Major League Minute: intro. Got that hot tea. Hey, welcome to the Major League Minute podcast. I'm Doc and this is GMP. Today we're talking all things MLV and some other stuff. Before we get into it, we got to talk about this centerpiece in the middle of the podcast table. What are we looking at here? What are we doing? it's huge. huge. The thing weighs like 50 pounds. It's large and in charge. You want to tell us what it is? Well, my parents are cleaning out their house. because we got grandma Charlotte moving in. So my dad texted Mason and I, he was like, you have 84 hours to get all this out of our house. Two hours later, he goes, you now have 82 hours. Three hours later, he's like, you now have 70. mean, it was annoying. So we're like, let's just get over there now. This happens to be something that they had stored away and all these years. I thought my high school had it. Just a little something something. And it's just a little something something. It is the trophy for when I won National Gatorade Player of the Year. So that's in the country, not in the state of Nebraska. That's in the USA. Yes. And I feel weird. I'm not one to brag or boast, but that, yes, that is overall in the entire country. I Still can't believe that it's mine. I really can't. don't like that's taking that's taking us way back. Yeah, it says 2008 on here, but it's kind of that's almost 20 years, right? Yeah. Ouch. I know. I don't feel that old. Hey, how does that make you feel? I'm not even going to go. I'm going to go right into the episode 16. Can you believe we've been doing this for 16 episodes? No. Are you having fun yet? ⁓ Still trying to figure out the jury's still out. Hey, but it's fun for me. No, you definitely make it fun. I'm just here to talk. You're here to crack the jokes. Today, week eight recap. We're already eight weeks in, right? Yeah. And then we'll talk about week nine preview. But before we do that, we always like to give an update and a shout out to the Volley app. I mean, for some odd reason, I'm holding at 14th and you're holding at... Yeah, it's like the same reoccurring pattern the last, at least the last three weeks. I finished seventh. Your wife, Carrie, finishes right in front of me. And then Tallahassee Turtles and Go Bills are number one and two. So what does that mean? Because I've been holding that 13, 14 for like a month now. I don't know. I feel like anything can happen even though this... I don't know what I'm trying to say. The results have been the same the last couple of weeks. I feel like anything can happen. We've seen injuries. We've seen bench players become starters. We've seen lineups just change for no reason. they just, I don't know if they're lucky or they just pick consistent players. And maybe that needs to change for me. Maybe I need to start doing three week contracts instead of one weekers. Wait a second. I thought that was the cheat code. No, I never said that that was the cheat code. said it was more fun that way because there's so many good players, but the cheat code is going off after good blockers. Remember? how big of a cheat code is it if it's not actually changing your positioning? Well, maybe I'm not recruiting the best blockers. Could be that. But then it's also like, we're human, so we're athletes and we don't play perfect every single match. So maybe the week I think I choose the best blocker, they come up short. Okay. Nevertheless, we're up to 41 teams in our fantasy league. How do they join our fantasy league? Because our goal is to get over 50 teams in the MLM that is our goal. I really hope we can do it. PlayVolley.com forward slash MLM. It's supposed to draw the forward slash as you say it. How do you add forward? Maybe I'll remember that one. Say what? what? Say what? Anyway, so they can download the app, create an account and then in the fantasy portion, you can join the Major League Minute League. And if you haven't joined yet, please do. It's a ton of fun. It is fun. I thoroughly enjoy it. And it looks like every week, Ryan is making updates to the you can actually do different things and have different options. And I'm getting notifications of the injury report this week. I've seen that. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, they I think they're just constantly trying to upgrade it constantly making it more efficient, more attractive, all the things they're very invested in it. And it shows. It's definitely Yeah, it's really fun. I mean, there's like an update every week, which is great. They're learning their adaptive all the things so so the top scores for this week in as it relates to the volley fantasy league we got we have a new appearance this week. Okay, tell us about her. Well, I'll get to that. First, we go with third place. Okay. And this is a consistent top scorer. PBR with Grand Rapids. She's been top three every week pretty much. At least when she's playing, when she was healthy. Right. Guaranteed to be at the top because she does what so well. She does everything well. So she can go for aces. She can go for digs. I mean, in one of these matches this week, she got 23 digs. That's the same amount of as a libero. So. She gets digs, she gets blocks, she obviously gets kills. So she is a player that is just consistent in every single skill. So. Is she still on the board if somebody wants to pick her? Because I noticed that sometimes when I try to pick somebody, one time I tried to pick Nati and she was not on the board. She was locked. Yeah, I think that means that someone outpicked her. Like she was there. I actually don't know. need to look. know