so when he says he's working, like, what do we think? I wish I could do a good PJ imitation. I would like pretend I'm PJ on here and
can you do any good imitations?
I cannot, I'm really
you're like,
of
I struggle just to be bill
of my many skills. Imitation is not one of them. So Yeah, So PJ shout out PJ, wherever you are, um, working wherever you're working today.
he's a coach.
You good work, if you could get it,
I said when I was coaching, I was like, if I just had any, actually I could double my rates,
keep up the pressure, mate, keep up the pressure.
come on. You got, you've got this. You've got this.
you got this. Exactly, exactly.
all right. You ready?
he's gonna get, he's gonna get pissed at us for doing this, so sorry. Should be on the podcast. He could defend himself. let let's do it. Let's do it.
all right. You ready Hey there squads fans. And thanks for coming back to another episode of the breakdown with myself, Connor Malley and my cohost bill Buckingham and PJ Paul Johnson. But in this one. Despite all of our hoping and wishing Santa Claus didn't bring us any PJ's. Meaning Paul Johnson was too busy. Working away so he could enjoy. So bill and I have to try and pick up the slack. And we catch you up on the adventures of the professional squash tour. Where we talked through Chicago.
But the windy city open. And builds rankings of the restaurants he went to. We also touch on blackball on the Canary Wharf. And some of the highlights of those events. Closing it out. We talk about. About the wrap-up of the college squash season. And Bill's opinions on doubles squash quick, thank you. Dora sponsor pro sport led. Who actually has some very interesting developments going on. They are strengthening their partnerships within the racket sports world.
They are partnering up with pedal plus to bring pedal courts. Into the United States and the UK. And just like their led lights. These are premium quality courts at great prices. What's also unique about Patel plus. Is there canopy roof structure. That has all of the great qualities of getting an outdoor plane experience. But you have the dependability. You can play your match regardless of rain or snow.
So if you know of anyone interested in lights or Patel courts, Please go ahead and put us in touch. Reach out to us@squashradioatgmail.com. That's squash radio@gmail.com. Thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the show. . Conor: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of the breakdown with my co-host bill Buckingham and PJ bill. Welcome to the show.
Hey mate, how are you? that? that's my PJ imitation.
PJ and PJ. How are you doing?
Hey mate. doing? well. Um, glad to be here. Um, I was on like 19 other podcasts and I know I haven't found the time for you guys, but you know, I'm, I'm very busy where I'm very busy working, so,
Well, just to be clear, PJ is not gonna be able to join us today. Although is a chance he may join this episode. I, I haven't given up,
given up now, I mean, it's, it's great when PJ's on cuz he is, he lends the for our half baked opinions on squash and on pro squash specifically, PJ there's some validity to his opinions.
we all bring something to the table, bill,
I guess, but P PJ has played squash at the highest levels. Granted, it was like a thousand years ago when they were playing with sweaters and wooden rackets, but he still did play squash at the highest level. And, um, and he coaches, he quote air quote coaches still, and he does PSA TV once every seven tournaments, I think he's involved with. So, yeah. Some credibility that we don't have. So it's, we, we miss you PJ is what.
We do. We're gonna pour, pour one out for him.
we are not purposely slandering you PJ, because you're not on this episode. It's not a plan ahead of time that we said, you know, let's take the first four minutes of this and just bash PJ it's. This is that's not what it is.
is,
is, this is organic. This is organic bashing. just be clear,
but uh, quickly speaking of other podcasts, Mr. Cunningham,
yes.
you, were just on another, uh, episode and I have to say there's a a budding bromance is the headlines were reading.
I'm torn now. I mean, and the thing is I don't even is his name, Gary it's Jerry. So I, I, I, you know, as we know, as we facetious call or I facetious call him Barry Gibbs, um, um, Jerry. Gibson, uh, had me on his podcast and he was unaware of the fact that I call him, um, that I call him Barry Gibbs. Uh, he was unaware. He
It was one of the funniest moments in podcast history. I have to say
Yes. In podcast history. Exactly. That's what, that's what some are saying. Um, yes, he introduced me in his podcast as William Cunningham, which people often introduce me or, or call me Mr. Cunningham or William Cunningham, but he did it, um, not intentionally, but totally unaware that I purposefully mispronounce his name and call all him a different name. it's. it's funny because on social media,
This is just the karma coming back and smacking you in the face.
It was cool though. He was good. It.
speaking of in or out it's called in squash.
in squash. podcast and he gave you kudos Connor. Uh, he had no idea who I was, um, no idea who I was in, in regard to squash radio, but he did give you total kudos for, , you being the impetus for him starting his own podcast. Granted, he has taken that
gosh. It is
he, I was episode 206. We're like, we've been, you know what? I got a like a Facebook memory of something I posted. Do you realize we've been doing this for well over a year and we only have 20, this is like the 22nd episode.
Um, yeah, look, I, I'm trying to, I'm trying to keep this, trying to pump out more and it's uh,
Yeah, I could tell where's the where's the music episode we recorded like six months ago.
yeah, it's coming.
Put it out, man. Come on. so Barry Gibson was, was very, it was a lot of fun being on his podcast. I'll tell you what, it's, it's much easier being a guest on a podcast than it is hosting a podcast. As far as content, he had all the questions and alls I had to do was answer his questions.
So you might, as the host of this podcast, take that as a cue, to maybe elicit more response from me instead of me having to carry the convers and come up with both the questions and the answers, cuz that's very difficult to do.
Yeah, that's right. Bill it's um, that's, it's, it's a tough burden that you, uh, it's tough to get a word in sometimes, but I, I get it.
understood.
So along the, lines of other podcasts, cuz I wanna give a shout out to, Ali Farag who's interviewed on, um, the no one Kagan podcast.
So you sent that to me is no, and I know pun intended, but I don't know in Kagan and like, do you, do you know who he is? Like, is he,
Yeah. He's a, he's a tech entrepreneur. Um, he's been referred to as the Kevin bacon of Silicon valley, uh,
he's involved with everything
Yeah, back in the day he was there. He was like the Mr. Connector he's been involved in, you know, like kind of new that, that, um, that whole scene before it really took off. Uh, so, and he, he runs a company called app SUNO that has gone from, you know, he started himself and now it's up to a hundred million dollars in revenue and he picked up squa a couple, uh, like a year or two ago, and he's just super fan. And, uh, and he, he's the one that came to Houston to check out. And when I
oh, that was your guy,
yeah,
the guy who you sent me, the podcast is the guy that you brought to Houston.
yeah,
Oh, I didn't connect it to
right. So, and you know, and he runs, he does YouTube, he does all this other content and I love that content stuff. Right. It's tech it's entrepreneurial. Um, and it was a really great interview with Ali fag. I learned a lot about, um, about him. , what was interesting was, was hearing about how the there's a lot of mindset, a talk and hearing Ali, you know, this is such as, it would be for a top performing athlete, but it's always great to hear or, or peak behind the curtain.
And, uh, Ali was sharing a lot about his mindset, how, how losing really impacts him and how he kind of, um, recovers from that.
and nice of Ali to go on his podcast. I asked him three times to come on ours and he said, no, he was too busy.
Look, once we get the a hundred K follower remark, you know, that's probably that's his threshold. I heard.
Well, may, may, or maybe if Ali comes on, we'll get a hundred K followers. How about that, Ali? How, how about the fact of I've supported your career since you were just a child growing up in, in Cairo and, um, rooted for you? And I ask you one favor to come on my podcast and you say, no, I'm too busy. And the next thing you know, you're on some random tech guys podcast.
