PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX Hunger Games

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

Which Arizona sports athlete on the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, Arizona Coyotes, and Arizona Diamondbacks would emerge victorious in the Hunger Games?Join host Makayla Perkins and the PHNX Crew as they go through each team's "tribute" and discuss strengths and weaknesses. Plus, which PHNX employee would survive the games? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in to the Phoenix Sports Podcast presented by drafting Sportsbook America's top-rated sportsbook app. Don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe wherever you get your podcast, and leave us a five-star review. I'm your host, Michaela Perkins, and joining me today for a very special show is Derek Montia, Anthony Totry, and Espos. We also got Leah behind the Mac. She'll pop in in a little to say hello. What's up, everybody? How is this a rainy Wednesday treat? I love rainy days in Phoenix.

We don't get enough of them. Aside from the traffic sucking, everything else is pretty good. I don't know what it is about the rain, but when it rains, everybody in this entire state forgets how to drive. That's fair. It's the tale as old as time when it comes to Phoenix. It's atrocious. We don't know what to do when it happens, but it's just like, we're just so excited,

stuff's falling from the sky. How many things that you do twice a year do you do real proficiently? That's a good point. Okay, this is true. This is true. Hopefully you guys are not listening. to this while you're driving while it's raining outside because if you are god help us all i actually prefer that they do listen because that's how we make our money here please continue to listen

we appreciate it just make sure you're paying attention to the road if you're listening to this to your car um just a reminder if you're watching this on twitter head on over to youtube but join us in the chat if you're in the chat on youtube right now leave us a hey hello say hi what's up we love to include you in the show it's the favorite my favorite part of the show when you guys chat along with with us. So if you are in the chat, say hi, we will make sure to put your comment up. Let's get started really quickly with our Valley Sports temperature check. There hasn't been a lot going on in Arizona sports recently. The suns are on a bit of an all-star break. So the sons have been MIA. They'll be back on Thursday. Heading into the all-star break, though, they had the best record

in the NBA. They still do. I think they had the best record all time of any team heading into the all-star break. Don't quote me on that. From a son's team. Yes. not in the NBA, but yeah. Aspo, you're pretty much still riding me the sons of the best team in the NBA train, I'm assuming. They are. That's factual.

It's not a train. Yeah, it's just a fact. It's just a fact. I mean, let's be honest. I'm just stating fact there. It is a little less warm than it had been, though. Right. We were at Muay Caliente.

We're now just at Caliente. And that's because, obviously, Chris Paul is injured. He's expected to miss six to eight weeks. Aspo, what are your thoughts on this? I know you guys talked extensively about this on the page. Like Sun's podcast. So if you missed that, go check it out. They talk to a doctor and everything.

They gave you a full breakdown of his injury. But Espo, what are your overall thoughts on Chris Paul missing some games? Yeah, we talked to a doctor. Had nothing to do about Chris Paul, though. You're all that around. No, look, is it ideal? Hell no. Is it the end of the world?

No. 24 games left. You have a six and a half game lead over the Warriors for the best record in the West, to even larger lead over Eastern Conference teams for the best record in the league. I'm not overly concerned. What I do think this is is opportunity. Opportunity for Devin Booker to place himself squarely in the MVP conversation. Opportunity for this team to learn how to win without Chris Paul,

which helps them in the playoffs if there is an additional injury or down the road when Chris Paul isn't here as well. So there's a lot of things that they can learn about themselves in the next 68 weeks. But if you know Chris Paul, you know he's going to be back for the playoffs. Yeah, absolutely. Anthony, any thoughts on Chris Paul missing some games? I mean, to your point, and I liked what Devin Booker had to say about it, where he gets to rest his legs, you know, a guy who is just feel like the heart and soul of his team. So, yeah, it sucks that he's not going to be there for 68 weeks, but come playoff time.

I think everybody knows that CP3 will be ready. Yeah, absolutely. Well, the weather might not seem like it right now, but it is actually springtime, and spring training would be happening if baseball didn't suck. But here we are. Baseball sucks, and we don't have spring training. But there is some good news.

The league and the MLBPA are meeting this entire week to hopefully come up with a deal. If they can reach a deal by February 28th, there should be four weeks of spring training starting no earlier than March 5th. Derek, what are your thoughts on this entire situation? I know you guys talked about on the page and I'm Simon Backs podcast last night. So if you missed that episode, make sure to go check that out. But do you think we're getting at spring training?

I don't. I'm very pessimistic about this situation. I've, I had some optimism until, you know, even when they started meeting like this, where they've been meeting for longer periods of time on consecutive days, they're kind of held up in the same location. So they kind of have no choice but to, you know, hash this out. It just, like, they're moving further apart on, on issues instead of closer together.

