Zane: "This Is My Favorite Pickleball Moment Ever"

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I want to speakable me.

Ooh.

Speakable me is not a twist.

It's not a Disney movie.

So...

It's not?

It's not.

It's not.

It's just a dreamworks.

Is it that?

Oh, that's Disney.

No, I was just at Universal and they had a Despicable Me section.

Yeah, Universal is not Disney.

Even I do that!

Oh, my God.

That's that.

That was just...

This is not my, I'm not an expert in this field.

You know what?

No.

Give me a bug's life.

Oh, that's a great one.

And Nico, if you say that, not Disney, we're going to let it slide.

All right, guys.

Welcome back to the pickle pod.

We've got special guests and friend of the pod.

Zoe Wilde coming on.

And first, we're going to take a little bit of a victory lap.

Zoe came and talked to some smack in Chicago.

And so this week, obviously, we're going to chat about everything that happened in

MLP Orlando.

But we're also going to talk about one of my favorite MLP moments of all time.

I've won a couple championships, have a lot of cool stuff happen.

And I think LC coming in and clinching a dreambreaker for us to save our season

has got to be my favorite MLP moment of all time.

But there's so much else that happened this week as well in Orlando.

We had sold out crowds.

The goats facing off against each other in mixed doubles, which was the best mixed

doubles match in MLP until like 24 hours later, when the shock and the fives

played each other in just an absolutely insane match with

Hayden celebration, Annelie going at it with them.

We had playoff implications.

We had all types of stuff this week.

So guys, there's going to be an unbelievable episode.

If you are a fan of the podcast, do us a favor.

Like the video, subscribe so you don't miss everything else.

Nico and I are going to be doing a deep dive into the whole playoff situation

as well in another episode.

And also, if you like us, if you like me, if you like Nico, if you like Zoe,

join the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord.

It was popping off this weekend while we were over in Orlando.

Really fun community to chat about all things Pro Pickleball in real time.

So Nico, where should we start?

I mean, I think it's a first off, to set the stage, one in event.

You, I don't even know if you could undersell it or, or why not.

Or MLP Orlando is probably the best MLP event I've ever been a part of.

Or witness, I wasn't even a part of it.

I was just watching from Pickleball TV or Fox Sports 2 or wherever.

Sold out in person, add Disney World.

You got people going to Disneyland, Jake Gelfar going on roller coasters.

You got 13 year old smack and green breakers.

It was fantastic.

But I think we have to start with your guys' match.

Like, Zoe, I'm glad you're on.

And I'm excited to get your perspective.

This has always kind of been a dream of mine.

But it always involves Christian Olshon,

where we would get a heartbreaking loss of his.

And then immediately, I'd him on the pod and enjoy his tears.

Everybody wants to see that guy lose.

Nobody wants to see you lose.

To be quite honest, nobody.

But I think maybe the one person in all of MLP that people might root for over you,

13 year old LC Hender shot.

So guys, why don't you guys, the you two were living it.

Let's start.

Should we start with your match?

You guys want to start Dreambreaker?

Or you want to walk us through the first couple of matches.

They end to come back and then the Dreambreaker.

Let's do it all.

Oh, first of all, Nico, I would like to say thank you

for realizing that my emotional regulation is different than

Christian Olshon's.

It's quite the compliment.

I'm very flattered.

But yeah, let's get into all of it.

I think like you said, amazing match.

I think it deserves a deserves to be spoken about in entirety.

Kudos to you.

You were very cool afterwards the entire time.

Even watched our next match.

And yeah, I think it says says a lot about you.

You handled a situation like really well.

I feel like even even part of like even a decent part of you was like pretty happy for

for us and LC in that moment.

And I certainly noticed that too.

I wouldn't say in that moment, but I mean, outside looking in like you can't you can't

deny like what a moment for for her like young career super talented.

Well, obviously talk more about that.

And the slice I would say are an easy and easy MLP team to root for.

You know, you got you got your gag la kids.

You got Uncle AJ out there drinking his gallon of water.

Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't going to be us, I was god it was you.

And yeah, I mean, what a what a confidence booster for her for LC to be able to do that.

But yeah, definitely.

I don't I don't think I'm not really a crash out.

I'm more of like a I think I just like gotten numb.

I was like god like just just go to the the players lounge and don't let anybody get a clip of

you again, different than Christian.

All Sean, you know, I've learned.

Yeah, well, you'll get more airtime if you crash out, but yeah, you can handle it really well.

So thank you.

I appreciate that.

Going into that match, we had some opportunities early in the week.

So so even just going into the week, there were basically six teams, seven teams alive.

If you can call the hogs and the Phoenix flames, I've at any point this season.

I guess they were technically, but realistically they weren't competitors.

It was the squeeze Miami black bears, Chicago and Las Vegas.

We're all fighting for two total playoff spots.

We somewhat got the short end of the stick because our group was pretty brutal.

It was super brutal.

It was the fives.

It was the mad drops.

It was the royals.

It was Chicago, California, and then the sacrificial hogs.

On the flip side, the other three that we're looking to get in,

all kind of could take turns beating up on the Phoenix flames and beating up on each other.

And so they were kind of guaranteed some some points.

So it was a little bit unfortunate for us.

I also do really think that in your current form, the black bears are definitely a top 10 teams.

So I think it's bad luck.

But going into this, going into our match in particular,

we had to win in order to keep the season alive.

When we lost, we were out.

Yeah, was doing a ton of preparation, trying to figure out how to beat Sara Denahee and Zoe

while I watched your Chicago match against our ladies three times.

We probably spent an hour prepping for that match in particular and it didn't matter.

You guys got out.

We did a little bit better.

So it was 11, 5 or 11, 6.

Yeah, you were better this time.

What were you prepping today and what was the game plan?

So I mean, as I watched that, I was like,

and I texted you this, I texted Ties this, I texted a few people.

I love you too as a team because your styles are so complementary because you play such a big

right. You seem slightly less comfortable taking the flick out of the middle from the right.

So that was a spot we were trying to target.

But your only weakness if there is one is close to Sara's forehand out of the air.

So I would say like maybe a dead thing to the middle might do well against you,

but anything to the wings is really, really difficult because you've got Sara's two-handed

backhand off the bounce. And then you've also got your forehand out of the air, which you take

like unbelievably. You have more reach from the right side than anyone in the women's game in

Pro Pickball. So we did a lot of planning around that and it didn't obviously work.

But maybe we did work, but not well enough.

You played the long games, then.

So yeah, you guys obviously got out 2-0 after women's and honestly,

I kind of thought we were cooked at that point. I thought that John and I absolutely had to win

to have really any shot in this one.

Yeah, I mean your mixed doubles came out. I honestly would say I think LC was most impressive

and that mixed doubles. She played fantastic. Just so aggressive with her dinks. I think she's

fed the ball up at Dylan for five times, like five different spots. I think it worked almost

every time. The match point of that of our women's match actually. I can't remember if it was a

forehand or a backhand that LC hit, but she pulled a ball at me and it was like two feet wide.

Like I was like a pretty ambitious shot selection for being down, you know, a match point.

She comes back. She does the same thing mixed doubles, match point up. I thought no chance

this ball's landing in. Like it was like an Analyse beat up. You leave it and you're like,

it was a backhand. So we're both on the right side, backhand, winging the court came to the right

of my body and still went like six inches in. And I was like, wait, no freaking way that ball just

landed in. I was like, that's like a crazy shot selection. Like crazy to go back to it after

already missing it. Like a pretty big point. Yeah, I mean, yeah, they were fantastic. AJ didn't

miss a ball. Did a great job. Dylan and I actually went upstairs to warm up for the dream breaker

after you guys got up six zero and that a second mixed. And like so we're kind of and we were like,

we can't go back now because our our our our probably we're bringing it back. So we're like kind of

watching up from the practice courts and like the points were insane. I was like, what is going on?

Like luch? Like could not miss like everything that came at him. He's just like a resetting like

soft his hand ever. Like we're just like freaking out of there. Yeah. And then dream breaker just kind

of comes down to like balls really. Yeah, comes down to 10 minutes. Yeah, it was a crazy back and forth.

14 14 were at and you and LC come up. I think you went three one the first time. You go four

out 18 14. Once again, I'm like work hooked. LC comes over on the billway over to the bench. I'm

like, it's okay. Like she's tearing up like very upset. I saved match points. Jamie saves match

points. She goes out there again. Saved the match point. You had a nice little shank

follow. Yeah, I missed hit the crop out of that thing. Yeah. Wow. But she played, I mean, she

earned she earned three points in a row. And this is crazy because like, less than five minutes before

she was crying on the bench. That does not make me so good. Dan, you tell me that. I'm sorry. It's

the truth. She was like, no, I mean, she played well. I think, I think I had a look at a pass.

Match point up. Maybe I went line. I probably should have could have gone cross. Obviously hindsight's

2020. And then I missed an approach, which is crazy. I never missed my backhand long. I don't hit it

that hard. They usually land like two inches past the kitchen. So that was that was super tough for me.

And then I think she had a really good serve match point. I'm just like ripped it and then yeah,

came in the net and I absolutely buried that volley by the way to you. I was like, oh, like I had a

backhand. I think to her backhand. I was like, wasn't that bad and she's hammered that thing. But I was

like, oh, okay. So I'm actually over. But yeah, I mean, huge guts from her. Like super resilient.

Like, I mean, I think I tweeted something in Chicago. I think it was after I saw

AJ and her beat, maybe Roscoe and Zoe Wong. I just feel like it's always like, oh,

LC is going to get overwhelmed. Elses, you know, she's not going to be able to handle it this time.

I mean, even in our our pre match, like strategy talks, it was like, oh, like, let's just drive

the ball at LC and see what happens. And I was like, guys, like, that's probably not going to work.

But like, I guess we can try. Like she's kind of proved time and time again. Like she's got,

she's got what it takes. Like she has this an acidity. Like I love her attitude on court. I think

I texted you that a couple weeks ago as well. Like fiery, like wants it really bad, super positive as

well. But yeah, she just always, she always figures out a way to, you know, make yourself get up

for the occasion. So that's something you can't do. You're lucky to have her on your team. So.

Yeah, no, I mean, we, uh, yeah, look, I see it up close in person. I continue to underestimate

her even. And I think I'm more bullish on LC Hander shot than anybody. But I'm like, you know,

I had shared some of those same things. Like, like, yeah, I think she might get overwhelmed,

like overpowered and mixed a little bit. Like we gave her that shot. And every time we do,

like she shows up for it. So, um, yeah, it's excited to have her.

Yeah, I come up with your honest take here. So like to set the stage here for everybody who doesn't

actually understand or follow all the nuts and bolts of MLP, Zoe is like, they're tweet out

from last tournament. So he's 25 and six in Dreambreakers over the last couple of Dreambreakers.

Basically, that's, that's better than Analy Waters has been in Dreambreakers over the course of this

season. So basically the best Dreambreaker person, you know, on fire at a 13 year old coming in.

After the second rotation, I don't think it was particularly close for a right. It was like,

even so, he would like toss up kind of like almost like overheads and, and LC couldn't like

put power down on them. I, there was a weird, we had a weird point. I, I gave her like an overhead.

And then I like almost fell over and then I ended up hitting like a passing shot.

And I just thought I was like, oh no, she can't score a point. Literally as I'm watching,

you know, and we did this, we did this force movie draft last week. Rocky was my first pick.

People reminded me Rocky for us the best Rocky. And you reminded me of like Ivan Drago. Like,

if she dies, she dies. Poor LC Hander shot. You're basically just going to pressure, right?

And, and so then we get to like 23, 22 or whatever. And I think Jamie might have had match point

on her paddle and she doesn't make it. So it's tied going into the next rotation.