I wouldn't say it's that random tech guy, you know,
I don't know,
random to you, random to you.
whatever I like Ali. So I'm not gonna slander him here. Let's save our slander for PJ.
All right. Well, let's get into, uh, some of the, uh, the topics we're gonna cover today. And, it's been a minute since we put out the last one it's cuz uh, we've all been on the road and um, where you were, the MC of the windy city open. So we're gonna talk a little bit about that overall. I mean, I know that you really shine and you love doing the MC role, but I mean, what's that week, like for you
It it's fun. It it's, it's a fun week. Um, you know, , there's a bit of, uh, grind to it. Um, I think I counted up, um, I forget what. the actual total was, but it was just, just a little bit, slightly shy of 50 ENCO interviews. Um, so the early days are. Eight matches a day on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. . It's a, it's a great experience, but yeah.
Um, after a while coming up with questions and I feel bad for the players too, because they're probably so tired of answering the same questions over and over again. it's the windy city. Not like it used to be when, when I started MC down in the basement at Drexel, during like the qualifying rounds of the us open, I could ask like the most outlandish questions ever. It didn't matter cuz nobody was paying attention. It was, on squashed TV, but there weren't any really microphones down there.
So the only people I was performing, performing for quote unquote, were the people in the stands. And so my job, I thought it was fun to say things that would make people laugh. And so I did and my questions were so wacky and so out bounds. It was crazy. And um, uh, I used to, oh God, I'm trying to, I'm trying to think. I I'd have to think back, but I remember talking like talking about hockey. I I'd make every question. I asked relatable to another sport.
And I talk about the Eagles and I talk about Philadelphia sports and just ask these questions that these people, these
have no clue.
they had no clue. but I didn't care because I thought they were funny. So I didn't care if they had no clue or not. And as, as I told Barry Gibson, I, I could learn my lesson with, um, that I, I couldn't do things like that with Annie. ow. Uh, when she, she wasn't, uh, she
that was a good one. Do you want, you wanna give the
well, she didn't wanna speak, she didn't speak great English back then. And I had, I had come up with this big question and it had like a funny part of it and it was, you know, relatable to Philadelphia sports. And I went
it's like a 10 part question?
10 part question? with like, you know, exactly. And she had just like won a qualifying match that, and she did not speak English at all. And she looked at me like I had nine heads and just like looked up and I said, oh, okay, ladies and gentlemen, anyhow. And off she went. So I learned my lesson there that you have to know who you could do with now back then, The best per people to interview back then were always Simon Rosner.
And, um, and, uh, and Nick, um, they Nikki Mueller cuz they understood what I was doing down there. And they always played down there. I mean, because they, you know,
right.
you know, they
They weren't in the seeds at that
they weren't the seats at that point. So they always played a match down there, whether it was, even if it wasn't qualifying, it was one of the first, the first two rounds and they used to goof around just like I did. I remember, uh, Simone and Rosner. I walked out on court and um, he had just played a, you know, a brutal match. I think he had it just beat Nikki actually. And um, I walked out on court and I had like a really learned question.
Like any, you know, you, you found your length, you know, you ever see, you know, some of those people ask these questions like, Hey, really found your length and you, you know, blah, blah, blah, like these really technical questions. So trying to impress myself and the audience, I came up with that and Simone answered. I I'm thinking what he said was my favorite color is blue or something totally had nothing to do with my question. And I looked at him and I said, what do you mean? He goes.
I told Nicky after the thing, no matter what you asked me, that's what I was gonna answer. So I appreciated that, cuz that was kind of the free flowing goofiness down there. That was, that was allowed. Um, and at the wind city open, that's not allowed. So, uh, I mean this is, you know, it's a platinum event. Um, it's big money at stake. It's on squash TV. So the questions have to be squash related and related to the matches that they played. And I cannot wait to do it again.
Well, and, um, that this was your first time in Chicago, uh, in a, sorry, uh, doing the wi city open. And what was your overall impression of the event?
That was great. It's, it's such a cool venue. Um, it is, Uh, you know, I was watching Canary Wharf, which just ended yesterday and, you know, I saw, uh, how intimate that venue was and, you know, with the crowd drinking and things such as that, um, it, you know, a bit rowdy at times, uh, the Chicago venues, I I'm guessing just by the looks of it is, is more intimate.
Um, by what I'm looking at Canary, wha looks like, cuz there's no, um, not really the side wall seating, like there is at Canary war, so the venue is incredible. And when the early rounds started in Chicago, um, and you know, there weren't that many people there, there, as there never are during the early rounds that are during the week, I was like, when this place gets full. It's gonna be great atmosphere.
And it was, and you know, the, the fans of Chicago, as I talked about with Barry is, you know, the fans of Chicago are very learned. They know their squash, everyone there seems to have been there before. They all know each other. They come in for on, I talked to a bunch of people came in on vacation for the tournament, uh, came in like for the week, early weekend, came in for the later rounds. And, everybody knew their squash there, like seemed like a, a crowd full of squash players.
And they were really, they look forward to, it looks like this is something that they look forward to every year and, they supported the event and it was fun. The atmosphere was great. the knowledge of the fans, as I, I told, um, and again, don't, don't listen to Barry's podcast in mind, cuz it'll probably be repeating a lot of the stuff I'm saying now.
Um, listening to people's conversations with the players was, uh, was, was very illuminating for me and helped me with a lot of Encore questions because the fans were asking like really. Strong, like really technical questions to the players. I saw a guy, some random, like 75 year old guy, like quizzing Paul call about Holly holds his racket and like how he hits his back in and stuff. And I was like listening to it, sitting down, listening to it.
And I was like, holy Carl, this guy really knows his stuff. And Paul was giving him like, like real technical answers. And I was like, holy crap. Uh, you know, where do you see that? Usually I was said, people are like, Hey, could I have your picture? Could I, could I get your autograph? You know, Hey, congratulations. There's no, but these guys like talk and squash with these folks and, and, and really, really digging deep. So it was awesome.
Yeah. I mean, Chicago is it's, that's the, I think this was the 40th year it's been hosted and really, they love professional squash and it's why they keep rattling behind them, the event to support and, and seeing it go higher and higher. Uh, you, you just reminded me of a fan interaction. This is when Jonathan power was playing and he had lost a fan. I actually didn't know this guy, so I don't. Uh, but he went up to him and it was like the reverse of the guy asking Paul Cole questions.
He started giving Jonathan power advice on his wrist position and he's just lost. Right. So he's pissed. And, um, this guy. This guy's given him coaching tips on how to hold the racket better. Needless to say Jonathan Bower. Um, did what I, I think a lot of us would've done just basically told, laugh off. like, he's like, oh, is that how you do? It's like, really? I've been world number one. Like, I think I got this and you're not my coach.
Right, right. I think that, well, welcome to the welcome to the, uh, wide world of sports. Jonathan. Imagine if, if squash had actual journalism where there was like newspapers, following squash and criticizing and you know, a daily beat report, we always talk about that.
