Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Bam. We’re live. He ended up being on for like an hour and 22. I, I mean, I mean, not, not to any fault of his own. I think maybe he wanted to get off in 20 also, but we got going and
Brian Friend (00:13):
That happens sometimes.
Sevan Matossian (00:14):
Yeah. He’s a good dude. I knew he’d be easy. He’s a great guest. He knows how to talk. He knows how to give answers. He knows how to make himself vulnerable.
Brian Friend (00:24):
Well,
Sevan Matossian (00:25):
Like, like yourself, Mr. Friend,
Brian Friend (00:26):
Like yourself. I was gonna say, don’t expect anything from me.
Sevan Matossian (00:29):
Uh, I wanna, I wanna, uh, start the show with, uh, a little, uh, theme that I think is gonna become a, a theme of this show today.
Brian Friend (00:38):
I also want it to start the show with something.
Sevan Matossian (00:41):
Oh, okay. You go ahead.
Brian Friend (00:42):
I just was, I, I know why we’re both wearing blue today.
Sevan Matossian (00:46):
Oh, tell me.
Brian Friend (00:47):
It’s a morning for Argentina because they lost to Saudi Arabia and the World Cup this morning.
Sevan Matossian (00:52):
How did you know?
Brian Friend (00:53):
Yep. We’re feeling bad for them.
Sevan Matossian (00:57):
Uh, what, what really did they really, I that’s amazing that Saudi Arabia has a good, uh, soccer team to
Brian Friend (01:04):
Me. Uh, I mean, the ranked 51st in the world, they all play in a domestic league there in Saudi Arabia. But you have to think, I think about the World Cup League. I think about the CrossFit Games. It’s a one competition all year that, you know, every person or team that’s qualified for is showing up with nothing to lose and everything to fight for. And there’s nothing easy in the World Cup. I coached a lot of soccer games, played in a lot of soccer games in my life, and I watched that game this morning. And Saudi Arabia just had, they had the perfect game plan, and the things broke their way that needed to, they took advantage of the scoring chances when they got ’em. And the last 30 minutes of the game, Argentina was desperate and confused and couldn’t break through to, to get back into the game.
Sevan Matossian (01:44):
Desperate and confused. My favorite kind of soccer team. I wanna show you a professional website.
Brian Friend (01:52):
Is this the theme for
Sevan Matossian (01:53):
Today? Yeah. I wanna show you a professional. This is a professional website, Pfizer’s website. Look how nice it is. Look at that artwork. Explore our science.
Brian Friend (02:03):
I feel like you could just strip away all the language and take that, that background and make it a, a painting in a nice home somewhere. Get a lot of comments from guests.
Sevan Matossian (02:14):
Yes. Maybe at the wines, uh, at the, um, Epstein Empire. Uh, based on today’s visit, how would you rate your site experience? Oh my God, that’s so cool. I’m gonna say a seven. God, it’s so good.
Brian Friend (02:25):
Seven outta seven. It’s
Sevan Matossian (02:27):
Interesting. Oh my goodness. Look, and there’s a whole survey here. It’s awesome. I mean, this is a nice profession. Gene therapy myth busting quiz. Ooh, I like
Brian Friend (02:40):
That. It’s interesting to me though, we had a long list of topics. This Pfizer’s website wasn’t on the list.
