#390 – CrossFit Press Conference with Andrew Hiller

Sevan Matossian (00:00):

You’ll see something. Oh, you’ll know. You’ll know

Andrew Hiller (00:03):

We live. I forgot

Sevan Matossian (00:06):

If, uh,

Andrew Hiller (00:07):

<laugh>

Sevan Matossian (00:09):

If

Andrew Hiller (00:09):

This guy, this guy’s new here. Remember

Sevan Matossian (00:11):

If you’re uncertain, just play dumb. That’s what I do.

Andrew Hiller (00:14):

You can do that.

Sevan Matossian (00:16):

Welcome ladies and gentlemen. <affirmative> to what is the unofficial press conference?

Andrew Hiller (00:26):

<laugh> what makes it unofficial? Why can’t this be the official one?

Sevan Matossian (00:29):

I mean, it is the official one, but I, I

Andrew Hiller (00:31):

Dunno. I, I gotta answer a question. Is it truly unofficial is how, you know, the press conferences and the entire media team is just, it’s like, Hey, they’re asking questions. It’s like, if, if that isn’t us and the audience asking questions, how is it a press conference? <laugh> if it’s just the Maureen Chalkup, who’s sitting there asking questions then what is it?

Sevan Matossian (00:51):

<laugh> Hiller’s Hiller’s just diving in. <laugh>

Andrew Hiller (00:56):

Like,

Sevan Matossian (00:57):

Like diving in like, like a, like a 17 year old boy who just got the green light

Andrew Hiller (01:03):

Green. Light’s the only light that matters

Sevan Matossian (01:05):

Just diving in. Holy.

Andrew Hiller (01:08):

You said you were gonna be the one who was in a rare form.

Sevan Matossian (01:11):

I’m really trying to stay really tempered. I, I wanna, I wanna paint a big picture view and Hiller, um, feel free to jump in anywhere you want to. Um, correct. My understanding of it. It was brought to my attention last night that, um, there was a going to be a, uh, a press conference this morning. And someone had sent me a link to a morning chalk article, and I went and checked out the link and I sended a request. And then, and I contacted Hillary and asked him if he was going. And he said that he had also sent a request. And, um, then, uh, he said that he got his response back and, and we both sent it to the same per well, I, I sent mine to Andrew Weinstein and I see C Andrew. Weinstein’s the guy that’s a whole nother thing. We’ll get into him in a minute.

Andrew Hiller (02:01):

<laugh> that is also who I sent mine to by the way.

Sevan Matossian (02:04):

Okay. And I see C Nicole Carroll, Justin Berg, and, uh, Gary Gaines and maybe one other person that I can’t remember.

Andrew Hiller (02:11):

I can’t say I did the same, just the one for me.

Sevan Matossian (02:13):

Okay. And, uh, I got a response, um, very clever. Uh, he, he, uh, I, I think Andrew would actually be a great comment or in the comments, he said, unfortunately, I I’m paraphrasing. I said, Hey, can I come to, I’d like to come to the press conference seven on podcast would like to come to the press conference. And he responded with, unfortunately, this is just for media only.

Andrew Hiller (02:38):

<laugh> what, what are we, what do we considered? Just,

Sevan Matossian (02:42):

I don’t know. I don’t know. It reminds me of when I, uh, when I asked my girlfriend, my first girlfriend in the 10th grade, if she would go out on a date with me and she said, I only go out with straight guys. I was like, okay, <laugh> Got it. I it’s true

Andrew Hiller (02:59):

Story.

Sevan Matossian (03:00):

No, it’s not true, but don’t ruin, don’t ruin my stories, but it is true what Andrew Weinstein said to me. And that’s him just be, I have to assume that that’s yeah, ouch. Right. I have to assume that’s him being, uh, snarky right by saying, um, unfortunately it’s for me only. So I responded with, Hey, I suspect I’m the, um, uh, by several metrics, the largest media covering, um, CrossFit and the CrossFit games and, uh, and I, and I, and definitely fastest growing, uh, please, uh, reconsider. And, and, and what you started this podcast with Andrew is you said, Hey, how is it a press conference if you and I aren’t there

Andrew Hiller (03:35):

Just anything you’ve ever seen, like the con McGregor’s getting interviewed after they do a weigh in, or the post MBA or MLB press conferences. There’s an entire field of people back there from every realm of whatever. I don’t know, NBC sports. And they’ve got ESPN sitting out there and they all have their microphones up trying to ask questions. And from what I understand, it was just Maureen chalk up asking questions to a field of people.

Sevan Matossian (04:00):

I, I, right.