Whether there, you know, there's no real journalism in squash, there's people who write match reports and you know, they're not really, nobody's really following the tour and criticizing and saying, Hey, this, why is this player, you know, not performing up to this capabilities, why is this happening and this happening, they would be getting second guessed in, uh, in reading about themselves in the paper and everything that everything
they're doing wrong or that what that reporter thinks they're doing wrong, they would, they would read. so it's probably a bit startling for a squash player to hear that from someone outside their realm, you know, outside their little inner circle. So,
very true. It's very
so I would love to be a Butte reporter for squash and follow. You know, if I had like a, if there was like a squash newspaper and I'd have a column in just. Writing, like what I thought was wrong with each player's performance, like be one of those, like the, the writer who walks in and all the players like hate his guts. That would be awesome.
just start a blog, man. The
Yeah. But nobody, nobody reads. Nobody reads it. I don't wanna be hated for no money.
all right. All right. Uh, well last thing is, um, and, and, and I, it, and I told John Flanigan, uh, and the team this, like this year felt a little bit special for some reason. I don't know whether it was just.
post pandemic probably.
Yeah, it was probably a lot of factors. It was just, um, it was also up the court was up an extra day early. Uh, so we got some extra matches on there. It was a great start to the event you know, with Nathan lake and Hailey Mendes and the amount of Americans kind of playing like just was from the, from the word go. It was just, well, tendon matches. And, but I, I had to leave early.
And so I missed the, the other element of this, uh, event, where there was some celebrities that showed up and, um, you, you were, able to get some, selfies with them and that kinda stuff, but,
Yeah, IRI. I celebrities. Yeah. I arrived on Tuesday. Is that what you're talking about? Oh, you mean other celebrities.
other celebrities.
Oh, gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha. Gotcha. Yes.
Yeah. So like Billy Jean King and, you know, what was your take on.
Debe Mutombo. Yeah, it was awesome. on. on, uh, Debe came to for the quarter finals, um, and sat through the whole night session I had a brief conversation, got a photo with him, but he was, uh, he was definitely impressed with the athleticism of the players. He sat, um, for the, he sat both front wall and back wall. And so he got to see it from both angles. Um, and he interacted with the crowd. Uh, he probably took a thousand pictures based on social media that I saw. So he was really? into it.
And he's, it's funny. He's so tall. So tall, um, that, you know, it's just unusual to see somebody that tall that's tall on a squash tournament. Um, but as we remarked, cuz there was some guy sitting like right in the second row and he is like dead center court. And we were like, and we knew Debe was coming. He did not, I was like that. Guy's gonna be so bumming when Debe Matao sits in front of him. He thinks he has the best seat in the right now.
But we discovered the chem base, a low sitter, the chem base SLO to base slouch is a little, so he actually looked, uh, looked, he was actually shorter than the people he was sitting next to. So the guy, the guy lucked out, um, who knew, who knew to chem base slouched. So
Well, probably a learned behavior
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
not always be towering over other people, right?
Definitely. But Yeah. he was into it. He, um, he, really enjoyed watching again, as I, as I said, um, typically when a celebrity or, you know, someone like a high influential business person comes to one of these events, they come, they watch a game and they leave and they go on cuz they probably have a thousand other things to do or they just, you know, this is like they have no in it really. he stayed for the whole thing.
He stayed for, he got there before as the session started and he stayed till the very last point of the very last match. So it was great.
Right? I mean,
Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
it's a long night
yeah. It was great. And B squash. BJ, K was this BJ? K I call her BJ K now because you know, I
Did she say, just call me PJK
Well, I, I wrote the elevator with her twice, so I'm a, um, she, she, a little, a little anecdote. I don't know if it'll be funny and we could cut it out of the podcast because it was funny
It's definitely cutting it.
Okay. So I got, I got into the elevator with BJ K. And we were riding down to the, to the, you know, I think it was on the ninth floor where the court was. And we were riding down to the, uh, main floor and BJ K's partner who was with her, um, You know, during, during the tournament, didn't know which one to push which button to push. And BJ K said always push the one with the star on it. Cuz that means that's, that's typically the lobby or where to get up.
And she goes, the woman goes, I had no idea. And BJ K looked at her and said is this the first time you've ever rid an elevator? so it. was just funny. And like everybody laughed in the elevator. So it was funny at the time. Cause, but it was pretty startling that the woman didn't know that like the one with the star was the one to get pushed. She's like, how'd, you know that
wait. You said that or BJ K said it.
BJ said that it wouldn't be, I
So you were just witnessing all this.
I was witnessing the humor for the first part first, the first time in my life, I wasn't like the facilitator of the humor. I was a witness to humor, so, and they all, everybody giggled, there was a little giggle. So I giggled with BJ K in the elevator.
You guys are in.
so we could keep, we could cut that or not cut that, but I thought it was funny at the time. So, uh, either way,
Billy Jean King,
Yeah. what. about her? Yeah. Yeah, she was, she came for the semis in the finals. Um, she, again, stayed through the whole thing. I, as I said, I believe if there was another round the next night, she probably would've come for that too. I mean, she was into it. She was, I mean, Debe was into it. Billy Jean King was into it. Billy Jean King, like watched from every angle. She sat front wall, back wall, side wall. Her, her fists were cleed.
She was like miming, like a backhand in a forehand while people were playing. And she was like standing up and cheering. And I mean, every, she did not miss a beat. she wasn't like distracted by anything. It was pretty cool to watch. And, um, the, the brief interaction I had with her during the tournament, like during tournament play was right after, um, Marwan, Straba melted down in, in. Whatever happened to him when his mind left his body.
Um, I walked off court after interviewing Abraham and sat down next to her. And I was like, holy crap, what the hell is that? And she goes, what are you talking about? And I said, I've never seen anybody melt down like that in a, big event with the sponsors here. And, you know, to me, it was like startling. Like how he lost it mentally, like was complete. She goes, ah, I see that in tennis all the time.
mm-hmm yeah.
it's, you know, with the, and I could see it in tennis with the money at stake, tennis is, is a big deal. We're talking millions and millions of dollars. I had never seen anything like that in squash before I had seen players be idiots on court, obviously. And a lot of time it's for a fact, And a lot of times Marwan does it for a fact, and to distract his opponent and, you know, try to get it edge with the ref. But Yeah. I mean, he, that was different. He , he mentally lost it.
So I was, I was a little shaken, shaken up by it. BK not shake up, so, but she, but she was cool and she definitely, she appreciates squash. She seems like she really liked squash actually. And, um, the social media, um, after she showed up there, it was most social media blew up a bit, even her pages and other people's squash pages, having her hair there seemed like it had quite an impact.
Yeah. and she did a great interview on squash TV, which you can YouTube, um, Billy Jean King and, uh, squash. Uh, did you watch that
I did watch it. The only thing I took away from it was Joey. I can't believe Joey asked her, like, who do you, think's gonna win the match. it's like his go-to. Who do you think is gonna
Yeah. That, I think I, I thought the same thing. I was like, I think that's just reflex at this
yeah, everybody. He asked everybody that.
he's like. He's like, I don't know, like who do you think?
I wonder if he walks around like the streets of whatever town he lives in, in England and like asks people who they think is gonna do something who who's gonna win this, who's gonna win this, But it was good. yeah, It was great. And it's good. It got a lot of play and people, uh, it, it was great. Joey did a great job with her, cuz how much does Joey really know about blue Jean King? He's number one. He's not American.
And so as far as time oh nine and all that, all the stuff that she's really known for, I mean, she's known for tennis, but she's more known for, you know, gender equality than, than anything. And the next day she was down in DC, like with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden celebrating the 50th anniversary of title nine. So, um, pretty cool to have her, uh, have her at the squash, such, such a legend. And I actually saw video of her. I don't know if it was down in Florida.
