Letz Talk Sport
Letz Talk Sport #252, 02/01/2025
You are listening to today's radio. Up next, let's talk sport. It was the day he kicked about three pounds of haggis that turned because it hardly got off the ground. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis. Three pounds of haggis because it hardly got off the ground. Come on, ah! Oh, it's more dangerous. It's going to change. Let's talk sport with RTL today radio. It's not even a good morning. Right out of my place on Christmas day, it is a very Merry Christmas to you and thank you to those that are tuning in to a Christmas day special with my good self, Nathan Snate, Sam, Dallow, Merry Christmas, make baggy eyes to be expected on the 24th. It's a day for you to celebrate as much as it is the 25th. I'm feeling a bit worse for wear this morning, but really excited to be here. I am guessing you were down at the Christmas market yesterday. I mean, there's no other place to be on the 24th, is there? And is that obviously a place where all your mates from school, maybe from university, come back and collect on the 24th? Exactly. We all know where to go. You know, you haven't seen people for about a year and you know to go and meet at the Christmas market and then enjoy the evening. Name, name's mate, put the blame on who was keeping you up late. Oh, I can't do that. I can't throw it not on Christmas morning on the radio. I can't throw them under the bus like that. But I heard that there was a decent pack of the wolf pack there down there and down at the Christmas market last night. Listen, we are, well, honoured. We've got arguably two of Luxembourg's biggest stars in the guest. And no strangers to let's talk sport as well. I should remind you. But two, my left, your right, Sam. We've got Amy Thompson. Welcome back, Amy. Hey, it's nice to be. It's been a while. It's been a while. I would say it's 12 months. I think the last time I was here, I was in a different Christmas jumper, but sitting in the same spot. Yeah, exactly. I think because we did one, was it Christmas, or we did a pre-recorded? We did a pre-recorded. The Christmas Eve, didn't we? Christmas this year to Christmas last year. Any changes? Some changes. I mean, I changed clubs. So that's quite big news. I'm pleased you brought that, that raised that topic, not myself. We're going to... I think that's the biggest news, other than that, everything's pretty same same. Same thing. It's like, let's face it and like some of the communities are quite small. So the football community is quite small. Yeah, yeah. However, when you change club and that small network, I guess you get some that are pro and some that are a little bit, oh gee, what's happening there? Yeah, I think most people are just wondering why. I mean, some people understood, okay, Hezbollah is on the up and going. But on the other hand, you know, I was at Mamma for three years. So the question was, why is she going? And then, you know, rumors start coming up. Is it the money? What's going on? But I think those rumors shut down quite quickly when they realized I wasn't the only one leaving. So I think most people realize, okay, there's something else going on. Yeah, right. Let's get straight to the table with it. We're a history sitting right now. We're second right now. Unfortunately, okay. Mamma and Mamara, top or? Mamara, sixth. Mamara, sixth. They're doing better than what people expected. I think most of the team left. The top goalscorer at the top goalscorer. Yeah, no, I mean, basically the whole team left. Basically the whole team left. So if they're a player, if they're what, six? Yeah, yeah, they started off a bit wobbly, but then they, you know, they came back and they showed the other teams said, okay, even though we changed the whole squad. We're still here. We're still going. Cool, cool, cool. And two, to my right, Sam, to your left, the one and only, the favorite, the smile of Luxembourg, the face of Luxembourg sport, we should say Julian Hinks, third time in the studio. Welcome back. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. Now, I'm guessing you celebrated last night on the 24th with mum, dad, yep, mum, dad, and then today, 25th with... Yesterday with my mum and my brother and tonight with my dad and my brother. Super what a long, what a long, long Christmas it is. So you managed to get a little bit of squash in there in between as well. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Now you played yesterday with your mate. What was the score? Did you keep scores or you just ran each other record? Yeah, we played, I think, 11 times, 11 games and only 1-3, so only 1-3 is probably fair to say your backside is a bit sore if you're not playing, not playing regularly. Listen, you've just returned from the world championships in Budapest and not only, tell us a little bit about your performance, one of the better ones I understand. Yeah, so I was doing the 250s, 53 style, 50 butterfly since I qualified last year for these events. I wanted to swim the 100s too, but it was too late to qualify and I wasn't fast enough since this year I'm going back to the 100s meter also again. So yeah, I was actually a little sad that I couldn't swim more races. Last year I was really happy only to swim the 50s. So yeah, overall it was a very good experience for the, so I'm training much more this season and so I lost a little bit of speed. I was half a second of my best time, but still the season best and better than last year at that time. So it's positive, it's going in a good direction. What was crazy that during the five days of racing I saw 30 world records. Wow, it's a record of world records. That's crazy. I've never seen a pool this crazy and Budapest is my favorite pool. So it was really nice to see so many and 53 style 50 butterfly. So my two events, the world record was broken, so I'm losing points in scoring. It's not the best. Do you think that one of the reasons that there were that many records broken at the world champs was only three weeks ago? So do you think that one of the reason for these number of world records being broken was that because we've just come off the back of the Olympics and the pool was just that little more shallow and so less records were being broken, even though the athletes are trying or performing very well, they weren't able to do that in the Paris, so therefore it sort of got pushed on to the world championships. Do you think that might be a reason? I'm sure it is one. I think there are two reasons. First of all, 2024 had two world championships, one European championships and Olympic Games. So we had long course world championships in February. In June, we had European championships then back to back Olympic Games and now world championships short course. So we had four big events in 10 months and I think a lot of people tried to qualify, tried to get a medal at the Olympics because everyone tries to go to the Olympics. It's the number one thing you want in swimming and almost all the guys who did not win medals at the Olympics stayed like they didn't have a break and they went on to world champs and then they were just there was less pressure. And so yeah, it just worked out because at the Olympics, I saw it for myself. My season this year wasn't great because I was so focused and so stressed and you tense and you're not like loosey. You wanted so much that maybe the time is a little less fast than if you just go there and have fun and do what you can do. And yeah, I saw now that all the guys that did not do medals in Paris, they want everything now. So, really, so therefore, with the number of competitions that they've been, then you could also argue that competition is good, arguably better than training. Because the repetition of high intensity racing, I think is the best, especially for sprinting athletes because in 50 butterfly during the World Cups in October, November. No pointi, he did the World Record twice in 50 butterfly. He came to the World Championships and I talked to him and I was like, I do, you're going to win easily. I'm not sure. And in the morning, he swam 300s over his World Record, but there was a guy, 600s behind him. And everyone was like, whoa, okay, it's not, he's not going to win that easy. Then he won, he did the World Record in semifinals. And the guy was, again, just like, 10 hundreds behind him. And so for the final, he did the World Record again. And the other guys, it was just behind. And he wrote after the, it was his first World title. And he said, thank you to like this guy and this guy pushing me like the last three months to do even better, to improve. And yeah, not to let, like, because he was half a second of the third one, you know, or the fourth. So he could have like, have an easy swim if the other two guys were not there. But he keep on pushing. The World Record went from 2,1,7 to 2,1,3. That's, that's fast. I mean, freestyle. I've never seen anyone swim. Yeah. And how are you? Are you swimming, Sam? I mean, I can stay afloat. Well, on a floaty, on a floaty with a can of beer in your head. No, that's why you're normally flying. I can swim, yeah. I enjoy swimming a lot. You enjoy swimming, go swimming all the time. When I was at university, I used to go swimming three or four times a week as a way for you. Have you ever tried the big, the double gurgle, the double, the butterfly? Yeah, I have tried it, but it's so hard. Amy, have you had to go with that or are you just doing like me? No, I do the first one and then that's it. The kind of, and then that's it. This, yeah. And no wonder you got shoulders like gladiator, like because you, because you just, to have that, to have that power. I just, like, I can understand 50, like even for yourself, I can understand a 50 butterfly. But when you start getting 100, that's whoo. Yeah, it's very different. Like, I changed my training to 100 this year and it broke me completely in, in a matter of weeks. The amount of, yeah, of power you have to put in. Like, now I'm swimming sets of 600 meter butterfly in one set and that was unimaginable six months ago. And, yeah, I felt really, really sore and tired and, but yeah, it's, it's what you have to