We'll begin in five, four, three, two, one.
Thursday Night CrossFit Talk with Scott Schweitzer and Jamie Latimer.
We're out here taking names Let our voices rise Let them reach the skies We're about to change the game We're out here taking names Let our voices rise Let them reach the skies
What is going on, everybody?
It's Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
My name is Scott Switzer.
I'm the class now.
She is Jamie Latimer, soon to be CrossFit Games champion in 2024.
And we are doing 2023 wrap up show with a little bit of foresight into 2024.
I have to say this and get this off my chest.
First and foremost.
Do you ever watch wheel of fortune and there's that guy that buys all the vows and then solves the puzzle, like spends all his money on vows and then solves the puzzle.
Like, yeah, you're not going very far buddy with 600 bucks in your bank and using all your money on vows.
Right.
Correct.
Yeah.
Just had to get that off my chest.
Were you watching Wheel of Fortune tonight?
I was.
And the guy did that?
He did.
Everybody on tonight's show, all three of them, all three of them would buy vowels and then solve.
They were the worst puzzle solvers ever.
Was it obvious what the puzzles were before the vowels were bought?
Yeah, yeah, that's the worst.
Yeah, it was bad.
You know, my 54th birthday is this Monday.
and i know i'm old because my wife and i sit down to jeopardy and wheel of fortune every night i love that i used to kind of religiously watch both of those and i haven't watched them in a couple of years honestly i basically um i probably haven't watched jeopardy since trebek
Like I watched a couple of the guest hosts that they brought on, but I just, I never like got into it.
So I don't think I've really watched either of them since Trebek passed.
But I loved watching Jeffrey.
Trebek's... The flow of Trebek's game was so good.
Like... And when they had to replace him, you realized how good he was.
But I'm starting to like Ken Jennings as the host.
Yeah.
He'll never be Alex, right?
But he...
But he's getting really funny and quick-witted about some of, like one of the clues tonight was this high crime was blah, blah, blah.
And the answer was treason.
But one of the persons jumped in and said adultery.
And Ken goes, I don't know what high adultery is, but I'm curious.
I was thinking you were going to go to like marijuana.
Like it was actual high.
I don't know.
It just was a cool, quick-witted thing.
He's getting better.
But yeah.
I'll have to watch that.
So for Jeopardy, I'm in, focused, no phone, no laptop, no nothing.
Wheel of Fortune is usually when make some thumbnails, make some shorts, make some reels, and just kind of play along.
Because you don't have to be there for every second.
Yeah.
So that's how it kind of rolls.
That's awesome.
So with that, we'll get to what tonight's show is all about.
And I know a lot of people are doing year-end shows.
A lot of people are doing wrap-ups.
We're doing ours in our own special way here on the original Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
And so Kenneth asked, do you still have to have cable to watch Wheel of Fortune?
I don't have cable, but I live in a city.
So I have an antenna, a little tabletop antenna that I have below my TV and I get all the local channels in high def over that antenna.
That's all you need.
Yeah.
Cost me like 30 bucks on Amazon.
I get 27 channels.
Perfect.
YouTube TV for the rest.
There it is.
We do stream some.
My wife is a Netflix person, but, um, so we have a couple of those, but yep, that's what we have.
Um, so anyway, we are doing this, um, in a different way.
So we're going to do our favorite athletes, most improved, but it's, it has no gender.
So we have opened it to anybody in the CrossFit space.
And we kind of do some different things.
And we want it to be very participatory.
So if you have answers to these questions and you want to throw them in the chat, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are.
If you want to criticize us for ours, we'll even take it.
If you want to compliment us, we will love you even more.
With that, we're going to start our 2023.
And we might have a special guest who says they have a special story at about 845 Eastern.
Okay.
I don't have any Canadians at the top of my list, do I?
I do not.
You do not.
I can't say the same for myself.
All right.
So to wrap up 2023, we're going to go down through a couple of our favorites and some of it is CrossFit.
Some is personal.
Some of it is us on the road or whatever.
And, uh, and I'm going to start with athlete of the year.
Would you like to go first, Ms.
Latimer, or would you like me to?
I sure I can start.
This one was tough for me.
Um, uh,
I picked Jeff Adler.
Okay.
He was number two on my list.
Yeah.
I mean, it was tough for me because, well, I think his, his winning the games was huge.
It was, the problem is with the Roman thing, like people want to throw shade there, but like
For me, I thought that was huge.
My problem with picking him in was not following that up at Rogue, and then there's questions about that win.
But I think he came out of his shell.
I think with the bantering with Roman, I don't know.
He's the athlete of the year for me.
Our buddy, Kenneth DeLapp, chose one miss.
Sure.
Kelly Baker.
I think it's a bit of a reach, but I can see where she could be your favorite.
She's one of my favorite people.
So mine is Laura.
Laura Horvat, I thought she dominated her side of the field much more than Jeff did on the men's side.
To then beat Tia at Rogue, I don't think you can put together.
And her team won Wadapalooza.
If you want to go back to January.
Yeah.
So, um, with all of that said, I think overall she had the best year and, um, I, and I've been like in her corner for a very long time, um, which is going to surprise you when I go with some stuff later in the show.
Um, I pick her for athlete of the year.
It's a solid pick.
I'm glad you picked her so that I could pick Jeff.
There you go.
And I've been a Jeff Adler like, oh my gosh, beating the drum.
Jeff Adler.
But Laura just had a better year.
Like Jeff lost to Pat at, really the only difference is Rogue.
Because Jeff's team won at Waterpalooza.
And so it was just finishing second to Pat at Rogue.
Yeah.
So pretty close.
Most improved.
Can we go?
Sure.
I said Alex Kazan.
Solid pick.
She won the games version of that.
Anything beyond the games that made you think she was most improved?
I don't know.
I mean...
No, I think it's just, like, hearing, like, Cotler talk about her and just seeing some things.
She won two events in a row.
Yeah, I know.
And that's the thing.
She's got some home run capabilities in her, and I don't think she's even there yet.
But I just – her games performance I thought was huge.
Like, I kept counting her out, thinking she was going to, like, stay down, and she just –
her finish at the end of the weekend was huge to me.
Completely agree.
She's awesome.
I knew you would probably pick her.
And so I went with Kenneth, the lapse pick, and I went with Jay Crouch after years of just kind of like stuck in the mire of, um,
Australia and that competition and not even always making it to the games.
And then if he did, it was like a lower level of appearance, bam, like out of nowhere shot up the charts this year and did it in a very convincing way.
Like looked like he belonged with maybe the deepest men's field we've ever had at the CrossFit games.
Yeah.
