Episode 78 | Nerdy Tourney Recap, Aireo Cyclone Hybrid, 24/7 Turbo, Selkirk Omni

[00:00:04] What is up nerds? Welcome back to episode 78 of the The Pickleball Pursuit Podcast. I am your host, the new king of nerds. Here with my co-host, the former king of nerds, Justin from Pickleball, etc. How you been baby girl? You know I've been great. God, it feels good.

[00:00:25] I was about to say, it's your turn for the nicknames, the superlatives, you know what I mean? The champ is here! The champ is here! It's your turn to do a whole podcast with the belt in front. I know last year after I won it, I'm pretty sure I did that entire episode. I'm pretty sure it was there the whole time as well. You gotta live it up, you know what I mean? Gotta gloat a little bit. And don't think it's gonna make people think you're good. Because I won it last year. And I spent this entire year just getting told I got carried.

[00:00:54] Yeah. So, it doesn't actually earn you any street cred or respect, but you think it should, you know? In my mind it does. We'll see. And guess what? All those people hating, let me see your belt. That's all I gotta say. Yeah. You know what? It was a good day. Yeah, throw yours up there, baby! Let's go! Come on! I was gonna say, look, it can make an appearance, but it can't stay any longer, you know? Let me just say this right now. We'll retire it.

[00:01:23] You know what I mean? The PP Pod owns the Nerdy Tourney. We'll retire it. We do. Well, Justin, we had a pretty eventful Nerdy Tourney, so I think it's just in everyone's best interest for us to just give them a little recap of the tournament.

[00:01:43] We'll run through some favorite moments, some superlatives, and then just obviously say a huge thank you to Bread and Butter and all the people that made it possible for this event to happen. Then we'll run into some new paddles. New week, new main. And we're gonna skip Nerdtown this week because we just don't have anything good to talk about right now. And then Justin's also gonna give us some important updates from USAP. I don't know if you can call them important, but just interesting.

[00:02:12] Yeah, interesting updates. Well, let's first run through the Nerdy Tourney. Justin and I went down to Vero Beach on a beautiful Wednesday, and we hung out with a couple people and Doug and just kicked it around. Then everybody showed up on Thursday, and man, it was a freaking blast, dude.

[00:02:36] Nothing really crazy that happened of note worthy on Thursday or Friday that I can remember. Am I missing anything? I feel like it was pretty chill. No, it was just like good vibes. The weather was great. Apparently there had been a big storm in Florida a couple days before we got there. So when we got there, it was like high of 83. It was partly sunny, a little breezy. It was beautiful. It was perfect. We really had great weather the whole time we were there.

[00:03:03] And then now today we're home and I saw on the weather, it looks like there might be getting some storms. Dang. We brought the weather. It was good while we were there, and then we're out of there and it's storming. So I came back, yeah, landed in Austin, Texas, and the lady on the plane was like, if you can, please close the windows. It's 92 degrees outside. I was like, it's 10 a.m. Yeah, it's 10 in the morning. Yeah, it was hot when I got off the plane in New Orleans.

[00:03:30] So, yeah, it was pretty nice. That beach weather, it really is different. And people are, you know, sometimes people are like, dang, it's so hot here. I'm like, guys, this is lovely. Like, y'all should come to Central Texas or Louisiana. It's just like disgustingly muggy and hotter. And there's no breeze, you know? It's just nasty, nasty feeling. Well, yeah, we had a great time.

[00:03:58] But, I mean, I think everybody's here to hear about the nerdy tourney itself. So, Justin, man, I'll let you go first. We'll save, you know. Yeah, mine's a lot less eventful. The great one for last. Not to brag or anything. So, mine's pretty quick. I played with Bobby from Pickleball Blast. Great partner, actually. Great dude. Easy to play with. He's a lefty. Our styles work well together. I actually was, like, thinking we might have been a dark horse in the tournament. I was like, we got a chance here.

[00:04:28] Yeah, I thought y'all had a chance for sure. Because we had a decently balanced team. It's not like either of us could be really picked on, like, horribly or anything. We played some rec games the two days before. And I'm pretty sure we only lost one game. We played against a lot of the other teams. And then we played against some, like, you know, just mixed up people. But I think we went, like, 9-1 or something. We were like, alright, we're ready. Chris and I did not go 9-1 in rec play. Yeah, see, the pregames never matter, by the way. No.

[00:04:58] But, so we were feeling good. I was feeling good. I mean, I was happy to have him as a partner. Even before we played together. When we played together, everything was as expected. It was fun for me playing the left. Because he's a lefty. Yeah, going to the tournament. First round we get, speaking of lefties, we get Nico the lefty. And Mortimer. I don't know if we'll say his real name. But his online name is Mortimer. The top BNB ambassador by a long shot. The dude is just, like, ambassador extraordinaire. Also, just a great guy.

[00:05:28] Yeah. So, shout out to him and his wife. Both super nice. Great people. Good vibes. Like, all positivity. We played them in the first round. Bobby and I go down 6-1. By the way, it's only one game to 11, which I thought was insane. That kind of sucked. The stakes were high this year. The stakes were really high. Yeah. Last year we got to play to 15 at least. But, yeah. So, one game to 11. We go down 6-1. And we're like, oh. And most of that was Mortimer. Shout out to him.

[00:05:57] Dude's hands were on fire. And Nico's hands are really good, too. Nico is. Nico's, like, a really fast hand. Legit. Yeah. Me and Bobby had to have a mid-game powwow at 6-1. And we were like, hey, let's stop speeding up. Even a high ball, let's just not. You know? Yeah. Be patient. So, we just played real boring. Played the soft game. And it worked out. And we came back in 111-6. Dang. Dang. You went on a 10-point run? Well, it was like back and forth. There were some side outs. But, I mean, still. Yeah. Pretty much.

[00:06:26] Yeah. 10-on-8. That's crazy. Yeah. But it felt like. I didn't know that. After that game. Because after going down. And then also, as soon as you win a game, you are out of the toilet bowl bracket. Because that's just whoever keeps losing, losing, losing. So, we were like, whew. You know? We're out of the toilet bowl. We won a game. On to the quarters. We got the matchup in the quarters was Brayden from Pickleball Effect and Rafa, Pickleball Stomp Dude. And we were feeling pretty good. We were feeling pretty good about the matchup.

[00:06:56] We were like, we got this. You know? We can take these guys. I mean, they're a very good team. And they're very balanced as well. Mm-hmm. But I played with Rafa like, I don't know, 50 games. I played Rafa a lot because he's just a couple hours from me. And so, I know his game. I mean, it goes the opposite way. He knows my game too. I was messing with him before the game. And I told him right before we started. I was like, I told Brayden, his partner. I was like, hey, sorry dude, but we got this. I've literally never lost to Rafa ever. And Rafa's like, what? Is that true?

[00:07:25] And I was like, yeah, I've never lost to you. And I was like, and I'm not starting now. Anyway, totally not true. But they both believed it. So, I was like, yeah, let me get in their head. That was a mistake. Okay? That was a big mistake. Rafa took that personally. Yeah, he sure did take that personally. Because, dude, Rafa played out of his mind. Like, I told him afterwards. I was like, man, you got to upload those highlights. Like, I know they're going to make me look silly. Because he roasted me.

[00:07:54] But, I was like, that was some of the craziest shots I've ever seen. So, props to Rafa. Brayden played solid too, by the way. Nothing bad on Brayden. But, it was just like Rafa kind of took over. Combination of Rafa playing amazing. And me playing like total dog shit for the second half of that game. And it's only one game until 11. So, that was over. Rafa hit me with, I think, two, maybe three clean dink winners. Which is insane. Like, Justin didn't even touch it clean.

[00:08:22] I'm like, reaching, like, lunging. Can't even touch the ball. Yeah. Props to Rafa. He pulled out the tricks. It was not your game, Justin. That was one. As someone who's played with you a bunch. I turned over, you know, me and Aaron from Pickleball Fact Podcast. We're standing there watching, cheering our boys on. And, there was a couple points in a row where you just had a couple of, you know,

[00:08:48] uncharacteristic, but the, it was like the perfect, you know, game in the negative sense, really. And I was like, I looked over at Aaron and I was like, they're going to lose this game. It was like 6-2 or something like that. And then, sure enough, I think, was it 11-2? 11-3. We got smoked. Yeah. It was tough. I mean, the first half of the game was actually really tight. We sat at, like, 3-3 and 4-3 for a long time. And then, and then I started playing really bad at the same time that Rafa started playing amazing.

[00:09:17] And it was just, like, over 11-3. Yeah. It was tough. Got to give them their credit. I told Rafa this. Rafa went on to play the next game. And like I said, I've seen Rafa play, like, 50 games. I was like, dude, this is the best game of your life. You just play it out of your mind. Yeah. To give you and Bobby credit, it was the perfect storm of y'all's worst game. And they played just phenomenal. Yeah. I wouldn't say that was their best game. But they just played phenomenal pickleball. They gave y'all, they capitalized on every single mistake.

[00:09:48] And that's it. I was getting what I wanted to because, like, my entire game is, like, get a high backhand. I got, like, three high backhands and sprayed them out three in a row. And I was like, oh, my God. Yeah. It was hard to watch. I was rooting hard for you, though. I was like, bro, this is your time after the game. Because I was like, that's the best I've ever seen you play. You know, go win the belt. Bro goes into the semifinals and misses, like, six of those same dinks that he burned me with. And I was like, you motherfucker. I was so pissed from the sidelines.

[00:10:17] I was like, why don't you miss a single one? Yeah. I, like, yelled at him. I was like, bro, where was this shit in our game? You know, like. But anyway. That's neither here nor there. He probably had more pressure coming at him. Because they were playing against Q and Mijangos. Man, it was. Justin was in a dark place after that. For like 10 minutes. Yeah. That one hurt me bad. I looked over at Justin's like this. Because I knew it was on me. Eating his Powerball artist, pouting in the corner. I was like, oh, boy. It was rough. I had to process it. Yeah. That was the most upset.