I, to me, I thought Jamie has to make this point to win the match or else you guys are completely

toast. But Zane, I want to know what was going through your head when it got to whatever was a 23,

23, 23, like, LC's coming in for the last four points. Are you seriously like,

fuck like, like, uh, like, uh, you know, give me the answer of what that's like. Yeah.

I was like, fuck like five different times in that. Yeah. And sorry to make you a relive all of this,

but, um, yeah, no, but I mean, the biggest thing was like, she had her, her tears on the bench

a couple minutes later. And she like, turns to me, like, I'm not fully convinced.

LC still knows how the Dreambreaker works. She's like, I've had more points before I go in.

I'm like, you got one more and she's like, I'm ready. I'm like, no way.

She's like, well, she didn't put a point on the scoreboard. So I was counting multiples of four maybe.

She asked me that a couple different times. She's like, how many more till I go in? I'm like,

one more, two more. Like, she's just a lot did on the actual game. And she says she goes like,

I'm ready. I'm like, okay. Well, let's see it. And obviously, it's ready.

When's the next three? But yeah, I think the thing that's, and there's going to be tons of

LC docs of for probably a long time to come. The thing that has impressed me the most about her.

And I'm convinced just that you absolutely cannot teach is wanting the ball at 22-22.

Like, I mean, how many people even on tour would you say, Zoe, like, actually actively wants to be

in that situation? There's probably some that like convinced them. But like, I think there's

always a now, but I was kind of like, I mean, Sarah's closed out. Actually, it's weird.

Sarah and I have closed out. I think almost every dream breaker we've played this season,

whether it's been like a resounding win or it's been like actually super close, was secretly hoping

that that would happen again. She also had a match point. I think she had Jamie had one and then

Sarah also had one in the same four points. And so it was like a little bit like, I really wish

we had won. But like, somehow I have to get up to like, play these points again. Like, you know,

I'm the fourth girl or the second girl in the rotation. Like, I'm not supposed to play three times.

Like, I've played two times. I did well. I did really well. My first two. And then yeah,

you're going to go point there. I'm eight. I'm four to time. But like, as the samples I stacks up

is just it's not in my favor anymore. So I would say, yeah, like, did I want the ball? Yeah,

I wanted the ball. Like, did it, was it a tough, like, tough to get myself there mentally? Yes.

But I would say, yeah, way less than half of the tour would really, yeah, put me in. Like, I'm

going to, I'm going to freaking do this. Like, it's easier to watch your teammate be great.

Then, then it is to be great yourself. And it also hurts less when you lose. Yeah, yeah,

definitely. Like, I'm always, you want your teammate to win. You want your teammate to like,

close it out. But like, yeah, yeah. That's different from like, I want this opportunity. Like,

I want to still be able to like fight for this. Like, obviously she's cheering for Jamie to finish

that. She's not cheering for Jamie to like, lose and then want to come in and be the savior. But like,

when, like, when she does it, like, I don't know, I feel like the people that want the ball in that

moment are an elite, an abright, um, Ben Hayden, like, there's not many people that are,

that really want the ball. And I think that's something that you just, you don't teach. So,

yeah, I agree. Wow. So we could probably talk LC all day, but I do want to continue asking a

little bit about this magical Chicago slice run. It doesn't end there. You still have to win

another match. Uh, you play the Miami Pickleball Club. And or that match and for this match,

saying, I want to, I want to ask you, so first off, I think there's been some,

some talk on Twitter or KOTC or wherever about like, players not setting the line up because

it's a bad look, right? Like it should be a GM or whatnot. And saying you're like coach GM,

part time player, depending on whether or not you have a wedding to go to. Um, and so my question is,

you mentioned you, you, you watched tape, all right? I think that's clear for a couple of reasons.

One, you got so his last name, right? So you probably heard it enough times to finally get it

right on this spot. Congratulations. Two, you, you had, you had to listen to her post game, uh,

presser when she said the slice might be better without zane. So the question is one is, I did not say

that. I didn't say that. I asked, I asked if the slice were better without zane. Well,

it's right. She asked semantic, semantic, very different. That's a, that's a different. I would never,

I would never insinuate that the slice might be better without zane. I would ask, no, you would ask.

Are they better? I wanted to ask in a different, differently worded. I texted it to zane, but, but he,

yeah, I wanted to ask if zane was the Travis Red Meyer of the Chicago slice, but

so close, I suppose, but, um, yeah, I actually love that. We texted like immediately afterwards.

I think it's hilarious. I think most people knew that you and I are close and obviously like joking

and I love the shit talk. Oh, so yeah, no, that was, that was, yeah, no, I didn't get any zane zanes like,

yeah, guys, don't come after Zoe for coming coming after me. I texted them. I was like, that's funny.

You think that people are going to give me shit, forgiving you shit? People don't say no, nobody can't

do anything. People don't understand what a joke is. That's also true.

Speaking of jokes, zane. Um, so, uh, anyway, so we just talked about how a 13 year old wants the ball.

Do you not want the ball? What went through your head as you, basically you took yourself out of the

game and mixed, um, how hard is it to make that decision? What went through that decision?

Obviously it worked out. Yeah. I've been playing with Emma a little bit for the first few,

few matches and, you know, we had kind of a brutal schedule. We played decalantina. We played

Analy and Noay and then we played Ben and Jade and then after all that, like confidence kind of

shot, um, lost one to the lost sort of the hogs who also played well. So just the confidence was,

was down from, uh, from Emma and I am like, we got to make a change. And so first thing

did was I took me out. Um, and then after that, that means AJ's in. We kind of chatted and

all figured out like, yeah, we're going to try and give Elsi the shot to, uh, to step up as well.

And she did. Um, it's been awesome, but tough because Emma came in so late in the season. So we

haven't had a tremendous amount of reps, whether that's Emma, AJ, Emma, me, me, Elsi, AJ, Elsi, right?

Like we, we haven't had too much time to mess with mess around with that. And so we figured,

all right, potentially last match of the season, let's just mess around with the lineup a little bit.

Um, but yeah, I mean, AJ stepped up big time. He was ready the entire time. Like he was, um,

he was getting practice. He was staying sharp and obviously Elsi in the doubles lineup.

Women's doubles lineup was, was doing the same. So I don't know. I just thought that that was, uh,

what was. Best for the team. And I think I was, I was right. And so unlike other,

unlike other player GMs, player coach GM, whatever, uh, I think it's pretty clear. I'm going to do

what I think is best for the team before, uh, before I do what's best for Zane because that's the,

I don't know. I mean, I am a team guy like I, that's why I love MLP so much like, whatever it

takes to get the, the team win, I think is most important. And I enjoy that. So.

Awesome. I, that, that noble Zane, uh, proud of you. It worked out. Um, and yeah, I don't

know how many people would do what you did. Um, and, and maybe you kind of follow up to you, Zoe,

you might have another take on this as well as, I think one of the issues though is just like,

should Zane be the one making this decision? Should there be a GM that should set lineup?

Like I understand Zane giving input. Maybe Zane goes to GM, you know, last year on the five and say,

hey, Ryan Hartwood, blah, blah, blah, maybe put this person in, but Zane's making the actual lineup

decisions. Like, is that too much to ask of a player is, uh, I know we're in the infancy of MLP,

but to me, I feel like there's got to be somebody else that's more objective making the decisions.

Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of GM's that really value the, the opinions of their players

when it comes to lineup, some more than others. Um, I will say, I'm going to get you to compliment Zane.

I think you handle, uh, handle the player GM role really, really well. Um, I think you're fair.

I think you're impartial. Again, yeah, very noble of you to, uh, to take, take the bench, um,

in favor of what you think, um, might have been a better team, but there's no reason that you

should have to be doing that. Um, I think it's working out for the Chicago slice because they have

somebody like you in that role, you know, you're, you're, you're 30, you're, you've been around the

block a few times, but, you know, randomly, you get somebody who's making a lineup that doesn't

handle that as well or, you know, they have issues with people on their team. Like you're just,

it's so messy. Um, again, it's working fine for you guys right now. Um, I think it works at

Brandon French. Does a pretty good job. You know, he's a lawyer, you know, very, very to the point

by the book. But again, yeah, I think every team should have at least one person, you know, whether

you call them a GM or you call them a coach, whether it's just an owner that decides that they,

you want to come along for the ride that weekend, they should have some personnel there,

some support, um, to, to do things for them and to, to interface with the league. Yeah, no, I agree with

that. Um, I, I think that in the, if I was in a different spot in my career, I wouldn't be

good at this, right? Like if I was really trying to climb up rankings or secure sponsorships or,

or whatever, like, I would be very, I think, different in, in this, in that, like, I would be

me first, probably. And I think that's probably the case with most of these. So do I don't,

I think I'm good at it, but I don't particularly enjoy being, um, you know, all wearing all hats.

And it's, it's hard. It is, it is harder than ever. You have to be the bare bad news to,

you know, the two people that aren't playing. And you switch around a lot too. So like, maybe,

like, someone's like, oh, I played great yesterday, but we're going to give someone else chances,

like today. Um, it just can't be easy to manage all of that. It's not, but, um, I, I'm a pretty

transparent person. And so I think that that sort of communication style and also willing to be,

a direct asshole in a way helps. Like, um, yeah, I'm not, I don't shy away from

confrontation. So, um, I'm nice about it, but I'm also direct. So I think that that sort of

probably helps. Yeah. But I'd agree. Uh, I think that, I think nine out of 10 times, it's not great.

And, uh, yeah, I do think that I do think that every team should have somebody, somebody there,

even if you do just decide to listen to, you know, like the five, since they just decide to listen

to Annelie the whole time, it's still not Annelie, you know, really submitting the lineup. Um,

so I don't know. I do think that something that I, since I enjoy MLP so much, something I want to do

is be in this role for the Chicago slice and, you know, when I'm done being a player at some point.

So, um, I guess it's like a little transitionary phase, I suppose, where I'm both, um, but yeah,

it leads to, it's not easy. Is there like a, like an official submission process? Like, you go

into a website and it has to be done by a certain person or like, how does it look like when you

actually submit the lineups? Yeah. Um, it's a, so it's a, uh, yeah, just like a picklewall.com

interface. I just go submit the lineups on it. Like, uh, okay. I'm not, I'm not the GM of,

of the team, but they, uh, listen to my suggestions. Uh, so I don't get all of the direct lead

communication on, on that stuff, but, uh, we're in very close communication. I'll put it that way.

Yeah. Now, I think that your situation is like the exception to the rule where it works out

perfectly. I'm just like, I'm imagining if like you were on the fives for, like, you're on a team

where as you're, you're pointing out like you are in a different part of your career, your

objective, you have the respect of the players, the players that are getting chosen or not chosen

don't necessarily feel like there's a conflict of interest from you. So like, everything

works out perfect. But like I'm saying, imagining if a player was deciding, is it Federico, is it

no way? Is it will? You know, that's fucked. And that would never work, right? Because those

players are like fighting, yeah, obsessive in a different position. So yours is great. And I

think that as we build out the league, there probably needs to be every team has to have that

title or that GM who submits, you know, the actual formal submission. He's to come from them if

they get input from players, that's their prerogative. But like, we'll see as it goes. And I'm assuming

Zane will probably see you be, you know, submitting lineups for years to come as the GM of whatever

team will have you. So works out. But I do want to move on to, you know, speaking of GMs,

this may be the perfect two people to ask. California Black Bears, right? They were

basically dead in the water. They built a team for the future and then said, Yolo,

fuck it. We're going to spend $100,000 on Dylan Frazier. We're going to trade away our 17-year-old

female. We're going to get Zoe. I'll be at 25. I don't know, no, no, Zane, you know, not 30.

