Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Bam. Bam. We’re live
Brian Friend (00:07):
Good morning.
Sevan Matossian (00:09):
Good morning.
Brian Friend (00:11):
<laugh>
Sevan Matossian (00:12):
It’s funny when PE it’s funny. When I see people now, they just like, they they’re that too. They like to say like, no matter what we do, they like to throw a bam in front of it. Like, if I’m hanging out with some people, they’ll be like, and we’re about to go somewhere. Like, bam, we’re leaving.
Brian Friend (00:32):
Do your wife do that?
Sevan Matossian (00:33):
Bam. Uh, no, actually I haven’t ever heard Haley to use the bam. Bam.
Brian Friend (00:39):
Be stupid. I would’ve been surprised.
Sevan Matossian (00:40):
Shut your mouth. Yeah.
Brian Friend (00:43):
Shut
Sevan Matossian (00:44):
Bam. Stop being addict to the kids. Bam. Wow. A hundred dude with a fucking pile of crumbs at the end. Just crumbs by the way. Uh, Caleb had an emergency someone. I probably shouldn’t say this, but someone in the us military got hurt and Caleb,
Brian Friend (01:03):
So it’s just us
Sevan Matossian (01:05):
In a 25. Yeah. But I got, but I’m you, the way you made your slides on your Instagram account is so fucking easy.
Brian Friend (01:12):
Michael brink. I could
Sevan Matossian (01:14):
Probably Michael brink. I could probably manage this.
Brian Friend (01:17):
I think you can do it.
Sevan Matossian (01:19):
Um, and, and what, what a crazy list
Brian Friend (01:23):
I decided to put it out there two hours early so that you didn’t even have to think. You could just look at the comments and make fun of me based on those.
Sevan Matossian (01:29):
Yeah, I did. I, that I woke up this morning, drank coffee, read the comments. Um, went through the list, took a bunch of notes. It’s crazy. Um, there’s two important questions. We obviously always have to start these shows with, we have to define what power rankings are. And um, but then my next question is, is, uh, why so many this time? Why go so deep? So let’s start with that first one. What, what are the power rankings? And, and I’ll give you the reason why it’s so important, not you, but the people at home, why it’s so important to define this, because of course in the comments, there’s someone who says, Hey, this doesn’t line up with the way people finished in the games. Are you suggesting that the games didn’t test for the fittest?
Brian Friend (02:08):
Well, wait, fortunately, we’ve already had that conversation with, uh, James Hobart and I made it pretty clear that I do not think that the 40 men in this case competing at the CrossFit games are the 40 fittest on earth and that, but that’s not a slight at the CrossFit games. They’ve I don’t think that they’ve ever claimed that those are the 40 fittest men. They’ve claimed that they’re trying to find the fittest man and the fittest woman and that in the process of doing so they also wanna recognize another super important aspect of CrossFit in totality, which is it’s reach and it’s importance around the world. So I, I have written some stuff in the past that suggests that the, you know, game spots could be allocated differently, but I would never be upset if they said that, no, no matter what, we’re always gonna reserve at least one spot for each continent or sec region or section or whatever they wanna call it.
Brian Friend (02:59):
I think that that’s okay. And is in fact important, the times that it’s becomes kind of unfortunate or sad is like, when something like what happened to ke and Henry happens this year. I, I actually think keel and Henry might have done decently well at the games if he was able to compete, but he injured his hamstring in training the weekend beforehand, like their last kind of training session. And he, he heard his hamstring. So we didn’t get to see the one representative from Africa compete this year. And that to me is a bummer. Like it’s obviously sports and things.
Sevan Matossian (03:29):
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I saw Kean. Um,
Brian Friend (03:32):
Yeah, he did a couple events, but he wasn’t at, uh, his max capacity and he had to withdraw before the capital workout, which makes sense. I mean, when you have a, I don’t know if it was a to, in hamstring or what, but when it’s, you know, in a bad shape and you had 20 pig flips at 500 pounds to start the workout, it’s probably not, not the best situation.
Sevan Matossian (03:49):
Okay. Gotcha. So he was there, but he was a broken version.
