The Sevan Podcast - Matt O'Keefe - The Night before Wodapalooza

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

Matt O'Keefe is the President of Loud and Live Sports. He is a staple in the CrossFit community.  Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Bam, we're live. So we have 10 minutes between O'Keefe and Belner. So I'm going to try to keep this to 30 minutes. What do you think?

Whatever. I got my points. You do? Like your points for what? American Airlines? Okay, these are the things we need to talk about. Oh, number one. Hi, everyone. Brian Friend here.

What? I mean, you're Brian Friend. I'm Sevan. And down here is... Oh, oops, sorry. That was someone else. I don't know who that was. We must have crossed channels. Hey, Will, will these be numbered as podcast or this is something separate they'll be whatever you tell me to do but yes if i'm the chief if i'm the chief then they're numbered oh so these are numbered oh yeah gotta get to 500 oh okay all

right i thought i thought you were saying that these the water palooza shows shouldn't be numbered i don't remember saying that but i have said that in the past about some other shows okay never mind forget i'm scratching this off i don't know what i'm talking about what uh you know fancy this carnivore the carnivore is that wrong right now no no no no but i just bought a bunch of burger patties. Oh. Going all red meat. Make sure you, you know, you know. Grass-fed beef liver. You know you like it. Supplement accordingly.

What happened right there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have been taking them all week welcome to the new show brian yeah yeah but we don't get to see it welcome to the ancestral supplements.com yeah but i want to at least know what everyone's seeing oh you don't get to see it no it shows me a black screen that says mike is muted while video plays oh do you get to see it? No, it shows me a black screen that says, Mike is muted while video plays. Oh, do you get to see it, Will? Oh, yeah.

Oh, shit, it's because he's not admin. Oh, shit. That's okay. You know, just... Just imagine it's an... Just another day of things malfunctioning. It's a liver king bottle on the screen with me whispering in the back about how good it is. Matt's oh shit we have a podcast it's super quick super quick what's up it's just a quickie today okie just a quickie i'm excited to be with you it's like it's uh

i've been looking forward to this all day it's been quite the day down here oh i thought you were in your hotel room i it looked like you were just in some vast monster presidential suite. Yeah, it's called Bayfront Park. I'm going to take you up and show you some stuff while we're on here. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want... Will, what are you doing on here? If you want three VIPip tickets no no if you want three vip tickets we will be giving them away patrick velner will be picking the winner our sponsor barbelljobs.com his g5 broke down

flying in from mongolia or wherever he lives and so he has three free vip tickets he gave us the barcode and as soon as we're kicked o'keefe to the curb patrick velner will come on and he will pick the winner but if you want to enter this contest you have to go to the real sevan podcast right now you have to like find whatever post that is and you have to do that shit that like pops us up on the algorithm like tell us your daughter's name and like tell us where your son was born just weird weird questions like that. And then, and then tag a friend or something. Okay. I love it. Free VIP.

Yeah. And that's the kind of place where you'll actually see Matt O'Keefe. Maybe you will. I'll be everywhere. Tell me who, tell me who the winners are and I'll, I'll make sure we catch up. Oh, that's awesome. All right. Thanks dude. Um, and, and by, don't enter the contest if you're not going to be in Miami, that's, that's, that's a little common sense, just courtesy shit. Guaranteed. That's not somebody who's going to win. Uh, one person's going to get all three tickets. I mean, it's, it's a score.

It's a score. I love it. One person is going to get all three tickets. I mean, it's a score. It's a score. Love it. If there's a fourth person in their group, I'll throw another one in if they need it. Wow. Wow. I heard someone yell. Did you hear that?

