The Sevan Podcast - #56 CrossFit Games - Predictions with Brian Friend

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 56 - BRIAN FRIEND @BRIANFRIENDCROSSFIT @SEVANMATOSSIAN The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Damn, that was a great game of Ultimate Frisbee. I just whooped some ass. You're in rare form tonight.

I am. Am I? I'm borderline delusional. I'm so tired. Didn't you just work out? I did. I mean. Aren't you rejuvenated now?

I am. Do you think it's lying that I tell people I do CrossFit and then my workout? I don't know. I haven't told you what my workout was. Okay. I did 10 minutes on the assault bike. You did 110? Yeah.

Like, yeah, but not always 10 minutes, but I do assault bike every day. Yeah. Sometimes do it for 20, sometimes do it for 400 calories. But no, did I say 400 calories? 200 calories. I was going to say 400 calories is a lot. No, I did that once. That's no good.

Someone might accuse you of doing CrossFit then. And I never go as hard as I can because I feel like I could break. But I don't, you know, I try to make sure I'm sweating. And then I just did a, I did deadlifts. I started at 125 with 10. And then I did 10 sets and added all the weights until I had all the fractional plates on, which was 205. So.

Nice. That's a great work. I don't know. I think, I think I lacked the intensity part. I don't often hear it. Well, the intensity may be,

but, um, the movement, the sweating, it's all there. Yeah. I mean, you have your things that you prefer to do, the bike and then like strict pull-ups and muscle-ups and stuff. But you always work in a light barbell here and there.

You always talk about the weights you use and I think it's good diversity. Thank you, Brian. Did I say I always played ultimate Frisbee or Frisbee Golf? I'm going for the Frisbee Golf look. This show is called The Savon Podcast, and it's so much about fucking placating me that I figured I would go with a look that you felt comfortable with, being that you play Frisbee Golf. I've never seen anyone playing Frisbee Golf looking like that.

But you did say Ultimate Frisbee. Wait a second. You don't play with a bandana? Or what's this called? A sweatband? You don't play I've never seen anyone playing Frisbee golf looking like that, but you did say ultimate Frisbee. Wait a second. You don't play with a bandana or what's this called? A sweatband. You don't play with a sweatband. Oh, you don't take the game seriously, buddy. What's the, what's the guy's name? Who's the, who's, who's your dog?

Is it, did you say Brody Smith? Yeah. Brody Smith used to be a professional ultimate frisbee player of the highest caliber, who is also a trickshot specialist on YouTube. But two years ago, he had had too many injuries playing ultimate frisbee, so he tried to pick up disc golf, and now he's amongst the best 40 players in the world after only two years of playing. Damn, and he's buff, too. Yeah, he's a big guy.

A lot of those disc golfers are tall, but he also probably... Throw it 600 feet, which is like top distance because of his background in Ultimate. He can throw a Frisbee golf 600 yards. Feet, 600 feet. 600 yards. Feet, 600 feet. 600 feet. Okay, not a discraft, whatever it is, 175. He can't throw that, 600 feet. Is that an Ultimate Frisbee?

Yeah. Okay, because there's a company called Discraft. I don't think so. I'm asking. That was like with a question mark. A Discraft 175, what are you looking at? Or is that a disc that you have? That's just what we play.

That's just what like, that's what ultimate Frisbee people use. That's your typical beach Frisbee. Is that 175? Yeah, it's 175 grams. Interesting. And I can throw one really, really far or in my heyday, I could. Like, I think I was bragging to you one time. I can throw it from one.

I can be in the end zone of a football field and I threw it out of the end zone of the other football field when I say threw it out I mean just barely but I did it and that how many feet is that that's 300 feet 360 maybe but it makes sense because um the disc the discs for disc golf also weigh in the 170 gram range but they're they're like two-thirds of the diameter. So they're much smaller. And so they're more dense. That's why they can throw them further. Yeah, and when I pick one of those up, it doesn't even feel like frisbee to me.

It's definitely a feel, but the mechanics of being able to throw with control on angles and get a good spin rate and finish that transfer is over and unfortunately the whole point of this conversation was to tell you that i'm right and you're wrong because i'm going to google this guy's name and he's going to be wearing sweat bands and guess what he doesn't wear sweat bands he probably has a hat most of those guys wear hats. That's disappointing. You think we're going to get him on the podcast? So far, it doesn't look good, but maybe. I'm not giving up hope.

That's why I do all the dreaming. Of course we're going to get him on the podcast. He's on the tuning. I'm going to ask you a question, and I just want you to spit out a name uncensored, unedited I just really want you to whatever comes to the top of your mind I'll do my best

in the CrossFit community, who should we get on the podcast who we haven't had on my man Velner oh, Patrick Velner I think that there is a little tension between him and i well then let's yeah i would love to have patrick velner on the show i was gonna the reason i asked you is i got off the uh assault bike and i was like i can't believe we haven't had mike bergner on well that's totally different yeah different what i mean totally different

different just different realm altogether because you had said athlete oh did i yeah well he's kind he's a crossfit athlete too but i know what you mean okay okay should i give you another chance at it who is any who's anyone in the crossfit ecosystem that you would like to have on? Oh, I just thought of another name. Go ahead. Well, not for a couple of months. Oh, Dave Castro. Yeah. Yeah, I interviewed him this morning. Did you see it yet?

No, I was coaching. I would like to have Bill Hanager on. That would be fascinating. I would like to have bill henniger on that would be fascinating interaction with him like hi that's probably it he um i asked him to be on the crossfit podcast and he says he doesn't do podcasts how many years ago i don't know It seems like a lifetime ago. Four years? Three years? I think he likes me. He's always exceedingly nice to me and goes out of his way to help me anytime I have any issues. But through the grapevine, I always hear, like, reports that— Has he done it since that time? I could look him up.

I don't think so. But he is— My guess is no, he is, uh, he is probably, there's very, let's see videos, Bill Henniger. I mean, I've interviewed him a tiny, Oh, CrossFit captain Bill Henniger from 2011 CrossFit interview with Bill Henniger, rogue fitness, 2011. I bet you some of these interviews i've done it's probably just like really impromptu stuff at the games yeah he's been were you there when he when he first approached

dave that story like hey about no no tell me the story again i can't remember the year i think it was 2008 after the game that bill approached d and said, I'm starting this company. I want to show you one of the products that we make and gave him a jump rope. And that was like the origins of the relationship. But I can't remember where I heard that. Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard that story. I just know him through Katie, right? Katie was at the game. She won the games. Holy shit. Tell us if it's true or not, or if I'm just delusional.

Should I call him and get him on? One question. That's the only question. Why do you want to wait to interview him? Why do you want to wait until after the games? Honestly? Yeah. I want him to be able to focus on programming the games oh my god your kindness is disgusting did you have which athletes did you talk to at the semi-finals

in vegas uh any of them any of them like ones who are competing which ones did you talk to Any of them, any of them, like ones who are competing. Which ones did you talk to? Edgar. Okay, let's stop there. Why did you talk to them? Why did you not feel bad talking to them? Well, you know, we did a podcast with him actually also with 18.

So I met him really early on. And you've met Cole. He's just an incredibly nice guy. We had a great time on the podcast. So anytime I see him, he's always gracious and talking to me and, um, you know, even have sometimes minimal interaction in the off season. If there's something relevant that comes up, um, just a nice. So when I saw him, it was like, great to see him after 18 months or whatever. Are you, do you not want to disrupt these people during the game season because you're afraid you'll say something that will get into their head and it will fuck them up? Or you just don't want to interrupt their flow?