Brian Friend (03:53):
Yeah. So that’s, you know, so that’s kind of like big picture. I don’t think those are the 40 fittest guys on earth. Obviously this list is a representation of that. Um, but that’s not saying that this, that, that, that that’s a problem. Like CrossFit has identified what they’re doing in their qualification process and why, and you know, if you choose to play or weigh in on it, then you just have to keep those things in mind, um, in, uh, but to your question, what are the power ranking? So I think we have to just consider the CrossFit games to be the end of the 20, 22 season. And that now everything going forward from here is a preseason leading into the 20, 23 season. And there’s some competitions that are somewhat relevant that will start soon. Butcher’s classic. And the Madrid CrossFit championships probably be in the first ones. And then of course, we’ll get to some of the bigger ones with, with rogue and Dubai filth. One 50 is gonna be back this year, the down on cross.
Sevan Matossian (04:43):
Why not? Why not the Cru, why not the crucible that, uh, Jr’s putting not, not a
Brian Friend (04:47):
Crucible will have some athletes there. You know, I don’t know how many of the athletes on this list will be at that competition, but those competitions are important similarly to the can west games that happen right before the CrossFit games, you have to have these competitions that are available for the next tiers of athletes. So not every competition can be rogue cuz the athletes that show up to rogue are not gonna compete 10 times a year, but the athletes that want that are close and want to have the opportunity to compete at rogue or in the elite division of waza or at the CrossFit games, they need to have places to cut their teeth, to go and test their skills. And the stuff that they’ve been working on and crash crucible is a great example of a competition like that. Um, and, and you know, I, and then of course those competitions obviously have the opportunity to grow over time as in, um, in Jr’s well, most people on here know him, you know, he’s very good programmer and he’s forward thinking in that regard. And the test is always pretty stout. Uh, even the online qualifiers for that were pretty tough workouts. Um, so power rankings in this case,
Sevan Matossian (05:50):
Yes,
Brian Friend (05:50):
Yes. Is a preseasons power ranking for the 20 22, 20 23 season. Obviously I’m factoring into things that these athletes have done recently, but also over their career, I’m factoring in their age and I’m factoring in their future potential. So in some cases in the list, you’ll see guys that are 10 or 15, you know, 10 years younger than guys that are close to them on the list. And even though the guy who’s 10 years older has outperformed them this season. I will think that the potential of the 22 year old guy is greater this year than the 32 year old guy. And so I might put him ahead of him on the list. So it’s forward thinking, but it’s leaning on a lot from the past,
Sevan Matossian (06:33):
Uh, um, going back to what you first said and, and I’m still not sure I fully grasped what the power rankings are, but, um, would you say that within re if, if the CrossFit games aren’t the 40 fittest men on the planet, would you say that within reason, whatever that means, it’s the 20 fittest men on the planet?
Brian Friend (06:54):
Yes. Yeah. So, uh, for, so for example, there are two, there are two athletes that I included in the, these power rankings in the top 20, that, that did not compete at the games this year. Okay. And those are Samya who is competing on a team and Scott, Patrick who got injured and was unable to compete.
Sevan Matossian (07:13):
Uh, oh, wow.
Brian Friend (07:15):
So the rest of the top 20 guys, so the other 18 all finished inside the top 20.
Sevan Matossian (07:22):
Okay. Okay. But, but, but not in the exact order,
Brian Friend (07:26):
Not in the exact order. No.
Sevan Matossian (07:28):
Um, what about, um, why is not, why is not, uh, senior, uh, phoning
Brian Friend (07:36):
Someone just lost a vet, by the way,
Sevan Matossian (07:38):
Did
Brian Friend (07:39):
You read this comment?
Sevan Matossian (07:40):
I did. Why? Why is not senior phoning, uh, in the list and yet people like, um, Angelo Samwell, uh, Scott Panik are,
Brian Friend (07:53):
So I, I tried to include people on this, I think have the, that might compete as an individual, this upcoming season. I think corny will I kind of, I kind of think, I don’t know if Angelo and Luke Parker will or won’t, I don’t know. I don’t really know what’s gonna happen over at mayhem, but I think Angelo, I would like to see Angelo compete as an individual. Again, obviously made the last chance qualify. The last time he tried, um, 20, 21 season.