They're like, yeah, what a perfect time to have a get together during a tumultuous time for planet the the citizens of planet Earth. But more specifically, right after our friend Dave, Dave Castro was one of our family members was is going through some difficult times. Did you get everyone together? I think it's I think it's a cool thing. I think I think it's very timely and needed. I know you didn't plan it that way, but but I think it's a cool thing. I think it's very timely and needed. I know you didn't plan it that way, but I think it's a cool thing. Okay. You agree? I understand. He's like, okay, I'm going to pretend like

my phone died during the Dave Castro talk. Okay, we'll move on to the next question. Mr. O'Keefe? Why is he wearing a noble hat Not a wad of palooza Oh shit look Whoa Sorry about that I had a little malfunction

Got a phone call I didn't answer it by the way It just froze everything up I was just saying it's a good time For a get together This has been a hard week for the community And it's a good time for a get together this has been a hard week for the community and it's a good time for get together it is i'm pumped to be here it's a good time to be down here i mean this is like i don't know if you've never been it's it's

uh it epitomizes a community it's just a bunch of people getting together to work out and have a good time and yeah there, there's, there's a serious elite competition going on, but you know, even those guys are a little looser. It's, um, it's such a good vibe down here. It's, uh, it's good to be back. We were gone for two years. We didn't get to do this last year. And it's funny. I just talked to some of our head staffers and I said, you know, you have, have that feeling the last two years that maybe some things that you loved might not come back the way that you wanted them to or ever come back. And there were times that I thought maybe that was the case with this.

Wow. Over here. I mean, event business is hard when it doesn't happen, you know, when you build around that. And we're trying to get back over here, and it's bigger and it's better. And there's more people coming than ever. Man, I'm so proud. It's going to be a badass weekend. Hey, and I know you're doing a lot of good too. There's a studio next to my son's jujitsu studio. The man had been there 35 years and he was in the sign business.

And because, and this is in California, and because of the lockdowns and the social distancing and not allowing gatherings, this guy's business of 35 years went under. So when someone like you does an event like that, everyone, everyone benefits. The caterers, the guys who bring the outhouses, the people who provide the signage. It's like it's crazy. It's a it's a windfall of good, good stuff outside of the fact of like the people who get to use it, which is the community. of good good stuff outside of the fact of like the people who get to use it which is the community yeah that's a really cool point it's you know the sad fact is there's some people that have supported this event for years on that side that just don't exist anymore you know it's a hard part of all this but um you know so proud that you know again we've gotten here and there are a

lot of people still around that were gritty and got through it. They're helping bring it back to life. Man, I'm looking at the floor, the main stage right now. It's like gives me chills that we got here. And we've had a quite a couple of days with weather, which weather is OK. Once you've built things, weather is not OK when you haven't built them. Weather's okay once you've built things. Weather is not okay when you haven't built them.

And so it's been a challenge, but we're going to get there, and we're going live tomorrow. It's 7.08 p.m. there, and you're in a T-shirt. It's 4 p.m. here, and I'm in a wool cap and a Filson jacket. That's the difference between Santa Cruz, California, and Miami? It is. It's nice. You know, we've got the perfect weather weekend forecast and we'll see what it looks like, you know, as we get through it, but mid seventies, you know, nights are cool. This is a great time of year down here. You know,

very little humidity rain is generally okay. This time of year, you know, you come in the summer and it's like an automatic shower around five o'clock um but man it's been perfect it's like 65 to 67 degrees right now and we just got through a nice little gift another gift of a rain shower so we're uh but it is beautiful um how how far are you from the atlantic ocean now? We're on it. I am physically about 100 meters from it right now. There is a stage that's on it. I can walk over there, too, so you guys can see it. No, don't screw up the reception. We're lucky we got you here.

We like you guys. Tell me, you know how the reception gets kind of wonky at the games? Will that, because there's so many people in one area, or I guess any event, will that happen there tomorrow? No, I think we'll be in pretty good shape. The park that we, is our venue that it's Bayfront Park, downtown Miami had a lot of the cell companies had put towers in here recently within the last couple of years.

That used to be, you used to have zero chance of using your cell phone here and it's gotten way better so 2020 wadapalooza was great um you know like you'd go home from here in like 2015 and get like 100 text messages that you missed you know it's it's not like that anymore but we got good wi-fi or you know we're working through that to make sure it's great we you know we just met with them and uh wi-fi is generally decent here as well so So we're, we're, we're set up. We'll have plenty, plenty of, uh,

power to get people's information out and back and you guys to go live, whatever you're doing. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, what are, what, what, what numbers are you expecting this year? So you, so you took a year off. Does that mean when you come back, it's going to be bigger than ever? Will there be more people than ever there? No guarantee. You know, it's really interesting.