So I, I'm not, I'm not very optimistic about this. Now, I will say that there's several routes out besides them actually getting a CBA done. So that part makes, you know, me a little hopeful because Rob Manfred, the commissioner baseball, can just come out and just end the lockout. They don't actually have to have a new CBA done, agree to any of that in order to end the lockout. How does that work, though? The reason why- CBA, how do you actually- Well, it's the same way actually during the strike back in 94-95.

They didn't have a new CBA done. A federal judge got involved and made them go back to work under the current CBA that was in play until the new CBA was negotiated. The big problem here with this lockout is it is a negotiation tax. It's part of what's going on. They are trying to put pressure on the players to not, you know, to concede on their issues and get this done faster because there is a penalty here. There is a, there, there's things on the line. But as ridiculous as it is, baseball could just end it and continue to negotiate.

A federal judge could also intervene and end this as well. I don't know. I just now after reading everything I've read, people I've talked to, reports I've seen about, what this is doing to the Arizona economy, just specifically. I mean, I have no idea what it's doing to Florida, but I imagine there's similar impacts there than there are here, but there are certain towns here that rely on spring training. And that really is the part that's becoming aggravating to me that they're using this negotiation tactic essentially against the players association. But there's more on the line here than just trying to make the players give up on

on the fights that they're that they're trying to get done the things are trying to get done so essentially what you're saying is this amounts to when my wife and i argue about where should we go to dinner and neither of us give a place if one of us just gave a place it'd be over with that's exactly what this is good to know but see the problem is is then one of you has to acquiesce and look weak to the other one and if you were to do that as long as she tells me where to go to bring you're right as long as we You will be to the point. And actually, that's the exact case here. The owners eat, the players eat, everybody eats, the fans eat.

We just get this over with. So can we just decide on a place to eat? For God's sake. By the way, can we pull the clip of, I'm asking you, Leah, can we pull the clip of Max saying baseball sucks so we can use that in general? Oh, God. Thank you. I was going to come back to all.

Don't do that, Leah. Don't do that, Leah. Well, speaking of Leah and running out our temperature check, the coyotes, they have made some trades. The NHL trade deadline is coming up. Leah, what are your thoughts on these trades? I know they weren't necessarily big names. And then do you expect anything else to happen from the coyotes? I know Phil Kessel has kind of been brought up in some conversations.

Yeah. So the trades have begun. The trade deadline is just under a month away. Ilya Lubshkin and Ryan DeZingle were traded to the Leafs for a pick that the coyotes get to choose which year and which round it's going to be in. basically. And then they also traded goaltender Carter Hutton also to the Leafs for future considerations. So that's all this team's about

is the future and this is just at the beginning. I think we're going to see trades weekly until the trade line. Gotcha. And any update? Do you think Phil Kessel's going to go? Any more big names I'm sure. I'm sure Phil Kessel will go. The most interesting thing to watch will be what happens with Jacob Chikran. His name's been talked about for a few months.

At the start of the season, he was always a part of this team's future. Now it's questionable. He's too good now. Well, we'll see what happens, but it would be really sad to see him go, but it would be really interesting to see what their return would be because Bill Armstrong has set the price very, very high. Do the coyotes need more picks? They have so many.

Give me all the picks. So then they can package the picks for more trades. I don't know. He knows what he's doing. They'll be good in 2030. I love that we've let Leah come in live from the basement that we're holding. The corner of the room Close the gate back.

We promise we feed and pay Leah. She's not. Go back to the producer's game. All right. Well, that was your Valley Sports temperature check. Before we get into today's main topic, I've got to tell you guys about drafting sportsbook. Hoops fans, the latest offer from drafting sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the NBA is just too good to pass up.

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All right. How about we get into today's main topic? May the odds be ever in your favor. It's time for the young. I got some great boots in the back. I'm rocking. I got like shoulder pads. I don't know what I'm rocking.

It's a blue's your color. It's a poopy arm dress. It's a poopie dress. It's time for the inaugural P.HNX Sports Hunger Games. I'm so excited for this for so many reasons. That's so perfect for this. She loves murder. I love murder.

I love violence. It's my favorite thing ever in this whole episode. It's basically to be able to be out. That is well, please. That one I support. I'm sorry. The FBI is probably on like eight watch list by now. Sorry.

I'm actually not a murderer. But who knows? Anyways. All right. So this is how it's going to work. This is how it's going to work. You guys each represent a district. Derek represents the Diamondbacks district.