I'm assuming it was down in Florida. She was hitting a tennis ball the other day with, uh, Martina Navratilova. And they were Voling like they were sit standing across from each other, the net and not letting the ball hit the ground and Voling each other and they vol back and forth like 20 hits each. It was pretty impressive considering her age like the hands she still has. It was pretty cool.
Yeah.
So, Yeah, it was great. Great. It was very, very cool having her there for sure. And, you know, people appreciated her being there, but people didn't bug her. Like she wasn't, she wasn't like a distraction, like some celebrities could be at one of these things. So it was cool. Very, very cool. Having her there.
And, uh, on the court, interesting story with Usuf Abraham making a run to the finals, a, a senior at Princeton,
Yeah. Yeah. Played, played very well. Uh, obviously beat both about brothers, which is quite an accomplishment. he, he was very focused and, uh, it was nice to have a new face, you know, not to see the same old people in the finals and in, and you know, in this semi finals. So it was real, really, really cool to see him there. um, then, then He
He had a chance at winning?
he came back, um, you know, call Paul call did not play great that Paul call
No.
so, so great. That whole event.
Yeah.
He Paul called did not play great in the final. He made a lot of errors and he still hung on to win. Um, uh, uh, but USF USF had a chance for sure not to take anything away from USF, but Paul called gave him an opportunity to win that tournament.
Oh, that's what I mean. So, I mean, it's the definition of a champion is winning when you're not on right.
well, that's what I said to Paul called in the interview and he said, he said, oh, I thought he played really well. I was like, dude, don't number one. Don't step on my question. People are here to see me not here to see you. So, number one, when I ask you a question, just agree with it. And, but yeah, no,
winning. ugly, right?
Winning ugly, That's what he did. And it is a mark of a champion when you don't have your best stuff you win. And that's what Paul called did that, that, and it is interesting that he got bounced by Victor crew in, in the next tournament and the, uh, fairly early at that Canary war. So, and, and UF lost a Victor crew. And, uh, that weekend, no, no surprise in the collegiate championship. So, quite a week for young Mr. Abraham,
And on the women's side, um, with no, not making it, uh, Shei not making it to the finals, kind of the left, uh, paths open.
yeah, but you know what? I think I, I always want thes go. Uh, um, uh
We'll cut this
cause I, I forgot no Gore's name. I've been, I've been emailing with her all like since yesterday
All right. You ready? And come back.
come back. Yeah, the, uh,
You always wanna see a
I always wanted this. I always wanna see one, one against two, right? That's the that's the goal is to see number one, play number two, especially when it's chai and Gohar. Um, both at the top of our games, but that being said, the ha Masini match was the match of the tournament. I mean, it was just phenomenal squash and just nip and tuck and they battled each other. It was like edge of your seat stuff. and then ha he played really?
well against Gohar in the final and she pushed her and Gohar was stood. It, so, the women's squash during the, and the windy city open was far, far, far more entertaining than the men's squash. The, the men's squash was like watching pro soccer. Like the, the arguing, she's just, just the, the Mederma all drama. It was, it's just, it gets to a point where you're like, you know what? And maybe it's just me because I. had a, I, I, I was there the whole time.
So I'm like, you know, could you guys just get on with it for the people who were maybe in the audience who were just there for that one or two sessions, maybe they enjoyed it.
I, I think it's, it's, um, it's hitting the point that something needs to be done. Like it's now we can't have these repeated patterns of behavior where, we're not trying to solve that root cause issue. And it's, it's not just an, it's not just single players. It's like multiple players and there's that to be are there's a lot, I understand of the player side. And there's also a lot I understand from the referee side.
Um, so I think we really do need to, uh, pivot again and, and try and, create more clarity for, I kind of call it the triad between the players, the referees, and also the association, cuz ultimately they have to try and, uh, implement the rule rules. And you've talked about this with the transparency that needs to increase the clarity of like, Hey look, if you break these rules, what are the penalties involved?
You know, in formula one or in tennis, just even not showing up for a media press conference has rules and penalties, you know? So like. If we're trying to make this sport bigger, we need to, like, there needs to be buy-in on, on all sides of how that can happen. That's sort of the off court side and the, the, the ruling there, but the ENCO, um, I think we need increased technology, the fact that we don't have clarity on double bounces or if the ball was in or out.
I mean, you're playing imagine that on championship point, like that's gonna be a big deal. Like, so we need, we need technology to get rid of that.
Yeah, but the, the, these guys know there is not the technology. So these guys play this sport every day. So they know it that's the way it is. It is what it is. And so all the screaming and yelling in the world, isn't gonna change that right now. So from Marwan to do that in a platinum event, the, the hot, like the biggest prize money platinum event of the year in front of the main sponsor, who's sitting right there, staring, looking at you.
It's a semi-final now it's this isn't just, you knows a semi-final Billy Jean King is right there. I mean, you you're there. It was. I mean, how could he not be suspended? How could, like, how could he not be suspended? He has to be, it, it, it was a, it embarrassed me as a spectator. And as someone who's peripherally involved with, with squash, um, it was, it is a joke. He's a joke. He, he should have the next day been suspended by the PSA the next day.
He should not have been allowed to compete in wherever he, I think he just commuted A a, um, Canary Wharf. I mean, it was, it was an embarrassment. Thank goodness. That the match after his turned out to be such a great match, cuz people kind of forgot about it and you know, It's just, yeah, it, it bugs. It bugs me when people, when he does.
I agree. I think, um, and I'll never excuse that players on court behavior like that to me is just inexcusable and I agree that I'm far more zero Toler and like, let's just, is she fines, you know, do all that stuff and try and nip it in the butt. Like that's where I'm at. I do think. We do need to get that technology out there to just remove that as an issue.
Like we, we need to have that as a solvable issue to then by the way, then we go down to, while we still have to, there's a lot of gray area within the sport and this isn't like baseball with balls and strikes. And even though they have like that little box, there're still not using that. Right. There's a lot of there, there are for gray in, baseball, but we need to try and minimalize that as much as possible.
Right, right. Well, I mean, the women have done it. I mean, they there's women, they argue A little bit, but they, you know, they move on. That's the thing is they move on it doesn't, it doesn't just, it doesn't disrupt the game as much. And the free flowing squash between uh hamam and Sini then hamam and, and Gohar was just such a pleasure to watch. It was so much fun and just is competition. It's what you come for.
Like you could tell it was a, like a huge event that they were grinding and trying to win, and they weren't letting anything distract them to doing that. And, and the, I think the fans appreciated it too. So, we could get up on our soapboxes and, and talk about, but I mean, men's squash at times. It is hard, hard, hard to watch. And as. Harder to bring a non-fan in to watch.
Cuz if I had brought somebody in, who had never seen the sport before and they sat there and had to watch those men's matches and the crying and the winging and complaining on everything in the delays because of that and the referees explaining themselves to the players, I'd be like, they'd be like, I'm gonna wanna come watch this
no a hundred percent. And that's what I think this is where I think the players are getting it wrong. Right. It's like not only is that probably not the best way to promote your brand, like personal brand. They're doing that. Cuz they're arguing over ranking points in prize money and pride. Right.
Right.
But if we all have aspirations of this increasing the amount of people you're turning off by. By acting that way is, is pronounced. And like, I actually heard a lot of that in, in the, in the locker room talk, um, going around like how many people have tried this or, or brought people in and they've been turned off because of that behavior.