You know, I didn't know what to expect. We built bigger off of experience from 20, which we do. We try to do every year because we grow every year. It's hard to gauge what the response would be. And then, you know obviously coveted kicked up and people are saying i don't care and they're coming um there's a we've we've already exceeded our greatest number of tickets sold in history so i love it congrats yeah thank you yeah it's so it's so cool that you know people are coming and it's going to be a party uh

where i you know we'll do we'll have 10 000 people on the property friday saturday and sunday each day between and and know that that's like athletes um volunteers and then spectators collectively um you know we're we're we need a bigger bigger boat again next year. But we built, you know, big stages this year that can hold, you know, our big stage can hold 5,000 people. And mind you, of that 10,000, 2,200 are athletes and 1,000 over are volunteers. He knows he lost it. A little audio you farted again my phone just rang again oh um congratulations that's awesome yeah it's exciting so yeah it's like exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

You know, it's a lot of people. I want everybody happy. You know, it's impossible to make everybody happy, but we work really hard for that. Just like anybody's experience here, whether it's a volunteer, a staffer, an athlete, partner, you know, a spectator is as important to us. And so, you know, we work for perfection, knowing that that's an impossibility. We want everybody to have a great time.

What about people who are not able to make it this year watching from home? What's going to be different for them? Yeah, great. Thank you, Brian, for pointing that out. The biggest improvement is that we're going live for free. We're hosting our own broadcast this year. is that we're going live for free. We're hosting our own broadcast this year.

We have been behind a paywall since the beginning of the event, and we've invested for everybody to be able to watch from home. And so we will have a full live broadcast posted on our website. Facebook and CrossFit is hosting it. So we're trying to get it out in as many ways as we can so it's easy for people to pick up noble is going to have it on their website on noble tv so yeah we're live and free so people do not have to pay to watch what goes on down here this year and the most important part is the sebon podcast will also have it because yes you know we got it in portuguese this year too we've got a lot going on we're just like hell yeah and and listen before we move on i do want to tell you that i'm incredibly grateful there's so many that are doing this as well um

but you know to you guys you guys have uh, over delivered and covered the heck out of this and given the athletes voice that are competing down here. And I, I'm really grateful for how much you guys have dug in the last couple of weeks and talked about really nothing but this. And, uh, it's huge. I really appreciate it. You guys are great. Thank you. Well, we had one other event happen. We had one other event happen that, that you talked about a little um and uh on top of that just so people know um it we we uh we did the dubai thing on accident and i am in contact with

matt you know roughly just to say hi and touch base once a week once a month something like that just a random text and uh i asked him i said hey can we steal your stream he goes you don't have to steal it and not only he's sitting here thanking us but um but he's he's leaned into it so along with um the ancestral supplements giving us some money to pay to fly some people out um the loud and live team uh kristin o'keefe they've they've really leaned in to make to to make it possible so it's going to be fun. We're going to rage. We got some surprises for you guys. It's going to be a good one. So I'm going to be, so I'm going to be here is what you're saying and they're going to say,

did you hear? No, no, no, no, no, not that surprising. I'll keep it. I'll keep it just under that. I'll keep it just under that. I'll keep it just under that. All right, perfect. I'll keep it just under that. If you were to rank the events, if you were to make some metrics for what are the best events in the CrossFit ecosystem, and let's say it was fun, level of competition, a company's family values and accommodates kids and shit like that, and then a community event this would have to be like at the very very very very top there's like i mean it's not a dig at rogue

it's not a dig at dubai um it's not a dig at um granite games or the california classic but this is um this is uh or madrid or whatever these other things are this This is, this is the one. So if you live within a hundred miles of here, like just come, right. That's it. You know, I, it's interesting. It's easy for me to say, but, um, I've been, I've been, uh, I've been a spectator here. Um, I've come as a brand. I've been on a coaching band at this event. I've seen it in different ways and I fell in love with it far before I got the opportunity and privilege to, to be in charge of it. So I've always thought that, and I believe it more now and, you know, and it's the people,

like I get to see there's a thousand people that come down here to get dealt 16 hour days and, you know, barely get to shove food in and hydrate properly. Sit on stages judging, you know, 40 something different divisions on a passion for this, this, you know, event, this community. Because it's just like it's it's it's a it's a shot in the arm that they want every year to see the people and the way it comes to life. So, yeah, I I put it up against any event in the world when you describe all those things, whether it's CrossFit related or not. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling,

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See the PC Optimum app for details. And especially with the two-year gap, I mean, just walking around today, like the number of people that I saw that I haven't seen in two-plus years, and all of them wanted to come back and are here. Yeah, and again, I just met, it's like, it was, you know, it's funny. I was, I was just talking to our head staffers again, you know, they're seasonal. Some of them volunteer in it.

