like caffeine. That's my vice. Zane's drug of choice is instigating in MLP matches. And we're going to get into that a little bit later. That's where I get my high. That's right. He's a 6-0 pickleball player. And like, you know, he's the Ben Johns of being a prick on the bench to other people. So, love it.

[00:02:51] So, let's jump right into it. So, MLP Columbus just ended yesterday. Super Sunday, which ended for me at like noon. I woke up. It reminded me of NFL season when they have games in London and I have to like wake up at 6 a.m. to watch them. And I usually miss them. It's kind of what happened. Unfortunately, I don't think I saw any of your Super Sunday matches. But they started super early. Ended at noon. I think we've got to probably fix that. But had some good matches.

[00:03:19] New Jersey comes out on top. Rights the wrongs from MLP Dallas. Beating St. Louis Shock in a three-game sweep. 25 standings points. St. Louis, 18 points. Columbus, third place. 15 points. Zane, where should we start? We want to start with the fives. They looked really good. Yeah, obviously, I think there were a lot of question marks after last week because Annalie and Georgia were obviously dominant, but their other three positions all struggled.

[00:03:50] And this week, whatever they did in the last four days, which I assume is basically nothing between events, they figured it out. Maybe it was watching some film. Maybe it was something else. But they lost a single match or a single game on the entire weekend. They swept everybody but us, the Chicago Slice. And they lost their Georgia and Will lost to Jamie and Hunter. Only lost for the team of the entire weekend.

[00:04:18] So, you know, look, they've got one guaranteed lock win in Georgia and Annalie. And, you know, if the other three teams are, you know, winning matches, I don't see how you beat the fives. No, you're right. If all four of them do win matches, you can't beat them. All right, let's put it this way.

[00:04:38] If they're playing good ball or if they're at least in matches, like I wouldn't have expected Will and Noe to turn it around and beat Gabe and Hayden for the first time like this week. Right. If that's no longer just a complete lock for the St. Louis Shock, it's panic time. Yeah. Then that requires you to beat Annalie and Noe or whoever she's going to play mixed with, which I'm assuming will stick with Noe, which is a tall task, which nobody really came that close to doing except you.

[00:05:08] Zane, you had game point. Is that correct? When you played the New Jersey fives in mixed? We did. We did. Don't remember. Yeah, no, that's a sore subject. Sore subject. Let's dig into that, Zane. I'm going to be your pickleball therapist and I want you to tell me what was it like. We're going to we're going to we'll continue to talk about the fives in a second.

[00:05:26] But for those of you who don't know, to set this up, Zane, the previous captain of the New Jersey fives, instigator of shit talk, great play and chanting chanting to five was traded. I would like to say I was not the instigator of counting to five. Five. No, that's right. I would never step on Ryan's toes like that. All right. Let's give. Yeah. Give Ryan credit where credit is due. Ryan. Did I count to five? Did I count to five? Yes, I counted to five.

[00:05:56] Did I initiate counting to five? No. Did you initiate counting to five this weekend? No. Why would I do that? Because I'm pretty sure we have a clip of you doing that. We 100% don't have a clip of me doing that. I did say let's go fives by accident. Oh, it was let's go fives. Okay. You didn't count to five. You said let's go fives. That's what it was. Yeah. That was just completely by accident. Oh, my God.

[00:06:25] Zane, I'm glad that you at least admitted it. I honestly thought you were trolling. I thought it was some kind of troll, but it was actually just a brain fart senior moment. I don't know what it was. First, I mean, like, look, I've been yelling let's go fives for the last two years. And then I'm hearing a bunch of people go let's go fives all the time. I'm like, all right, let's go fives. Yeah. Slice fives kind of sounds similar. That's like almost as embarrassing as when you call your teacher mom when you were in elementary school.

[00:06:56] That's fair. We all got a good laugh out of it. I even hit later in the game. I hit Hunter was playing against Will in Mixed. And I was like, let's go, Willie. Just like, oh, wait, shoot. But it was after Hunter won a point. I was just I was lost. Absolutely lost. Oh, my gosh. Wow. What a match. That was a whirlwind. That was one of the more exciting matches. You guys lose drop the first two games.

[00:07:23] But Zane, I want you to kind of break down for the people. They've been asking me, how did Zane even get to game point against Anna Lee? Like, shouldn't they be like 100 to 1 underdogs? And I don't know. I actually think it's much closer than that. But it looked like the strategy was turn Noé into Jeannie Bouchard. Was that what was the plan? Or how did you guys pull that off? Almost. Yeah. The strategy was turn Anna Leigh Waters into Anna Lee Island.

[00:07:55] That sounded better in my head. But basically, like, put her on an island. She wasn't going to see a ball. And she hardly did see a ball. And it almost worked. And when she was seeing balls, she was hitting balls really good and winning points. So we were like, Anna Lee's a better pickball player than Noé. So we're going to play more balls to Noé. And it almost worked. Almost. And it worked. Close to no cigar. Almost. No, I think it worked. Because match point, you had a chance to win. Like, I feel like you replay that point. And it's not like...

[00:08:24] I think there was a setup chance for you guys to take that game point at... What was it? 10-9? I don't know. Yeah. Mari flicked at Noé and caught him in the chicken wing pretty good. He shanked a counter. And it still went in. So, I mean, that's... Look, we put ourselves in that position to win. Mari played great. We played pretty clean ball. I think other team was a little bit tight. And Anna Lee missed a couple in the beginning. And then didn't see any more. So... Well, all I've got to say is...

[00:08:53] That continues the point that I have been beating for the last two weeks. Is that Anna Lee is more than just a bystander in her PPA mixed doubles career. That she is the main reason why they win. And she could pretty much win with anybody. Not saying that Noé is just an anybody. I think the hard thing is people have relegated Noé to being this, like... Almost pro pickleball player. When he's, like, you know, really top 10, top 15 pickleball player. But, yeah. Anna Lee is that driving force. It was insane.