what I'm talking about though? Yes, I do. I always was under the assumption that that was already someone's first pick. And so they were like not for grabs. But I don't know. That'd be a great question for Ryan. Or maybe you couldn't afford her. No, because I could take somebody above her and below her in the salary cap. OK. In the money line. But yeah, I don't know exactly what that means. It'd be a great question. If the people at the Voliapp or Ryan could comment on that in our comments, that'd be awesome. OK. Yeah. I'll ask him. So then in second place this week, ⁓ another familiar player, that's Leah Edmond. She went off this week, it seemed like. And then out of nowhere. And then our first top scorer this week is a first appearance for her, and that's Kayla Lund with Indy. Yep. She only played one game though, right? I think she only played one game because she's not a starter. She didn't even start the game that she played. No, she came in and she scored, think it was like at least 10 kills. She hit 650, something like that. was like untouchable. I feel like, you know, the star in Mario, like when you get a start. And then you're like invincible and like you can do whatever you want in your hyper mode. That was her that night. Good for her. She was a star. Yep. And then why did she get to play or how did she get to play? Or I think she came in for Lekitor. I she came in for Lekitor who wasn't maybe performing. Okay. Just wasn't doing what the team needed at that moment. Kayla came in and... Cone's a blazing and took them over the top in that match at least. Absolutely. Okay. Let's touch on next week. We have a special guest. Yay. So finally, I feel like it's been forever since we've had a special guest. What we had one last week, had Thomas and Bird on last week. ⁓ that was like an AMA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know we had our emergency pod last week with a pod with Bird and Thomas. we get in trouble for that one, by the way? Do we know? Not to my knowledge. Nope. We were good. ⁓ But yeah, it's been a minute I feel like since we've had an AMA. Has it been a major league minute though? That's perfect. A major league minute since we've had an AMA. Next week we have one that we've been hoping for. to tell them? Do you want to tell them or do you want them to do we want to leave the suspense and then when you put out your video they'll know who it is? Are you going to do a video this week? Yeah, I'll do a video. So do we want to tell them now? Or do we want them to know once? Let's keep them hanging. Let's do it. AMA segment. So we're doing that next week. Yeah. Okay. And we'll let all y'all know who the special guest is going to be later on this week. We already have her penciled in. So this is going to be a fun one. ⁓ She is playing at the top of her game right now. Actually, they are playing at the top of the game and she is, thanks to in large part what she's doing. Do you want to talk about it? How do I talk about it? Talk about- We're building suspense. I think... Let's give them some clues, some hints, something that they can... She's on one of the top teams in the league. She's steady. Yes. And effective. And efficient. Is that the same thing as effective? No, effective, efficient, and excellent. She's playing. Those are all three different words. Yep. she's checking all those boxes. we're looking forward to having her on the podcast. OK. Make sure you stay tuned to the Major League Minute. We're going to announce that on Instagram and TikTok. Yep. Who our guests are. And if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, Major League Minute. Please do that. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok. And here we go. Now, please take a sip of my tea. Yeah, please. Is it hot tea? Because we know is hot. She has always got the hot tea. It is hot tea. And it's legit hot tea this time. ⁓ All-star. Let's go to we got the All-Star game coming up. Do we need to get into that a little bit in terms of is it a good thing? Is a bad thing? Do players want to play in it? What's the benefits? What's the okay. So I was thinking about this in our conversation last week. Yeah. I think There should be, don't know, I'm conflicted because I think there should be an all-star match and then there is a difference between like an all-fans appointed match. Because if you leave it up to the fans... Is that what they're doing? Because we get to vote, all the fans get a vote, right? How does it work? All the fans get a vote daily. So I didn't know that it was a daily thing. which I love that it's daily because that gives me the opportunity to vote for different players because there's a lot of players that I remember I was talking about how there's at least five outsides that I would like to appoint for that. So the fact that you get to vote daily gives you the opportunity to do that. Interesting. So I love that. Don't ask me when the deadline is. I don't remember. When's the match? It's later in March, like the 28th. End of March? Yeah, it's at the end of March. So you get to vote daily. here's where I'm thinking, what I'm, here's my train of thought. Fans are very loyal. You're, they could be loyal and love a player that's not playing, but they love that player's personality. They love their community effort. know they're the probably one of the best players in their position. However, maybe they're not playing due to an injury example, Brittany Abercrombie on the opposite. That's a great example. because how can you vote for her and she's been out for weeks? It's leading into week nine and she's