So it's, it's hurting us and, you know, one of the things, this isn't a vision broadly shared yet, and that's, we need to try and change, but the vision of the PSA is to be, you know, a globally relevant entertainment product. Right. And so if we, if we lean into, was that entertaining as the question?
right.
No. Is it's pretty
I it's like, it's like when I, I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I do tune into soccer. And if it, you know, when you start seeing the players, like land the ground and like twist and turn and they're just faking and things like that, it turns me off so much. And I, so I'll turn the channel just like, if I'm not a squash fan, I'm watching that. And I see all the nonsense, I'll turn it off.
And you know, it, I, I don't think the hardcore fans are ever gonna turn away because of it, but it, and to, to bring new new fans into the game is almost impossible with what's going on in the men's game right now.
I mean, I'm, you know, I'm definitely in the hardcore camp, but I'm not, I can't watch every match. And especially if it's like that, I, I, I will tune out. I'll just cuz I'll just see the box score. See how it turned out.
Yeah, And then you could always go back and watch it, watch it, watch it on
exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, I, I have been watching. Um, so, so before we, leave Chicago, I know it's been a while is, um, so for the early rounds, you're kind of, you know, you're in, in the hall, you can't go anywhere. You can't really go out to eat. You can't like really explore Chicago as the, uh, the, sessions became, you know, where it was just starting at in the evening. I was able to get out a little bit and explore the Chicago food scene, for, uh, and I had been really looking forward to it.
So I ate some really, really solid places. Um, and I had some people direct me. I had a couple people pick me up and actually bring me to restaurants. So , it was, is a
what what role ranked your number one? was the best one?
Uh, I would say my, my best experience. And you know, now it didn't, it didn't come without hurdles because you know, the, a very nice young woman who you had introduced me to, and she's a listener of the podcast. We won't mention her name for, for, uh, anonymity purposes. Um, wanted to bring me to her favorite pizza place in Chicago. And so I was very excited to go. Um, I was gonna go by myself because, you know, after Sunday nights matches, I think, um, the matches ended early.
So I was gonna go, uh, and of course I called as I always do, cuz you know, cause I'm smart. Uh, I called up and said, Hey, uh,
some say OCD, but go ahead.
say, what time are You, serving to? And they say, oh, uh, delivery is, um, uh, till nine you could pick up until 10 o'clock or whatever the hours I said, I said, yeah, but I'd like to come in and sit and say, oh, we don't do that. So save myself like a $25 Uber ride to nowhere. Um, so she didn't tell me that. So there was that she cuz she told me you could sit there. So, um, there was that. So, um, couldn't go.
how many times did you bring it up? Just once? Yeah,
Just once? just once. Just once. Well, well, she, she was nice enough to offer then to pick me up for lunch on Monday, uh, which I was like, yeah, that'd be awesome. And again, um, didn't come without a turtle. So I said as when she picked me up and she was right on time, so I give her that cuz you know, I'm one of those people wants to be on time, picked me up right in front of the club and was, and I said to her, should we call this in?
Cuz it's only to go, so we're gonna sit and eat it in her car. She said, no, no, no, no. They'll, they'll be ready. They're just, you know, it's, it's all done ahead of time. They have slices there we'll be fine. Cool. She took me on a very nice ride through Chicago. Saw a lot of the sites saw a lot of things I hadn't seen in the last, you know, since I had been there twentysomething years ago, we get there we go in and the woman walk in and said, Hey, could we have two slices?
And the woman said, Oh, we don't do that ahead of time anymore. You need to order the whole pizza. It'll be 25 minutes to half an hour. So I didn't roll my eyes. I didn't say anything. Cuz again, the woman is
You're just being half ABI at
I was being Abell and she was, she was very pleasant company to talk to and she, you know, she seemed, uh, generally excited to bring me to this place. So we then went and sat in her car and granted, I didn't know this woman, so I, but you know me, I could make talk with anybody. So we talked for like 20 minutes until I ran out of things to talk about. And then I looked across the street and there was a Tamali place that said Tamas.
And you know, so I said, you know, 10 minutes, maybe, maybe by the time I come back to pizza will be here. So I got out of the car, went across the street, picked up a couple Tamas, the most expensive Tamas in America, two tamales for $11, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Were they big?
used to, they were no bigger than the ones I used to buy from the woman. Uh, when I lived on a hundred 16th street in New York and they were 75 cents,
Inflation's real man.
just a few years ago, but they were good. They were good, but either way I got back and the pizza was there when I got back and we sat in her car and eat pizza and it was outstanding pizza. It really was. It was,
and this is deep dish pizza shit.
You know what deep dish, I guess it's, it's hard to hard to say. It was definitely not thin crust. And, but I don't know if it was considered deep dish or not, but it was Like uh, thick. It was thick, I guess it's deep dish. I, I guess it is, but it was very good. It's called, um, my pie. So look it up online. My pie, Chicago, I liked it. Their tomatoes were like they had the crushed tomatoes on top and their sausage was awesome.
They make their own sausage, I guess, in house or they get it from some famous Chicago sausage purveyor.
what kind of cheese in the,
uh, I'm assuming it was Muzz. Um, but it was good. It was, it was, it was all good. I think, I think they used Roman's sausage, from a, from the sausage king of Chicago.
that's a good one.
thank you. I appreciate it. Um, but yeah. Great. So that was great. So went there, uh, ex had, yeah, shout out, shout out to, um, to, to my girl for picking me up and, and doing that. It was
This was, we had pizza gate going on here. You guys were, are, you know, in FTA cuffs practically, prior
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it was good. It was good. Um, I also ate at Vermilion, which is, um, a, a restaurant that's owned by, uh, like a university club of Chicago member. Uh, it's kind of like a, um, a eclectic Indian restaurant. Um, and I had outstanding butter chicken there. So I went there, well, the night my pie called MYI and they weren't, uh, I found out that you can sit there. I, I called Vermilion and, um, the guy was very nice. He said, we're about to close.
Cause we're doing some renovations in the morning. I said, just me, I'll be there for like an hour. And he said, come on down. And I was the only one in there. It was a Sunday night. Um, it was kind of
So is butter chicken, your go-to
No, no, he, he recommended It and it was it was spicy. It was good. Um,
It was spicy. That's what cause butter chicken. Usually isn't spicy enough for me. That's why I go VLU
Yeah, they didn't have VLU actually. So I, I went butter chicken, and the funny part was so right after I got in, he locked the door. So no one else could come in and all these people started showing up and looking in, and there, I am like sitting at the bar by myself. Like, I was like a billionaire who like rented out the restaurant, like a recluse who rented out the restaurant so he could eat.
They knew who you were, right?
they knew who they knew. They knew who I was. So that was outstanding. Uh, um, went to, uh, the Mexican, Like. a Mexican neighborhood, uh, and went to a restaurant called Los kamalas and had just a ridiculous Mexican lunch for like 35 bucks. We had tacos, we had rice and beans. We had chips, salsa, guacamole, and it was so cheap and so fresh and so good. So that. was another home run. Um, so the only real strike of
that. The, the Chicago's a Mexican food scene is, is off the charts. Like
Yeah. yeah. it was I, yeah. If you know where to go, cause this, this was a good, it was like a 20 minute drive a guy. Uh, one of my, one of my neighbors where I live in Connecticut, her brother lives in Chicago and he picked me up and, and took me to lunch. So N nice, nice people doing that for me. I wish I was nice enough to return those kind of favors. But unfortunately I'm not. Um, one, the one strikeout I had in Chicago was the last, a, the day of the finals. It was like 55 degrees.