Sevan Matossian (02:46):
Equity and Advanced prostate, I’ve never looked at this website. I just knew it would be professional equity and advanced prostate cancer be begins with changing the conversation. Oh, that’s so cool. Equity in my anus. That’s all. I mean, this site is so professional, and I’m sure these are all authentic photos. Nothing staged. I mean, what
Brian Friend (03:05):
Do you mean equity in my anus? Are they offering shots in the ass? Not
Sevan Matossian (03:08):
To for everybody. Okay. Now look, this is a, this is, and this website’s supposed to, um, add to the quality of your life. This is a company that wants to add to the quality of life and help you save your life. I guess I’m making that up. I haven’t read that in any, um, in any, uh, mission statement. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Here we go. Here’s our purpose. We’re in the relentless pursuit of breakthrough that change patients lives. We don’t change, and they do that. Pfizer changes people’s lives. That is for certain, we innovate every day to make the world a healthier place. I think that’s probably just a blatant lie. It was Charles Pfizer’s vision at the beginning, and it holds true today. I mean, there’s ample evidence. Okay, now, let me show you a site that’s not professional, absolutely not professional. Zero profession. This is the original, uh, this is what it originally looked like on crossfit.com. Those of you people who use the word professional, you woke jargon, douche bags, no name calling. Sevan, you’re just part of the problem. You’re just using words. You don’t even know what they mean. You don’t even define words
(04:28):
When companies are more concerned about their brand than their product.
(04:34):
If you want to call that professional, let me tell you what’s professional. You think the NFL is professional? So then I would define a professional is sold out sos companies that are willing to pedal drugs to your kids and candy to your kids and junk to your kids, as if it would make them better. Oh, and that’s the irony. Isn’t that amazing too? What’s the VA’s website look like? The VA’s website’s a complete cluster. Fuck, what a disaster. But still, the only, probably the most accurate measurement we have, uh, regarding, uh, um, vaccine health. The only fact is that it’s underreported because doctors aren’t paid to fill out the forms. They’re mandated to fill them out, but they’re not paid to fill them out. So that time is free. Anyway. Thi this, if you, if you had to choose one site for your health, would you choose crossfit.com or Pfizer? Would you choose the original cross? I’ll ask Brian. Brian, if you had to choose health for your family and yourself, and you needed one resource, would you use crossfit.com with the game site, the journal, the affiliate map, the daily workouts? Or, or, or would you choose the Pfizer website?
(05:43):
Pfizer site’s far more professional brother, far more professional. Careful what you choose here. I mean, they are really professional.
Brian Friend (05:50):
Trying to see if I stripped away the words from this one, if it would make a nice painting in my house or not.
Sevan Matossian (05:55):
Yeah, the excellent, excellent point of, well, here, let’s see. We can click on some pictures. They offer this. Do you want that hanging in your living room?
Brian Friend (06:04):
Maybe like a before and after. It would be nice.
Sevan Matossian (06:08):
I, I would choose a TikTok for medical advice. Me too. I would choose TikTok for medical advice before the Pfizer site two. It is such a joke. You got me really riled up with those articles you told me to read. We are gonna have a blast today.
Brian Friend (06:22):
Me?
Sevan Matossian (06:22):
Yeah. I told you articles, the article, remember on Barbell Spin, you pointed it at, uh, at me, <laugh>. I was like, Hey, what’s the show gonna be about? And you gave me a whole laundry list of things that maybe I should read so we could talk about, man, you got me, uh, fired up. Uh, Caleb, there is a, um, uh, a website you should probably load now. It has a 32nd commercial in the, okay, you man.
Brian Friend (06:44):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (06:45):
You, man. Thank you. Caleb. Oh, oh, Caleb. And you’re back in your, you’re back in, um, the seven on podcast hq.
Brian Friend (06:52):
Indeed.
Sevan Matossian (06:52):
Thank you. Okay. That’s nice to see you there. That,
Brian Friend (06:55):
That bunker backs right up to the bookshelf behind yous
Sevan Matossian (06:59):
<laugh>, where we had that wall is just a facade. It separates us. And then over there, behind this fake wall, is Brian. Okay? Um, uh, Tia has it, it appears if you go to, uh, CrossFit games, uh, to the link from the CrossFit games, uh, video, um, down under championships, top stories, it looks like, uh, CrossFit games is reporting that Tia is injured and she does have a back injury. God, maybe it’s in the writing. If you scroll down a little bit, it’s in the writing. Uh, although Tia Clark, Timmy withdrew from the competition due to a back injury, God, that bombs me out. It made me so sad to, to read that. And, uh, I saw it on Nate Edwardson s uh, video, and I haven’t heard it come out of her mouth, but when I heard, I remember Annie hurting her back. Whenever in, uh, whenever athletes get injured, their back gets injured. I get so nervous for them or Danielle, Brandon. It, uh, it is, and that’s what’s remarkable that Andy came back from that. Do, do you have any insights on what’s going on with her back? I’m, I’m, I’m scared to say, I’m guessing, and I have no proof of this, that it’s like a bulging disc in her lower back or some shit.
