It Feels Right
It Feels Right #66 - How to Use Strategy to Perfect Your Favorite Pickleball Shot
- Another edition of the "It Fills Right" podcast. I'm Rob Nunnery here with Adam Stone. We are going into, well, a lot on the MLP site, which Adam will tell you about, but then I remember when we talked about the beginning of this podcast, we talked about a lot of nonsense. So per usual, I'll go into that. We'll give you a little tip of the day about how to toe that line on the forehand side and maybe show some disguise. But Adam, what else we got? - Oh, just a lot of hot action in the waiver wire period for Major League Pickleball will break down the new teams in the premier level. We have trades, we have ad drops, we have a lot of wheeling and dealing going on between the teams, the GMs. You're gonna love to hear our analysis and there's plenty of it. - Here we go. - Because you know why? - Why? - 'Cause it feels right. It feels right. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ This is the moment we waited for ♪ ♪ Everything you want is right here ♪ ♪ We gonna give 'em what they came for ♪ ♪ We gonna take it up from last year ♪ ♪ Watch the game change ♪ ♪ Watch the game change ♪ ♪ Watch the game change ♪ ♪ Watch the game change, yeah ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Yeah, I gotta win ♪ ♪ Watch the game and do what they want to be ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Usually I like the morning podcast because I'm got the most energy in the morning because I crush some coffee, you know, do the whole bit. And then, you know, I peek around, I would say 11 a.m. in my day in terms of how I feel, good energy. And then I start tapering off fast after that. So come three o'clock, four o'clock in the afternoon. I'm, let's, I don't wanna say useless or worthless, but close to it. So, issue being today is I woke up about seven minutes ago. So I'm in this little phase where, yes, I'm drinking my cold brew, but it hasn't really, hasn't really hit blast off yet. So just bear with me until we get, you're gonna have to carry this podcast at the beginning of it. I might kind of, I might find my way, you know, hopefully at the beginning to middle of it, but I'm gonna heavily rely on you. - Well, that's why you have a partner, Robert. - Yes. - It is 8.53 a.m. and I have been awake for about three hours. Child, you just put me on blast. Now it's, everybody knows I woke up at 8.45 on a Monday now. - No, nobody knew, yeah, nobody knew. - No, I know we've been forced into a couple afternoon recordings and I would say they've been less than stellar. You, it's a noticeable dip. I have about three or four good solid hours in the day and then it is an aggressive taper as well, Robert. And I don't even drink coffee anymore. So I've completely cut it out. - Why? - I don't know, man, I feel like it, I feel like I have, I am sensitive to caffeine. I think it makes me a bit irritable and it possibly gives me some anxiety as well. - Yeah, fair. - So I've just kind of been noticing that, you know where I like, whatever. Stubbed my toe and I just rant off some, a several chain of, you know, unpleasant things and I'm just a little more annoyed when small things happen to me. And I actually think it has cleared up a little bit with the lack of coffee. I'm drinking mushroom coffee. - I would have, I would have guessed that. I would have guessed you've gone to the mushroom route. How's it going? - It's, I mean, it's something, you know? And I think, I think, I mean, I think some of it's, it was a bit habitual. So I think that when you do have some habits in there, just replacing it. Like the habit of the process of doing it is part of the allure. So of course you get-- - Same for the afternoon beer. Yeah, it's very similar. - Yeah, so if you just kind of replace that with something else, sure. You know, it doesn't pack that punch. You're not gonna get that little burst of energy or maybe be a little more focused for that stretch of time. But I think it's going well so far. And then I, I don't know. It's probably been a couple months now. So I was, especially early on with the commentary, I would like, I would get a little nervous and I would feel some pressure and I decided that coffee helped me a lot to get locked in. And so I was kind of overdoing a little bit. So I'm pulling back and I'm happy with where I'm at. - That's a, it's impressive stuff. Did you go through some solid, some solid withdrawals at the beginning? - Yeah, maybe the irritability kicked up for a week and then came back down. Some, something along those lines. But yeah, I mean, there's just, yeah, I mean, I know you're a coffee guy, but you know, when you're popping off two or three or four, it can start affecting your sleep and affecting me anyway. So I know some people can drink it and go to sleep in 15 minutes. That's never been me. - Yeah, I've gone through a few phases where it's been like, you know, I'll cut it out for six months or whatever. And then I'm always, I always get back on the train. I like the taste. I like, I like bitter kind of tasting stuff. I don't, I've got, I've got cream and oat milk in this, but I don't actually want that or need that. I don't know why I did it. - It's a, it's a true addicts pattern, you know? - I don't know why I did it. - I just pour it. - You get back on the horse. - Oh, well, yeah. - You have that willpower for a short period of time and then you're back, you're back on the horse. I get it, I totally get it. - Yeah, well, I commend you for your discipline and dedication. - Well, you know, I'm up and down a little bit with the adult beverages too, you know? So yeah, sometimes I'll just cut it out for, you know, a month or have won a week for a stretch of time and then, you know, maybe some social events kick up or I just find myself in that situation and I'll have a couple days in a row where I have a couple in the evening. So, you know, it's tough, it's tough out here. Life's not easy, Robert. - You're, but you're fighting the good fight. You keep it off. - Yeah, Rob, turns out here on my iPad, I have Rob Nundry's Twitter pulled up. Deep in the Twitter streets, deep in the Twitter streets with Rob Nundry. What is Clarkonomics? - What do you mean? It is everything that Caitlin Clark is doing and is impacting in the wide world of, not just women's sports Adam, but sports as a whole because that you have a podcast that talks about that? - Um, kind of, kind of. - I thought it was