go through. And the 50s had down no breath all out and the 100 is, you breathe every stroke or every second stroke and the pace is very different. So I have to change a lot of my technique and yeah, it's a, it's a big change and I hope that the results are going to flow in. Yeah, go your way. Sam, what was your sporting, what was your personal sporting moment this year, mate? Personally, I haven't, I've only got back into the football a bit this year. So I only moved back last year to Luxembourg, decided a new job, been really busy at the new job. So I haven't, sport hasn't been at the forefront this year, but I'm looking to get back into football full-time next year. Then, then the real answer to that is let's talk sport. Yeah, that's right. So as you know, throughout the, throughout this little session, we've put a few themes, obviously Christmas themes into, into the mix. I'll try and throughout the show, see if I can pull up a Christmas song or two for us to, to relieve ourselves from the headphones for a couple of minutes at a certain point. So we're actually going to go on through until 1230 this afternoon. So an hour and a half, a little bit longer of let's talk sport, but we'll see some absolute beauties. Hey, we're also supposed to have Tyrell Sturdevant in the studio, but unfortunately he became under the weather. And so he sent a little, a few messages into me last night. I'm surprised he did it because he is. You can certainly hear that he's under the weather, but I'm just going to bring him on the line right now. And see, and we'll, we'll hear from Tyrell and see what he has to say. Okay, hello, my name is Tyrell Sturdevant, and I play for AB Contern. We are currently third place on the table, and I wish you all Merry Christmas. Does he sound like he's got the flow to you? Yeah, definitely for me. But what is really quite interesting is this one here. And I just have one additional fun fact, Nathan, I don't know if you know or not, but me and Amy actually went to the same university in the US, Stonyberg University. And we actually knew each other in the university in the US. And funny enough, I was almost surprised when I seen her in Luxembourg, because I just didn't know she was Luxembourgers. So, yeah, I was more surprised seeing her seeing her in Luxembourg than in the US. So, unfortunately you missed that one. You didn't get it on, you didn't come through on your headphones, but it came through on your Sam. Yeah, came through on yours, Julian. Okay, Julian, translate, translate can mind the past over the message. Yeah, okay, so apparently he was at the same university in the US than you. So that. Yeah. Stonyberg. Stonyberg, he was. Stonyberg. But quite how ironic that they didn't know each other, and then all of a sudden, so where did you, when you came to Luxembourg, where did you meet each other? I read about him coming to Luxembourg, so I saw on his Instagram, I think, and I was like, what the hell is he doing in Luxembourg? You know, other people are going to Japan, Germany, things like that, and then he's coming to Luxembourg. It's like, this is crazy. And then after a game, I went to Mac Donald's. I went to Mac Donald's and I turned around and who's there? Sorry, Ralph. Sorry, Ralph. I'm like, what are you doing, Mac Donald's like, this is where the real athletes meet. It's who Mac Donald's after a game. So, Tyrell, we met, I met him probably just over a month ago. He did it, Jordan, Jordan Hex, co-host, obviously, he, yeah, he bought a man. He said, I'm going to bring my man Tyrell, and I was like, cool, cool, cool. But like me standing with these two American ballers is like, I try not to tell it, but the thing. I'm like a pea. Okay, look, I've got a little snack here, which I'm happy to share around with your Christmas snack from one of my favourite shows. Get yourself one of them and pass around. So you see the size of that little snack there, Amy? That little bobble, yeah? That was like the size of my head, in comparison to the size of your head. Now, I was like, it was like a pea, and that sort of pea. The head or the shoulder, I mean, Julian would be fine. He would be absolutely fine. Well, how are those cookies, by the way? Are they all right? Yeah, a little complimentary from the flower shop that I went to give a gift the other day. But the size of my head was like tiny. Now, Amy, you're not the largest human being on the planet. But what I was looking for today was to seeing a picture of you and Tyrell next to each other. We took a selfie, but I'd have to find it. Well, I'll look for it in my archives, but I do have a photo with him. The thing is, he took it from above, because if I took the selfie, you wouldn't even see his chest. No, not even a lot of people. He wouldn't see his chest. He's huge. Have you come across Tyrell? No. We have to try and bring a photo of him. He has to be one of the biggest players, and likes him for sure. I mean, Jordan's sex sex, and I think he might be, yeah, he's bigger than that. And then, of course, he's got his hairstyle meant like it's just massive. Someone you don't want to meet in the dark alley, that is for sure. But inside, talk about the dark alley. He comes from a city just out of a Philadelphia called Chester. Chester, yeah, it's in Chester. And so it's a bit of a rough neighborhood in Chester. So he said, when he came to Luxembourg for the first time, or even Germany played it at a season there, and then Luxembourg, he kept the lights on at night and still put the chair behind this door, just in case you're in Luxembourg, no man. He was quite an interesting story. So he didn't, you know, that's how we grew up. But he's now on moot fort. There's no one going to be going anywhere near your house, mate. I can tell you. But fortunately Tyrell said he did contribute into the show, and it brings me back to the themes that we had on the show. And one of the themes that I would like to bring in is actually, if you were not with your family this Christmas or your friends, the question is, who would be the five others at your six-person table? And a little bit of a why. We can have a chat about it. And just to, yeah, I'll leave it out there. I'll be spicing on top of it, putting on icing on top a little bit later. But to get us warmed up and to get us prepped, shall we listen to Tyrell's table? See who he's got? Yeah, sounds good. It's not playing anything, then. Thank you. For my Christmas dinner table, my fine guest will be Adele, because she is one of the goats of Pop Lebron. Obviously the goat, the basketball, the goat of boxing, Robert Lewinowski, Bayernucian legend, and Tom Brady, the goat of quarterbacks. The king's table, the king's seats would be Lebron and Tom Brady. And the topic of the conversation would be, what makes you the best at your field or your sport? So what do we think? I missed the first one. The first one was Adele, was that right? Yeah, Adele. The first one was Adele. You've got entertainment there for a start, right? That's always good. Oh, I'll just come back on there. So yeah, so you've got Adele, entertainment. You've got a soft touches, old Tyrell, hasn't he? What was of course quite interesting was the top of the table, King of the Table, which was my icing, actually, who's going to be top of the table? Lebron and Tom Brady. From an American, so are we surprised? Not really. No, not at all. Those surprises there. And we get completely, completely justified. What was the topic of conversation? What motivational? What makes you the best at what you do? What makes you the best at what you do? Yeah, it's an easy one. I mean, you've got a table or something. Maybe only one has to speak, soon. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I don't think we could argue with that. The interesting one there is, who was the other one? I missed the other one. The other one. Which is also no surprise for an American as well. Yeah. Yeah, the Tyrell, I think, you've completely justified where you are and who you are as an athlete. Yeah. What can I say? We can't argue with it. We can't argue with the top of the table either. Who's ready for some action? Amy. Amy, you want to go for it? Yeah, we said no friends, but you meant close friends. So imagine long-distance friends that I haven't seen in ten years. Yeah, sure. Sure. Listen, it's Christmas day, Amy. So we're not going to be starting the rules. And we know that we'll save all the arguments over it. Monopoly board later on. Which will be followed by a little family walk, of course. But, okay, I'm flexible. Amy, go for it. Okay, I'd pick three friends from the states that I haven't seen in, I think, eight years. Seven, eight years. So that'd be Priscilla Wiggins, which is a mutual friend of mine and Tyrell. So it's a shame he's not here today. Priscilla Wiggins, Alex Mendolia, and Stefan Guelano. So those are the three from America. Are you able to give us a little bit about those three? Priscilla, she's past your footballer. Priscilla, yeah, yeah. She was my teammate and we graduated together as well. Very good friend. We talk from time to time, but, you know, over the years it's kind of difficult to keep up. Keep the comms, yeah. Yeah, especially with, you know, there's six hours behind us. So it's always complicated to get in a call and everything. Stefan Guelano, he was on the men's soccer team at Stony Brook. My best friend over there as well. And Alex Mendolia was our assistant coach my first six months that we were there. And then when they changed the staff after that, you know, we kept in contact. He stayed a really good friend of mine. So yeah. Interesting that you've gone where the coach was a lot even assistant coach. Was he a big part of you as a player? I think he helped me feel a bit more home over there because he understood like European football. You know, American soccer over there was a lot of running. It was very athletic, less technique, less tactics. But he was very, very European in his mindset and he followed a lot of European football. And so we were able to kind of connect over that and he helped me, you know, outside of training sessions. If I wanted to get in another individual session, he'd