been out for four at least. mean, that's tough. So here's what I'm thinking. It's not necessarily fair to have an all-star game and leave it up to the fans because they don't necessarily appoint the top players. Does that make sense? Their favorite player, perhaps their favorite play. That's why I'm like, should we separate this between like a fan favorite match and an all star match? Don't think that would ever fly, but maybe the fan favorite match could be just like a, not a pretend, but like, Hey, here's the starting 12 of the fan favorite match. And it's just, you know, it's just a roster. There's no game, there's no event, but here's who are the top. Well, you would know that by if we actually tallied the votes, right? Exactly. Yeah. So that's what I'm saying. maybe the MLV should have a committee that actually, okay, maybe they consider the fans perspective, but at the end of the day, they make the choice because say, Brittany Ambercrombie is a fan favorite, but she hasn't been playing for four or five weeks. And say she's healthy by the end of March. Is that necessarily fair? I don't know. So as it is right now, who's going to determine the All-Star teams? Is it the fans or is it the franchises or is it a combination of the two? I cannot confirm or deny this as fact, but I we just voting for... I would think, even though I saw on TV, it said that the fans vote, I have a really hard time believing that the fans get the ultimate say on the All-Star match. So I would think that it's a combination. Okay. But I don't know for sure. OK, so starting back up. starting back to it. have a new commissioner. Yeah. Do you have any commis-tee? Hot tea on the commissioner or where'd the commissioner come from? What do we know about her? What's her role? Why is she starting in the middle of season one? offended because I didn't know anything about this decision. Yeah, right. I'm just kidding. I'm not offended, nor do I. have any hot tea? No, I don't. Um, I did not know that this was happening, although I am really excited. Did you get a chance to read kind of her resume 15 years in the off front office of the NFL? Okay. mean, that's check. That's huge. She's probably seen, experienced, learned so much in the NFL 15 plus years. So I'm really excited just on that fact alone. did somebody get bumped from the commissioner position or did they just add this position? They added it. There was no commissioner. However, I did see on the same ⁓ article that Jen Spiker, the CEO, has been transitioning to the vice president. So I do think it's maybe a little bump for Jen. But I Yeah, don't think she still is going to have an important role, but I think the commissioner is the ultimate authority. So she goes above CEO. Okay. So again, really excited just to hear about her experience, her resume. Not necessarily any experience in the volleyball world, but more in the professional football arena. Well, professionally, yes, but she played volleyball. Okay. She played at Georgia Tech and she loves the sport. So It's exciting to have that type of resume plus passion for this product. And so I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens in the coming years. And does this start immediately or is she next year? When I say the, I think it's immediately. Okay. But it's, I say it's exciting to see what happens in the coming years because, you know, we've talked about emerge with love in the coming years, if that's going to happen or not. Now, this new commissioner comes in with a lot of experience. I'm curious. Could have some new ideas, new perspective. Yeah, is it now is the merge is way far off. Right. Because I don't know. That'll be exciting to see. way far off or maybe it's closer. even closer. I know it go either way. Or maybe it's not even impacted whatsoever. Stay tuned. time will to be seen. Looking forward to her actually addressing the fans and addressing the league. Yeah, Jamie Weston. don't think we've officially said her name yet. Okay. Jamie Weston. Welcome to the MLB, Jamie Weston. Yay. Commissioner. Very exciting. Okay, where do we want to go next? Do you want to go right into that? Since I mean, do we want to talk about the Supernovas? Yeah. You want to go there? Yeah. Supernovas again make another move late in the season or mid to late in the season. It looks like they waved. One of their middle blockers. Elise. Elise. Getzinger. They carried how many? I thought they had 15. How many middles? Four. Now they're down to three and then there was three? Yes, and middles is a position you do not want to be low on. Did they pick up a middle? Not yet. Another Nova bit the dust, but yet they haven't picked up another Nova. Not yet. ⁓ Definitely something that... ⁓ I'm sure through the home stretch, all hands are on deck and they're trying to find somebody out there. Yeah. Typically it doesn't seem like it would wave somebody before you had somebody in place to. Well, you can. Yeah. There's multiple factors that can be in play here. ⁓ you know, maybe, maybe the supernovas initiated this, ⁓ because maybe they, need something more in this position. Well, obviously they need something more as a whole. Yes. ⁓ We'll get to that later. Or it could have been the complete opposite where Elise just walked in and was like, hey, ⁓ maybe it's like a similar situation to the libero from Columbus who went to Turkey. Maybe, I don't know. This is no hot tea. Is it similar to the Morgan Head situation perhaps? I mean, no, because there's no trade. So I would say that it's different, but maybe Elise walked in and was like, Hey, I have this other