[00:10:46] And when I say upset, I mean, it's just pickleball. So it's not actually serious. Yeah. But that was the most, like, disappointed to myself I've been after a pickleball game in, like, in recent memory. Maybe ever. Because I could feel the swing of the game. And I knew it was on me. And I got, like I said, I got all the shots I wanted. And had I just played, you know, decently. I feel like that could have changed the game. And it's a quick game to 11. So I was like, man. I felt bad, you know, for Bobby, my partner. Because as soon as you lose, you're out. So that was it. That's the end of my tournament. One and one. Out.

[00:11:16] Done. Yeah. The Nerdy Tourney is not for the week. I mean, it is razor thin margins. It's like, you've got to be on it. By the way, right after that round, they were like, hey, we're doing pretty good on time. We'll just go to 15 now. And I'm like, why couldn't we go to 15 last game? Like, not that we were going to come back from 11-3. But maybe. You know, you never know. It's like. Yeah. So that was it for me. So that's the boring one. Come on. Walk us through, big dog. Take us to the championship. It was, you know, Chris and I.

[00:11:47] We did the damn thing. We started out playing Alex from the Dink and Martin Fielder from Whiskey Dink. And that was. They scored the most points on us than they did almost anybody apart from, you know, won't spoil it. One of their last games. And I told him, I was like, man, y'all played really good. We had. They were up on you guys, right? At one point. I think so. I think. Six, four, six, two. I think so. Or maybe it was. Maybe we were up four, six.

[00:12:17] But it was close. Like, it was close at one point. And then we kind of just took it away. I think it was 11-6. If I'm not mistaken. Maybe we were down. I can't remember. But yeah, I mean, it was. People were cheering. Like, it was first round. So you know who loses goes into the toilet bowl. And you were playing at the same time as me in the first round. And I could hear. Oh, no. Like, Doug's on the mic talking about. Chris is in trouble. Yeah. Chris and Louis are in trouble.

[00:12:46] Like, I was like, oh, no. Are they going to the toilet bowl? Because I'm playing a game, but I can hear it. Yeah. Because everybody, you know, loves to give you guys shit. So. Of course. Yeah. We're fun targets, man. We give ourselves some more shit probably than most people give us. Yeah. But yeah, we won that game. Loved Martin and Alex. Man, I told him when we matched up with them. I was like, I'm actually kind of glad we get to play y'all first. Because I really like both of y'all. And that just. It will relieve all the pressure from either side.

[00:13:16] You know. Not that there's anybody there that I didn't like. But you know. You just. People. Some people you're just like super cordial. Super fun. Super easy going. And those two dudes are definitely that for sure. So. It was. It was great playing them. We. We went. Won that game. I think 11. Six. And then we moved on to the winner's bracket. Against. Pauly. And. Rob Barnes. Who. Is the. One of the owners of Selkirk. And he. Actually beat me. At the Selkirk.

[00:13:46] Tournament. That we went to. So I was like, Rob. I'm coming for you, bro. Yeah. I'm coming for you. Oh yeah. And. Man. I don't know what happened. But that game. I just turned it on. My drives were. Kind of nuts. And then they kind of just stopped hitting. Uh. Returns to me. And Chris. Took over. Chris played. Phenomenal. Rob Barnes. Is good at the ball. He's good dude. Yeah. He is very good. For someone who rarely plays. I mean he's like. I put him very squarely. In between 4 and 4. 5.

[00:14:15] Like no problems at all. Yeah. And then Paul's also a baller. Um. Paul hits. The shit. Hit. Out of the ball. Uh. I would say. Pound for pound. He's probably one of the hardest hitters out there. And. Yeah. Because he weighs 120 pounds. Yeah. That's what you're saying. Pound for pound. He is so hard bro. Uh. And Paul's just a sweetheart. Always smiling. Always having fun. And that was a really fun game as well. We won that one. I think it was 11-4. If I'm not mistaken. Maybe. I could have that score wrong. But.

[00:14:46] Um. Felt a lot closer than it was. But we. We pretty much took care of business in that one. And then we went to the simis. And this is when they started implementing the. Best to 15. Or excuse me. Games to 15. And uh. That was when. We had a big upset. Mike. From. Bread and butter. Played. Wilson. From. Matthew K's pickleball podcast. Uh. And. They. Beat. Isaac. And um.

[00:15:16] Logan Brown. Sorry. I uh. Was. Completely. Going blank there. But. They had a big upset there. They played. Uh. Played them and beat them in the quarters. So we played them in the simis. And. Wilson. Is a baller. Wilson's. Legitimately good. At pickleball. Um. And. Mike. Is also. An absolute baller. This was. A very. Very competitive game. But the scoreline. Wouldn't really. You know. Didn't give them the credit.

[00:15:46] They. They deserved. I think it was. Fifteen nine. Maybe. Um. Fifteen seven. But we started out real early. My drives were. Killing it. Again. And we kind of. Got to a. We got to a big lead. I think it was six one. If I'm not mistaken. And then just kind of. Kept rolling on. Chris played really good. Um. This happened like the whole tournament. By the way. People are like. Probably thinking. Return to Lewis. You know. Because Chris is a better player. Right. But. Lewis's drives were like. Very good.

[00:16:16] A lot of people. And even on the sidelines. Were commenting. And they're like. Dude. What the. Yeah. So. Those drives were getting you guys. A lot of points. Or getting you like. Easy fifths. Yeah. So then. And then people would return to you. And then they'd go down. And they'd be like. Oh crap. And then they'd return to Chris. Well it's like. Kind of lose lose. Because Chris is good. Yeah. Chris is really good. Yeah. Chris is also really good. At setting up his patterns. Like his preferred patterns. Yeah. Very rare. I can't think of. But maybe a. Handful of situations. Where we were not in patterns. That we didn't want to be in.

[00:16:46] And I'll get into that. Those points. In a minute. But. Yeah. We beat Wilson and Mike. Probably the best. Competitive game. We played all day. There was a bunch of elongated points. Lots of. Scrambles. And you know. That was a fun game to watch. Re-establishing at the kitchen. You know. All four players. And continuing on. It was just a really good game. Against two. Great players. And just like. Super nice dudes. So. Got that one done. So we moved on to the finals.

[00:17:16] And who are we going to play. Other than. Steven Majangas. Last year. My. My carrier. And. John Q. The nicest guy. In pickleball. And. We played them in the finals. And. I looked at Steven. I was like. One of us gets the belt this year. So. I was really happy that. Steven made it to the finals. Because. Like I said. Steven's a. Killer dude. And. Just a beast of a player. And then John's just also. Just such a nice.

[00:17:46] Chill. Happy guy. So. We were. Pumped to play them. They were pumped to play us. And. First game. I think they were probably the favorites. By the way. Going into this. We asked. Yeah. I think. Majangas is an animal. Majangas is legit. He is. Steven's awesome. So good. And. Q was playing the right. Pretty well. Very well. Like they had a. I don't want to say anybody had an easy run. But. You guys did pretty well on your way to the finals. You didn't really have too many close close games. Neither did they. By the way. No. No.

[00:18:15] They kind of made their way through the bracket. So it was going to be the. You know. The clash of titans. And like you said. The two finalists. Second place guys from last year. One of you gets redemption. Steven told me that. Yeah. Before he started. He looked at me. And he was like. Hey. At least me or Lewis get redemption until. Losing to you. And I was like. Good luck. But I hope Lewis wins. Yeah. He. Yeah. He was. He was pumped to play man. He. Steven is a. Competitor.

[00:18:45] That dude is. I was the only person rooting for you guys. Remember when they were like. Who wants. Oh yeah. Come on Q. And Steven Mijangos to win. And like. Everybody cheers. Yeah. It was crazy. Who wants Chris and Lewis to win. I'm like. Me. Yeah. That was. It was just me. Literally you. Yeah. And then. What's funny is. We were up like. Three or four. No. We were up. Maybe it was like. Six one. Or something like that. I can't remember. Or. Seven one. Something like that.

[00:19:15] In the first game. Which was. In the finals. We did. Best two out of three. Games to eleven. And. We were up like. Six one. And then. Me. Being the. Dumbass that I am. I'm about to serve. Rafa's being the ref. Calling the score. And after he calls the score. I look over to Chris. I said. Listen. Listen to all these haters. Being all quiet. They wanted us to lose. And then I proceed to. Just smoke my serve. Right into the middle. Of the net. And I just cracked up. And laughed. Good moment. And moved on.

[00:19:45] Thank God. Chris is my partner. Because he's the only other person. In there. That would do something. Exactly the same. As I had just done. So. Yeah. We. We came out on fire. On the first game. It was. It was almost like. We couldn't even do anything wrong. Really. I mean. It. I think we won eleven. Five. The first game. And. They got. You know. Most of those points. At the very end. And. It was. We kind of.

[00:20:14] We kind of kicked some ass. Steven made a couple. Early mistakes. That were. Uncharacteristic of him. And then. We just. Kept the pressure on. For the rest of the. The game. And then game two happened. And. Holy shit. Did we play. So bad. I don't even know. What went wrong. Steven turned it on. Yeah. I don't know what went wrong. I told you guys. After game two. Your drives had been good. But. Somehow in game two. Both of your drives were so bad. They were all like.

[00:20:44] Shoulder high. And. Steven's not the tallest dude. But he plays big on fourths. And he was crushing. Every time. You guys had hit a third shot drive. And it was too high. And he was just crushing the fourth. And then you could. Usually not even make it to the net. Yeah. Because it became a challenging fifth. So. Yeah. He was kind of dominating. On his fourths. Because your drives were so bad. But you guys didn't ever stop driving. You just kept doing it. We should have gone back to the. To playing slower. But man. They beat the shit out of us. I think it was 10-0 at one point. We luckily.

[00:21:14] By the skin of our teeth. Got a point. And lost a. 1-11. So. Yeah. They were about to pickle you guys. They had the serve to pickle you. Yeah. It was. It was nice. I'm glad we didn't get pickled. But man. They played. Pretty much flawless pickleball. That game. They were just. They didn't make any mistakes. They didn't do anything dumb. They just. Played the game that they knew. Playing his role perfectly. Yes. Sliding and hitting backhand counters really well. Yeah. And his forehand dinks were solid. And he didn't try to do too much.

