It Feels Right
It Feels Right #70 - Pickleball Mixed Doubles: Is the Male Responsible for Protecting His Partner?
But with me traveling and, you know, little baby AJ just never quitting ever at anything. It makes it, it makes it tough, so. Got a little date night in, a little wine, a little, little cheese board. Cheese and turkey. I love turkey. Little hot honey, with a little salami, little manchego cheese, baby. Come on, little cracka. Hmm, absolutely love that. Because you know why? Why? Because it feels right, it feels right. This is the moment we waited for. Everything you want is right here. We gon' give 'em what they came for. We gon' take it up from last year. What's the game change? What's the game change? What's the game change? What's the game change? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey Adam, oh, okay, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was frozen, not frozen, just, just a fake frozen. Yeah, I mean, it happened ever so often. So, oh, you got me good. I was like, oh is this, is this dramatic pause? Is it actually frozen? I mean, you didn't move a wink. There wasn't-- Why is it not leaking or breathing? Yeah. It wasn't a eyebrow hair out of place, I couldn't tell. No. I hear. What do you think about my power red today? I think it's like a, it's like a tiger Sunday red. I mean, tiger hasn't seen time in a while, but I really like it. It shows that you were here today out for blood, trying to slay this podcast and slay the other podcast and just make this your-- That poof. Wow, okay. I love that. All my, actually, I got a big trip starting on Wednesday. Okay. I'm going to Kaysville Salt Lake City, so all my cell criteria is in the washer right now, so I have my 299 Haynes Power Red, so I just wanted to bring that up a little bit. Oh, wow. I like that. Probably, probably pretty rough on the skin, guessing it's not like, it's, it's not like a lulu or like a row or like a t-shirt. No, there's something about it. I don't know. It's fine. It's like one of those like five packs for 15 bucks, you know? Yeah. So, you know, about 4% of the cost of all those other brands, even though those other brands are lovely. Probably made by the same people. Yeah. Probably made by the same people somewhere on the other side of the world. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly right. Robert, we have, we have a little lull in the action in terms of a PPAPP standpoint. We got a couple MLPs mixed in, previously had one at the beer city open, now coming up in Salt Lake City, and we have a couple trades to talk about as well. So we have a Connor Garnett for Jay de Villier. That is the Columbus sliders and the Utah Black Diamonds have made the swap for the fellas and then we also have a, on the lady side, we have a switcharoo of Andrea Ramenzi Coop from the Carolina Pickleball Club, also to the Columbus sliders for Brooke Buckner. Some of those will just call them what they are, sell their dwelling teams, looking to shake some things up for the duration. Who got better and who got worse? That's a good question. So right now, I mean, I didn't think that he was going to jump into the top five or anything, but I really thought that Connor Garnett, three months ago or so, was putting together some very quality results. He was playing confident. I thought that maybe somewhere in the future he could sneak into the top 10 possibly, but I think some of those service yips and some of the issues with the serve has leaked over to the rest of his game. I haven't really seen him have two quality of a result. I might have missed one or two mixed in over the past handful of tournaments. So I kind of think that Jay de Villier, as long as he's 100% healthy with the rolled ankle, I think that this is a pretty, pretty even a trade right now. And three months ago, I would have said that there would be a pretty significant advantage to Connor Garnett. So I still think he has it in there, got to get some mental things situated. And yeah, I mean, he plays a solid left with righty Tyler Loon. I know they're both two left side players. I wonder what the sliders are going to do if they're going to keep Jay on the left where Connor Garnett played to pair with Riley Newman, who has been looking to play the right. I worry a little bit about Jay on the right. I think he has a decent skill set for it. But every time I've seen him play the right, he's like straddling the center line and taking his part of his forehands away. I'm just not sure Jay knows another way to play pickleball. Yeah. Yeah. He likes to control the kitchen line and move those dinks around and not, yeah, I wouldn't say he's probably at his best when he's, you know, trying to be stationary on the right, doing different things. He's a guy that needs to move to feel confident, I feel like, and on the left, you know, he's able to take balls, move on the, you know, do the crab walk in the kitchen line, take a lot of dinks and just really try to position himself. And I think with him, it's, you know, it's been talked about before, like hand speed. So like he's one of those players that needs to be a bully versus get attacked first, right? So if he's on the right, he's more prone to getting attacked first. So I think that's, that's a little bit of the scenario when he's on the right is if he's not moving around and he's kind of stationary. He's a little prone to getting lit up. Yeah. Okay. Rob, I got a question for you. Yeah. Now, given all that, and I do agree with that, he likes to take a ball of it, ball out of the air. He likes to put maximum pressure. He likes to move, but given where his game is at now, which is a very solid game, maybe we'll call it unspectacular, but very solid from the left, right around that 30 year old mark, should he possibly really consider shifting over to the right and adapting his skill set to be on the right as maybe he's possibly reached his ceiling on the left side. I think it's an interesting question, an interesting thought to explore. I just don't see him being a guy that can dial in the right side and play it like that. I have a tough time seeing it. Maybe if he's sitting on, if he's able to be over there and just sit on back hands and fade to the right a little bit, maybe where he has less, like there's less, when you're on the right, you have places where you're