I was surprised how good he looked at,
um the the throwdown the australian what's it called uh the down under down under camps yes on the team that he was on dude he just he just looks amazing he looked good at rogue too yeah like rogue backed up everything that happened at the games he looked good at rogue
And so he's now elevated himself into that middle of the top 10.
Can he push higher?
That's the question going forward.
Kenneth, I think Dallin is a solid pick there too.
He just didn't follow that up with great performances for me.
Yeah, let's talk about Dallin for a second because I'm a big Dallin guy.
One of the most dominant teen male athletes we've ever seen.
Expectations are high.
Does really well at the games.
Gets to Rogue, and like the first two days, you and I are like, what is he doing?
Yeah, yeah.
Like, we were shocked at how bad he was.
And then he did make a little mini comeback at the end.
But to be an elite athlete, consistency has got to be better than that.
And it's just not there quite yet for him.
Which I think was evident at Guadalupe for him too, early in the year.
So there's definitely something there with him, some holes or something is going on occasionally that, yeah.
Uh, Lex is just catching up and, uh, she's a family feud girly.
I, uh, I love family feud.
I really, I am a game show junkie.
When I was a kid, my mom and I watched game show after game show after game show.
Like I loved being sick and home from school to like do the prices, right.
The whole game show morning.
Um, that was, that was some of the best times ever.
Uh,
So Kenneth says, uh, seems like such a good dude though, without a doubt, my favorite OG wide zombie card.
And I liked Alan.
That one's a good guy.
Always like is good for an interview at an event is always like amenable to everything.
I, uh, I like him too, but he has had some underwhelming performances for sure.
So now we'll go to rookie of the year.
And, and this one that was, well, I'll wait to see what you say first.
I don't have one for this one.
Cause I, mine's the same as yours and I was struggling with anyone else.
Like, so I have a second.
I tossed to Bailey Martin.
Yeah.
Again, look at his down under performance with Jay and Royce.
He looks like he belongs now, but Yella had the games performance.
And the fact, mini riff, the fact that he did not win rookie of the year at the games was criminal.
Agreed.
Yeah, we talked about that a lot.
Top 10 performance, 18th.
Big difference.
And again, what we're calling maybe the most stacked top of the men's side we've seen maybe ever.
Yes.
And he gets a top 10 performance over there.
So had to go with him.
He finished ahead of Bailey.
So I give him the win and he was doing things at the European semifinal that made you want to see him at the games.
Yeah.
Bailey got to the games, but there was no performance that made you go, Ooh, I can't wait to see him.
Yella was doing stuff in Europe and you're going, I cannot wait to see this dude live.
Yeah.
Cause he clearly had some home run things.
Like you're like, I'm not sure anyone can beat this guy at,
this.
And it's nothing against Olivia, but she's, she's so young and she is so long in this sport and she's going to get better and better.
But this was yellows year.
There was, I was not, I wasn't saying to myself, I can't wait till Olivia gets to the games so I can see her do X and
so i think my issue with that is like i don't even know i understand like and she's kind of a rookie but like she's made it to the games in my mind whether that was her division or what she's made it to the game she's been on that stage she's had a taste of that competition yellow hasn't and so like it's tough for me to even call her a true rookie well there you go ken true rookie capitalized
So let me ask you this.
Now that the teens are not at the games, is it a different view of that?
Cause they're not on the same stage anymore.
I know it will really depend.
I I'm going to have to see a year of competition, like how it's programmed.
What kind of equipment do they get?
Like, that'll be tough to say for sure.
If it doesn't have a similar feel and they don't get some of the same stuff that – that was the beauty of being at the games is, like, if the pig was out, probably the masters got to use it too.
And so, like, if that kind of stuff gets taken away and they aren't getting some of the special equipment and it is a different feel, then I would probably end up saying, yeah, it's different.
Because they're going to go experience things that no one has ever experienced.
Like, unless you've ever been to the games, you haven't experienced it.
Yeah, fair.
I thought it was a great question as we're kind of talking through this.
So next one is best competition of the year.
And I left this very open-ended, so it could be for any reason.
What do you got?
Northern California Classic.
Huh.
And why the reason behind that?
I felt like it was a pretty good test of events, like enough events over multiple days, not like a one day event, not like not even because it was three, right?
So three day broad test, decent payout purse, like higher end athletes.
I just I thought it was a well run.
I've been to Northern California Classic, although in a different format, and it was on the Masters side.
And so this is where it got, like, difficult for me because for me, best comp is going to be, like, good parking, good seating, good, like, the whole experience for fans, weather, like, everything.
There's, like, multiple comps that, like, get knocked out of there.
For me, I feel like MFC has the best shot of being one of the best comps.
They just need to fix just a couple minor things.
Because I would say the venue is the greatest, the parking.
Like if you are on top of it and you've already bought your parking pass, you can get in and out for free.
Plenty of parking, plenty of hotels.
Like I think environment plays a huge role in it.
And I think for me, MFC has like a great shot at being up there.
They just need to fix a couple things.
I hear you.
I value your opinion, but I think it's more than a few things.
I think they did a great job with trying to increase the programming this year.
I think they're in the right direction.
Just a couple volunteer things, prizes, stuff like that.
I think there needs to be a better separation of the two floors so that there's not confusion about three, two, one, go.
That's a problem.
Well, I watched, I watched people leave early when they shouldn't have, right?
Like it was a problem in some of the age groups.
Um, I think you need to pay your winning athletes.
I'm not going to argue with that one.
I think that's why it's holding it down because you're not going to get higher end athletes there if it isn't a little bit more notable prize.
Yeah.
And, um, I, I just think it could be, things could be communicated better, better standards on workouts.
Um, workouts not changed last minute.
Yeah.
And there are acceptable ways to change a workout last minute and unacceptable ways to change a workout last minute.
Definitely not the acceptable version at MFC.
Yeah.
My two cents.
My opinions do not reflect those of Miss Jamie Latimer, a competitor at MFC.
I mean, listen, we get to swim there.
It's a very...
Broad test of events.
Like I said, I feel like the ease of getting in and out of there is the least stress I've ever had at any comp I've ever been to or spectating comp.
I would think most people would agree with me.
The in-out, the hotels and the drive makes it one of the best comps to be at.
I've never had such a good experience, and I've been to it three years in a row.
Yeah.
Okay.
Fine.
We will agree to disagree.
So mine was Crash Crucible.
And I like that you picked Northern California Classic because I think those are...
Those are where the sport's going to grow.
What I'm starting to call the mid-major competitions that aren't Dubai, that aren't Wadapalooza, that aren't all of that, that are the rocks that have the people that we know, that we interview through semifinals.
Like Kenneth says, crash, but it needs more star power.
I think it had all the stars I needed.
I knew so many of the athletes because of what we do that that was great for me.
But what made it special is something that Rogue couldn't do, right?