Sevan Matossian (08:17):
That would be cool to see him compete. Again.
Brian Friend (08:20):
Someone asked about Luke Parker. I don’t know. I don’t know if Luke Parker, if I knew for sure he was competing individual, I would probably have him on the next 25 list. There’s a couple guys on that list that I think probably don’t even need to be there, but I’ll just say this as a disclaimer, front, like I can look at this list this morning and I can look at it tomorrow morning and the next morning, and I’m gonna, like, you’re always gonna second cast certain things. So I just kind of made this list last week, I looked at it a two or three times, like fresh minded and then I just put it away and I said, you know what, that’s the list. And that’s what I’m gonna go with. And I could like, you could always, like I said, make another little change here or there or whatever. But I think this is a pretty good representation. I tried my best not to forget anyone. Some people scared me this morning. They’re like, where’s Griffin Raleigh Raleigh, or where’s Matt pooling. And I, I was like, oh shit, did I forget those guys? But I didn’t. Right. I don’t think I forgot him.
Sevan Matossian (09:06):
No, you, I saw both of them. I just looked through. I saw both of
Brian Friend (09:09):
’em, you know, someone said, what about Ja James Newberry? I don’t think James is competing as an individual anymore. I don’t know that for sure. I didn’t reach out to any of the athletes. This is just me doing research around the world. Trying not to forget anyone. Um,
Sevan Matossian (09:22):
I’m about to ask a question and this is the reason you guys watch the show. Well, outside of Brian, outside of Brian, this question I’m about to ask is the reason you watch the show is rich frowning gonna be on the list. You guys like that, that one tickles your balls, but this is the one you really want to hear. Where’s Tia, go on the list.
Brian Friend (09:46):
Where’s Tia go on the men’s list.
Sevan Matossian (09:48):
Yeah. Does she make this 1 25? Does she make the top 100, plus these crumbs, these crumbs where you put Roy Gabo and you’ll probably burn in hell for that, but these crumbs
Brian Friend (09:58):
Roy can boy,
Sevan Matossian (10:00):
He deserves to be in the top 100, a little home cooking, Brian, a little home cooking for your boy, Roy. Uh, um,
Brian Friend (10:06):
I haven’t checked this, but he is prob he’s probably the oldest guy on this list. So KU does to him for there.
Sevan Matossian (10:12):
Um, uh, um, what does Tia make? The 1 25 fit is men in the world.
Brian Friend (10:17):
It’s just, it’s so tough. You know, there’s just obviously certain weightlifting tests that she would be unable to do in the men’s field. Um, I think that absent of that, her, her, you know, aerobic capacity and gymnastics prowess, and then anything that’s weightlifting, like even if it was 50 pound dumbbells, I think she could move 50 pound dumbbells with certain movements, as well as some of these guys, um, you know, wall balls, 20 pound wall ball. I don’t think it’d be an issue for her, you know, cycling like a 95 pound snatch or 1 35 cleaning jerk. I think she could do just as well as some of these guys, but because there are gonna be, you know, three to six tests and across the games competition that the weight’s just gonna stop her in her tracks. I think, uh, no, she would, you know, those, those scores of basically a DNF or a zero would preclude her for making the top 100 men
Sevan Matossian (11:06):
E even so, so if you, if you put all of these guys in the CrossFit games, let’s say you ran a games with these hundred hundred dudes bust these crumbs the cam Crocketts, um, uh,
Brian Friend (11:18):
They’re not crumbs dude, just to get even on this list is like pretty incredible.
Sevan Matossian (11:22):
Hey, wasn’t Zach Watts on the, on the podcast.
Brian Friend (11:26):
We had him on the podcast. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:28):
Um, dude, Zach, how the fuck do you make it on the podcast? And then you don’t make the top 100 just
Brian Friend (11:32):
Respect, you
Sevan Matossian (11:33):
Know, anti Christopher. Oh no, no. He made the top one. He’s just, he’s the only crumb that’s been on the show. And I, I expect more from you if you’re gonna be on my show.