[00:09:18] And it looked the same in the finals where anytime Anna Lee got in the hands battle with Hayden, just beat him straight up. You know, countering basically everything he had. So, I think at this point that, you know, the script is out whether or not you can execute. But Anna Lee can't see balls in mixed doubles. And maybe you have a chance to win. But that's tough. Yeah, definitely. I think the shot played way too many balls to Anna Lee. I mean, it was, like... It was a little bit more like they were playing Anna Lee and Ben and not Anna Lee and Noé.

[00:09:47] And also, like, Hayden... Hayden had a bad weekend. Or at least a bad Sunday. So, I got some stats from Ben over at RealClearStats. He led both the men's match and the mixed match in unforced errors. And he finished last among all four players in both matches in his player impact statistic. So, and I mean, just by the sniff test, he was missing speed-ups. He was missing a lot of thirds and not getting into the kitchen.

[00:10:15] And, yeah, just generally didn't look like himself out there. And, I mean, I think, like, look, if you can't count on Hayden and Gabe, and you can't count on Hayden and Anna, like, that's a somewhat mediocre team if neither of those are lock-in wins. Yeah. That's tough because if you were to, like, rank all of the teams,

[00:10:42] women's in MLP, for sure number one is Anna Lee and Georgia. That's not even a question. It should be number one without... They almost perfect pickled Anna and Kate. They got an 8-0 start. And they did. They golden pickled... Did you know this? They golden pickled Jesse and Caitlin 11-0 in 3 minutes and 16 seconds. 3 minutes and 16 seconds. Yikes. Now people are going to start asking if Georgia and Anna Lee are the best.

[00:11:12] I wonder who wins, Georgia and Anna Lee or Anna Bright and Anna Lee. Who knows? But that team is scary. That's the number one team, right? And I think that out of all teams, that is the most lock win in all of MLP. But you would also think that Hayden and Gabe should be a lock. And you would think that Anna Bright and Hayden should be at least the number one team when it comes to mixed.

[00:11:37] They may not be as much of a lock with, you know, Ben and Jade or Noe and Anna Lee. But they should be the number one team. They got two number one spots in those. And if they're not locks, they're in big trouble. So we know the Shock have to win those two matches in order to have any chance against the Fives, any chance against the Mad Drops, any of these teams. Next MLP is in St. Louis.

[00:12:06] Do we think that this is just like an early season blip? Or are the Shock actually in trouble? Do you expect them to come out and win at their home arena? Or are Shock no longer the team to beat? I mean, I think it's a long season. And everybody is going to go through some ebbs and flows. And honestly, the Shock have nobody in their group, really. I mean, they've got the Royals, the Squeeze, the Breakers, and the Bouncers.

[00:12:35] The only interesting match will be whoever they match up with from Group A. We get to see Brooklyn Pickleball team for the first time, the SoCal Hard 8s for the first time. And so the winner of Group A will end up being the Brooklyn Pickleball team or the Mad Drops. And so I get the sense that they're going to figure it out. And I think it's probably better to have these sort of lulls early in the season rather than late in the season. Yeah, I think you're right. The 5s had it week one in Dallas.

[00:13:04] The Shock, you could say, had it both weeks. But they have nine weeks. The hard thing is the Shock are going to have played three of their five tournaments or three of their six weekends in the first three weekends of MLP. So hopefully they can go back to the lab after this week and figure it out. But as of now, I don't think they're the number one team anymore. I think this weekend, I think there's a huge race for the top spot. You could say it's the fives. You could say it's the Mad Drops. You could say it's the Sliders.

[00:13:35] But the Shock are, I think, no longer just everybody's consensus number one. But I guess thinking of another team that did identical to the Shock is the Columbus Sliders. They've gotten second. They have gotten third. What do we think of Columbus? It's interesting, Zane, because everybody was high on them after week one because they made it to the finals.

[00:14:01] They beat the fives with no Paris Todd. Arguably your best player. Possibly. At least your best female player. They bring her back on. They trade Alex Strong and don't do as well. Is this just growing pains for Danny and Paris? I think I see CJ and Andre not playing as well. I know CJ was a little under the weather. But are we surprised? Are we underwhelmed by Columbus?

[00:14:29] I mean, they only really had one big match. They had some random game losses. But overall, they beat everybody they were supposed to. And they finished third. Right? So was it an impressive weekend? No. They got swept by the fives, which was impressive for the fives. But honestly, yeah, they've made their team better. They traded for Judith Castillo, which is going to help their Dream Breaker lineup.

[00:14:56] Again, I think we're going to see a lot of these matchups multiple times, given the current format. They probably just met expectations. I think they overperformed last week, stole a match from New Jersey, and then had the head-to-head out of group play to get second. I don't know. I think the Sliders are who we thought they were.

[00:15:24] They are who we thought they were. All right. This is going to be the motto for the season. I will get it by the end of the year. And hopefully by the end of the year, Danny and Paris play better. Yeah. So I heard Danny got sent to the urgent care because Paris followed through on a third shot drive right into Danny's nose.

[00:15:46] There was this picture of her online, and she's fine now, of Danny with all these things sticking out of her nose after she got smacked. So there were definitely some confusion early on, but I expect that team to be quite good. Yeah. I think that happened before the tournament. I think I saw that slideshow. It looked almost like a broken nose. Yeah.

[00:16:08] And I think, for me, I'd much rather have two people with alpha personalities or want to take too much and then figure out a way to settle in versus having an issue of the player on one side sucks. You know what I mean? Yeah. Or they don't want it. They're trying to figure out how to work it out. Yeah. A little Chet Holmgren situation there who just gets mentally owned by somebody. You can't be having that. You want people who want the ball. Which, sidebar. Massive sidebar.

[00:16:35] I've been watching a bunch of the NBA, and I am so unbelievably glad that the Thunder lost. I think probably everybody is, but it made me wonder. You know, the Thunder, all they are—I mean, they're a good team. Don't get me wrong. But they're just floppers. They're out there flopping. And it made me wonder— They're floppers. What is the pickleball equivalent of flopping, Nico? Oh, I don't know. Hooking? Maybe? I like—line calls?