And probably because of weather, but the time.
Everything was on time.
I could schedule my weekend around the events because they were dead on time the entire weekend.
Two, apparatus that you never see at a competition.
You got to see cool shit the whole weekend.
And it doesn't hurt that my friend was competing.
But it was, I thought, a very well run.
I liked that they allowed someone to gorilla broadcast it.
The JR was open to that.
I disagree, Kenneth.
There were lots of big names on the female side.
If you just know who the semifinal athletes are, many of those people on the women's side, you will see at semis this year and we'll have a shot at the games.
Yep.
Absolutely.
So, um, that was, that was my pick.
I just event organizers need to allow people to gorilla broadcast.
If they're not doing it, 100%.
Coverage needs to be put out there.
Yes.
Yep.
And JR allowed that.
It allowed us to get a peek in at it.
It allowed us to get to see cool handstand stuff that you don't see all the time.
It got trapeze pull-up bars.
It had flip sleds.
It had so many cool things.
And a run outside.
It was just a very...
diverse and cool competition to watch as a spectator.
So, that is that one.
Just not enough for me.
That's why, you know, like six events for me is not enough.
Right.
But the mid-majors are not going to be able to do like these massive things.
But they're going to be the rock that keeps this sport growing.
Mm-hmm.
the Metcon rushes, the Northern California classics, the, all of those, that's, what's going to keep this thing, this ball rolling fit fest, um, fittest on the coast, um, all beach brawls, all of that stuff.
No need to apologize, Kenneth.
We're just kids.
I've talked to most of these girls.
My next category is personality of the year.
And what I meant by this is, who do you tune in to watch whenever they are on a show?
Not a specific show, just they appear somewhere you're going to go watch.
Okay.
I put...
velner because i just love him and i like to hear what he has to say i think he's way up there on that because he's he is gonna say stuff yeah he yeah him and like and emily ralph are both quite candid um and i enjoy that out of them
Yeah, I didn't even think of Emily.
She's a great one.
Yeah.
But I talk to her all the time, so it's not.
Yeah.
So for me, that's just different.
But yeah, Emily's a great one.
She's a great one for that.
Mine is OG will always be Rich Froning.
I will always tune into Rich too.
I just couldn't pick him because you did.
And I will say like even like Darren.
Oh, I love him.
right so like like a one-off from rich i love to listen to darren especially tell old stories about rich and the stuff they used to get into because he he'll say things that rich won't um and i have i've had a soft space in my heart for rich for a long long time yeah
Ever since I was back in Advocare and we spoke on the same stage on the same day and had lunch together, I will always be a Froning fan.
Andrew says, athlete-wise, Vellner or Froning?
Non-athlete-wise, he said Chase, Sousa, Scott, Jamie, or Greg.
Greg.
I think, or did I don't want my glasses on.
I think that's what I meant to write.
Okay.
All right.
So you and I took a lot of trips this year.
What was your favorite one?
Um, not CrossFit wise Hawaii, although it was riddled with kind of disasters.
Um, namely the Maui fires messing up the whole trip from the get go, but
It was really great to be away with family.
And most of my trips were not spent with Aaron.
So they're hard to pick.
But if I'd have to say a CrossFit trip, I probably probably the games.
But Orlando was a close one for me just because it's my first time out of my shell and going with you.
Yeah, I had a lot of fun on all the trips this year.
It was probably the best year for doing coverage, even though behind the scenes there's frustrations and things we get upset over.
I really had a blast the entire year.
But really my favorite was probably Tempe.
Most recent one.
right and because because i was there with a big group of people we were all hanging out all different personalities ronica punching me when you're on the floor um like going to voodoo donut jim never comprehending what he is supposed to do on the floor until maybe five minutes before
Or who knows even if he's while he's out there.
Who knows?
You and Aaron being Marissa Tomei and Joe Pesci and my cousin Vinny every night, every morning and every night in the kitchen at the Airbnb.
Yeah.
And the text from Corey to eat all throughout the day.
That's sweet.
But it was just a fun, fun trip.
And it was really laid back.
I'm a laid back guy for the most part on trips.
I just go with the flow.
I know you guys are athletes and have to be places.
And I'm just there.
If I have to get an Uber, I'll get an Uber.
I'm cool.
I know.
And it was just a fun, fun trip.
And I really feel like...
I understand the masters athletes plight after that trip to Tempe because I had free access to everything.
Like I could sit in athlete village and I could talk to Jason Grubb.
I could talk to Ryan Radke and I could get their opinions about things that are going on for the masters.
And it just gave me a better insight to cover them and their sport going forward.
From a business perspective, but yeah.
So that was mine.
Why Orlando?
Orlando was wild.
It was, it just was my first, like, I just got thrown into the deep end, like go interview these people.
And it just had to push me out of my comfort zone.
Well, what, what I learned in Orlando was that like, you were the right fit.
Because I didn't ask you to just go get in.
You just started doing it.
I thought that was my task.
Well, we talked briefly, but we get there and you go.
I got to get interviews.
I'm going.
And then we just upgraded you to the GoPro and we kept upgrading you and you just kept getting better and better as we went on.
When I have access.
Correct.
And someone doesn't do a five-minute interview in front of you.
Yeah, that would help.
And so the next one for me, kind of the next thing we're going to pick is favorite post-workout interview you did this year.
And I said, it's okay to do a few because we did a lot.
Like we did over a hundred post-workout interviews as a team this year.
And I'll let you go first.
Because my really favorite one I didn't even list.
So I'm going to go off charts.
Probably my favorite one was catching Valner walking off the floor after the sled pull at semis.
Pissed.
Yeah.
Upset about the sleds and you running after him.
Yes.
Yes, Kenneth.
Doesn't the story go, you asked him for an interview and he said, if you can run with me.
Yeah.
He's like, if you can do it while we're walking, I'm like, absolutely.
Let's go.
He didn't, I don't think he said run, but yeah, I'd have been right there too.
Yeah.
That was, that was a good one.
And it got a lot of legs too.
Like on social media and YouTube and such.
So you had just one?
You were able to get it down to one?
Oh, no, I have more than just one.
Do you want to do one?
So my favorite one is going to come out of left field.
It was Cole Sager.
Oh.
So in Pasadena, he was fighting for his life on Sunday.
And I asked him the question like, you know, here you are trying to make it to the games again.
It's Sunday and it's go time.
You've been in this spot before.
What does it mean?
And he just went on this whole thing about, I love the pressure cooker days.
I love the days when it's all on me and I've got to go.
I love Sundays.
I learn a lot about myself, not just on the floor, but off the floor in these moments.
And it just, I watched it back today and like, I got goosebumps.
And so that's my, that's my number one.
Okay.