Brian Friend (08:10):
I have no idea. I’ve spoken to no one, uh, who would’ve any more of an idea than I would about it. And I’m not, I’m not too worried about it. I mean, I know it kind of sucks to say, but I lost interest in Tia with the things she pulled at the last day of the games last year. She comes back next year, I’ll, you know, consider her just like any other athlete. She said she had a back injury during the game, so maybe we didn’t see her at her best, thought she might be done. Looks like she’s coming back, thought we might see her in Australia. Didn’t get to see her compete. Actually think that was good for the competition, the women’s team competition that they didn’t compete. Um, so I’m not, I’m not really worried about Tia,
Sevan Matossian (08:48):
Uh, unbiased perspective from Brian Friend, although it’s sacrilege, uh, Tia U in, uh, Brian and I stand, uh, differ. Differ on, um, on that. I do, I do think that maybe you should think about the shoes you’re wearing and that maybe they, those noble junk cardboard shoes possibly could be at the root of your
Brian Friend (09:10):
More barefoot training. Less back problems.
Sevan Matossian (09:14):
Yeah. Uh, Brian calls BS on retirement. I don’t know if he did that. I, I just don’t think he liked the fact that it was, um, that maybe there was some miscommunication. No. That there was miscommunication.
Brian Friend (09:27):
No, that there was clear communication that ended up being false.
Sevan Matossian (09:31):
Yeah, he doesn’t like that. Brian stands very, Brian, would you say you stand very loyal to the commentators? You have a proximity bias in this,
Brian Friend (09:39):
Uh, in this regard in particular with Sean? Yeah. A thousand percent. He would not have, he would not have done that absent certainty. And where is he gonna get certainty from?
Sevan Matossian (09:50):
I would like to, although I don’t, um, necessarily disagree with Brian. I would also like to offer any athletes who would like to announce their retirement, whether it be true or false, are welcome. Always <laugh> on the Seon podcast, please. I have, I I, I far
Brian Friend (10:06):
More encouraged to do it here and in fact, you know what? Come on and do it, and then come on a month later and Unretire, yes. Re retire. Just keep coming back. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (10:14):
Uh, I, I, I, we, we also have this, uh, news about the great Tia Tumi. Um, it’s, it’s a Channel five.
Brian Friend (10:21):
The reason why it’s, let me just say the reason why it’s, it’s so sad is because her winning that championship was historic. And so the call is historic. So why would you give information to the person who’s gonna make the call about one of the biggest moments in your career that’s inaccurate. If you’re not sure, don’t tell him anything. Just let him do what he’s always done, which is make great calls. He spends like the whole week, he’s a thinking and talking and preparing. He’ll wake up in the middle of the night and make notes about these calls that might happen that are likely to happen. He pours so much into that. He changed everything on the last day, in the last hour, in the last minutes because of information he was given, confirmed through CrossFit and through, through her coach, her team, and everyone who asked about it. So it’s a bummer for her too.
Sevan Matossian (11:12):
And that is the final word on that topic. Well, probably not. Um, uh, Caleb, can you pull up this, this is, uh, interview, uh, um, miss Tia Tomi did with Channel five News, by the way, in the Hiller comments, people are, because he made that funny video about her, people are referring to her as, as maybe being a stoner or not intelligent or whatever. I couldn’t, that’s further from the truth. I watched this whole video. She’s better than the news guy. I mean, I like the news guy. He’s cool, but she is good.