[00:17:05] Like, I can't think of what else you would do to flop. Like— I came up with two. One is the person who's constantly asking the referee if they saw the call, even when it's like 10 feet out. That feels a little bit like, you know, flopping, trying to influence the referee. And then the next one is— It's not really flopping. But for some reason, it feels similar. The person who will miss and is constantly, like, blaming it on something else.

[00:17:34] Like, they miss and they're, like, looking down at the court. Or they miss and they're like, oh, bad bounce. Or they miss and they're like, oh, that was like, what is up with my paddle? Something like that. Like, for me, that just—same energy as flopping, I think. I like it. I have to think more about this. But flopping in basketball has got to go. There's a few things in pickleball that can go. Zane, the question I have for you, though, that you brought up, for those of you who

[00:18:00] know ball, obviously this is a pickleball podcast, but the Thunder played the Spurs. And Victor Wimbanyamba, possibly the best player in the league, is a 7'3", unicorn, monster, gazelle, whatever. He makes this other 7'4", Chet Holmgren, look like a baby. Like, it's just immediately this guy goes from 100 to 0, right? He has no mental game when it comes to playing against Victor Wimbanyamba. He just owned him. He's his daddy.

[00:18:27] What player in pickleball is most owned by another player? Like, is it like—I feel like Anna Lee smokes Catherine every time. I feel like Anna Lee smokes Ben every time, too. But who is the—is there any player that's just like, that's your daddy? I think it's Anna Lee over Leia. I'm pretty sure Anna Lee has won the last 38 matchups that they've played. Oh! At least—I think I put that down, and I think that was singles only, 38 in a row.

[00:18:55] So—and like, you add in doubles on top of that, she's got to be like 50 or 60 matches in a row. I think just from a volume, it's got to be Leia. I think you're right. It's got to be. And Leia talks. She puts—she has like so much admiration or adoration for Anna Lee that it's almost like she talks like she's already lost, like Anna Lee is a god. And that's basically the Chet Hongren of pickleball. So, if you think of anybody else, guys, in the comments, let us know. Who else owns anybody else in pickleball?

[00:19:24] Who is their daddy? Let us know. Who does Zayn own? I don't know. Or who owns Zayn? If you come up with that, bonus points. Andre kind of owns me. Andre. Not that I—like, I don't play like horrible against him or anything, but he just always beats me. Like, I never beat Andre. I think Andre is like a harder matchup for me than Ben Johns. I just have no clue what to do against Andre, really. Why? What is— I don't know. Like, I mean, I think I've got like some element of a game plan against Ben.

[00:19:53] I was just like there's no—I feel like I can't outgrind Andre. I also—like, Ben, you can play some chaotic speed-up points against him, and that can work a little bit. Or, you know, or sometimes Ben will just throw you a couple of random freebies when he, you know, kind of zones out for a minute because he's way better. Andre doesn't do that. So I'm like, I've got nothing on Andre. Oh. He's the matchup for me in men's doubles and mixed doubles that I hate to see that one coming. Yeah. All right. Andre owns Zayn.

[00:20:21] Um, so Zayn, back—back to the sliders. My—the question for you, as I mentioned, we have these two alphas. We have Danny. We have Paris. They're trying to figure it out. I am under the impression that they need to stack. I don't care who takes what side, but I feel like not stacking causes more problems for your own team than it does for the opposing team. Do you agree and do you think that they're—at the end of the year, they're going to be stacking

[00:20:51] or will they be playing straight up all year? Who's playing straight up? What was the question? Yeah. Um, Paris and Danny. They've been playing straight up women. Yeah, I think they're going to stack—I think they're going to stack Paris on the right. Like, I think that makes a lot of sense. I think so, too. I actually—I told Danny, I was like, I'm going to bet you right now that you're going to end up stacked to the left. Um, so we'll see.

[00:21:16] I don't know if that's going to be the case or not, but I just feel like the more that you don't decide a specific position for your team, like, the more confusion it happens, like, the more you have to think all the time and the more you're thinking, maybe the less you're winning. I don't know. You don't stack a lot sometimes with Mari. Yeah. Unless your strategy is to out-confuse the other team, right? Right? If—you might confuse yourself, but if that confusion confuses the other team and causes

[00:21:45] them to be more confused than you're confused, then everybody's confused. We're all confused right now, Zane. You're playing four-dimensional chess right now. We're playing checkers. If your confusion confuses the other team more than it confuses yourself, that's a net positive in the confusion category. We should have— Everybody agrees. We have real clear stats that puts player impact and some amazing stats.

[00:22:12] Maybe we should lobby them for, like, a confusion metric ranking. Like, who is the most confusing player? Me. Statistically, it would have to be me with, like, how much we are switching around everything. Like, me and Mari, sometimes I'm on the left, sometimes I'm on the right. Same with Hunter. Just, like, we initiate the confusion. And when you're the confusion initiator, sometimes that's helpful. This is great. I'm thoroughly confused.

[00:22:40] But speaking of you and Mari, Zane, I'm going to go back to this one more time. I think one of the highlights of my week was watching you try to jacksock a serve, a lob serve, right into the middle of the net. Like, this is Zane's tryout. Like, this is his moment of glory. Anna Lee just disrespectfully lobs Zane. Zane takes the ball shoulder high on the rise. Full swing. Just blasted a foot down below the net. How did I feel? Shitty, dude. It felt shitty.

[00:23:09] We can laugh about it now. But I was like, after that, I've never been tighter in my life. I'm like, oh, no. I know she's going to lob me every single time now. And I know I'm going to hit this. Like, the tightest, like, shot of my career. And I did. And I made all of them for the rest of it. But it was like this. Oh. Yeah. You did push them back. And I wonder how fast somebody sent that clip to jacksock.