One of my other ones was Chelsea Nicholas at the games, which was terrible, unfortunate timing, but I did just, I liked the interview of getting her back there in the, in the ice bath.
And she was doing so well.
Winning.
I know.
You know what's come out of that, though?
It's like I really gained a really good friend.
Chelsea's awesome.
I chat with her probably once a month about her Achilles and check in and see how she's doing.
She is really, really awesome.
And it was a great interview in the ice baths with her.
What are they talking about over here?
What's Andrew saying?
We'll talk about that after we get to this part.
Okay.
All right.
You got a second one?
I had a ton.
I'll say my second favorite one was Kelly Baker right after she tripped over the bag, had to wait to see if she made the games.
And she did after following her for the whole season to have that climactic moment on tape was freaking awesome.
I have two others that I wrote both from Orlando, Jack Farlow and Marquand Jones.
jack was just like the sweetest kid and marquand is that dude is a talker it was i would enjoy getting to speak with him yeah marquand was one of my favorite semi-final interviews we did this season jack we've had on a few times love that kid um uh and i see big things in his future i'll add i'll add a couple more then um tetlow is always a blast
But Marissa Flowers, I've gotten to know her over the last couple years.
She announced her retirement to me, not this year, but the year before.
And she made it back and came back, which was cool.
And then almost won that ring muscle-up burpee over box.
She finished third to Ariel and Alex.
Yeah.
And then Alison Scuds for, for the dramatic way that I got that interview is she was crying because she knew, she knew it wasn't going to happen.
And she's, she's still like bucked up and gave me a great interview.
And I, that was freaking awesome.
And then of course, anytime I talk to Ariel at an event, she's so laid back.
She's gold all the time.
Yeah.
So those are mine.
Okay.
So what they were saying, which I have not seen, is that Hiller made a post saying that no one will take the master seriously now that it's a separate event.
Kenneth is saying he posted a clarification 28 or so minutes ago.
So I have not seen it.
I don't know what he said other than that.
Andrew's saying, I hope we can prove him wrong.
Okay, this says same, same.
I mean, I get what he's saying.
We're going to have to see it.
At least Grubb called him out.
That's good.
It's not even, it's honestly whether CrossFit is,
tries to still like make it serious.
We can only do so much.
And if they don't put a priority on it and there isn't the payout and there isn't the coverage, it won't, it really won't get taken seriously.
So it's even if the community wants it to be taken seriously, it's going to be up to CrossFit.
So we're going to have to see what, again, we still don't, it's not even serious.
We still don't even have a date in a place like,
My response is nobody's taking any of this serious yet.
Nobody's taking the elite serious yet.
We are still a fringe sport.
And until some drastic changes are made, like it'll never be more than that.
But I do think that masters and teens can be successful.
If you look at other sports, they are there.
Like in golf, the Champions League was a huge success.
So, I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
It's all in its infancy stage.
I think we all have to stop being so reactive in the moment and let things play out a little longer than...
than a couple weeks months because the evolution of sport is sometimes decades not months yep yep all right so biggest disappointment of the year me if you want me to go first i'll go first i can go first
The biggest disappointment was me not making the games.
So it's all about you.
I'm just kidding.
I mean, I wouldn't say that if the games hadn't been taken away this year, I would, but like the way the whole season wound up and it being split off, it just super sucks.
Yeah, I can see that.
Because I got the intimate look of you at quarterfinals, I saw how much it meant to you.
The problem is I'm 95% sure I had COVID during semifinals.
I easily think I could have made it.
Not easily.
I could have done better in the
thrust or ring muscle-up workout and made it.
And probably even better in the rope climb workout.
I was conservative.
I felt like my lungs weren't really there.
And I think I would have done great at the game.
So it's just frustrating.
I just think, and everyone, lots of athletes have to do that.
Timing happens and sicknesses happen.
And so it is what it is.
And I think I should be strong enough to outperform a cold or sickness or whatever.
But it is what it is.
Kenneth, this was on my list.
Ricky Mack getting injured was on my list for biggest disappointments.
It did not win, but it was on my list.
That's a good one.
Another one on my list that didn't make it, Justin Medeiros at the games.
Yeah.
I didn't say one.
Just saying it was, if you're a Justin fan, that was a big disappointment.
Like not only did he, he went from winner to outside the top 10.
Yep.
Um, and then my biggest disappointment, which is probably a little personal is Anika not making it to the games and it being so damn close.
And it sucks because everybody around her that was close to her point total are friends of the show.
So if she made it, I was going to be disappointed about another thing.
But Annika has fought through so many adversities.
And then to... And I know it shouldn't come down to judging.
Those two judging calls...
Like I have a still shot of her feet behind the line with the sandbag in her arms before she got called back.
That lost her that event.
And the rope climb thing was a total debacle.
But that one, you were there.
You saw how disappointed I was.
I was devastated.
More devastated than a news person should be who covers the sport.
but there it is.
Um, so Kenneth brings up a question.
He said, uh, favorite Clydesdale shows of the year outside of weight loss journey, Thursday night, CrossFit post event, hotel shows tie between Stacy Tover and Hannah and Hannah black episodes.
So we do so many shows in a year, but the first Tana black interview, the second one was fun too, but that first Tana black episode, when you find out that she studied Isabel as her like thesis before she ever did CrossFit was fascinating to me.
Um, and really cool.
I will say my favorite, none of those from the year was my birthday hot wings challenge.
I had so much fun on that and the interaction that came in from that was so awesome.
Um, that was, that was probably my favorite by far.
So
On to more.
Best teen athlete of the year.
And I let you have the pick.
Yeah, so I'm picking Ty Jenkins.
Who flat out dominated.
Yeah.
He's like another Dale and Pepper.
He's going to be a one to watch going into the men's field.
And you can't say that about every teen male champion.
No, you cannot.
Most, most can't make it right into the men's.
And I don't know if he necessarily will, but that dude is strong.
He is.
So I picked, I actually had a tie in my head.
I pick Lucy McGonigal.
who did very well at the European semifinal as an individual athlete and then went on to win the teen division for the females.
I think she has a bright outlook in whatever she does.
Her coach is Jarrett Smith, who I got to know this last year, and he just thinks so highly of her, and not just from an athlete standpoint, but overall.
as a person.
Those females tend to do what pretty well.
But this is really like our first European candidate.
Yeah.
So that's going to be interesting.
All right.
Favorite Masters athlete of the year.
Favorite
Or best.
What did you ask?
I went, I went for the one who had the best.
Okay.
I have a bit of a tie.
I'm probably going to lean towards grub, but Rudy's my other, I just, for one, I think Rudy is like, he came to more than one event.
Like he showed up at MFC.
He's getting sponsors.
