Brian Friend (00:00):
Tonight’s show cuz there’s only 13. I mean there’s only 10.
Sevan Matossian (00:03):
Bam. We’re live with James Hobart.
Brian Friend (00:05):
<laugh> back. And the rest of us are insignificant tonight. James is here. I’ll shut up. <laugh>
James Hobart (00:12):
Not at all,
Sevan Matossian (00:13):
James. I haven’t talked to you in forever.
James Hobart (00:16):
We haven’t not, not on this, uh, venue.
Sevan Matossian (00:20):
Yeah. Not even really. I can’t not even really on the phone much either.
James Hobart (00:24):
Now you’ve been dodging me a little bit. I
Sevan Matossian (00:26):
Ha I I’ve been dodging you
James Hobart (00:28):
<laugh>. Yeah. And you got double sweat bands on tonight. Got the vest pulled up. He’s in two K he’s in two K training mode.
Brian Friend (00:39):
It’s cuz it’s the master show. He’s been looking forward to this all year.
Sevan Matossian (00:42):
I, um, I did the, uh, uh, Ken. I did the car brand at the end of the Jalen Turner, um, podcast. Uh, feel free to check out. Maybe someone will make a clip and it’ll go to YouTube or to reels. I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was pretty good.
James Hobart (00:57):
Oh, I forgot about the comments.
Brian Friend (01:00):
<laugh>
James Hobart (01:02):
They’re gnarly now, do you, we
Sevan Matossian (01:03):
Forgot about the peanut gallery. Hey, um, do you think this show takes a while to get off the ground? Like, like it’s been going a minute yet and we haven’t said anything. We’re not like, oh, so and so from the master’s division died, like we haven’t like we’re a minute in and nothing significant has been said,
Brian Friend (01:17):
Slow
James Hobart (01:17):
Roll baby. What you, what?
Sevan Matossian (01:19):
I just hate podcast that starts slow. And I just realized, oh shit. Sometimes we don’t say shit for like 20 minutes.
James Hobart (01:24):
I remember do. Yeah.
Brian Friend (01:27):
Sometimes you come on in. First thing you do is start talking about a very, not slow topic. Oh good. Okay, good. That’s what I was gonna say too.
James Hobart (01:34):
It, it, it ebbs and flows, but I heard you were gonna be a, you were gonna be, um, have your kid gloves on tonight. So
Sevan Matossian (01:41):
Kid gloves. I, I, I chop my hands off tied my Dick in Anot. I’m fucking I’m neutered. There it is. I’m in love. I’m just, I see you. And I started swooning
Brian Friend (01:51):
Gaining
James Hobart (01:51):
More. I was talking to my mom about your show in the general V vulgarity. Is that a word?
Sevan Matossian (01:55):
Yeah, I think that’s works. CRAs crasness
James Hobart (01:59):
Crasness
Sevan Matossian (02:01):
Hey, there was a who
James Hobart (02:03):
Devious banter.
Sevan Matossian (02:03):
There’s there was a girl named, uh, Frio Freea, uh, moose burger who was on the Lys deal podcast with Kat Shrek the other day. And KA said, have you been on the Sev on podcast? And she said, no. And she said, would you go on it? And the chick says no. And KA thought it was because like maybe the chick was gonna be intimidated or something. And she said, oh, why not? And the chick just opened up with, uh, well, if he said anything inappropriate to me or anything, misogynistic, I would not laugh it off. I would stand up for hi for myself or for anyone else. And then they switched subjects with the, with the implication that I was inappropriate check and misogynistic. But you can’t that, that, that does not work. Misogynistic does not work for me. I looked up that word. That’s not, I’m not that.
Brian Friend (02:48):
Have you invited Iran?
Sevan Matossian (02:50):
No, I wasn’t sure whether to embrace. You know, when someone’s like, says something dumb about you. You’re not sure whether to embrace them <laugh> or to fucking declare holy war. Yeah. But when I see, when I see Hobart’s eyes looking at me, it makes me wanna embrace them.
James Hobart (03:03):
Yes. Yeah. I would. I would embrace
Sevan Matossian (03:05):
You soften me. Yeah. You’re like, you’re like lube. You’re like lotion on my skin.
James Hobart (03:10):
I like that. I don’t make you hard.