Tochree represents the Cardinals district. Espo represents the Suns District and Leah in her producer corner represents the Coyote's District. So Leah's District 13 that we think is done. She's up to the ground. And you guys have each nominated two tributes from your district who you think could actually win the Hunger Games should it happen. And we're going to go through each of your tributes and you're going to make a case to me because I am in charge of the Hunger Games. I'm the game maker this year and you're going to plead your case to me

as to why you think your two tributes would win the Hunger Games. I think we should start with Derek and the Dibaba Backs tributes. So Derek, why don't you break down your first tribute for us? This is a no-brainer for me. I instantly knew the minute you brought up this

topic exactly who I was going to pick. Honorable mention to Caleb Smith because I think he would really enjoy the murdering. But my first pick was the best selection and obviously the winner here. It's Madison Bumgarner is who it is. So let's take a look here at his breakdown. Madison Bumgarner strengths hunting skills already, right?

I know there's a lot of guys that have hunting skills, but there's a difference here because not only is he a hunter, but as we know, he's also a cowboy, a well-known rodeo cowboy that goes by Mason Saunders. So he has experienced not only with weapons, but with ropes and riding animals. Who knows what the situation is going to be? in this particular hunger games.

What weirdness is going on? First of all, you can take that how you want, but he can make a rope from whatever, and then he could also make it into a lasso. Can any of your guys do that? I don't think so. So good luck with him once you run out of the weapons. Also, very secretive.

So we have no idea what he can really do, right? He has one alter ego that we know of, but that's the old... Are you saying there's more alter egos? Are you saying there's not? I, how do I know that? I mean, this is a man that was, I mean, his alter ego was discovered, and I'm sure he wasn't too happy about that. Now, again, the hunting skills, that's another thing.

This is a guy that takes hunting to a different level. I see him just for a fun weekend. I see him painting himself in full camouflage from head to toe. Just for enjoyment. Yeah, just hunting down, like, deer with his bare hands, like no weapons at all. So again, show me who else has those skills. weaknesses obviously he's getting up there in age the other thing you never know when he's going to actually want to participate

so he could just flat out refuse and that wouldn't surprise me one bit and that's that's your winner how do you not have throwing skills on his list of strings that's what he's paid to do throwing skills are there that's those are obvious come on obvious and I don't know diminishing I might put that on the weaknesses I might say diminishing throwing skills what was his weapon of choice be like a spear that he could toss

No, no, I'm definitely going with a lasso. I think he could do like Rambo-like stuff with a lasso. All right. Who is your second tribute from the Diamondback District? The second tribute is Josh Rojas. Josh Rojas is obviously a very scrappy player. And I think that he would be an underdog favorite for this situation. Very fast.

So he has the speed. Ability to get inside his opponent's head. I've seen him start fights with an opposing pitcher just by jawing at them from first base. because the Diamondbacks weren't doing anything good against them, and he was trying to get something going. That's a desire to win that not everybody has, right? So he's willing to do whatever it takes to win, and that's the exact kind of attitude you need to have

going into a Hunger Games. Weaknesses, again, headstrong, maybe too much, you know, too full of himself a little bit there. Got to be humble a little bit. And obviously, lack of murder experience, right? How do you know this? Well, I mean, again, much like yourself, I do not know this. So I can't guarantee that he has a lack of murder experience.

He just doesn't seem like that he has that skill yet. I would hope that that would be a weakness on most of these lists. I'm not going to apply this to many people, except maybe the hockey players. I don't know. Sometimes they give off murder vibes. Wow. Sorry, coyotes. Sorry, coyotes.

I mean, they live people for a living. They run around on weapons, you know? Yeah, right. This game is played on weapons. Yeah, Max in the comment saying, are you saying that other people have an abundance of murder experience? I am saying at least Madison Bumgarner does is what I'm saying. All right. Those are our two tributes from the Diamondbacks District.

If you're in the comments, let me know what your thoughts are. If you think those Diamondbacks tributes could win, if you don't think that they can. And let's move right along to the Sun's tributes, ESPO. You had to pick two sons players that you think could win the Hunger Games Break down your first pick for us. Look, there's one obvious choice here. Chris Paul is the kind of guy that he's ruthless. We know that.

He's cunning. He thinks of every way that he can get an advantage against his opponents. He sits there and stews about that as a basketball player. He's vegan, so he's used to not eating much, right? That's a good one. So, like, the actual hunger isn't going to get in his head. Right. My God.

Hey, that's a factor. That is a factor. That is a factor. This game lasts a pretty long time. Exactly. And then the rip-through, right? He does the rip-through move in basketball. Imagine that with a weapon.