Brian Friend (11:42):
And, and much to her credit, the improvement EAB with happens with many athletes from 2015 16 interview Tia to 2020 1, 22 is night and day. See her confidence, her personality comes out a lot more. Um, so huge evolution of her in that regard over the la you know, her career also.
Sevan Matossian (12:01):
I, I concur. Okay. Uh, let’s play, uh, seven seconds of this and then we’ll skip to, uh, 3 35.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Actually try and cover absolutely everything. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
But the plan is to defend it. So you’re going for seven straight.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, that’s the plan, you know. Um,
Sevan Matossian (12:17):
Okay, so that’s the plan.
Brian Friend (12:20):
Seven seconds ahead
Sevan Matossian (12:21):
And then, and then, and then we’ll go to if 3 35 and here, and here’s, uh, here’s the plan.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Um, and then next year, the season starts, uh, around February. And, you know, it’s basically getting ready and prepared for the 2023 season
Speaker 4 (12:38):
For you Diet is,
Sevan Matossian (12:40):
I love it. And I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope she smashes the competition. Like usual. I’m excited to see her compete. Um, and end of story. I’m excited to see her come on the show too. What do you think the chances of that are?
Brian Friend (13:02):
Never know.
Sevan Matossian (13:03):
Okay. Uh, down under championship just happened. Um, it looked like a good competition. Uh, they probably should have, uh, paid us our going rate of free to stream the show and to cover it. I think we could have done them wonders based on the numbers that I saw. Um, I do think that it was nice seeing any Sao uh, in that other, um, older buff guy,
Brian Friend (13:24):
Jeremy Austin.
Sevan Matossian (13:25):
Jeremy Austin. I liked it. I liked it when the first day he kind of looked like a schlep. And the second day he put on the tank top, he was looking like a stud. Uh, him and Annie, I watched the recap, uh, day one, two, and three. And, uh, it’s cool. I’m really happy that Maddie Stewart run won looking strong, beautiful, uh, happy, uh, just like I always remember her also, uh, Jay Crouch, uh, won her boyfriend. That’s super cool. Uh, any, any thoughts on those two? Were they supposed to win, Brian?
Brian Friend (13:56):
Yes, for sure. Uh, given the field of athletes competing in the individual division, and I know you might look and see someone like Lauren Fisher or you might look and see someone like Catlin Vanil, who’s had a success in the team competition the last two years. But no, given the, the, the field that was lining up for individuals, if Jay and Maddie had not won, it would’ve been a disappointment. Anything other than winning would’ve been a disappointment for them. They were, in my opinion, clearly the class of those divisions, and they did what they were meant to do. Keep in mind, even though they both have a lot of experience, they’re both very young as were a lot of the people from Australia, New Zealand, and that part of the world that competed in this competition as individuals, and that’s how I view this competition in terms of the individual, is that it’s an opportunity for the young and up and coming, uh, competitive CrossFitters to, to get a little touch point in the off season.
(14:46):
Most of the people that you see in the top 10 here also competed in the Atium Pro in the semifinals and had a variety of results there. And we’ve seen some of them make some big cha, you know, improvements. Um, Jake Douglas, if you don’t know who Jake Douglas is, he was actually fifth. A lot of people were talking about Bailey Martin, who finished Sixth Atium Pro last year. Jake was one spot ahead of him. He’s very, uh, very good. And, you know, we’ll see how many spots they get and who competes. The problem is it’s really competitive to get the game spots. So it’s nice to have a showcase event like this for the Australians in the off season, um, where they can kind of shine out. Peter Ellis was third on the men’s, he was 20th at semi-finals last year. He’s the 20 year old kid that’s, uh, up and coming in that region.
