Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Thursday Night CrossFit Talk - 2023 is a WRAP!!!
Transcript
- 0:00We'll begin in five, four, three, two, one.
- 0:10Thursday Night CrossFit Talk with Scott Schweitzer and Jamie Latimer.
- 0:18We're out here taking names Let our voices rise Let them reach the skies We're about to change the game We're out here taking names Let our voices rise Let them reach the skies
- 0:43What is going on, everybody?
- 0:46It's Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
- 0:48My name is Scott Switzer.
- 0:49I'm the class now.
- 0:49She is Jamie Latimer, soon to be CrossFit Games champion in 2024.
- 0:55And we are doing 2023 wrap up show with a little bit of foresight into 2024.
- 1:05I have to say this and get this off my chest.
- 1:07First and foremost.
- 1:10Do you ever watch wheel of fortune and there's that guy that buys all the vows and then solves the puzzle, like spends all his money on vows and then solves the puzzle.
- 1:24Like, yeah, you're not going very far buddy with 600 bucks in your bank and using all your money on vows.
- 1:32Right.
- 1:33Correct.
- 1:35Yeah.
- 1:36Just had to get that off my chest.
- 1:38Were you watching Wheel of Fortune tonight?
- 1:40I was.
- 1:41And the guy did that?
- 1:43He did.
- 1:44Everybody on tonight's show, all three of them, all three of them would buy vowels and then solve.
- 1:52They were the worst puzzle solvers ever.
- 1:55Was it obvious what the puzzles were before the vowels were bought?
- 1:59Yeah, yeah, that's the worst.
- 2:02Yeah, it was bad.
- 2:04You know, my 54th birthday is this Monday.
- 2:10and i know i'm old because my wife and i sit down to jeopardy and wheel of fortune every night i love that i used to kind of religiously watch both of those and i haven't watched them in a couple of years honestly i basically um i probably haven't watched jeopardy since trebek
- 2:33Like I watched a couple of the guest hosts that they brought on, but I just, I never like got into it.
- 2:38So I don't think I've really watched either of them since Trebek passed.
- 2:43But I loved watching Jeffrey.
- 2:45Trebek's... The flow of Trebek's game was so good.
- 2:51Like... And when they had to replace him, you realized how good he was.
- 2:57But I'm starting to like Ken Jennings as the host.
- 3:00Yeah.
- 3:01He'll never be Alex, right?
- 3:03But he...
- 3:06But he's getting really funny and quick-witted about some of, like one of the clues tonight was this high crime was blah, blah, blah.
- 3:15And the answer was treason.
- 3:17But one of the persons jumped in and said adultery.
- 3:21And Ken goes, I don't know what high adultery is, but I'm curious.
- 3:26I was thinking you were going to go to like marijuana.
- 3:32Like it was actual high.
- 3:34I don't know.
- 3:35It just was a cool, quick-witted thing.
- 3:38He's getting better.
- 3:39But yeah.
- 3:39I'll have to watch that.
- 3:45So for Jeopardy, I'm in, focused, no phone, no laptop, no nothing.
- 3:51Wheel of Fortune is usually when make some thumbnails, make some shorts, make some reels, and just kind of play along.
- 3:58Because you don't have to be there for every second.
- 4:02Yeah.
- 4:03Yeah.
- 4:04So that's how it kind of rolls.
- 4:07That's awesome.
- 4:09So with that, we'll get to what tonight's show is all about.
- 4:14And I know a lot of people are doing year-end shows.
- 4:16A lot of people are doing wrap-ups.
- 4:19We're doing ours in our own special way here on the original Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
- 4:27And so Kenneth asked, do you still have to have cable to watch Wheel of Fortune?
- 4:34I don't have cable, but I live in a city.
- 4:38So I have an antenna, a little tabletop antenna that I have below my TV and I get all the local channels in high def over that antenna.
- 4:48That's all you need.
- 4:50Yeah.
- 4:52Cost me like 30 bucks on Amazon.
- 4:54I get 27 channels.
- 4:57Perfect.
- 4:58YouTube TV for the rest.
- 5:01There it is.
- 5:02We do stream some.
- 5:04My wife is a Netflix person, but, um, so we have a couple of those, but yep, that's what we have.
- 5:12Um, so anyway, we are doing this, um, in a different way.
- 5:17So we're going to do our favorite athletes, most improved, but it's, it has no gender.
- 5:25So we have opened it to anybody in the CrossFit space.
- 5:31And we kind of do some different things.
- 5:33And we want it to be very participatory.
- 5:36So if you have answers to these questions and you want to throw them in the chat, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are.
- 5:43If you want to criticize us for ours, we'll even take it.
- 5:47If you want to compliment us, we will love you even more.
- 5:53With that, we're going to start our 2023.
- 5:56And we might have a special guest who says they have a special story at about 845 Eastern.
- 6:06Okay.
- 6:09Okay.
- 6:12I don't have any Canadians at the top of my list, do I?
- 6:15I do not.
- 6:16You do not.
- 6:17I can't say the same for myself.
- 6:20All right.
- 6:22So to wrap up 2023, we're going to go down through a couple of our favorites and some of it is CrossFit.
- 6:31Some is personal.
- 6:32Some of it is us on the road or whatever.
- 6:35And, uh, and I'm going to start with athlete of the year.
- 6:41Would you like to go first, Ms.
- 6:42Latimer, or would you like me to?
- 6:44I sure I can start.
- 6:46This one was tough for me.
- 6:47Um, uh,
- 6:49I picked Jeff Adler.
- 6:52Okay.
- 6:53He was number two on my list.
- 6:56Yeah.
- 6:58I mean, it was tough for me because, well, I think his, his winning the games was huge.
- 7:04It was, the problem is with the Roman thing, like people want to throw shade there, but like
- 7:10For me, I thought that was huge.
- 7:13My problem with picking him in was not following that up at Rogue, and then there's questions about that win.
- 7:18But I think he came out of his shell.
- 7:21I think with the bantering with Roman, I don't know.
- 7:26He's the athlete of the year for me.
- 7:29Our buddy, Kenneth DeLapp, chose one miss.
- 7:34Sure.
- 7:35Kelly Baker.
- 7:37I think it's a bit of a reach, but I can see where she could be your favorite.
- 7:43She's one of my favorite people.
- 7:47So mine is Laura.
- 7:50Laura Horvat, I thought she dominated her side of the field much more than Jeff did on the men's side.
- 7:59To then beat Tia at Rogue, I don't think you can put together.
- 8:04And her team won Wadapalooza.
- 8:08If you want to go back to January.
- 8:10Yeah.
- 8:10So, um, with all of that said, I think overall she had the best year and, um, I, and I've been like in her corner for a very long time, um, which is going to surprise you when I go with some stuff later in the show.
- 8:28Um, I pick her for athlete of the year.
- 8:32It's a solid pick.
- 8:33I'm glad you picked her so that I could pick Jeff.
- 8:37There you go.
- 8:38And I've been a Jeff Adler like, oh my gosh, beating the drum.
- 8:44Jeff Adler.
- 8:46But Laura just had a better year.
- 8:48Like Jeff lost to Pat at, really the only difference is Rogue.
- 8:54Because Jeff's team won at Waterpalooza.
- 8:58And so it was just finishing second to Pat at Rogue.
- 9:02Yeah.
- 9:05So pretty close.
- 9:07Most improved.
- 9:11Can we go?
- 9:13Sure.
- 9:15I said Alex Kazan.
- 9:18Solid pick.
- 9:21She won the games version of that.
- 9:23Anything beyond the games that made you think she was most improved?
- 9:31I don't know.
- 9:31I mean...
- 9:36No, I think it's just, like, hearing, like, Cotler talk about her and just seeing some things.
- 9:43She won two events in a row.
- 9:46Yeah, I know.
- 9:47And that's the thing.
- 9:47She's got some home run capabilities in her, and I don't think she's even there yet.
- 9:54But I just – her games performance I thought was huge.
- 9:58Like, I kept counting her out, thinking she was going to, like, stay down, and she just –
- 10:03her finish at the end of the weekend was huge to me.
- 10:09Completely agree.
- 10:10She's awesome.
- 10:12I knew you would probably pick her.
- 10:15And so I went with Kenneth, the lapse pick, and I went with Jay Crouch after years of just kind of like stuck in the mire of, um,
- 10:25Australia and that competition and not even always making it to the games.
- 10:30And then if he did, it was like a lower level of appearance, bam, like out of nowhere shot up the charts this year and did it in a very convincing way.
- 10:43Like looked like he belonged with maybe the deepest men's field we've ever had at the CrossFit games.
- 10:51Yeah.
- 10:52I was surprised how good he looked at,
- 10:55um the the throwdown the australian what's it called uh the down under down under camps yes on the team that he was on dude he just he just looks amazing he looked good at rogue too yeah like rogue backed up everything that happened at the games he looked good at rogue
- 11:18And so he's now elevated himself into that middle of the top 10.