Are you still asking about the athletes? Anyone. Because you're very courteous, and I respect that. But you also have a job to do, and they benefit from your job. Like, it's not a waste of time for athletes to talk to you. No, I just want them to be, you know, I want to just be with people like Matt have said, Matt Fraser has said, you know, everyone bothered me after the competition. If you want to talk, I'll stick around for three days. If there's that many people who want to talk to me. So it was just a right time for it.

And that's a great example too, because he has scared me off before. Did you see the podcast I did with him and Josh a couple of days ago? Nope. God, you're fucking, you're wasting your life playing Frisbee golf. That's not true. That is not true. I've barely played. I've been busy this week.

A lot of things going on with semifinals. Last chance qualifiers coming. Correct. Holy cow. Do you have access to a computer yeah um besides the one you're on i mean i mean can you pull up window go to the game site have you seen this video the asia invitational west coast classic day three highlights it's 17 minutes and 18 seconds. No. Oh, and then it turns into a... Okay, I didn't realize it's going to be a show with Sean Woodland and Annie.

But man, the footage is insane. The footage is insane. Why? It's super duper shallow depth of field. The whites are white, the blues are blue. It's, it's got a,

some sort of filter on it. That's, I think they call it grading in the business. And it's amazing. I have the volume off and then it goes, I love it. It looks beautiful. I need to watch this.

Have you watched any of the semifinals yet? Do you have any feedback on the commentary, the camera work, any of that stuff? I haven't had a have any feedback on the commentary, the camera work, any of that stuff? I haven't had a chance. The only one I've watched is the West Coast Classic. I mean, I watched the ones previously that were live, or a majority of them at least. Now I have this.

Turn it off. When I watched the Granite Games, I was frustrated. I think – do you remember who was commentating that? It was Tommy and someone else. Chase. Chase. And I think that's when I was watching it, and I was frustrated as all hell, and I was blaming Tommy and Chase. But then I realized when I watched the West Coast Classic, it wasn't – it was Tommy and someone else who has a great voice.

Yeah, I don't know who it is. Is that the little bald guy? I don't think – no, no. You're thinking of Brandon. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because this guy had a great voice. But then I realized in that one that it wasn't Tommy's fault and this other guy's fault. What did you call him?

Joel? Joel? And this other guy's fault, what did you call him, Joel? That it was the fact that they were following the – I'm guessing. I don't talk to either of them. But I'm guessing that they were following the camera work and not the event. So they're not watching the event. They're watching the TV.

And so they're reporting on whatever the camera people are showing. And so it's not their fault that they're not like talking about the big names. They didn't show Noah Olsen until seven minutes into like heat number one. Or someone would cross the finish line and the camera would be on them for first place. But there would be a war for second and third place and it would be a half a second apart. But since the camera didn't show it, they didn't talk about it. And so I had to kind of let them off the hook and be like, well, shit, they did a fantastic job. But they're following someone else's lead, whoever's calling the camera shots. Yeah.

So first of all, you are right. You're supposed to look at the monitor, not the field of action, so that you can speak out what you see, which also what the viewers think is appropriately right um because you're not always on the same side of the of the floor like you might be facing the floor but the camera that you might be looking at be facing you or something like that anyway so that's one thing that's challenging uh but called the spotters that work with with the broadcasters. Sometimes they're on a headset on the floor in both capacities, and they are watching the floor

and giving information to you or in the truck to direct the cameras to go to different areas. You have people doing both. When you were a spotter, did they listen to you? Did they take your cues yeah definitely so uh so if you watch like um the first year of sanctionals for wadapalooza anytime you'll see bill and chase calling the action you'll see me and chad trader on you just feeding them information the whole time so we just like it was like a team of four

of us they were talking and they were doing everything they were meant to do. And we would just give them extra information based on what's happening on the floor and prerequisite knowledge of the athletes in the competition. And it was awesome. Why? Chad Schroeder. So when I worked at CrossFit, I would get all my information from him. He would send me the craziest packet. It would have, and he would send it to me before. I think he sent it to everyone on the games team too. It wasn't just for me. And I would get this packet and it would have a picture of every athlete and then just shit tons of information about them. And then I would, from there, it would take those 20 or 40 or 1,000 pages, whatever it was, and I would condense it into just what I wanted, right?

I wonder why I didn't choose him when they get that. That packet. I wonder. And I can't remember if I've ever met him, but I've exchanged dozens of emails with him and I really liked him. Is he cool? Yeah. After I after going out there in 2018 and doing that with you, when we started going to the regionals every person i'm podcast or media that wasn't necessarily a part of you the people that were working at those regionals

they would find out what i was so much i knew about the athletes and they'd say you need greater and it was like it happened at all three at all three totally different people and i was like who is this guy met him and it was almost like finding your lost older brother that you never knew you had and we just like more um seasoned version of me he's been doing he wasn't professionally since 2011 or 12 he wasn't threatened by you no it was it was, I mean, it was with Tommy Marquette. It's like just to find someone else that could talk about the competition in that much depth and have that much recall is rare. A couple of guys that I feel like are ability to retain information about this sport.

And those are two of them. So me, Tommy and Chad. Yeah. That's the fat, the four right there. That's there that's it no that's not fair there are some other ones and i i wouldn't i wouldn't want to think so so then so that's awesome and i always imagine from the email exchanges i had with chad that i mean i probably have met him just my foggy brain can't remember it but i just remembered really liking him even though I didn't know why. Like, I just really, really liked him.

And he was great. He was prompt with responding. How did, can you, do you remember exactly how our paths crossed? Because I tell just like this real cliff notes version of how I remember it. You started doing a segment on your CrossFit. It's called trolling the leaderboard. It was for the 2018 oh I've known the watch that at this time I was watching every every every episode

you put out I was watching and I was digesting a of CrossFit content during this time like there's not there's a reason why I invested a lot of time watching stuff and so I watched all your girlfriend had just broken up with you and that's all you did you You just watched videos. I was actually completely. Holy shit. When you say completely celibate, like no seeds flew or just no with anyone else in the room? Okay. Okay.

But abstinence, I guess. I was going to say you must have been an asshole. No. Okay. We'll circle back to that. I like how you got in your abstinence in my, uh, found in my origin story with you go on in our, in our, or that's why I had, that's why I had so much time to do that. Okay. Or one of the reasons I did this trolling the leaderboard section. And I was like, finally, it's a platform for people to talk

about all the stories that are going on during this incredible competition that's so unique. And it's not just talking about the best performance in the world, which is fine. And we should recognize there's other stories. And so I sent you a, dude, this podcast, this Trolling the Leaderboard is such a great idea. I've been waiting for something like this, but you missed so many awesome stories. And I listed out like three examples from just the week one of the open. And what you emailed me or on Instagram? Yeah, on Instagram.

Okay. And your response was awesome. Send me more. So week two, the same thing. As soon as I saw the open leaderboard, three pages of ideas. Oh, I must have hated you. I must have hated you at that point. Three pages.

Okay, go on. You printed them off and you used them as the podcast for week two of the open. Did I give you credit? By name. This guy on Instagram, Brian. And that bitch was like, Brian friend, you know, whatever. And I'm like, I can't,

I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Like, I can't believe this is actually, he's reading my notes, right? I started looking at them while I'm watching it, knowing you've already recorded it. And I'm like, oh, I hope I was accurate with all the stuff I sent him.

And it was. It was good. So you did the same thing for week three, and then you said, I want to bring you out here for week five. It's with me and with Matt. God, I'm a good dude. Go on. Tell me. Yeah.

And? So you came out and we did a podcast. No. You weren't there. You came out and we did a podcast. No. You weren't there. You came out there and I wasn't, where was I? Yeah, I flew, I didn't even find out until I was landed already in San Jose or something. I flew in the airport. You flew from Chicago?