something about economics. I was like, just another wrinkle from Rob Nundry. - Yeah, the only economics that matter and that's what involves Caitlin Clark and what she's doing on a global sports scale nobody's ever seen before. - Okay, all right. - But speaking of that Adam, I did happen to go to Atlanta this past Friday for a basketball game involving Caitlin Clark and usually the Atlanta dream, which is the WNBA team for Atlanta, they play it, you know, it's called Gateway Center Arena or something. It's saying arena is, they use that very loosely because Gateway Center, it looks like it holds about 6,000 people. It looks about the size of a high school gymnasium. But when Caitlin Clark comes in town Adam, you go to State Farm Arena where the Hawks play and you put asses in the seats and she put Caitlin put 17,000 plus in the seats, which is, you know, it's just wild stuff. - Hey, I saw that. - I saw the dream play yesterday and they were back at that little Ricky Dink Arena and they had a lot of NPC's in there. So you just can't understand what Caitlin Clark's doing out there, she's saving women's sports. - It's Clarkonomics, there you go. Well, strive there. - I also met, well, I met, I said, what's up to two chains? I don't, just shout out to two chains, my homie. Also saw AI, AI was at the game, the answer, practice, come on practice. - Dude, that's one of my favorite NBA players of all time. He's little, lightning quick, killer crossover, like I used to love watching that guy play. And yeah, I'm a big AI fan back in Philly, back in the day. So Rob, as I'm scrolling here, I'm seeing a post about what gets you excited. And it turns out what gets you excited is just reaching into the kitchen from the right side with your forehand and throwing up a cross-court lob out of the air that drops beautifully right in that back left corner. - Nice, dude. My God, when you're just, when you're taking that little forehand, deep out of the air and it has like a little topspin roll on it, and you're getting that thing to dip right, somebody's right foot or left foot, and you're able to do two or three in a row, and then you're able to show that exact same stroke out of the air, and then just flick it a little bit more over their head for the topspin lob cross-court, where, yeah, they're gonna track it down, that's fine, but you're gonna get a chest high ball next ball, and you are in control of the point now. That's what gets me excited right there. - Yeah, I mean, you're actually speaking my language right now, if you were talking about lighting someone up, hitting the ball with power, having explosive athleticism, that's not quite my language, but slight topspin lobs out of the air cross-court are definitely my language, and I will say, I will too my own horn here. I decided to throw that in to my arsenal about four or five years ago, and it earned me two wins in the same tournament against the Johns Brothers with decal bar. Now, they kind of figured it out after that, and it didn't work as well, but for that tournament specifically, no one had really done that consistently. I did it probably 25 or 30 times over those two matches with the Johns Brothers, so I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that four-hand topspin lob out of the air. Out of the air is key, and cross-court is key also. Has to be out of the air. Well, apparently it doesn't. I've seen some guys and gals do it off the bounce from the kitchen, which I don't understand. You shouldn't be able to do that, I don't think. - Unless you're callin'. - Unless you're callin' out. - 'Cause he's the short hop king. - The short hop is different, but yeah. The push off the line, throw up the lob, off of the bounce is a little dicey, and it'll work occasionally, I'm not sure. That's a great long-term strategy. - Yeah, but the disguise is the key. I mean, and that's, Adam, this is kind of the tip of the day. Right? Like it's you, the whole point is disguise, because your four-hand dink out of the air is gonna look exactly like the lob. You're just gonna have a little bit more follow-through on the lob stroke, lift it up a bit more. But the key of that is when you're reaching in like that, the other side's trying to reach in as well. - So, and when you have them on their toes, that's when you wanna throw up that lob. - Yeah. - Nothing gets me more excited. - Yeah, and I'll tell you right now, if a, this is counterintuitive, but if a tall player is playing properly at the kitchen line, they are actually lovable, because they should be having all that balance and momentum forward with their chest and their upper body over the kitchen line, looking to poke things out of the air to take advantage of offensive opportunities. So, don't let someone stature fool you. If someone's six, two, six, three, or even above, if they are maximizing and utilizing their length, they are susceptible to the lob, as long as your frequencies are on point and of course, your disguise as you measure. - I dare them not to step in the kitchen off that push-off. I dare them to, would that lean forward? I dare you to not step in the kitchen off the push-off. I dare you. - Dare you. - Triple down. - Hit that out of there. You gotta let that bounce. - Yeah. - If you're trying to hit that bowl out of the, if you're trying to hit an overhead off that, you're the push-off. You're done. - You're cooked. - Do you know what movie Triple Dog Dare is from? - Triple Dog Dare you. Is that, yeah, Sandlot? - No, I think it's the Christmas story. - Yep. - Yeah, with Sandlot, wow. - Yeah, but I think it was probably used. It probably used in Sandlot too, but that was a little after. - Okay, anyway, I just like to throw out some movie quotes 'cause I have a pretty vast knowledge of that and my wife knows nothing. So it's like a big chunk of my value in these movie quotes that I get no benefit from because she has no idea what I'm talking about. So I like to work. - It's not like, oh, Adam, you're so funny. You remember that. It's like, no, here goes Adam again with the stupid movie quote. - Yeah, it's exactly what it is. She's like, well, I was studying finance. When you were just sitting on the couch watching all these movies and I'm like, well, technically I can't disagree with that statement, but it is a bit frustrating that I don't get the credit for all of my vast movie knowledge. So I just wanted to work that in. - I'm getting alerted by Munch and Finn, who are, they are half miniature