Like he's,
bringing in a little bit more credibility into the master space, which Grubb has already done.
But Grubb continues to show his face at many comps and is a huge advocate on the master's side.
So I think, I mean, I lean towards Grubb as the best master's athlete and he just dominates.
He's not even the youngest in his bracket anymore and he still just dominates.
He would have podiumed in the age bracket below him, like at Legends.
It's crazy.
Dude, he's just crazy.
So grub four time champ, Rudy two time champ, you know, he's had double the time.
Right.
And I, and I totally get along with grub.
I love grub.
I'm really close to Rudy, but in there, but they're the two faces of the master's division right now on the men's side.
And it's up to them to like, continue like grub building a training camp.
in the master's division, Rudy getting the podium deal, Rudy getting the tier deal.
Like those are important steps for the master's division.
Yes.
And they have to keep doing that.
Uh, Kenneth lap calls, uh, Jamie, the people's champ Latimer.
No question.
I gotta do more things.
Um, my pick.
is Kelly Friel.
And why do I pick her?
Because there were moments at the games when the men and women were on the floor at the same time, oftentimes.
And in most divisions, the men were way out in front of the women.
Kelly Friel was not going to let that happen.
And she was competing against grubs division.
And she was going out there doing the best she could and competing alongside the men and dominated her division by so much.
And she has now been to the games.
I think six times.
With two seconds and four firsts.
Plus, we stayed in the same hotel a couple years ago, and we grilled out together, and she's just freaking awesome.
I would like to see her at more camps.
Bring that awesomeness to more things.
I know.
It is hard to get to some of these American camps.
If you talk about Michigan to Tempe, England to Tempe would be astronomical.
And if prize money isn't at a rate that makes sense, you just can't do it.
Does she do any of the European stuff?
Does she get on a team?
Does she try to show up at any of those?
I know a couple of years ago she would, she would go elite at like the French throwdown and stuff like that.
Um, I don't know.
They have the master's opportunities in Europe that they do here.
I know she doesn't look around Europe.
Um, so I know she, she just does a bunch of stuff.
Um,
But it's hard, and you and I have talked.
Without a prize purse that meets the needs of the athletes, you're not going to get the top end.
She does Wadapalooza because Wadapalooza pays.
Yep.
And it's probably the shortest flight from England she can get.
Yeah, yeah.
So there you go.
Kenneth says, I don't like how Sam Dancer won his division.
Then his response was, I'm going elite next year.
Irked me for some reason.
Yeah, kind of like, oh, that group was too easy.
I need a bigger challenge.
I get it.
I get it, Ken.
I get it too.
But this year you can do both.
Yep.
I mean, we'll see what he's capable of doing.
So see if you can back it up.
you were allowed in the book to compete elite and masters if you wish.
Yeah.
I love that.
I mean, I, I think that's, I think that's a good change.
I, I understand people's questioning the programming and how it's really going to filter, but I do like that option.
All right.
Favorite moment of the season.
Competing at crash on my birthday.
Okay.
And you did well that day, didn't you?
No.
No?
That was my worst day.
No.
That was my worst day.
That was the handstand walk and the thruster.
It just... But you PR'd... I don't know.
Yeah, like I hit a thruster weight that I've never hit before.
um it was nice of like it was nice to see like i had my shirt i had everyone there sign it it was very nice to get the happy birthdays susan my face with the camera like it just it just felt nice yeah it was cool it was a cool moment so mine um was aerial poduming podiuming
in a tie with getting to do the full documentaries with you and you and Rudy to go be at your gyms, hang out with you and your families and be able to, to do that was a lot, was just a blast for me.
And it, and it pulled something out of me that I didn't know was there.
But aerial podiuming after we had just had a talk with her like a month before that all she needed was some confidence in herself.
And to see that come to fruition was just a really cool, cool thing.
And so happy for her.
And Dylan is just one of the nicest guys out there.
So that was just a blast.
Now we get into some nitty-gritty.
Best CrossFit decision in 2023?
I'm going to say bringing Dave back in to oversee the games.
Okay.
Good call.
Do you think we've even seen the plan yet?
No, I don't know.
I mean, I think he does a good job of making sure the right story is told on the floor.
And I have a feeling, and I think he even stated he had to change something.
So I'm thankful for probably that.
Like we probably would have had more complaints than we did at the games had they not been put in that position to fix some things.
I'll say this.
We had a lot of complaints at semifinals.
Yes.
we didn't see that level of complaint at the games.
Right.
I have not always backed the decision for Dave to be the one back to run it, but I think it was needed this year.
or whatever that means.
And I like Dave.
Every time I've talked to Dave, he's been very cordial, very nice.
I don't have anything personally against him.
I just... This is for another show, but I think we need to get outside of what has always been and move into something that is designed to grow the sport.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
So...
Mine, my best decision of 2023 was to give the semifinals back to event directors who do this stuff all the time.
And especially to Wilson Pak in North America East and Dylan Malitzky and Loudon Live in North America West.
And they gave it to the French Throwdown in Europe.
Those were the three that CrossFit tried to take over.
That did not go well.
And I'm glad that they gave that back to the event directors who know what they're doing and can do a great job at this.
That is my best decision.
The bar is pretty low, according to Andrew.
Andrew says the bar is pretty low to pick a best decision by CrossFit.
We're trying to stay positive.
But we do have the worst decision made by CrossFit in 2023 up next.
So I'll turn that over to Jamie.
So games-wise, this was sort of tough for me.
I did it games-wise and not just HQ-wise.
Games-wise, I'm going to say not...
There's multiple to this and the whole master side, but like not broadcasting the masters properly.
The one camera I think was not a good decision.
HQ wise, I think the way the affiliate fee increase was implemented.
And I've said that my opinion on this, how I feel like it should have been like a tiered or like a overtime.
I just think that that was not the best decision, but we shall see.
So HQ wise, I think the worst decision they made is to not have a person capable of communicating decisions that are made.
I don't even think they have that person on staff.
Like, they need to hire a person to make these announcements that can answer questions and do it in a way that doesn't get mucked up in the process.
Yeah.
So that's the worst HQ decision.
The worst games decision, and I'm probably just going on my riff...
picking Roman to win Spirit of the Games.
Oh, yeah.
That's a good one.
Was the worst decision ever.
We talked to Tony Turski today, who had a torn calf at Legends, had to do his crossovers one-legged, and he didn't win Spirit of the Games.
I know.
Cuts is a great one, guys.
I totally agree.
So I, and, and we've said this over and over again, we saw no less than five masters athletes have to do one legged double unders on, in their side.
And, um, all your adaptive athletes, like, yeah, he's not doing anything special.