But just completely roll the dice on, I think what everybody thought was get the 12 seed. And then

realistically, best case scenario is maybe get rolled by Brooklyn. I don't know, you know, I'm

not saying that you guys don't have a fighting chance. But it seemed curious to me. And my question

is, did the Black Bears mortgage their future for a misguided 12 seed playoff run?

No, I do not think they did. I mean, I guarantee you, I think that it's really easy to be excited about

the teenagers. I think MNL sends awesome. Cure is a really good player as well. But I think

we still have a team for the future. I mean, Sarah, Dylan, or 24, I'm 25. I think Sarah's like 30K

for them to keep. I'm 10. We're like a freaking value meal. Dylan's a little bit more expensive.

I think Pablo would maybe be a little bit more expensive. But yeah, I think we're excited for

next year. Obviously, disappointed with the way that this season ended. But like you said,

you know, realistically, it's 12 seed in the playoffs. It's a tough first round. So I think

our owner was excited at the prospect of, hey, like actually, it looks like we might be able to

make it even though we were kind of dead in the water following our first two events. But we're

really looking forward to next year. I like to say that the 23 to 26 year olds were like the

last generation of like, you know, a lot of us played like really high level tennis. Some of us

and Dylan and Sarah was a really, really good tennis player. I played college tennis for five years.

So like we're still talented. We're still getting better. You know, we're not, we're not Zane's age

by any means. But you know, we're also not 16. But I think it's a sweet spot. I think, you know,

early to mid 20s, like you get a lot of the positives of being kind of valuable. You're still

learning. Maybe you haven't been playing the game that long, but you also get the positives of,

you know, I have had the experience. You know, I went to college. I played on a team for five years.

I am accountable to myself. I'm accountable to my teammates. You know, I'm respectful. Like, you

know, I can cultivate relationships with my teammates with my owners, all those things that I think

not that the kids have any shortcomings like that. But it's just, you know, it's a different

different time in their lives. It's not something that they have done as much as somebody who's

in mid 20s. So no, the California Black Bears will be back. We're already looking forward to next

year. I think, yeah, the late kind of scrambled up to pick the team up ended up only having two

events together. But I think you saw it and just like we're still messing around with our mixed

doubles lineup. I think Sara and I were really flicking at the end. Our first event wasn't great.

But yeah, I think we figured it out. So excited. Excited for next year with the Bears.

Yeah, because what you have, I mean, you are with the Black Bears for two more years.

Sara is with the Black Bears for two more years. Dylan was picked up what?

Two more years of Dylan too, I think. Two more years of Dylan.

Probably 70 or something like that. He's expensive.

He was more expensive. But I mean, like I said, you get me, Sara and Dylan for two

under K. I don't care what the split is. That's a good, that's a good deal.

Yeah. And it depends on like, there's obviously a lot of rules up in the air. But with like,

salary floor, salary cap type of stuff, that's type of things matter. Like, I think parity next

year is absolutely coming if some of these rules come anywhere close to fruition. And teams like,

honestly, I feel like teams like us and teams like you with several players that grow from

low dollar amounts are going to be the next wave of champions in this league. Every single MLP

to date has been won by either Ben Johns or a team that has had somebody get way better during

the course of the season. You can go back to all whatever 12 or 15 MLPs all the way back every

single one either Ben or somebody who's gotten way better during the year. And even Ben's wins,

a lot of them have come with players who have gotten better during that season, even back to the

pioneers where Megan and Edda kind of broke out in 2023 around that time too. So it's always

won by up in Commerce until maybe this year when we find out if you can really buy a team,

buy a championship. Yeah, I mean, I think if if you're looking at implementing salary floor,

like we might almost be in a position where we have to you out and spend big on another guy.

I mean, I don't know if it's going to be, you know, 250 here, 500K, but, you know, like I said,

we've got three people for 200K and then you got some leftover. So I'm, I think,

I think forward to it. So Nico, I think I think I had, I texted, sorry, I'm sorry,

I texted Zoe this, I texted, I think they're this, you guys are currently the seventh best

women's doubles team in MLP. And you're like, all right, 7th out of 20, that's not that great,

but like you think about the teams above you that's Anneli and Anna, that's Anneli in Georgia,

Anna Brighton Kate, Jackie and Rachel, Paris and, and Tyra, maybe Jay, Sophia and Tina,

and then you guys are right after that. Like, I think that you are. Yeah. So the cure move did

surprise me. That's the one outlier that surprised me of the black bears moves. It's just to me.

I think it's like, like the, maybe the difference in opinion or philosophies or mindset going into

the seat owner to the GM and like stick into the strategy versus a fan in the strategy because

going into the draft, right, the black bears draft. Like I think James Alcato, they get,

Cura, they get MNLson, they're spending little, they're drafting 15 and 17 year olds.

And I think they're building for the future, right? And then they spend the 100K on Dylan.

And I, we're going to Dylan a second. I don't think Dylan actually moves the needle too much. Like,

you know, I've been low on Dylan for a while, even though I think he's a great men's player. But,

and then all of a sudden, it's just like, I'm not sure if it comes from ownership or from Ty's,

when I was like, nope, let's win right now. Let's do something like I think he or as a piece that

you want to keep, you know, or at least one of those two versus shipping them both off regardless

of how good the two of you are, whether it be Dreambreaker or Bill for the future. So I, to me,

that's like the biggest thing. It's just like, how do you stick to a game plan? But I think,

you know, I might disagree Zane a little bit. And I know you said there's like enough in

the camera, but I don't think I've ever seen a team build for the future in MLP successfully.

Right? Like the teams have been good and they stayed good, or they retooled completely. And then

they were like Columbus Sliders didn't make the playoffs. They blew up their team. Got a bunch of

people made the playoffs, right? But they didn't, they didn't like grow young players. So like,

is, is Zane, if you guys do it successfully or the black bears do it with Zoe and sorry, sorry,

which I'm not sure if that counts. Maybe does. I don't know. Like, you'd be the first team to

successfully, I think build up a team for the future. Yeah. I mean, that's an interesting

debate though, because you could, you could argue that like some element of the fives was that

from a couple years ago, right? Like Will Howells was coming over from APP and it only played a couple

of PPA events and we sort of built with him. He was the up-and-comer. Mari Humber got a lot better

during that time too. I got a little bit worse during that time, but that's, so that's an old story.

The way that this happened where we had a draft back in 2024, like, didn't really allow for

that. I think it's the league structure and now having bench players that made it an actually

viable strategy. So it's never been an actual option. We've never been able to like keep players

until three years ago anyway or until 2024. So, right. I mean, I don't know if I consider the fives

counting either. I mean, you guys were the number one seed at year one, right? And so what I'm just

saying is like a team that builds knowing they're not going to be good year one, right? Like, I don't

think Chicago's slice said we're building a team that's going to win a championship this year,

right? You compete and compete, compete. But we're building for the future. Annalise team was win

now. We got lucky or smart. We made good decisions, but I guess that's just kind of what I'm thinking.

I guess now it might be possible. You got six players on a roster. You have keepers. You have

different structure, but I'm just interested to see if it's going to actually be possible. If the

slice or if the black bears next year can build on the pieces, keep a core team that gets better

and competes for a title. I think there's probably more young talent available now. I know there's

maybe some allies with like Annalise, Hayden, the Johnson's, but you know, this is probably the

first year that you've seen a good amount of the younger, you know, the teenage cohort coming in

and like playing really well. I also think having the bench makes a big difference. Like, if you're

like, oh, so and so is not ready to play, but we want to obviously have them on the team.

Having that bench spot provides, you know, guidance and some experience of playing. Like I mean,

look at like LC and John on the shock. I thought that was great for them. Um, who better to learn from

than Anna Brighton, Kate Fahey. Um, you know, then they're like, okay, it's not really working for us

right now. We need to trade you away. And now she's like, oh, I'm ready. Like she said, she's like,

I'm freaking ready. She's right. Like I think a lot of that has to do with with things that she

gained when she was a member of the shock as well. Yeah. And Niko just for like in 2024, you didn't have

a bench. There were only four players in 2025. You had a bench, but they can be picked up by any

other team at any point. So why would you have an investment? Is that how they did it last year?

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I remember that. Like you could steal people? Yep. You could steal people basically.

Like if they weren't so before every waiver period, you would have to declare who your starters were

last year. And if, so let's say, um, like I could have been, I think it was after like the the

waiver deadline or whatever, I could have basically been like, um, taken from some other team or to

go to some other team. Oh, yes. Okay. But you also couldn't play men's and not mixed, right? That

was not a thing. Yeah, I think that's that was the case. You could you had to play both. Okay.

So yeah, anyway, so just like the league rules is what's also like there's more talent and then

the league rules like being able to keep players for a couple of years. Yeah. Is the main thing.

Oh, I hope I hope like as the league gets better, there are ways to create a San Antonio Spurs or

Go and Say Warriors back in the day or you know, all these T. All these, you know, the most

popular sports teams seem to be homegrown, seem to build for the future and then they get great,

right? The Oklahoma City Thunder. All these teams are doing that, right? And so you got super teams

and you got homegrown teams. And so hopefully it happens. Um, I'm excited to see it. I'm not sure if

I'm convinced yet. Um, I do think another addition that could be valuable kind of given what you just

said is having like a trade limits and a amount of money that you can move around. So like say,

how three-eyeder tag a season that way, I mean, I know the bears, the bears were kind of

flying through people this season. I don't know how many people they ended up actually having

on their team at one point Craig Johnson's on the team for about 30 seconds. That was just a

technicality. Um, but yeah, just not being able to be like, oh, okay, we're gonna trade you.

Okay, we're gonna trade you again. Um, and I don't think I think maybe the the ownership and

the management was maybe a little bit, they weren't sure which pathway they wanted to follow.

With the the roadmap of the season, I think that we hopefully landed on it. We're gonna,

we're gonna ride ride with the squad into next next year. Um, but yeah, not being out of the

like, all right, you're done. Like once a bear, I was a bear. Like the amount of times I heard once

a bear, I was a bear this year. It's like 17 different Instagram posts from all the people they got

traded away. Um, but yeah, like limits like that. Obviously it's confusing when Emma Nelson was on

the bears and then all of a sudden she's, you know, on the slice next week or like I came from

Florida smash everyone's asking me if I'm like, move any California now. I'm like, no,

I'm not has nothing to do with it. Uh, but it's like, it's very confusing for fans as well.

Even people who really do like, like the goblins are very engaged. Yeah, hard to, hard to keep track of.

I don't know if there's a way to like limit the amount of of trades or something. Like I think it's

interesting, but also like confusing. And I think the same thing of, I'm sure, you know, from what I

understand, the league does regulate the amount of money that can be spent on a one particular trade.

But I mean, these guys have each other's cell phone numbers. Like they could pay each other more

than that on the side. Like I don't know how you actually like prevent something like that.

You're going to start some shell companies for Kauai Leonard style. I get what you're saying, Zane.

I know I do know that there is the goal or the proposed, the proposal or maybe it was actually

approved where the maximum amount of cash for the entire season that can be bundled with your

trade is 250,000, which means, hey, Miami Pickleball Club can get that 250K in their first trade of

the season. And then they can actually try and win as opposed to repeatedly gather another 100,

200,000. But I don't know, I think all the decisions that have been made for MLP have been

making the league better. So I don't think people that complain have a lot less to complain about.

But it's looking good. Because anybody else ever had to do a pickle ball intervention because I

sure have. Listen up a story time. So about a year and a half ago, my dad started playing pickle ball.

And he's like seven years old. He would go with my mom every single day and he'd play at the park

with a bunch of others, senior citizens. And he was obsessed with power. Like it was unhealthy. All he

wanted to do, I think, was hit a hole through the chest of everybody he was playing against.