going to attack and it's more structured on where you have to defend. When you're on the left and you're attacking from different spots and you're taking more court, you can get caught in different places, right? You see Jay go behind the back a lot because he's getting caught, leaning way too heavy forehand, so the only place he can't get back to the back and so he goes around the back because it's the fastest way to try to cover that. Less places to cover when you're sitting on the right side, I think you should definitely explore it and try it. It's hard for me to see him being stationary though, he just moves well and likes to move and plays better when he moves. I agree, no that's a good detailed description and I definitely think that I've seen him play a little. I've seen him even try a couple times specifically with a partnership with Pat Smith to occasionally play the right or just play like a 60% left or 55% left and it did seem a bit awkward as his footwork and his flow is so important to him but I was just thinking kind of dumbing it down a little bit and thinking he does have a solid backhand from the chest and he can manipulate the ball on the forehand side. So there's been multiple guys that two, three plus years ago were considered one of those left side studs and there's a lot of left side studs now or a lot more than there used to be so possibly thinking that he could be one of those that could think about transitioning to the right and who knows, he might not even have to as Riley Newman is liking the right side men's which is also a little questionable and a little dicey for me as I just think he's better from the left. So yeah kind of an even trade and I think the next trade also an overall talent level is relatively even but I do think that Andrea Ramenzi Koop does have an advantage and doubles right now over Brooke Buckner and Brooke Buckner does have the advantage and singles. So the Carolina Pickleball Club has had some issues getting to three in those doubles matches. So now they add Brooke Buckner and they're shooting for two match wins with Ben Johns Colin Johns Jesse Irvin and Brooke Buckner and now if they do get to two they have a better shot of winning the dream breaker. That's one side of the story and then of course Andrea Ramenzi going over pairing up with Megan Desan and what I would imagine would be Jay de Villier actually and they have played quite a bit of pickleball together Andrea Ramenzi and Jay de Villier from years ago. So thoughts on the swap Lady for Lady. Yeah I think I mean Carolina hadn't do something right I mean they had like no surprise they they chose to do so for Andrea and good for Andrea right like she she couldn't have been having fun on that team it was the let's just say did not pass the vibe check at them and they look like anybody was having very much fun so you know maybe maybe Brooke will bring some life into that team who knows yeah yeah I just worry about Brooke I love Brooke I think she's super cool I'm not very close with her but all my interactions with her on court and off court especially off court she has passed the vibe test but can she fall into a pretty structured rigid algorithm in the doubles game because she's going to be playing with Jesse Ervin and Colin Johns and they they don't like it when something steps out of line if someone breaks they they start twitching they can't handle it they might show some negative body language on court when their partner isn't kind of following the plan or or going for the patterns that they prefer and they like so that does worry me in that regard but fresh is fresh new is new and I think that you know even though they're all veterans and and have been around forever I think Andrea Ramenzi coupe leaving that team is the right play as as it is not just not been meshing I guess they've only played two three maybe three tournaments so yeah yeah and I do believe one of those trades was it's supposed to happen and one already has happened so you know just not not where I do not have any form of inside information whatsoever this is just what I got from the Twitter streets got it so not official official correct but seems you know if someone threw it on Twitter there's at least a decent percent chance that it's going to come to fruition yeah Rob where where have you been on the Twitter streets I haven't I mean you you really are all over the place I mean we're talking like well 11 tweets in 30 minutes and then yeah just kind of disappear for 48 hours hey how you how's your Twitter game right now it's it's you know my Twitter game is based on my mental state and whether I feel inspired okay and I haven't felt inspired you know there hasn't been there hasn't been anything that's really you know hit me where I'm like I need to share this it was I had a nice little back and forth with Michelle McMahon your your colleague Oh man me she make a man me she doesn't like when I talk about like what I'd like to see in the broadcast and she calls it nit picky and and thinks that like it's me saying that she's terrible at her job which isn't the case at all I said she's great she's a pro but seem to take a little bit of a fence to me saying I just purely like to well one that that going over somebody's tennis background is a little tiresome at this point like we all get it like most everybody comes from tennis I think it's interesting if you talk about somebody that doesn't come from tennis like talk about Elise coming from volleyball or Colin coming from baseball like that's more interesting I think it's pretty well known that a lot of the most people all pros are have high-level tennis backgrounds to some degree college low-level pro whatever so I just don't find that super interesting me playing tennis at UNC Asheville division one like not interesting to me and nor is it very interesting when I hear about it about other players that I don't even know of unless they were like like Elaine sleeth or somebody that was like I don't know if she won runner up and yes something like that that's really notable sure but outside of that not super relevant in my opinion I'd rather learn other things about the players and that was kind of that was kind of my point is like it's cool talking about you know player storylines on like they were getting into beef on Twitter or they