[00:23:39] Like, within 30 seconds, within three minutes, they're like, hey, look at Zane trying to do your move. I appreciate your clip online. It was self-owned from that moment. So if you haven't seen it, go check out Zane on Instagram. He completely owns his lobster fuck-up. Yeah. You know what? You got to be able to laugh at yourself. I'm glad that I went for it. You know what? YOLO. Yeah. I do it every once in a while, too. Lobsters are infuriating.

[00:24:06] And I think more people should probably start doing it. Because either what happens to you happens or what happens to Jack happens once every 10 times when someone hits a great one and you just tip your cap. But I'm surprised we don't see more lobserves. Like, I do not know why we don't see them. When are you going to drop a lobster, Zane? Are you ever going to do it? Probably not. You hit too hard. I think I got a good serve. I mean, like, yeah, I think I got a good. Yeah, your serve is good. You know, I'd rather you throw in an illegal chainsaw every once in a while than toss up a lobster.

[00:24:36] That's what the people need. That's what the people want. And how many chainsaws have you thrown up today? Today? At the clinics? People love the saw at the clinics. Every clinic I do, I always do a chainsaw challenge. So we had about 20 people in this session. Everybody gets at least two. So I'm probably like 50 chainsaws on the day. Have your chainsaws actually gotten better now with time? Like, you're actually better than they were when they were illegal? You've had to throw them so much.

[00:25:05] No, actually, the paddles aren't as good for creating the chainsaws because they pocket the ball a little bit more. And so what you want for a good chainsaw spin serve is actually a paddle that's a little bit more slick. That way it keeps the original spin on the ball a little bit more. If it's super gritty and if it grabs the ball a ton, then it doesn't actually keep as much of that pre-spin.

[00:25:32] So now if you go with the spin, like a heavy topspin, the paddles today would be better. But when you're doing side spins and kicks and stuff, it's actually, I think, probably a little bit worse than it used to be just because of the improvements in paddle technology. The more you know. All right. 2026 pickleball tips. We're talking about how to do chainsaw serves with 2020 paddles. This is why people come to listen to the pickle pot.

[00:26:03] That and gratuitous use of the F word. All right. So back to MLP. We had the Palm Beach Royals make their season MLP debut. Tyson McGuffin, Dekel Barr, Tina Pisnick, and Sophia Seving. And they looked really great to start. They went undefeated in pool play until the last match where I think they got rocked by no, actually they went three and one against the shock beating Anna and Hayden.

[00:26:33] I believe Tyson and Sophia beat Anna and Hayden. Anything that you noticed about the Palm Beach Royals? Are they better or worse than you thought they were? I think everybody thinks they're going to be a playoff team, but. Yeah, they'll definitely be. I think the Palm Beach Royals are. I think they're a clear number six. I think you've got your top five of New Jersey, St. Louis, the Mad Drops, Brooklyn, and Columbus. I think those are a clear top five.

[00:27:01] I don't think that Palm Beach touches them. You've got Palm Beach, I think in a league of their own at number six. I think they're a step above the next couple of teams, which are like the Slice, the Ranchers, the Owls, the Bouncers. I think they're a little bit of a step ahead of those couple of teams, but like also pretty significant drop off from the teams above. So they're in kind of a no man's land. I think they're a shoe in for sixth place.

[00:27:28] I don't see them beating those top five teams with much with really any frequency. I don't see them taking too many bad losses outside of those top five teams. So I think they've got a kind of a, I guess, a high floor, low ceiling. And I think that I don't think that that Hannah or Anna and Hayden lose to Tyson and Sophia again.

[00:27:55] I think that was I think this weekend was a little bit more of the shock losing matches than other people winning matches. Okay. Interesting. Yeah, I could see that. Like, I don't think there's like a universe where Tyson and Sophia are just taking it to Anna and Hayden. So you might be right. But one thing what was sick was Grayson Golden's return to MLP over with when playing Las Vegas Night Owls was absolutely electric.

[00:28:21] So Grayson filled in in a must win match against the Night Owls facing off against Roscoe Bellamy, who's obviously was like, you know, probably a top six singles player. Top eight, at least. Yeah. Clinches in his first ever Dream Breaker. The guy has never played a Dream Breaker before in MLP, according to him. Hits the Fortnite machine gun celebration afterwards. Gives him the most emotional and crazy interview afterwards.

[00:28:50] Crazy just because like, I mean, crazy because he breaks down. He had a stroke like five months ago. He had two strokes like five months ago and was barely able to talk, barely able to walk. Yeah. And like came back. And I think like you can just see the the frickin like joy in him. Like he's happy to be alive. Like he thought that he probably thought at some point that he was never going to play pickleball again. And then coming out onto that, like, I mean, that's just like.

[00:29:19] That brought tears to everybody's eyes, I feel like. So and guys, if you haven't seen that story already, I keep shouting out Grayson's vlog. Go to Grayson Golden Pickleball. Check that video out. He is like very open about that whole experience of, you know, having a stroke at 26 years old or whatever the hell he is. Yeah, that it was. It was fantastic to see. It was like you put and he didn't like. Lose a step.

[00:29:46] So the last I really remember of Grayson Golden was MLP Dallas last year. He comes in in sub minutes and it's just I think for the squeeze and it's just ripping balls and, you know, cheering up the crowd going insane. And then a few short months later has two strokes. He's gone for pretty much the rest of the PPA season, comes back.

[00:30:12] And one of the more electric guys in MLP, he is meant for Major League Pickleball. So super excited that he's back. And Zane, we talked a little bit about this before the pod. We were talking about kind of those energy guys, the vibes guys. Maybe Grayson Golden's up there here. But we wanted to do an MLP vibes draft. All right. So we're going to do this one. I got this. I got this. Was that copy? All right.

[00:30:42] This is my idea. I got this one. I got this one. I'll take it. All right. All right. So we're doing where me and Nico are going to draft MLP teams based only on vibes. You could be a 2.0 duper, but we're drafting based on which team is going to have the better vibe. And we're going to put our teams in the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord. We're going to ask the Discord which team is better. The Discord is going to vote on this. So vibes only.