- 11:23Can he push higher?
- 11:27That's the question going forward.
- 11:30Kenneth, I think Dallin is a solid pick there too.
- 11:35He just didn't follow that up with great performances for me.
- 11:41Yeah, let's talk about Dallin for a second because I'm a big Dallin guy.
- 11:46One of the most dominant teen male athletes we've ever seen.
- 11:50Expectations are high.
- 11:52Does really well at the games.
- 11:54Gets to Rogue, and like the first two days, you and I are like, what is he doing?
- 12:00Yeah, yeah.
- 12:02Like, we were shocked at how bad he was.
- 12:06And then he did make a little mini comeback at the end.
- 12:10But to be an elite athlete, consistency has got to be better than that.
- 12:17And it's just not there quite yet for him.
- 12:21Which I think was evident at Guadalupe for him too, early in the year.
- 12:27So there's definitely something there with him, some holes or something is going on occasionally that, yeah.
- 12:36Uh, Lex is just catching up and, uh, she's a family feud girly.
- 12:41I, uh, I love family feud.
- 12:43I really, I am a game show junkie.
- 12:46When I was a kid, my mom and I watched game show after game show after game show.
- 12:50Like I loved being sick and home from school to like do the prices, right.
- 12:56The whole game show morning.
- 12:59Um, that was, that was some of the best times ever.
- 13:05Uh,
- 13:07So Kenneth says, uh, seems like such a good dude though, without a doubt, my favorite OG wide zombie card.
- 13:18And I liked Alan.
- 13:19That one's a good guy.
- 13:20Always like is good for an interview at an event is always like amenable to everything.
- 13:26I, uh, I like him too, but he has had some underwhelming performances for sure.
- 13:34So now we'll go to rookie of the year.
- 13:37And, and this one that was, well, I'll wait to see what you say first.
- 13:42I don't have one for this one.
- 13:44Cause I, mine's the same as yours and I was struggling with anyone else.
- 13:47Like, so I have a second.
- 13:51I tossed to Bailey Martin.
- 13:54Yeah.
- 13:57Again, look at his down under performance with Jay and Royce.
- 14:03He looks like he belongs now, but Yella had the games performance.
- 14:11And the fact, mini riff, the fact that he did not win rookie of the year at the games was criminal.
- 14:22Agreed.
- 14:23Yeah, we talked about that a lot.
- 14:27Top 10 performance, 18th.
- 14:34Big difference.
- 14:35And again, what we're calling maybe the most stacked top of the men's side we've seen maybe ever.
- 14:46Yes.
- 14:49And he gets a top 10 performance over there.
- 14:53So had to go with him.
- 14:55He finished ahead of Bailey.
- 14:57So I give him the win and he was doing things at the European semifinal that made you want to see him at the games.
- 15:07Yeah.
- 15:07Bailey got to the games, but there was no performance that made you go, Ooh, I can't wait to see him.
- 15:14Yella was doing stuff in Europe and you're going, I cannot wait to see this dude live.
- 15:21Yeah.
- 15:21Cause he clearly had some home run things.
- 15:23Like you're like, I'm not sure anyone can beat this guy at,
- 15:27this.
- 15:31And it's nothing against Olivia, but she's, she's so young and she is so long in this sport and she's going to get better and better.
- 15:45But this was yellows year.
- 15:46There was, I was not, I wasn't saying to myself, I can't wait till Olivia gets to the games so I can see her do X and
- 15:55so i think my issue with that is like i don't even know i understand like and she's kind of a rookie but like she's made it to the games in my mind whether that was her division or what she's made it to the game she's been on that stage she's had a taste of that competition yellow hasn't and so like it's tough for me to even call her a true rookie well there you go ken true rookie capitalized
- 16:24So let me ask you this.
- 16:26Now that the teens are not at the games, is it a different view of that?
- 16:35Cause they're not on the same stage anymore.
- 16:38I know it will really depend.
- 16:44I I'm going to have to see a year of competition, like how it's programmed.
- 16:48What kind of equipment do they get?
- 16:50Like, that'll be tough to say for sure.
- 16:55If it doesn't have a similar feel and they don't get some of the same stuff that – that was the beauty of being at the games is, like, if the pig was out, probably the masters got to use it too.
- 17:06And so, like, if that kind of stuff gets taken away and they aren't getting some of the special equipment and it is a different feel, then I would probably end up saying, yeah, it's different.
- 17:17Because they're going to go experience things that no one has ever experienced.
- 17:19Like, unless you've ever been to the games, you haven't experienced it.
- 17:24Yeah, fair.
- 17:25I thought it was a great question as we're kind of talking through this.
- 17:30So next one is best competition of the year.
- 17:36And I left this very open-ended, so it could be for any reason.
- 17:41What do you got?
- 17:42Northern California Classic.
- 17:46Huh.
- 17:49And why the reason behind that?
- 17:54I felt like it was a pretty good test of events, like enough events over multiple days, not like a one day event, not like not even because it was three, right?
- 18:07So three day broad test, decent payout purse, like higher end athletes.
- 18:19I just I thought it was a well run.
- 18:21I've been to Northern California Classic, although in a different format, and it was on the Masters side.
- 18:27And so this is where it got, like, difficult for me because for me, best comp is going to be, like, good parking, good seating, good, like, the whole experience for fans, weather, like, everything.
- 18:38There's, like, multiple comps that, like, get knocked out of there.
- 18:42For me, I feel like MFC has the best shot of being one of the best comps.
- 18:48They just need to fix just a couple minor things.
- 18:51Because I would say the venue is the greatest, the parking.
- 18:54Like if you are on top of it and you've already bought your parking pass, you can get in and out for free.
- 19:00Plenty of parking, plenty of hotels.
- 19:01Like I think environment plays a huge role in it.
- 19:04And I think for me, MFC has like a great shot at being up there.
- 19:10They just need to fix a couple things.
- 19:15I hear you.
- 19:18I value your opinion, but I think it's more than a few things.
- 19:26I think they did a great job with trying to increase the programming this year.
- 19:30I think they're in the right direction.
- 19:32Just a couple volunteer things, prizes, stuff like that.
- 19:41I think there needs to be a better separation of the two floors so that there's not confusion about three, two, one, go.
- 19:50That's a problem.
- 19:57Well, I watched, I watched people leave early when they shouldn't have, right?
- 20:03Like it was a problem in some of the age groups.
- 20:08Um, I think you need to pay your winning athletes.
- 20:13I'm not going to argue with that one.
- 20:15I think that's why it's holding it down because you're not going to get higher end athletes there if it isn't a little bit more notable prize.
- 20:24Yeah.
- 20:25And, um, I, I just think it could be, things could be communicated better, better standards on workouts.
- 20:34Um, workouts not changed last minute.
- 20:36Yeah.
- 20:38And there are acceptable ways to change a workout last minute and unacceptable ways to change a workout last minute.
- 20:46Definitely not the acceptable version at MFC.
- 20:50Yeah.
- 20:51My two cents.
- 20:53My opinions do not reflect those of Miss Jamie Latimer, a competitor at MFC.
- 20:59I mean, listen, we get to swim there.
- 21:02It's a very...
- 21:03Broad test of events.
- 21:05Like I said, I feel like the ease of getting in and out of there is the least stress I've ever had at any comp I've ever been to or spectating comp.
- 21:17I would think most people would agree with me.
- 21:19The in-out, the hotels and the drive makes it one of the best comps to be at.
- 21:27I've never had such a good experience, and I've been to it three years in a row.
- 21:31Yeah.
- 21:34Okay.
- 21:37Fine.
- 21:38We will agree to disagree.
- 21:42So mine was Crash Crucible.
- 21:45And I like that you picked Northern California Classic because I think those are...
- 21:52Those are where the sport's going to grow.
- 21:54What I'm starting to call the mid-major competitions that aren't Dubai, that aren't Wadapalooza, that aren't all of that, that are the rocks that have the people that we know, that we interview through semifinals.
- 22:10Like Kenneth says, crash, but it needs more star power.
- 22:14I think it had all the stars I needed.
- 22:17I knew so many of the athletes because of what we do that that was great for me.
- 22:24But what made it special is something that Rogue couldn't do, right?
- 22:29And probably because of weather, but the time.
- 22:32Everything was on time.
- 22:34I could schedule my weekend around the events because they were dead on time the entire weekend.
- 22:41Two, apparatus that you never see at a competition.
- 22:47You got to see cool shit the whole weekend.
- 22:52And it doesn't hurt that my friend was competing.
- 22:56But it was, I thought, a very well run.
- 22:59I liked that they allowed someone to gorilla broadcast it.
- 23:06The JR was open to that.
- 23:11I disagree, Kenneth.
- 23:12There were lots of big names on the female side.