[00:21:43] He did a few forehand speed ups. So it wasn't like. Only dinking. You know. If the ball is high enough. He was going to speed it up. He wasn't like playing scared. But. His forehand dinks were unattackable. And his backhand counters were really good. On the right side. His backhand counters were legit. He played his role perfectly that game. Like. Chris hit one. They both did. Yeah. Chris hit one speed up. That I remember very vividly. And John slid and just smacked it. I was like. Oh. Okay. We're going to have to. We're going to have to figure something out. I think we were. That was. At that point. We were like. Down 07 or something. I was like. This is.

[00:22:13] This is not looking good. We might have to concede this game. But. Neither Chris or I were really too worried about it. We were just like. Okay. I mean. Whatever. It's 1-1. The last game is the one. Only one that matters. Let's go ahead and win it. So we lost the second game. As I said. And then. The third game. Justin. Right before the third game. Justin comes. He goes. You got to stop driving guys. They're. They're eating you alive. You got to stop. I had to pretend to go get a water. And I walked right past them. And like. Gave him some coaching. I was like. Y'all. Stop hitting drives.

[00:22:43] Yeah. I was like. They are killing you on your drives. I was like. Just hit some drops. Get to the line. Yeah. I wanted you to win. And it was very obvious. From the sideline. That the drives were not working. Yeah. They kicked our ass. In that second game. But the third game. We. We respected Justin's. Game plan. We hit a bunch of drops. And. We went on a bunch of runs. Yeah. We played. We really just. Kind of. We're patient. We kind of waited out points. And.

[00:23:13] You know. If something was high. Chris would speed it up. Or I would speed it up. Or. You know. We'd. We'd make them. Make the mistake. In the dink patterns. And then. It was a pretty clean win. I think we won. 11. Four. In the finals. In the third game. And. Bro. Did Chris. Struggle. With his back. In that whole entire. I can't believe. I forgot to say this. In the first game. And. Anybody who's listened. Probably listened to it. Yeah. First game of the finals. Anybody who listens to this.

[00:23:43] Probably listens to Chris's podcast. And. And watches his channel. So they're. You know. Very familiar with his back problems. So. First game. Maybe. Halfway through the first game. He like. Runs after a. Ball that. Looks like it's gonna. I think it was like a net cord runner. If I'm not mistaken. And it. Bounced out. And he like. Was running to go get the ATP. And fortunately didn't have to. And he kind of slowed down. And his. Back kind of caught up on him. I watched it happen. I was like. Oh. This is not good. Yeah. It was very obvious. Yeah. He like. Winced. And was like.

[00:24:12] Clearly in pain. Yeah. And I mean. All. Throughout. I mean. So he had. You know. Two and a half games. To play on. A pretty jacked up back. And I could just tell. It was. Killing him. I mean. You even saw it too. He like. Kicked one of the balls back to me. When it was his serve. So he didn't have to bend down. And pick it up. Yeah. That's why I knew. I was like. Oh. This is bad. It happened multiple times. Yeah. They would hit the ball back to him on his serve. And he would just either let it roll by him to you. Or one time he even walked over to the ball. Kicked it to you. Yeah. To pick up. To then hand to him. Because the bag was starting so bad.

[00:24:42] I didn't want to bend over. He played fantastic. With a jacked up back. What's funny is after the. His feet did stop moving as much. Yeah. Yeah. But he played smart. It was all right. He played around it. Which was very impressive. But he even said after the game. He was like. I was. Y'all were dinking to me. I was like. Stop dinking. And then I was like. That's funny Chris. Because you kept telling me. Lewis. Keep dinking. Keep dinking. Yeah. So it was. It was working. Yeah. It was working. We got the dub. And man.

[00:25:11] It felt good. How did it feel? Chris won off an Ernie. Yeah. Championship point. Don't watch the footage back. It's an Ernie. He didn't. It was clean. It was clean. It was completely clean. It's an Ernie. I was not like an Ernie bag. But it was almost Ernie bag. He like. Yeah. Ernie'd and hit Q's paddle. So it's not technically a bag. But kind of. Yeah. It was. It was. It was a great way to end it. So that was cool. Great way to end it for sure. But yeah. We ended up winning. Got the belt. I was screaming. Some stupid stuff. I don't know.

[00:25:41] I was saying where yet. Yeah. You were talking shit to me for some reason. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's going on there bro. I just blacked out. I went WWE on everybody. So. And then. It was a good feeling huh? Oh yeah. It was awesome. It was really fun. It was really fun. And then. We just hung out for the rest of the day. And. Enjoyed our. Our dub man. Man. It was a good time. Very fun tournament. High stakes. Everyone got better. Toilet bowl. Recap. Yeah. Let's go with the toilet bowl. Let's move on to that.

[00:26:10] Because that's probably what everybody really wants to hear. They don't care about this. And you said everybody got better. I think maybe. Maybe everyone did get better. But. For anybody who wants to see. Lewis was the one. By the way. Who. He was like the guy. Who everyone's like. Damn. He's gotten way better. I've been putting in work guys. You're the one who impressed. I was hoping it was going to be me. I was hoping I was going to be the guy. And everyone was like. Damn. He got way better. But it wasn't okay. It definitely wasn't. They were like. Damn. You got worse. Shit. No. You did not get worse. No way. Every single person there. I did play terrible though.

[00:26:40] Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And then we had some new people. You know. Nico Delefti. Alex from the Dink. Yeah. Martin. Whiskey Dink. Probably a couple. Alex. Yeah. I said Alex. And then. Oh you did. Okay. Yeah. But it was cool man. It was a good group. It's a good vibe. But yeah. Toilet Bowl is. If you don't know how the Nerdy Tourney works. It's basically like a mirrored bracket. Everyone starts in the middle. The winners go. And you know. Go this way towards the championship. And all you have to do is win to continue. Of course. The Toilet Bowl is.

[00:27:10] Inverse. Like you lose. Inverse. You lose to continue. As soon as you win. You're out. But you're like. Whew. I'm out. Because now you don't have to go to the Toilet Bowl game. Call it the Toilet Bowl. It's like the Orange Bowl. Like you know. The Rose Bowl. It's the Toilet Bowl. Yeah. But it's the loser of the losers. So technically. You have to go 0-4. To be the Toilet Bowl. Loser. Or winner. You know. Yeah. The biggest loser. Yeah. So. This year. It was. Matt. Corey. From Matt's Pickleball.

[00:27:40] And Doug. I don't know his last name. Not Doug from Bread and Butter. But Doug. The CMO of Selkirk. It was dangerously close to being. Doug. From B&B. And. Oh yeah. That's true. And Dustin. Very close. Yeah. Doug from. Yeah. Doug. Owner of Bread and Butter. Was playing with Dustin. For Pickleball Medicine. And they were one loss away. From going to the Toilet Bowl. And they were actually down in the game. But then they turned it on. And Dustin. Won that game on a Burt. By the way. Oh.

[00:28:09] I forgot about that. It was sick. Yeah. Yeah. And. They played great. By the way. There was a game to 15. They went to 17. By the way. Because I called the score 14-11. Oh. It's not 14. You have 13. And they were like. You can't be 13. We're even. You know. We have 12 or 14. Yeah. You have 13. You have 13. And they were like. Fine. We'll just play like we have 12. Yeah. I remember that. Because all of us on the sideline were like. So. They literally played like that 12. They went on to win anyway. So they basically won 17 to 11. So that was like a power move. Honestly.

[00:28:39] By Dustin and Doug. Yeah. Dustin was like. Yeah. We're going to win this. It's 12. It's 12. Yeah. He was. And he just kept serving. Literally. It was 14-11-2. And he was like. We'll just say 12. 12-11-2. They went on to win 17-11. Didn't give up to serve again. But yeah. So. Doug. From Selkirk. And Matt Corey from Matt's Pickleball. Were the. The biggest losers. I guess. Yeah. The toilet bowl. And it doesn't. Like. I said this right after. I was like.

[00:29:08] Just look at Doug dude. He's like the most. Handsome bastard you've ever seen. Yeah. He's still winning in life. Oh yeah. When you look at him compared to us. Yeah. So anyway. That's what I told him. I was like. You're still beautiful Doug. You're still beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was an amazing sport about it. Super nice guy. Oh my gosh dude. Yeah. He's the best. Yeah. And I'm about to get to the part. That was like one of my favorite moments of the weekend. It has to do with him. You probably know what I'm going to say. Oh yeah. But. So. Earlier in the day. We were like.

[00:29:37] Setting up for the party that happens at Nerdy Turner. Maybe it was the day before. But there's a dunk tank. That's outside of the hotel. The place where like the courtyard. Where we eat. And like. You know. Hang out. And. Brett and Butter Doug was like. Just so y'all know. Who's ever in the toilet bowl. Is going to have to get in the dunk tank. And everyone's going to get a chance. To throw the ball. Like dunk him in the water. And they were putting ice in the water. And everything in the dunk tank. So we were like. Mike told me. He was like. I didn't put the ice in there. To make it cold. I only put it in there. Because it was like.

[00:30:07] Boiling hot water. When he filled it up. Oh. Yeah. It was like super hot. But it was. The water. I felt it. It was. It was chilly. It was not. It was chilly. Yeah. It was not warm. Yeah. So. Anyway. If you remember. Lewis earlier had said. That I was sitting over there. Being bummed out. After my loss. Well. The timing wasn't too far off. Actually from. Like the game before. The toilet bowl. Yeah. And. I was over there. In the corner. Sitting there.

[00:30:37] Contemplating my life choices. And why I even play pickleball. And. Matt. From Matt's pickleball. Had just lost. The game. To now go to the toilet bowl. He hadn't lost the whole thing yet. And he came and sat next to me. And he seemed bummed out too. So it was just. Yeah. He was very bummed out. Poor guy. I looked at him. And I was like. I was like. Losing fucking sucks. And he was like. Yep. And I was like. It's only 1 p.m. I looked at my watch. I was like. It's only 1 p.m. I'm about to see if I can move my flight up. And get out of here today. And he goes. That's a good idea. And then he pulled out his phone. And I was like.