help me. We talk a lot about football, about coaching. And so after that, you know, when I got more into coaching, he would help me. I have a book, a little red coaching book, which is Mendo's coaching book where he added some exercises. I added some of mine in there. Yeah, I think he probably inspired me in a way to go into coaching when I came back. Oh, yes. Yeah. Would you understand that difference between European 40 Sam and, yeah, European? Probably, but not as well as Amy because I haven't been to the US to play in the system there and how they coach and their philosophies and everything, which is probably different than European philosophy. Oh, 100%. I think now it's changing. But before going there, when I had the showcase to go over there, I was even told by one of the coaches, "Listen, even if you don't come to my university, just watch out because there are teams that can run for days. But football-wise, it's not the best. So just, you know, in America, we're not at that point yet where it's super technique and super tactical. So just keep an eye out for that. And, yeah, when I went there, the first coach that I had, you know, if you didn't pass the fitness test, you would, each training, you would keep running that fitness test until you pass. You wouldn't participate. American white is probably fair. Yeah. I mean, I was lucky enough that I told it from the beginning. I said, you know, it's not going to work for me. In Europe, we don't put that much focus on the athletic aspect. So I think from all of the tests that I did over there, I passed the first part of one test and all the rest. You're going to have a pass. I failed. Listen, I've got smaller legs than I've got smaller legs. I've got a different sort of skill set. Yeah, but fortunately enough, you know, they knew I was there for different reasons and the qualities that I had were different to what they had. School goals, mate. Exactly. So I was lucky enough to not be punished in that sense. But yeah, it's crazy athletic and, you know, the workout rooms are crazy. If you see videos of, you know, the different universities and their training rooms, crazy. They're squat bars and everything, the equipments that they have. It's, I mean, what... I've heard ellipses, per ellipses, per ellipses. Ellipses is amazing, but America is 20 times lips. Another level. It's 20 times lips. You have 20 squat racks placed next to each other. You have so many things. It's all labeled with Stony Brook logo. Yeah, everything's labeled. They have a record wall and everything. So it's really that competitiveness. And history, isn't it? History, history, culture. It's crazy. I really hope Luxembourg can start appreciating that and, you know, develop. I think we have things to learn from them and they have things to learn from us. Yeah. But it was amazing to see. So you've got Priscilla, you've got Stefan, you've got Alex. Yes. And so who will cap off the last two seats? Cap off, I would say pink. Oh, stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Yeah. Okay. Pink, I love pink. You would stop it. That's good. That is absolutely class. Oh, gee. Yeah. Okay. Bucket list is pink's concept. Absolutely. What do you mean? You haven't seen pink? No. I've seen it. I've seen it twice. I've seen it and I need a corner and a field. Yeah. Seriously. It was a pink concert. I need a corner just in a field. In fact, I was with John Sutherland. Funny speaking of them just going quickly off topic. We're wearing exactly the same Christmas shirt. We know what. Because you go ahead. That t-shirt, I was with your mum in, uh, for a rugby trip with a job on a group of us. And we happen to go into, what's a department store in Ireland? I don't know, whatever it is, a department store. And at the time I got this and she's, and John was down in the pub getting a beer. She said, I better get one for John as well. So as I get him this one, he'll be happy with that. Wow. I was running around this morning and last minute looking for a Christmas jumper. See, we had to go into the wardrobe there to try and find something. Okay. So you got, sorry, coming back to it. You got pink. Yeah. And then you're, that's your, that's a Priscilla's different. Alex Pink, one, two, three, four. Who's your, who's your final? Marta. Brazilian Marta. Brazilian Marta. Okay. Just to put the icing on the cake, who's the, who's the head of the table? Who is it? Pink and Marta. Of course. Of course. So if Tyrell's questions were, um, what makes a, you know, what, what makes a great athlete, what's your question to Pink and Marta? I think my question would be what was, what was the hardest moment in your career and how did you overcome that? Hardest moment in your career, far out, but I can't believe you smashed it out of the park. You got pink. I can't believe you got there. It's a good one. We've got Adele and Pink so far. Adele and Pink. Well, we, we, we need into, we need entertainment. That would be a private concert for sure. That would be my Christmas present. I'm not asking for much, just the concert. The host on the roof early when she comes to India. I saw Pink actually on the closing in Iskall. I was like, I think I was 15 or, but I, I, it was really nice. Yeah, she, she's a great performer. Wow, wow, wow. I'm going to get, get, get, get on a, a, another, another guest. Jordan, Jordan Hek, co-star, who's over in the US. I kept him up a little late last night on the 24th and he has given us his table of who he's joined. So, let's have a listen to Jordan and see what he's got. Well, man, I appreciate the introduction as always. And I just want to wish everybody Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you guys in the studio. And all the listeners that have come and, you know, tuned in for this special Christmas day. Let's talk sport episode. I mean, what are the eyes that the show lands on Christmas, right? I mean, I, I think it's just a sign that we got great things to come in 2025. And I'm super excited to, to be in the studio and get back in there with you. I'm definitely going to need to go on the diet before that because man, when I tell you, my family stuffed me, I think they had to roll me out of the kitchen, roll me out of the house and into the car. Well, we, we made two types of meatballs. So we do two meatballs, one gravy with beef and the other with ham with like a sweet sauce. And it's, it's, it's delectable. That's all I can say. Anyways, though, you asked me five people, not friends or family, that I would sit with at the Christmas dinner table, I guess. And I mean, first, you know, legend on the court, but off the court, I think he's, I think he's hilarious. And I love everything that he does. He's the face of almost every brand in the US. It's insane. But yeah, Shaq, man, Shaquille O'Neal, the one, the only like, yeah, this man is, it's hilarious. I don't know if you've seen him on inside the NBA, but you guys definitely should check that out. A man is straight comedy, honestly. Second, I'm a, you know, I'm a sports man. I got to go with DDA Drogba. I mean, he's a legend in, he's a legend for me at least. And the man stopped a civil war in his own country. I mean, like who, who does that? Third, I definitely, I need some laughs in there, more laughs, Shaq's funny. But Dave Chappelle is hilarious. I don't know if you've heard of him. He's a comedian. And ever since I was young, he, he's had me laughing. Laughing and rolling. So, you know, I bust a spleen, I think. Dave Chappelle definitely would have to be at the table. I think fourth, I got to, you know, keep it a little more serious in insight on someone Jovial, you know, like the Dalai Lama. I don't know if you guys would agree with that. But, you know, I definitely would like some insight on, on life and understanding. And fifth, this one, very American for it, but Barack Obama, I mean, you'd be president and just a smooth guy, like intelligent, like, I mean, he's, he's cool. His wife is an amazing woman. And, but the, the guy just gets it, I think. And yeah, so I don't know what you guys think. I'm interested to hear what you guys got, but that's my five. So, we'll see you back. I'll see you back in January. How about that? So, what's your thoughts? So, what's your thoughts on that, guys? Girls, what's your thoughts? So, he's gone for Shaq. He is a funny dude. Yeah. I've seen some things on that. And he's huge. Yeah, he's huge as a half. But Shaq and Tyrell are on the same path. And me in the middle. Exactly. So, yeah, so Shaq, no surprise. What? I'm really curious of his job. I mean, I know he's a Chelsea man. That's why he's gone with Drogba. But I didn't realise Jogba. Stop the Civil War back in Ivory Coast. Yeah, he came in and then he, I think they met on some football pitch in the middle when he was escorted by all the military. And he basically took the two opposition together and they got them talking as well. So, he was basically insinuated piece in back in Ivory Coast, I think in the late 90s, early 2000s. Wow, wait. I mean, now I know that. Then I can understand why Drogba. But before I go, well, no, I just put it like that. Yeah, same. So, but when I knew that, yeah, okay. Yeah, okay. You deserved it. Dave Chappelle, obviously. Giggles. This is a paltrow, amazing. Yeah, exactly. Dally Llama. For peace, love and all that. Does he support? Does he follow Christmas? You're asking the wrong person. I have an idea. He might be, he might be, yeah, he might be celebrating. Yeah, not sure about that. Dally Llama. And then Barrac Obama. I mean, you know, whilst I wrote a wee note on my piece of paper for you. Yeah. And we didn't remember what my note says here. So much very good. Yeah, I can, yeah. So much American. The two of what American boys they deliver with American. But Paul, under the whole understandable, of course. I didn't ask him actually who was King of the Table. I think it has to be at Barrac. You cannot watch the President. They're all at the King's seats. Yeah, exactly. Every single one of them. Yeah, they could all hold King's seat. There's not one. Oh, there'll be a fight for King's seat on that table. That is for sure. I am going to pass it over to