- 23:15If you just know who the semifinal athletes are, many of those people on the women's side, you will see at semis this year and we'll have a shot at the games.
- 23:27Yep.
- 23:28Absolutely.
- 23:30So, um, that was, that was my pick.
- 23:34I just event organizers need to allow people to gorilla broadcast.
- 23:42If they're not doing it, 100%.
- 23:43Coverage needs to be put out there.
- 23:45Yes.
- 23:47Yep.
- 23:48And JR allowed that.
- 23:50It allowed us to get a peek in at it.
- 23:52It allowed us to get to see cool handstand stuff that you don't see all the time.
- 23:57It got trapeze pull-up bars.
- 23:59It had flip sleds.
- 24:02It had so many cool things.
- 24:04And a run outside.
- 24:08It was just a very...
- 24:10diverse and cool competition to watch as a spectator.
- 24:17So, that is that one.
- 24:20Just not enough for me.
- 24:21That's why, you know, like six events for me is not enough.
- 24:27Right.
- 24:28But the mid-majors are not going to be able to do like these massive things.
- 24:33But they're going to be the rock that keeps this sport growing.
- 24:37Mm-hmm.
- 24:38the Metcon rushes, the Northern California classics, the, all of those, that's, what's going to keep this thing, this ball rolling fit fest, um, fittest on the coast, um, all beach brawls, all of that stuff.
- 25:02No need to apologize, Kenneth.
- 25:04We're just kids.
- 25:06I've talked to most of these girls.
- 25:11My next category is personality of the year.
- 25:15And what I meant by this is, who do you tune in to watch whenever they are on a show?
- 25:22Not a specific show, just they appear somewhere you're going to go watch.
- 25:30Okay.
- 25:31I put...
- 25:32velner because i just love him and i like to hear what he has to say i think he's way up there on that because he's he is gonna say stuff yeah he yeah him and like and emily ralph are both quite candid um and i enjoy that out of them
- 25:55Yeah, I didn't even think of Emily.
- 25:56She's a great one.
- 25:57Yeah.
- 25:57But I talk to her all the time, so it's not.
- 26:00Yeah.
- 26:00So for me, that's just different.
- 26:03But yeah, Emily's a great one.
- 26:06She's a great one for that.
- 26:08Mine is OG will always be Rich Froning.
- 26:14I will always tune into Rich too.
- 26:16I just couldn't pick him because you did.
- 26:19And I will say like even like Darren.
- 26:23Oh, I love him.
- 26:25right so like like a one-off from rich i love to listen to darren especially tell old stories about rich and the stuff they used to get into because he he'll say things that rich won't um and i have i've had a soft space in my heart for rich for a long long time yeah
- 26:48Ever since I was back in Advocare and we spoke on the same stage on the same day and had lunch together, I will always be a Froning fan.
- 27:08Andrew says, athlete-wise, Vellner or Froning?
- 27:10Non-athlete-wise, he said Chase, Sousa, Scott, Jamie, or Greg.
- 27:15Greg.
- 27:18I think, or did I don't want my glasses on.
- 27:21I think that's what I meant to write.
- 27:23Okay.
- 27:27All right.
- 27:28So you and I took a lot of trips this year.
- 27:33What was your favorite one?
- 27:35Um, not CrossFit wise Hawaii, although it was riddled with kind of disasters.
- 27:43Um, namely the Maui fires messing up the whole trip from the get go, but
- 27:47It was really great to be away with family.
- 27:49And most of my trips were not spent with Aaron.
- 27:52So they're hard to pick.
- 27:53But if I'd have to say a CrossFit trip, I probably probably the games.
- 28:00But Orlando was a close one for me just because it's my first time out of my shell and going with you.
- 28:08Yeah, I had a lot of fun on all the trips this year.
- 28:12It was probably the best year for doing coverage, even though behind the scenes there's frustrations and things we get upset over.
- 28:21I really had a blast the entire year.
- 28:26But really my favorite was probably Tempe.
- 28:30Most recent one.
- 28:34right and because because i was there with a big group of people we were all hanging out all different personalities ronica punching me when you're on the floor um like going to voodoo donut jim never comprehending what he is supposed to do on the floor until maybe five minutes before
- 29:02Or who knows even if he's while he's out there.
- 29:04Who knows?
- 29:06You and Aaron being Marissa Tomei and Joe Pesci and my cousin Vinny every night, every morning and every night in the kitchen at the Airbnb.
- 29:15Yeah.
- 29:18And the text from Corey to eat all throughout the day.
- 29:23That's sweet.
- 29:23But it was just a fun, fun trip.
- 29:26And it was really laid back.
- 29:28I'm a laid back guy for the most part on trips.
- 29:30I just go with the flow.
- 29:32I know you guys are athletes and have to be places.
- 29:36And I'm just there.
- 29:37If I have to get an Uber, I'll get an Uber.
- 29:39I'm cool.
- 29:40I know.
- 29:41I know.
- 29:42And it was just a fun, fun trip.
- 29:46And I really feel like...
- 29:50I understand the masters athletes plight after that trip to Tempe because I had free access to everything.
- 30:00Like I could sit in athlete village and I could talk to Jason Grubb.
- 30:06I could talk to Ryan Radke and I could get their opinions about things that are going on for the masters.
- 30:12And it just gave me a better insight to cover them and their sport going forward.
- 30:22From a business perspective, but yeah.
- 30:27So that was mine.
- 30:31Why Orlando?
- 30:32Orlando was wild.
- 30:35It was, it just was my first, like, I just got thrown into the deep end, like go interview these people.
- 30:40And it just had to push me out of my comfort zone.
- 30:45Well, what, what I learned in Orlando was that like, you were the right fit.
- 30:51Because I didn't ask you to just go get in.
- 30:53You just started doing it.
- 30:57I thought that was my task.
- 31:01Well, we talked briefly, but we get there and you go.
- 31:05I got to get interviews.
- 31:07I'm going.
- 31:08I'm going.
- 31:09And then we just upgraded you to the GoPro and we kept upgrading you and you just kept getting better and better as we went on.
- 31:19When I have access.
- 31:22Correct.
- 31:25And someone doesn't do a five-minute interview in front of you.
- 31:28Yeah, that would help.
- 31:33And so the next one for me, kind of the next thing we're going to pick is favorite post-workout interview you did this year.
- 31:44And I said, it's okay to do a few because we did a lot.
- 31:48Like we did over a hundred post-workout interviews as a team this year.
- 31:56And I'll let you go first.
- 31:59Because my really favorite one I didn't even list.
- 32:04So I'm going to go off charts.
- 32:07Probably my favorite one was catching Valner walking off the floor after the sled pull at semis.
- 32:16Pissed.
- 32:18Yeah.
- 32:22Upset about the sleds and you running after him.
- 32:27Yes.
- 32:29Yes, Kenneth.
- 32:30Doesn't the story go, you asked him for an interview and he said, if you can run with me.
- 32:35Yeah.
- 32:38He's like, if you can do it while we're walking, I'm like, absolutely.
- 32:41Let's go.
- 32:41He didn't, I don't think he said run, but yeah, I'd have been right there too.
- 32:48Yeah.
- 32:49That was, that was a good one.
- 32:51And it got a lot of legs too.
- 32:54Like on social media and YouTube and such.
- 32:58So you had just one?
- 32:59You were able to get it down to one?
- 33:01Oh, no, I have more than just one.
- 33:03Do you want to do one?
- 33:07So my favorite one is going to come out of left field.
- 33:11It was Cole Sager.
- 33:12Oh.
- 33:16So in Pasadena, he was fighting for his life on Sunday.
- 33:22And I asked him the question like, you know, here you are trying to make it to the games again.
- 33:27It's Sunday and it's go time.
- 33:30You've been in this spot before.
- 33:33What does it mean?
- 33:33And he just went on this whole thing about, I love the pressure cooker days.
- 33:39I love the days when it's all on me and I've got to go.
- 33:42I love Sundays.
- 33:45I learn a lot about myself, not just on the floor, but off the floor in these moments.
- 33:52And it just, I watched it back today and like, I got goosebumps.
- 33:58And so that's my, that's my number one.
- 34:01Okay.
- 34:06One of my other ones was Chelsea Nicholas at the games, which was terrible, unfortunate timing, but I did just, I liked the interview of getting her back there in the, in the ice bath.
- 34:19And she was doing so well.
- 34:23Winning.
- 34:23I know.
- 34:28You know what's come out of that, though?
- 34:29It's like I really gained a really good friend.
- 34:34Chelsea's awesome.
- 34:36I chat with her probably once a month about her Achilles and check in and see how she's doing.
- 34:43She is really, really awesome.
- 34:45And it was a great interview in the ice baths with her.
- 34:51What are they talking about over here?
- 34:52What's Andrew saying?
- 34:53We'll talk about that after we get to this part.
- 34:55Okay.
- 34:57All right.
- 34:57You got a second one?
- 35:02I had a ton.