Andrew Hiller (04:01):

Well, and I guess when I, I, I have a little knowledge that people like the wads, great. Again, guy, I’ll get media passes to the CrossFit games. Right. And if he, as an internet, me page can get a media pass, like that’s media, right? So what are we,

Sevan Matossian (04:19):

Well, I’ll tell I’ll, I’ll tell you something very interesting too. Now we’re jumping way ahead of ourselves, but you guys, this, this show is gonna be full of stories like this. When a Andrew, when, uh, there was a time when, um, who’s the other arming in guy besides me arm hammer, arm, and hammer, and the meme guy were doing some really pretty gnarly attacks at Dave Castro. And Dave had said that they could not come to the CrossFit games and Andrew Weinstein’s response to him was, um, Hey, there’s we, we, we have to let them come to the games. We have to give them media passes. There’s gonna be good media and bad media. And so he, he, that that’s from his, his mouth. Now this guy, um, we should actually pull, maybe even pull up his Twitter. You can pull up his Twitter account, Kayla, maybe if you want, but this guy was a huge Romney, mid Romney supporter, and then swung hard and was a huge Hillary Clinton supporter.

Sevan Matossian (05:11):

And then, and then just basically made a living of just hating, uh, Trump and his whole credentials. When you meet this guy is, um, basically he’s a fixer. That’s all he does. He ne he thrives with problems. He’s this, uh, little, um, uh, sort of very, very, uh, petite man, um, living in Costa Rica. Um, and that’s not, that’s, that’s, he’s petite next to me. Uh, he’s a petite man living in Costa Rica. He did not even show up at the most recent, uh, first all hands, uh, um, on deck meeting that CrossFit HQ has, um, had last week in Colorado. Uh, he, I think he’s one of the only people to not show up. He just hides out in Costa Rica. I think he, I think in the last two years, maybe he’s only come stateside once for a meeting across a meeting. And I bring this up because this is the guy who’s, who’s him and this chick, Aaron, um, who comes from ways are the two people who are running basically CrossFit media. This guy has to have problems. He probably loves us, or like job security for Hiller.

Andrew Hiller (06:11):

You said he likes problems. It’s when you said you, you pick on Twitter, so poor causing problems that he really likes us.

Sevan Matossian (06:17):

Yes. Uh, and so, so, uh, that that’s who Andrew Weinstein is for those of you don’t know, that’s who we sent the email to requesting to get into the press conference. And, uh, he responded to both of us. What did he say to you? Did he respond to you?

Andrew Hiller (06:32):

Yeah, it said something along the lines of, we’re only allowing media, but I’m interested as to whether or not you’ll be at a semi-final and let’s keep in touch.

Sevan Matossian (06:41):

Okay. So he knows who you, he, it sounds like maybe he knows who you are,

Andrew Hiller (06:45):

Which is awesome. I I’m over here, I’m over here. Like, Hey, I’m a media guy. Like why only they let me in, but it’s like, really, I’ve only been around for two months. Right? So what the hell am I complaining about?

Sevan Matossian (06:55):

Well, you’ve, you’ve made more media than the CrossFit games. Media department has made, uh, the, the, the 17 members, uh, 13 of which are women that they’re so proud of. And four are men, uh, in the last, uh, I don’t know, two

Andrew Hiller (07:08):

Years. So wait, how many people was that? 13 and what?

Sevan Matossian (07:11):

10 plus se 13 women and four men.

Andrew Hiller (07:14):

Okay. So that’s 17 and they put out how much content.

Sevan Matossian (07:17):

And when I say men, I’m using that word loosely, I haven’t seen, oh, uh, Weinstein kinda looks like Matthew McConaughey there.

Andrew Hiller (07:23):

I was gonna say that, look at that guy. Good

Sevan Matossian (07:24):

Buddy. Looking good.

Andrew Hiller (07:26):

Imagine him, if you were bald though, that’s what I’m doing. I dunno why I don’t know why he looks good,

Sevan Matossian (07:33):

Right? Yeah. He’s a, he’s a DC goon. He’s he is a, just a political, he’s a political creature of the highest order and, and what what’s fascinating to me. So, so by the way, I, I am also curious what the, um, what the DEI council would say about not having you and I there, uh, diverse, uh, equity, inclusivity. That, that, first of all, okay. I’m gonna tell you that wasn’t a press conference. The fact that it was leaked to morning chalk up yesterday, that there’s a press conference in the morning means it’s not a press conference. It’s a propaganda show. Everyone who works at the morning, chalk up, or a huge chunk of them was given a link and asked to apply to come to the press conference to fill it up, to make it feel robust. And then, and then people like, um, uh, Mr. Hiller and I were denied access the larger. Did you,

Andrew Hiller (08:23):

Did you get the,

Sevan Matossian (08:24):

You what’d you say,

Andrew Hiller (08:25):

I didn’t call you a Jew. I asked if you got the transcript <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (08:28):

I did. Yeah. And I did. And I did. I do have a transcript also. Yes. All

Andrew Hiller (08:31):

Right. Yeah. I had that sent

Sevan Matossian (08:33):

And I, and I listened to the whole thing. Uh, I got three recordings of it, uh, from people who are kind enough to send it.