Absolute banger. And he wanted power paddle after power paddle after power paddle. And then eventually

my brother reached out to me. He texted me. He's like, Hey, Nico, for dad's birthday, I think we

need to get him a control pickle ball paddle. Let's go together, pitch in and let's get the 11624

jelly bean pickle ball paddle, which was like the best control paddle on the market at the time.

And guess what? It worked. Like he still wants to rip balls as hard as possible. But the control

is now there. And the points don't just last three hits. It's been fantastic for Ham Far family.

And everybody that he plays against the intervention worked. Well, listen, 11624 is now

releasing the jelly bean too. And you better believe my dad's birthday coming up. He's getting

that paddle as well. And 11624 and the dink are partnering together to give away 20 of them

before they're even released. All you have to do is head over to giveaway. The dink pickle ball.com

to enter Zana. I do say I wanted to bring this up. You can have complainers. I talked a little

bit about Dylan, right? And how I mentioned that I'm not sure if he moves the needle or not.

I think one big, big miss for the Chicago Black Bears was not getting Dylan for the first event

when they traded him. I understand. Again, you said Chicago Black Bears again. You did that last

week, too, Nico. I did. I did. California Black Bears. I don't know why I keep saying Chicago Black

Bears, but I remember. All right. Try this again here. So the California Black Bears. All right.

This is like this is my miss pronunciation problem. But the California Black Bears trade for Dylan

Fraser. And then he's unavailable for the first event. They don't do particularly hot without him.

I think they would definitely have done better. Had he been there, I think for sure you guys make

the playoffs. That's my thought or at least as it's much closer. But if I was going to make the trade

if I was going to spend 100k, I definitely would have said you have to be here. But you had prior

engagements. But what I really want to talk about Zane is the prior engagement you had. I actually,

I was on the pod last week, did not know that you had a wedding. And then I was like, Hey,

I'm going to I'm going to create a clip. I'm just going to ask like, is it appropriate to miss

an event for a wedding? And you're like, you got roasted on that. You're like, you'll have to,

you're like, oh, there's also a KOTC video. I'm like, I had no idea what you're talking about.

So then I go watch their pod intense literally. He was coming after you.

I want to say Zane should quit MLP. Now I think he could Zane should get should be out of MLP.

Yeah. These should be fine. And what was crazy is that, you know, then he compared you to Patrick

Mahomes, which I think congratulations. That's also insane. That was a take it. The way that argument

went about was incredible. Started out with Patrick Mahomes. If he misses a week 15 almost

playoff game for the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead, what should happen to him? Also Zane missed

a match for the 13 seed Chicago slice in Pro Pickleball. Fuck both those guys, you know,

they he should be banned. And so I thought it was crazy. But I don't necessarily completely

disagree. I think there is a line, right? Like somewhere you figure out like when you can and can't

miss an event. And just wanted to get your guys' take on this. Like to Jimmy's point, there's like

six events a year. Should you have to go to all of them? Is it is there a hierarchy of like,

I get married? I get to miss an event. My best friend gets married. Yes. I extended family. Let's go.

Let's go back to Dylan quickly too though. So that I would say that's two different situations.

From my understanding what happened with Dylan was the bear is traded for him. They called him

could not get a hold of him for like two or three days. He was in Costa Rica at an Iowa

Oscar retreat. Finally gets his phone back on like a Saturday afternoon. He's like, oh, I got

traded to the California Black Bears. And he's like, hey, like you guys need me to come. He was,

yeah, like that was not like and he had no reason to be available. He was on my football club with

obviously no idea that he was expected to be in San Diego the following weekend. He had planned

his summer. I think that goes to the needs to regulate the trades as well. I mean, I packed my bags

for Grand Rapids Michigan playing for the Florida smash went to mid season tournament. I went on

vacation after I went over to like Michigan with some family for a couple days. And then

already was planning on being in San Diego. But now I was planning I was planning to

go for the bears and so this smash. So like luckily I was already planning on being in San Diego.

Like if I was just on vacation, like am I supposed to be like, oh, yeah, like awesome. I got traded.

Like sorry, can someone take me to airport and go to California? Like that's not really fair to me.

I'm not treated like a professional enough to make those kinds of sacrifices, which leads to my

next point. Something like, I mean, a lot of pro football players have other jobs. Like it's not like

if we're getting paid like Patrick Mahomes, yeah, like Zang, you can miss the wedding. But we're not.

So finding that balance of like, yes, like I'm passionate about pickleball. I want to help grow

the sport. I want to be there for my team. But at the same time, like it's not fair to be asked not

to go to I will say I think it's a little bit weird. If you're that close to friends or

latest, these people that they planned it for a week and you're in a bill, well, considering you

were the the best man in Mason of honor. But it's not fair for like you. But on that note, right?

Let's just talk about wedding planning for a minute. You've never been married before. Wedding

planning doesn't happen like three months before the event. Like the. Yes, so I'm sorry,

I mean, we're just scheduled. Like the M.L.T. schedule does. I've had this on my calendar for

nine months before the MLP schedule ever came out. So okay, that's a super valid point. Yeah, I mean,

they asked, when are you available? You didn't say block my entire goddamn summer because I have

six NLP events. So I mean, I understand. I think Jimmy's point again, I'm a big fan of Jimmy. So,

you know, if I come after him, don't come after me for coming after him. I think it was a little

bit aspirational in a sense of, yeah, pickleball players are professionals and they should not be

missing their obligations to do personal things. But the reality is that you just can't ask somebody

to do that right now. It's a pickleball is not at the at the point that you're asking people to

make that kind of sacrifice. Yeah, but when can you, right? So you made a comment like if we're

getting paid Patrick Mahomes money to that I would be there, I wouldn't. Like if I was getting paid

Patrick Mahomes money, I would still be at that wedding. Like now it's a little bit different

because you know that all right, you probably took your picture there and took your PJ back and then

maybe you missed an afternoon you say, hey, can we be first on? Like, and then you don't miss it.

Yeah, like there's probably things that could happen if if like more things that could happen if

we were making people like Patrick Mahomes money. But like I'm not skipping that wedding under any

circumstances. Like I'm not skipping it. I mean, I would have to, I'm sure there's precedent in

NBA NFL for how do they manage things like that? I think if Zane was Patrick Mahomes. So I'm

not sure if it's a lot easier for Zane to say this as Zane and not as Patrick Mahomes, I think.

Because I agree. I would, you know, I'm like, I'm not going to miss my brother's wedding or whatever,

you know, but like if I'm Patrick Mahomes and I'm getting paid that much money and one I'm

going to get fined the fuck out of everything. Plus the entire country, you know, is reliant on me,

my whole city, right? Like there's just so much going into it that I don't think Patrick Mahomes

under any circumstance misses for being the best man in the wedding. I've never seen it.

For some reason you don't see it. You never hear that. Yeah. But like, you're like,

oh, LeBron James unavailable. Like, you know, yeah, his son's having a kid. Like it's not thing.

But I think that's the thing is like that is like superstar, super stratus experience where like

the world actually then revolves around you. So you don't have to make those hard decisions.

And the more famous and popular Zane would get the harder it's going to be to either make that

decision or it would be easier to require someone else to work around Zane. But like, I mean,

this pretty famous and popular. Did you see the he got? I did. I saw the he Jimmy got for that

comment though. I thought a lot of people came to Zane's defense surprisingly. So,

I'm here. I'm defending him. I think that I don't think that anybody has a right to tell you,

you can't, I mean, it's you said your college roommate and your sister-in-law. Like that's,

you know, it's not your brother. You're an only child. Weirdo. But it's as close to family as

it's going to get. Yeah, I'm an only child. Like, it's my wife's sister that I had known for

15 years. She's the major in a honor. It was I was the best man. Like, so yeah, I mean, I think if

I'm, it's a difficult comparison because if I'm Patrick Mahomes, right, they know exactly when I'm

playing like all that stuff, right? You don't have to plan around 38 weekends in football. You

plan around 20 if there's playoffs, right? Yeah. Like, also, well, also think your point of the

schedule coming out late. It comes out so late they they they change stuff around all this time

as well. It happens in PPAs where you're like, you're about to book your tickets and you're like,

oh, we canceled this. Like, or sometimes they don't even tell you they just update the website and

you're like, have to clarify. So that's not really fair to the players either. It's like, I need to

have, you know, what's a reasonable amount of time to have gotten the schedule so that you can

make sure that you're available. And if it's the case of a wedding like a year, like maybe more,

I mean, sometimes people really feel things take a long time to plan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Anyway, I have zero regrets. I'm, and I think the idea that I should be banned from MLP is kind of

crazy. I've never missed an MLP event. I've missed so many weddings. I would absolutely miss any

MLP event for that wedding. Again, I have a clear conscience because I think family comes before

everything. I have, I have no problem with that respectfully. I'm so I appreciate. Zane, you win

and also all the other side questions I was going to ask about what if it was MLP finals, what if

you were on the 5s, what if you were on the 5s, what if where did you draw the line though? Where did

you draw the line? Like, obviously you said this, you know, you're the, you're the best man. It's your,

your roommate college roommate. But what if it's, you know, what if it's a friend you don't really like

that much? Like, where what sort of what if Jim? That's an interesting question. I mean, I've missed

a million weddings, right? Like, this is the only other weddings that I could think of are Jenny's

other sister Trinity when she gets married and my own, right? So those are those are weddings,

minds we already got married. So that wasn't a problem. In fact, my wedding was over an MLP weekend,

which obviously would have missed. It's why, yeah, I obviously would have would have missed that.

So Zane, what what the here's the reverses, what would you be willing to miss if I invited you to

my next wedding? I get an invitation, hey, you're going to Niko's next wedding. I get to

force. I get remarried. Would you, would you miss an MLP event for me? Zane, would you miss

Pilates class? Like, where do we draw the light? What would you miss here for me? Zane does not do

Pilates. Look at his butt. I have what, what but what exactly? That's a crazy workout. I did Pilates

one time and I was cramping in muscles. I didn't even know that I had. I do want to know what you're

doing for your calves. Your calves are something. Calf maxing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your calf.

Oh, I really don't know. I don't really work out the calves more than anything else. I mean,

they're doing a lot of work. Let me tell you. I really should lie and say that I've come up with

some sort of calf routine, but I don't have one. Anyway, Niko, I wouldn't miss my morning shit to

vibrabesties. All right. With that, maybe we should go back to MLP because there was a lot that

happened outside of your guys' teams. Why don't we start with the five? The number one seed

best team in MLP. Again, the New Jersey fives, new look with Federico, go in, convincing maybe

win against the St. Louis shock. Are they the team to beat now? What do you guys think about

the lineups? I think that's the biggest question that people had is did they get the lineups right

with Federico and Georgia, Federico and Will? What's the right line up there? I really like the

addition of Federico as a mixed partner for Georgia. I think that's going to probably

sure up that spot for them almost every time I meet you saw what they did the Kate and Gabe. I

think Kate and Gabe played very well in that match, unfortunately. Probably hard to come

emotionally down from what you just watched in the mixed one spot. I still just feel like men's

is pretty vulnerable for the five. Smartest man at Pickleball Gym class correctly predicted that

Will House on the left was going to be the recipe for success or the five's men, but then they promptly

got their behinds handed to them by Gabe and Hayden. I don't know. I think I do think that some of

the criticism that Noe Cleef has gotten this season has been a little bit unfair. I mean, the man is

23 and two and mixed with Analy, I think. I don't know how many they won, but I do know they've

lost to the last Eric and they lost to Lane. I would say Eric is probably maybe besides Hayden and

Ben, like one of the most capable mixed males. If he's playing to his potential, which in that match,

he did. I mean, Lane's sleep is a backward. I think she did exactly what he needed her to do in that

match. So, yeah, Noe going 23 and two and beating multiple times Hayden and Anna. I mean, Hayden and

Anna are a team that have literally beat Analy and Ben. So the fact that she can step in Ben's shoes,

and obviously Analy is flexing her game style a little bit to compensate for some things that he

doesn't have that Ben does. That to me is super impressive. I think he's been solid and men's. I think

he and Will both have been a little bit up and down. Noes maybe a little bit. I think Will has a

higher, maybe a higher ceiling higher floor or lower floor, sorry, than Noes a little bit more

study, but like mentally, it's maybe been a little bit up and down. But I do think, yeah, I don't

know why you would separate and make two new mix teams when you have one that's not really losing.