Brian Friend (11:43):
Well, he wasn’t, uh, he wasn’t a crumb when we had him on the show. He was doing very well that year.
Sevan Matossian (11:48):
Uh, um, so you don’t think if Tia is, goes against these a hundred, plus the crumbs in the CrossFit games this year that, um, I could call them dust particles. Um, uh, uh, you don’t think she, she, she beats some of these guys, I mean, overall in the overall rankings at the end, at the end of the week.
Brian Friend (12:08):
Uh it’s I don’t know. I don’t know how good she can do on some of the workouts.
Sevan Matossian (12:13):
So you’re saying there’s some strength stuff where there could be like four strength events where
Brian Friend (12:18):
Yeah. She takes zero points.
Sevan Matossian (12:19):
What was the one where they had to run through the town? They had to run and then carry the thing up the stairs. That was the APAC capital capital, the capital. Um, so that one, all these, that 200 pound bag comes and she’s,
Brian Friend (12:30):
If I to do 20 pig flips with 510 pounds, I don’t know if she’d ever leave the, the north park or not. I mean, we’ve never seen it, right. We we’ve never had a, a woman compete in the men’s field like that. Um,
Sevan Matossian (12:42):
God, I wish I was friends with her Shane, so I could just call and Shane could be like, fuck you, she finish his top 50. And we were all like, oh,
Brian Friend (12:48):
But there’s also, you know, his, the, uh,
Sevan Matossian (12:51):
Question of, I text him now and just try and ask him, I think he’ll,
Brian Friend (12:54):
Or may Brian doesn’t even think you’re one of the top 50 best men in the world to help.
Sevan Matossian (12:58):
I would, I need to be careful how I word it. <laugh> I probably shouldn’t word it like that. Don’t fuck. Okay. Um, the, the, you, you brought up a really good point though. The oldest guy, um, do you know who the oldest guy is in the top 100 now? I mean, I heard you just say you don’t it’s,
Brian Friend (13:15):
It’s probably Scott pan.
Sevan Matossian (13:16):
Okay. Which is crazy, cuz he’s still so good.
Brian Friend (13:20):
Yeah, I, yeah, I do think he’s still very good, obviously.
Sevan Matossian (13:25):
Um, what do we know? This is really off subject. What do we know about his knee and his healing? Like he, he opted not to get the surgery, right?
Brian Friend (13:31):
Yeah. I mean, what he’s put on Instagram is as much as I know, which is probably as much as, you know, unless you’ve spoken to him, but yeah. So he, yeah, he did not get like the full reconstructive surgery is my understanding. And um, I don’t know. I think he’s, I, I think he’s gonna make a run to try to compete again next year.
Sevan Matossian (13:46):
You do.
Brian Friend (13:47):
Yeah. That’s why I put him on this list. I, if there’s someone that I didn’t think like rich, for example, was gonna do that, then I didn’t include them on the list. So everyone here, I’m thinking and there’s other guys too, like, like Taylor, self’s on this list. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to or not. Cause he has to still have his second surgery. So it might be a wasted spot.
Sevan Matossian (14:05):
I didn’t see Taylor
Brian Friend (14:06):
46,
Sevan Matossian (14:08):
No shit. See you think, okay. You think Taylor self in a one-on-one competition beats Roy Gabo.
Brian Friend (14:19):
I think Taylor self is,
Sevan Matossian (14:21):
Uh, like we pulled 10 things outta the
Brian Friend (14:23):
Hopper. The fact that he was, yeah, minus the fact that he was, um, obviously injured this year. I think if we would’ve gotten to see him compete at the games last year or this year that peop you know, there’d be an argument to have him in the top 20 on this list.
Sevan Matossian (14:38):
Wow.