were this this they were on the same team last year but this happened and now like that stuff is good what what what what about Megan DeZon being a vegan and Ed right being a carnivore diet and they can't find places to eat together oh that's super much is that good okay all right just making sure that qualified continue that's perfect your rant please um yeah no I that's I mean that's it it's just and I think that's how that's how things in the world get better right it's like you get you need feedback from which like from a broadcaster's perspective or commentators like you want feedback from people listening like that's that's how you that's how you understand like what's what's clicking what's not like what like what do people want to hear about and learn about the players so I don't know I think um yeah maybe she took into criticism it was purely just like me wanting to share like what I think what I would find interesting in broadcast yeah I mean I mean let's be clear when when you're not playing and I'm not coaching or commentating what we are is high-end fans fans that's what we are we're fans uh having there whatever whatever we're doing while watching the stream Saturday Sunday uh and so I mean it's it's reasonable to me and I would probably say like I think some people don't realize how much we're we're like switching networks or we have little blocks and and and when we're on a fresh national audience I I think you give the backgrounds but possibly when we're on the youtube or pickleball tv or we have more of that consistent fan base and there's less just kind of marginal fans or people just finding the channel and watching uh possibly scrapping or going fewer and far between on some of the general background stuff I mean it makes sense to make make sense to me throw it on the throw it on the graphic right throw it on the graphic you know college here tennis yada yada but um yeah it's not even a big deal it's just yeah we'd like to learn more about other players and other stories about them and she did say that a lot of players like you know she goes to players and they don't they don't get back to her on an interview so they so she can learn more about them right at the same time you have to dig yeah you do and I saw this great clip and granted you know we're not even close to there yet but it was it was NFL it the the top handful of players for each team was a nationally broadcast game Monday night or Sunday night or Thursday night whatever but it was Tracy Wolfson Jim Nance and Tony Romo who is the analyst and they are there with the players they are required to go to this meeting for not even long five to ten minutes maybe 15 minutes and they are writing notes and getting background interesting information and Dave Fleming and myself just happened to we were in lovely San Clemente and we just happened to find a table off to the side over by the pool right by where the locker rooms were and so we would go post up there an hour before our broadcast and we we got jdub we got a handful of players to come over and talk to us and that's the type of stuff we were looking for it's like yeah we know everything about you I mean we we've done this enough we know everything about your game we know everything about your lead up how you got into the sport give me something good we asked jw about his chains and what they meant to them that's where we got the vegan carnivore thing like those little tiny things totally totally and and those little the we partnered together two years ago there was a little slight breakup issue and now this now we're playing each other those kind of storylines I think are a little juicier and more interesting yeah but at the same time I think occasionally some of the general information needs to put out there too maybe less frequently I don't really know I'm an analyst not a play-by-play to two different jobs yeah anything else from from mission that little back and forth that you had not not not not really but I think so somebody I was just getting a little practice in here at the YMCA in Pontevudra and some a couple a couple one actually has crone so we connected on that but they mentioned they love the pod and they they said a couple things one they want more tips they want they love like analysis of like us breaking down a match so maybe we could do that it's a little bit more work on self-care extensive but hopefully we could do that it'd be that'd be fun to like go through a match and actually talk about like what's happening slow-mo pause etc but they mentioned that when they were watching MLP and Grand Rapids that there'd be matches on but they don't know what's at stake right they don't know like is this like what are they playing for they don't like they didn't know if it was like oh is this the gold is this the final is this the semi-finals is for third place there's just no way for them to know so they were like watching and enjoying it but they were like I don't know it's like what does this match mean so I think there's still ways to get better at that as well but one thing that doesn't need to get better Adam and you saw this first hand in Grand Rapids and it was so refreshing to see really really clean good replay it was amazing like I just couldn't like you know what hundred percent whether whether the coal is right or wrong right and that would that's pretty new so yeah yeah and I mean like the first time I saw it I was like good god man that is I don't know what they call it the FPS I'm not a I'm not a frames per second it's not my thing but mine I mean it and I'll tell you what Rob accuracy 100 percent accuracy are dang close to it phenomenal yeah but pace of play just boom oh look there it is right back there was multiple times where I was like coaching or giving a spiel and they had already given the what the call was I was like oh man and got it right and got it right so you know not zooming in on you know reasonably grainy footage across the court from the far end on a diagonal angle like you have no idea yeah so I don't know I don't know the monetarily how much it is to all this stuff I know it's expensive stuff all it is whatever it is my god it was amazing it was perfect pace of play smooth uh for sure some of the reasonably shady characters out there that like to take one every now and then and there is