Yeah. No, that's interesting. So I do think you want volatility in that Ben's doubles matchup

because Hayden Hayden Hayden. How do you do all the time? Yeah, Hayden and Hayden. They're the

better team. Regardless of how you mix those three fives boys up, there's no team that's better

than Hayden and Gabe. So you want a player like Will that's going to be a little bit more volatile.

I think that Will and Fed is the right play. However, and they came to that by the end of the weekend.

They played, they put Fed in Noes against me and John. I think they were messing around with that

and some other ones. I think they got to the right men's lineup. But are they going to have

enough time to actually like sort of gel and mesh to do? Will and I took a little while to get

the styles going together. Will's a very good left side player. Great flick from the left side.

Two handed backhand over there. Big forehand in the middle out of the air. Good poacher, all that

stuff. But took a little bit of time to get familiar with each other's games. So I mean, if they

can figure that out, I think that's the right play. But that's somewhat of an if. And I do think you

definitely want volatility in that second spot because there's no there's no combo of those three

that's going to consistently beat Hayden and Gabe. Yeah, I agree. I think the volatility point

makes a lot of sense. I think no way great player. But you know, everybody knows what he's going to bring.

I think that's part of the reason why he's actually a great doubles partner for

Analy Waters because she's the ball to one. You know, she's just going to pull some random shit

and it's probably going to work to have him just, you know, super super solid there. Even I was playing

on the left side. I think it's a good pairing. I was going to say I was a little bit surprised. It

took them so long to get to the idea of fed on the right well on the left. That would have been my

probably first choice. You know, not saying like, oh, it's the secret the secret sauce and they're

going to be unbelievable now. But like as far as using those pieces, like that's probably going to be

your your highest reward pairing. Yeah, but in men's doubles in particular, it's it's actually really

hard to go from playing a ton of right in men's to like switching over to the left. Like, I mean,

I'm sure you've been practicing again and whatnot. But like, I do feel like it's difficult to play

a full season, almost a full season on the right and then have to switch to the left at the end.

Like it's it's harder than you would think it should be. So. Yeah, I mean, I did it. Obviously,

it's women's doubles. So it's different, but it's a little bit tricky. It is. Yeah, it's definitely

a different skill set, but I think they ended in the right spot. And I was initially surprised that

they didn't put fed and an elite together because yes, no way an L are like successful. They're 23

and two or whatever you said, but they pull the fucking Houdini acts this entire weekend. They

saved four match points against bad and good winners win winners win. But like, I don't know,

it's pretty like I would say with certainty that fed and an elite would be a better team than

fed and no way. Obviously, there's ramifications for that second mixed doubles, right? You basically

are running two mixed doubles ones, but they saved four against Ben and Jade. They saved one against

Decalantina. They saved five against Hayden and Anna. Like, I mean, that could have been

confident. That gives you though. You're like, oh, we literally can't lose. And I think a lot of

the criticism that no way has gotten is like, he can't handle the pressure. And like, yes,

people are like, Annelese so good. She doesn't lose. But I'm like, her partner is there too. And like,

he could have easily hit the bed at any point during all of those scenarios that you just explained.

Yeah. No, you're right. And he didn't. I mean, you do, I think the argument is like, it shouldn't

have, it wouldn't have been that close with Federico. But obviously, I think, I think whatever combo

of no way in Georgia or, or will in Georgia is also weaker. So do you want to guarantee, like,

totally guarantee one spot or have really good opportunities in two? I don't know. Yeah, that's

tough because Fed and Georgia actually almost lost the Pablo and Sara to, which is not a team that

you, you want to be losing to. They didn't problem is to serve on match point. So didn't have to,

didn't have to play that. Didn't have to say that one. But, but you think, I don't,

this might be a hot tape, but I don't know how much better Fed and Anneli would be than

no way in Anneli. And think about how you need of a mixed female style, she plays. And like,

how is Fed going to adjust to that? Like, she's either get in the middle, that's mine. Like,

I'm going to pull this to a, you know, into 19 different spots. So just be ready. Yeah, but

he's basically copy and pasted Ben John's and barely even put it into his own words. He's got like

the same game as as Ben. Like, it's like almost everything that he's done is sort of modeled off

of Ben, at least from, from the kitchen line and whatnot. Like, very, very similar in a ton of ways.

I guess, but it's not like, I understand Fed says he models Game After Ben, but like,

don't a lot of people like, what does that really mean? Like, it's not like, she's like,

it was that better as that Fed. Like, he thinks like that too. Like, I remember when he used to think,

like, that with me, I just, yeah, I think it would be quite the adjustment. And I don't think

Annelie would trust Fed the same way she trusts Ben. She'd be like, yeah, okay, great. I'm glad

that you look up to my mixed partner, but I'm not going to like that ball when when push comes

to shove. Yeah, but I don't know if Annelie is going to trust Noay all that much. I mean,

that's what lost them their, their match against the shock was she was getting completely isolated

and started coming way, way over and lost three points at the end of that, uh, at the end of that

midseason match. Like she, well, I don't think she does trust him, but he knows it. And they figured it

out. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Here's my thoughts that nobody asked for. So I am no pro player. I'm

no gym class, but this is what I would do. This is Nico the GM here. All right. I'm taking applications

or whatever sending my application out. I, I, one, I, I originally thought I would play Fed and

Annelie 100% nixing that I am now team fed in Georgia. I think if you have a team that's like 29

and three or whatever they are, just keep them together. You have like a 90% chance that you're

winning with Annelie. And then I think fed in Georgia are now the best mixed two team. And if they

can put the beat down like they did with, you know, Gabe and Kate, and it can be almost anybody else.

And then you have basically like two 80% chances of winning one guarantee win in the women's match for

the most part. Um, I think you're set, but here's the other thing. I liked the idea of fed on the

right. I would play him with Noay. And here's why I actually think men's doubles for that team is a

throw away. They, they are so OP on both mixed teams and Annelie. That doesn't matter that much.

And I would put Noay in so his confidence is like, Hey, you're our guy for both of these. So

you're not a liability in men's. We're going to put you in both. I don't think the delta between Noay

and Will is matters that much, but it gives I think Noay this much more confidence that he's playing

every single match and makes him better in mixed. So fines if you're listening Ryan Harwood,

assist, can be a system to the regional GM. That's what I would do. That is true. It is actually

difficult to come in just for mixed. That's a something that I've heard from my teammates. Like,

it's something that I see like you get a lot of jitters out in those gender doubles matches. So

I do think it is difficult to come in and know you're only playing mixed and everybody else that

you're going to be playing against has already played. So there, there's a decent, uh, there's some

decent rationale there. Do you think that gives Noay confidence to play, but what if he plays and

loses every men's match? He's still playing. I don't think he's going to lose every men's match.

I mean, I don't really know how he is. How do you mean you said it was a throw away? I think that's

maybe a little bit dramatic. Um, I think they can win a majority of their men's matches. I don't

it's not it's not part of their recipe. Working match for them by far is men's. Yeah.

Yeah, I guess I don't really know what makes Noay tick. I am. I think that I think that the problem is

against everybody, but the shock they're great. Obviously, I think that Hayden and Anna are

favorites over over Analy and um, and Noay. I think that they win a majority of those matchups.

Who wins a majority of them? They're one in two this season though, right? They are. Yeah, they are.

Okay. But you think they play 10 times. They're going to they're going to get how many six seven.

I think they're six and a half out of 10 if they play.

How much of a setback is not winning this one? Like mentally, emotionally? Like you said six match points.

I haven't watched you yet, but somebody says I should go back because it was like abs. Now you have to.

I was it was the craziest mixed doubles match game I've ever seen. 46 minutes long.

Oh, they're the emotion like the crap talk back and forth, the facial expressions, the back and

forth between Analy and Hayden was insane. I'm sure you've seen plan. I've seen some of that. Yeah,

you got to go watch it. I mean, I think you're you're Hayden Patrick and your Anna bright and like

you're obviously bummed that you didn't win the final belt of the season. You're moving on to

playoffs. You just had an absolute like heartbreaking loss personally like in that mixed doubles one

tie, but also as a team. I mean, the shock are very collective unit. I think that's one of the

things I really like about them is they they're the team culture. You hate it or love it.

And now you got to go back in two weeks and forget about it. They wouldn't play the fights for

for three, but I think yeah, that depends on the person. Do you think like I do not take Hayden

and Anna as the two type of people that are going to crumble from one loss like they're the type of

people that honestly, I think it's productive for them to have lost this because I think whoever

won this matchup was going to lose the finals. It's better to come in as the as the underdog with

the chip on your shoulder in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, I think like they're both obviously amazing

athletes. Like they're probably going to be like, I can't believe we fucking lost like let's go

like we're on an absolute mission like that's never happening again. But like again, Analy's probably

like, oh man, that was close. Like we got to really buttoned up for the next time we play. So it would

be interesting to see the the mental adjustments and the rebound from the shock and you know,

how the five's are truly feeling after winning that match and to see what happens when they'll

inevitably meet in New York unless Connor Garda has anything to say about it. And and the if you

go back to the season, shock when the first matchup get absolutely demolished second matchup

against the fives come in demolished the fives in the third matchup. And then you'll not to not

to spoil the outcome. But Hayden was like a gimme ATP away from winning the match. Or we

would I saw that the backhand. It was insane. It was like right there. It was easy. Yeah, I could make

it. I could make that shot. I told you. Well, you're left handed. So there's a little bit of a

caveat there. But I mean, I am actually better on the right ATPs. But uh, but anyway, yeah, so you

mean he anyway, I think that they're like, we blew it. Not we are worse. And we're going to come

back harder. Maybe Zane's going to text him again, say what's up. Zane, I texted him just to make sure

once again, you know, his his response literally was we're going to fuck him. And I thought I

got that from Gabe. And we talked about is it the language barrier? No, I don't think so. I think

it's an age gap between us, you know, 30 year old, umks and the 20 year old kids. But uh, we're on

the street is Hayden. They're going to mess them up in the final. So we'll see. Okay. I love that.

Yeah, I'm I'm calling it right now. I think the shop on the title.

And if I'm wrong, I'm going to go on Twitter and I'm going to deny it.

You got good role models. Who do you who do you look up to in that regard then?

I should say. I shouldn't say. So six zero has been making fantastic pickleball battles for

quite some time. I mean, they came on strong and the paddle lord Chris Olsen gave them his blessing

and ever since then the rest of his history. They've been innovating on paddles from the double

black diamond, the rubies, the kevlar to their new coral pro with basically incredible, durable,

perfect grip, right? I've loved their paddle so much that I basically begged

Blightenhoven here for like the last month to send me a paddle of his because I wanted to try it

out, right? And finally I got one and I've been so excited. But they also sent me their new

apparel line, which has been basically just as good as any of the paddles that they've created.

Now look, when you get clothing from a bunch of other pickleball paddle brands, and this goes for

shoes as well that happens all the time, it's that they're just like, we're going to slap our logo

on the most garbage shirt that you've ever seen. Not the case with six zero. I think they actually

innovated specifically to create a custom shirt for pickleball that actually works like this shirt.