From Chicago? This is a great story. I was living in Florida. from Chicago? This is a great story. I was living in Florida. And drive to HQ and you text me. Greg needs me. I'm not

going to be there. Oh, that's the story of my life. Hold on one second. Wait, Haley, what's the deal with the dog? Oh, well, do something with the dog, please. Brian Friend is talking. Go on. I apologize, Brian. And it's a fabulous story.

So you come out there. You land from Florida. You've flown all the way across the North American continent. And I say to you, I'm not there. Did you do the podcast still? Yeah. So you're like, just go to HQ. Someone will meet you.

And I'm like, someone will. Name, no nothing. No time. I'm like,'m like okay first person i see is tommy marquez good good and i'm like tommy um my name is brian i'm here but i know he's not here he goes oh yeah yeah yeah i knew you were coming i knew he's on hq introduced me to every official and then matt bischel was hosted that show and tommy and i introduced me to everyone in the official, and then Matt Bischel hosted that show. And Tommy and I were on either side of the table. And did you get a word in?

Were you able to talk? Yeah, they used my notes again for the entire skeleton and outline of the Open. It was now the end of the Open. And Tommy was up for it. Like I said, he and I had a conversation back and forth about the athletes in more depth than anyone I'd ever met before by a hundredfold because there's not a lot of... Was he threatened by you or jealous or tripping or embraced you like, yeah, let's do this? I never even thought about it. I was like, man, i hope i embarrassed myself i because i was expecting to

be with you yeah and then i was thrown into i'm like i really like the the shorts that guy was wearing you're like yes yeah and then you know okay it's like this is the guy i've been watching he's the guy who's paid by crossfit to know more about the athletes than anyone and now you're going to be on you're supposed to be here as the expert on this open stuff. And now you're sitting down with the guy. I always felt like there was this, and I can't think of any specific examples, but I always felt like there was this ridicule because I would do that. I would let people come in from the outside.

I was always open to that. I was always open for like new talent, good, like cult of cultivating more talent. Okay. So, so we do. So you come to the show,

there's other people that you gave those opportunities to that are still, that are now working for CrossFit as, as contractors in the media field. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. My favorite, do you know Lillian Fuentes?

That's what I'm talking about. I saw her at both competitions and we, her and I met, you know, as both outsiders, you would say working for you at the regionals that year. That's right. Holy shit. I remember that. That was a great regional. Was that at Del Mar? Yeah. No, no. It was first in Albany and then in Del Mar. Yeah. Oh, I'm so stoked on her. Yeah, what an incredible,

came and just, yeah, came and just dug in and got all the on the job training. So, okay, so when did I, so we were supposed to do that podcast. We didn't do that podcast. And then when did we finally meet? You know, I leave there

and I'm like, well, that was, I got to go to HQ. I went to like the original Santa Cruz gym. Bucket list thing for me as a huge CrossFit fan. I'm like, and if nothing else comes of it, whatever. And two weeks later, you messaged me and you said, great podcast. Regionals? Question mark.

Classic. This is how someone communicates. Straight to the point. No, no no no superfluous or extra stuff and i said uh let me check with my boss so i said yeah and you said okay albany week one and we just started doing pod live did we stream those live you put me in well yeah yeah yeah i live? You put me in. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. You put me in touch with the time. He arranged everything.

I travel. Great dude. Great dude. You know, we get there. I mean, you were like the last person I met. Because I was with Greg, probably. You were with Greg or whatever. You were doing whatever, you're doing whatever you know responsibility you

needed to do so i meet gary meet lillian meet michael mccoy and then finally i met you and we had dinner that first night and i was exhausted from traveling and whatever and uh you just like to stay up late and eat the br sprouts. And was Mike Workington there? Mike Workington was there, yeah, because he was on the podcast with us. It was the three of us. Okay. Yeah, that's fantastic. That is an incredible team, I think, me, you, and Mike Workington.

That show, fuck, man. Mike knows a lot about CrossFit. He may know more about CrossFit than anyone alive. And that's saying a lot because sometimes I think I know more than anyone alive. But, man, that guy, he was the editor-in-chief of the CrossFit Journal with 10,000 pieces of content. And that guy, I mean, sometimes when Greg would need something written, he would write it in Greg's voice. And then we would read it and be like, holy shit, you sound just like Greg. And now Chris Cooper has him locked up in Canada. Greg's voice and then we would read it and be like, holy shit, you sound just like Greg. Yeah.

Now Chris Cooper and now Chris Cooper has them locked up in Canada. And I don't use the word locked up lightly. I got it. Um, no, because one of the episodes in, in Del Mar that year, responsibility with the affiliates that were all at the,

at the competition. Okay. You're hosting the show today, you and Mike, and it's going to be a month. Oh, great, dude. CrossFit Costa Mesa? What gym is he? CrossFit? Yes, and he's brought teams to the games for several years in a row.

He was through some of those tumultuous years, some good some not so good and just i really like knowledge huh i really like christian uh lacero yeah i've sorry go on i've only uh met um it was well after the uh his his he was not he was just at a sanction actually anyway um and so i was like man these two guys have been around this sport might work into max mormont for 20 plus combined maybe maybe 28 years combined or something at that i'm supposed to host this podcast i love it okay and you did it we did it and it was fine and honestly i just like i was like okay what does savon do and try to just use elements of that obviously i'm not savon but like he doesn't waste time on the introduction so i just got immediately into whatever i was thinking at the

time and then i you know those guys had plenty to say so then i let them talk for a while while they were talking i was just thinking basically about what you do is not the next question i wanted to ask them necessarily been really good but just the next topic okay now we just talked the old school games now let's talk about something that happened at this regional. And then, you know, just back and forth like that. And they were great.

And you were celibate at this time? Abstinent. Abstinent at this time? I don't know. What, what, what, who, how who who was the recipient no no no that's not how i want to ask that i don't care who what qualities did the recipient of your lovemaking have that was able to derail you from your five years of abstinence?

Yeah, I think that asks pretty good. Living in a place for three years and there was an entire time. And it was my last night before. Holy shit. Do you have commitment issues? You waited until the last night before you were leaving town? Was it kind of a justification?

That's after five... I mean, for two years. Three years. No, I didn't know it the first year. Wow. And then that just broke the seal and you were back in the game? It was a slow re-entry, but the seal was broken. Wow.

And were you at the time, were you like kicking yourself? Like, shit, why did I do that? I should have gone for six years. Like every time I, I'm always happy to get a haircut and shave my beard, but there's a part of me that's like, oh, you fucking failed. You should have never cut your hair or shaved. No. I'm always happy to get a haircut and shave my beard, but there's a part of me that's like, oh, you fucking failed. You should have never cut your hair or shaved. No. That's amazing.

And why did you start the journey intentionally or just no one liked you? No, you already said this chick liked you. So people liked you. It wasn't that you were unlike you weren't unfuckable. You know, there used to be a CrossFit shirt that used to say unfuck withable did you know that no i have never seen that one yeah that's back in the old days the old days um but you were rocking the shirt unfuckable no so yeah why what why yeah i had had some of uh some bad experiences to take that time for myself. So to protect yourself emotionally, it wasn't like, hey, you read in a book that you could save your chi and like you weren't like. No, I just wanted to.

I felt like I needed to get to know myself more. And I gave myself that time and I was pretty happy with it for that time. And then. Wow, five years. That's impressive. A couple times in my life, I've gone two or three months without any ejaculation. And that's crazy. Yeah.