Sevan Matossian (03:12):
<laugh> uh, this is Hobart. That’s your son being CRAs. Let let’s let’s and I don’t wanna take any blame for that show. Bart. Bam. Um, James, why, why, why do people compete in masters? Is it just this urge to compete? Why are they doing it? Is it to win? Is it to when I was younger, I used to kind of make fun of it. And now that I’m getting older, someone old, when I was younger, when I was 30, I, I made fun of masters and someone said to me, Hey dude, nothing changes as you get older, you just get older. Maybe your body hurts a little more, but, but those people who wanna compete when they’re younger, still wanna compete. When they’re older, you act like there’s this gonna be this big change. And I’m like, yeah, don’t you just like, relax. And they’re like, no same person just in a fucking older body, older car.
James Hobart (04:01):
No. Yeah, I totally agree. That was one of the interesting things. Um, when I competed in the master’s division last year, and that was my first foray into, into the master’s competition is like a lot of the people there too are like pretty accomplished in other areas of their life. Like, I, I don’t think they were like, sandbaggers growing up and making their way through their life. So they’re, hypercompetitive people, um, especially the 35 39 division, but all the way up to the top, I don’t think anyone really works that hard to get that far. And then just, I’m sure there’s a couple, but the majority of people there don’t just go there just to show up.
Sevan Matossian (04:35):
They’re not just going there to feel the comp they, they actually wanna win
James Hobart (04:39):
It’s a bit. And it’s still, I think at all levels, it’s still a pretty big time commitment comparatively, right? Like I’m sure to be a 65 plus year old games athlete, you know, your, the amount of time you’re putting in is not like a 20 year old games athlete, but compared to your other 65 year old CrossFiters <laugh>, it’s probably a shitload of time.
Sevan Matossian (05:01):
Oh, that is interesting. Because your average 65 year old CrossFitter at your regular affiliate is spending way more time exercising than just your average. 65 year older.
James Hobart (05:10):
Oh my God. Yeah. I would have to, my mom asked me all. She asked me once she goes, how fit do you think I am compared to, you know, the average 55 or 60 year old? And I was like, you’re basically like a Kryptonian, you know,
Sevan Matossian (05:24):
You’re
James Hobart (05:24):
Almost a different species better than comparable. I think, um,
Sevan Matossian (05:28):
I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to wear this jacket too hot, too hot.
James Hobart (05:31):
<laugh> I’m getting sweaty. Just washing you. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (05:34):
My doors open. I thought it was gonna be cold I’m in shorts.
James Hobart (05:37):
Um, I think maybe Brian has this stat, but I think I was looking at the, the 65 plus year old women cuz all of the masters had to do a Lego rope climb in their final stage of qualification. And I think of the 30 women, 65 plus who did this? The legless rope climb workout. I think only eight of them or something like that. Eight or seven of them couldn’t do a legless rope climb.
Sevan Matossian (06:02):
Wow. Like
James Hobart (06:05):
30, 65 plus.
Sevan Matossian (06:06):
That’s crazy.
James Hobart (06:07):
Right. I think, I think I’m, that’s, that’s pretty accurate. Um,
Sevan Matossian (06:10):
That shit’s not safe. Does CrossFit have insurance to cover that?
James Hobart (06:17):
Oh
Sevan Matossian (06:17):
Man, fucking crazy irresponsible to put ’em up on a rope. It’s a short rope, right? It’s a four foot rope. They just, you start from the seated position and you only go,
James Hobart (06:24):
Yeah, they have ’em laid down. They just pull it’s actually just to pull to stand. No man. They’re they’re legless. They’re doing a legless rope climb at 60. Like I know,
Sevan Matossian (06:31):
Can we a video of that? I wanna see a video of that. I wanna see a video of that.
James Hobart (06:35):
It probably take a little while to dig one up
Sevan Matossian (06:37):
And Hey, and you know what else what’s amazing about this and it’s, I’m always reminded by this and the, the homework that Brian gave us. Um, the article Chad Schroder wrote for the, uh, morning Chalkup, there’s always that one lady in there that I always forget about that I gotta get on the show. Let me see if I can find the, uh, she’s been to the CrossFit games 12 times.