[00:31:07] I was like. I'm just kidding. But. Then yeah. When it came later. In the day. It was like. Oh now it's the party. We're back at the hotel. I went back. I took a nap. I took a shower. And then everyone's partying. And then. Everyone's like. Talking. They're like. Dude. Matt's is gone. Yeah. They're like. Yeah. He was on his way out. He like. Literally changed his flight. I guess. And. A couple people saw him on his way out with his luggage. And. Yeah. He took off. He said he's not getting in that dunk tank. He was bummed. He was really bummed. Yeah.

[00:31:36] So. That's a bummer. And. Damn. I hope he wasn't like. Actually that sad about. Yeah. You know. The bread and butter fun nerdy tourney. To make him like. Want to leave. And not hang out. Because that was like. One of the best times. Was. That night after the tournament. Yeah. And then it came time for the dunk tank. And. You know. Sail Kirk Doug gets in there. First. Because he. You know. Toilet bowl. Yeah. And. And. Let's shout out another great sport. Rob Barnes. CEO of Sail Kirk. Was like. I'll take Matt's spot. I'll get in the dunk tank. Yeah. So.

[00:32:06] He volunteered to get in the dunk tank. Also. As the owner of Sail Kirk. Who also didn't lose. Like. They had a good run in the tournament. I mean. They had went one and one. And. Anyway. So that was cool. But then Doug gets in there. Sail Kirk Doug again. And. Dude. This was like. The best. He had. Been. He told me later. He had been thinking all day. Since he lost the toilet bowl. About every person. I didn't know that. That's so good. He was like. I won't lie to you. I've been looking at everybody. And thinking about what I could say. And. Bro had a roast ready.

[00:32:36] For everyone. As they were coming up. It was incredible. To throw the ball. Like truly incredible. Yeah. It like changed the vibe of the whole thing. You know. Yeah. It was like such a good sport about it. That it made. Everyone like. You know. Stoked to do it. But we were also all laughing at each other. And it just changed the vibe of the whole dunk tank. It didn't feel like a punishment. It felt hilarious. No. It felt fun. And you know. Like first person who threw was like JJ. Yeah. And he missed low. And Doug's like. He was like. That's super low. Like your duper. You know. And the next person who threw too high. And he was like. Yeah.

[00:33:08] But then some of the roasts were more personal. But he had like. He was like quick witted. Like something for everybody. And it was so good. I got. He was roasting everybody. He did get dunked a few times. Yeah. He did. Yeah. He. I got up there real quick. And threw my ball as fast as I possibly could. I was like. I don't want to know what he's going to roast me for. It's going to be too bad. Because he was. Killing people. It was. Yeah. It was good. Had everyone like. Cackling the whole time. Yeah. But a few people. Hit. And dunked him. Let's see. Brayden hit twice. Yeah. Not only on him. Maybe three times.

[00:33:37] But over the night. He hit two times over the night. So did Slutsky. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. How do we forget? Robert Slutsky played right handed. And. Which is his offhand. In the tournament. Dude's a caveman. A literal monster of a human. In the best way. Yeah. Yeah. Good dude. Very good. Super athlete. Yeah. And just a cool dude. Yeah. But yeah. So he got in the dunk tank. Rob Barnes got in the dunk tank. And then Doug. Bread and Butter owner got in the dunk tank. And like since Selkirk Doug set the tone. Then it just became a thing where.

[00:34:07] Whoever was sitting up there. Was like just roasting the throwers. Doug had some. Bread and Butter Doug had some really good roasts too. Some really good ones. We all repeat them on the pod. But they were good. They were good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a good time. Everybody was just like. You know. Everyone had just eaten. And everyone's in like a good mood. The sun's going down. The weather's perfect. We're like all standing around a big group. Just cracking up laughing. Open. And tournament's over. So like all the performance stress is gone. Man.

[00:34:37] Just what a good vibe. So fun. So fun. Yep. Thank Chris for carrying me big dog. What a tournament. He didn't even carry you man. Yeah. It wasn't even. I watched a lot of your games. It wasn't even like. People didn't like. People didn't target you particularly. Except for like I said. They try to make you hit thirds in the beginning. And then they were like oh crap. Yeah. But you played great man. You played awesome. Appreciate it. I mean I've seen you play a lot. And I played with you a lot. And I think you played great. So. Thanks big. Pretty awesome. And look at that. And don't make me blush. Of course I'm stoked. Because it's like if I'm going to lose.

[00:35:06] At least you win. And now. Exactly. Yeah. PP still has the belt. You know what I mean. PP still has the belt baby. We're the. Yeah. We're the only podcast that has two belts. Just going to go ahead and say that right now. Good for Chris. You know. Good for Chris. Yeah. Chris deserves it. King of the nerds. Truly like. You know. If you want to call like the best reviewer. The top dog. He's been doing it for a long time. Quality is always on point. His. You know. His takes and opinions are always on point. He's always a good person to everybody. I mean. He deserves it. Chris is amazing. So. Yeah. Chris is a. And his channel is really good.

[00:35:37] Legitimate. Like the definition of an ambassador for the sport. Like. You know. No. No. No bullshit. He's just a great dude. He's always trying to do the right thing. And. You know. Respect the hell out of him. He's a. Really. Really good person. So. Happy he won it. Yeah. Honestly. In the final. I was like. Look. Like either John Q is getting the belt. Oh yeah. I'd be super happy for John. Yeah. Or Chris is getting the belt. I'd be super happy for Chris. Yeah. You know. You're getting the belt. I'm happy that it comes to the PV pod. Or Majango. It's one of our guys. Yeah.

[00:36:06] And just also a great person. Yeah. So. Whenever I saw you guys. Y'all four in the finals. I was like. Hell yeah. Yeah. This is going to be cool. I know. Whoever gets it. That's going to feel like. Yeah. They deserve it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I thought. Who was your pick to win it? Mine was John and Majangus. I think I actually said Isaac and Logan. Because dude. People sleep on Logan. He's like a solid 4-0. And then Isaac is. Logan's good. Really good. Yeah. Isaac is arguably the best player there.

[00:36:36] I wouldn't even argue it. That's what I was saying. Isaac is the best player there. In my opinion. Yeah. Majangus. Like. No disrespect. Dude is really good. But like. Isaac is very nearly like pro qualifier level. He's an extremely good player. Yeah. He's very dangerous. And he can. He's the type of player who can like take over a game. And then it's over. And you're like. What just happened? Yeah. And so you feel like you didn't have a chance. So. Yeah. Yeah. So that. Yeah. So. I mean they did great by the way. They did good. I watched some of their games.

[00:37:05] It was like a crazy game. That was one of the best games. Isaac and Logan. Versus Mike and Wilson. And dude. Mike was on fire. And Wilson just played so solid. Mike's a baller. And Mike and Wilson won that game. And I was kind of shocked. So. Yeah. That was probably the biggest upset of the day. Just because. You know. Isaac and Logan were a powerhouse of a team. Yeah. But Mike. And Mike's no slouch bro. That dude is legit. He's a good player. He's very smooth. Very smart.

[00:37:34] Very tricky and crafty. And honestly. So is Wilson. Wilson's pretty smooth. Pretty crafty. Has good aggressive. You know. He can take over. And be aggressive in points. Which. You know. I was super impressed by. All right. I think we kind of already. Last year. Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. Last thing I'll say. We talked about this last year. We were debating. What's better team. You know. Comp for this type of tournament. Do you want like a really good player. And then understanding that your partners aren't going to be very good. So it's like a carry situation.

[00:38:04] Which sort of happened at both of us last year. Our partners were like 5-0 plus. You know. And we're like 4-0s. Right. And it was very clear. Everyone's strategy. Going into every game was like. Against me and Will. They were like target Justin every ball. I knew that. They knew that. Everyone knew that. Yeah. Similar thing could be said with you and Mijangos. Or. It would be said. Is it better to have a more balanced team? Like. This year. Me and Bobby. You and Chris. Where it's like. There's no real clear target. You just like see what's working. Yeah. Well this year you guys won out. The more like balanced team. You know.

[00:38:33] I don't know man. I think it's. I think a little bit too. Is it just. You got to be. In flow state quick. Like you have to be the team. Oh yeah. Every team that has won or done well at these tournaments. So both teams in the finals this year. Both teams in the finals last year. Have had really good. Like vibes on the court. And team chemistry. That happened. Both of our teams last year. And you and Chris were like. Great on the same page. Really good vibes. Really good chemistry. Same thing could be said with. Steven and John Q.

[00:39:02] Which Steven's just like the easiest dude to play with. And so is Q. So. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. It was very easy to play with Chris. I mean. For anybody who has never had. The. The pleasure of playing with him. You know. For fun. Or in rec play. Or one of those meetups. Dude's just. Always smiling. Always having a good time. Doesn't matter how serious it is. Laughing. Yeah. Yep. He's gonna be laughing. All right. Well. Real quick. What was your favorite moment? Something that wasn't the nerdy tourney. I think we're gonna have the same thing.

[00:39:32] To me. It was. Cell Kirk Doug roasting everybody. Oh. That was good. Yeah. That was good. At the dunk tank. Just because it was so unexpected. Yes. And it had. The whole. It changed the vibe of that whole situation. Yeah. It changed what could have felt like a punishment. Sort of thing. To this. Deal where it felt like everyone was participating. And we were all laughing together. Yeah. And like I said. It was like. Sort of like he was leading. Leading the. Yeah. Yeah. And it was like. The end of the weekend. So everyone's like. You know. Tournament's over.

[00:40:02] That was just. Like. Like a ton of positivity. And just really funny. So. It was funny. Because it completely turned. The tables. It was like. Yeah. Oh. You're. You're getting punished. Actually no. Every one of you is getting punished. Because I'm a real style of you. Now you don't want to step up to throw the ball. Like you said. You're like. Yeah. I was like. I gotta go quick. I gotta go quick. No. No telling what he's gonna say. My favorite moment. Was. John Q. Playing drums. That was sick. Oh yeah. That was sick. He crushed it. Yeah. John's a beast of a drummer. He played drums for the. The live band.