It's crazy. It's pretty intense. And one time I was telling my dad about it and he said, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. I didn't believe him, but I thought, what a great justification. Yeah. And just for me, it was like a great justification. It was like one time someone told me, a dear friend told me, and this probably isn't a good thing ever to tell one of your friends. He said, you know, I like you better when you're drunk. I was like, oh, that kind of hurts. Okay, people, are you happy? I asked Brian about himself. Let's move on. He doesn't bone. I am a little surprised at how many girls DM me about you. Like, there are girls who have crushes on you, which, I mean, it's like having a crush on a calculator. But I guess there's someone for everyone.

When are the CrossFit Games? Well, July 25th or 6th, Monday day of Monday is the first day of the calendar. Okay. And do we know anything about how many events there are going to be? Have they released any of the events? Do we know what day it starts? Do we know if they are, are they even going to release the events? Is it going to be an unknown and unknowable year?

Like, what's the deal? I hope it's unknowable. Oh, I love that, too. I'm surprised you like that. Okay, go on. I mean, look, the more information I can accurately predict the results, I don't want to know. Explain that to me. That was a little weird.

That was a little hard to process. I mean, I think I get what you're saying because you're lazy and you don't want to do the work. If I know how many tests there are and I know what the tests are, I feel like I know the athletes well enough to project who's going to do better or worse relative to the field. Tests. You know the tests every year are pretty well done. Sometimes there's more running. Sometimes there's heavier weights. Sometimes there's more running. Sometimes there's heavier weights.

Sometimes there's more long. That's fine. But all of those things will have not usually any impact on the number one placement overall, but they do often have implications, you know, lots of other rankings along the way down the leaderboard. And why wouldn't you want to know that? Don't isn't that your isn't that something you enjoy doing? Yeah. So I wouldn't I wouldn't prefer not to know from a work standpoint. I'm happy to do that work.

And I love doing it. But I like the idea of the tests being released incrementally at the games and that the athletes have an element of it, of a short amount of time to prepare because that's a testable and important part of fitness to a situation without having a lot of time to think about it. having a lot of time to think about it so for it but so i didn't listen to one or two of those sentences in there because i was over here pulling up a sheet to quiz you on some other shit but if i'm guessing what you said so basically from the fan perspective you would rather not know them so you can just see it unfold but also i also just kind of like the integrity of the test more that way. Ah, okay. Me too.

I'm on the game's leaderboard. By the way, Brian doesn't know this game that we're about to play. So, let's just test Brian. We call this piece Trolling the Leaderboard. And are those the people who are going to the games? Yeah, the 2021 CrossFit games? I think so. I'm on the, I clicked on the, I clicked on the games button.

Do you want me to go to that space? Yeah, you can. Yeah, yeah. That would be great. Okay, somewhere. And at the top is Samuel Samuel Cornhole,

Sean Sweeney, Brent Fikowski, Stas Soledov, Cole Sager. Yeah. Okay. So are these all the guys who are going to the games? Yeah. And there should be 38 here and they should, these are, this means they've registered. So actually, yeah, now that PKG is and they should – this means they've registered.

So actually, yeah, now that PKG is registered, I think all of them have registered. And will there be more after the last chance qualifier? Two more. There'll be two more. So this is 38 of the eventual 40. Okay. You ready to play a really tough game? Do you know what game we're going to play? No. to play a really tough game do you know what game we're gonna play no i'm gonna say someone's name and you're gonna tell me if they're gonna win the games and you and you can go and you can give

and you would just just go we're gonna go through them and and you can you can um you have three choices yes no or maybe but yeah it's gonna be cutthroat can't have like and and we're going to see like what's the question can they win are are they going to win the games we'll leave it at that are they going to win the games but we should grade you like if at the end there's five left that means you get an a if there's 10 left if there's five maybes if there's five maybes, you get an A. Don't tell me the rules. Just let's play. Okay.

Cole Mertens. Yes, no, or maybe. Okay. Travis Mayer. Jay Crouch. Gamboa. No. Chandboa. No. Chandler Smith.

Ladies and gentlemen, just watch your screen and watch him squirm. Zach Watts. No. Tim Paulson. No. You have to understand why this is so hard for Brian, because this is so so out of his comfort zone because he really needs to crunch it in his head. And he doesn't want to just do this. He wants to crunch it and be like, the atom weighs 3.6 moles.

He wants to give you the – so this is good for him. This breaks him out. Justin Medeiros. What's the difference between yes and maybe? Maybe. If you only have five maybes left at the end, I'll give you an A. How many yeses? I think that's an A. Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Boy, I don't have this game thought out very well. I feel like I should be allowed. I should work for the CrossFit Games. I haven't figured. Or I should work out for the.

Wait, which is the West Coast Classic? Who's the one who changed the rules I should work for the CrossFit Games. I haven't figured. Or I should work out for the. Wait. Which is the West Coast Classic? Who's the one who changed the rules in the middle? CrossFit Games. Anyway. I think I should be allowed one yes and five maybes. Let's just go all maybes then. Maybe or no. Maybe or no.

Okay. Maybe for Madero's. Really? Justin. Okay, maybe for Medeiros. Really? Justin? Okay. Let me see how far along we are. We are about one-third of the way through, and we've already explained that there's two names that we don't know yet.

Baden Brown. Oh, this next one's, man, he may never come on the show again. Don't fuck us, Brian. Remember, have some bias. Jason Hopper. Maybe. Okay. And what did you give Medeiros?

A maybe? Yeah. Okay. Jason Smith. No. Should we have him on the podcast? I'm sure it'd be amazing to have him on the podcast. We can ask him what's going on in Africa,

which hardly anyone will know about. There's a lot of cool things happening there in Cross. And also if he sees any newcomers coming in the world, because we really haven't seen anyone challenge him yet. And what about the fact that he's, is he the oldest guy at the games? Yeah. And I think he's now the oldest guy to call. 35 to 39 division became a thing.

Okay. So you could almost say in the modern era, he's the oldest guy who's ever qualified for the CrossFit games. Yeah. And, and you, and you, and you like him.

You're it's, it's not just that he's from africa you actually think and that he got slipped in you actually think he's good i don't know how how good a guy that old can do relative to this field yet we haven't we haven't really seen it but the much younger it was like two years ago or three years ago and he he was like top five in some events in the 20s. He wasn't out of place by any means. Do you think he could win the teen division?

The teenage? Yeah. Against the best teenager? This year? Yeah, probably. Okay. You were going to laugh at that question, and then after for a second, you're like, actually, that's a pretty good question. Or no?

The teenagers on the men's side really can't, have not proven that they can hang with the games athletes, the way that the women have. Right. Okay, okay. We won't fall into that. But it's different going down than going up. Because you have to, because the weights will be lighter, and you still have to deal with those kids' engines. Good point. Wow.

Holy shit. I don't know if you've ever said that to me. Scott Panchik. No. You're breaking my heart. You're breaking my heart. Royce Dunn. No. You're breaking my heart. You're breaking my heart. Royce Dunn. No.

Adrian Mundviller. Mundviller, no. Mundviller. You pronounce the W as a V? Yeah. Mundviller. Sam Stewart. Augustin.

Why is this? This is, man, you're hurting. I can't believe we're doing this for every single guy. Augustin Richelmy. Wow. Augustin Richelmy. And no. Georgos Karavas. No. Georgos Karavas.

No. Henrik Happen... Henrik. Henrik Happ. Henrik Happy. Happy Henrik. Yeah. No.

Oh, my God. We're going to know who the winner is here in a minute. Luka Dukic. Yeah, that's what I said. Lazar Dukic. No. Fascinating. I think we talked about this in one of the podcasts.

Brothers, right? Yeah, brothers and both making it. Well, both of them are going to be competing at their first games. Lazar Djokic turned down the opportunity to compete as a national champion from his country in 2019 because he didn't think he was fit enough to compete yet. Wow. What do you think about that? I think he was the only one who did it. I kind of like it.