poodles and half dachshunds. - Oh, well, they're so cool. But they're a little, a little, a little, hmm. - Yeah, that's the Dachshund way. - It is the Dachshund way. - They're a little yippy. - I mean, I would be too if I was at low to the ground all the time. - All the time. - I mean, they're great though. I had one growing up and my current dog who lives with my parents is half wiener dog, half bulldog. So that's good times right there. That's good times. - I know you know the, I know you know the cosmiders, Mr. Jake and Luke. - I do. I do. - So they are. - They had a pig. - Did they? - They had a pig, the brother, the brother. So Jake's handsome fellas, by the way. Very handsome fellas. No, we were playing pickleball in Hilton Head. He came to watch Jake play singles and he had like literally one of those teacup pup belly pigs as a pet. - Unbelievable. - Unbelievable. That is, talk about a conversation starter. - Yeah. - So the cosmiders are big into the Dachshund world. They have, might've been, last time I saw Jake, he was wearing a Dachshund club of Charleston shirt. They have Dachshunds, they grew up with Dachshunds, you get them talking about Dachshunds, lose their mind. They'll talk to you forever about how awesome Dachshunds are. So, big shout out to Jake and Luke. I don't know where you guys have been, but. - Yeah, yeah, what's the deal? I mean, this guy, we're talking a year or two ago. Like, back into the talk, like somewhere between eight and 12 probably in terms of a singles rank. I wonder what happened. I haven't seen him pop in. I mean, incredible mover has a really famous kind of roar clip against James Ignada, which when he's playing singles after an amazing point. So what the heck, man? Get back in the mix. - One of the best clips is, I've got the best forehand in the world! - And pickleball, and pickleball, and pickleball. - And pickleball. - Bold statement, but I like confidence. And it's pretty good, and it's lefty. So it's got that little extra pizzazz to it. - So he's got a, he's on his next chapter in life with a lovely Brazilian lady, I believe. I believe this is the story. I'm not sure where Luke's been. Probably lifting weights, but a cosmite, or some of my favorite. - Get it done, boys. Rob, so there is a little MLP action going on with a waiver wire after MLP DC, and I see Rob under June 21st. I'd like to make myself available. - I texted Bruce, I texted Bruce. - Were you poking to have some fun? Were you being serious? What's up with that statement? - No, I would, yeah, I'd play. I'd play. - Put me in, coach. - Put me in, coach. - I'd play. - But it was pretty wild, the waiver wire. So, I mean, basically the, when the merger happened, the PPA players, say Matt Wright, Lucy Kovalova, the ones that signed PPA, and did not decide to play MLP were not available. Julian Arnold, Lawrence Stratton, - Yeah. - Not available at all, but there was a handful of players who signed MLP and then took buyouts, and those players were able to come back in, they were just not allowed to be paid any extra money from MLP, or the teams or whatever. - When I heard. - Yeah, so I do think that they're, you know, I'm not very business savvy, but I think that there are some ways around certain things. - It's called cheating. - And there's a chance that some of that possibly happened, and I have the little document right here as we had, first off, there was only one move made in Premiere, and that was the Texas ranchers after a pretty solid fill-in showing from Kwong Dwang decided that they were going to give some money to the Utah Black Diamonds who did not have a great tournament and had that first waiver wire pick, so they gave through them $100,000 to move up to that first waiver wire slot and to take Kwong Dwang after trading Pablo Teas to the Challenger League. I know that that was pretty elaborate and a lot of moving parts there, but pretty wild, all those moves just to get Kwong Dwang and kind of settled that roster and pair him up with Christian Alshan and Pablo and Challenger is pretty wild after some of the results he's had the last calendar year. - I think, I think, yeah, respectfully to Kwong. I know he's filled in just fine. But, ah, that's a tough pickup for, you know, obviously you see a lot of the, a lot of the strategy here is going, you know, young athletic and playing the upside, which historically has paid off pretty well, especially on the premier side. So, I think, to me, it's I just, I don't think I've ever seen him get good doubles results ever. Like, good, good meaning, like just, yeah, not even great, just good. I think it's always been pretty below par. So, what are your thoughts on that Adam? - Well, what I would say about it is, I mean, I think that there is, he checks a lot of boxes for ability to improve. Where it's at right now in terms of a certain level, I have not seen him play. I saw a bit of play in MLP, but I have not seen him play that standard format tournament and doubles in a couple of months, in a couple of months. But, I wanted to mention that I think, we've seen this a couple of times in MLP, where somebody comes in and fills in, plays very well in the short term, but it's different to maintain that. Of course, once you get on the team. So, it's not, people are gonna start seeing your stuff. They're gonna start getting used to what you're doing. These elite, premier players, you can't just continue to pick them apart, or do the things where you had that short term success. You have to have staying power, and that is not easy at all. I'm not saying quang can't do it, but I do worry a little bit about that. And I think it's happened multiple times. You had Brendan Long filling in, you had Alice and Harris filling in in these short stretches, and not that those aren't very good players, but to jump in for one tournament, not really have pressure, be the person that's a fill in. And then once you get on the team to maintain that over a mini tournaments, it's not something that's easy. - No, 100%. And yeah, I think just to put forth effort into, it's not like they had to pursue it. You know what I mean? Like you said, in terms of the moves made, and to move up on the waiver wire, do they really think that he was gonna get snagged in that pick ahead of them? I would never have thought that. - Right, yeah, so they had to get 100K, but they did trade Pablo Tejas for Martin Imrich, and then Martin Imrich was dropped. So they got some cash considerations