No, that was a PR mistake.
move and not a legit I don't even think the award should exist it's a mockery of what it used to be so cuts I guess I can see that Kelly Baker almost took the whole machine down after being cut that is true
And for my friend Kelly, I'm glad she got to compete another day.
Got probably more shine and highlight than she would have gotten had she finished in the top 30.
I don't like the amount of cuts.
I will grant you that.
I'm okay with cutting from 40 to 20 on the last day or 40 to 30, something like that, on the last day.
But that Friday night cut is dumb to me.
Yeah, we kind of talked about that, Andrew, earlier on when we picked our Rookie of the Year who was Yella unanimously by us.
But yeah.
That Spirit of the Game one.
That has been a thorn in my side nonstop.
All right.
Last one for this year is if you could add three things to the rulebook, what would they be?
Okay.
We both have that workout videos.
Every workout, like for the open or quarterfinals, semifinals, whatever it is that you're doing, should have to be submitted with your score at the time of submission of score.
And when the leaderboard populates, that should be public.
So all, if there's five workouts, all five videos should be on the leaderboard, clickable by anyone and viewable.
That's my number one.
I want to say my piece.
Everybody says that CrossFit can't handle the workload of a bunch of video reviews.
You make those things public, you're not going to have to do a whole bunch of work because people are going to point it all out to you.
You're going to be able to look over at Hiller's site.
You're going to be able to look over at anybody with a voice talking about how bad a video is.
And hopefully knowing that they're out there public.
No, they won't.
Not with this administration at HQ because they don't want to be that transparent.
It's honestly like it just, just making them out there public should hold the athletes to like that level of like, anyone's going to look at this.
I better review it before I submit it and make sure I move well.
And if you don't, you're going to get ridiculed and called out.
And I think that would be good for the sport.
I think most of that stuff has been good for the sport.
I agree.
My number two is that, and I don't know how this would necessarily, just I think a general statement, like any CrossFit sanctioned event should have a award or prize purse associated and backed and announced.
Okay.
I can go with that one.
And I think there should be a basic movement list in the rule book.
Even if it's like 30 basic movements, they're probably always going to be in the open or something.
And that should follow through to like every stage of competition so that there's no question on, I don't know, a dumbbell snatch.
Like is, you know, is it two heads of the dumbbell?
Like this should just be kind of universal.
Well, Kenneth asks, any other professional sport release a yearly rule book?
I will say yes, kind of.
Most sports have a rule book in place that there is a yearly review done by a rules committee that then makes recommendations to the ownership of that league.
And then they can vote to make that change or not.
But it's all done publicly.
And if it's voted through, then that change is made to the rulebook.
It's not like a brand new rulebook every year, but you can make... There's yearly reviews to it.
Happens in the NFL, happens in Major League Baseball, all that kind of stuff.
Sure.
So my other two are...
All finishes should finish away from the chaos if you are a sanctioned CrossFit event.
We have been to too many events this year where we couldn't tell who won because the finish line was either at the point you were done with your workout in the middle of the floor or you finished where everybody was hanging out and you couldn't tell if they were in the chalk bucket or crossing the finish line.
I am very passionate about finishes because that's what it's about, Kenneth.
We want to know who finishes first.
That's why you watch the sport.
And if you can't tell, it takes away all that excitement.
You don't know whether to cheer, whether to yell to go faster.
You have no idea what you're doing at that moment.
Yeah, yeah.
There's that.
And then my other one is, I think they need to expand North American Europe back to 120 and 60.
Cutting them down to 40 is bullshit.
I'm with you on this one.
The fact that you're expanding Masters way up, you're expanding teams way up, and now we're going to cut the semifinal athletes?
Are you kidding me?
Right.
And it's been shown that games athletes would not have made semifinals under these rules.
Yep.
If you can't handle the capacity at one event, then you need to go to three in North America and two in Europe.
Yep.
But cutting them down is not the end.
That is dumb.
You are taking away the opportunity for athletes to grow and become competitive in the sport.
And you're giving that opportunity to South America, Africa, Asia.
Just dumb.
Totally agree.
So there we go.
Sorry, Kenneth.
I got a little, I didn't mean to yell at you about my finishes, but it's important to me.
If I'm a spectator and I'm watching event, I want to know who the hell's done.
Yeah.
I don't think it needs to go back to its roots.
I actually believe the exact opposite.
I think we're stuck in our roots and we're trying to put band-aids and binding twine on a sport to keep it at its roots rather than let it grow and flourish in a way it needs to.
So now we're going to do a couple of predictions.
And we're already an hour seven into this.
I know.
Okay.
So we got to move.
So we're doing 2024 predictions.
Who will be the athlete of the year in 2024?
Pat Belner.
Why will Pat be the athlete of the year?
I just want him to win so bad.
I know.
I want to put everything into this year and win.
So.
I don't know.
My athlete of the year is Emma Lawson.
I love it.
And I say it's Emma Lawson and hear me out.
Cause we've all been talking about the Tia Laura battle.
And quietly there's this young lady in Canada working her ass off.
And she's going to shock the world and beat both of them.
I would love that.
And Emma Lawson will be your 2024 CrossFit Games champion and Athlete of the Year.
It's the only reason I didn't pick her.
I had to pick a different Canadian because you already had picked her.
Yeah, we could have, yeah.
I hope you're right because...
I sadly am thinking it probably will be Tia again, but, and I don't, I mean, good for Tia if she comes back better than ever, but it's just done, it made this year so exciting to have a race.
And I just don't want that to all come apart again if she just comes and totally dominates again.
Yeah.
So I hope you're right.
Heard it here first.
I was the first on the Jeff Adler bandwagon last year.
All right.
Most improved.
Emma Carey.
Wow.
From eight.
I know.
I'm just curious what mayhem brings her.
I mean, I think she's got the goods.
We'll see.
I say Justin Medeiros.
I can see that.
And my other pick is probably more of a heart pick.
I had second Amanda Barnhart.
Okay.
Could have went Jason Hopper, but I told you I'm done with him.
I had the same thought process.
I need to see it.
Rookie of the year.
We have the same one.
Yeah, Hatfield, Austin Hatfield.
Austin Hatfield's who I have.
We met him in Orlando.
Almost made it last year.
Then number one qualifier at Wadapalooza goes into Crash Crucible, wins that.
I think it's going to be exciting to see where this guy goes.
Mm-hmm.
I didn't even think about people who didn't make the games.
Yeah, like Brooke, like Saxon.
Yeah.
And they could be that too.
But they were both injured, and I have a hard time looking at an injured athlete to making them an improved athlete.
They just got hurt, and they just needed to mend and get better.
Yeah, I would look at their previous placement as their improvement placement.
Yeah.
He's really that good.
I have to admit, Jamie's the one that pointed him out to me.
In Orlando, he was every bit the good you said.