- 35:04I'll say my second favorite one was Kelly Baker right after she tripped over the bag, had to wait to see if she made the games.
- 35:13And she did after following her for the whole season to have that climactic moment on tape was freaking awesome.
- 35:25I have two others that I wrote both from Orlando, Jack Farlow and Marquand Jones.
- 35:31jack was just like the sweetest kid and marquand is that dude is a talker it was i would enjoy getting to speak with him yeah marquand was one of my favorite semi-final interviews we did this season jack we've had on a few times love that kid um uh and i see big things in his future i'll add i'll add a couple more then um tetlow is always a blast
- 35:58But Marissa Flowers, I've gotten to know her over the last couple years.
- 36:02She announced her retirement to me, not this year, but the year before.
- 36:07And she made it back and came back, which was cool.
- 36:11And then almost won that ring muscle-up burpee over box.
- 36:18She finished third to Ariel and Alex.
- 36:20Yeah.
- 36:21And then Alison Scuds for, for the dramatic way that I got that interview is she was crying because she knew, she knew it wasn't going to happen.
- 36:35And she's, she's still like bucked up and gave me a great interview.
- 36:38And I, that was freaking awesome.
- 36:42And then of course, anytime I talk to Ariel at an event, she's so laid back.
- 36:49She's gold all the time.
- 36:50Yeah.
- 36:54So those are mine.
- 37:00Okay.
- 37:00So what they were saying, which I have not seen, is that Hiller made a post saying that no one will take the master seriously now that it's a separate event.
- 37:13Kenneth is saying he posted a clarification 28 or so minutes ago.
- 37:18So I have not seen it.
- 37:19I don't know what he said other than that.
- 37:25Andrew's saying, I hope we can prove him wrong.
- 37:26Okay, this says same, same.
- 37:29I mean, I get what he's saying.
- 37:35We're going to have to see it.
- 37:39At least Grubb called him out.
- 37:40That's good.
- 37:44It's not even, it's honestly whether CrossFit is,
- 37:48tries to still like make it serious.
- 37:52We can only do so much.
- 37:54And if they don't put a priority on it and there isn't the payout and there isn't the coverage, it won't, it really won't get taken seriously.
- 38:02So it's even if the community wants it to be taken seriously, it's going to be up to CrossFit.
- 38:09So we're going to have to see what, again, we still don't, it's not even serious.
- 38:13We still don't even have a date in a place like,
- 38:19My response is nobody's taking any of this serious yet.
- 38:25Nobody's taking the elite serious yet.
- 38:29We are still a fringe sport.
- 38:34And until some drastic changes are made, like it'll never be more than that.
- 38:42But I do think that masters and teens can be successful.
- 38:46If you look at other sports, they are there.
- 38:48Like in golf, the Champions League was a huge success.
- 38:56So, I don't know.
- 38:58We'll see what happens.
- 39:00It's all in its infancy stage.
- 39:03I think we all have to stop being so reactive in the moment and let things play out a little longer than...
- 39:12than a couple weeks months because the evolution of sport is sometimes decades not months yep yep all right so biggest disappointment of the year me if you want me to go first i'll go first i can go first
- 39:41The biggest disappointment was me not making the games.
- 39:47So it's all about you.
- 39:48I'm just kidding.
- 39:51I mean, I wouldn't say that if the games hadn't been taken away this year, I would, but like the way the whole season wound up and it being split off, it just super sucks.
- 40:13Yeah, I can see that.
- 40:18Because I got the intimate look of you at quarterfinals, I saw how much it meant to you.
- 40:27The problem is I'm 95% sure I had COVID during semifinals.
- 40:33I easily think I could have made it.
- 40:37Not easily.
- 40:38I could have done better in the
- 40:41thrust or ring muscle-up workout and made it.
- 40:44And probably even better in the rope climb workout.
- 40:46I was conservative.
- 40:48I felt like my lungs weren't really there.
- 40:50And I think I would have done great at the game.
- 40:52So it's just frustrating.
- 40:53I just think, and everyone, lots of athletes have to do that.
- 40:59Timing happens and sicknesses happen.
- 41:01And so it is what it is.
- 41:03And I think I should be strong enough to outperform a cold or sickness or whatever.
- 41:09But it is what it is.
- 41:14Kenneth, this was on my list.
- 41:16Ricky Mack getting injured was on my list for biggest disappointments.
- 41:20It did not win, but it was on my list.
- 41:24That's a good one.
- 41:25Another one on my list that didn't make it, Justin Medeiros at the games.
- 41:31Yeah.
- 41:35I didn't say one.
- 41:36Just saying it was, if you're a Justin fan, that was a big disappointment.
- 41:42Like not only did he, he went from winner to outside the top 10.
- 41:46Yep.
- 41:46Yep.
- 41:51Um, and then my biggest disappointment, which is probably a little personal is Anika not making it to the games and it being so damn close.
- 42:08And it sucks because everybody around her that was close to her point total are friends of the show.
- 42:18So if she made it, I was going to be disappointed about another thing.
- 42:22But Annika has fought through so many adversities.
- 42:27And then to... And I know it shouldn't come down to judging.
- 42:33Those two judging calls...
- 42:38Like I have a still shot of her feet behind the line with the sandbag in her arms before she got called back.
- 42:48That lost her that event.
- 42:50And the rope climb thing was a total debacle.
- 42:56But that one, you were there.
- 43:00You saw how disappointed I was.
- 43:01I was devastated.
- 43:04More devastated than a news person should be who covers the sport.
- 43:12but there it is.
- 43:17Um, so Kenneth brings up a question.
- 43:23He said, uh, favorite Clydesdale shows of the year outside of weight loss journey, Thursday night, CrossFit post event, hotel shows tie between Stacy Tover and Hannah and Hannah black episodes.
- 43:42So we do so many shows in a year, but the first Tana black interview, the second one was fun too, but that first Tana black episode, when you find out that she studied Isabel as her like thesis before she ever did CrossFit was fascinating to me.
- 44:05Um, and really cool.
- 44:09I will say my favorite, none of those from the year was my birthday hot wings challenge.
- 44:19I had so much fun on that and the interaction that came in from that was so awesome.
- 44:26Um, that was, that was probably my favorite by far.
- 44:35So
- 44:37On to more.
- 44:39Best teen athlete of the year.
- 44:42And I let you have the pick.
- 44:46Yeah, so I'm picking Ty Jenkins.
- 44:50Who flat out dominated.
- 44:52Yeah.
- 44:55He's like another Dale and Pepper.
- 45:00He's going to be a one to watch going into the men's field.
- 45:04And you can't say that about every teen male champion.
- 45:10No, you cannot.
- 45:11Most, most can't make it right into the men's.
- 45:15And I don't know if he necessarily will, but that dude is strong.
- 45:19He is.
- 45:21So I picked, I actually had a tie in my head.
- 45:26I pick Lucy McGonigal.
- 45:29who did very well at the European semifinal as an individual athlete and then went on to win the teen division for the females.
- 45:39I think she has a bright outlook in whatever she does.
- 45:46Her coach is Jarrett Smith, who I got to know this last year, and he just thinks so highly of her, and not just from an athlete standpoint, but overall.
- 45:59as a person.
- 46:00Those females tend to do what pretty well.
- 46:08But this is really like our first European candidate.
- 46:12Yeah.
- 46:17So that's going to be interesting.
- 46:22All right.
- 46:23Favorite Masters athlete of the year.
- 46:28Favorite
- 46:30Or best.
- 46:30What did you ask?
- 46:32I went, I went for the one who had the best.
- 46:35Okay.
- 46:38I have a bit of a tie.
- 46:42I'm probably going to lean towards grub, but Rudy's my other, I just, for one, I think Rudy is like, he came to more than one event.
- 46:50Like he showed up at MFC.
- 46:53He's getting sponsors.
- 46:55Like he's,
- 46:56bringing in a little bit more credibility into the master space, which Grubb has already done.
- 47:01But Grubb continues to show his face at many comps and is a huge advocate on the master's side.
- 47:07So I think, I mean, I lean towards Grubb as the best master's athlete and he just dominates.
- 47:14He's not even the youngest in his bracket anymore and he still just dominates.
- 47:18He would have podiumed in the age bracket below him, like at Legends.
- 47:21It's crazy.
- 47:23Dude, he's just crazy.
- 47:26So grub four time champ, Rudy two time champ, you know, he's had double the time.
- 47:33Right.
- 47:35And I, and I totally get along with grub.
- 47:37I love grub.
- 47:39I'm really close to Rudy, but in there, but they're the two faces of the master's division right now on the men's side.
- 47:47And it's up to them to like, continue like grub building a training camp.
- 47:54in the master's division, Rudy getting the podium deal, Rudy getting the tier deal.
- 48:00Like those are important steps for the master's division.
- 48:04Yes.
- 48:06And they have to keep doing that.