Is it kind of a mistake, though? He could have got the experience under his belt. For one event and ten thousand dollars to get there okay fair janikoski no what what what's wrong why what what what immediately i'm not taking a hard line here okay oldest upanikis. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, Brian. Yes.

Upanikis. Are you kidding? We're almost done with this. Don't bail out now. Give me. Oldest Upanikis. No. Guillermo Malheros. No.

Andre Houdos. No. Andre Houdet. No. Björgvin Carl Gudmundsson. Oh, my goodness. I picked up the pen for that one. Will Morad. No. Brandon Luckett.

No. Jeffrey Adler. No. morad no brandon luckett no jeffrey adler no patrick velner yes or maybe oh maybe there's no yes okay alex vignole but i'll be coming out next week and i'm pretty excited for people Alex Vigneault. It'll be coming out next week, and I'm pretty excited for people to read it. What's the article about, and where will it be published? It's called The Return of Vigneault, and it'll be published in the Morning Chalk of. And what, did you see something in the, what's the article about?

What's the theme of the article? I mean, besides that he's returning. Basically, that he's been good for a long time like really good for a long time but because of a few setbacks and those changes of the season and his life and the way things all yep you probably if you started watching in 2017 and yet but in 2015 and 16 there's 13 regionals he was already really good at a huge specialist in anything. He's very good at pretty much everything. But he's not going to win the games. No. Alexander Illin. No. Haley,

Haley, can you give the dog some Vicodin? Can you give the dog some Vicodin or sleeping pills or whatever you take at night to help you ignore me? Cole Sager. Cole Sager. Cole Sager. Before I go on with these last four names, I want to ask you a question. What is the difficulty of doing this besides your personal pathology of needing to do things in a certain procedure? Does any of it have to do with the fact that these are your friends and that you don't want to... You don't want to...

There are athletes that I said no to today that should be coming to the games with the 100% confidence that they can win the games. Okay, I understand. Okay, that's fair. Good answer. Stas Soledov. No. Brent Fikowski.

Maybe. But he shit the bed in the semifinal. No, he didn't. He did fucking. Wow. Okay. Explain that to me. Didn't wait.

First, let me tell you why I'm being so harsh. He barely made it in the fifth workout. Is that correct? In the final workout, he barely made it in the fifth workout. Is that correct? In the final workout, he barely made it and took fifth place. Yeah, he had an incredible... Which is, I think, severely... He finished fourth in Canada in that semifinal and basically said, I'm going to prove you wrong, Brian.

I can have a phenomenal performance even at a maybe range of motion disadvantage. I was impressed. But that's a big leap between being able to bear down and kick ass in one workout to, okay, he gets to be in this list that has Patrick Vellner, Jason Hopper,

and Justin Medeiros. He gets to be in that list because he's earned the right to be on that list. He has... The longer the test, the more events that are tested, the better his chances. Because he can... I don't have the list in front of me. I think he's third all-time in most CrossFit games wins.

Hold on, I have it right here. He's tied for fourth. He's tied for fourth. He's tied for fourth in terms of most wins ever at the games, but he had all six of his wins in a two-year span, 2006 and 2017, where he did really well. What's happened since then?

A bunch of weird stuff, honestly, but he's won major competitions in the offseason against high-level competitors. The last Dubai CrossFit Championship, second place was Patrick Vellner. I think Roman Krennikov. Jason Smith was in that field as our junior.

Georgios Karavis was in that field. Lots of guys that are now making their move into the games were competing there that weekend. He beat all of them. He went to the Asia, and he won in Asia. Should win there, but it's still a win. And he's going to have great events at the games. And I have a couple that won't be that good.

If you have six tests and you have one bad one, it's a more severe penalty than if you have 12 tests and you have one bad one. So he's probably going to have one or two bad ones. But he's also going to have five top three finishes. Talked for a long time. No, no, that was good. That's better than me talking for a long time.

So I hear what you're saying, and I like it. Okay, good. I'm convinced. Sean Sweeney. No. But are you impressed with Sean Sweeney right now? Yes. Is he the best?

This is the best Sean Sweeney we've ever seen? I think in pretty much every... And Samuel... Samuel, you say his last name. Cornway? No. Cornway. Did you skip?

No. Can I tell you something? Dude, there's one person that hasn't registered yet that's not on this list. Holy shit. Okay, hold on. Before you go there, hold that thought. Samuel Corn Y-A, let me, let me, he spells his name C-O-U-R-N-O-Y-E-R. Kornwaya. But if he would, if he was a cool dude, he would just spell it C-O-R-N-Y-A. Like maybe with some hyphens in there or some shit.

Okay, so Samuel Kornwaya, is he going to make it? He's a no. No, okay. Who is the one person, and how do you know this? Before you tell us who it is, how do you know this? Because it's Noah Olson. Oh, shit. He hasn't registered.

He's not out. Oh, he, I think he posted on his Instagram never again or not until there's changes or I'm out. You think he's out? Wait, come on. No, don't you remember that? Yeah. That was last year. Yeah.

Oh, and he's competed since then. Okay, fine. Fine. Fine. He's back in. That's two years ago. Whatever. So, Noah, let me,. Fine. He's back in. That's two years ago. Whatever. So, Noah,

let me, I'll pretend like I read it. So, Noah Olson. The funny thing is, it's the hardest name for me to say yes or no to. Amazing. Because you don't think that he necessarily has the talent, or the but you think he has the experience.

I've already beaten him, and I don't remember outside of the 2019 and 2020 games, which were different sets of tests. It's a different kind of games that we're going to have this year. He's never beaten these guys that I've said yes to. So a no for Noah? Who's on the list right now? Justin Medeiros. Jason Hopper. Patrick Vellner.

And Brent Fikowski. And Scott P Panchik. No, I said no to Scott Panchik. Okay, just testing, just testing. And Cole Sager. I said no to him. It was hard for me to say no to them. And besides the two, you just said PKG and Chandler Smith.

Oh, yeah, yeah, you BKG and Chandler Smith. Oh, yeah, yeah. You really stalled on Chandler Smith. And, yeah, if I'm drawing this hard, hard line here, I'm also going to say no for Noah. Wow. I might even give you an A+. And you know what? Like saying yes to Hopper is a cop-out we're getting real we're getting real because i just have no i have no idea of his potential

what he did at the mid-atlantic was phenomenal his we know from talking to him that he's in his head like you know it can be good and it can be bad. If he continues to be good with the potential he has, I think it's kind of like Brent Fikowski. I still think there's three things that are exposed at the games that he doesn't have the capacity he needs to yet. He's only been doing this for a short amount of time. And a lot of these guys, especially the guys on that list, with the exception of Medeiros, I guess,

they've been doing this for a really long time even maderos has been around this for a lot longer than his age they might but maderos been doing this for like eight years who maderos and hopper might be the same age yeah let's try let's check okay we know how old hopper is while you're checking did you see this this post matt fraser made is younger oh madaris is younger wow how old is hopper hopper said he's 23 and games profile says 22 i thought they were both 23 holy cow and he might and he might be 23 i noticed that some of the profiles are off in terms of because when they made them, they've aged since then. They had a birthday since then.

Did you see this post that Matt Fraser made? It says one day ago, and it's a picture of him and Jason Hopper. Yep. So my first question to you is, and I guess I could ask Matt too, why didn't Matt tag him? He didn't tag you? No. There was a post a week ago of Fraser with Justin Medeiros in some training sessions. I wonder if he tagged him.

I'm going down and looking. I can't remember for sure if Fraser or Ben Medeiros had posted it. Oh, well, here's a picture of him and Sammy, and he didn't tag Sammy. And to be honest with you, I don't think Matt even thinks about that shit. And here he is with Heber and Marsden, and he didn't tag them.