(15:30):
Seat Grove is an old throwback name, and that’s the other thing that you get, you know, in a competition like this is a chance for people who maybe aren’t contending for game spots anymore, but are still, you know, 28, 30, 32 years old and have a high level of fitness to get a high level competition close to home in their home country and have a chance to compete. So you get a little bit of everything there with the men’s, uh, men’s division and the women’s division was less well represented for a variety of reasons. But Emma Hawk 23 year old, top 10 finisher in semifinals last year. Georgia Pryor, same thing. Uh, she might be even younger. I think she finished 10th of Victorian Pro. Christina Livi, uh, Tous actually is from Ziba Zimbabwe. I don’t know why they had, uh, uh, Australian flag by her name in the, um, but she was second place in the, uh, citizen Cape Town last year at Semifinals. So these are some people that are like knocking on the door last chance qualifier type athletes from their parts of the world. And this is a, I think is a great opportunity for them to compete in the off season.
Sevan Matossian (16:32):
A Greek girl from Zimbabwe.
Brian Friend (16:35):
Yeah, I guess. Interesting.
Sevan Matossian (16:38):
I’d be curious to hear that, that backstory. I bet you it’s pretty exciting. Hey, is the down under a, um, how long has that competition been around and where do you place it? Where do you place it with like, uh, the, the big guys, uh, Wadada, waza Rogue, uh, Dubai. Hey, is Ro is that even, is Rogue? Are Rogue and Wa Polooza and Dubai really all on the same level?
Brian Friend (17:01):
No, I don’t think so anymore. Um, but to your original question, so if, uh, Patrick Clark wrote the preview, uh, on Bar Bend for the, um, down under cross the championship, we had an opportunity to talk to Rob Forte about it. Rob Forte was a programmer. He’s one of the new owners for this competition. I believe if you read through the article that he’s got some quotes in there, and this was, they basically are considering it their first year under the new leadership, but I think it’s their third year having that competition, but maybe over a four year or five year period of time because of c v, you know, preventing them from having live events for a year or two.
Sevan Matossian (17:35):
A crowd at the event looked bigger than any event. Um, a ty typical Australian fashion, I didn’t, you know, take a, a a a a head count, but the crowd looked massive. The crowd looked be bigger than any of the, the semi-finals regional sanctional shit that
Brian Friend (17:51):
Saw not bigger than to Pro.
Sevan Matossian (17:53):
Right. Well, I mean, I mean based on in the United States.
Brian Friend (17:56):
Oh, yes. Yeah. And that’s how it is, you know, Australia for these big events, they do, I think I saw somewhere 4,000 plus, uh, in attendance each day. I think they had an offsite event also, but every time they were in the stadium there,
Sevan Matossian (18:08):
You’re staying 4,000 people to down under competition.
Brian Friend (18:12):
Yeah. And I think that Pro sold out their 5,000 seats and then some, uh, well before the competition even began.
Sevan Matossian (18:21):
Wow. Who’s that?
Brian Friend (18:23):
Uh, not sure.
Sevan Matossian (18:25):
Geez. Louise
Brian Friend (18:26):
Ben Watts. Who is that? No, that’s a photographer. Can we scroll up and see who that is? Oh, it’s Jake Douglas. Oh, nice. He’s guy got second place.
Sevan Matossian (18:34):
What a hos.
Brian Friend (18:35):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (18:36):
Who’s that?
Brian Friend (18:41):
I’m not sure.
Sevan Matossian (18:43):
It’s irrelevant. It’s irrelevant.
Brian Friend (18:44):
It’s not irrelevant, but I don’t know. And some these could be team pictures, like that’s a team picture there.
Sevan Matossian (18:52):
I know who that was. That was Ricky Garrett.
Brian Friend (18:56):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (18:58):
Uh, the down under strength of Field was roughly 35% of games, meaning games athletes compared to zealous. Oh wait, the down under strength of field was roughly 35%. What’s that mean? Compared
Brian Friend (19:11):
To, oh, geez. Oh,
Sevan Matossian (19:12):
Go
Brian Friend (19:12):
Ahead. Go ahead. He’s using some metrics that he’s created to assess the strength of the field.