Andrew Hiller (08:39):

Um, I only got one recording. You got three?

Sevan Matossian (08:41):

Yeah. Well, that’s the difference between me and you, Mr. Hiller.

Andrew Hiller (08:43):

Yeah. I, I have one 10th of the popularity of you, man.

Sevan Matossian (08:46):

They all came from the same. They all came from the same girl though. That’s not much. She likes me.

Andrew Hiller (08:50):

She just bombed you. She made sure you saw it. That’s what it was. It’s just like repopulating at the top of your inbox. <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (08:56):

So it it’s extremely disingenuous to call it a press conference. I really want, I really wanna drive that home. It’s in it. It is, it was not a press conference. This is more of a press conference. What you’re hearing now than that was there. That was not a press conference. That was Adrian Bosman. And, uh, and Justin Berg and, and Mao, Bryan and Gabriela Mawa and some, some Okie. Right. And

Andrew Hiller (09:20):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (09:21):

Um, answering Marty chalk up questions and Sean Woodland. I didn’t hear Tommy marque ask a question, did you?

Andrew Hiller (09:27):

Oh, you’re right. Sean was there too. Yeah, but not Tommy. Not that he, he didn’t say anything at least.

Sevan Matossian (09:32):

And, and we don’t know who all was there because when you’re on the zoom call, you can only see the five, those five people. You can’t see all the media that’s there. But I was told that there were 15 other people and I’m assuming 14 of ’em were, uh, no, no. Brian was there. Uh, geeky. Brian was there. I heard Brian ask a question. I heard Brian friend ask a question.

Andrew Hiller (09:51):

Where is Brian? We, we have, we have met SU we don’t have Brian friend.

Sevan Matossian (09:58):

We don’t have Brian friend

Andrew Hiller (10:00):

Was he?

Sevan Matossian (10:01):

We can’t afford Brian friend. <laugh>

Andrew Hiller (10:03):

He’s getting expensive. He, you hit his quota.

Sevan Matossian (10:06):

We’re now we, we we’re stuck with the new new guy. The new guy was used to be Brian friend. And now he’s the old good guy. And now you’re just now you’re the new guy. We only, we skim from the top pillar.

Andrew Hiller (10:16):

It’s kinda like you were gonna do 500 shows and now Brian had 50 in them. He’s he’s, he’s capped out. You gotta pay for him. Now

Mattew Ouza (10:23):

<laugh>

Andrew Hiller (10:24):

With all your YouTube revenue,

Mattew Ouza (10:26):

Recent limit.

Sevan Matossian (10:28):

Uh, Brian is always welcome on this show. Don’t I

Andrew Hiller (10:31):

Send him a link.

Sevan Matossian (10:32):

Don’t anyone get this twisted? Yeah. SU sentiment link. Let’s see if he pops in there.

Mattew Ouza (10:36):

Right. Let’s see. I’m nervous with this live call number up. Oh, oh kidding. We got

Sevan Matossian (10:43):

Some people don’t like the live call in number. It’s weird. Got

Mattew Ouza (10:45):

A lot of, a lot of, uh, heat from last episodes with the live. Callins

Andrew Hiller (10:50):

Why,

Mattew Ouza (10:52):

Eh, maybe not the top quality callers you would expect on a,

Sevan Matossian (10:55):

Oh, it was fine. It was fine.

Andrew Hiller (10:57):

Hmm.

Mattew Ouza (10:59):

But we’re truly a press conference. Cause literally anybody could call in and, uh, ask their questions.

Andrew Hiller (11:04):

So would you like to go through this? Like it kinda was the press conference or what do you think? Notes?

Sevan Matossian (11:11):

I have three pages of notes that I’m ready to, to bang in on. I just wanted to make sure before we started that everyone understood sort of this picture and, and, and I think we painted it well, right. It’s a phone call that was set up between the morning chalk up and, and, and a couple other people. And they called it a press conference, but it’s not a press conference cuz Andrew and I weren’t invited. And I have to assume just from the metrics I can see from video some, from some of these, uh, some of this software that Andrew and I have that, that there’s no two people who are, who are doing more media in the space and are getting more attention.