people out there that do that they're they're they're second-guessing and they're thinking they know they can't get away with it if like they're at them oh no I have no names for you don't even try don't even try I said no I have to ask I said shady line calling characters that's that's stepping now I have to ask yeah you have to that's that's your controversy controversy and grand Rapids about line calls well that I think you're also asking another question that you know the answer to and yes there was uh so there there was uh we we did first day I still can't believe this that the hurricane that went through sorry if I got this wrong Jamaica area it shot up caught through the Gulf of Mexico caught my parents in Houston and then went all the way up to Grand Rapids, Michigan which is just wild to me but anyway we got wiped on Wednesday I believe it was so we were indoors so there uh was just not a challenge system in place and so we had referees on the lines and there was a very controversial call that a ball went past a player landed god dang a foot to 18 inches in and the the the play was called out and what happened was the referee that was on the line thought that the ball when the ball crossed the player it could possibly hit them so she was looking at the player to see if the ball hit them and then she turns her head quickly and could not make the proper read on the ball that was well inside the baseline so it was kind of an unfortunate set of circumstances multiple things had to happen but either way it was a big mash I believe it was something crazy like 17 17 or something like that it was important yeah Florida Smash vs the BLQK Bears and yeah that's that's a tough one uh and that's also it leaks over you lose one point oh but yeah it's it's demoralizing like it just it even for like a seasoned professional or a lot of these professional athletes that they have to just wipe that clean and and to know that you kind of got screwed and then not have that effect points down the line is tough to do even for professionals yeah I mean you think you think at a professional level like the last thing you have to worry about is a line call but yeah I mean it happens it happened but Adam quick question on like we were all able to see that replay and see that the ball was well in hey guys hope you don't hope you don't have that but we were able to see that the ball was well in so why why couldn't we do a replay based on what was like the video that was taken I don't know if you know this but I haven't checked a bag since probably 2005 so I'm going on 20 years of of no check bags I only carry on and what's made that really easy for me over the past couple years are sell correct backpacks because little did people know you get a personal item to carry on on those carriers and both items are big backpacks I carry them on I fill both of them to the brim and they both count as carry on so I don't have to I don't have to check bag it's important I'm right there with you and oh see that see that's the big boy and I am past my playing days so I do one big boy and one little smaller fella here that I can take with me from the hotel to the venue every single day leave the big boy there don't check bags get yourself some selkurt gear small medium big you need it I don't have the small I need the small somebody said the small big yeah you're right because I can put my little laptop and I don't have to take a big one it's important uh selkurt send me a small I'll buy it so I mean I think that you have to say before the event starts we have replay or we don't have replay now I know that this one was pretty egregious and the standard camera could pick that up but I don't think you can just kind of pick and choose and do that you have to you have to say beforehand even though I mean that camera could have been 150 yards away and could have picked up that that ball was in so yeah I mean these I mean some of the just general facilities the the growth has grown so much that the infrastructure doesn't fully support sure we have great venues a lot of the venues are competent or awesome but you know I mean the fact that we're going to an alternate site an alternate venue I think that you just kind of have to take it with the grain assault and realize the situation on the rain out day and just know that it's the production is paradise baby the cheers yeah let's go let's go pray for the rain let's go let's go indoors alternate venue no cameras let's go let's go I'm gonna pull the rip cord on something uh no uh yeah no no consequences so why why why not even though you did which though I mean we're saying all this but we we had four referees on court yeah so special circumstance and the person that missed it immediately apologized after the match and there was a couple things that happened it's not like she was just looking and and missed it it was looking for something else the main referees looking at the feet looking to see if that ball contacted the player or their jersey yeah so so it's tough to kind of to jerk your head and kind of see those sight lines so it was it was an unfortunate series of events isn't it so isn't it the standing rest job to see if it hits somebody's clothes and it's the line person she was she was on the baseline isn't her job baseline focus on the line that's it that's a great question for this specific circumstance we have not had referees on the lines and forever like I remember back in the day at the us open like four years ago and the players actually voted to not have them because yeah granted granted it was referees this time not just like random foro players sitting in a lawn chair with uh with the land shark beer so uh yeah different set of circumstances but yeah so yeah I mean I do think that technically goes under their responsibilities as the head ref to watch the kitchen and see if the ball contacts but seems like they always basically the head referee almost seems to always need help when it's not a foot fault violation and I get that I'm not I'm not even faulting them or chastising them for that you know foot faults are super important and they need to be on that so again tough tough situation I've always said it and I don't know why it hasn't been I mean maybe it's been tested like once or twice I don't know but it is from a from a chair umpire