He's already prepared to take advantage of things. Weaknesses he is injury from, right? So he could get hurt out there. And then he's in trouble. He's older. I mean, which is weird. He's younger than me. But he's older.

in the sense of this, and he's never won the big one. So what will happen is he's likely going to come down to the last two or three and then get killed. And that's so depressing. Can you get ejected from the Hunger Games? I don't think so. No. Well, death is ejection. It's the ultimate ejection.

So I think Chris has a pretty good chance here. He's big in, so he's something to see you. Yeah, we're clipping that for sure. That'll go in the archives. All right, Espo is here. second tribute. This one may come as a surprise because people won't think of him in this way, but Macale Bridges is my second thing.

Love the photo. Right? Yeah, that's a good photo. Unassuming, which is to your advantage, right? You can make some alliances early on that keep you around. He's likable, which helps with that as well. And he knows how to defend, right? Yeah.

So the man, he's going to come through. Plus, look at that photo, right? Yeah. He's got, who would want to hurt that? You're giving me reasons to partner up with. You're giving me all the reasons to partner up. But also that picture, it's crazy eyes. Yeah, that's great.

Right? So you don't know what's going to happen. Like, he is an experience, so that's a weakness, sometimes not aggressive enough. Sure. And he loves deeply, right? Oh, man. I mean, if he had, if he had to kill Cam Johnson or he had to lose and lose his own life, he'd sacrifice himself.

You think so? Yeah. Oh, yes. 100%. Absolutely. He would. Absolutely. And that is, that's, that's something that is a big weakness.

It's a big weakness. Yeah. He's never, he's never going to be the champ with that. No, he may make an alliance and then kind of not want to go through with everything. But Katness kind of did the same things. That's true. Yeah. Look, so maybe he just destroys the whole game.

Maybe McHill Bridges is Katniss Everdeen is McKeel. Wow. He's the main character in this movie. That's crazy. I will say, If I was in the Hunger Games, I don't think I could kill Mikhail. He's just too kind and too nice. I don't think there's any shot.

I can bring myself to do it. I don't believe you. He's the first one I don't believe you at all. Mac apparently doesn't like murder. Yeah, of course. I only like to murder people strategically based on how I see. I only like to murder people. I would like to murder people strategically.

You didn't add words. If I did, if I did. Look, I love how this show is slowly morphing into. to a murder podcast. It's like one of those real pride. To Mac a murderer is what it is. Wow. Max is somebody that she would form an alliance

and then kill you when it was convenient for her. Only if it works for me will it happen. You're alive because I let you live. That is a great point. Cheerson. Hi, what is happening? Cheerson, you should stick around for the rest of the show. Not to give it away.

That's what she always tells her prey. Run far away. Okay, those are the two tributes from the Suns District. I think they're great nominations. Espo made a great case. Let's move on to the Cardinals District. Anthony, who would you nominate from the Cardinals District to compete in the Arizona Hunger Games? I had a lot of options here.

I feel like a heavy favorite would have been Kyler, super small. It can blend in easily, I feel like, with like, all the bugs and smaller animals in the Hunger Games. But I feel like a slept-on guy here, A.J. Green, hear me out. He's been in worse situations. Cincinnati playing under Andy Dalton or with Andy Dalton, that's about as bad as it gets. Right? So he's proven to be able to survive for a long period of time in horrendous situations. When you need a guy, I feel like he's got the clutch gene.

No. I feel like, I feel like if you need it, I feel like. Do you not watch the green? I did. Are you present? Sometimes forgets the play is a weakness. Okay. Sometimes he forgets the situation.

But at times, I feel like if you need a guy to come up big, I'm not saying this is going to be the guy that is the last man standing for the Cardinals, too. But I feel like he could definitely help the next guy get there, which is, which is where I'm at. I think, I think he's the sacrifice to get them to the final team. This is a NASCAR team. You're not trying to. Hey, little shaking him big, never hurt nobody. Okay. Okay.

Quick, get behind you. You can catch my drift and then you can win the hunger game. He's a little washed up. Okay. He's a little washed up. But I think he's gonna play enough of a supportive role to the real heavy favorite here. Okay, he's a little washed up. He's fully in the bathtub just trying to keep his nose above the water J.J. Watt that that's that's that's that's all I got to say.

J.J. Watt I feel like he comes into this as the fan favorite right first off he's half robot. Well, you can't do you just can't kill him He's pretty much a cyborg at this point. He's massive like I feel like he doesn't even really need a weapon. He reminds me of of, what's it called, the Game of Thrones, the ginormous dude in Game of Thrones. That's a role that he would play. Yeah, he's just pure strength at this point. And he's got so much experience. Like, he has been, again, another guy who survived a horrible situation in Houston, made it out of that to Arizona, to greener pastures. Also, on his weaknesses, he is also half robot.