[00:40:33] For one song. Mr. Brightside. White boy anthem. You know. And. Also. John. We asked him earlier. How long has it been since he's played drums? And he said he doesn't even have his drum set set up. So it's been like two years. That's crazy. So he just jumped on that drum set. With an unknown band. In front of all these people. After two years of not playing. And played Mr. Brightside. Which is a pretty fast song. Yeah. Very fast. Yeah. And just. Nailed it. So props to the band too. For it to be able to be like. Yeah. We'll play whatever song. Like you got a song you know. That we know. And. So.

[00:41:02] That was super cool. That was. You know what that reminded me of last year. John Q. Playing the drums this year. Was. John Park from Speak Pickleball. Beatboxing last year. Yeah. It was awesome. That was like surprised everybody. And made everybody go like. Oh holy shit. You know. Yeah. Well. We're going to move on to superlatives. We're going to give away some awards. We don't have any trophies for y'all. Because. We're cheap. I don't even know what this is. So I'm not prepped at all. You're going in. You're going in blind. So. All right. Who was the best player? And. Slutsky does not count.

[00:41:33] Yeah. Slutsky with his left hand. Like his real hand. It's not close. I mean. Yeah. He is levels above. Yeah. I think it's got to be Isaac though. Yeah. I would say Isaac's the most complete player. But if we're going off of just performance. I'd say Majangus is a very close second. Because. Dude. That dude just wins games. Wins games. Yeah. He is just. His focus. Like when he's playing. I got to learn how to do that. Yeah. He's just locked in. You know. Yep. Yeah. Maybe we can get Majangus on here. And give us a.

[00:42:02] A pickleball mindset. You know. Net games. Training. Yeah. Net games. Hey dude. I'm about to be gone for three weeks. Are you going to pod at all? Are you going to get somebody else on? Are you going to do solo? We'll find out. I don't even know. I have no clue. We'll see. All right. Well. Most improved. You can't say either of us. You have to say somebody else. Oh. Not either of us? Yeah. Hmm. Aaron? Yeah.

[00:42:32] Pickleball effect. Aaron's a good one. Editor Aaron? Yeah. I'm going to say. Pretty solid. Aaron's solid. Yeah. Aaron's very solid. Yeah. No disrespect to Aaron. But I don't think he was that solid last year. Yeah. Yeah. I got two most improves. Rafa. Okay. Rafa was very, very good. He played so good. And this one was one that you probably won't think about. But when I say it, you're like, oh yeah, definitely. Matt Hoffman from Dink and Drive. Oh, I didn't really get to watch any of his games.

[00:43:02] He has gotten a lot better. I mean, his serve, he smokes the ball. I mean, it's actually consistent now. Like, he can hit that hard serve 70, 80% of the time in. And 70 miles an hour. By the way, I was talking to Q and Chris, who both, you know, regularly, you know, radar their serves. And I was like, what do you think that is? It's like, and they received the serve too. I was like, you think that's like 60 miles an hour? And then they were like way over. They were like, I can serve 60. I can't serve that hard. So it's probably like literally a 70 mile an hour serve.

[00:43:31] It's one of the, if not the hardest serve, one of the hardest serves I've ever returned. Ever. Yep. But it's insanely hard. It is. It is a, the Magnum can hit. That's what I call a Magnum. The Magnum can hit that ball. Um, all right. Most surprising. Mine, I'll go first. Mine was very easy. It wasn't even close for me. Wilson. Wilson surprised the hell out of me. I mean, dude is a bonafide. I mean, he's basically a four or five level player. He's legit. And his duper's 3-9. And we didn't know him.

[00:44:00] We'd never seen him play. We never met him. All we know is, you know, he's at his duper's a three nine and he comes in and he's like a four or five. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great player. Everyone. The first day we were playing rec, Wilson starts playing. We were like, what the hell? Yeah. And then we saw he's playing with Mike. We were like, oh, this team's going to be trouble, dude. Yes. Yeah. For sure. And they were. We played them in rec play. And obviously this was the first time I'd seen Wilson play. And, uh, this was the first game. I think it was the first game of the day when we did our rec play.

[00:44:28] It was me and Chris versus Mike and Wilson, or maybe it was Wilson and somebody else. But Wilson started playing. I was like, oh shit. This team is going to be good because Mike is legit. And Wilson, we've already said before, he's a really solid player. Um, all right. Best new attendee. So we'll give him the MVP. Most valuable new attendee. I got it. I got one. Yeah. Martin Fielder. Whiskey dink. I was going to say Martin as well. He just, uh, do it.

[00:44:58] He's just a good guy. Like, yes, he's one of our guys, you know, and he, um, um, also he did a whole event that was like, he prepared for so well. He did a whiskey tasting. It was sick. It was so cool. Yeah, he did a whiskey tasting for everybody. He did like a full 45 minute Nerdtown on whiskey. Yeah. While pouring different types of whiskey for everybody and letting everybody do whiskey tasting. He also had like a companion app thing that you could scroll through. Yeah. Um, and people were locked in dude, like locked in. It was crazy.

[00:45:27] So, uh, Martin's a great dude. And honestly his, I mean, even his reviews, everything on his channel, he's always like spot on. He knows his stuff. He's a smart guy. He's easy to talk to. He's just kind. Yeah. Um, yeah. So he's somebody, uh, you know, would look for opportunities to hang out with. Yep. Yep. Love Martin. I would say Martin is a great one and I'd give a runner up to, uh, Alex from the dink. I thought he was just a, a solid, you know, solid dude. All the new attendees. I mean, Nico the lefty was super cool.

[00:45:56] Uh, Robert Slutsky also super cool. Had some zingers, bro. Bro was actually hilarious. Yeah. He's quiet until he would just like say something under his breath that was bleeding. Who am I forgetting? I mean, everybody was great. All the new people were there. I mean, the, the Selkirk people were awesome, you know, like that. It was great. Yeah. Um, all right. Who do you think had the best performance? You, but we can't say you. I mean, it was you though. Right. Chill out. I mean, like, I'm not even just saying that it was you.

[00:46:26] You played better than everyone expected. Yeah. You literally didn't have, like Chris is very good, but it's also injured Chris. He's not one of the top, top five Oh plus guys. And you guys won the tournament against Mijangos and John, who was like one of the, the big favorites going in. Yeah. Um, I'm gonna say Chris. Other than that. But broken back. Yeah. Broken back. Yeah. True. In the finals. Gutted it out. We'll give our runner up to Q. Yeah. Q also played great. Q was great. Great.

[00:46:56] And, uh, obviously Majangos, absolute baller. Uh, all right. Uh, biggest. Uh, sandbagger. So who's got the, the most false duper? Um, hmm. It's me or Wilson. Yeah. I would say. Let's just say Wilson. You or Wilson. Yeah. Me at a three seven or Wilson at a three nine, but we can just say Wilson because he played great. Yeah. I give it to, uh, to Wilson as well. All right. Uh, and the last one, most likely to hook you.

[00:47:27] Hmm. Um, this year who hooked you and Bobby hooked me in rec play. No, we did not. No, we both called it out immediately. No. Um, clean ATP winner. Clean. Yeah. Cleanly two inches from the line. No, no, no. Uh, hmm. Most likely to hook. Uh, I'm going to say Matthew K, but not for the reason you think. Yeah. Matthew K from Matthew K pickleball.

[00:47:56] I'm going to say he's most likely to hook because I don't know how he would see the line because he dude is full sprinting around the court. Crazy. Yeah, dude. He's just, and honestly, to watch his games. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. He's like yelling and screaming and just full sprinting, pure chaos around the court the whole time. So I could see how he would definitely miss some calls. Not because he's trying to be rude and rip you off. Cause I don't know his style at all, but like, how can you see the ball?

[00:48:24] If he sprinted past the net all the way on your side of the court and then all the way back and then all the way back. Yeah. Wild. That's a good one. That's a good one. Uh, all right. Well, um, that's really it. That's all we got to say. Uh, I want to give a massive thank you to bread and butter, the team at Selkirk, uh, especially Aurora, Julie, Naomi, T and Mike for all the hard work y'all did in creating this amazing tournament and atmosphere.

[00:48:54] It was at the hotel. Amazing. Yes. Meg at the hotel. Thank you. I knew I was forgetting somebody. Um, and obviously Doug, but yeah, I mean the, those core people made it happen. And, uh, Aurora, I think kind of took the lead on, on everything. So huge shout out to her and everybody involved without y'all wouldn't have been half as fun. Um, so thank y'all so much Barnes and Selkirk for not just like shutting this thing down.

[00:49:22] In fact, Doug's giving his final little speech and he's like, you know, just thanking everybody and talking about how cool this is. And he's like, you know, I don't know if this is the last time we'll do this now, you know, cause BNB is owned by Selkirk and from the crowd, Rob Barnes is like, we're doing it next year. Yeah. And then he's like, what? And he's like, we're doing it next year. And everyone's cheering. So that's so cool. It'll be cool to see how it goes next year.

[00:49:46] If it's like same or does it change or what, you know, but the fact that the Selkirk CEO owner of a very large company who has a lot to consider can, you know, be there and experience it and kind of see the value in something that doesn't make the money by the way. Yeah. It probably costs a shitload of money and I don't think they make any money off of this. It's just purely a community builder. That's it. And it's a great time.

[00:50:12] So the fact that, you know, he can see that shows how, you know, his like, uh, he's circumspect. He's able to like think about things and, uh, that's gonna be cool. Yeah. So hopefully it happened next year. Hopefully I get invited. I don't know. I'm not a Selkirk affiliate, but. Yeah. Well, we missed, uh, Dr. Chrissy Price. We missed Dave from Tickle My Pickle and we missed, uh, Jacob from All Drive No Drop. Those are a couple of people that could not make it. Miss you guys. Jacob keeps dodging us. I know. Jacob's a dodger.

[00:50:42] He's a, he's a dodger. Um, but last year was unfortunate. He did get sick. So can't, can't fault him for that. Um, miss you guys and gals. Hope to see y'all next week. Oh yeah. And John Park. Oh my gosh. John Park. John, I love you, baby. Um, gosh, how could I forget John? I mean, I think about him every day in my dreams. All right. I'm putting this belt up and we're going to move on to paddle talk, baby. It's going right here. You better, yeah. Keep it in frame at least. You got a year.