So in Chicago that summer, so I walked outside and people are wearing like shorts and t-shirts and things like that, which was pretty startling. Um, but I walked, um, cuz I wanted to go to a place called Mr. Beef, which is one of the original like beef places, like where you get what's called the Chicago beef, which is like the, the shaved beef with the peppers and it junked in the juices and
This isn't the one under the bridge, is it?
uh, yes, well, not under the bridge. It's passed well past that. It was a good 35 minute walk from the U club. But I knew it. I looked it up and I said, you know what? It's worth. It's a beautiful doubt. I have time. I'm gonna do it. Go to Mr. Beef. I hadn't been there since we had done the us open like 12 years earlier. So really excited. Looked it up. Didn't call mental error. Didn't call,
was this before my pie gate or, uh,
uh, this is after,
after, so didn't learn the lesson.
my bad. But I looked online and said open and people had done, recent reviews. So I
my pie right now. It still says they do, you know, slices.
Yeah. they don't, they lie unless they, unless they went back. Well, remember mandates changed, um, starting on the 28th when we were there in February, so it could have changed. Don't interrupt my beef story Connor, by the way. Um, so I hiked down to Mr. Beef, which I had just read a review. Like somebody had been there like the day before and had eaten there. So I walked down there 35 minute walk. Nice day. Beautiful. No problem at all.
I, you know, Mr. Beef's a good hike from where I was and I'm getting, you know, walking down there, getting around the corner, I think it was Orlene street or something like that. Get on the corner. And I see Mr. Beef. I see the, the sign I see like there's people out there. I said, this is gonna be great. You know, people, people are still going there. So obviously it's still good get there. And I'm looking and I walk in, there's a guy at the bar and there's nobody else in there.
And a guy at the bar was like, like phone headphones, like, um, headphones on, like you have right now. And I, he headsets, he lifted the headset and I said, Hey, are you guys open? He goes, no, we're filming a movie here this week. We're closed for the week. And I was like, Jesus, are you fucking kidding me? I just walked all the way down here. And then I sudden I'd go and look under the parking lot. And there's like a huge movie sec going on. And they're filming a net.
I think it's Netflix called. I'm trying to think what the name of it is. Um, it's about a restaurant tour who moves to Chicago and it's called the bear or something like that, something Chicago related. And so it's coming out on like prime video or Netflix and they were filming it for the whole week. So I had to
watch it or are you gonna like hold a grudge against
I'd probably hold a grudge against it? and not watch it because of that. But I did go to Portillos, which was like a couple blocks away, which is like the Chainy place.
Um, I had a hot dog in a Chicago beef there, which were very good, but not, not Mr. Beef quality, but that was the only strikeout, but otherwise a, uh, a very, very successful Chicago, uh, food run and, and the food at the university club is really good, So ate the university club quite often during the tournament because you, you can't really run out during that. So really, really, really good stuff. So Chicago was a home run. Yeah.
good food scene.
Yeah. We'd love to go back to Chicago during The, springtime go see a Cubs game, you know, go see a white Sox game or something like that would, would definitely be an easy, easy flight from Connecticut, like
the world champs will be in, uh, June or July the following year.
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 20, 20, 23. Right. So yeah. Yeah. definitely, definitely look forward to it. So yeah. All good. It was, it was really good. Um, so that's my, my Chicago story, if you will.
chapter. Yeah, my second home.
yeah.
Um, well beyond that, there's also been a lot of activity going on in the world of squash with, um, Canary Wharf and blackball, which are, I dunno if this stands out to you, but we're, we we've gotten very used to seeing men's and women's presented at the same time at major events, you know, and these are arguably like two huge events on the tour, but both, um, single sex in terms of men and women at, at, at each one. So what, uh, were you following these closely?
I did. I watched a lot of it actually. Um, I, I, I, you know, I, I watch for the MC to see how the MCs doing to see if
Do, do you just wait till the end?
I just, I fast, I, I listen to the intros and then I don't watch. And then I wait to the interview afterwards and I judge
This is your game tape, right? This is your game tape,
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I compare and I listen to questions, shake my head and just comment to myself that I could do a better job than you. I can't believe you're doing this instead of me. So yeah, there's a lot of that going on, but no, uh, seriously, um, I watched a ton of it. Um, blackball was blackball was great. The highlight a blackball for me was the, um, the Gohar Joel king match. the semi, Joel king on form.
I mean, she played really well in Chicago and, um, but she stepped it up and knocked. I mean, she crushed Amanda. So here in the quarters, I mean, put on a clinic and I was like, wow, she is really playing sharp. And now she's coming up against Gohar who, at this point, if you win a game against Gohar, you, it should be counted as a win. right? You, you, you should advance. Like it should
Like everyone else would just start to O up and.
Yeah, exactly. It should be like a handicap system. Like you win a game, you move on and she has to beat you three. Oh, that's how well, she's playing. So Joel, first game, she was like on fire and it wasn't like Gohar was making mistakes. And I was like, holy cow, Joel is really prime for this. She thought about this match tactically and is, is wow. Incredible.
And the quality of play was so high and then Gohar as she is, want to do at this point of her career, just another gear went to another gear and they just battled and it was and Gohar, uh, E you know, eed it out in the end. And in the end, Joelle had, you know, Joel Joelle was spent by the, by the fourth game, but just that awesome match to watch. Unfortunately, the final of blackball on, on nor got hurt nor a beanie got hurt. And so Nora beat her, uh, uh, she had to retire during the match.
First game was incredible, but then, um, Unclear what she hurt, maybe something in her leg or something like that, but she had to retire, unfortunately, cause I was excited to see both of those folks at the top of their game playing in a platinum final, uh, and seeing the quality of play. So, watched a ton of it. It was, it was really fun to watch.
And also there was, um, sort of not breaking news, but the announcement that, um, there'll be a changing the guards at the, the top of the world. Number one ranking.
Yes. The best part was. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I mean, Nora is playing the best squash, so she, she deserved number one. The best part was that the MC broke the news to Norel Shavin after Nora, after Nora one or semi, she she's like, yeah, You're playing Nora in the final, you know, tough being, you know, you've been world number one for 15 months or whatever it is. And uh, you know, she's gonna take it over, was like, really? I didn't know.
You're like, I'm just learning that now. Uh, I don't know how I feel about that.
Yes. Thank you for breaking that for me. So that. was kind of an awkward moment. Um, it kind of brushed by as you know, No. she's so sweet and everything. So she didn't like react to it like she could, but it was pretty fun. Pretty funny, just considering the whole, like the lead up to Paul call and Ali Farag, everybody talked that's everybody talked about, nobody talked about this until that tournament and that, that Noran won her semi. She would, uh, she would be number one.