Like I got all choked up and I'm like, Hey, like this is my job. Like, and I want you to know it's not a job and it's because of those people like they, like they, they, they inspire the hell out of me every day to like, get up, get up and improve this for them and their experience. And so does everybody on this team, you know, and there are people here that have come 10 years running. They were here 150 people in this park 10 years ago, just throwing down, you know, and tomorrow we kicked off 2,200 athletes, a thousand volunteers and, you know and tomorrow we kick off 2200 athletes a thousand volunteers

and you know global broadcast with god knows how many people are watching yeah it's it's um those people are truly some of the most incredible in the world you know the most valuable asset we have is our time i mean you know the thing we're most in control of and they give time, take vacation, come down here on their dime to be a part of this. And it's and that that makes what I do not a job and it makes it a very different job at best. Right. So it's it's, you know, they inspire me. They inspire our team. It's truly incredible. Where was home for you, Matt? I live in I live in the Boston area, so I'm just north of Boston. Okay.

And do you bring your whole family down for this? I do, yeah. I'm pumped. They're coming in tomorrow. My kids came the first time I was involved, and they weren't able to make it the last time in 2020, unfortunately, which was tough for me. I spent a lot of time in 2020, unfortunately, which, you know, was tough for me. I spent a lot of time down here and it was like a little bit of a, it was an

amazing experience, but I mean, I love, you know, to get to share this with them is really special for me, you know, because it, I said, they sacrifice a lot of my time to this and I want them to really get to see what i've been putting all that time into so they're coming in tomorrow and you know my son will be running around you know the vendor village you know fleecing brands for free stuff and telling him he's my kid i you know like he's literally like he gets excited this kid's been to super bowls and world series and and he's called me every day bouncing off the walls like dad i can't wait to get there and that that's like that that's where it's i mean i'm getting emotional saying it like that's

awesome you know so i'm pumped for them to be here a little tired so like i need some family love right now too uh speaking of family love this will be the first time that um ricky and um velner cross paths and uh since their meeting at the crossfit games um if you could do me a favor and just keep them in uh regardless of what the seating says you just keep them in okay bye he didn't like that request i was gonna request to i was gonna request it keep ricky oh there he is there i knew that. I knew that was an interesting time for me to exit. Oh, I'm sorry, Matt. Did your phone go out? Could you keep Ricky and Patrick Vellner just side by side

and just lane like just the same two lanes just every time? Are you still talking about that? I thought I came back. It's great it is it is like that it is so exciting to see them back together i mean let's face it and they both should be proud to be a part of that energy and that awareness and that hyper like when when you don't remember every perfect shit you remember the one where the toilet back back floods out at three in the morning. You never forget that. And it's just like that. Life's just like that. And so this is like, if it,

what they should be happy that they're going to give people something to remember. And, and I, and it's cool. It's very cool. This is like, I think we're like two for our last two with, with a toilet talk on the podcast. Oh, good. Yeah. I mean, you know,'s um certainly interesting that you know he's back here and he earned his right to be here through the qualifier uh hopefully he has some you know nice words for pat it'd be nice for him to to talk to pat and uh apologize for what he took from him

i i i don't want to put words in his mouth okay well i'm just i'm just because i because i had heard i i had heard i don't i i'll wait till i have ricky on monday after the show so we'll ask we'll hopefully get the juicy details and we have patrick today i think i predicted that i think that regardless of whatever pat feels pat's a pretty like um i see him as a sensitive man and i think he is going to as soon as he sees ricky in person all that shit's going to wash away he's gonna realize oh this is a great competitor i'm here to fucking compete i'm actually thankful to poseidon and the other gods for giving someone who's such a fierce competitor and to bring so much attention. I think he'll put all that other shit aside.

Like this is like – I think. That's what I think. I think he won't even need that. If nothing else, he's definitely going to call on Poseidon. I mean doesn't he live right there off the coast? You said you're a hunter. Doesn't Poseidon live in the Atlantic there? There's a lot of stuff over there.

Yes, maybe. Hey, I interviewed this guy yesterday, Griffin Raleigh, speaking of Poseidon. Have you seen this dude? Oh, yeah. I've seen him through social. I'm excited he's going to be here. He's an action figure. Yeah, he's a strong dude.

He's a strong dude. He follows HWPO. Oh, does he? Yeah, yeah. I just found that out today, actually. Oh, that's a strong dude. He's a strong dude. He follows HWPO. Oh, does he? Yeah, yeah. I just found that out today, actually. Oh, that's cool. I wonder why he didn't plug that last night. We asked him who his coach is. He said he has no coach. Yeah, he just follows one of the tracks, I guess. That's awesome. That's awesome.

The women – you have the women's competition elite, the men's competition elite, and then you have the – you have four other competitions, right? No, no. There's 45 divisions or something like that. Oh. But the team – Over 40 divisions. But there are four elite divisions, and this year we got the teams of three coming back. What's that? Is that a big deal for you guys?

Huge. Thank you, Brianrian for saving me huge it's um listen we changed that for the right reasons we had a qualifying spot or an invitation to the games and uh so we um you know because of the logistics here just made more sense to do every team format the same but uh we got a lot of feedback on that. And, you know, we had planned last year, no matter what, you know, we were going to go back to that. So it's – people are pumped.

You can see it in the teams. Like, look at the response. The number of, you know, world-class athletes that have chosen to go on team and have a real fun weekend with their friends is wild. Like, there are a ton of big names in that, the male and female division on the teams of three, at least. When you say you changed it for the right reasons, that's code for Rich Froning told you to change it?

Like, I know that's the way it works over at the CrossFit Games. Oh, no, no. No, I'm joking. I know it does not work like that at the CrossFit Games. I'm joking. We were obviously sanctioned at the time. And, you know, you had to have two men, two women. Oh, oh, really?

That was, oh, I didn't know that. Okay. So now that you're not sanctioned. So a winner from this does not go to the Games? No, yeah, no. We're partnered with CrossFit, but we're not, we don't have a game spot. So, you know, our divisions are, you know, as we wish. How about the Granite games and West Coast Classic?

Those are two of your other, other loud and light of, uh, CrossFit events, right? They are. Yeah. And do the winners from that go to the CrossFit games? Yeah. They, they, you know, when they're a semifinal, yes, they do. So none of that stuff, none of that stuff's quite figured out yet, is what you're saying? Yeah, that stuff hasn't been announced and confirmed yet. So no one from Dubai went either?

No, no. Does anyone know anything for certain? You've done your homework, huh, Salman? I'm just a fan of the personalities, the actual details of the event. And the bodies. And you're a fan of the bodies. We all know this. So Brian is working with you most of the week.

And he's like, hey, I don't know if I'm going to have any time for you. And then I'm like, okay. And then he texts me later or calls me like an hour after he tells me that. This is a couple weeks ago. And I go, hey, what's up? He goes, you're fucked without me. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. Is there anything else? He's like, no, I'll just tell you. You're fucked without me i'm like oh yeah you're right is there anything else he's like no i just tell you he's a good dude we're we're we're pumped

brian's part of this he's again like that like brian has a hand in this you know he's like he's been here before and supported it and helped it get better and i'm psyched he's going to be here again to help um i heard a rumor that the ceo of crossfit eric rosa will be in attendance at the event can you can you verify or deny that rumor i cannot verify or deny that rumor okay okay thank you that means he'll be there if you're listening and you want an autograph, make sure you have your paper and pen ready. Also, if Eric Rose is listening and wants free VIP tickets. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Or if anyone wants Brian's autograph. Is Mac going to be there? Is Fraser going to be there? Is Fraser going to be there? He is He arrived today He's been He always comes down and helps