they have such a better vantage point of of looking directly down on the lines and seeing and seeing balls that would be on the far side whether they're in or out and I know there's not a lot of real estate and pickleball to have chairs a lot of these venues have not a ton of space on the sides unlike a tennis court so but I do think having that vantage point from above would be a much would make the rest job much easier yeah maybe maybe you could even have well I mean having that vantage point even helps for foot fault calls yeah I mean sometimes you go for that Ernie you're calling on the far end yeah and the front part or the heel lands in and then you toe tap and then you toe tap and they're blocked off they can't see that so I think that helps so you could have one ref kind of directing the flow saying the score all those kinds of thing and then you have a second ref with the vantage point up a little bit higher which would help help with everything so yeah probably not there yet but I think that that's something that is very reasonable in the near future to make happen on all the tours how cool would it be Adam I think about this you know like just think about like a 10 000 seat basketball arena where you have the basketball court and then you have the full the full arena the full surround think about how dope that would be like if you had a full you had a whole arena but only for one pickleball court you know what I mean it's like you just have the pickleball court so it's like Arthur Ashe but for pickleball and just like how sick would an arena be like that wouldn't that be fun right like you could use it's it's a one pickleball court right use the lower level maybe line up some chairs or something like that where you have you know you you don't want the player the fans too far away from the action so you can make it like yeah stacked on top of the court basically stack like where you're saying more vault vertical than horror like spread out is what you're saying but a full kind of like called an arena where you're going to Adam stone arena sponsored by stave farm and this is it's just pickleball there's a one pickleball court and an arena and that is the spot like that would be I mean economically probably doesn't make a lot of sense but it would be so dope yeah and and it's cool because they have the the amphitheater situation in Saint Clemente so it goes up so like the amount of people that you can get like within 50 yards of around the court is much more when it goes up and it's not spread out so yeah I land is kind of like that too yeah it's it's down it's down in the ground which which does help a lot and I'm excited to see this this venue in case ville for the upcoming MLP I believe the number that I got was a two thousand uh uh seat arena or just yeah a little two two thousand uh where you can sit two thousand people on championship court so that's dope is there either any pictures of that I have not seen pictures I'm gonna be there in two days so I'll get a first look at it I'm gonna do some reg in Wednesday night but uh that that could be a very exciting development for an atmosphere and indoor pickleball and I looked I looked at the salt I don't want to weather it's all like oh it doesn't matter it doesn't matter 99 no it's actually 72 sir 72 and 72 and calm no wind yeah no I'm I mean 99 dude that we know there's going to be no disruptions I mean other than maybe flights but yeah no disruptions to the picky yeah no no disruptive to the picking let me see these notes here what do I have here I was gonna I was gonna take a look at a couple you know it's a couple weeks away but the Kansas City PPA a couple of teams on the men's I picked out a couple here we have Romanian tower one Andre Dees you back in business at PPA that's not a suspension's up huh 60 days was the ruling a two-month suspension yeah he is going to be jumping back in the action with mr matty dub that right those are okay nice two older gentlemen but two quality players and they wonder last tournament right it was something very good I believe that is correct they're drinking big the big hug where he rests no that's the best I know you've experienced that Rob puts it on even then just and then yeah joy so no that's very exciting and I know Matt right likes like some stability next to him whether it's whether it's Fettie stacks or Andre Dees you too extremely high floor players so that could be a pairing that pays dividends we also have a light amount of firepower and Christian al shot and Hayden Patrick wind matching together I think that that is a super cool matchup I I would guess that we'll see Alshan on the right but I think that it's probably pretty fluid with those two but I feel like I've seen Alshan on the right more frequently than I've seen big H on on the right he's been pretty much on Ashan's got some nice stuff off the bounce now oh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah it really started in Minnesota with Thomas Wilson the off the bounce stuff yeah yeah yeah pull it pull it trust the hands know that you have good pace and spin on your speed ups off the bounce even on on dead dinks that are below the the net tape they were having a lot of success with that no idea what's going on with Thomas Wilson but get well soon buddy yeah and so that that could be an electric electric partnership I would even say that both of them over the last six months I would label them flashes of brilliance with some inconsistencies yeah consistencies have gone down though like the soft stuff of both of them and the cleanliness of play from both pretty dialed is pretty styled so you're pairing the offense with consistent soft stuff that's that's a lot to handle yeah and uh it'll be interesting it'll be Kansas City in a couple weeks I'm assuming it's going to be quite hot people don't realize how hot the Midwest gets it gets it it gets hot it gets humid it'll probably play pretty slow which um you know might not favor big h and uh Christian that much but yeah that's an interesting partnership who else we have oh let's see here those are the only two I wrote down for for the fellas yeah yeah those are both fun good to see you back in action right yeah I mean you you don't like it when I just list off 11 teams remember I did that just go down the draw I just go down the left he's