That goes along with his strengths. I feel like that could get sticky at times, especially depending on how long the Arizona of Hunger Games go and if Mac is in charge then probably forever. He is quite injury prone, which could prove to be a problem. And similar to CP3, he's never been able to finally make that big one. But I feel like that's what AJ Green is there for. To help push him, AJ Green is going to help push JJ Watt to be in that final lot. What if Jay Green make a strategy to like win and then AJ Green just forgets the strategy

and leaves him? That is also a likely, that is a likely scenario. but I'm going to go with I believe. Mac Huff in the comments saying forgets to get the bow and arrow from the corticopia at the start of the game.

100% runs away fast. Half robot is on both sides. It is a strength and a weakness. That's fair. I feel like Steve Kime should have been on that list because that man doesn't seem like he can do anything that ends him. He's untouchable.

I don't feel like there was enough murder experience from you guys on your selections. That's just my personal. experience. You count J.J. Watt murdering opposing quarterbacks? That does count. Jacob in the comments saying it was a miss not having James Connor as a tribute.

No. Foof. Yeah. That's fair. And Frank, I couldn't do Buddha. Frank saying Buddha Baker, yep.

Crazy. The concussion, I feel like, you know. Perfect. I feel like it would hurt. Perfect. I feel like we heard him.

You went with AJ Green, though. Hey, slept on. Slept on decision. Bees in the comments saying the Arizona Desert is definitely known for greener past. Look, if we're picking all-time Cardinals, Frank would have been a great. Frank would have been laid on and off.

Not to give it away. Frank and fits. Yeah. Not to give it away, but Frank is a Ph. NHX employee, and we may or may not be choosing our tributes from the PHNX staff a little bit later, so keep that in mind. She wants to murder us all. I literally think of us about the murderers.

Send out. I'm just kidding. All right. Those are the tributes for the Cardinals district. Rating Gassonnell. with the Coyotes District is Leah and her two choices or tributes. Leah, who did you go in? All right.

This one's fun because hockey players are already naturally violent, I would say. Yes. So my first tribute is going to be Lawson Krause. He is 6'4, big guy. Look at this photo. He's literally- He's literally-punching someone. Yeah, he's literally punching someone.

So his strengths punches people for a living. Last year, he led the team in penalty minutes. So, you know, he's out there. doing what it takes, and he's just a large human. So we consider softy on the inside. He is the father of Butter Pig Krauss, and he is a devoted dog dad. Crowd favorite, by the way, Butter Pig Crows. Yes.

He was on the Peter Pig is an icon. And he was on the Peach Nix Coyote's show last week, so if you missed that, checking that out. And he's also Canadian. That's a weakness? Hold on. Yeah, Canadians are kind. Inside and Canadian the same thing. Yeah.

He doesn't have many weaknesses. In respect, though, being a large human, all of the Arizona sports tributes are large humans. Josh Rojas is tall. Josh Rojas is scrappy. So is Chris Paul. He's only six. Yeah, the baseball players aren't the largest.

But they're taller on skates. Yeah, that's true. Skates don't work in the wilderness. And there's something to be certain about. What if the arena is ice? Fair enough. A hockey enforcer fights so much more often than like an actual professional fighter. What do they have? Like two, three, four fights a year. Hockey player

does it 82 nights a year pretty consecutively. The problem is if the hockey player doesn't have shirt to pull over the guy's head, it becomes less effective. I feel like the only large ones are the hockey players. Are they shirtless and hunger games? He'll figure out something. Maybe it's a strategy. He'll figure something out. All right. Well, I have my other tribute. And it's the Coyotes Enforcer this year. It's Liam O'Brien. He leads the NHL as a whole in fights. He leads the team in penalties. He leads to NHL in fights. That's a legit stack. Yeah. Wow. He has the most fighting majors in the NHL this year. Epic Beard. I just somehow that's to his advantage. Sure. Take that. Somehow. Camouflage. Yeah. Fourth Line bruiser. I mean, his literal role every night is to go out and be an

enforcer. So he's already in that mindset nightly. Weaknesses. He's a family man. He has a fiance and he's also Canadian. So this is this is an attack on Canada. I'm Canadian. I'm Canadian. I'm Canadian. I'm sorry Canada. Canadians are so nice. They say sorry for everything. But they say sorry.

Are you worried? Are you worried that the tanking will kind of find its way into the hunger game to you though too? No. Okay. They're on the coyote so they can't get too far. They're already like miserable. Excuse me. They already are like miserable from losing so much.