Brian Friend (14:39):
I think that he, I
Sevan Matossian (14:40):
Don’t, I don’t, you liked what you saw at waap Palooza
Brian Friend (14:45):
I’ve, I’ve basically always liked what I’ve seen from him from a physical perspective. He needs to get, you know, he needs to have a better, I think, a better mindset event to event in competitions when he does them, um, to, you know, so that he can show his, the full breath of his fitness. And that’s a really difficult skill to teach. Uh, you know, I’ve spoken about it before, but some of the athletes at the games this year, I was tremendously impressed as I’ve gotten more of an opportunity to be, to see what happens behind the scenes, on both the competition side and the athlete side. It is so impressive how some of these guys can have something really unfortunate, potentially unfair or, uh, unlucky or just bad workout happen. And they just forget it and move on just like that. I mean, and I, you know, days would go by and I’m still, it’s still weighing on my mind, like Jesus, these points that this guy lost because of something that was out of his control are something that was so silly that would probably never happen again, would affect it. And they’re just like, they’re way beyond that. They might come revisit it after the competition, but that ability to, to
Sevan Matossian (15:44):
Anything what’s when you say this, any examples, just stick out in your mind right away. Like the single unders to it got clips.
Brian Friend (15:50):
Sure. But more specifically, you know, for me was with lizard GI that I talked about, like, you know, to make the mistake on the bike workout. He could’ve, if he would’ve done the extra lap, people are like, oh, you gotta give him a five minute pen. Like he got penalized badly enough. He finished 10th on that workout. He had no chance of finishing worse than fifth, none, and almost guaranteed would’ve been a fourth or better. So he, you know, he just, and, and then he hesitated in the workout where Spencer didn’t. Yes. And it cost five points, which is 15 five spots. There’s 15 points. So like, I would just be like sitting there like Jesus, what? I can’t, I can’t believe I missed count my laps. I can’t believe I went in the stadium. Spencer ran to the finish. I said, there’re being an idiot.
Brian Friend (16:27):
It cost me all these points. And, and I know that like to improve on what I did last year, every point’s gonna matter, like the margins can be so small. If you look at like the 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 spots that those 15 points could have cost him, you know, thousands of dollars, a spot in the top 10, something like that. And I would just be like sitting with it. He didn’t care. He just moved right on the capital workout. Same thing. It totally devastated. He literally couldn’t move. People had to roll him out of the way he couldn’t get up for five minutes. And he posted on Instagram as soon as he could a little picture of, with a, you know, a little grin and said, I’m fine. Ready for the next one. And that’s the mentality that you have to have that I haven’t always seen. Taylor have that’s I think held him back from being on a, on a platform where people could see the extent of his fitness.
Sevan Matossian (17:10):
Oh, I hope Taylor’s watching this. I know he just fucking stood up out of his chair. He’s like, fuck you, Brian. Hey, uh, so this is, this is a great example. Brian just gave us by the way. So we’re looking at the top 10 right here and in, in the CrossFit games, um, uh, Laar finished eighth and Jason Hopper finished seventh. And yet when you look at Brian’s list, um, Laar is higher than Jason. And you might say, why don’t you trust the games? And then Brian just explained it to you. No, we have, when, when you take in other event situations that happened like the bike event, um, and, and, and lizard’s behavior, uh, and, and get up and go at the capital event, he puts ’em higher. So these are, these are pretty damn good.
Brian Friend (17:52):
Yeah. But yeah, but there’s, but there are other, you know, there are other factors for sure. Like, I look at their, you know, overall competition history and what they’ve done and all of the competitions that we’ve had a chance, what or relevant competitions that they’ve had a chance to compete in that I’m aware of. And then I look at, um, yeah, I look at their, their age, which in this case for both of them, I don’t think the age is a hindrance or really a bonus they’re both 24, 26, something like that, where I think that this year, I mean, this is for this year, right. So I think that this year doesn’t,
Sevan Matossian (18:21):
LAER seem so much more mature than Jason Hopper,
Brian Friend (18:25):
I would say yes, but, you know, uh, Jason, I think is coming along a big, you know, a big way in that regard. Um, this
Sevan Matossian (18:35):
Last one, this seems more mature than me.