Brian Friend (06:58):
Lynn Naman. Yeah. Lynn Naman. This is amazing. Um, I wrote an article about her actually on the south China morning post I think two summers ago, uh, because it’s unprecedented. I just had a chance to go down to Dallas. Uh, for one of the competitions that chase Ingram was hosting there. A master’s only competition 35 to 65 plus and you know, talked to a bunch of the different athletes in a variety of different divisions there. And it’s tough to, you know, from a lifestyle perspective and just, uh, you know, as the body ages, like you need that recovery. So for her to continuously do that for 12 years and his article goes into detail about how difficult it is to qualify and the back end of uh, every age group. So when you’re 35, 36, you at chances are really good when you’re 38 39, not so good. And that’s the same at every stage across, but she’s made it for five, you know, 12 consecutive years, which means twice she’s been at the back end of an age group and still made it.
Sevan Matossian (07:51):
You met her there. She was at Chase’s comp.
Brian Friend (07:53):
No, no. I have met her before and talked to her super nice woman she’s she knows that I’ve written about her before. So she and I have had some nice, uh, conversations.
Sevan Matossian (08:01):
Is she weird? Is she out there? Is she an eccentric 12, 12 games is eccentric.
Brian Friend (08:06):
Get her on the show.
Sevan Matossian (08:08):
Find out. Yeah. I love an eccentric person on the show. Um, Brian, I think dropped something in there that you guys may have not caught. Um, were, were you, were you dropping that fact that was in the article also that Chad Schroeder mentioned that that people who go to the games in general or on the lower end of their interview? Yeah. You just mentioned that.
Brian Friend (08:26):
Okay. And especially this year when there’s less spots available, unless you’re in the teenage division, then it’s inverse
James Hobart (08:31):
The opposite. Yeah. Thirteens,
Sevan Matossian (08:34):
Uh, the difference between, um, we don’t, we don’t have anyone here that old who’s competing, I guess I’m the oldest person here, but the difference in the masters is dramatic. A 35 year old in the masters is someone who could still qualify for the games that probably doesn’t have the endurance to last the week. And the person who’s 65 is old, an old horse, get getting close walking towards the glue factory and dropping in on an event somewhere.
James Hobart (09:01):
<laugh> I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know if that’s the case, especially on the women’s side.
Sevan Matossian (09:07):
Oh, Brian.
James Hobart (09:09):
Yes. That’s me. Um, Brian will have to fact check me on this one, but I think that
Sevan Matossian (09:16):
The women play harder longer.
James Hobart (09:18):
Yes. That’s such a nice way to say it. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (09:22):
That’s sure women, we play harder and longer.
Brian Friend (09:25):
Yeah. In the individual side of things. That’s definitely true. As we’ve seen people like Becca VOT Miller and Jen Ryan qualify for semifinals into their forties and we’ve seen Sam Briggs come very close to qualifying for the CrossFit games at 40. And we’ve seen, uh, probably around 10 to 12 masters women, meaning they’re between 35 and 39. Sam Briggs, I think is the oldest one to have done it last year that have actually made the games. Whereas on the men’s side, if I not mistaken, the only person who’s been able to do that over 35 years old was Jason Smith. When you know, he’s coming outta Africa, finally someone has caught up to him this year, but he was able to do it a couple times, I think.
Sevan Matossian (10:00):
And if you don’t know what that means, uh, you came outta Africa, go look at the semi-final standings. Um, it’s it’s not only on the, it’s not only on the tail end. It’s on the head. It’s on the head also. They’re the women are coming in earlier and they’re going out later. And we like, sometimes we, we like to like, not give it maybe the credited deserves or we like to argue it’s because the women’s division isn’t as developed as the men’s. But historically, if you look at it, it’s always been like that. It’s weird that it’s on both ends. Even when the men could come in early, they couldn’t compete with the older men, but the younger woman can, I mean the youngest woman ever to be at the cross, the games was 15. Right? In, in 2008 or nine. What was that girl’s name?
Brian Friend (10:41):
Oh, to compete at the cross games as individual. Yeah. Uh, I can’t remember. I’m sorry.
Sevan Matossian (10:47):
15 year old girl, you know, come on Hobart. I know. Yeah.
James Hobart (10:51):
Time to 10 points of
Sevan Matossian (10:53):
Why Ryan doesn’t know anything.
James Hobart (10:54):
<laugh> did you think 2000, 2008?
Sevan Matossian (10:57):
It’s 2008 or 2009. Oh, she was definitely there this year. Okay. Keep scrolling down. Keep going. Libby, Rebecca. Wow. Look at these Rebecca VO. Keep going. Candace Hamilton. Uh I’ll note when I see it. Miranda OID.