So they're ready for the environment. They're ready to fight. I feel like future considerations should have definitely. The odds are stacked against them in the Hunger Games. They literally have so much internal rage from being on such a miserable team. I bet they go in there and just destroy everybody. Wouldn't you? Well, then the Diamondback would be doing pretty well too.

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. All right. Well, those were our attributes for the Hunger Games. I'm very impressed with everybody's creativity. I feel like you guys made strong cases for each of your tributes. I feel like I should leave this decision up to the public, and you guys should tell us who you think is going to win the Hunger Games

with the two tributes for each district. Can I throw one out from a district that I think deserves to be represented here? Sure. The Mercury. Diana Tarazi would probably end everybody. Yes. Very true. Confirm, yes.

Sianzrazi is a fantastic nomination from the Mercury. So in the spirit of letting you all decide because I am pro-democracy, I will post- And pro-murder. And pro-murder. I will post these on our Twitter account. So make sure you're following us on Twitter at PHNX underscore sports. And you can weigh in and tell us which two tributes you think would emerge victorious from the PHNX Hunger Games.

I'll put up a poll there. You can vote. Or you could also tell us who you think we missed or who would have made a better tribute. And we will let you know who wins next week on the Phoenix Sports podcast. But now I'm really interested in nominating PHNX employees to kill each other. Of course you want this chaos. She's like to joke. Yeah, this is.

I love it. I love this chaos. And I will say I'm going into this very, very vindictive and angry because not only, Was there an employee draft? I'm so happy that we're on this side of the room. There was an employee drafts not on one podcast, but two podcasts. And I was not drafted in a single one of them. And I have been harboring the anger of being left out of these two drafts this entire time.

And I am so salty about it. So now this is how I exact my own. Now she's like, you've got to kill each other. Can I explain as your boss, I didn't feel like it was right for me to draft you, make everybody else jealous. I didn't want to appear to be playing. That way, you didn't draft me either? Yes.

Yes. I didn't draft anybody. I don't accept. Somebody gave me my life. Okay, so we're going to pick PHNX employees who we think could win the Hunger Games, and I'm going first because I make the rules and this is my show.

My tribute is Chirsten Soussel. Because Chirsten is outdoorsy. She is so resourceful. This girl spends every weekend in nature. She knows how to, camp. She knows how to live off the land. And I feel like Cherson is like

low-key just like me and just like harbors like a lot of rage underneath her. She definitely does. And I feel like if you piss her off, she is going to literally murder someone. And I know for a fact that she takes boxing classes so she could literally beat all of you up. So she's preparing for this is what you're saying. Are we choosing

someone to kill us? No, you're like just to survive. No, to win. I feel like it's like Susan Avenger to kill everybody else in the part of the panel. Well, I think I'm going with Cherson. I'd definitely go with Cherson. Chirson is my tribute because that girl can fight and she's resourceful and she's very nature

and she would win the Hunger Games. So Chirson's my tribute. Based on this conversation, I feel like we need to be investing in a mental health plan for the company. That's later. This is still a good topic. Or just have more in-depth drafts. I generally feel like Chirston is Cadness Everdeen reincarnated and she would win the Hunger Games

if we were in-cartenated. So, Chirston is my tribute. It's not a bad, I like that pick. I'm going to go with Saul Bookman. Oh, mostly because he's not in here right now. These cowtower. You guys are handing me a duck here. I'm just saying Saul because he has a military experience.

He's a drill sergeant. And Saul takes no prisoners. Saul, he's very mean to me all the time. Like so, like, everybody else is so nice. Right, I waited until he left. So I can do this because it's both a compliment. and a personal attack. But yeah, he just has a different level of anger.

And I think that he would do anything it takes to win. I think that's a good pick. His military experience is good. That's a good pick to draft him. You know, I was going to go, I was going to go a different route because I thought this guy wasn't going to be here when it was my turn. But I'm going with Frank. Like, I feel like the size, the strength, like the closest, obviously,

to any of the former athletes that we had. athletes. And I feel like he can be sneaky nice, which I think could, like, he could use that to his... He's like a McHale. Yeah. He can 100% use that to his advantage. And then when he wants to, you can just kind of like snap your neck. The danger

is Speedo Jackson could show up. That could derail everything. I don't know. That might be an advantage. Give me Frank, 100%. Yeah. You know, I will say this about Frank. We don't even know what he does and knows. Sometimes when you see Frank post

on Facebook, it's like all of a sudden he's at a Taekwondo tournament and you're like is Frank in it? Is he just there watching? What is he doing there? None of your tributes have the survival skills like mine does though so mine survived in the NFL. I mean, yeah. Like outdoorsy nature skills.