I don't know if it's like mesh. I'm not a material guru, but all I know is that I've been playing

all summer in like the heat of Arizona, the heat and wet of the east coast. I've been traveling

all over the country for my son's track and everywhere I go, I pack this shirt,

stay out on the sun all day and I don't melt in the shirt. I feel good, I feel fresh,

and I highly recommend you do the same. If you're interested in pickleball apparel made by

people that know pickleball and do it well, check out the six zero apparel line just head over to

six zero pickleball.com. Okay, I actually have an interesting question now. The shock made a huge move,

they got hunter, they treated us obviously luch and LC, but they have their core team from a couple

years ago. The fives don't, right? They only have AL from that core team, so I almost wonder,

like, you know, the shock has their thing, but for the fives, like, does it feel that good if you

I don't know, changed everything, bought a title? Yeah, I mean, I think I really admire what the shock

did. I mean, I think drafting Hayden and Gabe at the time that they did was obviously, I don't

know, who drafted for them, they had an eye for potential because neither of them were close to

the players they are now, same with Kate. I mean, I think she just keeps getting better and has

more room to improve and they also focus a lot on the team chemistry, the team culture, they

Eric Lang, I think, doesn't amazing draw with them. I think the chafits are obviously super invested.

So I mean, that's kind of why I would lean more towards, I don't know, not that I don't love the

fives. I had a very fun weekend in Dallas with them last fall. That's phenomenal.

But yeah, I just think there's something charming about the way that you do it when you cultivate

your own, your own team, you keep everybody around, the fans for the shock, I would say, are

probably, I don't know, they don't come to the matches and count to five like the fives do,

but I would say they're probably the most widespread. We played a scrimmage with them maybe on Wednesday,

we played up with the pickler in Orlando and there were like so many people they're watching

this practice. I was like, what is going on? It was kind of, it was a little weird actually,

but I was like good for them, like a lot of fans. Yeah, I don't think it feels as good if you

if you don't have Zayn Navratone or team. That's not the point that I was getting to.

I know. It's something that I saw somewhat debated, but I think it's like from my end, it's like,

okay, sure, maybe it's not the same as doing it with your original four players,

but are you ever going to not try and make the best team that you possibly can?

Like, I don't think so. So, saying like, yeah, you're buying a championship. Like,

do you expect them not to? If that's something that's on the table.

I think it's so tough because in Pickleball, it's not like you can keep people on the bench.

You're like, put them in when the game's over. Like, you literally get one extra person in the shock

in the five's case. Like, they're using that, I guess, and they're not really using Angie Walker

right now, but like, you have a dream bigger specialist. Like, there's just no room for people to be

there for vibes, which kind of sucks because like, I'm sure they would have loved to keep the

core together and be able to have more like reliable players for the fans to really get into.

But yeah, it's not fair to ask someone not to try to win a championship, but they can.

Wait, also, what happened to that top 20 rule that made it so that the Mari trade is will

outside of the top 20 and everything else? Oh, way outside.

Andrew, he's like 40. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. I mean, so they got by basically like a technicality

as a result of that. It really is like 21, I think. I don't know why that went through. I don't

know how the five's got her off the squeeze like that. Like, I can't imagine that she like was

really pushing for that, but whatever. It's a size of point. Yeah. Niko, where do you come down?

Like, can you do you feel good about a, if you're the five's, do you feel good about a bot championship?

That's what that's what that's what people are saying. And to me, fair, like, you can spend

a lot of money and not buy a championship because the st. Louis shock did, you can argue, they kept

the team together, but obviously they spent to 1.3 million to get Anna right back.

Yeah. Well, I think I don't fault the five's. Here's the thing. I'm a

downbring to baseball. I'm a huge San Francisco Giants fan, right? And I enjoyed the three championships

we won in 2010s. And every year, I want to kill myself because the Los Angeles Dodgers,

they buy every just yesterday, they traded for the best picture in baseball. And they already have

like the second best picture and the third best picture and the fourth best picture.

Their team is fucking insane, right? So the, the, the fives are like the Dodgers, right? But

what do you want the Dodgers to do? They have the money, they have the draft capital, they have

the farm system. Of course, they're going to do everything they can to win. So they're going to win

a third championship in three years and try and compete. And that's, that's a bummer, right? And so

the fives, I do not fault you for what you're doing. But back to my Bay Area Sports Roots, also a

Golden State Warriors fan. And when they won their first title with Steph Curry and Clay Thompson

and Drain Mongreen, all players that they drafted, it felt fantastic. Then they traded,

God, they signed Kevin Durant. We won a couple more titles. Did not feel as good. I will tell you

that. It did not feel as good. I'm glad you, I'm glad you have the God to admit that. I appreciate

that. It was funny. I'm an eighth. But like, it's way more fun to win that title. So we won one,

one before him. We won one after Kevin Durant. And those two felt so much better than the one with,

with Katie. And so I think it obviously would have felt so much better had they won last year or

the year before they choked the shock choked. And now they have a super team. So is it going to

feel as good? No. Why? Because Federico, there's no way that he can have the same feeling for the team

either. You know, nobody's going to have the same feeling for Fed. Fed is not going to have the same

feeling for the team. It's a little bit different, but I don't fault them whatsoever. So yeah. I mean,

it's it's also like, you know, it's, do you build a team around Steph Curry in the last year of

his and right before the end of his career? Like, you don't know, I mean, you kind of know, but

like theoretically, Annelie could be on any team next year. So do you have to do whatever you can to

win now when you got a L on the team? Right? Like, it'd be crazy. It would be crazy not to. So I

don't know. I think that's an interesting debate that's being had online. Like, I think you're right.

It doesn't feel the same. But I also think it's like, how could you, how could you, if without

at your disposal? How could you not do it? And the fives did it better. So this is the thing that's

that makes frustrated because I'm not a fives fan, right? I'm objective third party. But the,

I can say that with a straight face, but the madrops are doing the same thing. The last year of the

Ben Johns contract and they ended up with Connor Garnett, not the same as Federico. And we saw it.

And so like the fives, we hate them. We ate the chant, whatever. They got Annelie, but they got it

done. And so kudos to them, their team, their G.O.s for getting Federico when other teams could have

gotten to and they, they, they, they, I have a question. Do you think that there is more like,

outcry about teams buying players like what the fives did with Federico or would there have been more

outcry had the shock dropped Annelie, right? And then not empty the coffers to get back.

I think, I mean, like, you don't drop Annelie, right? This year without expecting to do that, right?

I don't see if there's a world where they dropped her and did Dallas flash. Did it with Georgia Johnson?

Yeah, that was just, I mean, that was just a brutal blunder.

I suppose. But you think, do you think if they, what if they got out bid, what if they were,

they couldn't get her back? Like, do you think everyone would be like, why would you do that?

Would they have then turned on like other people like, you should have dropped Gabe instead?

Like, we need AB back. Or are you just like, I can't believe you wouldn't spend the money to like,

to buy us our champagne, to buy us our team back?

Yeah, I mean, I just think you knew that the, the shafers we're going to spend, I mean, I'm sure

they probably had five million as their number for, for Anna Bright, right? Like, there was,

I get the sense there was zero dollar amount that they were not getting Anna back. Otherwise,

I suppose like, okay, we're only going to spend 500,000. I think they dropped either,

I think they had to have, it would have been, I couldn't have been Kate either, Hayden or Gabe,

I don't remember which one of them may have been dropped before, but yeah, they wouldn't have done.

Oh, all right. So, next up, what did you guys think of the event in general? Obviously,

Nico, you weren't there. Zoe, you were with everything going on between the playoff chase,

between the finals. We didn't even talk about the just two-minute long point that Ben and Jade had

against Annelie and, and no way. To me, I feel like this was the best MLP event that I can think of.

Now, I might be forgetting some, but nothing readily comes to mind is like, yeah, that one was better.

The one that comes to mind closest was last year's equivalent at the end of the year in Dallas,

where we had that Annelie versus Catherine 2020 in the Dreambreaker, where you couldn't even

hear yourself think. But that was kind of the only moment that I remember from that one, other

than there were a couple other good women's matches. But where's this rank for you guys in terms of

just overall best MLPs? This is my first season playing MLP.

So I don't really have as much of a scale for what the standard has been in the past.

But I would say a couple things that made it really great. The playoff implications,

just the teams that were there, like having the drops, the fives, the shock, and Brooklyn,

I know Brooklyn ended up being a little hampered. We can maybe talk about that a little bit later.

So like, really good pickleball. That's where you got the goats facing off,

and you got Hayden and Anna playing, Annelie and Ben. The venue was great.

I really like the setup. There were a couple things that were a little bit sub-optimal,

but I liked how they were back-to-back with VIP in the middle. It brought the energy up,

because you could kind of watch both at the same time. I think a lot of people were sitting

in that location just to do that. But it was cool. After our match, saying, going on,

Twitter, and people, that was the best MLP match I've ever watched. I remember being like,

was it that good? I don't know. I thought maybe people weren't watching it

as closely, just because we weren't any of the big teams or the big names. But I was like,

this is cool. People really cared. They really appreciated the fights that everybody had.

Didn't go well for us. I'm proud of the way that we fought. It was cool to have such engaged

crowd that really cares about what's going on. I would say, this is kind of a bad answer,

because again, I didn't play MLP last year. But yeah, top. I thought St. Pete was great.

I thought the venue was great. The fans were really, really good on Friday, particularly

Friday. Saturday was good too. But yeah, they did a good job. The venue was great too.

I love St. Pete. Actually, St. Pete was my favorite venue. I think just in terms of a quality event,

yes. But it was kind of early-ish in the season. Didn't have that much ramifications.

And there's no standout on court moments really from that one.

Right? Yeah, you just can't orchestrate that. Yeah.

Yeah, you can't. No, you can't. So maybe St. Pete needs to be a playoff venue or something like that.

Because you need some of that sense of urgency as well.

Things that come to mind for me were Atlanta with the squeeze in 2023, right after tour wars.

It was an electric one. Huge turnout with fans. Just a really compelling event.

The following year was, I think, finals in Orlando was interesting. But just not quite the same

when you've played all three finals match on a single day. I think that was a total airball.

It could have been incredible because our three matches against the Flash were insane.

And then last year, Dallas comes to mind as well. But if you guys in New York City too,

I mean, New York City last week is, or last year has probably got to be up there as well. Great

crowd, Central Park, two-one comeback from the Columbus Sliders. And they did the same thing against

the shock earlier that weekend. Yeah. I mean, if there's one that would give it the edge, I guess it

would have to be Central Park last year, the finals. But anyway, you guys are listening.

Leave us a comment. What your favorite MLP event ever was, I think this is it for me.

This is the one. And the thing is, I think, other than the fact that it was the one seed being

being decided, the top four teams and who gets the buy being decided, five teams buying for the

last playoffs spot, it being it by Disney World, where people can go and do pickleball. And

it's a destination where it also packed the entire stadium. But to me, what signaled that MLP

made it is how many people gave a shit about the 12 and 13 seed battling it out randomly.

You know what I mean? Like last year that doesn't happen. It definitely doesn't happen any other

time like where anybody cares at all about your guys' matchup. But now I saw it. Everybody cared.

When I was watching, I was like in like little Tokyo in LA and I lost service in the middle of

the match for mix two. And I was devastated. And then everybody had the time of their life.

Besides me, I watched it afterwards. But the fact that people care about 13, 12, I think

has to put this one over the top. Best event ever.

Another kind of underrated thing that they did at this event. I don't know why it happened

this way, but it could have just been scheduled. Like there were 12 event, 12 teams at this event.