Sevan Matossian (19:17):
Oh, okay. The down under strength, uh, strength of field was roughly 35% of the games compared to ze. 70% syndicate 80%. It leaves a lot wanting, but still nice to get the sies on the floor. Well, so he’s saying that the athletes at Ellos were better and the athletes of the syndicate were even better than them. But man, uh, nothing beats a big crowd.
Brian Friend (19:36):
Nothing. And I would, I would, I mean, this is obviously great to say, I would say it doesn’t leave a lot of wanting, you know, there, this is a competition for that part of the world. You know, it’s, uh, mostly there’s a couple celebrities that have come in, big name people with big followings, but almost everyone there is competing from Australia or Oceania, which is the point of the competition, I think. And so I would wonder, you know, maybe if we had a, if we could do the strength of the field, of the down under championship compared to the st you know, a hundred percent being the strength of the field, if we had all of the Australians competing, it’s like, were we getting 70% of the top, you know, of the best people in Australia and Oceania at this competition, and not necessarily stacking it up to a competition that’s entirely made up of North American athletes.
Sevan Matossian (20:21):
Uh, Damien Castro, Maddy Stewart is hot as fuck. Way to add to the conversation. Did I say that? <laugh>?
Brian Friend (20:28):
I don’t know if that has about Mattie or Jay.
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
Did I say that Hot as fuck?
Brian Friend (20:33):
Probably not now. You’ve said it twice.
Sevan Matossian (20:34):
Yeah, she is hot as fuck. I mean, I, if if I didn’t say it, I need to say
Brian Friend (20:38):
It. Aren’t they both
Sevan Matossian (20:39):
Though? Extremely. Yeah, his body looks great right there. Whoever took that photo, nailed it.
Brian Friend (20:44):
I thought they both looked really, really good coming into this competition. Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (20:47):
She looks strong.
Brian Friend (20:49):
She’s been working on it. She needs to, you know, that’s the one area that she’s kind of fallen behind at times. So, um, that’s good. And, and I mean, again, they’ve been around for a while, but they’re both under 25. Like they, you know, they’re not even getting into the, what we consider the prime of a, uh, of their career age-wise.
Sevan Matossian (21:09):
Uh, the, I, I wonder what the toll is on her that she went to the games twice and, and then how many times did she miss the games now? Once
Brian Friend (21:17):
Since I think she went four times and then she missed twice since then. I think she made it 17, 18, 19, 20.
Sevan Matossian (21:23):
And the fact that she, she’s still pushing is, is really, uh, I think a testament to her character. Brian, were there any new athletes here? You know how at Rogue we saw Olivia Kerstetter making her sort of debut at 16,
Brian Friend (21:37):
Sorry, 16, 17, 18, 19. She made it career best Finish of 20th in 2018. Hasn’t made it for three years since.
Sevan Matossian (21:44):
Yeah. That’s tough, man. That’s tough. But you’re saying that she’s not in her prime, you’re saying that she can still get better.
Brian Friend (21:52):
Yeah, I’m also
Sevan Matossian (21:53):
Saying, or she might be in her prime, but she can still get
Brian Friend (21:55):
Better. I’m also saying that in 2018 she finished 20th, and if you just scanned the field of athletes ahead of her, you have 11th, Jamie Green, fourth at Year Car Assigners, first at year Tia, Claire Tomi, and Maddy Cert was like 19 years old or something at this point, and they have four in the top 20, and they were getting five people to the games that year. And then three years later, they’re only getting three spots. So they’ve already have four of the best 20 in the world in 2018. And since then have gotten less and less spots available to go.
Sevan Matossian (22:28):
That can’t be right. That would be fucking stupid.
Brian Friend (22:31):
That’s exactly what’s happened, and that’s what I’ve been saying since then.