Brian Friend (18:37):
<laugh>, uh, you know, he’s, he’s a fun loving, he, he’s a fun guy. I don’t know. Yeah. He’s got a good maturity, good head on his shoulders. But I think that he kind of always has, I mean, you can think even back to 2019, he had the chance to compete at the cross of games that year. And he chose not to go because he said, I don’t, I don’t think that I’m ready to compete at that level yet. And I mean, he maybe had the, you know, a lot of people would’ve probably taken the opportunity to, it might be the only chance you get to go, but that wasn’t how he was thinking about it. He was thinking, no, this, when I go there, this it’s something I want to go to compete. And when he is finally did show up, he has been competing and that’s backed up by two top 10 finishes.
Sevan Matossian (19:15):
Uh, why, um, what inspired the hundred? What, what the deepest we’d gone before was 40, right?
Brian Friend (19:21):
I think, uh, yeah, so that was for the, you know, the games rankings, I think I had done 30 and the 20, like earlier in the season last year. Um, and so the hundred, I think is just the sport. I feel like the sport’s getting, uh, to be a little bit more exposure. Uh, the media in general is like diving deeper and having more scrutiny and analysis. And so even though I probably could’ve done a hundred the last couple years, I don’t think it would have as much meaning for the people that were receiving the information. Now, I think that even, even with the 1 25, there are people on Instagram and, uh, and around the world that will see some of the names on that list and have, you know, strong opinions one way or the other about them, because there’s just more recognition of the second, third, fourth, fifth tier of athletes. And I thought that, you know, I did do one of these for the women. Also, we can do that one, I think pretty soon, but I thought that it might be harder on the women’s side to come up with a hundred or 125. But, but it wasn’t when I put down all the lists of women that I thought might be considered for the top 100, I had over 125 names there also.
Sevan Matossian (20:27):
Wow. Okay. Um, uh, these are the, how many are here? Are these 25 names here? How many are here?
Brian Friend (20:35):
Yeah, 25.
Sevan Matossian (20:37):
Okay. So the, the bottom 25 are not ranked just to be clear. The top 100 are ranked alphabet. Okay. Alphabetical even better. Okay. Did, did you, um, consult anyone else? Like, were you ever like call someone feel anyone out? No. You probably hate yourself if you did. It’s like, it’s like asking a room full of 30 people. What kind of pizza do you want? It’s like, it’s a huge mistake.
Brian Friend (20:57):
<laugh> yeah. I, there was one person who I thought about calling to ask their opinion on this topic and I actually did talk to ’em, but it was after I publicized the list this morning. Um, and he hasn’t had a, a real chance to even decipher it or look into it, but no, it was kind, it’s kind of that thing. Like, I almost felt like I was already consulting like five different people just by talking to myself, you know?
Sevan Matossian (21:19):
Wow. Cause I should, you should get, you should get help for that. <laugh>
Brian Friend (21:24):
Uh, yeah, it’s just, I know, I just, for whatever reason, I know a lot about a lot of these guys and it’s like, it is really tough. And so I even considered after 50, just ranking them by 10 alphabetically. So that to not have like, you know, because the kind of the deeper you go, the harder it is, the less information you have on some of them, um, to necessarily say like, no, this person has better or has a better potential than this guy or this, you know,
Sevan Matossian (21:52):
Who on this list, are you certain of the most certain who of, of these a hundred names in the 25 mouth alphabet order at the end? Who are you like? Yep. That, that guy really found his home on the list. Who was the very, who’s the first guy who’s who, who for sure. Justin. Yeah,
Brian Friend (22:14):
I think for, for me, this was the one and two was very, very easy. And, uh, you know, I know some people are curious about the three compared to the four, but the one and two was, was really easy. I mean, Justin, I, I said it after a rogue last year, I’m not, I’m gonna have him first on my list until someone proves to me that they can beat him in an elite level competition, which basically means the games, uh, rogue waap, if he shows up or Dubai, if he shows up outside of that, I don’t think anyone can, um, can overtake him for the one spot until they beat him probably at rogue or wa or, or the games. I don’t think he’s gonna do a lot of off season competitions. Again,
Sevan Matossian (22:48):
You don’t.