- 48:08Uh, Kenneth lap calls, uh, Jamie, the people's champ Latimer.
- 48:12No question.
- 48:14I gotta do more things.
- 48:16Um, my pick.
- 48:23is Kelly Friel.
- 48:29And why do I pick her?
- 48:33Because there were moments at the games when the men and women were on the floor at the same time, oftentimes.
- 48:44And in most divisions, the men were way out in front of the women.
- 48:50Kelly Friel was not going to let that happen.
- 48:56And she was competing against grubs division.
- 49:02And she was going out there doing the best she could and competing alongside the men and dominated her division by so much.
- 49:13And she has now been to the games.
- 49:17I think six times.
- 49:21With two seconds and four firsts.
- 49:29Plus, we stayed in the same hotel a couple years ago, and we grilled out together, and she's just freaking awesome.
- 49:39I would like to see her at more camps.
- 49:42Bring that awesomeness to more things.
- 49:45I know.
- 49:46It is hard to get to some of these American camps.
- 49:48If you talk about Michigan to Tempe, England to Tempe would be astronomical.
- 49:58And if prize money isn't at a rate that makes sense, you just can't do it.
- 50:05Does she do any of the European stuff?
- 50:10Does she get on a team?
- 50:11Does she try to show up at any of those?
- 50:13I know a couple of years ago she would, she would go elite at like the French throwdown and stuff like that.
- 50:21Um, I don't know.
- 50:23They have the master's opportunities in Europe that they do here.
- 50:26I know she doesn't look around Europe.
- 50:33Um, so I know she, she just does a bunch of stuff.
- 50:37Um,
- 50:39But it's hard, and you and I have talked.
- 50:42Without a prize purse that meets the needs of the athletes, you're not going to get the top end.
- 50:49She does Wadapalooza because Wadapalooza pays.
- 50:54Yep.
- 50:55And it's probably the shortest flight from England she can get.
- 50:58Yeah, yeah.
- 51:03So there you go.
- 51:08Kenneth says, I don't like how Sam Dancer won his division.
- 51:11Then his response was, I'm going elite next year.
- 51:14Irked me for some reason.
- 51:17Yeah, kind of like, oh, that group was too easy.
- 51:20I need a bigger challenge.
- 51:24I get it.
- 51:25I get it, Ken.
- 51:27I get it too.
- 51:29But this year you can do both.
- 51:31Yep.
- 51:32I mean, we'll see what he's capable of doing.
- 51:34So see if you can back it up.
- 51:37you were allowed in the book to compete elite and masters if you wish.
- 51:43Yeah.
- 51:43I love that.
- 51:44I mean, I, I think that's, I think that's a good change.
- 51:48I, I understand people's questioning the programming and how it's really going to filter, but I do like that option.
- 51:59All right.
- 52:00Favorite moment of the season.
- 52:05Competing at crash on my birthday.
- 52:10Okay.
- 52:15And you did well that day, didn't you?
- 52:17No.
- 52:18No?
- 52:18That was my worst day.
- 52:21No.
- 52:25That was my worst day.
- 52:26That was the handstand walk and the thruster.
- 52:30It just... But you PR'd... I don't know.
- 52:33Yeah, like I hit a thruster weight that I've never hit before.
- 52:37um it was nice of like it was nice to see like i had my shirt i had everyone there sign it it was very nice to get the happy birthdays susan my face with the camera like it just it just felt nice yeah it was cool it was a cool moment so mine um was aerial poduming podiuming
- 53:03in a tie with getting to do the full documentaries with you and you and Rudy to go be at your gyms, hang out with you and your families and be able to, to do that was a lot, was just a blast for me.
- 53:22And it, and it pulled something out of me that I didn't know was there.
- 53:29But aerial podiuming after we had just had a talk with her like a month before that all she needed was some confidence in herself.
- 53:39And to see that come to fruition was just a really cool, cool thing.
- 53:47And so happy for her.
- 53:48And Dylan is just one of the nicest guys out there.
- 53:52So that was just a blast.
- 53:58Now we get into some nitty-gritty.
- 54:02Best CrossFit decision in 2023?
- 54:08I'm going to say bringing Dave back in to oversee the games.
- 54:16Okay.
- 54:16Good call.
- 54:20Do you think we've even seen the plan yet?
- 54:26No, I don't know.
- 54:28I mean, I think he does a good job of making sure the right story is told on the floor.
- 54:34And I have a feeling, and I think he even stated he had to change something.
- 54:37So I'm thankful for probably that.
- 54:40Like we probably would have had more complaints than we did at the games had they not been put in that position to fix some things.
- 54:49I'll say this.
- 54:51We had a lot of complaints at semifinals.
- 54:53Yes.
- 54:56we didn't see that level of complaint at the games.
- 54:59Right.
- 55:01I have not always backed the decision for Dave to be the one back to run it, but I think it was needed this year.
- 55:11or whatever that means.
- 55:14And I like Dave.
- 55:16Every time I've talked to Dave, he's been very cordial, very nice.
- 55:19I don't have anything personally against him.
- 55:22I just... This is for another show, but I think we need to get outside of what has always been and move into something that is designed to grow the sport.
- 55:35Fair enough.
- 55:35Yeah.
- 55:39So...
- 55:41Mine, my best decision of 2023 was to give the semifinals back to event directors who do this stuff all the time.
- 55:55And especially to Wilson Pak in North America East and Dylan Malitzky and Loudon Live in North America West.
- 56:06And they gave it to the French Throwdown in Europe.
- 56:10Those were the three that CrossFit tried to take over.
- 56:13That did not go well.
- 56:17And I'm glad that they gave that back to the event directors who know what they're doing and can do a great job at this.
- 56:29That is my best decision.
- 56:32The bar is pretty low, according to Andrew.
- 56:36Andrew says the bar is pretty low to pick a best decision by CrossFit.
- 56:40We're trying to stay positive.
- 56:43But we do have the worst decision made by CrossFit in 2023 up next.
- 56:50So I'll turn that over to Jamie.
- 56:53So games-wise, this was sort of tough for me.
- 56:56I did it games-wise and not just HQ-wise.
- 57:00Games-wise, I'm going to say not...
- 57:04There's multiple to this and the whole master side, but like not broadcasting the masters properly.
- 57:12The one camera I think was not a good decision.
- 57:16HQ wise, I think the way the affiliate fee increase was implemented.
- 57:23And I've said that my opinion on this, how I feel like it should have been like a tiered or like a overtime.
- 57:28I just think that that was not the best decision, but we shall see.
- 57:35So HQ wise, I think the worst decision they made is to not have a person capable of communicating decisions that are made.
- 57:55I don't even think they have that person on staff.
- 57:58Like, they need to hire a person to make these announcements that can answer questions and do it in a way that doesn't get mucked up in the process.
- 58:13Yeah.
- 58:18So that's the worst HQ decision.
- 58:21The worst games decision, and I'm probably just going on my riff...
- 58:29picking Roman to win Spirit of the Games.
- 58:32Oh, yeah.
- 58:33That's a good one.
- 58:34Was the worst decision ever.
- 58:40We talked to Tony Turski today, who had a torn calf at Legends, had to do his crossovers one-legged, and he didn't win Spirit of the Games.
- 58:52I know.
- 58:53I know.
- 58:55Cuts is a great one, guys.
- 58:57I totally agree.
- 59:00So I, and, and we've said this over and over again, we saw no less than five masters athletes have to do one legged double unders on, in their side.
- 59:12And, um, all your adaptive athletes, like, yeah, he's not doing anything special.
- 59:21No, that was a PR mistake.
- 59:25move and not a legit I don't even think the award should exist it's a mockery of what it used to be so cuts I guess I can see that Kelly Baker almost took the whole machine down after being cut that is true
- 59:53And for my friend Kelly, I'm glad she got to compete another day.
- 59:56Got probably more shine and highlight than she would have gotten had she finished in the top 30.
- 1:00:05I don't like the amount of cuts.
- 1:00:07I will grant you that.
- 1:00:09I'm okay with cutting from 40 to 20 on the last day or 40 to 30, something like that, on the last day.
- 1:00:17But that Friday night cut is dumb to me.
- 1:00:25Yeah, we kind of talked about that, Andrew, earlier on when we picked our Rookie of the Year who was Yella unanimously by us.
- 1:00:34But yeah.
- 1:00:37That Spirit of the Game one.
- 1:00:38That has been a thorn in my side nonstop.
- 1:00:44All right.
- 1:00:45Last one for this year is if you could add three things to the rulebook, what would they be?
- 1:00:56Okay.
- 1:00:59We both have that workout videos.
- 1:01:05Every workout, like for the open or quarterfinals, semifinals, whatever it is that you're doing, should have to be submitted with your score at the time of submission of score.
- 1:01:15And when the leaderboard populates, that should be public.
- 1:01:19So all, if there's five workouts, all five videos should be on the leaderboard, clickable by anyone and viewable.