like okay okay let's let's move on to something else uh something that caught my eye on the lady side was Hurricane Tyra Black and Vivian Glozner uh pairing up together I don't believe that I've seen that one before maybe I was going man she's having a year she's got him a hell of a year yeah 23 and 24 man those are just strong physical prime athletic prime ages right there they both have really great skill sets uh bring a lot of fun stuff to the table uh I'm seeing a Georgia Johnson Mari Humberg they had a phenomenal phenomenal run and Mesa Arizona I believe because something happened uh Georgia's partner couldn't play and and and Julie Johnson signed awful on partnering with Mari Humberg I believe they made it to the finals uh so that could be a very fun team and uh we get some usual suspects here and yeah I'd say that uh yeah I'd say that that is probably the the two that caught my eye the most everyone else has played many tournaments together and it's some of the same partnerships that you would expect uh on the PPA so uh just a couple fun ones from that from that Kansas City preview yeah even though it's still a couple weeks away so yep and then following Kansas City we got the Bristol open I believe it's called which I think for everybody going to have they're gonna have a good time bristles bristles to kind of nestle the mountains like the little blue ridge smoky mountain action um you gonna drive uh probably uh I'm gonna I'm gonna see but probably Adam you're gonna like it there's a there's a there's a stadium court right there which um is like I think the bleachers are going in like now it's the so the facility's literally brand new um and so you've got the they've got six indoors they have 13 outdoor perm um and then a couple tennis courts up top where they might have to take lines for amateurs but um there's a little restaurant bar called the patio that's connected to it Adam which you know you're gonna have to hop in their ice cold beer nice drinks some nice sandwiches I think you're gonna really enjoy yourself in Bristol I like beers and sandwiches do they have chips too? Of course they have chips you can get them you can get them with old bay you can get them with barbecue barbecue oh yeah oh yeah they do all kinds of stuff Adam love that no I'm excited about it I haven't I haven't been able to drive to anywhere I miss I miss I miss a little bit of road trip miss that Civic he missed that Civic life he's he's still kicking it he's got a couple years of uh caked pollen on him right now or her right now but that's that's okay we'll we'll get through it 180,000 miles Rob how's up how's the how's the fan how's karen how's little AJ what's happening little baby AJ is doing this thing he's babbling uh he's got a handful of the words he says but he just he's just talking all the time what's he what's he say so far yeah baby baby that's most like yeah yeah he said yeah he said he said he'll say ball and I'll say dad they'll say dad and you know balls balls are great one of the first best words he could you ask over go dude he's great early he's pretty he's pretty accurate when he he likes to carry around paddles and sticks and things and okay hit hit balls on the floor with this is this is a good omen this is yeah this is good stuff unfortunately I was thinking maybe six months ago he could be left-handed but he's going to be right-handed is what it looks like hey you keep working keep for you keep make make him make him go both ways yeah make him a Jack Monroe that's right yeah so uh just be a little ambidextrous action that that would be fantastic karens karens doing well uh still pretty locked in uh to the to the AJ situation she has done a couple things for herself lately but not not that much so not a ton of pickle not a little spot a man yeah I know they're a little spa day yeah so we we got uh there's a uh a teenage girl down the street and I think that she's gonna be a solid babysitter for us so that's uh maybe we can get free a little more often but with me traveling and you know little baby AJ just never quitting ever at anything it makes it makes it tough so get a little date night in a little wine a little little cheese board cheese and charcuterie I love charcuterie it's so good honey with a little salami little manchego cheese baby come on little cracka hmm absolutely love that uh all right rod the last thing that I have here is I was gonna go through because you even mentioned it earlier just a couple of where the team standing sit yeah for majorly pickleball we had that standalone tournament last weekend and now we're back counting for absolutely nothing cash money but that that's actually something to bring up on the broadcast more maybe you you talk about less about the general backgrounds and you talk about what round we're in what team they might have to play 100% and what kind of prize money we're talking 140k purse for from 160k purse for one tournament for the challenge you have to know what's a stake you have to know what's at stake in this match that is probably I would say the most important like what does this match mean what are they like why why should anybody care right in the third fourth like you get you get something or you get nothing yeah i like that that's more interesting that's more interesting and i mean i even had it i don't know who was somebody on the hard eights i mean you know it's not certainly not life changing money but i mean but it's money i've never played one match for 2500 to get third you know like 2500 per yeah person i mean that's that's not nothing so you're playing literally playing a 90-minute to two-hour match for 2500 dollars that's what a win the people people and on and premiere it was significantly more than that so yeah nothing or something and that that people like that people like yeah it's a big deal it's um yeah you start understanding why the players are motivated and what they're thinking and all that yeah so i'm gonna uh so so right now we still with the scheduling issues we still have some of the teams that have played more matches yeah so i'm actually going to go by points per match yeah i like that that's how it should be yeah the points per match and real quickly uh three points for a clean win and regulation no dream breaker two points if you win a dream breaker one point if you