So, it was pretty funny, but Yeah. all great great event. Canary Wharf also obviously glued to it. watched a ton of it, a SA a Saul was back. Right. And it just shows, I watched a lot of that because a SA was part of it. And I'm one of the, one of those people that I see. I see him as an attraction. He's one of those people. Who's. I mean,
appointment viewing.
he is, he is appointment viewing, man. I tell you what, you, you don't love him or hate him. You have to watch him. He, he is. And he knows it too. I mean, he knows it. He's not.
it's totally. I, I mean, it definitely, I glued, I, I was watching it way more and also just for people who don't follow this as closely is, uh, it's two outta three up until the semifinals. So you play best out three.
which I love
I think it's great. And you know, what's interesting at the event itself, it's done very purposefully. It's like, you kind of know what you're gonna get again for, you're kind of, um, you know, you're trying to wrap up the evening by 10:00 PM. That way you're not going late into the evening. So from a fan experience, you kind of know, Hey, this is what I can commit to. And this is perfect timing, you
Yep. Yep. No, I, I, I love, I love the two outta three. I, I mean, I wouldn't care if they did it all the way through the finals, to be honest with you. I mean, I know peop I know it would suck for the final cuz if you paid it paid money for a two outta, you know, a ticket,
and some of the matches go, I mean, gosh,
The make the Macon, the Macon, the Macon, a all match. Granted there was like, you know, lot of, lot of, lot of stoppage. time, but Yeah. it was exciting. I watched, I watched, um, and, and got good for Zuki for coming through and
Oh my gosh.
all, all sign pointed to a SA was somehow gonna like find a way to win that tournament. He, he made it clear that he really came to win and he wanted to, and uh, and Zuki blunted him and, and stopped him. And there was
2, right? Or is it three? One,
Yeah. Straight,
Yeah, that was right. Yeah. So three, I mean three. Oh, uh, But, but going, you know, full hour, that's a lot. And, um,
Yeah. The second.
almost caving at the end, you know, like he,
Yeah. The, the sec I know the second game was the key though. He, he, he pulled out that second game to take a two oh lead to is such a mental, such a mental barrier to get over. But a SA was, I mean, it's funny a saw Zuki won the tournament, but AAL was the star of the tournament.
a hundred percent.
I mean, I'm, I'm sure. And honestly, in watching the, the referee was, was very fair. It looked like they didn't look like they were trying to punish, uh, punish a SA, but, uh, so they were able, he was able to play his game in some of his movement up front. I mean, some of the, some of the drop shot that he got to with his lunges, I'm like, man, my hamstrings hurt watching
Oh my gosh. And he hit that ball that went straight down the line. It
Yeah. And his, his match against, yeah, his Diego, the, I watched the whole Diego at him and he and Diego alls, which was like a little bit of a NASCAR football kind of game, cuz a lot of contact and a lot, lot, lot of, lot of stuff, a lot of stuff happening, but it was such great squash at times. And both of those players, I mean, Diego, Diego lacks that certain something that Asal has like that killer instinct, I think it is.
And, as I pointed out to someone who asked me, you know, Diego's still a little bit immature, um, as, as young as the solids, he seems more mature than Diego on court for some reason. And I think he's like probably 5, 6, 7 years younger. So, um, but Yeah. that was it. Just an, a, a Great, match to watch. And if you, guys have PSA TV, go ahead and, uh, and, and watch the replay of that. So very, very exciting.
So yeah, so it's been some good, great squa now, the British open coming up and now we have, you know, barring injuries. We have basically we have, um, call Farag Asal Elias. Still terror now, Des Suki coming onto the scene. I mean, Nicki Mueller playing ridiculously good squash. you know, so he's a threat. So just I mean, obviously Joel Macon. So the, the British open tends to be just a fantastic, fantastic tournament on the men's side and the women's side women's side.
I, you know, unfortunately all the, of the quality squashes at an all time high, um, no Noran, uh, and ha mommy seemed to, I mean, Joel broke in
separating from the pack,
Yeah. Separated from the pack a little bit. Joel played at the top of her game and, and was really obviously Uber competitive against, uh, against no, but, uh, Yeah. it seemed like those three have separated themselves from the pack. So hopefully it won't, um, it won't just be a a, uh, know as much as we, you know, appreciate greatness. Hopefully she won't just run through this tournament. Like she's run through every tournament.
Yeah.
but I'm excited. I'm exciting for the, uh, for the British open. It's gonna, I think I think there's, there's always, there's always so much excite behind that event. It's, you know, it still has still has that, that Augusta national feel of it. Like it's the premier event in squash, you know, whether prize money is the same, you know, not as high as that other tournaments and there's the pyramids and there's the world championships and stuff. The British open is ready to show open,
a hundred percent. It's kind of like you said, it's, it's the prestige of, uh, whether it's the masters and golf or, you know, uh, Wimbledon and tennis or something like that. Like it just has that extra prestige behind it. Uh, and, and this will be the last year it's been, um, hosted in hu for a long period of time. And that this was almost a 10 year deal struck 10 years ago. uh, but it's coming to an end, so they're gonna be shopping around cities, to see where it goes.
London is an obvious one, um, that it might go to, but, the England squash and the PSA are gonna be shopping around to see where it should land, which would be interesting to mix it up, you know, cuz I think the cities make a big difference towards, um, you know, embracing the tournament.
Yeah. it's, it's, it's a difficult, uh, balancing act. I did the PSA has, because you know, you look at Canary Wharf and you're like, every tournament should be that, right? Like just packed to the brim people going crazy. It's always full. And then having to move it somewhere, which is bit that's larger to accommodate the more things that are involved with like a British show with like exhibitions and things like that.
But then you look at it and the stands are half full because it's, you know, it holds, you know, a thousand people and only 300 people are showing up. So there's just such a tough balancing. Chicago's the same way. I mean, they're gonna host the world championships in 23 and they're looking for a venue and I'm like, why don't you just have It, at the university club? I mean, pack this place out. It'll be, it'll be awesome at is fair. And they're like, well, we have this and that.
There's like a lot of auxiliary things that need to be part of the event that like the university club can't handle because of the size.
I think, um, like if we remove certain constraints that we have of reality of, um, um, build time on the core, um, cost of renting venues, all this stuff, likely what it would be. Is, um, earlier rounds played at one venue and then you move to whether it's quarter finals, the semifinals that you go into the bigger venue, right? I mean, this, this, by the way, this happens in tennis, Arthur Ash stadium is not filled out the entire time. And then as you progress through it is packed, right?
So we're, it's not unique to the sport of squad. What is unique to support? Squash is like, we're constantly erecting these built popup arenas, essentially.
Right. But with Arthur Ash, I mean, it's not full because there's other, um, matches going on and other things and you have one ticket and it covers at all. So you're sitting some, you know, you have a ticket to Arthur Ash. You might not want to go because there's a match playing outta the outer courts.
Right. Um, that's not exactly how it works. Like you don't like not everyone can get an art as right.
They don't do that Like that anymore. It's been a while since I've gone, I thought your, your admission gives you a seat in Arthur as, and then you're allowed to wander to other venues.
So it's basically Armstrong. You get Arthur as, or Armstrong is the other one. And then if you have either tickets, you can go to the ground pass, you can go walk around, but some people just get grounds pass. Then you get, you get a where your seat is to go watch the main venues. Then you can go watch it there. So, but it, it, it just highlights, you know, it is a challenge for the early rounds.
And so how do we maximize attendance, um, and having, it's gonna be hard to get to that point, you know?
Right. Well, could you cut that part out where I didn't know the right thing about the us open, cuz I have a, I have a reputation for being correct a lot, so I don't wanna have people think I'm wrong about things. So could we cut that?
you do a lot of the editing man, so, uh, yeah. Have, have at it.
Gotta keep my reputation intact.