Sevan Matossian (22:36):
Uh, how, uh, Jetro uh, Cardona, how is this podcast stuck at 19,900? I don’t like to use the word stuck, but I, Hey, we’re the, the, we’re so banned already on, um, apple and Spotify. It’s crazy. It’s so crazy what we’re seeing and what the screenshots people are sending. People only subscribe to the Seon podcast, and yet they can’t on their list of 10 recommended podcasts. It’s at the bottom. So it’s ridiculous. Uh, and any athletes debuting there, Brian, for the first time that, that were like, okay, this is a future contender. Holy cow. I,
Brian Friend (23:13):
I would say probably, you know, that I know of, but the, the guy who finished third Peter Ellis, I mean, going from 20th in the semifinals to third in this competition, the way he did it makes me, you know, think, okay, he’s, he’s a guy to watch. Like, he’s clearly making big strides, especially when you see that he’s able to get an event win, that he’s fairly strong at a young age, um, and he is doing pretty well. And then I just start, I just start to wonder, or maybe the programming just was really good for him and what, and what could that mean? And so I look at the programming and I say, well, event one is snatching event. You know, event two is nasty Girls pistols, muscle ups hang cleans. So you got two, you know, kind of gymnastics do, or you got a light snatch gymnastics dominated workout.
(24:02):
You go through the rest of the weekend. You have strict handstand pushups and chest to bars, uh, in this, uh, regional 17 one. So that’s another high volume gymnastics. You have a snatch letter, so they’re snatching again. And you look at another one, they have overhead squats. So now there’s overhead position stability again, that’s three outta six workouts with snatch snatch overhead squat, and then you have Lego stroke climb and thrusters. So I basically think everything this guy’s great at, which is lightweight, barbell cycling and high skilled gymnastics just popped up in, in this position over at position, just popped up every single workout for him, and he was able to capitalize on a great programming. That’s my guess. I don’t know if, I think he can be good in the future, but he’s certainly caught my eye this weekend. Either. Uh,
Sevan Matossian (24:43):
You were breaking up when you said his name. Say his name again?
Brian Friend (24:45):
Peter Ellis.
Sevan Matossian (24:46):
Peter Ellis. Uh, I would put, um, uh, hot as fuck over calling something professional as being more a descriptive any day.
Brian Friend (24:57):
Would you say Pfizer’s website is hot as fuck?
Sevan Matossian (25:00):
Yeah, I would say it’s hot as fuck. Yes, it is hott as fuck. I mean, especially compared to that old crossfit.com on that’s
Brian Friend (25:07):
Raw. That’s just raw.
Sevan Matossian (25:09):
But, but in terms of functionality, I would say that, um, yeah, hot as fuck does not, uh, does not, uh, change my opinion on functionality. The crossfit.com website was far more functional. Okay. Um, and well anyway, if Professionality has nothing to do with honesty, then Pfizer’s is more professional. What, what’s Lauren Fisher doing? Is she even a contender? Why does she fly? Is she still, uh, uh, potential? Do you think she’ll ever make it to the games as an individual?
Brian Friend (25:39):
No. What’s she doing? She’s, uh, traveling the world and competing and having fun while she can’t, you know, she’s got a, she’s built a, a nice platform for herself by having success early in her career. She’s competed in teams. She’s done it as an individual. She’s, you know, moved, uh, she had a chance to live in Iceland and train and compete last year. I think she’s just, uh, taking advantages of opportunities from sponsors and fans, uh, as a result of her fitness. I think she’s great, living a great life, you know, I don’t know if she’s going to a competition like this and she’s more, uh, excited to just be there and competing in a new environment, or if she’s trying to win and she’ll look at the whatever she finished fifth place or something like that as a disappointment. I, I would be surprised if it was the second one. Um, I’m sure she’s doing her best, but I think there’s a lot of others things going on for Lauren that are very positive.
Sevan Matossian (26:26):
And scroll back the other way and click that picture of her and her, her boyfriend, uh, Rasmus or husband?