you, Sam. So, I've taken a different approach. A slightly different approach. We love unique approaches. That's why we're in Luxembourg. So I'm just interrupting you there. I bought a little bit of Christmas, a little Christmas drinking for us there. And who's got the bottle? Okay, can you just do the right thing and shake it up and fill up my little Christmas drink? My mouth is getting a little bit dry. It's actually a local project. Just be mindful of this table there. I know my boss at the moment, he's just messaged in and to say thanks and joy. Merry Christmas to you. And he's actually cooking at the moment. So he's got us on there. Hopefully he doesn't have us on the visual. No, he has got us on the visuals because he said you're looking all nice and festive. So just make sure you pour that. Try to put it on there. You have to pull it up actually out of the... Okay, so what are you going ahead, Sam? So I took a slightly different approach and I was thinking mostly just sports people. Since we're doing a Let's Talk Sports show, I thought it was mostly sports. I thought I want a bit of an entertainment around the table. So most of my guests are... Well, I'll just start off. So number one guest I would have would be Jamie Vardy. Rags to riches story in the Premier League. Would have plenty of great stories. Eleven Heaven, Jamie Vardy scored eleven goals in a row in the Premier League. Set a record as well, winning the title with Leicester in 2016. He's won the FA Cup with them. And you know, he's famous for learning insults and different languages for specific defenders. And he's also famous for downing about five Red Bulls before each game. So he's definitely going to be really good fun. And I thought the same as well with Nick Kirios. So he's... Oh yeah. Nick Kirios, he's played all the modern greats. He's a great personality, great... I love that he's... I'm looking forward to him coming back this year into tennis. And he's a great commentator as well. So I'm sure he would have some great stories around. And then I put also George Best. Oh, George Best. Yeah, so so good they called him Best. Obviously he's not been around for quite a few years. He was famous in the 70s and 80s in Northern Ireland. And obviously he was captain of Manchester United for quite a few years as well. And also got some of the most famous quotes in sport as well. So he would definitely have some great stories. And I thought the same thing as well. There are a lot. Obviously you can tell I love football because the next one is also Josie Mourinho. I thought Josie Mourinho heading the table with a bit of wisdom and a bit of fun as well. And with him Kirios Vardy and George Best, I reckon they could all bounce off each other really, really well. And then I put a last one as Erton Senna from Formula One as well. Because he was obviously a hero in Brazil. The status that he got was just unbelievable. If you look at the millions of people that attended his funeral. And this year marks 30 years since his tragic death in Imilla. So I thought it would be great to have Erton Senna at the table as well. So the table's going to be, it's going to mostly be people having drinks and sharing stories the whole evening. There's going to be a whole bunch of drinks there. Yeah, exactly. So I thought if I'm going to have one night of fun with sports guests, I'm going to have them five around the table. Nice. Very quickly while actually the host of the show actually just left. I had other pressing matters. So go for it, go very quickly. I had Jamie Vardy, Nick Kirios, Josie Mourinho. Oh, you've gone for entertainment. George Best and then Erton Senna. Wow. Wow. As I said, I could grab, he'll be the quiet one, the most determined sensible one. If we need a bit of philosophical thought or a bit of calmness at one stage. For those that know Sam, that is such a Sam collection of individuals. Well, I think to that, my guess to all, I think we should raise this little glass. Cheers, cheers, cheers. Cheers. Merry Christmas. And a Merry Christmas to all you listeners, even the boss over there. Merry Christmas to you all. Let me know how that little taster goes. Yeah, that's nice. It's really good. Nice one. Yeah. I like some fruit produce. It goes down easily. Blue one. That's dangerous. It's like the apple. That's dangerous. Yeah, that's very dangerous. Now, it's actually a local guy and do the launch. I managed to make this. That's grimy. Give them a little bit of a shout out. That's very dangerous. Have a look at that. If you had to bring a singer in, who would you? I had to bring a singer in. I think this is going to... I'm not sure who would like to bring in. I don't know, maybe Louis Capaldi would also be really good fun. I think he would be great fun as well, so someone might care, I think. Louis Capaldi, yeah, that's a really, really good shout, actually. They're such a same table I come in. Yeah, so who's your rub? Niceing on the cake. Who you put in two kings? It's got to be Josie Mourinho on one side and then Aretan Sena on the other, and then all the chaos in the middle. And all the chaos in the middle. Keep it compact. Yeah, exactly. Really, really interesting one that is for sure. Listen, as you know throughout the years, we've been a great to have a good relationship with Good Buddy over out in New Zealand, Benny. And I reached out to him, well, our morning, this morning, his evening and he's had a cracking day, obviously. It's summertime there, so they're in board shorts and flip-flops with a Santa hat that does look a little bit funny if you're familiar with the Winters or Christmas in a winter period. But let's have a listen to Benny, and I think he's given us his Christmas table as well. Mattie Kedmiti, Merry Christmas, Kia ora from New Zealand. Let's talk sport crew. Hey, it's been awesome doing some work with you in 2024. I've really enjoyed it from New Zealand, giving a bit of an update of sport happening in New Zealand and would love to continue this great relationship I think we have in 2025. Love listening to your show. You give some great coverage and diversity to myself and hopefully other people in New Zealand as well. As you can hear in the background here, I'm sitting outside. It's about eight o'clock on Christmas evening. Birds are chirping at summer in New Zealand. It's absolutely stunning in the moment, and I've had a great day here with family, extended family here. We've traveled about a thousand kilometers by car to get here, and it's been absolutely wonderful being around family with outstanding weather. And great company, right. Snubby, Nathan, you're throwing a good one at me, mate. Which five athletes would I have at my Christmas table at Christmas time? And why? The first one that comes to mind for me is MJ, Michael Jordan. Look, I'm absolutely stuck on this one because I lived through the great era of watching the Bulls play and winning those six titles, and MJ to me was I was just captivated. I wasn't a basketballer, but I'd always get to watch MJ playing in the finals when the Bulls were dominant during those years. The second one for me is Lionel Messi, he's just a goat for me. I love everything about him, apart from being a great soccer player and playing now in Miami in the USA, I just think he's a great guy. He's a pretty private person. He seems to be a great family man and man, what a player. The next one for me, number three is Sir Isaac Vivian Richards. Viv Richards, the great, great West Indian cricketer, just had swag. Look, he had this ear of exuberance. I'm not going to say arrogance, but knowing about him, never wore a helmet, and he just attacked attacks. He just, he stared down the opposition. He was an absolutely intimidating and physically imposing sort of dude. The next one for me is Dame Lisa Carrington, an absolute goat. Look, she's the epiphany of a Kiwi athlete for me. Lisa Carrington just smashes it in the kayaking and canoeing at the Olympics and look, she gets a prayer Kiwi like myself to puff the chest out. When she's competing, she's an absolute weapon. So, yeah, she's definitely in the top five. And the last one for me, a polarising, I know, but as Tiger Woods look, Tiger's a person for me that changed the game, right? He changed the game of golf in many ways, both interesting dude on and off the paddock. But look, I'd pay money to go and watch Tiger play. He literally changed the way golf went about its business once he came on to the scene. You know, he's one of those guys that come home from work to watching players final round up in a major or a major tournament. So, that's the top five for me. MJ, Lionel Messi, Vivian Richards, Dame Lisa Carrington and Tiger Woods. You guys have an absolutely outstanding day. Hope you're all safe and have a wonderful festival season and talk to you all soon. Carl Kitiano. Yeah, Kia or the brother, that is absolutely outstanding. He smashed those five. I can't imagine, what is it, 1146? No, he probably still is up. Probably listening to that Benny and if you are, mate, Merry Christmas. It's probably just about your bedtime, but recorded to midnight. It'd been a long, old, long, old day. But I think smashed it out of the table there, didn't he? MJ, Messi, Amy, what do you think of Messi? I know you got the little bit of the, oh, that's a good one. Very good one. Yeah. You know, there's always a discussion. Messi or Ronaldo? But I always feel like you can't compare. Two completely different styles of playing, two completely different mindsets. You're dead, just both great. You can't compare. Yeah, I agree. I agree with that statement, 100%. I think one of them is just pure ability and the other one shows what you get through hard work and determinations. Crazy, crazy, yeah. Yeah, I like what you also mentioned is a good family man as well. But I think both, you know, both are good family men. I hope your friend speaks a bit of Spanish because Leonardo Messi is famous for not speaking any English. But actually, I believe he's been just, he's been down that way. He was only a few months ago, but I don't think Benny, he's got a little bit of moldy on him, obviously, and a downright key. The other one he bought