opportunity where I actually can play and help my team. Would you release me? I don't know which, I don't know what happened. So the fact remains though, is that they're down a middle. So this really is costly in practices, most of all. But they have four middles currently. No, now they have three. They have four. Janice and Layla on the bench. ⁓ yeah, they did have five. What am I talking about? So do you need another or are they just carrying extra? Why? I am so silly. I don't know why I thought they only had four. ⁓ Four is okay. Okay. You can get by with four. Okay. So that explains it. Maybe they're, that's why perhaps. Maybe transition without, finding. but if that's the case, it's a weird thing to like, why? Why would you just shave off that? Because according to your perspective, that's one of the most valuable positions on the court. So then you're thinking that they're out there trying to find a more effective player would make sense. From my perspective, it looks like the supernovas are hemorrhaging in terms of it looks like they're They're losing, well, they're losing matches. How many in a row? Five. Yeah. Which is unheard of. they're, yeah. So from my perspective, they're looking anywhere and everywhere for help. They can get down the stretch. Okay. That's, I would place my money on that. That's gotta be the only thing that would make sense. Unless of course, Elise asked for this, then that's different. But, Yeah, supernovas are seven and eight. They slid down to fifth place. Gosh, that is so sad for me. I hate to see it. Moving right along, because we'll get into the standings in a second. You don't have to look them up. They're down there, but Mac Pedraza was waved again. Yeah. Looks like she came in for little bit intentionally for shampoo. Yeah, I think this was the plan all along. And I think Mac even was aware. Amy Polly even... did a post about Mac saying like, hey, you helped us in this pinch that we were in. Like you brought nothing but joy and hard work. ⁓ so I think Mac was understanding that this was her role all it was temporary. And I'm glad that the communication was like open about that. It seems like, you know, Amy was very clear. ⁓ and so there was no hard feelings because we've seen it where there are hard feelings and it's just sour, but Mack responded to Amy saying like, I got nothing but love for this team and I'll be cheering you guys on. So just that honesty really creates, ⁓ yeah, good mojo. Yeah. don't burn any bridges. Exactly. These players, they just move from one franchise to the next. Sometimes they stay, but a lot of times you'll see they were playing with this team this year and next year they're with another team and then. following year they're with a different team so keep all those options and doors and bridges open. That's the only way to do it. Okay let's talk about this Terry Pettit post. thought there was some... Well yeah speaking of players going from one team to another. What does that have to do with Because we were talking about well in Terry's post... Who's Terry Pettit? Terry Pettit is a legend here in Nebraska. basically ⁓ he is the one who started Nebraska volleyball. He's the one who got it to be at the level it is. He the coach. He was the coach, the head coach. Yeah, he won the national championship. I want to say three times. Okay. ⁓ so he's a legend here. ⁓ Very well known. And now that he's retired from coaching, he has really entered into like the podcast realm ⁓ and social media. So He made this post about coach. What is it? Wisner? Wisner. Wisner. Yeah. For Shannon Windsor. I'm sorry, Windsor. Oh, Windsor. The head coach for the Dallas Pulse in her first year. Yes. And so go check out the post for yourself because I don't have it up in front of me. But to kind of paraphrase what he said, he was stressing out of all the things, the importance of trust between not just trust period, but trust between your head coach and your players. Yes. And he was arguing that it was possibly the most important things. are several factors that go into building trust, including time, shared experiences and vulnerability is what he said. Vulnerability is critical and without it, developing trust is difficult between the coach and the players. In a league where no team has dominant talent, trust wins. That was how he ended the post, right? Yep. So that was kind of his mic drop, I guess. Did you agree with that? He said that the travel, the fatigue, the injuries all play a part of it. But the X factor is that relationship between the coach and the players. I 1000 % agree with that. Okay. 1000 % I mean, so he goes on to even explain how If you look at Dallas's roster, excluding Mimi and Sophia as the rookies, the rest of the team is made up of players that didn't get re-signed essentially is how he- By other MLB teams? other franchises, correct. That's kind of how he phrased it. And Nati, right? Did you say Nati? ⁓ Well, Nati was essentially someone that wasn't re-signed. Okay. So I include her in that. Okay. you so you get that impression of like, I don't I don't want to say they're like, misfits or whatever, like, because that's not right. They're all great players. But they were they were not people who are the top choices, right? Now you look at them. They're second in the league, they're on fire. They're amazing. They play with team chemistry. They love the game. They love each other. They're, you know, going after every single thing. Why is that? So if you look at it through the lens of the Terry Pettit lens, it comes back to the relationship, the trust that's been built