Andrew Hiller (11:44):

I got nothing telling me otherwise.

Sevan Matossian (11:46):

So, um, so who do you know? It’s weird and I think, say it again.

Andrew Hiller (11:51):

Who do you know in the space who’s even parallel to us at this point?

Sevan Matossian (11:55):

Well, I mean, there’s other people in the space that are like generating just enormous numbers. I mean, look at, look at Matt Fraser, uh, look at

Andrew Hiller (12:02):

Frazier, but he doesn’t really do coverage of the sport. He’s kinda doing his own thing.

Sevan Matossian (12:06):

Right. And I, and I bring that up just to be specific about what we’re doing.

Andrew Hiller (12:10):

Correct. Okay. I got it. Well, cause I would say we’re trying to compete with like the morning chalk up and maybe even the CrossFit games itself with their own media.

Sevan Matossian (12:18):

Correct.

Andrew Hiller (12:19):

And then other than that, I don’t really know much else that’s talking directly about the sport. It might be, it would be like, I don’t know. I know you don’t prefer when I talk about other podcasts and YouTube channel. So I’m gonna

Sevan Matossian (12:30):

Please talk about ’em. This is accept, this is a CrossFit press conference where we’re diverse, inclusive and E equi.

Andrew Hiller (12:37):

Oh, like the talking elite guys they’re they have their own thing, but would, were they, they were included. They were there. Yes. Why, why were they included? And we were not.

Sevan Matossian (12:45):

And I think that, um, and I think that they are definitely me, uh, Andrew Heller. Who’s that?

Andrew Hiller (12:52):

<laugh> where do you, where do you say?

Sevan Matossian (12:53):

I don’t know who that

Andrew Hiller (12:54):

Is. Oh no. It’s my fiance in the chat. She was fighting people last time. <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (12:59):

Um,

Andrew Hiller (13:00):

But she gets angry,

Sevan Matossian (13:01):

But I would, I mean, they are, they are definitely media hundred percent wouldn’t

Andrew Hiller (13:06):

I agree. Oh

Sevan Matossian (13:07):

Yeah. They’re beyond media. They’re super media. They’re they’re they, they have conviction. Their whole entire shtick is, is CrossFit stick. You know me and you swerve off the road. Sometimes you talk about steroids. I talk about, you know, planting gardens

Andrew Hiller (13:20):

And then from what you just said, Weinstein would like that he likes to, he likes to put the fires out. It’s his job.

Sevan Matossian (13:26):

Right.

Andrew Hiller (13:27):

Okay.

Sevan Matossian (13:27):

Okay. So, so, so as long as people understand that it wasn’t a real press conference. That’s just really what I want to. Yeah. I, I don’t know. I, I know he calls his show, the news

Andrew Hiller (13:38):

He does, but it’s mostly just like click around on Instagram and then there’s something popping up, right? Yeah. Like, oh, here’s a picture of some guy doing a box, jumping, falling over,

Sevan Matossian (13:46):

Calm down. People just take your shots and calm down. Be cool. Everyone be cool. Calm down.

Andrew Hiller (13:50):

Someone said, Andrew’s fiance is hot. I agree. She is hot. So I, I sent out a video of her the other day.

Sevan Matossian (13:57):

I know. Thank you. That was nice.

Andrew Hiller (13:59):

Yep. You’re welcome. <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (14:01):

Good. Uh, another thing that they were supposed to announce at this press conference today, they were supposed to announce, um, the, who the new CEO, um, is, will be,

Andrew Hiller (14:11):

They were supposed to do that in that press conference.

Sevan Matossian (14:14):

That was one of the things that was being, um, talked about that they were going to do. And, but they did not do that.

Andrew Hiller (14:22):

They did not do that. Not from what I saw or heard.

Sevan Matossian (14:25):

Did I tell you I met the, did I tell you, I, I met the highest ranking person at CrossFit, Inc. Um, when I was in Colorado.

Andrew Hiller (14:32):

Um, Rosa, no, you said he was playing the guitar there?

Sevan Matossian (14:36):

No, no, I, I, I, uh, I did not, uh, I, I did not, uh, meet with Rosa there, but, but I did, I did, um, meet the highest ranking person at cross, at least by title. I know you guys, I know you guys, uh, out there in the internet field, like

Andrew Hiller (14:50):

Titles are gonna throw a name and a title out there, or are you not gonna do

Sevan Matossian (14:53):

That? No, no, not yet. I, I think it’s more provocative if I just, um,

Andrew Hiller (14:59):

Here’s where we see the, the scared Sivan he’s coming out. He’s scared.