[00:51:12] It's in frame. You got a year. All right. It'll stay right there hopefully for the remainder of the year. But, uh, all right. We got some paddles to talk about. Uh, first we're going to talk about the new Aereo Cyclone Hybrid. Uh, they sent over two. I'll pick them up real quick. We got the Nanograph right here in green. And then the, uh, in the black it's their UPA certified version.

[00:51:39] And the UPA certified version is quite a bit grittier. Um, so if, if you're spin hungry, the Nanograph doesn't seem to be holding up as well as like six zero or infinigrid or, uh, you know, the course, um, code of grit, but harmony grit. Sorry. Couldn't think of the word for that. But, uh, I would probably just go with the UPA version if it, if, if it was my money.

[00:52:08] Um, but man play with this today and I'm not sure if it's just the fact that I had been playing with the loco for the past five days, but I played lights out with this today and didn't have any trouble controlling it. I remember the last time I played with the Cyclone, I had to put that thing down real quick. So I'm not going to go ahead and jump and say this is way more controllable than the elongated, but, um, I did seem to have a really easy time with this comparatively, but that

[00:52:37] could just be, you know, uh, some influence from the paddle that I've been playing with for the past few days. But rip spin, uh, I wouldn't say it's like overly gritty. Uh, honestly, dude, this is, this may pass USAP. Um, but, uh, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't put my money on it, but, uh, I would say it's just past USAP legal grit. And this nanograph is obviously very much legal, uh, USAP grit.

[00:53:06] So shape solid, a little bit longer handle, real nice, uh, thin throat taper and, uh, plenty of room for two hand backhands. It is, uh, seven, excuse me, 16.7 by 7.75, 16.2 by 7.75. Wow. I really messed that one up. Um, and then, uh, 104 swing weight, 6.6 twist weight. So pretty damn fast. That's the MPP stats, baby. That's the MPP.

[00:53:36] And I mean, the, uh, elongated was really light. I think it was 113 on average. So very, um, very much in line with, uh, you know, what you would expect, uh, from, you know, comparing it to their elongated shape. But anyway, uh, really quick in the hands, got great spin. I was able to shape it really well, just felt super confident with the stat today. I didn't even want to put it down. Like I had a couple of their paddles. I was going to hit, uh, the ultra, which I've already hit. Um, and then, uh, what was the other one?

[00:54:05] The, uh, sidewinder that we'll talk about from a scoop. And I just kept playing with this. So killer paddle. Uh, I'm not sure if these are available right now. Uh, I think they are, but you can use code pursuit. I think it's 179, uh, for these and, uh, man, really solid paddle and, uh, just a unique feel. One of the stiffest battles on the market. So be careful.

[00:54:31] If you like, if you like, uh, soft battles, this is as almost as bad of a pick as you can get. Um, yeah. Any questions on the cyclone? Big dog. No. Yeah. Probably not for me. Not, not for you at all. Because of what you just said. Not for you at all. All right. Let's move on to a paddle that you probably know a little bit about, which is the 11624, uh, ultra or ultra. Uh, I'm not sure how they pronounce ultra. That's what I thought. Yeah.

[00:54:59] Um, but this is kind of like a slightly longer hybrid or a slightly shorter and wider. Elongated. It's kind of in between, uh, traditional hybrid and elongated, um, dimensions, which is actually, in my opinion, a really good place to be. I think, uh, perfect for us. We both like that. I think a 16 four by seven six killer, killer dimensions.

[00:55:26] In my opinion, you just get a little bit more forgiveness without sacrificing, you know, too much length. And, uh, just like the, uh, other 11624 power series, power two series paddles, this gets disgusting spin. Like just it's, it's unmatched. I mean, there's only one other paddle, two other paddles that can compete with this, which the P one and the crystal blue endurance grit from Honolulu.

[00:55:50] So killer paddle with spin and, uh, a little stiffer than the, um, than the P one. Uh, I wouldn't say quite as it's weird. Cause the CR series is like kind of bouncy, but also stiff, but super hollow. So it's a weird, it's kind of hard to compare them in terms of stiffness. But anyway, this paddle plays identically to the other power two series in terms of feel

[00:56:18] as well as, you know, power, pop, control, spin, uh, forgiveness. But I would pick this shape above every single shape that they have right now. Way above the Pettis. Yeah, I probably would too. Way above the Vapor. And then, uh, definitely above the Hirachi X, which none of those are bad shapes. They're just, they're more unique shapes. I think this is a little bit more standardized of a shape, something that a lot of people are going to really, uh, you know, identify with. And the fact that there's no taper from top corner to bottom corner is just another added bonus.

[00:56:48] Plenty of room for two handed backhands and just a really... The handle and throat are identical to the Vapor. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. David said he used the same exact CAD file. Nice. So the lower half is identical. And then just redesign the top half instead of being flared out and kind of rounded. It's just a big old square around the top. Nice. Yeah. Um, which shifts the swing weight and balance point up a little from the Vapor. Of course, because it's a touch longer. There's more real estate at the top.

[00:57:16] I'm assuming the sweet spot is, um, less wide than the Vapor, but probably better around the top. Because the top corners of the Vapor shape are... Yeah, I couldn't... Deal. Like, you want to hit that one more geometrically center in the Vapor, whereas this one you're probably better to hit, you know, one third of the way down from the top. I'm trying to find the other one. But anyway, he sent me two, but this one was 7.8 ounces and it was a 109 swing weight, 6.4 twist weight. So... Light paddle.

[00:57:45] Kind of hybrid-y, hybrid-y, uh, swing weight and kind of in between the hybrid and elongated twist weight. So, uh, easy to modify. I added 5 grams of, uh, tungsten tape starting at the bottom corners going up. Kind of just my go-to with really anything under 114, 115. That's kind of my range. You know, I want to keep it below... Once it's below that, I can usually add at least 3 to grams, sometimes 5. But, uh, yeah. This paddle is very good.

[00:58:15] Checks all the boxes. I mean... I mean... It might be the most complete lineup. On the paddle market now. I mean, the shapes were the really only thing that held us back from being elite. More mainstream? Yeah. Um, I might... I might recommend this above the Honolulu's now. Just because this shape is elite. And it's a little friendlier of a paddle to play with. Uh, in terms of controllability with still having power output.

[00:58:45] But... There's a lot more availability also. You can get... Yes. That is true. Whereas the Honolulu's are like months out for the various shapes. Yeah. Um, 11624 is killing it, man. Quietly. Just... Not really quietly. I mean, very loudly. They're killing it. Not so quietly anymore. Yeah. Yeah. They're, uh... They're continuing to just crush it. Um, all right. Uh, anything else in the Ultra? Nope. I don't have one yet. But I'll probably get one at some point. Did you get the 24-7 Athletic Turbo?

[00:59:14] Um, yes. I haven't hit with it because I just got it today. Boy. But... This paddle is a rocket launcher. Um, man, does it hit hard. Uh, Justin, why don't you talk about the core while I pull up the pricing and release information on this? And then, uh, we'll talk a little bit about that. I would have to look at it. I don't know. EPP Piva. It's, it's a 14 millimeter. Yeah, 14 millimeter. That's what I know.

[00:59:41] Oh, this is the one that uses a Peppa as a ring? Okay, Peppa. My bad. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I mean, you can say Peba. Peba. Um, let's see. Polyethylene block amide, I think. Something like that. Anyway. Yeah. It's, uh, I'll just talk about that for a second. So, Peba or Pebax is like a brand name of it. You've probably seen it in running shoes. You might see it in more and more paddles. Mm-hmm. What type of foam is it?

[01:00:04] It's most similar to like an EVA type foam, but, um, it has a little bit more responsiveness and sort of spring back than EVA does. Whereas EVA is more dampening. This is more springy. Uh, Peba is. And that's why they use it in these marathon shoes and all that. It can be as light or lighter than EVA, but have a ton of energy return. Um, so yeah, you see the application for marathon running shoes.

[01:00:33] In the shoes, generally, unless you make it super dense and then wrap it in a carrier foam, um, it can then flatten out or lose its durability or its spring quicker than other foams. I'm just talking about shoes, not necessarily in paddles. In this context, the Peba is not the part that's taking the load. So I don't think you're going to see that happen, but I haven't hit with this yet, but I have hit with prototypes built similarly.

[01:00:58] Usually an EPP core with a Peba ring is going to be more springy and more powerful than a traditional EPP core with the EVA ring. Um, and since it has a different kind of vibration dampening profile, the sound and feel will also be different than what we're used to on traditional EVA rings. Now this paddle also has 3k carbon fiber as the top layer, which generally is more dampened already. And then I see on the face here, it says 3k 45 degrees.

[01:01:26] Now the top layer is in 45 degrees because I can see that. So I'm assuming that some of the second or third layer are 45 degrees, which adds stiffness. Um, so there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here. And this doesn't surprise me because 24 seven as a company, their first paddle was the mystic and it was very thoughtfully designed. Um, everything from the shape, the handle, the way they built the core, the faces, all of it was super thoughtful. So just extrapolating from there, I can assume that, uh, the guys or guy at 24 seven, uh, did

[01:01:56] the same here and have a lot of, uh, thoughtful features in this design. So we'll see. I look forward to trying it out. Um, it will be a while because as I said earlier, I'm leaving in two days. I'm going to be gone for almost three weeks. So not playing any pickleball. Yeah. Uh, this is an elongated shape. It does have durable grit texture. Um, can't comment on the actual durability of it. If I'm not mistaken, I think John tested it. Is that right? Or did he just test the PB core?

[01:02:26] Um, but regardless paddle has pretty damn good spin. It hits so hard. Like Justin said, it is a very springy feeling paddle too much for me. Um, but if you're someone who likes elite tier power, like the pack of fuse, the Q2 boomstick, this might be something up your alley. And the best thing about it, a hundred dollars after code. So, um, it is for sale right now. Uh, code pursuit brings it down to a hundred bucks.