Okay, so. Yeah. No, well, I mean, clearly nothing personal girls why would he put a picture of him if he was trying to like right you know but um uh i i feel like that's an omen why he was doing the same thing with maderos two weeks before that yeah but maderos is a podium athlete maderos he has more than just a friendship with oh so what's the omen of same thing with Medeiros two weeks before that. Yeah, but Medeiros is a podium athlete. Medeiros, he has more than just a friendship with.

Oh, so what's the omen of? Hopper's gonna win it. Hopper's gonna win it. I mean, I'm just, if you believe in omens. Is that my final? I'm gonna show you. This is the Medeiros picture. And it's clearly, you know, more of an ad, like we're business partners. No, there. This is the Medeiros picture and it's clearly more of an ad like we're business partners. No, there was another one

where Medeiros was rowing and Fraser was pointing at, it looked like he was pointing at the chain of the I do remember that but even that might have been to announce him as a podium athlete. I think they were...

Anyway, but just for shits and giggles, let me show you the one with Jason Hopper. Yeah, I saw that one. Damn, there's a lot of reflections. Anyway, so I think you chose good. I like the four you've chosen. Well, you know. chose good. I like the four you've chosen. Well. You know.

You ready for one more round of the game? Oh my god. Yeah, let's do it. For the girls? The thing is, yeah, the thing is, people may really like this game, and so they're gonna be so pumped. They're so excited for us to do the girls. Or people

really hate the game and they've already turned off. So, fuck it. Same game? Yeah. There's no point in going through the whole list. I like to go through the whole list. That way it's like you're hurting people's feelings and it's good for you to be

it's good for you not to hurt people's feelings, but you to practice being like emotional. Okay. Caroline. This is not. Can we just take Tia out then? No. Come on, man. There's no one else.

There isn't. No. That's it. Yes. She's 27 years old, 163 centimeters and 58 kilograms. If she's healthy, she wins. She's from a country called, hails from a country called Australia. Okay, ladies.

Well, that's tough. And you just ruined my game, Tia. Thank you. You know what? I'm never going to have her on the podcast, and she just ruined the game. Fuck, Tia. I'm trying to play hard to get. I hope it works.

Caroline Connors. We're fine. We can take Tia out. Crybaby. Caroline Connors. If Tia's out, so what's the question? Can they get second? Yes.

Will they be? Yeah. No. Ellie Turner. No. Amanda Barnhart. No. Brooke Wells.

No. Mallory O'Brien. Oh, and we know who, Kara Sanders. Maybe. Emma Carey. No. Yeah, I don't know why your butt hurt about Emma Tall. Another Emma made it in here.

They should cancel each other out. Are Ariel low in no. Hey, these are much easier names than the dudes. Haley Adams. I like how you look around. Like there's someone in the room who's going to help you. Like you should look back at that donkey hanging on the wall behind you.

Tell me, donkey, tell me. Haley Adams hails from the United States of America and trains at the CrossFit Mayhem Empire. 20 years old, 67 inches tall, 140 pounds. No. Michelle Baznet. Baznet. No.

Laura Clifton. No. Alessandra Pacelli. No. Jessica Griffith. No. Emma McQuaid. No. Samantha Briggs. No. Emma McQuaid. No.

Samantha Briggs. No. There is something very unique about Samantha. She, she, she, no, she, she's dangerous to the leaderboard. Not like she used to be. No? No. By that, I mean, she can shake shit shit up she can fuck pacing off for other people there are a ton of women that can do that okay but then i can be there

for second place holy cow is sam the oldest athlete in the individual competition she's 30 does it say 39 yes yes sir yeah and she's only 135 pounds maybe i don't know how off she is petite let me see this. I think she weighs more than that. 170 centimeters to inches. She's 5'7". Yeah. She's 5'7". I bet she weighs over 140. Okay. She got a tiny waist, man.

She's strong, though for for her uh build i'm not i'm not i'm just saying like she doesn't have a huge ass and she doesn't have a big waist she's legs and uh and shoulders true and she has a normal size head how much does a human head weigh 14 pounds no idea la Laura Horvath maybe Wow okay so we have two so far what do you like about her ah I that she has on the physical realm it's it's strict parallette handstand push-ups or variations of those things could if there's no minimum work requirement and even if there's a workout that has that which there might not be then it's only one workout and I think she can do

great on everything else so if I'm comparing her to someone like Haley Adams, I think that there's a potential for there to be multiple workouts that she'll do very poorly on and won't be able to recover from it because I don't think she has the same potential as Laura to outright win events. Haley could maybe win one workout. Laura could maybe win three workouts. Laura could do really, really on one workout. Haley could finish in the bottom three workouts. When's the last time you've seen Laura do her negative handstand? So there's a chance that she's even fixed it. Yeah, yeah, potentially for sure.

But the other thing that she has that i think she has now that she hasn't had for most of the time that she was or since winning the game or placing second in the games in her rookie season 2018 is that her she's in a good place mentally and emotionally and how do you know that what's your resource for that i some some distractions in her personal life during that time. And I think that she's resolved those things now with herself. A dude. I don't know a lot of the detail. You don't want to talk about it.

I don't want to talk about it. And do you not want to talk about it? Cause that's like out of your, you think it's, it's rude or is it because, um, I feel like maybe I've, Jacqueline Dahlstrom.

No. I can't tell if you have integrity or if you're a shitty reporter. Amelia Lapanen. No. Kristen Holte. Kristen Holte. No. Kristen Holte.

Who is Kristen's male counterpart at the CrossFit Games? Like historically speaking? Yeah, like is she Scott Panczyk or no? She's not. She is? Scott Panczyk with one exception. Really? Okay. no she's not she is with one exception really okay as consistent as scott but she has multiple finishes around the same region as him she has a never had anything above fourth and she has a

sixth and two sevenths he's got like four fourths two fifths and three sixth, there's something like that. So they have a lot of good podium. Okay. But he's had more. Noah Olsen maybe is a better comparison, actually, because Noah Olsen has an outlier of a second-place finish, and then he also has a fifth and two-eighths to go against Kristen's sixth and two-sevenths. Do you know how many years she's been in the game?

Well, and that's the reason why I think I originally said Scott Panchik is because the longevity of career is closer. I thought originally it was going to be closer to Panchik based on thinking about it. Noah Olsen's also in his eighth games. I bet. So Noah Olsen is probably the answer. It's crazy that.

So how many games has Panchik had? I think this is nine or ten. It's crazy because I feel like he's been around five years longer than Noah. But it's probably not true. Noah came in 2014. Scott Panczyk. I can pull it up right here. So I know this is more of a kind of a superficial metric that I look at, not something that you give a shit about, but I'll say it anyway.

Kristen Holta has 136,000 Instagram followers. Okay. And the most underrated, in my opinion, crossfitter that I can think of is Scott Panchchick and he has 321,000 followers. So three times as many as her. And I think Noah has twice as many as Scott. I think he's like up over close to 800,000. Yeah. And most of them love me contrary to what you see in the comments.

Okay. So this will be Scott's vast majority love me. Okay. Scott's ninth time. And he first came in like two years before Noah. Okay. So we're going through the 2021 women who are going to be going to the CrossFit Games. We presume they're all here except for the ones who haven't competed in the last chance qualifier.

The men had two people who are going to be added to that list through the last chance qualifier. How many had two people who could go are going to come be added to that list to the last chance qualifier. How many do the women have? Same. They all have two additional competitors in the field. They have 34 instead of 32. Okay. And that was all caused by the fact of the lockdown insanity that made it. They couldn't travel to live competitions that were then placed in the

virtual competitions and therefore given an extra last chance qualifier position right two more times for the women than the men right right right right i'm trying to keep my mouth shut and stay focused on the games um katrin david doter Katrin David Doter. Kristen Holte. Yes, maybe, or no? I said no for her. Katrin David Doter. No.