He moves so well.
He's like the way you see Colton move through thrusters, right?
Because he's got shorter limbs.
Austin's like that slightly tall, just slightly.
He's got the advantage of having somewhat short limbs too.
But I think it doesn't hamper him because he is slightly taller in some of the other things that Colton gets hurt in.
So he's, I would say, slightly more well-rounded.
But he moves really well.
He's strong enough.
I think he's good.
So Andrew says, I think Dallin's going to be near the top next year.
I hope so.
But man, it's a stacked field.
Like...
When you look at Adler and Roman and Pat and Brent, like it's going to be tough and Madera's probably coming back.
Like it's going to be, that's five people right there.
Yeah.
I don't know if he can break past fifth, sixth, honestly.
Every time I think like Brent's done, like when we saw him in Pasadena, he was a different dude.
I don't know.
It's going to be interesting.
Best comeback.
Biggest comeback in my heart.
Big time Bex.
Bex Fusile.
You guys are on a Bex name term.
I hope she makes it back to the game.
That girl works.
And seeing her at Legends, backing one of her Masters athletes, live and in person, was a cool sight to see.
Yeah, yeah.
So then I have best competition of the year next year.
Okay, this is going to be a surprise for you.
I think it's going to be the Pitt Games.
The pit teen CrossFit games.
Correct.
Why do you say that?
I just, I, well, I'm excited to see what they do with their space and given some support with CrossFit.
It's going to, I mean, I'm just hopeful for them that it, they get more like space and equipment and.
Cause that's, I mean, all that stuff goes into it, right?
Like the spectator experience is going to be key in that.
So I'm willing to be wrong, but I'm hopeful that it.
The cool thing is they have all that acreage to do cool events that nobody else is going to have that to do.
So, okay.
I hear you.
I just took a wild stab at the dark and I went was a SoCal and
on the beach in California, if they do something like fresh coast and get like that all to kind of ramp up like that in a big was a style that could be epic.
That was almost my pick fresh coast, but it needs, it needs a little bit more as well.
So, so, and yeah,
With semis being reduced to 40-40, there's going to be more people that don't even make it to semis that can train for Wazza SoCal.
Yeah.
And that could be their big event.
So that's why I went with that.
All right.
Best teen athlete of the year next year.
I don't know.
I need to do more research.
It's
Your pick was good.
I defaulted.
I went with Maria Granizo, teen girl, dominated 14, 15-year-old from Guatemala.
She competes in the North America East.
She totally crushed the 14, 15-year-old division.
And I think she's going to be able to make the jump to 16, 17 and is the next in a line to move into that teen girl kind of competition.
Then we have Best Masters Athlete of the Year.
Yep.
Jamie Latimer.
Did you skip?
No, I did not pick myself.
Did you skip some?
This is not the order I have on my sheet.
Did you do Personality of the Year already?
Not for next year.
I didn't do that for next year.
Yeah, you did.
You had that in your list.
I did not.
I didn't.
I swear you did.
Okay.
For Masters, I have Jen Ryan.
Do we know if she's going to compete next year?
I'm pretty sure she's going to.
I guess we're going to see.
She told me at the game she was done.
You think so?
I asked her at Masters and Legends.
She wouldn't stay on camera.
I don't think she could stay away.
She gave me the... So Jen... Kenneth's talking about you giving me the look like his wife gives him.
But Jen Ryan gave me the look that made me think she's going to try to go team again.
So that would be my only... And she's done a couple team things.
That is my...
one concern with that pick um and i'm in in that aspect you know like i'm trying to think of like a 35 39 male that like could step in like i don't know like a pan check or i don't know if sam's gonna be there if he's gonna pull the i need to do the indie route um because like i said i need i want somebody who's gonna show up at not just the games
somebody who's going to be an advocate.
They're going to show up at MFC and then either do... I mean, at this point, I don't expect people to do Legends and Legends games.
I would probably just do one.
But I think MFC is an important one to try to show up to if they can figure out how to pay athletes to get there.
And like, Wadapalooza, Master's side.
I just think more appearances...
and coverage of these like bigger name athletes is important.
And that, I mean, that's why grub for me is, is huge.
So I said on this one, the safe bet would be to take Cheryl Brost.
The woman is always there.
She's always on the podium.
She's won it like four or five times, but she's been there like since 2012.
Yeah.
that would be the safe bet under the criteria of going to multiple events.
I would say Rudy.
I think this is the year that Rudy goes three in a row.
He's going to water Palooza in January.
He's going to, he's going to do one of the other events and he's going to, this is taking him from great athlete to superstar.
Totally agree.
My other person that I would pick, but I don't think she goes to other events would be that Susan Clark.
Cause man, she's got a streak.
She's awesome too.
And she was a, she was one of my picks, but it wasn't post workout, but one of my favorite interviews talking with her after the, her metal at the games was I loved.
Yeah, Kenneth, the tier sponsorship is good.
The podium sponsorship is great.
Yeah.
Just from knowing a little detail, I'm telling you, tier's good, podium, great.
So, all right.
So that is our predictions for next year.
Any resolutions going into the new year?
Gosh, I haven't even, no.
I still got to do accounting and books for the gym.
I'm a mess.
I'm behind.
I haven't catch up on things.
So my resolution is one, I've got to do Murph between semis and the games.
Mm-hmm.
But I'm going to make this an announcement, is we no longer have a title sponsor for the Clydesdale Media.
We got word a couple weeks ago that C4 was making cuts, and they cut 85% of all influencers, and we were one of those 85%.
So we no longer have a title sponsor and we are on the hunt.
And my resolution is got to get something in the works so that we can go out and give you the coverage you guys deserve.
Because without that backing, we will not have the funds to be able to go to events.
like we did this past year.
So my big resolution is find some sponsors.
And if it's not just one, maybe each show we do a smaller sponsor or whatever it is.
But we actually, what's crazy is we're blessed enough that we've been around long enough that there have been people interested in us, but because of conflict of interest with C4, we could not bring on.
So we're hoping that we can reach out to them, rekindle those talks, and get something in line fairly quickly.
It's just tough at the holidays because nobody's around.
Nobody wants to talk and all that.
But we'll try to figure something out.
with between now but just so you guys know when we come back next week there will be no c4 on the promos no c4 on the backgrounds anything like that and that is why because they have made drastic cuts for 2024 so
The only other thing I really wanted to talk about was a couple weeks ago, I think it was last week, Spin came up with an idea of eliminating online qualifiers.
And that really piqued my interest.
And so I wanted to just dive into it with you, Jamie, because I think one of the fallacies is it doesn't cover masters.
Right.
Everybody thinks just elites.
So how can we, how can we kind of do that?
So his thing is use worldwide rankings.