Today's the same He arrived Found me And he's like What do you need help with? And I was like I want you to have fun This is for my friends too But the know? And, but you know, two,

the two years prior, he was on the equipment team, uh, building rigs, uh, leading up and he, um, he's got a lot of responsibility down here. So we didn't, you know, throw him into building anything this time, but, uh, I love having him down here. He's been such, it's interesting. He never competed here uh which i would have loved but you know it was probably the right thing you know considering our relationship not that he'd ever need my help in winning anything um it's just you know

stuff we didn't need to deal with um with how close we are you know and me being obviously in control of what programming is and whatnot um but. But he's been a huge part the last few years here. He loves it. You'll hear him. He'll go on the broadcast, and it's his favorite event. Just like he's not a crowd guy. You know him. He just comes down here, and he loves it and just, like, bounces around.

He spends 12, 14 hours here, you know, cheering random heats on and, you know, cheering volunteers on. And, you know, he's awesome, man. He digs in on stuff that I do. You guys have a – I'm really grateful for him. You've got quite a few high-level athletes that are coming down that aren't competing this year. Are people that are watching or how are they going to be able to interact with them? Unlimited ways. There's workouts in the mornings

you can sign up for that would give spectators chances to work out on these floors during the day and the spectator workout stage. They'll be doing talks on the education stage. They'll be doing appearances with brands and they'll be just milling around. I mean, that's such a pride point for me that, you know, all these people we work with that we, you know, they just blindly come down here to support, you know, me and us. And it's so awesome.

Like it's interesting off the stage. You know, it's like i describe it as like the nba all-star weekend of fitness you know if they're if you didn't make the team or you're not playing you're still down there hanging out partying doing doing it the way you love it there are like 20 plus games athletes that you all know and love annie katrin matt uh daniel brandon's here you know uh justin just like justin justin's here like they're just they're all they're all here hanging out um they're gonna do some of them are gonna do a are brooke and sydney there brooke is coming uh sydney is not but there's um there's an

exhibition workout sunday morning that will be broadcast, where our gauntlet final, they're going to do in pairs just to let everybody see them do some stuff together. So I'm actually doing it, which I'm not looking forward to. Oh, you already have a teammate? I'm doing it with Guido Trinidad, the founder of Wazoo. Oh, awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I wouldn't look forward to doing it with him either. Well, no, but see, this is simple.

It's funny. We're trying to get guys to do it, and everybody's like, yeah, whatever. I'll jump in. And I'm like, this is easy. This is what you want to make of it. This isn't like split the work or anything. Guido is in trouble because I am going to be cheering him on a lot. If my heart rate gets above 140, it'll be a miracle because I am going to be cheering him on a lot. If my heart rate gets above 140, it'll be a miracle,

because I'm going to be a good cheerleader for him. Oh, man. I wonder if I can. Hey, have you checked out Matt's new book yet? I have. Yes. I have read it, cover to cover, a couple times. So check this out.

Oh, okay. Yeah, a couple times. So check this out. Did you know – oh, okay. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Have you – did you know he read the audiobook? I do. Some of it, yeah. Oh. Well, I read the – so I bought it last night. I went over to iTunes, and then I typed it in, and it was there. And then I clicked the audio book and I'm like, Holy cow,

they have the audio book. And I expected someone else to read it. Right. Like what, what, what business does he have? And you hit preview and it's him reading the book and it's a damn good reading. Yeah. He's, uh, He was never that he was never that good on the podcast. He's bad. Like he must have been like professionally coached. That's Matt. That's Matt for you, bro. Like he doesn't,

he wants to be involved in things that he's involved in you know so he uh you know just like his you know hwpo training stuff you know he's very involved in it so yeah he wanted to do that look it doesn't look so he i didn't get it on amazon i got it i got it through apple looks like they don't have the audio book at um uh what's that at audible doesn't amazon own audible yeah wow yeah cool let me know let us know what you think yeah absolutely i'm proud of that we've got a number of athletes that have done some projects like that and that's a cool that's a cool read there's a lot of great stories in there and it's great perspective on a lot of

things. I think it can help you with this, you know, specific sport and some great life lessons in there too. I'm just reading it to see if he mentions me. That's it. I mean, everyone has their reason. Another thing I won't confirm or deny. Um, thank you so much uh i i know it's a big ask um and and super duper low stress but we'll be bugging you throughout the week okay oh my god that was perfect Matt was calling every time I can't