Sevan Matossian (15:03):

He’s yeah. The scared, fun. Um, I also wanna talk about the Whoopie.

Andrew Hiller (15:06):

Let’s do it. Let’s my favorite topic. Let’s see if I can find it in the dark over here.

Sevan Matossian (15:10):

And then, um, there

Andrew Hiller (15:11):

It is.

Sevan Matossian (15:12):

Kayla, can, can you bring up, uh, I, that in the video today, can you bring up crossfit.com? I wanna show, um, you guys, one more thing that I think is very interesting that, um, Andrew and I did not make it into the fake press conference. Um, today Uhoh hi. Hello? Yes, you’re live.

Speaker 4 (15:35):

Hey, what’s going on more than anything. I just wanna, someone needs to Andrew Hill, this dude saved straight up. Um, there’s so, so I dude saved the game. Um, you, I was on a team. We were eight spots from the quarter finals eight, you know, uh, and you got east Nashville, you know, I hate throwing shade at ’em, but it’s you got four elite athletes on their team. None of which did team, you know, that sucks. Cause I love to have a shot at the team.

Andrew Hiller (16:07):

They had elite athletes on their team, 11, they way more than eight,

Speaker 4 (16:12):

Which is like that’s so that’s so ridiculous. And yeah, we get, okay, we get to the quarter finals probably don’t make a semifinal, but I mean, at least give us a shot, you know? And it’s it’s I guess the principle, the situation with me, um, dude, I, you bad signal hits the sky in you’re the man. I appreciate it. Save and CrossFit, dude. Thank you.

Andrew Hiller (16:31):

No problem. I’m haven’t saved it. We’re working after it. We’re gonna save it. We’re trying everything we can, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 4 (16:38):

You. Thank you guys. Sivan you roll. Josh is better. Bye

Sevan Matossian (16:44):

Andrew Hiller, the man.

Andrew Hiller (16:46):

Why’d you just take your socks off, get a hot

Sevan Matossian (16:49):

There. <laugh> that’s like a cl to like me taking my bra off we’re here. We’re hanging out for a little bit.

Andrew Hiller (16:54):

It’s nine o’clock you’re getting ready for bed. It’s seven o’clock over there.

Sevan Matossian (16:58):

Um, um, Mr. Beaver, can you pull up the, um, CrossFit Inc uh, website. So I’m pretty sure you see it says affiliate then training then CME and then games. And then what is CrossFit workouts movements, fundraisers. Um, now scroll down to the bottom in the footer. What ISEV doing. Look at that under community inclusion. When Eric Rosa came that that became a tab at the top, it was vomitous. It was vomitous.

Andrew Hiller (17:36):

Now

Sevan Matossian (17:36):

It, and now it’s been moved to the bottom and this motherfucker is less inclusive than ever.

Andrew Hiller (17:42):

Who?

Sevan Matossian (17:43):

CrossFit Inc.

Andrew Hiller (17:45):

Oh, you said this motherfucker. I thought you had talked about one person in particular. Not a group. Not a brand.

Sevan Matossian (17:50):

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just the just CrossFiting it is it. But I, I find it fascinating that they dropped off the inclusivity tab from the top.

Andrew Hiller (18:00):

Oh, interesting.

Sevan Matossian (18:02):

That, that was like

Andrew Hiller (18:02):

The type of stuff you like attention to. That was

Sevan Matossian (18:04):

Like, A’s big thing. I’m here to save the day. I’m here to save the black man, the gay man, the Jewish man, the Asian man. And now what, what happened?

Andrew Hiller (18:14):

What about the media man? He didn’t save us.

Sevan Matossian (18:16):

No, he didn’t save the little Armenian man and the, and the Andrew Hiller man.

Andrew Hiller (18:21):

Yeah. Yeah. What about me?

Sevan Matossian (18:22):

Yeah, you’re just a dude.

Andrew Hiller (18:24):

Yeah, you could

Sevan Matossian (18:25):

A dude. You could be on the you’re white enough to be on the, um, executive team.

Andrew Hiller (18:28):

I’m trying to get 10 though. Remember we talked about in the last episode,

Sevan Matossian (18:34):

Uh, at this press conference, there were some questions asked. Do, do you mind if I dig into these questions, some of the things that were talked about,

Andrew Hiller (18:41):

You’re asking me, I’ve been waiting for you.