James Hobart (11:13):
Uh,
Sevan Matossian (11:13):
Amy Summers. No.
James Hobart (11:15):
Was it that, was it that crystal?
Sevan Matossian (11:16):
Crystal McReynolds. Remember her? No, I didn’t. I didn’t see her name. Was it
James Hobart (11:19):
Calista? Poppas?
Sevan Matossian (11:20):
Yes. Wow. You read it in the, you read in the comments?
James Hobart (11:24):
No, no. I saw, I saw her name.
Sevan Matossian (11:26):
Oh yeah. Wow. Good job. Wait.
James Hobart (11:28):
Oh right. The comments, the comments it’s almost as if the people in the comments are watching a different show from reading those comments. <laugh> they’re on their own, uh, ball game there on
Sevan Matossian (11:38):
Their own program. Heidi’s mom is a cheeseburger like that one.
James Hobart (11:41):
What is that even about? That’s devastating. <laugh> how, how Papas that’s crazy. How old was she? Was she really 15? No,
Sevan Matossian (11:49):
I think she was 15. Well, let’s find now, um, this year, uh, for the first time, or I dunno if it’s the first time, but, but the, but the pack going to the games, as Brian mentioned, has gone from 20 to 10. Why is that? And do we like that?
Brian Friend (12:05):
It has happened before they were, you know, they’ve, they dropped it down and then they raised it back up. And this year they’ve dropped it back down to 10 in every division. Uh, my, my view point of view on this is that, um, I think that there can be a tapered system for, uh, game spots and semi-final spots potentially in each division. And I think this makes a lot of sense based on two other precedents that CrossFit has established. One is that the payouts for master’s divisions are not uniform. So for example, the 35 to 39 division make has opportunity to make more money than the rest of the divisions. And, uh, additionally in the adaptive side of things they’ve had, uh, basically said to the adaptive community. Once you meet a certain threshold in terms of participation, then we, you can have an actual live competition at the games in Madison.
Brian Friend (12:53):
Whereas this year there’s still a majority of adaptive divisions. Who’s actually have already crowned CrossFit games, champions via the online semi-finals format. And so I think that when you look at something like, um, the quarter finals for masters and you see, uh, 1200 to 1300 men that have signed up in the 35 to 39 division, and you see 120 men that have signed up in the 60 plus division, you know, that’s, you know, 10% and yet they’re both getting 30 spots at semifinals and they’re both getting 10 spots at the games. So I think that that’s probably something that they could look at. And, and especially if you look at the master’s division, James will know this really well, cause it is his division 35 to 39 on either the men or, or women’s side. If you go down to 20 or 30, there’s some very, very fit and potentially relevant, uh, athletes that if inserted into the games roster, would it be fun to watch would enhance the level of competition, uh, within a division.
Brian Friend (13:48):
Um, and I just think that those divisions are deep enough, have enough reg registrants and, and enough P potential that, uh, there’s no reason that they should only have 10 spots. I know anyone will say like, you know, it’s gonna be like a financial, uh, response. Oh, well, you know, we, if we bring extra 10 in every division, then there’s this much extra money that we have to spend and they don’t get as much coverage anyway and whatever, whatever, but I don’t think that’s a good excuse. I think that there could be a little bit more thought put into it and have a tapered system where you get 20 or 30 in the 35 to 39, 20 in the 40 to 54. I definitely think there should be 20 in all the teenage divisions in the men’s in the boys’ teenage divisions this year 14 to 15, there’s zero 14 year olds, 16 to 17. There’s one 16 year old. He’s the guy who won 14 to 15 last year. And there’s just not an opportunity for them to go to the games in the younger half of the division and, you know, grind their teeth a little bit and then age up and have that experience to carry in in year two. And if that’s supposed to be like the feeder system, um, then I don’t know why they, you know, they would reduce that division to 10.
Sevan Matossian (14:47):
Uh, Brian, are you suggesting that they make a, uh, maybe a 14 year old division, a 15 year old division, like have four divisions
Brian Friend (14:53):
If they wanna only have 10 that’s one way to do it. The other way is to open it back up to 20,
Sevan Matossian (14:59):
You don’t think then that would just make it, so then there’s, uh, one 14 year old and 1915 year olds.