Brian Friend (22:50):
No, I was, I would. I mean maybe, or maybe he’ll choose to have some fun and do a team of three, a waza with some buddies, but still that also doesn’t strike me as his persona. I think that he, you know, I haven’t, you know, I don’t spend a lot of time talking to him, but, um, he’s always been super gracious when I have, and I spoke to him after the, after he won this year. Not like very shortly after he won. And I think that it’s pretty obvious just the mindset that him and Adam have is that their, like their intention is to win the CrossFit games. Um, I think rogue is a good, it’s a good place for the highest level competitions <laugh> competitors on a, uh, like in terms of the yearly calendar, because of where it falls, where you can, you know, you can leverage a little bit of the finish from the games. So he’ll show up there. Pretty good. You can take a couple months off if you want to, or back off a little bit. But I think Justin is extremely aware of the level of competitor that he has to beat to win again. Um, and I think that that will most likely will be their focus is to after rogue, get back into a training with that singular mindset.
Sevan Matossian (23:49):
You’re honestly gonna tell me you don’t see any fucking look at this, any similarity between the bearded, uh Harran baboon and, um, Justin Madera, you see that right?
Brian Friend (24:06):
I mean, with, with this picture of him, yes. I see that.
Sevan Matossian (24:09):
Yeah.
Brian Friend (24:10):
I think everyone can see the, you know, <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (24:13):
I mean, this is, this is a, this is a fucking primal man.
Brian Friend (24:16):
It is. And you know, what’s actually, uh, something that I noticed look
Sevan Matossian (24:19):
At, even his ears are my ears. Don’t sit on my head like that. Look how his ears are. Like, it looks like someone photo turned, took Photoshop and rotated his ear on his head.
Brian Friend (24:30):
He actually, I think he has a pretty big head, like square it’s big. And
Sevan Matossian (24:34):
All these dudes have fucking heads. ER’s head looks like a fucking watermelon.
Brian Friend (24:39):
Well, maybe not all of them, but I
Sevan Matossian (24:41):
Noticed Kowski has, if AOWs, he’s got a giant head,
Brian Friend (24:44):
He’s a big guy.
Sevan Matossian (24:45):
I bet you Colton Merton tested, like used the last fucking snap on the, on a, on a oh, Roy Gabo has got a fuck. Two watermelon head, suitcase head. They’re all fucking, I want, I wonder if it means these guys are all smart too. I seriously, I mean, look at Justin’s ear on his head there. It doesn’t it look like it was rotated in Photoshop. You see what I’m saying? Is
Brian Friend (25:07):
It maybe a product of just wrestling? I don’t
Sevan Matossian (25:12):
Fuck. Okay. Okay. Last, last bad one.
Brian Friend (25:15):
We got a hundred guys on this list. You wanna talk about Madera’s ear?
Sevan Matossian (25:18):
Uh, yeah. Uh, good point. Um, uh, this is just way off and, and this is why you wish it sucks. Cause I asked such great questions, like Tia to me, and then I’m gonna go here and I know most of you guys are gonna tune out here, but this really, um, caught me. Uh, where is it? Ben Smith. Okay. <laugh> I I’m just gonna go. I wanna look at Ben Smith where, where you pushed Ben Smith here really quick.
Brian Friend (25:43):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (25:45):
And I’m and, and I, oh, full disclaimer. I’ve started like Ben Smith was never really on my radar ever. Even when he won the games and he’s skyrocketed onto my radar. The last two interactions I’ve had with him have been like so pleasant. Um, we’re cruising down to, uh, 41st through 50th. If you guys want to, you guys can to watch the show or you can open up your phones. This is on Brian friend, Instagram. Uh, let me see where Ben Smith is here. He’s pretty low on here.
Brian Friend (26:15):
He’s in 72.
Sevan Matossian (26:18):
How did you know that? So quickly
Brian Friend (26:21):
I made the list and I have it open on my computer. Right,
Sevan Matossian (26:24):
Right here. Okay. Okay. Uh, oh, interesting. Okay. I, I made a mistake already. I thought you had Christoff higher than Ben Smith. You don’t.