- 1:01:27That's my number one.
- 1:01:31I want to say my piece.
- 1:01:34Everybody says that CrossFit can't handle the workload of a bunch of video reviews.
- 1:01:42You make those things public, you're not going to have to do a whole bunch of work because people are going to point it all out to you.
- 1:01:48You're going to be able to look over at Hiller's site.
- 1:01:50You're going to be able to look over at anybody with a voice talking about how bad a video is.
- 1:01:59And hopefully knowing that they're out there public.
- 1:02:03No, they won't.
- 1:02:04Not with this administration at HQ because they don't want to be that transparent.
- 1:02:16It's honestly like it just, just making them out there public should hold the athletes to like that level of like, anyone's going to look at this.
- 1:02:25I better review it before I submit it and make sure I move well.
- 1:02:30And if you don't, you're going to get ridiculed and called out.
- 1:02:32And I think that would be good for the sport.
- 1:02:35I think most of that stuff has been good for the sport.
- 1:02:37I agree.
- 1:02:43My number two is that, and I don't know how this would necessarily, just I think a general statement, like any CrossFit sanctioned event should have a award or prize purse associated and backed and announced.
- 1:03:02Okay.
- 1:03:03I can go with that one.
- 1:03:07And I think there should be a basic movement list in the rule book.
- 1:03:12Even if it's like 30 basic movements, they're probably always going to be in the open or something.
- 1:03:16And that should follow through to like every stage of competition so that there's no question on, I don't know, a dumbbell snatch.
- 1:03:24Like is, you know, is it two heads of the dumbbell?
- 1:03:28Like this should just be kind of universal.
- 1:03:32Well, Kenneth asks, any other professional sport release a yearly rule book?
- 1:03:39I will say yes, kind of.
- 1:03:43Most sports have a rule book in place that there is a yearly review done by a rules committee that then makes recommendations to the ownership of that league.
- 1:03:57And then they can vote to make that change or not.
- 1:04:01But it's all done publicly.
- 1:04:02And if it's voted through, then that change is made to the rulebook.
- 1:04:09It's not like a brand new rulebook every year, but you can make... There's yearly reviews to it.
- 1:04:15Happens in the NFL, happens in Major League Baseball, all that kind of stuff.
- 1:04:21Sure.
- 1:04:23So my other two are...
- 1:04:26All finishes should finish away from the chaos if you are a sanctioned CrossFit event.
- 1:04:33We have been to too many events this year where we couldn't tell who won because the finish line was either at the point you were done with your workout in the middle of the floor or you finished where everybody was hanging out and you couldn't tell if they were in the chalk bucket or crossing the finish line.
- 1:04:56I am very passionate about finishes because that's what it's about, Kenneth.
- 1:05:00We want to know who finishes first.
- 1:05:03That's why you watch the sport.
- 1:05:05And if you can't tell, it takes away all that excitement.
- 1:05:09You don't know whether to cheer, whether to yell to go faster.
- 1:05:13You have no idea what you're doing at that moment.
- 1:05:15Yeah, yeah.
- 1:05:20There's that.
- 1:05:21And then my other one is, I think they need to expand North American Europe back to 120 and 60.
- 1:05:29Cutting them down to 40 is bullshit.
- 1:05:32I'm with you on this one.
- 1:05:35The fact that you're expanding Masters way up, you're expanding teams way up, and now we're going to cut the semifinal athletes?
- 1:05:44Are you kidding me?
- 1:05:46Right.
- 1:05:48And it's been shown that games athletes would not have made semifinals under these rules.
- 1:05:55Yep.
- 1:05:57If you can't handle the capacity at one event, then you need to go to three in North America and two in Europe.
- 1:06:05Yep.
- 1:06:05But cutting them down is not the end.
- 1:06:07That is dumb.
- 1:06:11You are taking away the opportunity for athletes to grow and become competitive in the sport.
- 1:06:21And you're giving that opportunity to South America, Africa, Asia.
- 1:06:32Just dumb.
- 1:06:34Totally agree.
- 1:06:38So there we go.
- 1:06:40Sorry, Kenneth.
- 1:06:41I got a little, I didn't mean to yell at you about my finishes, but it's important to me.
- 1:06:46If I'm a spectator and I'm watching event, I want to know who the hell's done.
- 1:06:55Yeah.
- 1:06:57I don't think it needs to go back to its roots.
- 1:07:00I actually believe the exact opposite.
- 1:07:02I think we're stuck in our roots and we're trying to put band-aids and binding twine on a sport to keep it at its roots rather than let it grow and flourish in a way it needs to.
- 1:07:21So now we're going to do a couple of predictions.
- 1:07:25And we're already an hour seven into this.
- 1:07:26I know.
- 1:07:29Okay.
- 1:07:30So we got to move.
- 1:07:32So we're doing 2024 predictions.
- 1:07:37Who will be the athlete of the year in 2024?
- 1:07:39Pat Belner.
- 1:07:43Why will Pat be the athlete of the year?
- 1:07:51I just want him to win so bad.
- 1:07:52I know.
- 1:07:53I want to put everything into this year and win.
- 1:07:55So.
- 1:07:55I don't know.
- 1:08:03My athlete of the year is Emma Lawson.
- 1:08:06I love it.
- 1:08:09And I say it's Emma Lawson and hear me out.
- 1:08:13Cause we've all been talking about the Tia Laura battle.
- 1:08:18And quietly there's this young lady in Canada working her ass off.
- 1:08:24And she's going to shock the world and beat both of them.
- 1:08:29I would love that.
- 1:08:33And Emma Lawson will be your 2024 CrossFit Games champion and Athlete of the Year.
- 1:08:42It's the only reason I didn't pick her.
- 1:08:44I had to pick a different Canadian because you already had picked her.
- 1:08:50Yeah, we could have, yeah.
- 1:08:52I hope you're right because...
- 1:08:55I sadly am thinking it probably will be Tia again, but, and I don't, I mean, good for Tia if she comes back better than ever, but it's just done, it made this year so exciting to have a race.
- 1:09:10And I just don't want that to all come apart again if she just comes and totally dominates again.
- 1:09:14Yeah.
- 1:09:16So I hope you're right.
- 1:09:19Heard it here first.
- 1:09:21I was the first on the Jeff Adler bandwagon last year.
- 1:09:26All right.
- 1:09:27Most improved.
- 1:09:30Emma Carey.
- 1:09:33Wow.
- 1:09:34From eight.
- 1:09:37I know.
- 1:09:37I'm just curious what mayhem brings her.
- 1:09:40I mean, I think she's got the goods.
- 1:09:43We'll see.
- 1:09:46I say Justin Medeiros.
- 1:09:50I can see that.
- 1:09:51And my other pick is probably more of a heart pick.
- 1:09:56I had second Amanda Barnhart.
- 1:10:00Okay.
- 1:10:08Could have went Jason Hopper, but I told you I'm done with him.
- 1:10:11I had the same thought process.
- 1:10:18I need to see it.
- 1:10:22Rookie of the year.
- 1:10:26We have the same one.
- 1:10:29Yeah, Hatfield, Austin Hatfield.
- 1:10:35Austin Hatfield's who I have.
- 1:10:37We met him in Orlando.
- 1:10:41Almost made it last year.
- 1:10:43Then number one qualifier at Wadapalooza goes into Crash Crucible, wins that.
- 1:10:50I think it's going to be exciting to see where this guy goes.
- 1:10:53Mm-hmm.
- 1:10:57I didn't even think about people who didn't make the games.
- 1:10:59Yeah, like Brooke, like Saxon.
- 1:11:02Yeah.
- 1:11:06And they could be that too.
- 1:11:08But they were both injured, and I have a hard time looking at an injured athlete to making them an improved athlete.
- 1:11:16They just got hurt, and they just needed to mend and get better.
- 1:11:19Yeah, I would look at their previous placement as their improvement placement.
- 1:11:26Yeah.
- 1:11:26Yeah.
- 1:11:29He's really that good.
- 1:11:34I have to admit, Jamie's the one that pointed him out to me.
- 1:11:37In Orlando, he was every bit the good you said.
- 1:11:41He moves so well.
- 1:11:43He's like the way you see Colton move through thrusters, right?
- 1:11:49Because he's got shorter limbs.
- 1:11:52Austin's like that slightly tall, just slightly.
- 1:11:55He's got the advantage of having somewhat short limbs too.
- 1:11:59But I think it doesn't hamper him because he is slightly taller in some of the other things that Colton gets hurt in.
- 1:12:08So he's, I would say, slightly more well-rounded.
- 1:12:12But he moves really well.
- 1:12:13He's strong enough.
- 1:12:15I think he's good.
- 1:12:19So Andrew says, I think Dallin's going to be near the top next year.
- 1:12:23I hope so.
- 1:12:24But man, it's a stacked field.