And they had been 11 teams at every other MLP event all season long. And I can't imagine that

it would be that hard to have 12 at every 12 or have 10. Don't have one pool five and one pool of six.

You have the hogs and the pool of five. Congrats. Someone's getting at least four points.

Yeah. I would be super extra point. And the hardest thing is you could go in the if you're in the pool

of five and you go winless. This could have helped us. We were in a pool of five in New York.

Did not win the match. And we still got a point. Like how do you get a point for for showing up?

After the most five. Yeah, we don't do participation points. This is pickleball.

Yeah, I can't imagine it would be that difficult to do even number of teams in each group every single weekend.

I would also be super interested to see like how does how everyone's strength of schedule

like end up staffing out because I know I think the Palm Beach Royals are like maybe investing in

that metric. But like for me, I don't want anyone catching strays here, but like I'm pretty bum

that Vegas was in the other pool. Like I think if the Bears played Vegas, I think we win seven times

down to 10 at least. But they, you know, and record of them, they played well this weekend.

They beat Brooklyn. But I think that if they were in our pool and we were in their pool,

we're playing in Dallas next weekend. Yeah, I think. I'd agree with that. I mean, that's something

that we've talked about a few different times. And it's been it's out there. I mean, I just think

with 20 teams in the league and you know, six regular season events, you've just got to play

every team. You've got to have a crack. Every team's got to have a crack. That's the other

thing too. Every team's got to have a crack at at. Don't worry about it. Every team's got to have

a crack at the hog. Every team's got to have a crack at Phoenix. Everybody's got to get cracked by

Saint Louis too. Yeah, like so yeah, it is bizarre to me that there were a few different teams that

we didn't play once. Couple teams that we played four times like. Yeah, we had the same. I mean,

I had a little bit of a different experience because I did get traded. But there are a few people

like that we played. I played multiple times on the smash. And then like I think that smash

actually had a decent schedule and that they were only gonna. The only team we missed we they would

have missed playing was Miami. But then we also played the drops like a couple times. We played

Brooklyn a couple times back to back as well, which was like, okay, great. Like back to back

weekends and pool play like could we not play Brooklyn? Yeah, I think that's relatively low hanging

fruit to fix for next year. Even pools and play everybody during the regular season. Yeah, I liked

your I like your tweet about that. Like wins and losses from from this weekend. Even numbers. Big

win. Yeah, big win for even numbers. Let's go. Another complaint that I was actually pretty bad.

Um, grandstands was obviously super close to center court. Like explain how they were kind of

side by side and the music was so loud. Um, we played the Palm Beach Royals on grandstand on

Thursday. And you like could not hear anything like every time there was a time out or a breaking

game on center. It was just like an absolute like, yeah, it was it was pretty intense. And you

like couldn't hear anything. Sarah said that she like was like getting like disoriented because it

was so loud. Um, couldn't hear the score being called. They ended up muting the speakers on that

side of the court. Um, so it was a little bit better. But still it's like tough when you have two

courts together. Like obviously you want to cultivate the environment and center court make it

exciting. But like there are people trying to play click a ball like 20 feet away. It's like I'm

in the middle of like hitting a reset and like all of a sudden like Quattro Caut comes on the

speakers. It's like it's it's not super easy. Yeah, Fair enough. Um, I don't know what exactly

you do about that because the center court atmosphere was electric on time out and stuff. Like

and the, you know, the walk out songs, everything. Like that's I like it. I think they probably,

I mean, cutting the speakers was a huge help. Like, Quattro's to whoever figured out that they could

do that or like who, um, mentioned that or suggested doing that. But like, I think they just need

to turn it down a little bit like because I also heard people are saying like, oh, yeah, the music

is really loud on CC. Like, you know, people are going to be excited if there's a couple of going

on the crowd is electric and there's music playing at like a six instead of at a nine.

Fair enough. I liked it. Um, I think, uh, I think you're just not a good hang. Um, I think that's

yeah, you're you're definitely like the the neighbor that's like, turn that music down.

Call on the. Yeah, that was a little bit. That was a little bit care. Any of me, but I don't know,

I just, it's too loud. Too loud.

Agreed to disagree. I mean, no, actually, I agree. It was, you bleed loud. It was a year.

A good way for you to bring, but I thought it was, I thought it was a vibe.

Okay. It was a vibe when I was playing on CC, but it wasn't a vibe when I was, you know,

getting my ass kicked by Analy Waters. And yeah, then I have to also cover my ears. I can't

listen to Martin Emmerich whisper things to me at a time out. Oh, speaking of Marty, how come he

was on the five's bench yesterday? He's on your team. Well, our season's over.

All right. Anyway, what else do we have? We'll just play out preview. You know, and I're going to do a,

a quick, uh, a quick, um, they're not a quick. We're going to do an in depth playoff analysis. Um,

as a, as a different one, uh, should we do, we'll do the quick, the very quick summary, um,

Dallas or sorry, Brooklyn ended up being the five seed. They selected to play SoCal.

Um, Dallas was the six seed. They selected Vegas. Neither of them wanted the Chicago slice.

I was waiting for this. I knew it was going to say that shit. I knew it was excited.

It was the Palm Beach Royals. They get another crack at us. Um, and then we also have,

I mean, they get the crack. You get another crack. That was my words. We have, that was,

uh, yeah, you can, you can say whatever you want. We had, we had match points. So, uh, I like that.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah. You guys, uh, you do want, you want another crack at them,

for sure. Oh, and then finally, we got the Bouncer's versus Texas. So for the rest of this,

oh, let's ask a MVP. We got Analy Waters, Yon, fucking boring. Of course, she's the MVP.

Like, can we come up with a real MVP for the season? Like, I hate the idea of just giving the,

I said this last year too. Why are we just giving the best player the MVP? I don't find that

interesting in any other sport. To me, value does not mean the best, right? You could go spend

$1,000,000 on a car, but is that a good value? I don't know how good is the car. Like, to me,

I think of value as what you got for what you spent, somebody that had impact way above and beyond

for their team. So I actually agree with a lot of Niko's takes on this with somebody like, uh, Danny Townsend.

Um, I think that you guys loved Danny Townsend.

We fucking love Danny Townsend. I really liked Danny Townsend. Um, I think you're on the right track

with what you think value is, and it's not exactly what Analy Waters brought. I don't think Danny

Townsend is the right example. I would say someone like J. Dubmore. I mean, Danny Townsend is great.

Like, I think for that team, she was like such a spark plug, like so much energy.

If you were to break down her stats, I don't think it would have been like, oh, wow, like you're

carrying. Like, I think women's with Alex, they're good, but they definitely took some surprising

losses. Ogy and her definitely were playing really well. Um, but J. Dub on court was what made the

Dallas Flash blossom into what the Dallas Flash is now. And I'm not saying Danny Townsend didn't have

anything to do with, you know, getting J. Dub, you know, sort it out. Like obviously, um, he was playing

great and that speaks to his teammates as well as to him. Um, I think J. Dubb would be a candidate

for, for MVP, not even from like a monetary, like way, I think with your car example, but yeah, with,

I mean, that's he was dead in the water. Like they J. Dubb, Ogy, Brooke, and Albi Huang lost to the

Florida smash in Austin and in regulation. Um, and I know Albi's not their usual starter and

Tyra was out that, that event, but there's nobody on the Florida smash that is even reminiscent of Tyra.

There's nobody on the, the forest smash that is a shadow of what JW Johnson is. Um, so the fact that,

like the, the smash like we were able to go in and win that like dead in the water. Again, great

pick up from Danny. I think more like from a, like a leadership and an energy standpoint, then

necessarily on the court. Not saying she's not a really good player. Um, another one that comes to mind.

Um, Jackie Calmotto. Um, I think if you take Jackie Calmotto off of Brooklyn, like they're

not good. Um, they were dealt kind of a tricky hand, but like, yeah, she was great. She's been playing

really well with Hannah Blad. They were really going to Chicago actually. They didn't play as well. Um,

this week in Orlando, but she's super valuable to the team. Yeah. I'd probably put, you have

any you want to add up the way that we're defining it. I would probably put like, Kate in that conversation.

She's the fourth best player on that team, but like she's playing in correct, like she's had an awesome

season. Oh, I was gonna say she's been on the most, it's funny. I actually ran into her at the airport

last night. She's been on the most improved MLP list for the last three years. She's never won.

She's never won the award though. Oh, I don't think she's going to agree there. It's going to be sad. Oh,

I think yeah, they got to figure out something else. The Kate Fahey consistency award or something.

I think the name it after her. I, I'm not just blowing smoke and you would never win this because

you're on the on the smash, but you, we text about this. You pulled them out of hog territory.

Like your value team was was like tremendous. Other one I would put in is Sophia for for Palm Beach

as well. Like coming in you'd go Sophia over Tina. Tina. Yeah, I guess Tina as well. That's a good point.

I think yeah, I probably just think of a little recency bias with Sophia. It's coming in as her

first MLP season, but yeah, Tina is the is a rock there as well. So that's a good call out.

Yeah, I do think that the it's more fun the way we to subscribe to it. Like yeah,

Analy Waters, great player. Like, you know, give her excellence award, give her a medal. But like,

yeah, it's a little more fun when some of those more less, less mainstream names come into it.

And then you're like, oh, like they actually had a really good season. You know, whether it's

someone like Jackie Kammell, everyone knows who she is or it's someone like, yeah, like who's

this person? Oh, she's playing for a team that's not as good, but like she's still doing a really good

job. So yeah, how about we do you want to do an unofficial pickle pad most improved player as

well? Because I don't love I you Kate again, like yeah, she's playing great. But I also like kind

of like the idea of lesser known players coming. Yeah, almost think of more of like a rookie of

the year award. And so I like rookie of the year. I also think that she was like most improved, like

I think I'm going to use Danny Townsend as an example again, like she's on most improved list.

I don't necessarily know how much better she's gotten, but she's gone a lot more coverage. Like,

she was already I played her before MLP season started. She was really freaking good. She's still

really freaking good. She's probably a little bit better because she's been playing with better

competition for the last three months. But like, it's not like she came from not the same with

Sophia. It's like, Sophia was already really, really good. She's proven that she's maintained that

level against the best players in the world, which is really impressive. But she hasn't necessarily

gotten better. I mean, it's so easy. One is you just have rookie of the year, one award, most

improved player, another award. You guys can make the decision. I'm like, Sophia, Danny,

Nico Acevedo, you know, Armand Batsia put them in rookie of the year. And then you can put Kate,

you can Eric Hansen's and whoever else in the most improved. Agreed. Yeah, we definitely need

to have my answer. Alright, everybody come up with their answer for rookie of the year.

We're here the year. Alright, got it.

Alright, I got mine.

Alright, who won first?

Alright, my choice, as you guys know, it's pro Danny Townsend pod. She's my rookie of the year.

Danny Townsend. Easy. Yeah, I got Danny. You're a rookie of the year. Wow.

I was going to say, Elsie Hendershot.

Like if you're talking about somebody that's gotten better, like we were texting about this earlier,

like she's literally better from two weeks ago when I played her in Chicago.

Yeah, that's why she was going to be my most improved player.

Oh, I did it wrong. I did it wrong. Alright, yeah, my most improved, my most improved player

is Elsie Hendershot. You can just just cut that. Um, who else is a rookie though?

Like, there's a lot of rookies. Like half the league.

Danny, Armam Bhattia, uh, who else?

Tom, uh, Tama.

Close. Okay, wait, I have a question then, like, I know you guys love Danny Townsend,

but like her numbers couldn't have been as good as Sophia Sevens, right?

They're close. They're, they're well, because Danny, like with Ogi, was like 13 and 3,

like that. Yeah, they're very good. She probably makes up for the difference in mixed maybe.

It's definitely worth wins, but I mean, the reason I've been doing this.