[00:31:12] Play has absolutely nothing to do with it. We're going to each draft three guys and three girls and see which team is better. Nico, do you want the first pick or the next two picks? I'll take the next two picks. You take the first pick. All right. Give me Danny Townsend, number one overall.

[00:31:44] My goodness. I don't know why I didn't prep more for this. That is the perfect number one pick. Now I'm absolutely flustered. All right. Let me think about this. I'm going to take... I'm taking Grayson Golden with my first pick. And with my second pick, I want Zoe Weil. I'm taking Zoe. I wanted Zoe Weil. That's bullshit. I think... I don't know if she's number two pick worthy.

[00:32:14] But I'm drafting strategically to not only pick the right team, but block you at every step of the way. So I was like, I know she's got to be high on Zayn's draft board. I saw you two on the sidelines. She's infiltrated you. Zoe's a great pick though. So single-handedly making the Florida Smash a watchable team. Damn. I wanted Zoe Weil. Okay. I am going to go... Give me...

[00:32:44] Give me... Elise Jones. And give me... Me. I'm drafting myself. I'm Travis Rettenmeyer-ing myself. This is a Madden Massi moment right now? Drafting himself. Oh my God. All right, Zane. All right. So... I have a guy... I have... I have a guy and a girl here.

[00:33:10] I am going to take Tyler Loon. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not fucking... I'm just... I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm not fucking taking Tyler Loon. You might as well take like, you know... Never mind. Yeah. I'm gonna take... I'm gonna take... I'm taking Georgia Johnson. I'm gonna take... MLP Georgia Johnson. She's fine in PPA, but MLP brings out a different Georgia. So I'll take Georgia.

[00:33:39] And then... I want another guy here. I'm gonna take... I'm gonna take Federico. I'm gonna take Federico Staxtrud. Electric interviews. He's... He's calling people fucking bitches. He is saying rules are stupid. He's swearing in Spanish. These are all the things that I need on my team. Give me Federico Staxtrud. Wow. I didn't even have Federico on my draft board. He gets a little pouty sometimes. I mean like...

[00:34:08] He's a great hang, but like... He's high energy, low energy. We can't be having that low energy. Not on my team, Nico. Not on my team. I love Fed. Give me... Give me Big Blaine Hovnir. I'm taking Big Blaine. How did he drop so far? How did he drop so far? Because you're an idiot, Nico. That's how. Anyway. Give me Big Blaine. And give me...

[00:34:37] Give me... Rachel Rohrabacher. Okay. Rachel Rohrabacher is... I like the Blaine pick more. She's a firecracker. She's not like smack talk, but she's just high energy. Lots of yells. Give me Rachel Rohrabacher. Lock that in. All right. I'm liking that. All right. My next pick for sure. Give me Kate Fahey. All right?

[00:35:02] Like, I need somebody that is like vibes plus enforcer mentality. Her vibes are so electric. One of my favorite things in MLP is watching the match of her teammates and then just hearing her scream like she would on the court randomly from the bench. Like, she's just like, yeah! She's just sitting on the bench. I'm like, damn. Like, this doesn't stop no matter what. So give me Kate Fahey. So I got my three women. I have Fed. I have Grayson Golden.

[00:35:32] Oh, let's see. And for my final pick, you know, I think I want Travis Redmeyer. I'm putting him on the team. Like, I want a guy that's going to just talk shirtless with a can of Diet Coke. Just does whatever. Possibly high.

[00:35:57] Possibly provides, you know, needed supplements to make us have even better time. I just feel like Travis has got everything in his bag. So give me Travis. Travis, yeah. Good smack talker. But you got to, like, hype him up for that. So you know what? I think on our team, we've got a lot of energy already. But the person that puts this entire thing, that ties this whole team together for me, is CJ the Slim Reaper.

[00:36:25] Can't believe that he fell to the 12th pick of this draft. I just have to say, you are absolutely cooked in this. Absolutely cooked. There's no chance that you take this. We need that quiet confidence with the occasional, just out of nowhere, pumping up the crowd and doing stuff. The crowd loves CJ. Like, give me CJ Klinger. So my team is me, Blaine and CJ. Danny, Elise and Rachel.

[00:36:53] Your team is Grayson, Federico and Travis. Zoe, Georgia and Kate. Guys, if you want to vote on who's all MLP vibes only team is better, is winning that matchup in terms of the vibes, go ahead, join the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord. And we'll put the link in the description. I'm pretty sure we put the wrong link in the description a couple times ago. So bear with us. We'll get the right one in there this time. If not, just message Nico. The guy lives online. He'll give you the link.

[00:37:23] Do not message me. I will not get you the link. But yeah, the Pro Pickleball Discord this week in Columbus was popping off. I was super excited about that. People were going crazy. Jake Gevlar was, you know, unhinged as normal, which I loved. Heisei was popping off. Odoth crushing it per use. Me and Zoe Wilde. Zoe Wilde joined, which makes me pissed that you stole her from my team. She joined.

[00:37:50] We had a Z-Dog beef because I'm the Z-Dog. She thought she was the Z-Dog. I'm the Z-Dog. Yeah, all that stuff happening in the Pro Pickleball Discord. And you can vote on which team is that. There's a lot of Z-Dogs here. That's true. There's a lot of Z-Dog energy. I don't know. I even got into beef with some guy who called me insecure and fat. Like, I'm like, I can't even. Not even in, like, my home Discord. I feel like. I expected in the KOTC Discord for someone to tell me that I'm fat and insecure. But in our Discord, I'm like, what is this guy doing?

[00:38:19] Like, and then I had to double check. He's definitely also part of the KOTC Discord. So if you are a mole, like, we'll figure out how to get you out of there. But it is a fun time. Just don't roast me all the time. Anyway, check it out. My team definitely is electric. There is no weak link. I feel like there's some weak links on your team. I will say CJ Klinger was a great pick. Who's the weak link on my team? I was talking to Danny and I was like, is this guy actually eating three Chipotles a day? She's like, no, he just takes one and basically nurses it throughout the entire day. I didn't get enough CJ Klinger. So good picks.