- 1:12:27Like...
- 1:12:29When you look at Adler and Roman and Pat and Brent, like it's going to be tough and Madera's probably coming back.
- 1:12:38Like it's going to be, that's five people right there.
- 1:12:41Yeah.
- 1:12:43I don't know if he can break past fifth, sixth, honestly.
- 1:12:50Every time I think like Brent's done, like when we saw him in Pasadena, he was a different dude.
- 1:13:02I don't know.
- 1:13:03It's going to be interesting.
- 1:13:12Best comeback.
- 1:13:15Biggest comeback in my heart.
- 1:13:16Big time Bex.
- 1:13:19Bex Fusile.
- 1:13:20You guys are on a Bex name term.
- 1:13:28I hope she makes it back to the game.
- 1:13:30That girl works.
- 1:13:33And seeing her at Legends, backing one of her Masters athletes, live and in person, was a cool sight to see.
- 1:13:43Yeah, yeah.
- 1:13:46So then I have best competition of the year next year.
- 1:13:48Okay, this is going to be a surprise for you.
- 1:13:53I think it's going to be the Pitt Games.
- 1:14:00The pit teen CrossFit games.
- 1:14:04Correct.
- 1:14:06Why do you say that?
- 1:14:08I just, I, well, I'm excited to see what they do with their space and given some support with CrossFit.
- 1:14:16It's going to, I mean, I'm just hopeful for them that it, they get more like space and equipment and.
- 1:14:25Cause that's, I mean, all that stuff goes into it, right?
- 1:14:27Like the spectator experience is going to be key in that.
- 1:14:31So I'm willing to be wrong, but I'm hopeful that it.
- 1:14:36The cool thing is they have all that acreage to do cool events that nobody else is going to have that to do.
- 1:14:45So, okay.
- 1:14:46I hear you.
- 1:14:49I just took a wild stab at the dark and I went was a SoCal and
- 1:14:56on the beach in California, if they do something like fresh coast and get like that all to kind of ramp up like that in a big was a style that could be epic.
- 1:15:14That was almost my pick fresh coast, but it needs, it needs a little bit more as well.
- 1:15:20So, so, and yeah,
- 1:15:24With semis being reduced to 40-40, there's going to be more people that don't even make it to semis that can train for Wazza SoCal.
- 1:15:37Yeah.
- 1:15:37And that could be their big event.
- 1:15:42So that's why I went with that.
- 1:15:46All right.
- 1:15:47Best teen athlete of the year next year.
- 1:15:51I don't know.
- 1:15:52I need to do more research.
- 1:15:53It's
- 1:15:55Your pick was good.
- 1:15:57I defaulted.
- 1:15:58I went with Maria Granizo, teen girl, dominated 14, 15-year-old from Guatemala.
- 1:16:05She competes in the North America East.
- 1:16:09She totally crushed the 14, 15-year-old division.
- 1:16:14And I think she's going to be able to make the jump to 16, 17 and is the next in a line to move into that teen girl kind of competition.
- 1:16:29Then we have Best Masters Athlete of the Year.
- 1:16:35Yep.
- 1:16:37Jamie Latimer.
- 1:16:38Did you skip?
- 1:16:39No, I did not pick myself.
- 1:16:40Did you skip some?
- 1:16:41This is not the order I have on my sheet.
- 1:16:44Did you do Personality of the Year already?
- 1:16:48Not for next year.
- 1:16:49I didn't do that for next year.
- 1:16:51Yeah, you did.
- 1:16:52You had that in your list.
- 1:16:53I did not.
- 1:17:00I didn't.
- 1:17:02I swear you did.
- 1:17:05Okay.
- 1:17:08For Masters, I have Jen Ryan.
- 1:17:14Do we know if she's going to compete next year?
- 1:17:17I'm pretty sure she's going to.
- 1:17:19I guess we're going to see.
- 1:17:20She told me at the game she was done.
- 1:17:23You think so?
- 1:17:25I asked her at Masters and Legends.
- 1:17:29She wouldn't stay on camera.
- 1:17:30I don't think she could stay away.
- 1:17:39She gave me the... So Jen... Kenneth's talking about you giving me the look like his wife gives him.
- 1:17:45But Jen Ryan gave me the look that made me think she's going to try to go team again.
- 1:17:53So that would be my only... And she's done a couple team things.
- 1:17:57That is my...
- 1:18:00one concern with that pick um and i'm in in that aspect you know like i'm trying to think of like a 35 39 male that like could step in like i don't know like a pan check or i don't know if sam's gonna be there if he's gonna pull the i need to do the indie route um because like i said i need i want somebody who's gonna show up at not just the games
- 1:18:26somebody who's going to be an advocate.
- 1:18:28They're going to show up at MFC and then either do... I mean, at this point, I don't expect people to do Legends and Legends games.
- 1:18:39I would probably just do one.
- 1:18:41But I think MFC is an important one to try to show up to if they can figure out how to pay athletes to get there.
- 1:18:48And like, Wadapalooza, Master's side.
- 1:18:51I just think more appearances...
- 1:18:54and coverage of these like bigger name athletes is important.
- 1:18:56And that, I mean, that's why grub for me is, is huge.
- 1:19:04So I said on this one, the safe bet would be to take Cheryl Brost.
- 1:19:13The woman is always there.
- 1:19:15She's always on the podium.
- 1:19:17She's won it like four or five times, but she's been there like since 2012.
- 1:19:21Yeah.
- 1:19:25that would be the safe bet under the criteria of going to multiple events.
- 1:19:31I would say Rudy.
- 1:19:33I think this is the year that Rudy goes three in a row.
- 1:19:36He's going to water Palooza in January.
- 1:19:41He's going to, he's going to do one of the other events and he's going to, this is taking him from great athlete to superstar.
- 1:19:55Totally agree.
- 1:19:57My other person that I would pick, but I don't think she goes to other events would be that Susan Clark.
- 1:20:06Cause man, she's got a streak.
- 1:20:09She's awesome too.
- 1:20:10And she was a, she was one of my picks, but it wasn't post workout, but one of my favorite interviews talking with her after the, her metal at the games was I loved.
- 1:20:26Yeah, Kenneth, the tier sponsorship is good.
- 1:20:31The podium sponsorship is great.
- 1:20:34Yeah.
- 1:20:36Just from knowing a little detail, I'm telling you, tier's good, podium, great.
- 1:20:45So, all right.
- 1:20:47So that is our predictions for next year.
- 1:20:53Any resolutions going into the new year?
- 1:20:57Gosh, I haven't even, no.
- 1:21:00I still got to do accounting and books for the gym.
- 1:21:05I'm a mess.
- 1:21:06I'm behind.
- 1:21:06I haven't catch up on things.
- 1:21:13So my resolution is one, I've got to do Murph between semis and the games.
- 1:21:23Mm-hmm.
- 1:21:25But I'm going to make this an announcement, is we no longer have a title sponsor for the Clydesdale Media.
- 1:21:37We got word a couple weeks ago that C4 was making cuts, and they cut 85% of all influencers, and we were one of those 85%.
- 1:21:49So we no longer have a title sponsor and we are on the hunt.
- 1:21:55And my resolution is got to get something in the works so that we can go out and give you the coverage you guys deserve.
- 1:22:04Because without that backing, we will not have the funds to be able to go to events.
- 1:22:10like we did this past year.
- 1:22:12So my big resolution is find some sponsors.
- 1:22:17And if it's not just one, maybe each show we do a smaller sponsor or whatever it is.
- 1:22:27But we actually, what's crazy is we're blessed enough that we've been around long enough that there have been people interested in us, but because of conflict of interest with C4, we could not bring on.
- 1:22:39So we're hoping that we can reach out to them, rekindle those talks, and get something in line fairly quickly.
- 1:22:47It's just tough at the holidays because nobody's around.
- 1:22:51Nobody wants to talk and all that.
- 1:22:55But we'll try to figure something out.
- 1:22:59with between now but just so you guys know when we come back next week there will be no c4 on the promos no c4 on the backgrounds anything like that and that is why because they have made drastic cuts for 2024 so
- 1:23:24The only other thing I really wanted to talk about was a couple weeks ago, I think it was last week, Spin came up with an idea of eliminating online qualifiers.
- 1:23:37And that really piqued my interest.
- 1:23:39And so I wanted to just dive into it with you, Jamie, because I think one of the fallacies is it doesn't cover masters.
- 1:23:47Right.
- 1:23:48Everybody thinks just elites.
- 1:23:51So how can we, how can we kind of do that?
- 1:23:56So his thing is use worldwide rankings.
- 1:23:59I pray to God.
- 1:23:59He means like a new version of worldwide rankings and not the thing that CrossFit is using.
- 1:24:05Yeah.
- 1:24:07And so if there was a worldwide ranking and like this event is taking 30 people and
- 1:24:16All these people sign up and they take the top 30 that are in the worldwide rankings.