lose a dream breaker zero points if you lose uh and regulation so that's how it breaks down the hustlers are on top with 18 points but they have two more matches played than anyone so that's 1.80 points per match and then the top teams are the st louis shock at 2.13 points per match and worked out perfectly for them rob that they didn't have their best tournament when it didn't count at the standalone tournament yeah so they get to continue that quality regular season run hopefully for them and uh in salt lake and then we have two teams with two points per match and that is the dallas flash and the new jersey fives so those are your top handful of teams in the premier division uh and are all of them in action this week that is also a great question i do not have that tab i know the shock are um i think the flash are and yeah so so i i would say that it's only two possibly three teams that aren't going to be there so uh there is a chance of that but uh yeah that's that's also important i think there's been premier going and four challenger 10 premier and four okay gotcha gotcha yeah so uh the socal hardates in the challenger the team that that i coach and jam you guys have three matches then we only have three that's right so we had six in atlanta we took dc off and now six is crazy actually yeah it is it is and so now we have one saturday this upcoming saturday and two on sunday so we only have three matches as one of the teams there but this is a this is a huge weekend for you guys like you guys like these are really really important matches for you guys to get back into the mix oh of course yeah so uh we had believe it went four and one at the mid season tournament but we did not do great uh in our previous stop in atlanta so yeah uh this is this is huge so to get three matches to you know maybe get a dream breaker win the two regulation wins or something like that yeah if if we lay an egg or or we lose two matches of the three and regulation i mean math is math you know yeah even though we still have many but we have more matches to play than we have already played it's yeah the numbers start stacking up against you and that's that's that's that's not yeah it's not where you want to be you can only get some time so what success look like this weekend for you i think success i mean i i always i'll say something a little more general and i i think just building off the beer city open standalone tournament and just kind of finding a little more meshing uh at throwing jana newl in there so so just building on some of the specific things for us i i think is number one but terms of results i would say a yeah like a winning all three or possibly losing an in dream breaker and winning the other two we we have to be you need two regulation wins you need two regulation wins we do we have to be two and we really want to be two and one or three and oh and if we do go two and one having those two be regulation wins as opposed to dream breaker would be huge would be absolutely huge for our points yeah so yeah uh i'm excited for this weekend man because um like this is what i was so stoked on at the beginning of the year with the continuity and stuff and why i was a little annoyed that the mid-season tournament didn't have didn't count for anything other than some cash because you guys would be in a completely different scenario you know with the results you had at mid-season and grand rapids but this is the fun part it's uh now there's now there's you know some result everybody's got results there's a standings list um we've passed the mid-season tournament this is kind of the home stretch of the rest of the year with a couple more events to go and we get to see a lot of the line now this is like this is like major league baseball when the playoff picture is starting to become clear right so this is like now now every little match and every little game means something right yeah scrap the who cares about the first 140 games it's the last 20 it's the last 22 in baseball of that that that matter and those are the races where there's real implications i know everything counts but you know that stuff's already happened and and not the tension tire and there's more on the line correct and play so i'm not pumped to watch you guys this week and i'm going to be like man they need this regulation let's let's clean this up in regulation guys absolutely and that's the thing that i like the most is seeing how the players react to the big moments yeah does someone step up and take it for us uh does someone pull back and not play optimally because they know that the moment's tight like the these that that was those are the things that i see and i love about major league pickleball uh really all tournaments but especially you i feel like you see it more in major league pickleball specifically with that team format so as coach as coach and gm are you like are you kind of relaying this to the players just so they understand how critical this weekend is and how critical it is to to try to get three three games in a match oh yeah no absolutely and you know they they know the numbers uh the total matches played we've already played six you know these kind of fangs you know with a one in five record you know the you you you need points you need points so so we you know i like to talk a little bit more kind of like some of the macro stuff leading up to it and then we get a little bit more specific with a game plan against a particular opponent and what do we need to do for us against that opponent so yeah uh yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of things to talk about and and some players want hey i want me to say hey you target left hip here when they do this you do this and if they are going to pull that ball cross court you must take it here on the counter attack yeah and then some players it's more just kind of getting them through building up their confidence uh talking about you know uh just just their their general energy and taking care of them and a little less of the specific game plan because it could overwhelm them or that's just not what resonates with them so they're it's different for every player but it's it's important to to know your player and give them the right words and it's not always easy to do that yeah and knowing that mixed is kind of the the place where