to trade Pablo. So I don't know the exact figure on that, so maybe it counteracted it, but there was two moves made to acquire Quang Quang, and to draw Pablo Tejas, which I think is a bit aggressive, even though I do like their team, I do like all three other players on that Texas ranchers team, Tina Piznick, Christian, Al Sean, and Edo Wright. I think it's a very quality team, but yeah, that's a lot of effort to make sure that you secure Quang Quang Quang, and also he's a waiver wire pickup, so he will not be eligible to be kept. So that future value, and some of that upside and youth and his ability to get better is not really a factor for them. It's all about right now for the Texas ranchers. - That makes it even crazier, wild move. - Yeah, wild move. - So when is he so he's acquired for how long? - I believe it's for all of 2024. So starting in 2025, after those two tournaments at the end, the two playoff tournaments at the end of the year, he will have to go back into the free agent pool. - Yeah, so yeah, that's even more of a head scratcher to me than-- - Rob's out on the move. - No, I don't think it's a terrible move, I'll be clear. I'll think it's an absolutely terrible move. I don't think that's a hot take at all. I think most people would think that's a terrible move. - Yeah, we'll find out in a month. So we'll see how the Young Buck performs this next time out that he's a solidified member of the squad. So that's gonna be interesting to monitor, and that was it, that was it for a premiere. But what is this, is this a doughnut situation or a breakfast sandwich situation? - Neither. - Oh God. - It's a, it's a wake up wrap. - So it's a little wake up wrap. - Oh, okay. - Little taco, little taco, sausage, cheese, and egg. - Did you get a dessert doughnut for that wrap? - A dessert, what do you mean? - Like a doughnut. Like, I mean, you're eating your meal right now, do you get, did you get a dessert doughnut? - And what is your favorite doughnut, whether you did or did not get a doughnut in this order? - That's a great question. So it's a two-part question. So I have a two-part answer for you, Adam. - Two-part. - So to answer your first question, did I get a doughnut? No, I did not. Did I get, did I get a small assortment of munchkins? Yes, I did. (laughing) - Good, good. - And favorite doughnut. - So favorite, let's go favorite munchkin. - Favorite munchkin would have to be the blueberry cake. I'm not even a big blueberry guy. I think they're odd, I think they're odd, textured. I think they're too small. But I mean, they're flavors fine. But there's like a blueberry muffin versus like, I don't know, are there strawberry muffins? - Not really, not really. - Let's say banana. - Cranberry, cranberry. - They have cranberry muffins. - They have cranberry muffins. - It feels like an odd muffin too. But like if there's a blueberry muffin, I'll opt for a different muffin just because I think blueberries, it's just not my thing, really. Nothing truly against them, I think they're fine. They're a fine fruit, but I would not opt for it. But when it comes to munchkins, blueberry, the, I don't know what it is. It's just captivating. - Okay, all right. Well, that was number two, though. God, I forgot that was only one part of the question. - Well, that's my favorite munchkin. I mean, I would not say that the blueberry cake donuts, my favorite donut. I'm a classic guy. My favorite ice cream flavors, vanilla bean, I think it's, there's nothing more pure in this world than vanilla bean ice cream. It's simple, it's elegant, it's, you don't need, it doesn't need anything else. You try to put M&M's in or, Oreo cookie in it, to me, it's just doing a disservice to what is the best ice cream out there, which is vanilla bean. And in that same vein on the donut side, Adam, I would say that just a well glazed donut by itself is one of the nicest things. - Oh my God, okay, that's quite an answer. We need you on the, I need to ask you the questions for the PPA broadcast. I asked these guys two part questions and they give me a forward answer. So maybe not quite what you just did somewhere in the middle, you know, somewhere in the middle. I'm a powdered guy just to let you know. - Powdered. - I like powdered donuts. - What do you like about it? - I like the taste, I like the texture, I like the powdered part, I like how you-- - But it's the white powder, not the cinnamon? - Yeah, the white powder. And then I like how you grab one and put it on your shirt and there's evidence there. And I like everything about it. So let's move on to challenge or how about that? - Before we get into the episode, we have to tell you about a must have for anyone in the pickleball world. If you're an avid pickleball player and don't have this app downloaded on your phone, you're missing out on so much, meet the Selkart TV app, the first and only free streaming and on-demand app dedicated to everything pickleball. Whether you're a player, a fan, or just curious about the sport, Selkart TV is your one-stop shop for all things pickleball. Get exclusive early access to content you won't find anywhere else, like lessons, courses, podcasts, and much, much more. Imagine improving your game with the pros or catching the latest pickleball buzz before anyone else. Need more? How about a 24/7 live stream featuring new content daily? From gripping PPA tournament matches and live coverage of grandstand court to insightful player interviews, Selkart TV has it all. You can dive into the action anytime, anywhere. If you're already watching this episode on the app, thank you, but if you aren't, what are you doing? Download the Selkart TV app now. It's a must have for anyone who loves pickleball. Visit selkart.com/tv to get it. Sure. - So there was a, I mean, the female player pool and the challenger draft was a big hurdle. There was six, seven, eight very good ladies that were not available for this draft. So it really affected how your draft process went. Of course, what slot you had, what pick you were picking was a factor also. But now we have an influx of over half of those ladies that were not, did not put their name into the MLP draft are now back in. And it started with the dark horse, the net Lord Susanna Bark. She was picked up with the first overall slot from the California Black Bears for Emily Cedarquist, formerly known as Emily Ackerman. Any thoughts on that particular move? - So it was Ackerman, who else was on that team? - Amanda Hendry, DJ Young and Rafah Hewitt. But DJ Young actually was dropped later on, but we'll get to that when we get to that. So that is the squad. What do you think? - I mean, we've seen Ack with Cedarquist. That's gonna take me a minute to adjust to that. But we've seen Emily have success with Susanna in the past. So I'm actually a little surprised that she was dropped instead of Hendry. I don't know particularly how the results were overall in that tournament. I'm just saying from a general perspective of seeing it over the last however many months, seeing them both play quite a bit. I think Amanda's gotten much better. When I play mixed with her, she burns me down the line a lot. She's got a good little kind of disguise up the line. But yeah, a little surprising they drop Emily there. I think they've had success right with the slice. Both being teammates on the slice in the past. And winning a championship when Connor Garnett was on that team, I believe. - Yeah, right at a heart. - And right at a heart. - Yeah, that's exactly right. - So a little surprising, is that chemistry's already there? Yeah, so surprising on that end. Who was the second? - Yeah, let's just jump right to it. And we'll go back through round one. First, pick of round two. DJ Young gets dropped. He does have a bit of a wrist issue. And I think, definitely think that had something to do with it. And your boy is in, Rob. - Who? - Parle Vu Francais, Brandon French, is in the mix. So that is an extremely awkward team in my opinion. You have two lefties in Hendry and Rafa Hewitt. You have French, who is very awkward to play. And you have Susanna Barr, who has a unique style also. We'll see. I kind of feel like it could possibly be a crash and burn, but I also could feel like it could be, if they're firing on all cylinders and they are giving some team's trouble with their handedness and their awkwardness to play, they could be just fine also. - Yeah, I think, I mean, Brandon French playing with Rafa Hewitt's going to be, it's going to be loud. Like you're, they're not going to stop talking, which will be fun to watch, but. - Yeah, I remember French when he was playing one of the first seasons, not the first, but one of the first season of MLP with Jill Braverman. And that was must see TV. She was following, he was hitting the absolute wrong shot at all times, even though it does work out for him sometimes. Not a high percentage player, he goes for it and you have to respect that. So, second pick in round one of the challenger, Waverwire, Kelsey Granbow gets dropped by the Chicago slice, who did not have a great tournament in DC, and Megan Fudge was picked up thoughts. - Yeah, I think that's a no-brainer. - Brendan Long, Jack Monroe, Megan Fudge and Son of a Gun, I am forgetting the fourth lady. But. - Allison Harris. - Allison Harris, there you go, perfect. - Yeah, I think, I was a bit surprised at the results, they did not perform well in DC, right? I don't think Jack and Brendan did very well, and then, I mean, I think bringing Fudge in, she's gonna be a good leader, she's gonna be a fighter, she's gonna bring good energy in terms of, in terms of the team atmosphere. So, I think it's a good pickup. Adam, just to pause. I do find it all very curious. - Here we go. - That, the whole contingent of us that took buyouts, which basically, it was a buyout of that original MLP contract that was signed in August of '23. So, basically, signed this contract, plan was to play only MLP, merger, et cetera happen, they offered, okay, we'll just get you out of it, we'll buy you out, and then you can have the freedom to do whatever you want. What's surprising to me is that they would pay that money, and then just also be like, well, yeah, come on, you can still play, come on in, put your name, you just sit the first little go around, and then once the ad drop period comes along, then just throw your name in. I just think it's crazy that that was able to happen. - It's, is that not surprising to you? That they didn't restrict that? - Maybe, but the rule is that they're not allowed to get paid, so paid extra. You get a $400 stipend per event for travel expenses, but I believe that that is the only legitimate. - I heard that you could get paid 10K on the rest of the year, total. - Okay, yeah, so, I should definitely know this, I'm not sure that I do. So, it's either just the $400 stipend, or it is the 10K plus $400, and there's like four different groups of players, so sometimes it's hard to kind of figure out which group has which deal. Full free agents, PPA sign players, MLP buyouts, all that stuff, so. - I mean, - I would almost guarantee that some of these players, there's zero percent chance they would pay for $400 stipend per event. - Yeah, I mean, I think that that's fair. I think that probably some players would, and I probably say most players would not play for that. I mean, that's not covering a whole lot $400, $400. So, yeah, I get what you're saying. I know that there's a lot of people, a little up in arms, or there's been some social media warfare going on about fairness, what's fair and what's not. So, yeah, I get the views of everyone. It seemed to be the players barking, the hardest, or the ones that have had more success in the first two events, which of course makes sense. But it's, yeah, it's interesting, still getting things settled, and we've talked about that multiple times, whether it's rules, format, scheduling, player pool, all of that stuff is still kind of in flux, and I'm hoping that it gets fully settled sooner rather than later. - Yeah, I think it's great for the players to be clear, I think, to be able to get a buyout and then to also just keep playing, and not lose kind of the visibility from MLP and cause look at it. I mean, if you look at my scenario for example, I played the last APP I played was what? Was it New York? And that was right out a month ago. I'm not playing another tournament this weekend, but the following weekend, I'm playing in the APP Newport, right? So it's like we're talking a month and a half of no competition, and what that does is that you lose visibility in terms of what's happening in Pro Pickleball, right? So that's a big deal. And then after this first week of July tournament in Newport, the next APP after that's not to the end of August, talking August 28th or something like that. So over another month and a half. So we're talking two tournaments and basically a three month span, which if you're an