Brian Friend (15:04):
No, usually there’s about 25% that can get in that way just
Sevan Matossian (15:07):
Okay. And, and that, um, how many classes are there in the masters?
Brian Friend (15:12):
35 to 65 plus and one for each men and women all the way up and then the four teenage divisions.
Sevan Matossian (15:20):
So, uh,
Mattew Souza (15:22):
18.
Sevan Matossian (15:23):
So they each get nine. Yeah. So they each get nine. And, and Brian, what you, in, in that number that you gave 120 for the men, is that, was that accurate or is that just hypothetical? No,
Brian Friend (15:36):
Uh, 60 plus men’s quarter finals. I think there were up between 105 and 115 registrants. I was just using around numbers of 1200 and 120, but okay. I think it’s more than 1200 and slightly less than one 20 in those two divisions.
Sevan Matossian (15:50):
So in, in a perfect world, what you were, what you were explaining also about the adaptive classes, if let’s say 2000 people signed up, men signed up who were 70 to 75, they might open another age division. And the same thing is true with the adaptive class. If 2000 people signed up with only one arm, maybe they would open a one arm division. They’re just waiting to make it so that there’s enough people to, to get the ball moving forward. Is that yep. Okay. And CrossFit’s clear about that. I mean, it makes sense
Brian Friend (16:19):
In the case of the adaptive divisions, that’s the reasoning that I’ve heard Ja if James, if you know something differently that it’s, uh, based on registration, that they’ve decided that there’s up. I think it’s upper extremity lower, just extremity, neuromuscular. I think those were the three last year. They may have added one this year for the live. Um, and then the other ones I just had didn’t have enough participation yet to warrant spots at the games in the live competition. And, but, you know, but that same logic is not being carried over to the master’s con conversation.
James Hobart (16:51):
Joe people
Sevan Matossian (16:52):
Need to advocate harder. <laugh> Hey, they’re usually the loudest. They’re usually the loudest. I like this. I, I, I wasn’t, I wasn’t poo pooing any of this. I think this is great. I think nine classes for men, nine classes for women is, is outstanding. And I think having 10, I think fluctuating back and forth and CrossFit filling it out. What’s better 10 what’s better 20. I think it’s great. But
Brian Friend (17:11):
Why does it have to be the same for every division 35 through 60
Sevan Matossian (17:15):
And, and that’s, and then you’re right. Maybe it doesn’t. That’s great. That’s a great point. That’s a great point. You mean? So like how different different, uh, continents get different, a number of people or the different ages should also apply to them?
Brian Friend (17:26):
Sure. I mean, that’s another good example of, you know, CrossFit uses open registration at this time, period, to determine game spots, but they’re not using registration to determine masters allotment of, of spots of the games.
Sevan Matossian (17:38):
Those guys are pretty vocal. The masters people are pretty vocal.
Brian Friend (17:41):
Yeah. But I don’t, I don’t think the, the younger side under 40 is, is necessarily there yet. Cuz it’s a little bit newer. Right.
Mattew Souza (17:49):
Do you think that they’re doing one heat to bring, cause then you’d have more eyeballs on it if they each have one heat and then if you were gonna watch let’s, let’s say you were gonna watch three heats of masters, you’re gonna catch like maybe a men’s and a women’s and a men’s and a women’s or something like that. So then that way, hopefully by giving them more air time, so to speak, that would actually cultivate having more people signing up and then eventually opening more slots as the demand comes. Do you think that’s part of the strategy?
James Hobart (18:13):
I hope that’s. I hope that’s the long term goal. I think also whether this is an excuse or not, I think logistically it allows, it allows them to do more like last year, the only event we had that was, uh, I think over 20 minutes was the run and they basically had not all of the age groups, but pretty close to like big chunks of the age groups, all going together. And I remember cuz I very handedly got beat by a bunch of 16 year old girls in the four and a half mile run
Sevan Matossian (18:41):
<laugh> yes.