you guys have struggled historically what what's kind of the i guess what's the what's the coaching aspect of knowing that you guys need to play better and mixed um so one thing i've noticed like just with myself playing is that when i get a bit passive and mixed um particularly at the beginning of the points um like for example um if my partner's returning i have to have the mindset as the guy that i'm taking every single fourth wherever that ball is i'm taking that ball um i'm not letting i'm not letting it get to my partner and i'm going to use my speed and reach to to keep that ball back to them because what's happening in mixed especially with with serves and um how tough it is to get especially with women how tough it is to get in to the line off of a big guy serve it's critical that the partner covers and it and takes that forth i i think it's an underrated part yeah because whether they're driving or dropping of course if they're dropping you should be taking everything as a fourth as a guy literally 90 plus percent so driving makes it a little more difficult but when they are in the back of the court that's extra time for you so you're you're reached that extra one step that you get to for partner protection is absolutely massive and you hear all the time about the fella picking a spot or crab walking on the kitchen line once we're in a neutral dink rally play big and be big earlier in the point and i think that's one of the best times to do it how many times do you just have that that studly fella whether you're playing them in mixed or gender and you can't you can't get in you can't keep you he keeps you back you can't get a ball to drop in the right spot he takes control of the point with his preferred weapon whether that's backhand or forehand most likely a forehand and it's just one of those things that i don't think people see quite as much as as when that guy plays a more dominant style when all four players are at the kitchen line so actually i mean i think that that plays in perfectly to the tip of the day and i apologize to the fans as we have missed at a time or two recently uh we're going to try to be very consistent with it is knowing that for for your mixed doubles game and taking advantage of four shots and commanding the kitchen line not when your opponents are already there but when they have not made it there yet it's a highly underrated part of mixed doubles and so so important especially if your opponents are dropping a lot if they're dropping they're back and playing soft you better be a psychopath up there yeah take it you because you get to everything so this is i mean this isn't just pro this is this is i would say you know probably four oh and above right like if you're if you're playing mixed and even if you're playing gender like you always want to protect the returner especially if you have a big server um if you're the one at the kitchen line already on the return team your job is to protect that return person that's your partner if there's any ball that's coming that you can remotely get to um because you know they're going to struggle to get to the line you take that ball take it it gives your it gives your partner time to get in and it keeps them back yeah no i i think that's good and i think it's important also to note that four oh and above uh because i think most players at that level or a lot of players at that level can take an extra bit of court and recover yeah and when you're when you're talking about you know three five and lower that's going to be tough to to really come over and get back to where yeah exactly so i think it certainly applies to amateur pickleball in a big way but a four four oh plus is probably a good arbitrator arbitrary cut off point uh to kind of maximize uh that aggression and i know some people are not going to like this rob but if you are not as a male in mixed doubles occasionally overextending you are not playing properly you're being too passive you're being too passive now there is always a threshold you can't every other point you can't be overextending but if you don't get stuck or get your hand in a cookie jar or get out of position get burned on the line at some and some small frequency you are not applying enough pressure as a male mixed doubles player and i will stand on the hill with that one no i hundred percent agree if yeah you somebody if you're not struck like scrambling for a ball behind you then uh you're not far enough over i like i i hundred percent agree at him right threshold threshold matters but you got to do it you have to do it i mean it like mixed is interesting man it's like if we talk about pickleball being unsolved um and strategy to me mixed is the most unique in terms of um all of the different dynamics um and you're right like the teams that you see really do well are where guys are guys are extending and putting max pressure on the other team and the ladies can handle the pump fakes yes they can they can find well-timed aggression of their own but they are not as much the just the full on source or or the strategy is for them to be incredibly offensive at least in a at least in a standard alignment you know and in a standard alignment so uh they handle the pump fakes they play well off the kitchen line they move well they move well they move in tandem move in tandem with the guy which is not easy it's tough it's it's like that's fine yeah oh bring that baby over here we're about to finish this is perfect bring that baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby oh there we go perfect baby time that was awesome that was in there that was a beautiful toothy smile what a cute little guy oh yeah he's got these so cool uh rob i think this i think this is perfect timing right here i think it's perfect timing too this was an absolute pleasure absolute pleasure and until next week sir uh which we will have a little recap of the salt lake city tournament so yeah and guys perfect so you know we we do need you to like and subscribe to this thing because we believe it or not we publish this every week every single week every single week we are here for you just throw us a like subscribe comment below with um how cute AJ is jesus that this little teeth and then uh yeah we'll see we'll see you next week because we do this every week lovely bye! [BLANK_AUDIO]