Can I first quickly, I'm going to call out the Palm Beach Royals social media team for saying

that Sophia and Tina were undefeated? Oh, that was, that was ridiculous. I couldn't believe

that. I mean, I like everyone on the Royals. I've actually had some good interactions,

but there's social media team as well. But like, whatever they were, it was like 23 and 3.

Like that's still super impressive. Like, you don't have to go and be like, yeah, we're undefeated.

Like you're 18 and 0 in your last 18 matches. There's a term we use for that. It's called a win streak.

Win streak. 18 match win streak. Like don't go and, you know, twist it so that it seems like your

Georgia Johnson and Anley Waters prior to the, the midseason tournament.

So, so my question is, do you think that that is, was intentional from somebody who's just trying

to like slide one in there? Or is it from like a social media manager who just doesn't know ball

and they're like, oh, undefeated because we've won 17 in a row and and it's an all it happens.

More than once, it also appeared in an Instagram caption on Sophia's Instagram.

And you know, you know if you're undefeated. Be loves to put, oh my god. Okay, this is Sophia's fault.

Well, she did put the team on her back against us. So,

she did an interesting interview. Oh, I did hear that. I did. Can you, can you clip that, Zane? What, what did she say?

She said she had to put the team on her back. Oh, really? Yes.

Yeah, she totally put the team on her back after losing women's and mixed.

But she did clinch against Jamie. She put the team on her back for one point.

I did not know she lost women's and mixed. That's wild. I think I think the tone that she said in,

it was a weird tone. That's going to be, oh, god, it's in the playoffs.

It's a it's a target rich environment for peak shit talk ability. Like, there's content there.

There's content there. I'm going to be warming up my mouth just as much as I'm going to be warming up my, my strokes.

Well, you do both a lot.

Should we do guess my duper? Yes, you guess my duper. I still think we need to do a draft name.

Let's do draft. All right. Guess my duper. Here we go. Start there.

Double the draft. Then we use up. This guy is a single super.

It rules again.

All right. They already moved 10 times better than I do.

You know, I still think I could score a point on John Lutian going. So,

why does this guy kind of look like John Lutian going? I thought that's that's why I said I was like, yeah.

It's like his chess mentor. It's the way he holds his paddle on the that the stroke.

They're the same legs. They're both white.

All right. And his ability.

Oh, that's a, I mean, is the other guy just painting lines repeatedly or what's happening here?

Oh, he's long. He missed. He missed another. Do appreciate that. He's going to know that I was going there.

I like that this isn't just like a highlight reel from from this guy. He showed like a few points that he actually lost.

Oh, man. I just don't see the strokes for elite singles play. I'm going to go 3.94 singles duper.

That's nuts. That's way low, I think. I'm going to go 4-4.

4-4. I'm going to go 4.15.

Yes, split the middle. Good call. I think it's always probably right.

No, I think what I'd regret my score. Oh, shit.

Oh, my God, you are, you're cheating. No, that's double.

Oh, that's the thing. Oh, my God, I was thinking about his double, super.

Oh, I wasn't. Wait, so me and Zoe were both pretty close.

We were a little closer than me. I was off by 0.3. You're off by 0.2.

Zoe is basically nail on the head. Damn it. I thought I got it.

All right. Well, I talked to me. How good of that feel though when you thought you got it right.

Oh, my God. I got the last one right. Incredibly. So I was about to be on a two win streak.

No, Zoe last week was actually crazy. He hit the nail on the head and then somehow threw in a

comment. I bet you this guy is 37. We pulled up the account and he's got the exact

duper and the exact age of this guy. Oh, that's awesome. What?

It was an all-time guest, my duper.

And then he was the last part about it was I'm like, this guy looks because he was playing against

two women players. I was like, oh, it kind of looks like when you have a pro or a really

high level woman invite you for almost like a pity game because they're the best guys that they

can find. Then producer J.B. is like, take a look again. It's Kate Fahey and Brooke Buckner.

I was like, oh, my gosh, I called that it was pro women. We didn't even realize who it was.

Got the age and got the duper by a by a tenth of a point. So still riding high.

Well, congrats. Yeah, that sounds like a big day for you guys.

It was big and that that piled on with the Bia draft, the sports movie draft that we had

and absolutely wiped the floor with Zana. I think I'm like on a five five draft win streak.

Probably having lost since a lot of you were on. Well, I'm glad that how'd your hunger

games team end up doing murder suicides about two minutes in or what? My team hung themselves.

They just ate the poison berries.

Simulations were not as strong to them. All right, so to wrap this, as we mentioned, we will do

playoff Megapod part two later in the week, but we got two options here. We can either do another

movie draft like we did last week or we can do a with Disney movies to an honor of MLP Orlando

or we can do Disney character MLP team. Zoe, I'll let you choose. I'm not super good with Disney,

but let's do Disney character. Disney character. Oh, shit.

Is that you looking to do Disney movies?

Siri, open your G-G-P-T. Are we supposed to pick like four Disney movies that we like or like?

Yeah, last time we we just drafted like a top six sports movies.

Yeah, let's do Disney movies. Disney movies. Okay, six.

Let's see. We can't be four. Now here's the question. There's so many.

We said the rules. Disney does Disney include Marvel? Does Disney include Pixar?

I'm assuming it has to include Pixar, but do we have Pixar? No Marvel. No Marvel.

Zane's already cheated with Marvel. One of the Hulk to be his partner or something. I forget, but

dude, I do not know. Ball. I'm cooked in this one. Let's see. I'm going to give it.

Yeah, I'm going to give these best best best draft. I am drafty with AI here.

All right, Zoe, you want to go? Yeah. Okay. Do you want to do the intro?

I was saying, I want you to do the intro. I don't even know what I'm talking about.

All right. In Hunter, Vail,

Pierre, Orlando, we're going to draft Disney movies. The top Disney movies, they can be Disney.

They can be Pixar. They cannot be Marvel. That's bullshit. That's cheating. Sorry, Zane.

Each person is going to get one pick. We will have teams of four best movies. When after this,

you guys rank you guys decide who wins and see if I'm still on a win streak after this. Zoe,

which I think the first pick? Yeah, sure. I'm going to go with up. Is that a Disney movie?

Up is Pixar. So that counts. Okay. Yeah, I want up. I mean, I'm going to go.

Wait, okay. Are there multiple? Like, do I get, if I go Toy Story, do I get the entire Toy Story

series? Fuck it. Toy Story. No, you do not get the entire Toy Story story. Toy Story, Toy Story,

Toy Story, your pick, and you go Toy Story. I get Toy Story. Fuck you.

That's the first story one for Zane. All right. With my, oh my gosh, Zane took the pick that I wanted.

That's a good pick. And I might eventually pull a serial draft and pick one of the other Toy

stories. But for now, I'm taking, I think the greatest Disney movie of all time. Give me the

Lion King. Yeah, it's kind of the original. Yeah. I want, I want to speakable me.

Speakable me is not a toy. It's not a Disney movie. So it's not? It's not. It's just a dream works.

Isn't that, oh, that's Disney. No, I was just at Universal and they had a

Dispickle of me section. Yeah, Universal is not Disney.

Even I do that. Oh my god. I thought that was just not my, I'm not an expert in this field.

You know what? Fuck it. Give me a bug's life. Oh, that's a great one. And Nico, if you say that,

not Disney, we're going to let it fly. That's a good thing. No, that's Pixar. It's Pixar. I remember.

I think it's our movie. I think we want to probably watch that thing like 20 times when I was a kid.

I don't know how you guys know this, but also just thoughts of like prey for me.

I'm going to pick Fiming Finding Nemo. No idea whether that's Disney or not, but I don't know.

It is. Good job. Good job. All right. I am going to take, give me the Incredibles.

I love it. I like that one. The Incredibles was good.

But the Incredibles too is better. Oh, I don't know about that. That's insane.

Everybody knows that. Everyone knows what Incredibles too is better in a way. Yeah.

I don't. Didn't they come out like pretty far away from each other?

Like Incredibles came out like 10 years ago and then Incredibles too came out like two years ago.

Or maybe it's just like, yeah, I don't, I don't remember watching the Incredibles, but I remember

watching the Incredibles too. Um, anyway, I don't want that on my movie. I want Beauty and the Beast.

That's a good call. That's a good call.

I'd want. Um, give me Aladdin for obvious reasons.

Okay. Aladdin for Zane. All right. I am going to the well. I'm going Toy Story here.

I can't help myself. Fuck you Zane. Give me the best, give me the best Toy Story movie.

Give me Toy Story 3. Best bad guy, heartbreaking, heart wrenching, uh, ending when they almost

accept their death and they're going in the incinerator. That movie is go to Toy Story 3.

Well, I haven't seen it. So thanks for spoiling it. Yeah, that's messed up. Oh, my best.

I don't even know another one. What's the mood? What's the one with Mulan? Is it called Mulan?

I want Mulan. Yeah. I'm struggling now. I love her. I mean, I don't know. Just give me something like

is Cinderella. Give me Cinderella. All right. Zane sold this track. All right. This has been a

draft where you know, one of these people has four kids. Uh, no. I am going to take. There's a lot

of choices here for my last pick. I'm going to go with my future Halloween costume for this year.

Give me Monsters Inc. Oh, yeah. Where's the other popular Disney like animated movies?

Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, uh, Pocahontas. Little Mermaid.

You know, which one we missed was Tarzan. I want Tarzan. I want Tarzan instead of Cinderella.

Give me Tarzan instead of Cinderella. Are you doing it for obvious reasons?

No, Aladdin was for obvious reasons. I thought the line would be for your obvious reason.

I have honestly a little ambiguous here. So I'm not sure. Pocahontas.

Coco. Okay. Which one is for your obvious reasons, Nico? I didn't. I was going to choose

in Conto. I was going to choose Coco. I didn't do it. Uh, this is crazy. I mean, this is like,

this is like us doing this would be like getting two of our random friends to do a pickleball draft

with us. Zoe, like we just don't know this. Yeah, this is not fair. Sorry. I'm not watching Disney

movies with my time anymore. Oh, yeah. Unbelievable. Anyway, I want another one. We can just, we don't

even have to put the pole out guys, but if you'd like to vote for any of these teams, you can.

What's the line? With Toy Story and Finding Nemo, I think I cooked. You did pretty good. And then

you picked Cinderella. Not confident. But I think I did well considering the knowledge that I had.

I was the MVP. All right. Well, Zoe, any other anything else we should look forward to from you?

Are you going to come join us on the pod more often? You're just an elite hang. Yeah, I'm happy to

come on the pod anytime. Follow me on Twitter, Zoe, while 66, follow me on Instagram, so I

underscore while I move into Austin soon. So maybe Zane and I will hang out IRL. We do a discord

meetup. Oh, yeah. Other than that, just going to enjoy some time, time off, gonna, gonna watch a lot

of pickle, definitely going to be speaking my mind via Twitter. I'll see what I can come up with.

So super excited to watch the playoffs. Would have loved to play in them, but if you can't play,

you might as well watch. Zoe, I have fair. I'm trying to peer pressure Zane right now. I said,

we should do a live pod after Zane's win or loss some time in this weekend. You down for a live

pod? I could, I could live pod after Zane needs Sophia seven. After he puts the team on his back

from the bench. Yeah, I'm just like, yeah, I'll see you get in here. You're welcome.

Elsi, fucking carried your ass. Let's go. No matter what Zane, you're going to be on the post,

the postmatch interview. That's what I want to see. They don't want to interview Elsi. That's

for sure. I don't understand why. But all right, live pod, maybe this week, maybe a preview pod.

Yeah, other promises here. Yeah, well, anyway, follow us to find out if we deliver on those promises.

I know you. All right, pick a bud.