it kicks me off every time I get a phone call the timing of the phone calls could not have been better what did you no I don't want to hear it so I'll be bugging you hopefully I know you're going to be crazy busy but I'll be bugging

you and sending you texts hopefully so we can do a little debrief every night, but super low stress if you can't. But it'd be fun to have you on 15 minutes at the end of starting tomorrow all the way to Sunday and just hear your thoughts on it, find out who got electrocuted, who got eaten by a shark, stuff like that. I'd love to. I would love to. I would love to, and we're, we're going to make sure nobody gets electrocuted or eaten by a shark. Well, I can't guarantee anything outside,

but I don't want to make empty promises there. We were watching from my room last night, the manatees and dolphins coming by where they, where they, where they're going to swim. It's funny. We have actually a funny story about that. Before I was here, I was here that year.

There was an athlete petrified of the water, Taylor Stallings. I don't know if you remember her. And she dove in, like finally got up the courage. It was like this thing every year. It was. And she finally got up the courage to actually enter the water. And she landed on a manatee. And it was like her first, like, I'm diving into the ocean. Wait, she dove into a manatee. And it was like her first, like I'm diving into the ocean.

Wait, she dove into a manatee. Is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So immediately exited the water. So we're, uh, yeah, there's some marine life, but there's no, we're good with sharks. For those of you who don't know what a manatee is, it's basically a giant walrus made of stone. It looks like some Disney creature. it's not it's it's probably not dangerous but it's scary as shit probably weighs three or four thousand pounds right easily it's a sea cow they're just yeah yeah yeah sea cow right they're nuts poor taylor oh yeah yeah, we'll catch up. And again, thank you for.

Yeah, there you go. Thank you for all the great coverage and anything we can do to support. Let us let us know for sure. OK, cool. Send me send me Kristen's personal cell phone number. That would help. You know what? The best part about this is I love that. I talked to Brian today and I will, I will, I'm going to address one thing is that I do respect.

There's been some stress around schedules and there's a lot of moving pieces. And if you're explaining, you're losing, but I'll just do a piece of explaining. It's just, you know, we don't want to change things a million times, uh, publicly because we do a million times behind's just, you know, we don't want to change things a million times publicly because we do a million times behind the scenes.

You know, when athletes withdraw, we're condensing heats and times, and things have extremely changed with the weather. We bumped things out yesterday. So, you know, for tomorrow, we're going a little later. So we try to, like, know, like, all right, we're ready. Like, here it is. And I get it. It creates some

stress for some people. And, you know, and I know, you know, others do it in our space too, which isn't why you do it. But I want you to know it's not lost on us that that does create some stress. But, you know, you have to take all things that factor into that and make a sound decision that you think is best for everybody. because the confusion around my time was, and now my time is, is more intense than what's my time. It's really what it is. So, cause we've suffered from that in the past where people have not shown up because things have been bumped up. You know,

so we have to be very careful with that. So apologies to everybody. We're doing our best with that. And, you know, we're,, uh, we're aware that that creates some stress, but we love, we love you all and we'll get you all your times and especially you. Please don't take that. Like I was complaining. I was, I told Brian this immediately that that stuff, I don't know. I'm telling you how I am. I want to get better. We want to get better. So it's great feedback, you know, and it's, it's feedback we've gotten in the past at times we've improved it. It's been worse. Like we, you know, but we, dude, we,

I do not take that stuff personally. I want to hear that. I don't even want you to think you can't say it too. Like we love to hear what we're not good at so we can get better at it. Cool. All right. Uh, thanks for your time. And we'll, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Thank you. Thanks guys again. And pumped. Yeah. We'll catch up. Just, uh, hit me up.

Let me, let me know when I'll, I'll get to it. Um, Brian, you can always help me down on, on campus guys. And,

uh, in, uh, just 12 minutes, we'll be having Patrick Velner on 13 minutes and we will be picking uh three vip three maybe four yeah three maybe four yeah not not sorry not three not three different winners one winner yeah thank you thank you one winner who gets uh three or four tickets depending on how nice you are so we'll see you guys yeah if i can support at all with that stuff

let me know okay make sure that they get taken care of we'll see you guys in a little bit thank you guys