APP player and pretty much all you're playing is APPs, the debt of the summer is super quiet for you and you don't have a lot of visibility in terms of people getting eyes on you. - Yeah, Rob, visibility is important too, especially with this going a little more contract heavy than prize money, you know? So if yeah, if you're kind of get lost and things happen so quick and pickle, if you kind of get lost, don't have results, don't sneak on to championship court for an MLP match or a PPA match or whatever the case may be, then you get forgot a little bit. And I know the next wave of contract is a ways away, but it's all a body of work up into that point to kind of help you get a number that you're looking for when you do sign one of these contracts. So yeah, it's definitely a thing and I think that that visibility and just kind of being in the mix is possibly undervalued. So I'm with you. Number three, Miami. So actually SoCal Hard H traded up with Miami for cash considerations. And Miami from the eighth waiver wire slot, which was Miami, they traded with us who had the third and they jumped up to the third and they snagged Bobby Oshiro. And pretty good snag because Bobby Oshiro pairs nicely with a Millie Rain who is also also on that squad to pair with Eric Onson's and actually Roscoe Bellamy in the second round was dropped. So yeah, I'm gonna go back and forth a couple times just so that we make sure we have the team construction correct and Roscoe Bellamy was dropped for no way cliff. An up-and-comer from Dallas had a couple solid results. He played well with AJ Kohler and Dallas that I saw and I believe that they were, this is the fifth pick of the second round. They were thinking Miami about getting Martin Imrich or no way cliff and they decided to go with the younger player that has a little more upside because he's so new to the game and no way. What do you think about those two moves? - I think Bobby is a great pick up. I've always thought Bobby is a bit underrated in terms of, yeah, I think she's, I think she's just like right there in line with Susanna in terms of being a borderline premier player and fudge. So the guy pick, I don't know much about him. I looked at his results after that happened and I can't say I was like super impressed with results. So I don't know, that was a bit of a head scratcher. Again, going, I guess after kind of the younger, up-and-coming talent. But is it the same scenario as Kwong where it's a free agent after the end of the year? - Yeah, so the waiver wire pick ups, yes, that's correct. - Yeah, so the waiver wire add, yeah. - So what I do understand, because Goldberg is trying to tell me this, is that to get an unsigned player, you have to pay 20 grand, is that correct? - That's right, yeah. - Yeah, so Goldberg, I think in New York was like, dude, if you're playing, we'll grab you. Yeah, so they had Bobby come available. So they grabbed Bobby, which makes a ton of sense, but they had to pay the 20 grand for it. And then it sounded like their ownership wasn't wanting to pay another 20 grand to grab me or somebody that wasn't signed necessarily. - Gotcha, gotcha. - So, yeah, I don't know if that's a good pickup or not. I think Roscoe, to me it's no, to me it's no, I don't think you're getting, I think Roscoe's got just as much upside as this guy based on results. And honestly, a bit more proven, a bit more experience. So I don't really necessarily understand that move, especially Roscoe being a good dude and a good teammate and somebody that's getting better in my opinion. So yeah, I don't know, I haven't seen enough of the other guy. - And drafted, so he could be kept if they would like to do that. So yeah, okay, no, that's good takes on that. Fourth pick and the first round of the challenger was the Florida Smash, old team Travis Rhett and Meyer. And they dropped Pat Smith, who's having some injury issues. And they picked up Yates Johnson. And so they had Yates Johnson fill in for Pat in the DC event and now they have decided to keep him on moving forward. Thoughts on that? (laughs) - I don't really get that one either. Yeah, I don't, I think there's a lot of guys. Yeah, that are respectfully better than Yates at that spot. No, Yates is tough because I think if you like clip his top 10 points he's ever played, he probably looks like a top 10 player and all applicable. But some of his consistencies and his results have definitely not been as good as they should have been in my opinion. So he's got some great shots, he moves really well, he's a phenomenal singles player, but those doubles results now and the Johnson's aren't fresh anymore. They've been a year, year and a half ago, they're still fresh, I don't think that's the case anymore. So I mean, sure, he is a nice player, but I was expecting him to hopefully for his sake, take a bit of a jump in this last year or so and I don't think I've seen it. - No, and I think that's, you know, that is the consistency, he's just in my opinion, just too inconsistent of a player and can get tangled up and lit up pretty easily. But again, yeah, like you said, moves great, obviously great singles player. So I would say singles mixed and then gender is kind of his strengths in order. But yeah, it's a little surprising. I don't know, I think Travis might've said something about why he did it. I didn't see that, but I did see that he was sharing on why they made the moves and what, you know, I don't know. To me, that's also, yeah, the head scratcher. - Yeah, well, when I'm, you know, occasionally scrolling through social media and I see someone, you know, with like a minute or two minute plus little video, very, very rare. Am I gonna click on that? - No. - But if it's Travis, I usually will because he will say some stuff and he usually tells it like it is or almost always tells it like it is. So I will at least say that about Travis and he must've had good reasoning. And fifth round, the Bay Area Breakers, they were very active. So before this waiver wire pickup session even started, they traded Vivian Glosman for Elise Jones. Elise Jones was in premiere for the DC Pickleball Club. Vivian Glosman was one of the top females for the Challenger League and they traded Vivian to DC and they got $100,000 for it as DC sent 100K and Elise Jones to the Challenger Division for the Bay Area Breakers. Talk about the trade and then we'll talk about the waiver wire process. - Yeah, I think it's a great trade for Bay Area. Get 100K and Elise Jones who's, you know, is gonna fight, you know, she's gonna be a good teammate, she's gonna fight, she's gonna make a ton of balls. Obviously Vivian has size and firepower and more weapons but more inconsistent but has had a good year so far. For the limited amount that she's played, I would say overall, she hasn't played a ton this year but when she has, the results have been, I would say significantly better than last year but not to the tune of trading for Elise and 100K, I think Bay Area got better. - Gotcha, okay, well, there you go. Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's a fair assessment. I mean, Elise, she does get results and she might scream and yell at two, three in game one but she brings it and that clip was hilarious when she's like this and the scoreboard driver (laughing) - Yeah, yeah, yeah. (laughing) - She did dive on that point and they won the point so I will give her credit for that. If you dive during a point and win the point, a celebration is in order no matter what the score line is but it really did just kind of sum up some things perfectly when she was, that video hands up, two, three, game one. So, okay, so not done, Bay Area, one of the highest rated females, maybe the highest rated female after the first event in Atlanta was surprisingly Rachel Wrecker and she had two quality partners that she was playing with so maybe that had something to do with the stats but either way, I was surprised by the stats that she put up and now she is getting dropped for Jill Braverman so it will be Jill, Elise, Colin Schick, Vadakta and actually DJ Young who in the second round was picked up by Bay Area and Patrick Kafka was dropped so that's a lot to say, Elise Jones, Jill Braverman, Colin Schick, DJ Young, what's your thought on those waiver wire moves by Bay Area now that we've talked about the trade? - I think, I mean, look, on the women's side, having Elise and Jill, they're gonna be favored every women's match and mixed. It's, you know, Colin's a great mixed player. DJ is a good mixed player. I think that's gonna be, they're gonna be super dangerous. I think the, you know, there might be a, if they have any holes and challenger, it's gonna be on the men's side and consistency and ginger doubles but I think the moves on the lady side, the ability that they're gonna have in mixed, they're gonna be, you know, with the, with also singles not being as critical now with you just getting a point for even getting to the dream breaker and getting less points if you win the dream breaker is, is I think it's, yeah, I think it's good team construction. I don't, hopefully DJ's wrist is okay because that seems like if that was a factor in him getting dropped before, then they saw it as less of a factor in picking him up. So, yeah, hopefully he's healthy. And if they, if he is, I think, yeah, I think they're gonna be very, very good. The only hole might be in the men's game. Yeah, yeah, fair assessment. Rounds six and seven. The Frisco pandas and the Atlanta bouncers chose to not change anything on their team. And as I mentioned before, the SoCal Hard Eights, my team had the third waiver wire we traded down to the eighth spot and we dropped Christine Maddox and picked up Jana Nul, a former hard eight that we had some great success with last year. And that was the, yeah, the eighth pick in the waiver wire slot. I'll just say a couple of things. Christine was awesome in Atlanta. She brought it the entire time, did not have a level dip even though we were struggling in our matches. She was great off court and it was great to get to know her and she has a ton of talent and upside if she can clean up a few things that she struggles with. So I just wanted to mention that shout out to Christine. And it's so tough in this situation because clearly drafting Christine Maddox or a player that is less tenured, you are baking in some of that future progression. So to make a move so quickly and not fully give that player a chance to blossom definitely hurts a little bit inside and you kinda like, man, you know, she could be great in six months, duh, duh, duh, duh, whatever. So we felt like we had to pull the trigger with Yana, especially with the film familiarity that we have with her and getting that Russian connection going with Yana and Irina hopefully digs us out of the cellar and gets us some wins in our next tournament. - Yeah, I think it's a good move. And I, you know, having a proven entity in Yana and having her be a former hard eight is a big deal. And I think for Christine, it's, she's gonna have, she's gonna be available for, you know, pick up, she's gonna have time to prove herself in tournaments and continue to get better. I think it was probably just a good learning experience for her and now she'll have a chance to do some damage in tournaments to get picked back up. - Yeah, I think actually in the San Clemente coming up this weekend, she's paired up with Caitlyn Christian. So maybe they can do a little damage there, possibly sneak into a quarter final or something of that nature. I think it would probably be tough for them to get further or semi-final plus. But yeah, great having her, happy to know her. And I do think that she will get picked up by someone before the year is over with, especially if those incremental improvements start to happen or continue to happen for her. - Hey Adam, on that note, what are the, when are, like, what's the cadence of the pickup drop period? Is that after each event or what's that look like? - I believe there's four times total. So it's not after every event, but there will be some opportunities throughout the rest of 2024 to have a waiver wire period. So it's around every two events or so. There will be a waiver wire option. And, you know, I would imagine that teams will continue to use that, but probably less so than what we saw in this first waiver wire with a lot of moves happening. So, and to note also, the next actual regular season event is a little ways away. We have a mid-season tournament and Grand Rapids, Michigan kind of using the BCO, the Beer City Open up there. And all of the teams will be their challenger and premier and that should be fun. So I just wanted to, in terms of scheduling, that's what's happening with MLP. - And what is the format of that? Is that just more regular season matches happening or is that actually like a kind of, to tournament? - So it's actually not 100% set yet. They're gonna have a meeting, I