Sevan Matossian (18:43):

Okay. Okay. Oh, wait, hold on. Uh, pull down your pants. It’s another call Hiller.

Andrew Hiller (18:47):

Yes, sir. <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (18:50):

Hi.

Speaker 4 (18:52):

Hello. Hi. Is this Sivan?

Sevan Matossian (18:54):

Uh, no, this is Andrew Hiller’s, um, answering service. How can I help you?

Speaker 4 (18:58):

<laugh> I’m just gonna say I’m a huge fan of the podcast.

Sevan Matossian (19:02):

Thanks brother.

Speaker 4 (19:05):

Yeah. What

Andrew Hiller (19:06):

Else you got?

Speaker 4 (19:07):

So I got a couple things to say. Um, so I, I got a buddy Nate Ackerman, who is, uh he’s. He won the team games last year and I think you have him on the podcast. He’s a very outspoken man. <laugh> and

Sevan Matossian (19:23):

Um,

Speaker 4 (19:23):

He is a lot to say and I think should have ’em on. They would get a bunch of hits.

Sevan Matossian (19:27):

Okay.

Andrew Hiller (19:28):

Nate Ackerman.

Sevan Matossian (19:29):

Hey, um, DM me that. Anything else? Is your wife leaving you?

Speaker 4 (19:33):

Um, no, I, I think that’s it. Okay. I think, uh, I appreciate it.

Sevan Matossian (19:39):

Okay. Thank you brother. Bye. Um, in the, in the meeting there would in, in this meeting, how long do you think that that, that was that press conference? 30, 40 minutes max?

Andrew Hiller (19:51):

No longer than 40 minutes.

Sevan Matossian (19:53):

Okay. And there was, there were, there were some questions that were asked, I’d say less than a dozen questions were asked. And, uh, there was a question someone asked for an audience. I can’t remember the gentleman’s name, but he asked, uh, um, Justin Berg about sponsorship.

Andrew Hiller (20:07):

I have,

Sevan Matossian (20:09):

And he asked him about sponsorship and then Justin answered the question and then he said, maybe I wasn’t clear enough. And then he asked another question about sponsorship and I believe they sounded like the two worst questions I had ever heard. They were so open ended. They almost seemed like they were soft to Justin so that he could hit a home run. The question was something like, are you happy with the roster of people you have? And the changes that have been taking place in the, um, in, in, in the sponsorship for CrossFit, Inc, and then Justin answered. But what, what, it really sounded what this guy wanted to say was cuz he kept saying, oh, we’re hearing through the grape vine or the news says or whatever he wanted to say, Hey, what the fuck is going on with the Whoopie

Andrew Hiller (20:45):

<laugh>

Sevan Matossian (20:46):

So I just wanna report to you what I know on the Whoopi and, and maybe Andrew, Hillary can tell you what he knows about the, um, what’s going on with the Whoopi. But I have two, two pretty good sources. Um, one of the sources, uh, said that, um, who, who there’s 700 employees who work at, uh, Whoopi and uh, one of the, um, uh, team members over there told me, um, that in episode 3 83 of the seven podcast at the one hour and 16 minute mark, I to say what happened, what I speculate, what happened between CrossFit Inc and whoop and this person who works at Whoopi said, you nailed it. That’s exactly what’s happening right now at woo. Was

Andrew Hiller (21:28):

That you saying they were tiptoeing out of the room?

Sevan Matossian (21:30):

Yes. Is there any way you can play that? Um, uh, sea beaver, Mr. Beaver. It’s a episode 3 83. It’s a live callin show. It’s at the one hour and 16 minute mark. If I was a good dude, I wouldn’t put, um, beaver on the, I would’ve sent this to him ahead of time instead of, uh, Slamming on at last minute. But basically what I say is this CrossFit’s a tarnish brand. I suspected that CrossFit is a tarnish brand and Whoopi is on the Ascension, even though it’s getting slammed, uh, in the reviews. Um, and they don’t want to be around that tarnish brand. And I think, I think Andrew speaks about it very nicely in his video too. Why would you want a tarnish brand with a million followers on Instagram when you got rich phoning on your and Karin’s donor, um, rep your shit

Andrew Hiller (22:16):

Sivan from what I’ve spoken to you about. I don’t think you understand how big some of these other sports are too like that. From what I know, they’ve got LeBron on their freaking roster of people wearing the whoop, talking about the whoop.

Sevan Matossian (22:27):

He’s perfect for them. He’s perfect for them. He pedals garbage all the time. He’s perfect for them.

Andrew Hiller (22:31):

Isn’t he sponsored by Coke too?