Cherson's definitely going to like outlast everybody as far as like waiting for everything to die down but much like yourself I think she might be a fan of murder too so I mean that might help her out as far as the killing of. I'm not passing that judgment All right, Espo, who's your Ph. NX tribute?

Leah was on my list. I'm not going to lie. Because, again, very much the comes off as the kind, gentle. But I feel like Leah could be very strategic. And she is one of the fastest to learn things I've ever met in this business. So she was on my list. But then I remembered weakness colon Canadian. Yes.

Which we need that is a weakness. Right. We need that on a shirt, by the way. Weakness called a Canadian, and she can wear that. I think I'm, this is tough, but I think I'm going to have to go Lindsay. Yes, I knew you're going to pick with you. From our show, I mean, she grew up in southern Arizona, which, you know, the wild west. It may not be the wilderness, but it's rough in and of itself.

Wow. Wow. My daughter would be the first to go. My daughter would be the first to go. Mom, I could survive. Are you kidding me? That is rude. She's gone without her cell phone, doubt it.

My mom just selling me out. Jeez. So, Lindsay, I mean, if you've ever watched the Sun show, she's got this stealth, like, she acts like, oh, I'm giving everybody flowers. I'm misnice. She will cut your throat. in two seconds and you don't even know that it's happened, right?

It's unbelievable the precision at which she does it. So I think she would, I think she has all these skills that we've talked about and will, uh, we'll end it quickly for a lot of people. Lindsay's also very mysterious. Sometimes when I go to things, I don't expect to see people like from here. Then all of a sudden Lindsay's there. It doesn't matter the genre of music or no, no. Well, yeah.

I mean, some of the times. Well, yeah. I can't get over that Max mom's just like, yeah, she's dead. Yeah, I know. Dead on a rival. Not even like, she wouldn't make it to the cornucopia. It would be like, she's going to show up with a six suitcase.

You guys are the worst. Your mom didn't. We didn't do it. Right away. Your mom didn't draft you right there. Matt comes saying RIP, Michaela. Yeah. Okay.

All right, Leah. Who is your P.H. NX employee tribute? Okay. So, I was going to say Lindsay also, but since Lindsay is already taken, I'm going to say Petey because I feel like he is like such a ball of like anxious energy that he would just like get stuff done.

I feel like he would keep to himself and kind of disappear so he'd be like the last one standing. And, you know, I feel like he has nature skills. He's from Minnesota. So I don't know. I feel like Petey's my pick. I feel like Petey gives me energy where it's like if somebody came out as like a serious killer and like on the breaking news we saw like PD murders like eight people in Arizona we would be like God you think about this too much she does yeah but like all the time

kind of agree yeah like he gives me like undercover serial killer oh I do like in the best way that's a compliment I don't what she's saying though like sometimes they're just those people where like if that happened you'd be like oh yeah I mean that's crazy but yeah that kind of makes a lot He is from Minnesota, which is the angry Canada. Sure. Yes, Minnesota is. So is that a weakness? No, that's no.

Angry, it's Canada, but angry. It's like they're deceptive. He's got everything that was these Canadian guys had plus the anger of America. I could see it. Plus the anger. You know, so I, you know, I like PD too much to say I could see him being a serial killer. But, you know, I think he could be strategic in one of them. This is the best podcast I've ever been.

Also, talking about which one of our coworkers are serial killers. I think some people still owe PD money from the squares. So if he's, you know, if he is a serial killer, just, you know, pay up. I'm so confident in my tribute. I think Chirsa would murder everybody. Is there like a paddleboard and a dog involved? Exactly. Because that's the only nature photo.

He's not wrong. That's my thought the whole time. At least I didn't pick our GM because I wanted bonus points. Oh, no. I pick our GM because he terrifies me. That's why I picked our GM. The military experience definitely is a big attribute. I think you guys have undervalued me because.

No, yeah. You specifically or Lindsay? No, no, no, me specifically. Oh. You've incorrectly valued. I'm a little mad. I didn't get selected myself. I think you are D.O.A.

just like I am. I think DERica would be an interesting choice here. I would run around screen. and crying the whole time. You go with the strategy of, if you don't think you can win the fight, act like the craziest guy there. Yeah, nobody will bash me with you, right?

Yeah, whatever. That's my entire thing here, so of course, that's how I would go. Your wardrobe might give you away, though, because it was... Not great camouflage. With your usual shirts, you couldn't hide anywhere. Yeah, no, you're right about it. But he does, I mean, he does survive covering the diamond back, so similar to, like, A.J. Green, like... Thank you.