James Hobart (18:43):
And some, there was some older guy who ran past me and I looked at him like probably panicked and he goes, he goes, don’t worry. I’m not in your age division. <laugh> oh,
Sevan Matossian (18:51):
That’s
James Hobart (18:52):
God, man. Um, I think logistically hopefully it allows them to do, um, add more variance to the events personally. I always wanted there and I don’t know if this would ever be successful. I always wanted the age group athletes to have their own separate games. You know, I think they could get to a point where they would have that opportunity. And again, just cuz I think you’re gonna see that 35 and 39 division. Not that, that we weren’t tested well last year, but I think, and even maybe the age division up, they were, they were athletes there talking about how they just didn’t feel they could have done more, you know, like they wanted to do more. So to be able to expand the test, um, and maybe having, I don’t know their own games or more time, I thought the fact that they separated the masters and led them the two days earlier than the individual competition was awesome last year. Um, for that reason, cuz it gave them more to do, um, as they tested him out throughout the weekend. But that’s what I’m hoping
Sevan Matossian (19:47):
Happens. I got a question. That’s gonna Stu stump. Brian ready?
James Hobart (19:50):
<laugh> impossible.
Sevan Matossian (19:52):
Which master’s athlete has the most Instagram followers.
Mattew Souza (19:58):
Oh no idea. Guy or girl, guy or girl. Oh wait or just
James Hobart (20:01):
Girl China. You’re C
Mattew Souza (20:03):
You know that answer me. No Sevan.
Sevan Matossian (20:06):
I’m confident. I know it.
Mattew Souza (20:08):
I’m asking if you’re confident, you
Sevan Matossian (20:09):
Know the answer? No, I’d say know, I’d say no idea. I wanna know it’s
James Hobart (20:13):
I think it’s China show.
Sevan Matossian (20:14):
And is she master athlete? She’s compete the masters. Yeah.
Mattew Souza (20:18):
Oh yeah. Mm-hmm <affirmative> yep.
Sevan Matossian (20:19):
Okay. Uh, well that, I really like that guess. That’s a great guess. Oh, what about comp? What about, yeah. Yeah.
Mattew Souza (20:26):
Are you talking about this current year’s compete competition?
Sevan Matossian (20:29):
Yeah. Wow. That’s a great guess. How many she got?
Mattew Souza (20:32):
That’s
Sevan Matossian (20:32):
Fine. Yeah. And I only asked that. Um, well not only I asked that because it’s a, course’s
James Hobart (20:37):
The only thing that matters.
Sevan Matossian (20:38):
Well, yeah, it is the only thing that matters when you’re talking about them having their own event.
James Hobart (20:42):
I bet Sam dancer has a lot.
Mattew Souza (20:44):
Oh for China. She’s got, I’ll bring it up so you guys could see, I think, I think that was the guess. I think that was a good guess.
Sevan Matossian (20:50):
Impressive.
James Hobart (20:51):
How many does she have?
Mattew Souza (20:53):
2 53, 2 50
Sevan Matossian (20:54):
3000.
James Hobart (20:55):
Wow. Sam dancer is 180 1.
Sevan Matossian (20:57):
Wow.
Mattew Souza (20:57):
Hell yeah. Damn. China’s killing it.
Sevan Matossian (21:00):
And so at, at the end of the day it’s it’s eyeballs and money that have to that, that make this thing, uh, go forward. It is though, probably another thing that’s interesting is that the masters clearly make more money at their day jobs than the individuals. So
James Hobart (21:16):
That would be a cool breakdown
Mattew Souza (21:19):
Income by age group.
Brian Friend (21:20):
<laugh> yeah. Yeah.
James Hobart (21:21):
That’d be
Sevan Matossian (21:22):
Living at home versus not living at home.
James Hobart (21:25):
<laugh> I’d be curious to see that. It was, I felt like when I was, we were getting the master’s briefs. I was listening to some of the masters around me talking, all they talked about was like retiring and their house in Hawaii and their house in Tahoe and how they just sold a business. And I’m like, well of course you’re competing at the games. You know, like
Mattew Souza (21:39):
What else you got to do?
Brian Friend (21:41):
<laugh> good luck. It’s
Sevan Matossian (21:41):
A good life. Me tired. Uh, this is the first year the masters had a semifinal ever.
Brian Friend (21:49):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Sevan Matossian (21:50):
And, and, and is that a good thing? Is that, does that mean it’s growing
James Hobart (21:56):
Personally? I like the extra phase of qualification. Um, again, I think for the 35 39 divisions, I would’ve liked to see more people go through cuz you’re seeing more recent individual games, athletes, you know, pop into that, um, master’s field, you know like Frederick aides I think was uh, 11th, 11th, 12th,
Brian Friend (22:19):
Bla
James Hobart (22:19):
14. Alro bla Mallo um, a lot of people in there. So I think that would allow them to bring more to the, uh, and rich is gonna compete masters next year. Mm-hmm
Brian Friend (22:32):
<affirmative>
Sevan Matossian (22:33):
Heard you
Brian Friend (22:35):
Brian and
Sevan Matossian (22:35):
Brian friends. That is maybe that’s true. I, the
James Hobart (22:40):
There’s I can’t wait till that gets clipped and that’s on Instagram tomorrow.