Yeah. Well, before we, uh, just quickly touch on, it's hard, uh, not to touch on it with the college squash season coming to an end, um, which
Yeah, yeah. Ex exciting season, uh, with the fans being back for the most part again with Aron, then they started, limiting fans, but at least for the championships, fans were allowed to go to UPenn for the men's and to Harvard for the women. So there was that atmosphere. So I feel I'm, I'm happy, happy for the, uh, for the students, like, especially the seniors, they didn't have to go out like in a, in a pandemic year. So, and again, the, um, the, the men's final was an Alzheimer.
Harvard women kind of rolled as they, as they want to do through the championships. the, uh, individuals though was, were incredible.
Right. Like, I mean, I think you, you said this comment, so I'm gonna give you credit bill, but, um, you Abraham probably the best player to come out of college squash and will have not won a single individual championship
Yeah. Interesting. I I'm curious cuz you know, Al Al Habi, um, Yaser was, was always considered the
four time. Yep.
Yeah, exactly. Um, but Yeah. never won an individual championship. It's absolutely incredible. So, uh, kudos to Victor Crewan and then crew went, crew went out and so, so in the op the opposite way, uh, Abraham had a great run in Chicago. Went, went to, uh, the collegiate championships, lost in the final with the crew and crew and turns around and comes to, uh, Canary Wharf and beats Paul call.
right.
I mean, that's just absolutely spec Paul CA struggles struggling against the college kids. I guess, as, as I said, maybe, maybe there's like a, you know, a number one player at Bowden who could give Paul call at tussle. It seems like Paul has a little, has a little phobia against, uh, against, uh, college players.
Yeah.
on, Paul, come on, Paul.
Um, so Harvard, uh, yet again, sweeping, all the championships, uh, with the exception of the doubles.
Jesus Christ the doubles. I mean, come on. So, so I, and I, you know, I understand, I understand why I, I think I understand why they do it, but is It, collegiate doubles is, I, mean, it's a joke to call this a championship. They don't play doubles all season long and they have a collegiate doubles championship. So, you know, it doesn't make any, I don't know the purpose of it. I've never really known the purpose of it.
Um, can you, can you Connor explain besides the fact trying to get people into doubles, which is fine, absolutely fine, but how could you have a collegiate championship for something that only takes place that weekend and call it a national championship, please? Connor. Explain, explain it to bill.
I, I will. So when I was competing with the college class ranks, it was definitely, um, it was confusing. was like, what same thing? It's like, we don't play this. And why is that championship there? I do. I do think it is part, um, to try and get people exposed to hardball doubles. It is great. It's a very different game than, than what we, uh, than singles if you've never played. So, um, it is a different skillset.
you know, when I, when I was playing and I, I thought this was a good home for, it was, it was actually in December. So it was separated from the, the main event. So this year is the first time they've had it along the same weekend as an individual. So I think there's, for me, I would want to see more of the individuals and the doubles competing in the fall to get some sort of meaning to the fall.
Well, why don't we do this? And I mean, I, I under understanding that there aren't a lot of doubles courts out there and that's, you know, may, may obviously a big restriction, but like, At least have something leading up to it. Have other, have other tournaments weekend matches, maybe, you know, these, these, some of these kids go up and play. They travel on a, in a van for eight hours to play a 20 minute match. Right.
Either get destroyed or destroy someone, find a doubles court or there, and arrange something for those players to play a
Like make a season. Yeah,
something
I agree. I think there's been talk and this has been, um, He's like, could we be more like tennis, which has singles and doubles? I think that's a vision of the sport potentially, but, but no real action has been taken in my opinion, cuz you'd have to go build all the doubles courts at all these facilities. So, so that hasn't been in consideration, but uh, in tennis the way it works. So it's, it's, it's nine matches, um, six singles, three doubles.
Um, and you only get one point for winning three doubles match and then you
Oh yeah.
yeah, the three, the, the six singles. So at least it's incorporated. Right?
Right. If you're, if you're the NCAA national doubles champion, it's a thing. Right? Um, be being, being, being the intercollegiate squash doubles champion, because that weekend you happened to pick your partner and you guys got together and, and won three matches after not doing anything the whole season and doubles and calling yourself a national champion. I, I don't wanna call it a joke, but, uh, I don't know if there's another word for it, but joke. It's
Yeah, I, I hear it's still a championship out there to be won. So
No, it's not. It's not, it's really not.
this was the, what I thought on the men's side. This is the first year Navy. Hasn't won it in a while, so I'm not sure what happened there and I'll give a quick shout out. So it looked like, uh, Yale on the men's side, defeated Penn on the women's side, UVA, which have two doubles courts to feed it brown. And in the mixed, mixed doubles bill, how, how exciting is that? It was an all brown, uh, final. So brown. Yeah, I
shout out, shout out to the bears then. Yeah, I take, I take it all. I take it all back. The, just your recap of it was so riveting. It was, I, I take it back it's I can't wait. I can't wait till next year. I'm already looking forward to next year.
yeah. Who your early picks.
I don't know. I, I, I, I, I heard Middleberry has, has, has a, is really, really looking or to, uh, to, um, to putting together a, a very strong doubles contingent for the two days that they're gonna play doubles next year. So, um,
Do, do you
Don't practice too hard guys.
the same debate is happening on the pro double tour of like, should I go to college or just go straight to the pro double
right. To the pro doubles too. Our exactly. Just so like, yeah.
no,
no, I don't want, I, don't want this to be a referendum on doubles as a
no, I, I was about to say the same thing. Like I love doubles actually it's
I don't, I don't, but, um, some somebody asked me when I, when I pick up when I'd start playing doubles and I don't know if we could say this on this podcast.
was, did weren't you basically saying that, you know, when you can't move your legs or you can't?
I, I, I think I said I would, I would play pickle ball first, then I would die. And then I would play
Oh my
So pickle ball, pickle ball, death doubles. That's the, uh, that's the ranking order.
doubles is more fun for me. I, I would play that as 90 to 95% of
You know what, if I was any good at it, I would probably play it too. Doesn't doesn't doesn't change the, it, there should not be a collegiate doubles championship if there's no doubles leading
yeah,
it.
yeah. Well on that note, is there
my soap up on my soapbox. Do we have any other topics or are
no, I think we CLO that was the full slate, uh, so to speak. So, um, it's good to get another one in the books, man.
Yeah. After we edit this to make it sound like we know what we're talking about, how, how many games did a salt play do Zuki
I think it was 15. He won, uh, 15 zero. It was a new thing. They're testing Al
exactly. Then they should go play doubles right after that and have a double, like a Canary whaf doubles championship. That would be awesome.
the, yeah, there you go.
So, no, that was great Connor. It was good. Good to be back again. I hate PJ, If you're listening,
Thanks Thanks for your contribution
Yeah. You know what, honestly, I, I would say like, not being here, he contributed only like 10% less than he normally does. and he, and he wasn't here at all.
What do you think the chance of him actually listening?
none there's a hundred percent, none a hundred. He doesn't know the name of it, you know, that he thinks it's called squad cast. So he has no idea. So
Uh, it'd be funny if you
just
had. Like, if he was at least calling it squash cast, I would be like, totally. I was like, maybe I'd be questioning. Maybe I need to rebrand bill
Yep. Exactly. All right, Connor.
No good. No, goodnight.
Good night. What? Kayla. Good night. We haven't done a good Kay in a
You, you also stopped me from saying what T number this says, so, you know, Hey
TBD number 24.
you at it.
Is it.
Yeah.
Well, cool. Awesome.