him for Richard's All Understandable. Hey, he was a hard westernian batsman and, you know, other bowlers would be firing these balls at him. I don't know if you've seen cricket, but this ball is damn hard, right? Yeah. So when it's being bold and it pitches onto the, onto the wicked, onto the turf, obviously the balls, like baseball, it is swinging. But then it deviates again. And when you've got a ball and Richard used to walk out without a helmet. But yeah, madness. And Lisa Carrington, well, we have something in common there that's for sure, a weapon is an understatement, actually, a beast on water. And then Tiger Woods, yeah, arguably. The guy, I mean, he put golf on the mat, didn't he, without, out of that team? Who are we going to put at King of the Table? I think, I think. MJ? Yeah, I was thinking, Michael Jordan. MJ, MJ and Woods. I think we all agree on MJ, probably up between, I'd have to say it'd have to be between, well, Messi and I wouldn't put Vervyn Carrington in there. But between Woods and Messi? I mean, I would put him. Well, Messi only speaks Spanish, so. I'd still put him at the top of the table. You'd put it at the top of the table? Yeah. Above Tiger, because Tiger can, he's a social guy, right? So he can handle him in the middle. He can, yeah, depends what Tiger we're talking about. We're talking early 2000s, Tiger Woods. Are we talking? In 2020, Tiger Woods. Yeah, there's a big difference of, there's a big difference there, of course. Shall I pass it over to you? Who's at the Christmas table of Julian Hanks? A moment I've been waiting for. Let's go for it, my man. Number one. Well, first of all, I think everyone knows I'm going to put MJK on the table. What was the last thing I said to you when we got out of the car this morning? He's a big MJK fan, yeah. And I thought it was MJK getting out of the car. Yeah, so he's in the ring name is Corston Baker. Yeah, I'm just the biggest fan of everything he does. Music, he's an entrepreneur. He like does his own stage. He does his own music videos. He's an actor. Yeah, so I'm a big fan overall. The second one is going to be his wife, Megan Fox. So I think everyone knows who she is. And yeah, I think both together really fun. I said not a family. This is not a family. I mean, with you at the dinner table, MJK and then Megan Fox is going to look like family dinner. The third is Travis Barker. Obviously, I'm one of MJK's best friends. And for me, the best drummer in the game. Doing so many different music genres. It's just crazy. And since I played drums too, I would love to have maybe an hour after dinner or before. Maybe do before I adapt and see the difference. To teach Travis some of you still. And then I would put Valentino Rossi on the table. Nice shots, brother. Nice shot. I'm a big, big, big MotoGP fan. And yeah, I've been watching him since I'm a kid. And yeah, he retired in 2021. And I saw the race in Silverstone where he, but his last season. So I'm happy that I saw him live. I saw him in, I met him in Italy. Met. Motown. We got used to him being by one of the rest of us. We took our bikes and we went there. You talked to him? Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. I did not have that chance. But yeah, I would love to talk to him. And then as a fifth, I would take Novak Talkovic. I'm also a big tennis fan. And yeah, I read his books and I think he's very straightforward. And I think all the five people, they would be, the talk would be crazy. I think because no one's like, they would go straight forward saying what they need and want. And it would be, I think, very funny. And yeah. So, who's your top of the table? I think I have to put MGK and Megan Fox because that ends. Yeah. And opposite ends. Yeah. Just holding. Yeah. I think that's what they would like to. Yeah. So who was your first one again? Sorry. Yeah. Novak talking about chocolate. Really interesting. Who are you going to, who are you, who's going to be, who's going to be to your right and who's opposite you? This is tough. Yeah. I don't know if you want to sit next to Megan Fox. I think I would like to sit in front of, well, since MGK and Megan are on opposite ends, I cannot sit in front of her. I mean, we'll be the prettiest. So let's say, okay, I'm sitting next to her. Yeah. It's a high front of MGK. Yeah. Oh, yeah. MGK will be on the other side, right? Yeah. Right. Right. It is. He's beyond fork throwing distance. Yeah. Also on fork throwing distance. Yeah. Yeah. And then in front of Travis. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I'm not surprised. Yeah. I think it's so easy when people ask me. Oh, yeah. Everyone knows. Right. Are you surprised by the shock of it, Troy? That was the only one that I'm a little bit surprised with. Because I didn't know your, let's say that tennis connection. What do you think, what do you think boss down there? Yeah. Good table. Yeah. Good table. The only question is when are you going to get Julian in on the drums? Yeah. You've got to get him in on the drums on there. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Have you heard him on the drums? Yeah. I've seen him on his Instagram. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're watching, check out Julian Hanks on Instagram. And there's loads of them in there on the drums. Looking very much like the Travis Barke MGK's fits in on that table. That is for sure. Well, I guess last but not least, I'm going to give you my table. And actually it's quite a, it's quite a conservative table to be honest with you. It's, the first one is Kobe Bryant. Okay. Okay. I think it's obviously the all time, all time leading scorer of LA Lakers as we know. He was the first guard in NBA to play 20 seasons, which, you know, the longevity was there. And I think it's not only that it's even after his passing that we see a lot of the mumbah movement that he was doing a lot of his quotes that he was saying. And they're really, I think, yeah, I think if he's just Google like Kobe's top 25 quotes and that, they're really, it's just how humble he is, but how much hard work he really put into, into sports. So Kobe would definitely be on at my Christmas table. And the one quote that I actually got from it is that I like the best is the moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win. Yeah. Right. That's so true. And I think in sport, which we all know, you give anyone that sniff or that, you know, with all that sign that you're injured or that sign of negativity and body language or the way you turn up to training or the time you don't turn up to training. You've just given it. You've just given that. And that just, that was just part of that in that member moment. So for me, Kobe Bryant, another one that you might, you guys probably don't know, but you should know Richie McCall, Sam Morbier, but, but familiar, Richie McCall was, for me, one of the greatest rugby players or even fords of all time, he was just this normal country kid that come from nowhere and ended up by leading the All Blacks through a, through a great period. But I think it was more his aura of what he was able to produce. He just, he was just the first man in, you know, like if you're going to go to war, he's the first man that you want in your trenches. He was like a real tough, tough, cocky, tough guy, but also a brilliant captain. I think that's because of his, of his humbleness and, and, and hard work again, which would say, minor, a fairly, let's say, conservative. That's because Kobe Bryant is exactly the same all based on hard working. And the other one actually I want on the table is another rugby player and another Kiwi is Steve Hanson, who was the coach of the All Blacks around that era era. Now Steve coached the All Blacks from, oh, Steve would talk about first and then like best man. Yeah. Hanson coached 137 times the All Blacks and he won 103 of them, which meant that he's got a record of a 75% win record. Now when we talk of the All Blacks, people, everybody knows the All Blacks because they are of their success. But when you think of a 75% win record, that puts you down as arguably the greatest team in the, team in the, in the world, which is just, yeah, which is phenomenal. I mean, I look at individual sport versus team sport to, for someone to be dominant like a Usain Bolt is an individual sport, the coach is working with one person. But as you know, from a team sport, and Amy, you're, you're in Sam, you'll have that to, to keep all of those players and the squad and the physiotherapies, physiotherapists and the bosses and the media and the fans, all happy and all believing, and all believing for trust. It was, it went down to Steve Hanson. So that's why I put him on the list. Now, I've got to balance the table here, I've balanced it a little bit, but not, not much. And I've gone with my mate, Benny. And that is Lisa Carrington. Now, Lisa Carrington, Dame, Lisa Carrington, now, she actually won three gold medals in Paris and which took her tally to Olympics is to eight golds and one bronze, which actually is the New Zealand's most decorated Olympian. And she's in the kayak. And I say, she's like a, a weapon. You just, you just see her getting the water and you just go, oh, she's just going to like win. But when you hear her talk and stuff, she's again, so humble and so, and yeah, so humble, but everything is about hard work. And it fits with all those people that got a table, Kobe, Richie, Steve, and Lisa, exactly the same. But then I had someone else, but I hadn't had another key because I've already got three of them, of course, but Kobe Bryant, so I had to think a little bit, a little bit different. And I needed something a little bit more entertaining. I didn't go with a singer. Okay. So we've got no, no, no one's singing, although maybe, maybe this guy can certainly do it. And that's Eddie Murphy. Ooh. Good one. Nice shot on Eddie, obviously larger than life personality. And he is just bloody funny, and he can play different characters. And I just think that he could actually make all of them laugh at the same time. Because I, when you think of Kobe Bryant, you don't think of them laughing. When you think of Richie McCoy, don't