[01:02:54] It is very powerful. Uh, and these are early thoughts. So I don't want to, you know, go too into detail, but I mean, it was, it was hard for me to play with. Uh, I would say the sweet spot, sweet spot was a little bit below average 14 millimeter paddle, you know, something you expect. Um, but, uh, other than that, it kind of checked all the other boxes had, you know, good plow through once you added a little bit of weight on it.

[01:03:18] But the, the power was immense, like truly, uh, up there with the elites and, uh, felt good about the paddle. It just was something that I could never play with because of how powerful it is. It's tough. This is one that'll take a while to, to dial in, but once you get it, you could reap some benefits. So, um, man, interesting paddle. I wonder how this grit will hold up, might give this to a little play tester and let them hit it for a little while and see how it holds up.

[01:03:48] But I think I've played three games with it and it feels like it's holding up pretty well. So, um, no immediate degradation that I can feel offhand. So yeah, hopefully not in three games. Yeah. You'll be in trouble. Yeah. I mean, with, you know, peel pie, you can start to feel like a little bit of wear down. Um, but this is seems to be promising. So, uh, we'll hold my breath and, uh, you know, hold the final verdict until it gets a little bit more, more testing into it.

[01:04:17] So we're getting some good paddles for really cheap, which is awesome. Um, yeah, another paddle that I got, uh, can't talk too much about this one cause I've only played literally one game with, but just wanted to show it off. It is the scoop sidewinder F2E. F2E. Um, now this is a MPP core, but have you bounced the ball on this yet? No, still the plastic on. This is another one I just like, you know, I just got back from the trip and this is here.

[01:04:47] Feels exactly like EPP, but it is, I mean, it has to be MPP because it's very light. I think mine was 7.5 ounces. I'm sure you can get light EPP obviously, but, uh, doesn't seem like it's very easy to pass deflection with the low density, but regardless, uh, interesting battle. Interesting battle. One that I definitely need to play with more. Definitely the densest feeling MPP paddle that I've played with so far. Um, I'll tell you this much.

[01:05:17] It's not the J6 shape. No. Held it up to a J6. It's not the J6 shape. It's not the Draco elongated shape. So this seems to be a unique mold, but yeah, kind of the same cut corners. I do like that. They add the tick marks on there. Some may not like that, but I think it's a nice one adding weight. You can kind of just see exactly where, where to add it and line up your tape, but, and it is designed with the intent to be modified.

[01:05:43] I had 109 swing weight, 5.9 twist weight for any long-term shape. That's the first modification I would do. What's that? Fix these pallets. Got these mushy foam pallets on the handle. Mine aren't too bad, but yeah, they're, they're, uh, definitely, definitely the firmer EVA. EVA is what they usually use, right? Uh, yeah. I mean, uh, the hard ones are PU polyurethane usually, uh, but the soft ones are normally EVA, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:06:11] So, um, we'll, uh, have a little bit more in-depth thoughts on that, but, uh, should be coming out soon and, uh, seems to be a solid paddle. All right. Uh, last segment. I got a paddle. New wheat. Oh, oh, oh, oh. My bad. This is one of my keys last week. Do you remember when I said that, uh, the upcoming Neonic is my favorite MPP paddle? Oh my God. What am I, bro? I forgot to. Do you have it? Yeah. They just came in. So, I haven't hit it, but, uh, this is the Neonic FLX series.

[01:06:40] Um, what I'm holding here is the Frost, which is the hybrid shape. And I hadn't hit this one yet, but I have hit this shape in other paddles. And then there is the Swift, which is just a traditional elongated shape. It's a floating MPP core. Super light. This is 7.6 ounces. Um, I haven't even weighed these yet. Yeah. So, I have played with, uh, the Swift, the elongated a decent bit, weighted and not.

[01:07:07] And then I had played with this Frost shape in another build that was unreleased. So, it's like I kind of have experience with both, but not with, I really was looking forward to getting this hybrid version of this paddle. Um, and, uh, look here. This is a pickleball et cetera shape, by the way. For anybody who was asking, this was the paddle that Justin was talking about that hadn't been released yet. That was an MPP core that he could play with. Um, I had a couple people asking that in the podcast last week or two weeks ago.

[01:07:37] So, um, it's like, it's USAP approved now. Both shapes are. And it is, they did like an alpha release. So, I think their ambassadors have it. Some people on the discord, but they have not done the official release yet. Um, it does not have durable grit, but it is going to be a good price. I don't even know the exact price, but I remember being like, oh, that's pretty solid. Yeah, I think it's definitely a budget friendly paddle for sure. But it's another one of those super light paddles that has like a weirdly good sweet spot for how light it is. Mm-hmm.

[01:08:05] Um, so, kind of follows the trends that we've seen with MPP. Uh, and yeah. It'll be a cool one. That's a cool sound. Yeah, I'm interested to play with that. I mean, we, you and I were neonic Flare Prime X, just lovers. Uh, some might say shills. Um, but man, love that paddle. I remember vividly playing with it and then it kind of, they updated their grit texture.

[01:08:33] And then you and I played in that tournament, uh, where we played two divisions. The first one I played with the, uh, the invader. And then I switched to the Flare Prime X and first drive, I was like, holy shit, this paddle gets crazy power and spin. Yeah. Uh, and this is kind of like that, uh, Flare shape. Yeah. But a hybrid version. Mm-hmm. Which was, that was a standard back in the day. Very clean looking shape for sure. I like the, like the shape a lot. Um, all right. Do we want to talk about the Omni or no?

[01:09:03] We don't have to. We already talked about the Omni a couple podcasts ago. But we couldn't say anything about it at the time. We were like, it's coming. Oh, shoot. Yeah, you're right. Uh, all right, go ahead. Yeah. You, you start. Or do you want me to start? I didn't even get it. I got them both now because, um, I got the wide body at Nerdy Tourney, which was cool. And I had the elongated already. I'll keep it quick. You see this one doesn't have the MOIs on it. This one just has tape. Um, it's basic. You've already heard this if you've heard anyone else.

[01:09:31] But if you like the feel profile of the Boomstick, but you're like, hey, I want a little less popping power. Boom. Easy. Boom shakalaka. From my understanding, this is the exact same build and process as the Boomstick, uh, down to the layup, the Infinigrit, everything, even the same shapes. It's just that the core is different. And the core is EPP core, EPP ring, EVA ring, just like the Flick F3.

[01:09:56] Um, but in this build and them changing the densities and adding that extra ring made this a little bit softer and less poppy than the Boomstick. It's still not particularly soft for what you consider an off-court paddle. I would not call this an off-court paddle. Okay, well, top of all-court, bottom of power, still stiff and hollow. Yeah, I don't know, maybe low-end power.

[01:10:21] Let me give my thoughts, because I played with the Loco for an entire tournament and then picked up the Omni widebody. Boing! Boing! You thought it was more poppy than the Loco? It's just a totally different feel. It is bouncy. It's a totally different feel. It's the Boomstick feel. Weirdly, insanely stiff. Uh, but man, the widebody was way more boingy than the Elongated. I like the widebody better than the Elongated.

[01:10:51] I had, I did not like that. Uh, great performer. Like, overall, just a really good performer. But man, to call that an off-court paddle is a stretch. Uh, I mean... I guess when you're only comparison to the Boomstick. Yeah, compared to the Boomstick, of course. Right, when your brother is the Boomstick. Yeah. Yeah, and of course the MOIs are removable and movable. Yeah. So you don't get on this, but I took them off of the Elongated. I like the look. I prefer to have 7.5 grams this, uh, small. No. Yeah, I like more spread out weight.

[01:11:20] This is literally the same 7.5 grams. I just spread it out and it felt so much better to me. Mm-hmm. Um, it feels like when you have these on, you better put them exactly where you want to hit the ball. Because if you put them down here and you hit the ball up here, it feels weird. But if you put them right beside where you want to hit the ball, then that's fine. Like, but swing weights get really high. Like on the Elongated, if you put the MOIs higher than center, it's like pretty quick. You're at 130 swing weight.

[01:11:44] Yeah, the stock swing weight of my Elongated was 124 with the stock positions of the MOI. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and that's high. Compared to the Boomstick, that's very high. I think the Boomstick was 118, 117 for me. Um... Balance points are pretty high because of these MOIs. Which you would like. So you guys know I'm not a wide body player. Yeah. I actually don't mind this wide body. I scooted my MOIs up a little from stock and then I could play this one.

[01:12:13] It's still a little bit heavy, but the higher balance point felt more natural to me. Mm-hmm. But I probably would still like tape spread out, maybe around the top corners and down the side a little bit on the wide body. I preferred the wide body to the Elongated. I thought the Sweet Spot was significantly better. Yeah. I think the Elongated Boomstick Sweet Spot is better than the Elongated Omni. Mm-hmm. But then when we went to the wide bodies, I couldn't really tell you a difference. I think they were both excellent. Yeah. So...

[01:12:43] Let me give you who this paddle is for. This is for one specific person. This is for the person who loves the Boomstick, but it's like, ah, I just can't quite control it. Boom. Omni. Get the Omni. You will be obsessed. I mean, I had a friend who plays exclusively with the Boomstick. He wanted to try the Omni. Tried it. He was like, I'm buying this right now. Yeah. I agree. If you're a Boomstick player, you're probably going to love it.

[01:13:11] If you haven't played with the Boomstick and you don't really... Or you've played with the Boomstick and you didn't love it because it was too powerful or you didn't like the feel, there's a lot of other paddles that I would recommend. A lot. Friday Aura. Aura Pro. Honestly, this is like sits very closely in between the Aura Pro and the Aura in terms of power. So Aura is firmly, in my opinion, all court. Aura Pro is firmly in the middle of power.

[01:13:40] But yeah, $300. Code INF dash pursuit will give you a... I think it's a $33 or $30 digital gift card. So there's no real like promo codes, if you will, to save you some money. You just have to use that for sale card credits. But not a paddle that I'm like, oh yeah, singing its praises because it's expensive. It's a little more niche feeling and a little more niche just in general.