Brian Friend (26:31):
Yep. Husband. They got married. I believe
Sevan Matossian (26:34):
He, he looks like, uh, James, uh, James Lipson, Dave Lipson before he got juiced up. Did you see that picture? Oh, oh, okay. Maybe just look at the pic. Yeah, look at him.
Brian Friend (26:43):
Get him on the Thunder, bro.
Sevan Matossian (26:45):
Yeah, it’s Dave Lipson before he got all juiced up. Wow.
Brian Friend (26:47):
Get him on Thunder Bro. Pro, that’s the stuff that they don’t, uh, advertise
Sevan Matossian (26:51):
Online. What a handsome man, Mr. Rasmus. Okay. Okay. So, and when you say she’s built a Be Beautiful a platform or a great platform, you’re saying that basically on Instagram she has over a million followers and so she’s still out there, uh, getting at it and, uh,
Brian Friend (27:06):
Yeah, I mean, she’s got great network of sponsors. She’s a very marketable, attractive young woman who had some success in the fitness space and has, you know, taken every advantage of it in terms of not just competition, but monetizing it and, and making herself well known around the world. You know, you go to a competition in Australia, we already talked about it, the fans show up there, and so she’s got a whole new group of people that are following and supporting and loving her now.
Sevan Matossian (27:30):
Awesome. I love it. Well done. Uh, Daniel Chaffy, the head of affiliates from Europe was there, Gary Gaines, the head of affiliates Worldwide was there, and our favorite CEO Don f was also in attendance. I don’t know if they were there all three days, but in the recap of the third day, it does, uh, mention that they were there. So that’s interesting. That’s all I’ve heard. I haven’t heard any feedback, um, about their trip, the Dubai Championship. Okay. First I want you to, first I want you to tell me the tier of of events
Brian Friend (28:07):
For the off season or including the
Sevan Matossian (28:09):
Everything. Show me that peer gimme that, that pyramid.
Brian Friend (28:13):
Okay. To, to me, it’s, um, not, it’s not so much a pyramid. Have you ever been to the Sears Tower here in Chicago? I
Sevan Matossian (28:19):
Have
Brian Friend (28:19):
Where you get to the top and there’s the spire that just goes up for another like 20 stories that they don’t measure. It’s kind of like that. There’s the games, there’s Rogue, there’s Waap Palooza, there’s Dubai, and then there, and then you get to a tier, I would say. So those are still the top ones, but I don’t think any one of them is on par with the other at this point. I think there’s distinct differences between each of those four in that order
Sevan Matossian (28:47):
Out outside of the level of competition at those. When I think of the games, I think of it as a pretty big community event. There’s just shitloads of people there from all walks of life and CrossFit, right from the person who’s never been, same with a lot, OFA wants to, same with Lot ofa. When I think of the Rogue Invitational, I think of there being 995 fans there and 1000 influencers. Got it. That’s such a disgusting word. I think of it as more like
Brian Friend (29:11):
Either one to one.
Sevan Matossian (29:11):
Ah, I don’t, I don’t think, I don’t get that impression that it’s even one to one. I get the impression that there’s this group of people who goes to events, who wants to be seen at them. And I, and I just get the feeling that Rogue, rogue is its own really weird beast outside of the competition. I could be totally wrong, but that’s the impression I get. Look, there’s Brian Friend. Look, there’s Annie Sakamoto.
Brian Friend (29:36):
Well, it’s a very intimate setting, so if you go there as a fan, not only will you get to see all the athletes compete, but yes, there’s a lot more accessibility to people like that there
Sevan Matossian (29:46):
Lot. Look, there’s Dusty Highland. Who’s that? Oh, old affiliate owner, master’s athlete.
Brian Friend (29:51):
I didn’t see him there. Was he there?
Sevan Matossian (29:53):
No, I don’t know, but I’m just saying it’s like, I just get the impression Rogue just seemed kind of, uh, the.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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