Sevan Matossian (22:34):

Sprite,

Andrew Hiller (22:35):

Pepsi, Sprite. Yeah, whatever.

Sevan Matossian (22:37):

Okay. So like at the hour and 16 minute mark, let’s play that just so, and, and then I, and then, and then I got another, another, um, uh, person inside, uh, whoop told me something else that I found very interesting, uh, in regards to dealing with Justin Berg. So we’ll get to that in just a minute. Let’s play it. Members will continue to have access to all their previous track, CrossFit training activities, uh, and data under the new, can we go to one 16 too hard? Oh yeah. Nice. Oh yeah. People are just making it. Yeah. Like the whoop I think the Whoopie is like, ah, we’re supposed to be data driven and something’s oh yeah. Whoop the official wearable of CrossFit. Is that true? Hey, uh, type that in and see if like what, what pops up? Wow. Oh shit. Oh shit. Multiple. Your partnership was announced in may 20.

Sevan Matossian (23:22):

Oh it must be on, it must be a different time code than, than buzz sprout. But basically what I say is that they see what’s happening with the CrossFit games right now, whoop and they’re not happy with it and they don’t want to be affiliated with something that’s being run like a shit show. And I was told that that that is the chatter at whoop. I was also told this and I had told you guys this before that working at CRO and I didn’t know it was whoop. I did, I didn’t think about whooping specific, but working at CrossFit HQ, there were a lot of relationship issues with Justin Berg. Who’s now in charge of the CrossFit games and those relationship issues with our sponsors, our management team, the other employees. And it’s no fucking surprise to me that I’m hearing that there’s issues between the, and the negotiations between whoop and uh, CrossFit surrounding Justin.

Andrew Hiller (24:09):

Why are there negotiations didn’t they have a four year plan or a three year like deal with whoop. Well what’s with the negotiations. Those

Sevan Matossian (24:16):

Things are, those things are always in negotiations. So like the second we, we signed a 10 year deal with, uh, Reebok every year. There’s it feels like there’s more negotiating. We wanna change this. We wanna change this. It’s either CrossFit or Reebok. So, so that I got schooled up on that shit pretty quick, especially when you have very big, um, money deals. And I, and I’m thinking that whoop is probably the second or third largest sponsor of CrossFit. I mean, I don’t think anyone’s even close to as big as what bill and Katie do

Andrew Hiller (24:42):

You think that they’re throwing all the money in the games at this point? Because from what it seemed like in the press conference, all they had left were oh two and what’s the other one? Gowa those are the only ones that were referenced in the, the, what the hell, the press conference

Sevan Matossian (24:58):

And I,

Andrew Hiller (24:58):

How much money are they gonna be throwing in there? Like Gowa just started up in oh, two is a drink that have you seen? Em, I don’t know. Maybe they’re in a Mariano sort of deal or Alasco so maybe they’re bigger than I think

Sevan Matossian (25:08):

They’re UN drinkable, by the way. <laugh> have you had

Andrew Hiller (25:11):

Bad? They’re they’re the worst.

Sevan Matossian (25:13):

I don’t, I’m not even trying to be mean I will drink anything. Like I know fit aid tastes bad and I fucking get excited every time I see a can

Andrew Hiller (25:20):

You don’t like any of those?

Sevan Matossian (25:21):

I mean, I it’s like drinking medicine. I mean, I it’s, it’s not,

Andrew Hiller (25:25):

There’s something about the one creating in it that I just love. It’s like, uh, when, so vitamin

Sevan Matossian (25:31):

Yes, I’m a sucker for the word creat, but hunter MacIntyre ruined that for me. He said that doesn’t have enough creating in there to make you fucking hair.

Andrew Hiller (25:37):

You know, I, I agree with that too. It doesn’t have shit in there <laugh>

Sevan Matossian (25:41):

But it’s it, it’s the whole thing. It’s why the only thing I, when I see that bang energy drink and they have creatine written around the top, I just, I, my nipples swell

Andrew Hiller (25:50):

Aren’t you like 150 pounds. Wouldn’t that drink? Kill you.

Sevan Matossian (25:53):

<laugh>

Andrew Hiller (25:54):

Probably that that 300 milligrams of caffeine will put you into a coma.

Sevan Matossian (25:58):

Just fucking

Andrew Hiller (25:59):

<laugh>.

Sevan Matossian (26:00):

Uh, okay. So, so, so, so that is what I’m, that is what I’m hearing about. The whoop I’m I’m hearing that they are disgruntled at, at the operations of CrossFit, which you can’t blame them. There’s still no CEO. There’s no Dave Castro. I mean, all the, the brand value of, of the games is, is diminished, diminished, and diminishing, which is exactly what Andrew Weinstein loves to see,

Andrew Hiller (26:26):

Because he’s gonna thrive off of it.