Sasha, no. She's a two times games winner. That's right. That's what the record books say. And you said Ankara has never won the games and neither has Laura Horvath. And I find it... And she trains with a qualified team and coach, Ben Bergeron. There's plenty of women that I'm going to say no to in this setting that should have every reason to disregard what I have to say and believe they can win the games or play second at the games. Sasha.

So she should still come. Katrin should still come and compete. A hundred percent. Sasha Nevis. No. Oh, shit. Here we go. Thuradur.

Erla. Oh, Turi. Turi. Erlala Helgadoder. No. God, will there be no Icelandic women on your list? That would be crazy. That would mean that something's wrong with you. Larissa Kunha.

Great last name. Gabrielle Megala. Another great, that's just a great name for a movie character. No. Annie Thor's daughter. Are you having Jason Hopper issues here? Is this the same thing with Jason Hopper? You just don't know? Because you don't know.

She is probably the biggest unknown because of the proximity coming back from giving birth. And I do know for sure that at every stage of competition, she's performed ahead of what she expected from herself. And we know how good she can be. And she's not outside of the age range where you can still podium it. What is that age range? I think for the women, it's up to 33. Yeah.

Boy, you have some tough names coming up, by the way. Some tough names. I think Annie is probably the hardest one. I'm going to say his daughter. Okay, so now you have three. Oh, yeah, three. Okay, Danielle Spiegel. Is that what it says on there, Dan?

No, no. I just wanted to say that. By the way, I saw a picture of her today that was just crazy. It's a profile shot of her. Someone sent it to me on her Instagram and was like, hey, get this chick on your podcast. It's a profile picture of her running. I think she's carrying a bag and her glutes and her thigh and her calf and her ankle. Like, like it's, it's a Marvel. It's a, you know, it would be crazy. I wonder if there were women like this to paint,

you know, whatever, 500 years ago when painting was in. Someone needs to make a sculpture of her. I have to fill the time while you think and panic. No, no, no. The answer is. Okay. Carolyn. I say Prevost.

What do you, how do you say it? Prevo. Prevo. Carolyn Prevo. Cause she's Canadian. Okay. Carolyn Prevo. You're probably right.

She's Canadian. No. That hurts. That hurts. Emily Rolfe. No. You can't say this hurts. You know, this, you know, this hurts me hurts. You know this hurts me.

I do know this hurts you. But mine's emotional. Yours is intellectual. Mine's deeper. Bethany Shadburn. It's not fair to say that it's not emotional for me. I want all these girls to do great and I want them all to come in. But you're putting me to the road here. Okay. So maybe it's emotional for me. I want all these girls to do great and I want them all to come in. But you're putting me to the road here.

Okay. So maybe it's worse for you. For you, it's emotional and intellectual. For me, it's just emotional. Bethany Shadburn. Man, she was so impressive. No. Okay. Let's stop. Hold on a second why not what what's her weakness what's her weakness actually what i don't know the weaknesses um girls are better. How are her negative handstand pushups?

Great. I think she was. How's her attitude? Incredible. Fantastic. Great support system. Great training environment. How's her personal life?

Phenomenal. Okay. Guy. I think that I'm not sure what they're at least dating. West Coast classic. Super nice guy. I think that, um, I'm not sure what the least dating West Coast classic, super nice guy. Um, supportive in every way. You know, one year, Carson Anders was at the games and she did great. I can't remember what year it was, but I almost feel like she was too happy about her relationship and that like no

matter what happened at the game she was going to be happy because she was in a great relationship and maybe that's not good no i think when i say supportive in every way that's to me that's also that knows when they need to back off they They're not overbearing. Mackenzie Riley. No, but I'm so happy that she made the games. Why is that? Mackenzie and her husband, Roy, they became friends of mine over the last,

like when I was traveling around. Roy is actually an incredibly, he knows a ton about that as well. There's actually a couple, I mean, Carl Sander said, boyfriend or whatever the situation is there too. It's actually a couple. I mean, Carl Sander said boyfriend or whatever the situation is there, too. It's not that uncommon. Anyway, a year ago or so, and Mackenzie, she didn't know how good she would be. She didn't really do the semifinals.

Believing that she could make it, but she just knew she was feeling good. She ended up, I mean, it was very, very competitive in the women's field and Atlas games, but she made it. And I think it's really cool. That makes Kara Saunders, Annie Thor's daughter, Mackenzie Riley, has new games this year. In addition to Reagan Huckabee, who's coming back. Ariel Lowen is a mother. I feel like I might be forgetting one. Apologize.

Loan is a mother. I feel like I might be forgetting one. Apologize. But there's a lot of moms that have proven that you can do CrossFit competitively, have a kid, and come back from it and compete at the highest level. Since we're just driving a bus back and forth over you, Brian, right now, let's fucking drive a tractor over you and ask you this question. Who's better, Mackenzie Riley or Emma Tall? And for those of you who don't know, there's been a little bit of a curse shuffle, an intellectual curse shuffle around Emma Tall. She was in the games and then out of the games.

And Brian and I have differing opinions on the way that was handled. But I'm just curious now, who's better, Mackenzie Riley or Emma Tall? You know, Mackenzie Riley is like a 20, she finishes around 20th at the games historically, maybe 20th to 25th. And that's basically Emma Tall to be like, if I was ranking the games, athletes close to each other. So it's an excellent question i feel like that's about emma tall and therefore makes me want to believe that she couldn't do as well already know about her more than i do um mckinney right just based on experience carrie pierce Carrie Pierce. No.

Guys, you know when you take a water break when you're doing CrossFit because you don't need water, but you just want to take a break? When Brian laughs, that's what he's doing. He doesn't think anything's funny. He's just laughing to give himself a moment. That's exactly right. to give himself a moment. That's exactly. The greatest American CrossFitter who's ever lived and is currently competing at the highest level. And you say no.

Last year for the first time since 2000, American woman was on the podium at the games in 2014. I've been on the podium at the Games if Kara Saunders was healthy enough. She would have taken second and you would have been third and there wouldn't have been a U.S. woman on the podium. Last year, if the Games was allowed to happen with even 10 people at the ranch, none of the U.S. women would have made the podium. Bailey... you Bailey rail no what is consuming sue sooning no no no I stop yeah tell me What is... Su Ning... Su... Su Ning... No, no, no. Stop. Tell me.

Tell me your name. Say it again. Sun Young Choi. Sun Young Choi. Sun Young Choi. No. Svet... Svetlana Kubishkina.

Kubishkina. Kubishkina. Kubishkina. Svetlana Kubishkina. Winner of the Asian Continental semifinal, but no. Yeah, and a beautiful name. So I do see someone who is left off of this list. You do? Yeah. There's someone's name i didn't say who you have been talking up yeah yeah but she's not on the list i know like no

like no tomorrow ah man i don't feel like it yeah she's not on the list you're right danielle brandon is that her name yeah good job uh second reagan huckabee either she's oh yeah i didn't so let's so let's go with danielle brandon god man the over sydney mccallish did i oh yeah yeah you're right i did because i've carried pierce open okay let's go back a little bit let's go back sydney. Let's go back. Sydney McAlishan. No, but I really like this girl. She's 21. Potential in a couple years if she stays with it.

That's it? Just top 10? It's too early to say any more than that. And it depends on how long some of the other girls compete Yeah, she looks strong she was it looks like she was a volleyball player Holy shit man some of these these teenage boys are just incredible. I went to Google Images Danielle Brandon. No.