[00:38:49] Um, honorable mention. We got to throw a couple honorable mentions in there. Other players I had on my draft boards were more of kind of like the quiet, confidence, energy from MLP. You know, like there's players like an Andre De Escu. Andre is like the perfect, like quiet, confidence leader, like fiery, energetic, but like, you know, not your shit talker.

[00:39:14] Obviously you've got Hayden Patrick when I feel like Eric on scenes is going to be a really good MLP guy when he's on a, like a, a team that fits or a team that might be a little bit better. Yuda, Yuda is electric. Um, and then a lady side, I had Paris, Anna Bright, Anna Lee, and my teammate, Mari Humber. Um, Mari's, Mari's good vibes on, on that can talk a little smack too.

[00:39:43] Mari is like a, to me, Mari is like a good hang, less like vibes at MLP. If that makes sense. Like at least my experience chatting with her, like good shit talker, but relatively quiet when she's just like chilling on the bench or whatnot. I also heard Mari is going to have a podcast. So that's, you know, good for her. Yeah. If you're listening, we support most podcasts. Which, which podcasts do you not support? I don't know anyone that repeatedly tell one, one of them, uh, last week told me that I should jump off a bridge.

[00:40:13] So, so I don't support those podcasts, but, but Mari, uh, having a podcast with pickleball Nikki, that's cool. So, Oh, nice. I didn't realize that was pickleball Nikki. That's cool. Yeah. So they're going to have a podcast. Uh, I think it was just announced today. So that's awesome. Uh, not to take away from all of our audience, but I know there's, uh, in the, in the immortal words of Jimmy Miller is I'm a big tent guy, big tent guy, big tent guy. Yeah. Big tent guy. Um, anyway, uh, um, so, so speaking of vibes now, I was going to ask you Zane, or I was

[00:40:41] going to talk to you about all time bad vibes. I just got word that there was a trade, uh, for it was the LA Madrops traded Jeannie Bouchard to the hogs for Sam Parker. Uh, it was Jeannie Bouchard and cash for Sam Parker because allegedly Jeannie Bouchard refuses to play MLP. So they drafted her, didn't know this. And she's just like, I'm not playing. So of course, what team is going to come to the rescue for additional cash?

[00:41:09] The, the, the Carolina hogs. But how wild is that? Jeannie Bouchard just quitting on her team before it starts. Yeah. I'm just, Hey, I'm, I'm not playing. I'm out. I'm out. Uh, I mean, yeah, I would think that would qualify her for MLP bad vibes. I think that didn't they, she had some beef. She had beef with Jesse last year on, uh, on the Phoenix flames as well. I don't know. She's been fine vibes every time I've, uh, hung out with her. I mean, I guess I haven't really hung out with her. I like to talk to her like, um, but then again, that's only ever really been in like in passing.

[00:41:38] So I've never been a teammate with her. Seems like a fun person to hang out with who also just hates pickleball. Um, so, so, you know, she's here because she has to be, uh, she's here. So she doesn't get fined in the words of Marshawn Lynch, but yeah. So no longer on the sliders. I think at this point, uh, when this gets released, she'll probably have been dropped by the hogs as well, but, or not the slider. Sorry. The, the mad drops anyway, bye-bye Jeannie Bouchard. It was fun here for a good time. Not a long time.

[00:42:07] Enjoy the French open, uh, and, and, and all of your other endeavors. Yeah. Uh, that's all I had to say about Jeannie. Uh, I was going to say, should we, uh, should we hit up guess my duper? Let's do it. Absolutely. Mix doubles the chick that's off the screen. Here we go. That's usually not a good sign for the duper. If the, if the chick is off of the screen, that's not a good sign for the duper. Good sign for the guy's duper. That's probably playing with her. Bad sign. Guy drops. Start with the lob serve. Zane couldn't return that.

[00:42:38] A lob. No, hold on. It was a lob drop serve. Rewind. Rewind. Rewind this. Rewind this. I want to make our, make sure our facts are straight here. This is a, my man, lob drop serve. What is going on? A lob drop serve. Takes her goal, which is fine. All right. Takes another one. He dropped the duper of everybody on that court with that lob serve. Oh, she whiffed. She just straight up swing and miss? This is the most wild point I've seen ever. Starting with the lob drop serve.

[00:43:06] Oh, we got another drop serve over there. What are the Tulsa Raiders? The Tulsa Raiders versus the Tulsa Twisters? These guys clunk into each other on the other side. This is the OPPL. The Oklahoma Professional Pickleball League, maybe? I don't know. That sounds right. That's kind of cool. Yeah. Oh, good reset. Big swings. Oh. She's able to manage her partner coming in.

[00:43:35] Yeah, you thought he was Ben Johns for a second. Stop with this drop lob serve. Drop lob serve. Why not just out of the air? Oh, and then the lob third. What is this? Is this guy the greatest or worst pickleball player you've ever seen? Yes. Yeah. I don't know what I just watched there, Nico. I have no idea. I have so focused on the dude. That's a...

[00:44:03] The guy's a 7-0, but... Amidst all the chaos, our producer just told us that one of the guys was standing up at the kitchen. We need to rewatch that entire thing. There was so much going on in that clip. This is like those videos where they're like, I bet you saw so much happening, you didn't realize the gorilla going in the background, you know? Right. Jimmy, can you throw that up? There we go. Oh, there it is. She's serving.

[00:44:34] What happens? What did they do? All right. He kind of goes back, so he... But that's a mistake by them. All right. 2-0 by the opponents. All right. I'm saying, Zane, she is a... 4... 7-9.

[00:44:59] I was going to go 4.85, but plus or minus two duper points on either side. 4.0. 4.0. Okay. Okay. She's definitely not a 4.0. No. That's like my singles rating. She's definitely better than I am at singles. But I think we're just like... The circus was happening. I don't even know. Like, I'm dizzy. Like, this was... I didn't watch any pickleball there.