Brian Friend (26:35):
No,
Sevan Matossian (26:36):
But, but look at Ben Smith is 72. You’re telling me Ben Smith. Can’t beat Jack Farlow. I, I like Farlow, but, but a hopper, but in a hopper you’re telling Ben Smith can’t beat con Porter in a hopper. Uh, like we just pulled to buy a hopper. I mean, you just pull random 10 events out of the, um, Ben Smith. Can’t beat, uh, Tudor, Magna, Colton S wow. Will Moad Ben Smith. Can’t beat will Moad
Brian Friend (27:06):
No, we’re talking about will Moad. I mean Will’s will, if you’re a fan of will Mora, you should be upset at how low he is on this list.
Sevan Matossian (27:15):
All right. Fine. Okay. So you like that. So Ben’s Ben Smith’s career is waning. Is what you’re saying. Even though he said he is the fittest he’s ever been.
Brian Friend (27:22):
Yeah. But he’s basically has said the same, you know, it’s like, I feel like I’m the fittest I’ve ever been and that’s, uh, you know, I’m finishing 12th in semifinals or something like that.
Sevan Matossian (27:32):
He’s the, he’s the best dude. Who’s lowest on the list. Whatever that means. I don’t even know what I’m trying to say there, but
Brian Friend (27:37):
I don’t know. Josh Chama is right behind him.
Sevan Matossian (27:39):
Who
Brian Friend (27:40):
You ever talk to? Joshua Chama?
Sevan Matossian (27:41):
No. Josh. Who is
Brian Friend (27:42):
He? He would like
Sevan Matossian (27:43):
Him. What country is he
Brian Friend (27:45):
From? The UK. He was on the CrossFit Invictus team that took third of the games this year.
Sevan Matossian (27:48):
That’s a hell of a last name. He he’s the only guy on the list with a hyphen in his last name.
Brian Friend (27:53):
There are a lot of good guys on, on here, man.
Sevan Matossian (27:56):
Okay. You don’t think
Brian Friend (27:57):
Christ’s
Sevan Matossian (27:57):
A good guy? I do think Christo’s a good guy. I think Christo’s a great guy. Awesome guy manages a lot competing. And having your chick compete is crazy, especially cuz there’s this vibe that he manages her, but then he also has to deal with his own shit.
Brian Friend (28:12):
Yep. They might work pretty
Sevan Matossian (28:13):
Well. Yeah. I wonder how she would feel if he also had a girl, another girlfriend who managed him. So he managed her, but then there was another girl who managed him. Okay. Uh, the only guy on this list that I really know the only people on this list. So here’s some names I’ve heard of Luke Fowler, Zack Watts, Roy Gabo. Those are the only guys I know. Oh, Alexander I
Brian Friend (28:40):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (28:41):
Um, was it hard?
Brian Friend (28:43):
Heard of Brasa Linkov
Sevan Matossian (28:44):
I oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You
Brian Friend (28:46):
Haven’t heard of drew Wayman.
Sevan Matossian (28:48):
No, not drew Wayman.
Brian Friend (28:49):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (28:50):
But, but uh, brass law. I remember cuz last year we had fun with his name. That’s
Brian Friend (28:55):
Where we about
Sevan Matossian (28:56):
It. Is there, um, is, is this hard putting this list together? Yeah. Very hard. The last, the, this last 25 or there like 50 dudes or a hundred guys where you’re like, well, shit.
Brian Friend (29:06):
Yeah. There’s guy. I mean, like I said, there’s guys in this group of 25 that are not like looking at it today. I’m like, I shouldn’t have included them on this list and there’s other guys that maybe would it be better to, to put there, but uh, like I, you know, like I said, uh, once I put it out there to the public, then people message me or D me or at a comment or all this stuff. And then I think about it things differently. And it’s, uh, you know, it’s not that difficult for someone to say a name and for me to justify it, like I could make an argument for most of these guys and for a lot of other guys. Um, so at some point I just had to say like, okay, enough’s enough. That’s the list. And if I missed one, then I missed one, but I’m, you know, I’m trying to do my best to, you know, accurately represent the entire, you know, globe, the world of, of men who are trying to compete in the CrossFit games.
Sevan Matossian (29:54):
Uh, so the, the, and this makes sense. So the guys you’re most certain of.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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