believe it's today, to iron out a couple kinks. So what was originally planned was a tournament with everyone, where challenger could possibly play premier and there was gonna be one prize pool for everyone. And they're thinking about possibly divvying up the prize money and giving more, but having a premier tournament and a challenger tournament separate. So I think both are probably fine, but the prize money's gonna be the same, it's just how it's allocated. Is it one lump sum for everyone, all the teams, or is it gonna be distributed between challenger and premier? We should have an answer to that very soon. - But nobody gets prize money, do they? - Yeah, for the tournament, yes, the prize money, yeah. So I believe it's 200k. And I think they were talking about 150, premier 50 challenger, not 100% sure on that, but the prize pool will be 200k. So this is no regular season points are awarded, it's a standalone tournament with prize money, which I think is cool. But the results from what's happened thus far, carry over beyond this tournament, right? It's not a reset. - Yes, that is right. It's not a reset, it's completely standalone. That's right. - Got it, got it. - No, these are important things to talk about. I mean, once everyone really knows exactly what's happening with the format, it'll be easier to follow, easier to be a fan, and that's exactly right. So that was a good question. - But it seems like kind of a bummer in terms of like, let's say you guys, let's say you guys just clean up this tournament, but you don't make any progress in the standings? - Yeah, no, that's kind of brutal, no. Like if you guys-- - I mean, I don't think so. I mean, I think it's standalone. It's always been standalone. It would be poor timing. Maybe we'd get some prize money out of it, which is great, but it would be poor timing to play our best in terms of the regular season standings at the tournament. But I think it's just what it is. - Yeah, got it. - All right, that's it. So we bounced around to that second round a couple of times just so we make sure we had all the teams, and there was only three picks in that second round of the Challenger waiver wire, and that was the Brandon French, the No-A cliff, and the DJ Young picks. So that's the waiver wire. First one, a lot of action. - It's fun. - Yeah, well, we'll see how everything settles, see how all the newcomers perform, and if we get similar action in the second one, or it kind of cools off a little bit, which is probably what will happen with, I mean, that's five very legit ladies that got thrown in to the Challenger. So it's gonna deepen the player pool, and I think the product and the quality of points and matches will probably improve too. - And I saw somebody note on maybe his Twitter or X that we're like the Fudge bar, that Yana, were they not eligible during the premiere window? - I believe that's correct, and I don't, I'm not sure. So I'm not helping a premiere team anymore, so I know who is available to us, and I did hear that, and I did hear someone mention that they weren't even options for premiere teams, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I know they were available to us, and here we are. - Yeah, gotcha. But fun, dude, the storylines are fun. I mean, this is what I think everybody's always wanted, is kind of continuity, and moves, and kind of analysis on teams trying to get better. So I think this is awesome. I like having these updates. I like the ongoing season, and I think, again, like you've said a couple of times, it's early days in terms of this format, in terms of making the league this moving forward. And I think it's on the right track. I like it. It's super fun to follow, and yeah, kind of like just the part of me kind of wishes that the beer city counted towards standings, because to me it's like, it goes back to like kind of the past MLP, it's like, it's just a standalone tournament. And I like, I'm having fun with the build up of seeing results throughout the year, and I kind of just wish beer city counted towards the season long standings, just as a fan. - Why can't we have everything? We can have it all, Robert. We have the build up. We have the standalone. I mean, I think it's lovely. - But the standalone, like I don't, that's like a baseball team having a standalone tournament in the middle of the summer. It's like that doesn't count towards their year and results. That's not seems wild to me. - Doesn't hurt my feeling. - Hmm. Okay. - Okay. (laughing) - I, yeah, I would just like, if you guys have a killer tournament, I want you to get credit for it, Adam. - Oh, that's, I mean, that's fair. I want credit. - I don't want you guys to crush it in the beer city open tournament, and then, you know, the rest of the year, and you're in the cellar. Come on. - Yeah, me either. I mean, we're already in the cellar, dang it, one in five. Wait, we did three, we got three dream breaker points though. So we lost a bunch of dream breakers, and that's a very sad story, but I'm excited for what's to come. I, like I mentioned, that Russian connection, Yanda and Irene are comfortable with each other, and Purple Jesus is gonna continue to get better. So shout out to the hard aides. I like where we're at, best of luck to Maddox, who, like I said, I would be shocked if she is not on an MLPT by the end of 2024. - Yeah, boom, that's it. That's all I got, MLP recap, waiver wire. I mean, I'll tell you what, the GM, the GM, like the texting, and the calling, and the trading, and what was going on behind the scenes, the agents were involved, like it was pretty dang wild for a 48 hour period before the waiver wire happened for premier and challenger. So it's like, it's like, it's super hectic and almost too intense, but at the same time, it's awesome when it's happening. Like it's fun, you know, like I started sweating a couple times, and you know, I was, you know, trying to wheel and deal, and of course, you know, Rick and Tim, Rick and Tim Park, they were doing their thing as well. A lot of, a lot of information, a lot of communication, and you know, some people thing as well. So it was good old negotiations, Rob, good times. - Yeah, yeah, that's, I mean, that's the fun stuff. - Yeah. - All right, we good? Let's wrap. - I think that's wrap time hit about right around an hour, a little bit less. I think that's a good place to do it. - 59.56, boom. - Boom, shot clock. (upbeat music) (crowd cheering) (keyboard clicking) [click] [BLANK_AUDIO]