Sevan Matossian (26:28):

Yeah. Let, let the problems, I wish.

Andrew Hiller (26:31):

Did you hear, uh,

Sevan Matossian (26:32):

I wish I could remember what he told me. The five things that like, he saved. Like I wish I could remember. Okay, go ahead. He

Andrew Hiller (26:39):

Saved, he saved the, the whale species that was going,

Sevan Matossian (26:42):

No, he’ll be like, he’ll

Andrew Hiller (26:43):

Be like, he saved a bunch of endangered species.

Sevan Matossian (26:46):

He’ll be like during the economic disaster of 2008, I was in charge of the PR for the white house, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’m like, dude, shut the fuck up.

Andrew Hiller (26:51):

It’s like we do, we like to do pushups, man.

Sevan Matossian (26:54):

<laugh> when I, I would, I, I also think that in, yeah, we do like to do pushups. I also think that you, you have to, I, I put it in perspective. When I came to CrossFit, there were 300 gyms. When, when I left, there were 15,000 in the company sold for hundreds of million, hundreds of millions of dollars. And I was in charge of everything forward facing. And Andrew Weinstein was part of the team that laughed behind Greg Glassman’s back that they stole the company for Greg cuz they got it so cheap. And now I think they’d be hard pressed to sell for 50 million while Weinstein’s been in the same position that I was in. So I, I have to assume he can’t fucking, he doesn’t wanna be anywhere near me.

Andrew Hiller (27:30):

Are you pulling those numbers outta your butt or do you have anything to back that up?

Sevan Matossian (27:33):

Uh, I have, uh, some stuff to back it up.

Andrew Hiller (27:35):

All right. I don’t right. Which number It

Sevan Matossian (27:38):

Was sold for hundreds of millions of dollars or that it might only be worth 50,

Andrew Hiller (27:41):

The 50 million on the way out number?

Sevan Matossian (27:43):

Well, I, I know I, I know what, um, I know what three off serious offers were for CrossFit Inc. That came into Greg during the time and, and I know what the lowest one was and um, I, and I think CrossFit is, I think CrossFit’s probably there

Andrew Hiller (28:04):

<laugh> oh, you think it’s at the lowest one now. OK. Gotcha.

Sevan Matossian (28:06):

I mean, dude, it’s taken a fucking beating.

Andrew Hiller (28:11):

Uh,

Sevan Matossian (28:11):

No, tell me

Andrew Hiller (28:12):

No, no, no. I agree. I mean, I, I I’m pretty much, I, I pigeonholed myself and it’s not like I pigeonhole myself. It’s really all I think about is the game side of thing and the, the elite athlete sports side of things. But I also still have that huge part of me. That was the affiliate owner side of things, where I think about everything that’s going on over there. And I know that I’ve heard you say in the past that you don’t think that people should be affiliates anymore because what can I do for the affiliates? I agree with that to a pretty large extent, but when I was an affiliate back in the day, the biggest thing that would happen was the media people would wander in because they would see CrossFit on ESPN. And then that was the games bringing people into my gym, which was right next to an export back in the day.

Andrew Hiller (28:52):

And it would be stuff like you’re killing the fat man or the monthly thing that would come out and people would see it. And it’s like, oh, this is a cool story that I saw on YouTube about how somebody got into shape saved their live via CrossFit. So it was always the media stuff. It wasn’t really the big thing. And I made it, I brought it up in the 57 cart putt was the, they have the program where the affiliates can now get discount codes through rogue and through having their affiliation with CrossFit, it’s like, all right, you get 20% off to noble as a CrossFit affiliate. It’s like, why is that important? When you’re buying a $50, t-shirt you get 20% off, $50. And back in the day, when Reebok was making shirts, the shirts were $30. So you’re still spending more money. It doesn’t matter if you’re CrossFit affiliate getting a noble shirt, the shoes that the hundred $60 brand new shoes that are the exact same shoe as every other shoe, they’re still way more expensive than the nanos that would go on sale three months after they came out and everybody knew it.

Andrew Hiller (29:45):

It just doesn’t make any sense to me. The, the whole, like what I agree with you, like what is the point of being an affiliate anymore?

Sevan Matossian (29:52):

Um, I, uh, to answer you Hiller and to answer this fine gentleman with the cowboy hat, I’m opening a gym, my third I’ve open and I wanna put.

The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.

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