think of laughing, Steve Hanson. He grumbles and moans. And Lisa Carrington, well, she's a smileer, but I think Eddie Murphy would have the ingredients to be top of the type to be in that team. So therefore Eddie Murphy has got a king of the table because he would be, he'd be almost like the host. And on the other, on the other hand, I, on the, on the other's top of the table, I'd be given it to Kobe Bryant. And obviously the, the most of the, the questions will be directed at Kobe, but I'd have Eddie Murphy as the, as shining, bringing the colour to the table. The showmaster. Let's, let's call it that any disagreements, any thoughts, and I love how you can see everyone's personality come through on the list that they've chosen, you know, the US picking all of the barrows, it's tracking everything and then with you and me and our choices. Very, very much so now we've got one more, we've got one more on the Adam Peterson. Oh, you're, you're, you're a farm with, or who you're working with at the Luxembourg Business School. He is, have you seen where he is right now? No. He's off skiing mates. So just check his timetable, make sure he's back on time and, and make sure he's back in time for class. Yeah, make sure he's back in time for class. Well, he is on the ski slopes right now with this, with his family, but he took time out to give us his rep of his table. So which five people would have around my Christmas table? Well, I'd, I'd need to have a couple of sports people. I'd go for the great, the goat. So I'd go for Serena, I would also go for Lewis Hamilton, and then I would need someone maybe to talk about Star Wars with. So then Natalie Portman, obviously only to talk Star Wars with her. I need someone to lighten the tone. So I'd go for comedian, I'd go for Ricky Gervais, and then for the fifth one. So I need three boys got three boys already, I need an extra girl. So I'd go, I'd go with June Wong to find out why she is your favourite co-host on Let's Talk Sport. That is, that is, sorry, I guess you had a cut. That is, that's cheeky. That's cheeky and you put me on the spot there, Adam, that is, that is for sure. I once opened one of the shows and I said, and my favourite co-host was, you know, we've got four co-hosts now with the, with the loss of, with the loss of Scott. And I said, yeah, and my favourite co-host. And he took it to heart. So every time he comes on, he always gives me his, his, his, Birmingham accent. And he said, yeah, your second favourite co, his second favourite co-hosts. I should also make a mention to another co-host who we haven't mentioned, who's been with us twice in the past, in the past two shows, James Kent, who is actually, might actually be at hospital, his wife is due to give birth. And even, so what's today, today's Wednesday. So on Sunday, yeah, Wednesday's Wednesday. On Sunday's show, you can lose track of days and times in this festival, apparently. Perhaps it's that, perhaps it's that nice little drink there, this has been going around the table. But on the, on Sunday's show, he was actually on Red Alert because they thought that they were actually going to the hospital. But he's been patiently, patiently waiting. So I think Christmas Day could actually be the, be the day. But he hasn't, James didn't give us his, his five, of course. So what do we think, coming back to it, Serena Hamilton, that's really, doesn't surprise me with Adam? I know, that doesn't surprise me that, and I had one as mine of actually Angela Cullen, who was Lewis Hamilton's like personal sports therapist, and I was thinking about having her as well. Because it's my own opinion, I think Hamilton might be a bit boring. That's my own opinion. Well, that's interesting. Because you're a formula, well, we met on here, you're a formula one, buddies for formula one geeks, and, but yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go for Hamilton. I just think there would be more fun, Formula One drivers that you could pick, Kimi Reiken in, you know, there'd be a bunch of them. Bottas. Bottas for a start. Bottas as well. I mean, imagine having him in pain connotometer. With him crazy. Blimey. Yeah, well, imagine putting him in on your table, although, I mean, yeah, exactly. Bananas. Yeah. But, um, uh, Portman, obviously. But then, throwing Ricky Gervais, like, black humor, 101, I mean, God knows what he's going to come up with. I think he's either way. Yeah. He could go either way. Yeah. Oh. And then, June Young, that's just because he's jealous, that's big, that is big, yeah. So one of the other points I just noticed that, oh, in fact, I noticed we're almost just just past the hour. We will, no, I'm on the, on the, um, for those that are watching, we'll be able to see us live, of course, with our, with our hats on, our Christmas jumpers, our, our, our festive spirits. You will also see that lovely little drink that lucks and local drinkness. Bean, did you take a photo of that? I took a photo. I am. That local drink. But we have a little Christmas crackers on the table. So it would be rude not to if we just do the right thing and pull it all, uh, for you, one, are we ready on the count of, on the count of three? One, two, three. Yeah, we got, how do we get it? How do we get it? I got two. The kings. The kings. The kings of the table. I know. The kings on the table and everything, we're going to pass it around to, uh, okay, I guess we've, I wonder what are in these Christmas crackers. We can always know how good they were or where they were, where they were purchased based on the quality of them. What have we got? You're going, you've got a green little hat there. You've got to have to, have to put the hat on. Let's take off my, take off the, take off the reindeer and put that, put the hat on. What a word else. Do we get any treats, any little Mario Kart men or lovely green hat, purple, a very, very color coordinated today? I'm, I'm, I'm pleased you're wearing that, um, the, the black, uh, army Luxembourg top to, uh, neutralize, to neutralize the color and the fist of, uh, and the, and the fist of, uh, the spirit, of course. So what, what, what have we got there? Any toys? No. No toys. I got down post it. No. Or stick it. Post it. I got a joke. You got a joke too. All right. What's your joke? Okay. Let's pull out your joke there mate. What have you got? What do you get? Uh, if you cross Father Christmas with a detective, tell me Santa clues. Okay, they don't get, you got one more if you got him. Why wouldn't Santa ride his sleigh? I've got an idea for Elf and Safety concerns. Okay. That's a goodie. That's a goodie. I like that one. What do you call a snowman who likes to take tropical holidays? Waterfall. A puddle. Ah, you're on a, you're on a, you're on a very basic one. What did the ocean say to Santa as he flew past? Nothing adjust waved. There's a bookmark or, yeah, I think it is a bookmarker because these, these are all, I got a, yeah, there's a bookmark. It is a book. I got a clip. It's also a book marker. There's a, there's a hold all your notes. So they're obviously very start, hold all your notes. I got a mystery calculator. A mystery calculator. The gifts just get worse and worse in the crackers. But look at this. I mean, these are the little, and that's good for you though. You can use that for your notes for the show. I can, where I can stack them all up where I can all those printed out copies. No, I'm going to make a change in 2025. I'm going with a, I'm going with a, with a, with a tablet that I've had. And do we all have to give a donation or is it a? What is this? It's a donation. What is this for? Please. Please. Yeah. The trust Russell charity partner focused today. We've raised over 200,000. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Over the last 170 years, these Christmas crackers have become a traditional part, originating in 1874. These ones. There we go. Fester, fester, fester, but Christmas isn't Christmas without a Christmas cracker. I guess. So let's continue on the Christmas cracker theme. I said there, well, I'm going to throw in a song. It's probably the right time that I do a throw song. We can go to the bathroom if we want to go to the bathroom. And we've come back because when we come back, we are going to have your favorite sporting moment in 2020, 2024, but also your favorite, your personal favorite moment. I know Sam is, we've already gone through that yours is just being on. Let's talk sport. Exactly. Let's take a little short break of two minutes and 30 seconds. You better go pretty quick Sam. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go. Take a look in the five and ten and listen and once again with candy canes and silver lanes are glowing. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas toys in every store. But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door. A pair of hop along boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben. All that we'll talk and we'll go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jen. A hum and dad can hardly wait for students to start again. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go. There's a tree in the grand hotel, one in the park as well. The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Soon the bells will start and the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing right within your heart. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas toys in every store. But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door. Sure, it's Christmas once more. Perfect moment, right? Perfect moment. It allowed you enough time, two minutes 46 to quickly have you break their Sam and back into it. Let's talk, let's talk. Well, just off here, let's say we were just talking about you paid squash yesterday and now your shoulder is just starting to get sore. Again, you sort of asked me how do you sort of let's say keep it. I think it's just the same as if you asked me to go and do two laps of, let's say one or two laps of butterfly, I'd be sinking and I'd say how do you keep a float? Same thing I think when you just do it every day or you're used to familiar with the movements or familiar with your patterns, I'm certainly not working as hard in a squash court as you would be. And I think I was lucky that I could use your records because the one I have is much heavier so it would have hurt much more. Yeah, that's right. I told Kevin that reception there to make sure you get a decent racket. But no, we're also talking about how we look after the body and injury and I can say, listen, as getting older, I don't have an injury, let's say, if you start getting a bit heavier on your joints that have been doing it, I've been doing it. But honestly, my secret to 2024 is only come as of September and that's actually starting doing like squats but I'm talking air squats with no weight but a higher repetition. So almost every day now, pretty much the only exercise I do but it's literally like probably anywhere between on a bad day, I'd do let's say baby about like 60 air squats and I just like randomly go and go and sit in the hallway and I think, oh, air squats and I just do 20 or 30. Just any time through it then and the maximum I'll do is probably like 150 or 200. And it is unbelievable what it has done to the mobility and as I said, I wake up now and then I don't have the knee pain or ankle pain, unbelievable how much it helps. Well, Amy might know this as well, if you ever get any sort of injury to your knee or whatever, a huge part of the rehabilitation program is squats, lunges, everything like that. Well, actually it's a really good point you raised this end because this time last year, when you were in a car, yeah, I had my boots. Was it? That was my foot. Yeah, I had a stress fracture, turns out I had two stress fractures. So what was your what was your rehabilitation, let's say in 2024? I started with the boot, which means 100% rest of my foot was unable to take it off in bed. And then after that, it was starting while in lips on the gravity running machine, which is, let's say you're running without weight, like, whatever percentage you want. And then you slowly put it up working up to 100% body weights where you're basically just running normally. And I think I started off with, I think the minimum is 30%, so you run on 30% body weight. And it's a it's a weird feeling, weird sensation, but I think it's great for rehab, I know a lot of people in the injuries use that machine, and it's a good way to get started starting for running. Did you do go into the swimming pool? No. Well, that would be, I mean, is that another, it's always, I remember that when I was in a sportly, say, the high school I was in, all the other athletes that were injured, they had to go swimming. They were, because I was swimming anyway. So that actually be sitting at the same time, at the same time, because your times of training you're in the morning, like Wednesday, Friday, morning, where you're, well, it's your normal time to train anyway, G was, and what else was your country? And then we started off with weight training, lifting weights, getting the rest of the body ready, and then a lot of biking to, to not put too much pressure on my foot. Oh, I had a choice, it was biking with swimming in there. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Yeah. And then slowly getting up to running, and then straightforward from then on. So let's get to the next phase of the questions that I, that I noted down. Who is your, or first of all, what is your top sporting, I'm going to start with you while we've got you there. Amy, your top sporting moment of 2024. Honestly, I don't think I have a top sporting moment. Not necessarily you, but it could be anything that's your personal one I have. Yeah. Thing is, top sporting moment, other than my own, I actually don't think I have one. Don't have one. Then that goes to default, which is Sam joining, let's talk sport. Yeah, exactly. 100%. Yeah. That's moment of the year. It's 100%. It's a familiar phase. Seen it somewhere. Controversial moment was Jun Yong being voted number one, co-host of Volkswagen. And what are, and your, your, your top sporting, your top sporting moment personally? I'd have to say, I have to, because I can't separate this, I'd say first is qualifying for the playoffs. And then second, obviously playing against Sweden. Yeah. And, and, and, and, and, and why, and playing against Sweden, what was, what was actually special about that came for you? I mean, we're playing against players that are in the, the playing for Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, their captain was on the nominee list for the Ballon d'Or. So, you know, you're kind of talking about players that are up here and, you know, we're just, we're just down here trying to do our best, you know, working a 40 hour job and then trying to, trying to do what we can on the, on a sporting level, but. Did you miss the game when Luxembourg played England? Yeah. Because I was in the, I was in the stands with a, with a sign asking for a jersey. And then we played the, the game in England, obviously I got a yellow red, so I wasn't able to play, but yeah, I got the jersey in the end. So, who's, who's jersey? Rachel Daly. Rachel Daly. Okay. Yeah. That's a good one as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because, I mean, the thing was that when I was in Stony Brook, we played against St. John's and she was playing at St. John's. And so obviously I remembered someone saying, yeah, she plays for England and then Rachel Daly and I was like, interesting, haven't heard of her, but okay. And then, you know, fast forward almost 10 years later and, you know, have a jersey hanging up by living off. Yeah. Not a nice touch. So the, the game against Sweden, that was both, did you, was it just a home and a home and a one? Homey, you know, Fournil against Olympic gold medallists and their world, they won the World Cup and whatnot, you know. So playing Fournil is a, is an amazing, amazing, amazing, and I, and, and what was the capacity of the crowd at the start on that day? Uh, we were playing in, uh, at the start, at the start, right, at the start, right, because you got the national team, the best, best, em, em, yeah, no, you're playing where? We're playing in, uh, in Esch, where we always play. Yeah. And we had, I think, 2000 and whatnot, uh, people there. So who's the weapon that, that, that, that doesn't allow the woman to play in the stadium? You know, it's always, I mean, it is just, it is just, it is so many things. It's, you know, money reasons or whatnot, then you get them there anyway, because they're struggling for money anyway. It's a vicious circle. I mean, you say, okay, so it costs too much for the amount of people that are coming, but if you keep playing in Esch, you're never going to have more than, you know, 1000, 2000 people because, well, first of all, there's no, you can't park anywhere. So after the games, well, you know, you get your, your pivot and everybody has to pay because you're parking along the side of the road. So people are like, why would I go? Why would I go? What's your game if I'm going to have to pay, you know? So it's a vicious circle. And that I think you have to start somewhere, not just put it in the accounting budget of promotion of sport, like just put it in and helping grassroots or helping the future developing the future. If you start off with 2000 people, it's still 2000 people, but, you know, if they start saying, okay, they're playing in the stadium as well, let's go. There's parking next door. You can get parking, right? You can do a little bit better. You can get the mess. You can still put on a, and you can put it on, so, and then the next time, momentum, momentum. Against Austria, they, you know, they close half of the stadium off. So we were just, we were just sitting on one side of the stadium, you could start like that. Yeah. Close of half of it. That's half of the staff that you need half of whatnot. Yep. But yeah, I don't know. But, but, but, balmy, how you're not promoting sport, which is the, you know, arguably the biggest, biggest sport in, in, in Jacksonville would happen there with cycling and table tennis, but still G was, it's just, it's just balmy beats, it beats me, that is for sure. Um, over to you, uh, M G K. So what was, do you have a, a fake, a top sporting moment of 2024? Yeah. I have actually a few. Yeah. And since Amy had none, maybe I can say you can, you can, you can, you can, um, yeah. So I would start with my, I think my favorite would be Novak winning the Olympics. Um, I was lucky to see this semi final, him winning. I was in the first row. He, like he was throwing his towel. I was, I could have talked to him, but I was afraid to do so, you're, you're blushing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it was the first time I saw him in real life. And yeah, like he was so close. You see the athlete you've been following for 15 years. And, um, yeah, he's the only the fifth tennis player who ever, uh, won the, it's called the Korea Golden Slam, exactly for Grand Slams and the Olympic Games. Um, I looked it up and even Roger Federer did not mention to do that. So I think it's, it's really cool. He really, I mean, you could see him really wanted to, I mean, that was, that was just so important to him. It might not have been the biggest accolade in the world of tennis, but that one there, that was he, he was hungry for that. And just having an Olympic gold being able to have that, you know, it's fantastic. Yeah. And then my second one, um, would be tele-pogacha. Yeah. Um, I don't, I haven't been following him for a long time, but I was in a training camp in May during the Giro d'Italia and my training partner, uh, he's a big, uh, cyclist fan. So after every training and evening, uh, we had dinner and then we watched the replay of the stage and yeah, he won my heart riding three weeks in the pink jersey. So, and, uh, yeah, and then I followed him on, on to the France and how he is with his fans. And he's like, he's just power and then winning also the, um, UCI world title. I think it's arena row, uh, and he did not go to Olympics because they, they did not qualify his wife, uh, they didn't, they don't know if you heard that story, but he has a wife that was also the cycling and, uh, and she's