Brian Friend (22:43):
<laugh>
Sevan Matossian (22:46):
Uh, another interesting fact in this article that Chad Schroder wrote is that, and I’m not sure the first part was so dense with stats and numbers in that chart. I’m not sure I was able to comprehend it all. Oh, KARE, Sam Bri.
Brian Friend (23:01):
They’re master this
James Hobart (23:02):
Year. Sam bris a ma yeah. She’s not a master this year. She which she she’s she’s 40. Right. And so she finished which sixth? Seventh?
Brian Friend (23:10):
Yeah. Seventh, seventh, uh, yeah, seventh.
James Hobart (23:15):
Hey, is her two K faster than yours? Is that why you rode the two? K
Brian Friend (23:19):
<laugh> her two K is definitely faster than two.
Sevan Matossian (23:21):
She slapped me. She slapped me on the two. K. She laughed
Brian Friend (23:24):
Me. Laughed.
James Hobart (23:25):
You do you think, do you think Sam could beat you doing a one arm? Two K and you got to use both?
Brian Friend (23:33):
No, I don’t think so.
Sevan Matossian (23:35):
Thank you, Brian. Uh, 80% of, uh, eligible master’s athletes went to the semi finals last year and only 51% this year.
Brian Friend (23:43):
I know. So,
Sevan Matossian (23:45):
Uh, how, how come
Brian Friend (23:46):
<laugh> how come? What,
Sevan Matossian (23:48):
How, how come, how come the participation has dropped so much, uh, this year
Brian Friend (23:55):
In terms of
Sevan Matossian (23:56):
Did, did I understand that? Right? I
James Hobart (23:57):
Thought, I thought open participation for, for age groups went up this year
Sevan Matossian (24:01):
And I just said something that doesn’t make sense too. First year, this was the first year the masters had a semifinal. And yet I’m saying also suggesting that 80% of eligible masters athletes went to semifinals last year and only 51% this year. So those two don’t don’t somewhere. I have my facts wrong somewhere. I’m spreading misinformation. Do you know what I’m trying to say? Anyway?
James Hobart (24:19):
I think either they just lumped, he just called it as the a G Q just the qualifier in general. I think. So that means past the open. I don’t think they, he specified between semifinal quarter final.
Sevan Matossian (24:30):
Okay. Well let me rephrase it. Did we have a decline in participation this year?
Brian Friend (24:35):
Well, maybe, but this actually addresses someone else in the comments who is I’m missing something about this stage of the season also is the number of participate participants for each master’s division in the age group. Online qualifiers in the past was capped at 200. Now this quarter final stage of competition for the master’s divisions is 10, 10% of the open registrants. So the quarter final registrants that we talked about earlier, the 1200 plus in the 35 to 39 means that there were 10 times that many in that division that were competing. Okay. And, and then the same thing for the, you know, where, whereas the total number of participants in the men’s 60 plus was basically equivalent to the master’s quarter final participants for 35 to 39 at 1200.
Sevan Matossian (25:21):
Okay. That makes sense.
Brian Friend (25:23):
So what, to this, to this statistic out of the two hunt, top 200, a higher percentage would participate than the top 1200. Right. Which makes that does make sense.
Sevan Matossian (25:35):
And that, that doesn’t mean necessarily there were more last year, even though it was a smaller percentage, there still, still were probably more,
Brian Friend (25:41):
More participants, but a lower percentage because so many more people were eligible to, to participate.
Sevan Matossian (25:47):
If, um, if I wanted to get into, um, watching the masters this year, what’s the division to watch? Is it the men 35 to 39? Is it the women 35 to 39 or,
Brian Friend (25:57):
Or think in terms of the highest level of competition and the most people at that level that have the chance to win it’s the men 35 to 39
Sevan Matossian (26:06):
Or, or, or maybe you go over to where, uh, Rebecca VO is, um, she’s making her 14th games, appearance the most in history and she’s in the 40 to 44 women. You can see
Brian Friend (26:16):
There’s, there’s, there’s at least a half a dozen divisions that I would say are definitely worth, worth watching. And probably more than that. But if you’re asking for only one, you’re looking at men’s 35 to 39, just between Sam dancer, Roy Gabo, Craig, Kenny Gianopoulos and Julian Cerna. You’re gonna see a bunch of incredible stuff. And the other five guys, I don’t know as well.