I pray to God.
He means like a new version of worldwide rankings and not the thing that CrossFit is using.
Yeah.
And so if there was a worldwide ranking and like this event is taking 30 people and
All these people sign up and they take the top 30 that are in the worldwide rankings.
Okay.
Lower tiers.
And then, and he's saying that, um, you would earn tiers and up through, through what I've been calling like the mid majors that you would actually earn points going to like Metcon rush crash, crucible fittest on the coast, all that kind of stuff and earn points to kind of get moved up in that leaderboard, um, worldwide ranking.
So I think it's the genesis of a really good idea that probably needs like a little bit of thought.
Yeah.
It does sound a bit like sanctionals and it sounds like, but once you hit that here, do you need to do like the Dubai qualifier and the blah, blah, blah.
because a lot of like rogue like people are just coming off like a game season and if you weren't in the top 20 and you want to go to rogue you got to gear up and do these qualifiers i know they weren't easy yeah i know it's tough because i the qualifiers suck and i get it they're
it would be nice to get away from these, but I also don't want to see the same top 30 people just get to all these events.
So I, well, the same 30 wouldn't want to go to every event.
Yes.
It sounds like the PGA to me.
Yeah.
Like you basically earn your card and you, once you're in that elite tier, you just go by the worldwide wide rankings.
And what,
but there's gotta be a way for those lower tiers to work their way up and in.
Yeah.
And not all comps are created equal.
Like how, man, I see so many issues with that.
Again, Genesis of an idea that I think just needs some time to be worked on.
I would be very curious to hear more thoughts.
Well, and like how many,
You'd have to.
So like if Europe has 37 mid majors and North America East has 27 and North America West has 18, that's not fair either.
So it's almost like you have to pick a number and say, these are the ones that are point qualifiers and,
Right.
But again, I think it's a genesis of a good idea.
It's just, it needs a lot of work.
And Andrew makes a point.
These point qualifiers hopefully would pay money and you could actually have a waste of making some money along the way.
Yes, that would be ideal.
But there'd have to be enough in your region to make it viable.
Yeah.
Cause you can't make, I mean, you can make whatever, but like it becomes, again, this becomes a, a halves versus the halves.
Not like if it really isn't, there isn't like five, if becomes five that they choose.
and there aren't really five accessible in my area, it just becomes cross-prohibitive.
And then it's someone else who doesn't have to work and has backing and can get to all these events just gets a spot just because I can't make it.
So let me ask you this.
Me as a media person, what really dictates...
my funding is can i drive to it or not is that the way an athlete looks at it so i prefer yeah i prefer to be able to drive to the events um like i think that's why mfc is probably in my mind one of the greatest because i can pack a suitcase and food and whatever i want and drive there and not be
It's not a 12-hour drive like it was to go to 14 or whatever it was to go to Mayhem last year.
That I'm hurting when I get out of the car because I sat in a car for 14 straight hours.
Or I'm hurting because I sat and cramped in a plane for five straight hours to get to California.
And I have to limit what I can pack to go to somewhere in California.
And those flights aren't cheap.
Um, so yeah, driving is quite honestly, like if it's six hours or less, I'd say like that makes it a lot more reasonable.
Yeah.
So Madison for us was eight hours.
Like to me, that's doable.
That's pushing it.
Like I could get to Matt, I could get up early at 5am, get to Madison and still be able to do some stuff that day.
As a media person, I'm not talking as an athlete.
So I'm just trying to understand the difference between media and athlete.
Because in a car, I can get out, I can stretch.
Because I'm going to have to get gas, I'm going to have to stop anyway, right?
And it just, there's way less stress than a flight.
Right.
Sure, for sure.
But when you start approaching that eight plus hours and then you are stopping to to break and you're tired.
Still, I mean, even if you got out and stretch stuff, you're just it's that's a long day.
And if I woke up at 5 a.m.
to try to make that drive, I'm already tired.
So it's like it's like a waste of an entire day.
It truly is a full day just gone.
Yeah.
Well, like Kenneth says, you know, flights can be canceled, delayed, lose your luggage.
Last year to Wadapalooza, it, I was delayed 12 hours.
And instead of my direct flight from Columbus to Miami, I had to go to Minnesota and then fly to Miami.
And there were people because that's when like everything went down across the country.
there were people that were delayed two days when I was there.
Yeah.
That's always my fear.
Sign up for one of these comps and then not even make it.
Cause I talked to Tommy Marquez and he had just gotten there and he was due in like two days before.
Yeah.
It was crazy.
So
I just wanted to throw that out there.
I also had on here, Roman goes off.
I think that story's old.
The only thing I wanted to say about that is I don't think the translation's wrong.
The Roman-Russian interview.
I don't think the AI is wrong.
Okay.
But I don't think Rosa's an agent.
If you've ever met Rosa...
I think she just cares deeply for Roman as a friend and wants to protect him.
I could see that.
Yeah.
I don't think that she's an agent trying to manipulate what he says.
I think she's just a friend trying to protect her friend.
Agreed.
So...
Because I've met Rosa.
We had her on our show before Roman got in the country when she was trying to help him get here.
I just wanted to say that.
But that Roman stuff was interesting.
Most of it I was okay with.
The Guy stuff I thought was over the line.
But I think that's pretty much what everybody's been saying.
So
especially if he's a teammate in your camp you can't be doing that stuff roman who's the real trash talker roman or jeff roman there you go that said that months ago
Well, guys, thank you so much for a great 2023.
Hope you had fun going down memory lane with us a little bit.
We are looking forward to 2024.
It's going to be a new year for us.
We're going to be doing some new things, hopefully with some new sponsors.
We want to continue to bring you the best possible coverage we can for everything we go do.
And I think we're getting to there.
We're getting better and better every year we do this.
And, you know, I didn't know Jamie personally before 2023.
And to bring her on this year, it's been a great addition to the team.
She...
It has become my confidant, my person I bitch to, and it makes these shows really fun.
And I am so blessed to have her and so glad you joined the team this year.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
I feel the same.
With that, we wish you the best 2024 possible.
We will see you guys next week.
after I turn 54 on Monday.
And we'll go into some more stuff into the 2024 CrossFit Games season with that.
And don't forget, we have lots more champions coming on the show.
We'll see you tomorrow, is what he's trying to say.
Yeah.
Michael Paz.
Yes.
Grand Rapids.
35 to 39-year-old champ at Legends on tomorrow at 140.
And then we have some more people lined up
Through January, schedules were tight with the holidays, so we're getting some people scheduled, but we'll continue that series on because it has been a blast.
If you didn't see Tony Turski today, go check that out.
With that, we'll see everybody tomorrow or next week on Thursday Night CrossFit Talk.
Goodbye, everybody.