I mean, it's about time I've been given credit for making this off season specifically. So I appreciate it. If you're in the comments and you're listening right now, let us know which one of our PHNX employees' tributes you think would win.

I'm so interested to know B's Mac, my mom. Hashtag Frank for the win? I know my mom is thinking I'm going to win. If you're in the comments, let us know which P.H. H. H. H.N.X. employee think is going to win

because I think we've all presented pretty solid arguments. I also definitely get like undercover serial killer vibes from Lindsay. Like, I feel like she just harbors so much rage underneath this like sweet exterior that I feel like if you

make her snaps you just lose it. Well, and she can pretend to be Chirston at some point because people can That's true. What if Cherson and Lindsay formed like a super team and just like ran around and you didn't know which one was which? I love B's great team building exercise. Yeah.

Yeah. We all really do love each other. This is where our lunches are like when we all get together by the way. What do you think? What do you think? Bees asking where do Sean and Tootry fit into all of this? I think Totry's D-O-A like I I think Sean would also be able to survive maybe like a day. As soon as if Sean's outfits got dirty, I think he would self-eliminate.

I think if Sean and I were on a team with our level of confidence, I think we could win. Like with our level of confidence. Oh, yeah. See, the biggest problem right there is the we could win. There is no. We would have to form an alliance because there's no way either one of us could win without the other. Right. my size and just Sean like we'd have it have to be it have to be this isn't who's the

swaggiest at pH and all right you guys would win that but I don't oh hold on Shane would win that but let's let's just get a trade Shane had some on shorts on Shane would be a good selection yeah no yeah yeah yeah Shane wouldn't you wouldn't you know what you know what to get close to the mustache right Oh, God. All right. Well, it might not seem like it right now, but we really are a family. Thank you, B's appreciate that. It's okay. Tune to the PHNX Sundevil show where that's all it is. Mack having more confidence in me than my mom does. He thinks I could win based off of rage alone. That's no.

Thank you, Named Twin. I appreciate the confidence that you have in me that my own mother doesn't. Thanks for throwing me under the best mom. You know, you did survive in that car that you drove for years, which was a good. That is so true. So maybe. That is a fantastic point. For those of you that don't know, I drove around the biggest death trap of a vehicle for years. Literally, I got in it and prayed that I would make it to my destination every single time I drove that thing.

You're making model. She just made it very clear that it was. She said she had to pray every time she got it. She was scared. It was a 2002 Ford Escape with 200,000 miles on it, and it broke every three months like clockwork. And it wasn't like minor breakage. I was literally driving on the 201 and my brakes went out. All four of my brake lines were gone.

You survived a car. I survived Indiana for years. You know how tough that is? That's tough. South Bend, Indiana. And again, like Espo pointed out, you said you prayed every time you got in the car. That was a lack of conviction. You didn't.

Because I didn't have any control of my destiny. You didn't believe. I didn't have any control of our destiny. If my car decided to die on me in the middle of the highway, I probably would have died. All right. How many times a day do you think of that? More than I should.

Yes. It's a whole other podcast. Over under six and a half. Over for sure. I promise, please take me off a watch list. I promise I'm not an actual murder. South Bend, Indiana versus four broken breaks. I wait.

All right. Well, it might not seem like you, but we really are family. And we want you to join our family. So if you haven't signed up to be a member, you can get scintillating calm content like this, which I think is the best content available in my very unbiased opinion. So make sure you head over to go phnx.com and sign up to be a member. You can get your first month for only 50 cents or if you sign up for an annual membership. You can get a free t-shirt. Derek has our Diamondback shirt on.

I suppose got our brand new Phoenix Rising shirt on, which is super sick. So go check those out on the PHNX locker. You can just buy a shirt. You don't have to be a member. But if you do become a member, you get a ton of great perks, like written content that you can only access if you are a member. Our members only Discord where we're all in and you can chat sports with all of us or whatever you want to talk about. It doesn't have to be sports. It can murder. I'll talk to you about murder.

We're going to have to add a murder channel. I think we should. By the way, the beat that sells the fewest shirts, the first one up for the pH and X Hunger Games, you're going to have to send your tribune in. So I think these two are going to be fighting it out. Yeah, no kidding. Give us another shirt, yeah. We'll team up. Right.

Oh, that's good. Thank you guys so much for joining us for our inaugural Hunger Games. This was amazing. Like I said, I'm going to put all of these. Over on me right now. I'm going to put all of these tributes up on Twitter. So make sure you're following us on Twitter so you can vote and tell us which tributes you think would win.

You guys are the absolute best. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for being in the comments and watching along. You guys are the best too. And we will see you next week. Thank you.