Wow. You have one to spare. You have two to spare, Brian. Two to spare. No reason to be a dick. Reagan Huckabee. No. So we have Kara Saunders,

Laura Horvath, and Annie Thor's daughter. That's pretty, that's pretty, that's pretty bold. Justin Medeiros, Jason Hopper,

Patrick Vellner, and Brent Fikowski. Yeah. So if you add Tia to the, that's basically who I think are the top four men and women right now. Do you know what the prize money is on the podium? I think it's like $310,000 for first.

I want to say $150,000 for second and third, maybe $80,000 for third. That's awesome. That's a great breakdown. And then when you go to fourth, does fourth place get anything or no? Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, they pay through 20th, like $1,000 for 20th or something like that. CrossFit games. They go down like $1,000 from $10,000 to $1,000. Hundreds. CrossFit games. Go down like 1,000 from 10,000 to 1,000. Hundreds.

CrossFit Games money. June 3rd, they posted something about 2.5 million in total. Oh, shit. Another omen. Another omen. So I just clicked this link, and I'm on Bar Bend. And, oh, shit. We just got a, uh, calendar notification that Daniel Brandon's coming on the podcast on Monday at 10 AM. Okay. Excellent. Please

tell him, please tell me you can do it. Yep. And then we have Sam Apple on Wednesday. Okay. So, uh, which is, he's the author of the book of ravenous. And if you haven't read that book, uh, you should read that book. Um, uh, it's about Otto Warburg. He won the Nobel prize in the thirties. And, uh, he's the godfather of cancer cell respiration and a photosynthesis. And it's an amazing, amazing story. Uh, first place is 310,000. Second place is 120,000. First place is $310,000. Second place is $120,000. Third place is $80,000. And then fourth place is $55,000, and then $40,000, then $35,000, then $31,000, $29,000, $27,000, $20,000.

It goes all the way down. And the smallest prize they have is $8,000. For what place? It doesn't say. It just trickles down. Oh, fourth through 20th. So 20th place gets $8,000. Better than I thought for the bottom end.

And so I'm assuming 21st place doesn't get any money. And then for the individual events, if you win an event, you get $3,000. Second place, $2,000. Third for $1,000. I don't think they should do that. I don't really care. I don't have a strong opinion on it, but I think they should give all $6,000 to whoever wins the event. Oh, okay.

And team competition is 100,000 for first place, 70,000 for second place. Third place is 40,000. Fourth place is 25,000. Fifth place is 20,000. And the masters, the older you get, the less money you get. Holy shit. This is awesome. If you're, the less money you get. Holy shit. This is awesome. If you're in the 35 to 39 category, you get 25,000 for first place and second place. Oh, and it pays down to third place. Wow. 35 to 39 pays down to third place. Third place gets 5,000. But if you go to the masters 65 and plus first place gets 5,000. Second place gets 5,000. Second place gets 3,000.

Third place gets 2,000. I think that's exceedingly generous. I do. I think it's 65 in this day and age. You know what? I'm hopeful. I'm happy that the Masters will have a little bit more to compete at the main stages and not elite level athletes this year, but I'm I don't know, because of travel restrictions and, and to go to places where there's big crowds, that it's not going to be the normal environment, especially early in the week up there.

Okay. We'll circle back to that. Let me finish the prize money. And you bring up a really good point that I want to push back on. Um, I think people who are 65 plus should just be happy living in this day and age and not be in severe decrepitude. And they should all get a little bit of money just for being role models instead of, well, we're all role models for each other, and that's the problem, whether you like it or not um adaptive athletes upper extremity lower extremity and neuromuscular first place gets 5 000 second place gets 3 000 third place gets 2 000 i think that's exceedingly generous too if you disagree with me don't say don't don't tell me it just sounds like that's the willing to put for any division right now.

So tell me – yeah, good observation. Tell me what is – thank you, Bar Ben, for letting me jump on your site and steal your information. So tell me what is – wait a second. Wait a second. There's a second. Wait a second. There's a guy. I'm going to go back to bar bend here and see something. If this is the good douchebag who ripped on me for my behind the scenes like eight years ago. Let me see who their editor is. About us. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This goofball. Do you know this guy, David Tao? He's the founder, CEO, editor in chief. Someone sent me an article that

he wrote about me. It was so bad. It was just fucking mean spirited and vapid and i was like how can this guy be the i accept your apology david and thank you for letting me use your website um travel restrictions have you have you seen any have you do you see any complications like just like really really staring at any of the athletes like just dead in the face right now that you're like, oh shit. I mean, I was talking about level, but the athletes, it sounds like CrossFit's got people that are working on this with the athletes. But it's just like it would be in a normal rules are different and that's amplified even more with the complications surrounding the global health situation.

Um, and we're talking about crossfit um and i um and tell me about your concern about the fans i i i view crossfitters is um not being concerned at all for their no so for the vast majority don't care about drinking a glass full of SARS-CoV-2. That they realize that they train to. The demographics that I'm talking about can't or won't be able to travel there. Of which a big contingency of fans at the games. Like a lot of those athletes have an impressive amount of people who would travel overseas to watch them compete. And then the,

like the locals that aren't necessarily CrossFit fans, but would go to like this cool competition that's in, in town, in their state or in their region of the country. Just because it's there. You know, just like there's people in California, it's in California,

but they might not fly out to Madison for the games. It's not every year. Okay. This is just my personal opinion about the CrossFit Games. I've been to a shitload of big events that are like parties. When I lived in the Bay Area, I used to go to the Gay Pride Parade all the time. I would go to the Love-Ins in San Francisco. I've been to Grateful Dead concertsisco i've been to grateful dead concerts i've been to mr universe i've been to um the arnold i just been to a ton of just i've been to the air show i've been to the super bowl i've been to the

air show in san francisco if you are the crossfit games Games, when Greg originally was – when Dave created the CrossFit Games and Greg was sharing his vision of how he would like Dave to develop, it would be like the Woodstock of fitness. And I don't think it ever met the criteria that Greg would have wanted, but it sure as hell met the criteria I would have wanted. Regardless of however old you are, there is something there for you. It is an incredible event. What's unique about it to all the other events that I said is there's no assholes there. I've never run into an asshole there. Everyone is so nice to each other. It's like a giant family reunion.

There isn't the posturing that you see at the other fitness expos or fitness events. It's a great place to bring kids. It's huge. There's tons of places to run around. If I was 21 years old or 25 years old or 18 years old, I would get as many friends as I could and I would camp there. The camping area is incredible. And if I was a father with young kids and I traveled and I wasn't like stuck in my little OODA loop like I am, I would take my little kids there because they're going to meet other little kids and other like minded parents, people who, it's basically just a giant show of people who take, who don't believe necessarily in the victocracy or victimhood and who have taken control of their lives, but even on the next level, want to share that message to the world. It's like a church gathering

of people who believe in personal responsibility and health. And it's amazing. I can't advocate enough. If you've never been, you should go. It is. It's awesome. There's something there for everyone. And there's beer and there's good food. There's not shit food. There's actually amazing food and amazing coffee. And you'll see a lot of cool people and, and your brain will be blown no matter what you think about CrossFit CrossFitters and what these athletes can do and how they perform. If you see it live, you will struggle to get your head wrapped around it. Would you agree with that? Yeah, there's something that amazes me I've ever been to.

Yeah. I mean, and I don't think you're using that word lightly. I mean, it's literally like, holy shit. Yeah, I mean, I just got back from Vegas and I had it two or three times on the weekend of just goosebumps, like euphoric, like I can't believe what I'm watching. And I never really know when it's going to come. And sometimes I don't know who it's going to come from. True. I think you're supposed to talk in a podcast, but this podcast is over. Right?

Yeah, I'm pretty tired.