James Hobart (26:37):
I, I remember Papadopoulos competed or he did the, a true qualifier last year. Why didn’t he compete in masters?
Brian Friend (26:44):
He, uh, how old does it say that he is?
James Hobart (26:48):
He, I thought he competed in masters. I could be wrong. I
Brian Friend (26:50):
Think this
James Hobart (26:50):
Is, oh, no, maybe he didn’t
Brian Friend (26:51):
First year he qualified for strength and depth semifinal this year as an individual. And he decided to pursue masters instead. And he took second place in the semifinal behind Sam dancer. So he’s a, you know, he probably feels like he has a pretty good chance at the podium
Sevan Matossian (27:05):
Are these sorry to swerve into this lane, but are these guys tested?
Brian Friend (27:10):
Not yet. They’ll they will be tested at the, some of them at least will be tested at the games, but I don’t think James, you can correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t think there’s been any testing at least like, uh, in competition, maybe some of these guys are on the testing list that get randomly tested out competition.
James Hobart (27:23):
Yeah. And that, I don’t know unless they are, I still get those testing list emails. Um, I’d be flattered. If someone looked at me and said, Hey, I bet you’re on steroids. Um, cause I’m still just a skinny dweeb, but uh,
Sevan Matossian (27:36):
Not as skinny weed you’re
James Hobart (27:37):
I still get those. I still get those emails, but it’s definitely possible. Some of these guys are on that, on that list, especially I would say any athlete who’s competed as at the games before as either a master’s or an individual. Um, but yeah, they’ll probably be tested, um, at the games. I’m trying to remember how far down they tested last year. I think they tested down to fourth or fifth for 35 to 39. I’m not a hundred percent sure on that. So don’t get mad at me. Comments. Um, you can get mad at me. Comment. I don’t
Sevan Matossian (28:04):
Care. But none of these, none of these, none of these, like this whole list of slew of people we’re seeing pop in, uh, in, um, in teams and individual, nothing like that in masters. No, one’s popped over there.
Brian Friend (28:16):
Oh, that’s not true at all. Well,
Sevan Matossian (28:18):
Last year they have popped some masters have popped over. No,
James Hobart (28:20):
No. Yeah. They tested
Brian Friend (28:21):
Down year. Not this year, they testing this year. Oh. But historically there are a lot more drug failures and master divisions than anywhere else.
Sevan Matossian (28:28):
Wow. This is a new one. Look at this re Bart <laugh> Hey. Yeah. Do they get, do they get some sort of exemption as a master? Like, can you be on some sort of like, uh, testosterone placement therapy or anything like that as a masters? Can you be on anything? I don’t think different list of, no, you still gotta be just a normal human.
James Hobart (28:49):
I mean, you could probably get a waiver if you’re really jacking your Metamucil servings up to through the roof. Maybe get, uh, exemption. No, I don’t think you can have an exemption for any, um, testosterone replacement therapy. But
Sevan Matossian (29:04):
Brian, if I, if I wanted to watch a Lynn Naman 60 to 64,
Brian Friend (29:08):
This is an amazing division. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (29:10):
Com compete in the 2000, uh, 22 CrossFit games. Can I watch this?
Brian Friend (29:17):
Uh, yeah,
Sevan Matossian (29:19):
Certainly. I mean, I can buy a ticket and go watch it. Right.
Brian Friend (29:21):
I don’t know what level of coverage you’ll have for the masters, um, this year. Um, I would, you know, I hope I would hope so. Like these people are definitely worth watching in my opinion, but I don’t know. I don’t know,
Sevan Matossian (29:34):
Uh, pull up this list. Why do you say that this is an amazing list or gonna be an amazing competition?
Brian Friend (29:39):
There are several women in this competition who are quite good. Um, first of all, there’s a woman who won the, the vision, uh, Shelly chapel, who I don’t have a ton of familiar familiarity with, but she won this thing basically going away. Um, however, the girl behind her pat McGill outta Canada has competed at.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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