[00:45:26] If you guys remember, earlier in the episode, Zane said, you have to out... If your confusion out-confuses the other opponents and your net confusion rating is positive confusion, you might win the point. And that's, I think, what we just saw. And so I was so confused that we gave her... That's exactly what we just saw. Oh, wow. All right.

[00:45:55] Well, guys, you pulled that from the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord, yeah? That one... Actually, that was JB. We do have one lined up from the Pro Pickleball Talk for next week. So the person who already put their stuff in, there is one person. You're getting spotlighted next week. But we need more. And if they involve drop lob serves or whatever we just saw, immediate inclusion. Yeah, honestly, the more chaos, the better. That was epic. Wild. All right, Zane. Jennifer, good stuff on that.

[00:46:24] I got one more thing, Nico. Yeah. All right. I kind of love the fact that Anna... Did you see Anna's tweet response to some random yesterday? I did. The one that might have said something to the effect of, like, you stupid fat fuck. That one? Yeah. What did she say exactly? She said to Media Watchdog, the fuck is wrong with you, you useless fat fuck.

[00:46:52] And I am all for players just dunking on random people on social media. I'm about it. I have no idea what said useless fat fuck meant. He was saying something to the effect of, like, they need to sell their team or get cash out. I forget what it was. It wasn't very friendly or good. She responded in the perfect way. And then I think my favorite thing that came out of the Discord was someone just said, how does she know he's fat? Which I thought was great.

[00:47:23] So that one, the jury's still out there, but he's definitely useless. So sorry, Media Watchdog and Anna Bright. Congratulations. You had the tweet of the week. But do you think that players should be held to a different standard for something like that? Because, like, I mean, that's the type of stuff that people tweet to each other all the time on Twitter for right or for wrong. But when a player does it, like, they get some backlash or criticism.

[00:47:50] Like, do you think that players should be held to a higher standard than just the gen pop? I think they have been. I don't think they know who's there. Definitely have been. But should they be? I don't think they should. I think there's going to be, because players are so much more accessible with social media and they want to be creators, influencers, they want to build a brand. And I think that we're going to see a huge shift where they're actually not going to be held at a higher standard at all.

[00:48:20] They shouldn't be. And I think that they can be authentically who they are. And I think that the more we might actually see an overcorrection in the way some of these players handle these situations, because I'm sure Anna Bright was like chomping at the bit. Like she saw it and she's like, this is my opportunity to say the most outrageous thing. It's going to go viral. So you might see players kind of like push it too much, but I'm all for it. What about you, Zane? I guess I understand why we're held to a different standard. Like we're, you know, maybe role models to people or whatever.

[00:48:47] But I don't think we have necessarily like some responsibility to act in a way that isn't us. Right? Like if you, you know, you shouldn't have Nick Curious is a great example. Like he's definitely not a role model. Like, but he's definitely himself. Right? Do you, do you have an obligation to try and be somebody that you're, you're not just because people are watching or more eyeballs on you? I don't think so.

[00:49:16] I think that's the thing is people think you like, we, we got this after the Gabe and Hayden episode too. It's like, Hey, you guys, there's kids listening or we're listening, or you guys have a responsibility as media. And I'm like, I don't think we have any responsibility. As long as we don't, there's obviously lines that you probably don't want to cross. You know, you can't be a racist, you know, asshole. Right? You know, but like, if you say the F word, fine. If you want to dunk on this dude, that's, you know, saying crazy stuff. I think that's okay too.

[00:49:42] And I think that you see that more and more with people, whether it be media, sports, Nick Curious or like a Dave Portnoy or whoever. Like, you know, like I'm not, this is not a political podcast, but you even have like, you know, someone like Donald Trump, who just says anything he wants whenever he wants. Oh, my mom's calling me. Um, yeah, I asked her for a recipe for how to make quinoa in case you're wondering. And now, uh, you know, 36 hours later, she's like, let me call you. I was like, okay. Anyway, why are you trying to act like you were eating quinoa before you came out here?

[00:50:09] Yeah, dude, I watched a video, uh, on, uh, from a Novak Djokovic who said he doesn't eat gluten and he eats pseudo grains. And so here I am now eating quinoa if I can. But back to the point at hand, it's like, you know, you have even someone like Donald Trump. And it's like, hey, you're the president of the United States. Maybe you should have some decorum or say whatever, you know, you should keep it a little bit tighter. I don't know. But at least you know exactly what's in his head for better or for worse.

[00:50:33] And I think, you know, the same thing for the, with a lot of people is like, I'd much rather know who they are than have them fake it, fool me, and then have me root for somebody that is a terrible person on the inside. I'd rather them just be the terrible person on the outside. And then I know. So, yeah, exactly. Um, well, before you make your quinoa, Nico, let's, uh, let's chat about, uh, let's chat through a couple of the comments and then you can go, um, make, uh, make your quinoa. Keith Rittenhouse says people shouldn't be offended regardless. If you don't like or appreciate a podcast, don't come back.

[00:51:03] That's simple. Agree with Keith. Agree. But then again, on the flip side, we had Gumby who says, guys, I can handle it. I'm a middle aged lady, but you don't care if you lose people. Seriously, you can try and curb a little. Yeah, that's by fair. We could. I'm sure if we curbed a little, we could, we could keep some more people, but I don't know. Again, it goes back to just kind of wanting to be ourselves.

[00:51:26] And look, Nico, I feel like at the end of the day, you and me, yeah, we want to make this a great, awesome podcast, but I feel like we just have, we also have fun with this. This is something that I want to have fun with. I want to, you know, be myself on this and not like have my guard up. I want to talk the way that I talk. Hayden and Gabe wanted to talk the way that they talk, whatever. It's funny. Somebody, somebody mentioned how embarrassing the code switching was for us with the Hayden and Gabe episode. I was like, one, have you not ever listened to one of our podcasts?