[01:14:07] So, yeah, I think the price is a little steep for how many amazing, true all court paddles there are. If somebody was like, I want a Selkirk paddle, I'm thinking about getting the Boomstick or the Omni. To me, I'm like Omni. Yeah. Omni's going to be more friendly. Just get the Omni. It's going to be better for you. The MOIs are movable. Yeah. There's multiple colorways. Sure, there's multiple colorways in the Boomstick now, but the Omni's colorways look really clean. They look sick, yeah. Um, so I would- That black and white one looks awesome.

[01:14:37] $33 cheaper? Yeah, I know. So, I would be like, save your $33, get the Omni. You're really not missing much. It has plenty of juice. And you're going to have an insanely good warranty. Just rock solid. Yeah, so if that's your thing, I want a Selkirk paddle or I have a bunch of Selkirk credits like you were talking about, and you're like, I'm going to get the Boomstick or the Omni? Omni, in my opinion. I would agree. I would agree. Uh, but I would play with the Boomstick before the Omni. I don't know why. Would you? I just- Yeah, I like the- No, I wouldn't for sure.

[01:15:07] Liked it better. Um, all right. Well, before we move on to New Week, New Main, let's actually talk about the USAP update. We'll save New Week, New Main for the end. Let's be quick. Yeah. So, there's a little spot on the USAP website where there's like a compliance page. And this is, supposedly USAP is supposed to be doing like blind shopping, compliance testing, where they go out and they buy paddles, um, third party and say, is this compliant with what we approved?

[01:15:34] Well, for years, I mean, I heard very little about that if it was even done at all. Um, but recently there's been some updates. It's- I just looked at the page right before we got on this podcast, and if you go to the USAP approved list and click compliance list, here's what you'll see on there. Removed from USAP approval. Fakalos, Pro Series Elite X. Was approved, is now removed from the list. They don't say why, but that's the one that Gabe Tardio was using.

[01:16:02] That's the one he hung off of his shirt while he did the interview. So, you know. Then there is a different category called under investigation. In this category, 6.0 Ruby Pro. This has actually been here for months. Yeah. Um, under investigation. And if you remember, the first batch of Ruby Pros were like- Crazy. They were gonna like rip your skin off. They were so gritty. They would literally make you bleed. I would love to compare one of those to a hex grid. I guarantee you it's rougher than hex grid. It's sharper.

[01:16:32] Yeah. Way sharper. Yeah. Um, however, newer batches of the 6.0 Ruby Pro are not like that. So- Right. Maybe they're working it out. I'm not saying one way or the other. But here are the new additions. Because that one's been on there for a while. Speed Up Tide 14S. Love that battle. Yeah. Gritty paddle. Very gritty. Proton Project Peacock. Mm-hmm. Don't know. I actually don't have one of those. I don't know that- Don't know anything about it either. It's super gritty or why it's on there.

[01:17:01] But, um, it's just to me, it's not even that interesting to see these specific paddles. It's interesting to see activity on that page. Mm-hmm. Um, and are we going to see more accountability, more, you know, follow up on holding brands accountable for compliance? Because up to this point, USAP's, uh, motto or sort of their answer has been, it's up to the brands to stay in compliance. Well, why would they do that? If they can sell more titles, why not? But I, uh, I find this- Keep an eye on it.

[01:17:29] The grit thing, in my opinion, is kind of stupid considering the fact that they're in the process of moving on to a spin, you know, spin test. It's like, if you're going to police this, bro, you should have done that a long time ago. You know? I agree. Uh, not when you're in the process of transitioning to a test that doesn't rely on grit, you know? Um, is that the plan? Like, they want to go, they want to strip all surface roughness tests, only go to the,

[01:17:59] um, spin? Probably going to be similar to UPA, where the spin is the thing that decides approval, and the grit is tested behind it as a reference for compliance. Got it. So, oh yeah, you have to be under 2100 RPMs, and it's, let's just say your RT or RZ or whatever tested at 50. Now that's your reference, so that when we test one on site for the grit, if it's within a percentage of 50, you're good. But if it's at 80, you're like, what are you doing? This is clearly not the same. Got it. Yeah.

[01:18:26] That's what I figured, but I didn't want to just falsely assume that, um, they were doing something smart. It's not set in stone, because they are open a comment period right now on the spin test, meaning that manufacturers get to comment and say, we think you should do this, we think you should do that, and we'll see if they listen to any of the comments, and then it goes live. Mm-hmm. All right. Interesting stuff. Um, that's all I gotta say about USAV. We'll keep an eye on it. Yeah. I'm just thinking it's interesting that there's activity. Yep. All right.

[01:18:55] Let's move on to everyone's favorite segment, New Week, New Main, sponsored by Bode Performance. If you need overgrips, tungsten tape, backpacks, sleeves, and other pickleball-related accessories, you can use code PURSUIT to save 15% at checkout when purchasing anything on BodePerformance.com. I'm dialed with that, dude. I'm locked in. Yeah, you are. That's two great episodes in a row. Um... Guess who went to Florida, though, and forgot his Bode sleeves? This guy. This guy.

[01:19:25] This guy. Lucky for him, I had three pairs in my bag. Yep. So, gave him the hookup. My wife was taking care of me. Um... Thank you for that. All right. Well, it's New Week. You said Loco was kind of your main last week. Yeah. Prepping for the nerdy tourney. Yeah. What's your new main, baby? Definitely not the Loco. This is gonna be super boring. It's literally New Week no main. What? Because... I'm not playing pickleball. You hater. I'm about to take weeks off from pickleball. You're going on a tournament tonight. What are you playing with?

[01:19:58] Uh... Spartus P1, maybe? Thank you. Gosh. It could be any number. A J2CR? Blue Grit? Yeah. Um... I don't know. Hirachi X? Power 2? Could be that. I don't know. New Week 3 main. Like, it's literally New Week no main. Like, I might... Just pick this up and play with it. Yeah. Neonic Frost FLX. I mean... Yeah. Like, if I had to play a tournament tonight, I don't know.

[01:20:25] And the reason why is, like I said, I'm taking some time off. So, I'm, like, embracing that no pickleball for a while. This would be good. I am... We're driving from Texas to Glacier National Park, which is, like, by Canada. And then we're at Yellowstone on the way back. Yeah. So, taking the RV, going for, like, a two and a half week camping trip, going to some national parks. I'll still have to do some work. But outside of that, I'm not thinking about pickleball. So... It's me and Justin. I'm not...

[01:20:54] That's what he means by we. Yeah. So, yeah. I don't know. I'm kind of looking forward to it. So, yeah. I'm not... I don't... I was thinking about taking a paddle and maybe just, like, maybe I'll go play open play some night. I'm driving through Denver. I was like, maybe I'll hit up John Q and just see if he wants to play. Yeah. Do it. But I'm thinking now, I'm just not even going to take a paddle or shoes and just... No. No pickleball, bro. You can just bring it. Just in case. Just take a break. Just bring it in case. I don't know which one to bring. Bring the P1. Bring the P1 in your Cocos. You'll be good.

[01:21:24] Yeah. All right. Well, new week. I can't remember if this was the new main last week, but... It was, yeah. Yeah. MPP Turbo Hybrid. Love this paddle. Play really well with this paddle. Who knows? Maybe the Aerocycline Hybrid might be the new main, but I find that hard to believe because I really, really like this paddle. $99 is crazy. Yeah. For such a good paddle. Three good shapes. The Wide Body Hybrid.

[01:21:55] No, not the Ultra. I think the feel for me on the 11624 Power 2 Series is just a little too... I wouldn't even say it's muted. Muted or something? Because even this is fairly... On the slightly more muted side of things. A little more smoother feeling. But it's just got a different feel. It's both stiff and muted. Yeah. Which this is kind of that as well, but in a different way.

[01:22:25] But I mean, I would probably recommend the 11624 higher to most players just because it has the long lasting grid. But as someone who doesn't have to use the same paddle for every single play session, this one works really damn good for me. But yeah, I'm rocking those Cocoa Golfs. Justin did a little surgery on mine. Got them right. Feeling good. Did he fix them up? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They were locked in.

[01:22:54] The professor, the Oracle himself fixed them up. Appreciate that big guy. Shoe doctor. Yeah. Shoe doctor. Well, anything else big dog? Well. Well. This went way longer than it was supposed to. About time to get out of here. Yeah. Sorry about that, guys. We just pretty much just bragged. You guys, I'm curious to see what Lewis is going to do for the rest of the month. We'll see. Are you just going to skip every podcast? Are you going to record one solo? Are you going to get somebody special on? I'm just going to. I'll be watching YouTube, bro. Let's see what happens.

[01:23:24] I'm just going to surprise everybody. I'm either going to disappoint you or I'm going to disappoint you. I'm going to record from Old Faithful. Yeah. You can see my geyser. That'd be good. POV. POV. Yeah. Yeah, you love POV bits. I know you do. Yes, I do. Thank you for the one star review on Apple Podcasts. That was one of my favorite ones.

[01:23:51] They said I'm like a 10 year old guy talking about his balls. I'm not sure why that was a one star. It sounds like five stars to me, but I appreciate you. I'm not sure who that was. Yeah. If you guys haven't already, go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave a one star review. No, give us a five star review. Come on, guys. We want five stars. The one star review one was funny. It was hilarious. Even if you're going to leave a five star review, at least make it funny. Yeah, it was funny. Yeah. Go drop a funny review. Make us laugh. That's what we'll do.

[01:24:20] Next podcast, we'll read the funniest review. But man, great, great playing with everybody at the Nerdy Tourney. Super awesome. Even if I would have won the toilet bowl, I would have had an amazing time. And I'm ready to just chill out for a couple of days. Congrats, champ. How's it feel? The champ is here. Super, you know, what did I say? Me and Chris. Feels good. Going to win the belt. That's two belts for me in a week, by the way.

[01:24:50] No big deal. Oh yeah, you won a tournament right before. No big deal. All right, boys and girls. We are out. Thank you so much for watching this episode of the PP Pod. We might see you next week, maybe two weeks, maybe three weeks from now. Who knows? Justin may or may not be here. We'll find out. Love you guys. Thank you so much. If you have any questions, comments, or topics you want us to cover in the next episode, drop them in the comment section below. Until then, peace.