- 1:24:24Okay.
- 1:24:28Lower tiers.
- 1:24:30And then, and he's saying that, um, you would earn tiers and up through, through what I've been calling like the mid majors that you would actually earn points going to like Metcon rush crash, crucible fittest on the coast, all that kind of stuff and earn points to kind of get moved up in that leaderboard, um, worldwide ranking.
- 1:24:57So I think it's the genesis of a really good idea that probably needs like a little bit of thought.
- 1:25:09Yeah.
- 1:25:11Yeah.
- 1:25:11It does sound a bit like sanctionals and it sounds like, but once you hit that here, do you need to do like the Dubai qualifier and the blah, blah, blah.
- 1:25:27because a lot of like rogue like people are just coming off like a game season and if you weren't in the top 20 and you want to go to rogue you got to gear up and do these qualifiers i know they weren't easy yeah i know it's tough because i the qualifiers suck and i get it they're
- 1:25:53it would be nice to get away from these, but I also don't want to see the same top 30 people just get to all these events.
- 1:26:00So I, well, the same 30 wouldn't want to go to every event.
- 1:26:05Yes.
- 1:26:05It sounds like the PGA to me.
- 1:26:07Yeah.
- 1:26:10Like you basically earn your card and you, once you're in that elite tier, you just go by the worldwide wide rankings.
- 1:26:18And what,
- 1:26:22but there's gotta be a way for those lower tiers to work their way up and in.
- 1:26:26Yeah.
- 1:26:28And not all comps are created equal.
- 1:26:30Like how, man, I see so many issues with that.
- 1:26:36Again, Genesis of an idea that I think just needs some time to be worked on.
- 1:26:43I would be very curious to hear more thoughts.
- 1:26:49Well, and like how many,
- 1:26:54You'd have to.
- 1:26:56So like if Europe has 37 mid majors and North America East has 27 and North America West has 18, that's not fair either.
- 1:27:11So it's almost like you have to pick a number and say, these are the ones that are point qualifiers and,
- 1:27:22Right.
- 1:27:22But again, I think it's a genesis of a good idea.
- 1:27:27It's just, it needs a lot of work.
- 1:27:34And Andrew makes a point.
- 1:27:37These point qualifiers hopefully would pay money and you could actually have a waste of making some money along the way.
- 1:27:45Yes, that would be ideal.
- 1:27:49But there'd have to be enough in your region to make it viable.
- 1:27:59Yeah.
- 1:27:59Cause you can't make, I mean, you can make whatever, but like it becomes, again, this becomes a, a halves versus the halves.
- 1:28:11Not like if it really isn't, there isn't like five, if becomes five that they choose.
- 1:28:19and there aren't really five accessible in my area, it just becomes cross-prohibitive.
- 1:28:26And then it's someone else who doesn't have to work and has backing and can get to all these events just gets a spot just because I can't make it.
- 1:28:39So let me ask you this.
- 1:28:43Me as a media person, what really dictates...
- 1:28:48my funding is can i drive to it or not is that the way an athlete looks at it so i prefer yeah i prefer to be able to drive to the events um like i think that's why mfc is probably in my mind one of the greatest because i can pack a suitcase and food and whatever i want and drive there and not be
- 1:29:16It's not a 12-hour drive like it was to go to 14 or whatever it was to go to Mayhem last year.
- 1:29:24That I'm hurting when I get out of the car because I sat in a car for 14 straight hours.
- 1:29:32Or I'm hurting because I sat and cramped in a plane for five straight hours to get to California.
- 1:29:42And I have to limit what I can pack to go to somewhere in California.
- 1:29:45And those flights aren't cheap.
- 1:29:47Um, so yeah, driving is quite honestly, like if it's six hours or less, I'd say like that makes it a lot more reasonable.
- 1:29:58Yeah.
- 1:29:59So Madison for us was eight hours.
- 1:30:01Like to me, that's doable.
- 1:30:04That's pushing it.
- 1:30:06Like I could get to Matt, I could get up early at 5am, get to Madison and still be able to do some stuff that day.
- 1:30:15As a media person, I'm not talking as an athlete.
- 1:30:19So I'm just trying to understand the difference between media and athlete.
- 1:30:27Because in a car, I can get out, I can stretch.
- 1:30:30Because I'm going to have to get gas, I'm going to have to stop anyway, right?
- 1:30:34And it just, there's way less stress than a flight.
- 1:30:39Right.
- 1:30:41Sure, for sure.
- 1:30:42But when you start approaching that eight plus hours and then you are stopping to to break and you're tired.
- 1:30:53Still, I mean, even if you got out and stretch stuff, you're just it's that's a long day.
- 1:30:58And if I woke up at 5 a.m.
- 1:31:00to try to make that drive, I'm already tired.
- 1:31:03So it's like it's like a waste of an entire day.
- 1:31:07It truly is a full day just gone.
- 1:31:11Yeah.
- 1:31:12Yeah.
- 1:31:13Well, like Kenneth says, you know, flights can be canceled, delayed, lose your luggage.
- 1:31:18Last year to Wadapalooza, it, I was delayed 12 hours.
- 1:31:25And instead of my direct flight from Columbus to Miami, I had to go to Minnesota and then fly to Miami.
- 1:31:33And there were people because that's when like everything went down across the country.
- 1:31:38there were people that were delayed two days when I was there.
- 1:31:45Yeah.
- 1:31:45That's always my fear.
- 1:31:46Sign up for one of these comps and then not even make it.
- 1:31:50Cause I talked to Tommy Marquez and he had just gotten there and he was due in like two days before.
- 1:31:56Yeah.
- 1:32:01Yeah.
- 1:32:02It was crazy.
- 1:32:04So
- 1:32:07I just wanted to throw that out there.
- 1:32:08I also had on here, Roman goes off.
- 1:32:11I think that story's old.
- 1:32:14The only thing I wanted to say about that is I don't think the translation's wrong.
- 1:32:21The Roman-Russian interview.
- 1:32:23I don't think the AI is wrong.
- 1:32:25Okay.
- 1:32:27But I don't think Rosa's an agent.
- 1:32:30If you've ever met Rosa...
- 1:32:33I think she just cares deeply for Roman as a friend and wants to protect him.
- 1:32:39I could see that.
- 1:32:41Yeah.
- 1:32:42I don't think that she's an agent trying to manipulate what he says.
- 1:32:46I think she's just a friend trying to protect her friend.
- 1:32:50Agreed.
- 1:32:54So...
- 1:32:57Because I've met Rosa.
- 1:32:58We had her on our show before Roman got in the country when she was trying to help him get here.
- 1:33:03I just wanted to say that.
- 1:33:13But that Roman stuff was interesting.
- 1:33:16Most of it I was okay with.
- 1:33:18The Guy stuff I thought was over the line.
- 1:33:22But I think that's pretty much what everybody's been saying.
- 1:33:25So
- 1:33:28especially if he's a teammate in your camp you can't be doing that stuff roman who's the real trash talker roman or jeff roman there you go that said that months ago
- 1:33:49Well, guys, thank you so much for a great 2023.
- 1:33:52Hope you had fun going down memory lane with us a little bit.
- 1:33:57We are looking forward to 2024.
- 1:33:58It's going to be a new year for us.
- 1:34:01We're going to be doing some new things, hopefully with some new sponsors.
- 1:34:07We want to continue to bring you the best possible coverage we can for everything we go do.
- 1:34:13And I think we're getting to there.
- 1:34:15We're getting better and better every year we do this.
- 1:34:18And, you know, I didn't know Jamie personally before 2023.
- 1:34:24And to bring her on this year, it's been a great addition to the team.
- 1:34:28She...
- 1:34:30It has become my confidant, my person I bitch to, and it makes these shows really fun.
- 1:34:39And I am so blessed to have her and so glad you joined the team this year.
- 1:34:43Thank you.
- 1:34:43Thanks for having me.
- 1:34:44I feel the same.
- 1:34:46With that, we wish you the best 2024 possible.
- 1:34:52We will see you guys next week.
- 1:34:56after I turn 54 on Monday.
- 1:34:58And we'll go into some more stuff into the 2024 CrossFit Games season with that.
- 1:35:04And don't forget, we have lots more champions coming on the show.
- 1:35:09We'll see you tomorrow, is what he's trying to say.
- 1:35:12Yeah.
- 1:35:12Michael Paz.
- 1:35:14Yes.
- 1:35:15Grand Rapids.
- 1:35:1735 to 39-year-old champ at Legends on tomorrow at 140.
- 1:35:21And then we have some more people lined up
- 1:35:24Through January, schedules were tight with the holidays, so we're getting some people scheduled, but we'll continue that series on because it has been a blast.
- 1:35:32If you didn't see Tony Turski today, go check that out.
- 1:35:36With that, we'll see everybody tomorrow or next week on Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
- 1:35:43Goodbye, everybody.