the best in, in the country. And yeah, they did not set actor, I don't know for what reason. So he said, okay, if, if she's not going, then I'm not going to, and, uh, and he chose to do the UCI, uh, world champions. Yeah. Wow. I think it's a good statement. Uh, maybe also for, for women sports and, um, uh, like that's, okay, I have another one. I don't know. And I think I might know what it is. I hope I know what it is. Go on. Um, well, maybe you know the fourth one. Okay. The third one, um, yeah, Jorge Martin won the MotoGP World Championship this year, um, against Paco Bagnaya, who's, uh, two times world champion. And it's the first time in the modern MotoGP area that someone wins, who is not a factory bike. Uh, so yeah, he has less funding, less, uh, equipment and, uh, yeah, I just like, yeah, the whole year it was very entertaining. It was head to head all the time. And yeah, and he won and I think it's, um, I think it's, uh, it's really cool that it's so competitive. And even after Rossi and my Marcus, it's, uh, again, very competitive and, um, very entertaining. And the last one, the one you know, I think it's, uh, yeah, uh, Jordan crooks, uh, he's from the, um, came in islands and he swam, he's the first guy who swam under 20 seconds on the 53 style. So he did 1990. And I saw that live in the semifinals at Wells now in, in Buddha past, uh, yeah. And I was, I had the pleasure to sit with him in the bus, driving to the pool when he's found his record. And, uh, yeah, it's just when he touched the wall, everyone stood up like, I saw 30 world records and this world records just stood out. Wow. Wow. Above any of them. I mean, also that, that, that, that benchmark under 22nd, you know, under 20 seconds. Yeah. It's a, it's a big, it's a big barrier itself. But it's also not only that, it's just a number, it's a number. Right. So if you imagine like Caleb Drassler, Flora Manudou did not manage in their whole career to do it, um, it's just unbelievable because this guy just camps, like, I know him from maybe two years ago, he won his first world title. And then yeah, it's just getting better and he's one of the guys we did not do well at the Olympics. Yeah. And now he's the king of the world and, uh, yeah, incredible. So right. So you're sitting in the bus with them on the way to, um, to, to, to, to become, um, you know, like arguably the greatest in the world. The fastest man in the world, exactly. So what was it? Was it the little squeeze of the leg that gave him a little horse point to make him jump? Was it the, was it the little, you got this mate, the rub on the shoulders? Was it the kick his back side out of the, out of the bus? What was the magic touch you gave him? Um, I don't know if it, if it was me, but if something that's, it was really funny. He was sitting in the aisle and on the other side of the aisle, his sister was sitting. Yeah. She's also swimming and, um, she was done competing. So she had a big McDonald's meal on the, on, on her lap and he was like snacking nuggets on the side of the baguettes. Yeah. It comes back to McDonald's. Yeah. It's like Donald's. It's so easy. That's why you fight the athletes. It's, it's so crazy. When you see, like, I, I pay so much attention on what I eat and then, yeah, you, you just come to worlds and, and yeah, they're all people and they all have the same needs and, and yeah, and, and he's like, and I was like, I was shocked and I saw the coach, the national coach was there too. And I was like, did you see that? What's interesting is because you were, well, you were saying about the big nation, small nations. Yeah. It's a, yeah. Usually the big nations, they take up a whole hotel, um, because they have so many rooms to take and usually, um, the smaller nations, they all together. Uh, so yes, I met him at dinner and like you could talk to him and I took a picture of his medal and he's like, he's like super cool and, and ask him like, what, what are you going to do with the, the world record money? And he said, I'm going to buy a motor for my boat because he likes to fish and I just love. And I think two days after he left, he posted the picture, uh, 16 in the morning fishing. Uh, and I think it's really cool to, yeah, he's like, like a really normal dude and very nice and, um, yeah, he's, he's huge and so powerful and, um, yeah, it was a good, uh, and your, and your personal sporting moment of the year, your personal. That was a tough one. Maybe, like, maybe I would not have one, um, I, I had a really tough year, uh, not qualifying for the Olympics, not doing semi-finals at Europeans. Um, yeah, but the positive one is I changed clubs too. And yeah, I went to the Luxembourg Sharks. Yeah. And, um, yeah, I won, uh, two individual titles in summer and four now in the winter. So I won the four fifties, um, so that was something special for me also for them, uh, had 11 races in two days with the relays and the pre, pre, uh, the heats and the finals. And yeah. So me training more, being able to swim 11 times in two days was something very positive for me, something I haven't done for the last three years, I think. And, um, so I see that, uh, the dynamic is going very well and, uh, with my turning part in my trainer, um, we're on the good track and I think, um, this season, uh, you're all, uh, you'll be able to tell you it wasn't we can, we're just on a podium for the whole weekend. Every time we looked up, he was like, how many, how many races are you, uh, are you doing? You were just absolutely on, on, on fire. There's always even, even in those challenging seasons or even those challenging years, there's always, there's like always so many positives, but sometimes those, you know, you can have a hundred positives and then one negative and then one negative ability to, to, to cloud over the alignment. Um, what, if I pass on to you, Sam, just notice, uh, we are running, uh, show me the news. Sports moment of the year was DuPaul winning the sevens, uh, rugby in France, France winning the, getting the, yeah, exactly, just to do with all of the effort he put in individually to go from 15s to sevens to all the pressure of winning it, focusing everything on that. And then coming through with the gold medal for France, I thought that was my moment. That was a, that was, that was pretty, pretty special, wasn't it? My sporting, top sporting moment and why was, wasn't really a sporting moment. I, I really enjoyed the Olympics. I thought that fortunately there wasn't, apart from the trains, the, the day before that, that, um, sort of let's say got attacked, I guess, but it was, it went relatively smooth. I don't think it was, I don't think it was the best Olympics in terms of, um, in terms of what London and, and, and Sydney did Sydney in 2000 and London in 2012. But I thought it was really spectacular for the simple reason of the venues, the locations that they used it. That was absolutely magical. Obviously you're the, the volleyball and the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. Yeah. The archery. You're not watching archery because you, you had the backdrop, the equestrian, um, again was, was special, but the actual top sporting moment wasn't actually on, or doing an event. It was actually the, um, the, the Turkish shooter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you, did you correct there? I don't know how to say it. Yeah. You said, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You said, did catch or something like, yeah. D-I-K-E-C. So, however, however we pronounce that. So what were the, the reason I enjoyed that, or that was my stocks, winning moment is that sort of embraced every him and Snoop Dogg, obviously, and a, but, but more on a sporting sense. I think that this guy, so just, just embraced the coolness of the Olympics. And it was so good to see a new salute because it was a passing of Usain Bolt's gone. We needed some, but we needed somebody else to come up with their, you know, Mofara head, his mode in there. Yeah. And we, and we just needed somebody else and out of the blue, a shooter, which not many people would normally watch shooting a shooter. This guy just absolutely storms it. It was actually a South Korean later shooter as well that, that, that, that this, that this pose as well. But it was, and he just sort of embodied, probably a bit cliche, but he embodied, embodied the Olympics and embodied everything that's, that, that's around it. So that was actually my, my top sporting. He still came away with a medal as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got CSO silver, silver, silver medalist. So it's actually, another thing in the, that passed on to the communities, my 12 year old daughter for a birthday actually went to do this, like photoshoot with all of it. We have friends. And, and, and you can go, this is a little, this is a little place where you can go studio and you can go and put music on. You can put the fans on. You can take all these likes itself, pictures of yourself, a studio and the city is a fabulous place. And there's seven of these girls. And so of course you come out after the half an hour and there's like 250 photos. So of course you, they get sent to your email address. I'm scrolling through them. And all of a sudden there's like seven girls all striking, all striking this pose and you go, what's the connection? But you go, it goes down. It goes down to the roots and it embodies everything that sport is and, and, and, you know, you're, you're not, you're not uniting, uniting the world. Shall we have one little last host before we move on to our respective, respective families? How's your, how's your little glass there? We'll pass this one around. Look at that. You're not, you're not shy. Champ, you're straight. I think we've found ourselves a winner on Christmas day. You can take a, take a, take a photo of it. But whilst we're here, we do a little bit of a chairs. And for those that are watching, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and obviously a happy new year into, into 2025 and all sporting good, good luck, of course. From us at Let's Talk Sport until the 29th was, was today Wednesday until Sunday. It is a big chair.