[00:51:55] Like Zane literally has a, we have an episode on the podcast where Zane talks about wanting to chop his dick off. But. Not that I wanted to. Hold on. That's a gross mistake. I would rather. So hopefully, if you know, hopefully nobody asked Zane to play any points after his clinic later today. But, I mean, at the flip side, this person says, hey, the episode with Hayden and Gabe was awesome. Maybe the best interview, maybe the best interview video ever. Not best podcast, not best. Best video interview ever.

[00:52:24] And that guy's insane, but I appreciate it. And so, yeah, I think keep the comments coming. We're going to be who we are. We will understand and we will see when we cross the line. We'll figure it out. But for the most part, you get the authentic Nico. You get the authentic Zane. And if you want something more buttoned up, there's other places to go. But don't leave us, please. Like, I'm begging you. Just stay here. My boss is going to be super mad if you leave. And here's the thing. I don't care if you guys leave.

[00:52:54] Nico might. But if we offend you, if you like us, please stay. Please subscribe. But if you hate us, like, what are you still doing here? What are you doing? Why are you an hour and 15 minutes into this podcast? You guys can just go. You're dismissed. You're dismissed. All right. The IJC says Nico equals king of overreaction. Dissing Georgia after MLP one week is ridiculous hyperbole. And he goes on to say some other things about partners, whatever.

[00:53:21] Um, did you, I didn't get the sense that you dissed Georgia. You know, it's so weird. It's like, I read the comments after, after the pod. And I'm just like, did we listen? Were we a part of the same episode? Me and the viewers? I don't think so. Uh, because I don't remember. I was, I don't, I was basically just saying, Hey, these people cost a lot of money. Did they overperform? The biggest question for me with Georgia was like, Hey, can she do mix without her brother

[00:53:48] and her performances over the past couple of months have not been up to Georgia standard. I still think she's a great player, but, uh, this person probably took that as Nico says F you, Georgia Johnson. So, yeah. You know what? I find that interesting. Like, so, so in my YouTube video, like I asked the, I feel like sometimes I'll ask the question that a lot of people are asking, like the question now, and the sentiment that I'm getting online is, is it panic time for the St. Louis shock?

[00:54:14] And I think a lot of times people just by asking the question that's out there, people assume that that is your, your take. Right? So in my video, I'm like, no, you know, there's some problems. I think they're going to work it out, but I guarantee you people are going to be like, it's dumb. It's been two events. It's not panic time. Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. So yes, I am kind of like, I'm asking the question, but you're not actually answering to or listening to the answer that I'm giving. Yeah, no, I get that.

[00:54:40] Any word that comes out of your mouth is actually what you believe. If it has a question mark, or if it's a statement is the same for the people online. So at least for some people. So you got to be careful. This is true. All right. Next up. This is a cool one. We've got Adam approach says not going to lie. I've never been interested in watching MLP and I usually just tune into the PPA, but you may be interested here. Is there a good place to watch an MLP event after the fact? Yeah, YouTube.

[00:55:06] But I mean, the interesting thing is like, I really, I feel like MLP has good momentum right now. I like, I think that the, I think the storylines are good. I think that the drama is, is good. I was sitting there watching MLP with Michael Lloyd and Zoe yesterday. And I'm like, man, the crowds are packed there. I don't, you know, I can't tell how big the crowd sizes are, whatever, but it was packed. I'm like, man, this feels like a real, like legit sporting event.

[00:55:34] So yeah, I thought, uh, I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think MLP is, is about to turn a corner here this year in terms of popularity. It might end up becoming more popular than PPA. And I think a lot of people that were kind of like curmudgeons, like, you know, the, I like traditional pickleball are starting to like MLP. Uh, and every weekend feels like it really matters. Whereas last year you got the storylines, but each weekend just kind of like left you

[00:56:03] like on a cliffhanger that you never really got closure or got that like final peak of adrenaline that you get with super Sunday. So I like it. Um, Zane, I did see also a comment that said, these two didn't learn anything. They still think Ben got lucky. And I will say, we said that we were wrong about Ben Johns. Zane then put out his own personal video about how he was wrong with Ben, about Ben Johns. I put out a tweet and a video saying, I think I owe Ben Johns an apology. What more do you want from us? Like, what do we need to do? Ben get on our knees.

[00:56:32] Like what's happening? You know, like, I think they need video. I think they need that. I think that's what they, they need. I don't know. Like, I don't think, I don't know how much, how we could have been any clearer about that. I think, I think that the thing that they, they, that he is probably harping on is the fact that we said everything kind of had to go right for that team to win. It wasn't just that Ben, we didn't say anything about Ben not being the best ever. It's just that that team also has three other players and they have to play against the shock who has arguably three of the best five players on the planet.

[00:57:02] So, uh, yeah, we'll see. It's a long season. Ben is definitely the best player on earth. We agree. Wait, hold on. I also want to clarify that. I've never ever said that Ben is not the best pickleball player on earth. Again, the argument was not that he's not the goat. The argument that I was wrong about was that Hayden had a higher ceiling. I never even touched the fact, like people also mischaracterized that one saying that like Ben is still the goat. Ben has always been the goat. Right. Yeah.

[00:57:32] We were saying Hayden potentially has a higher ceiling. Like no, never once said that Hayden is the best player on earth. Yeah. Well, it is what it is. Uh, Zane, anything else, uh, for you before you, uh, hop in, have a great clinic, run some chainsaws and then play three hours of rec with the participants afterwards. Shant be playing three hours of rec, but nope, that's about it for me.

[00:57:57] Um, I've got another two hours of clinics here over at a match point pickleball, uh, winner of the dink awards. So anyway, guys, if you made it this far, make sure to subscribe, uh, make sure to check out the pro pickleball, uh, talk discord. We'll try and get the, the, the accurate link in there this time and yeah, check it out. And next week we will have a recap on the St. Louis event. All right. And leave one comment, everybody, your job. There's 10,000 people that watch this, leave a comment. Let us know.

[00:58:25] We love reading them and we'll see you after St. Louis pickle pod. Pickle pie.