between the coach and the players. And you're say you a thousand percent agree with that perspective. That is exactly what I'm saying. Why else? I mean, what else would you attribute it to? He said it could be a lot of things that injuries, could be fatigue, be travel. I'm saying what else would you attribute like their success to? That's what I think the level of the players is pretty much there's a razor thin margin between there's no dominant player in the MLB, which you said, do agree with that? ⁓ There's no dominant how did he he phrased it not player dominant? ⁓ Yes, we're no dominant word. No team has dominant talent is what I thought it was no team has dominant talent, which that I kind of disagree with as far because you have Indy, who I think is like extremely talented in every single position. But regardless, that's 10 and two Indy or whatever they are now. So yeah, I could see that. But from. But for the most part, but if you take, mean, if you just have a blanket statement of like this was a team of second choices, how come they're playing so good now? It's because I'm a firm believer that the coach knows how to do things other than. training in a gym. They know how to get teammates to trust one another and play for one another. The coach herself is showing trust and earning trust from those players. She's probably doing a great job encouraging them, being honest with them, ⁓ you know, putting them in situations that she knows that they'll overcome even if they're hard. It's a bunch of different things. But I, I agreed with Terry on this. I agreed with Terry on this post that trust between a head coach and the players is the X factor is what he calls it is an X factor specifically this season. mean, look at Dallas. Right. And then. ⁓ I want to be careful with how I like phrases or connect this, but when I was coaching under a bird, I have never in my life experienced more the value of the intangibles as a coach from a coaching perspective. I think that bird was incredible and I don't know if, you know, from a player, maybe they would disagree. I don't know, but just from the coaching perspective, I thought she was extremely intentional. I thought that her communication was always honest and encouraging, even if it was hard. She spoke the truth in love. Like, really think that from Bird. She found ways that to get the group to unite and come together. Even when, again, we look at last year, that roster on paper does not match. the level of roster on paper this year, but she took that team to the, to the final four. Now we came up short, which is a very hot topic for her, but. you were going down the line. Does any one of those have to do with being a female head coach? Well, that's another interesting thing to think about because female coach for Indy, female coach for Dallas. Okay. Keep going. ⁓ female coach for San Diego, who's on a huge. success string right now. ⁓ The only male coaches in this league are for Omaha and Columbus. So Grand Rapids female coach, Orlando female coach. It's just interesting. ⁓ I want to say that I am not like, truthfully, I'm not like this huge feminist of like women, women, women. We were saying this as day one, episode one. What? About is there a different challenge in any way, or form when you have a male coach versus a female coach for an MLV franchise? Yeah. That was day one, episode one. It's hard for me to ⁓ speak about in the sense of like relating because in my entire life, I've never had a female head coach. Never. Right. So it's such a game changer now. I've never. Now we see a lot more females. You know, we have Danny Busboom, like we like a lot more female coaches. So it is really interesting. I'm not. I am. I am not saying that men are better than women or that women are better than men. You don't have to go there, but I am thinking, though, that maybe women have a Women coaches have a better understanding on how to get women athletes to play more than just physically. I like to think of it as vitalistic versus mechanistic. You got to explain that. Mechanistic, you just got a bunch of players. You just got a bunch of parts, a bunch of pieces, but a vitalistic approach is it's more than the sum. You know, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. When you're able to put all these parts together, there's these intangible things that a coach brings to the table that gets them more than who they are individually. And all of a sudden it just elevates the whole team. Vitalistic versus mechanistic. We've got a, there's an Omaha has a lot of great pieces, but they are not necessarily, the whole is not necessarily better, a better product than the individual parts. And to me, that's where coaching comes in. Take all those pieces, mix them all together. And before you know it, you have a cake. all those ingredients you have a farmhouse wedding cake. Those are so good. Sorry. Do we need to stop it right here? We need to send Mason to go pick one up. in that. Yeah, that it's a great conversation. It's a great thing to think about. Just going back to Terry's post, I do want to applaud him for that. I because I think that he's 100 % 100 % on. even more so I want to applaud the Dallas coach, Winsor. By the way, have you heard her speak? Only like on the ad, like there's a commercial during Dallas games that but in I was thoroughly impressed after the I watched the post game presser when Dallas beat the Omaha Supernovas. Okay. ⁓ Very impressed with her ability to articulate and relate to the players just on the podium. Yeah, well that doesn't surprise me because if she can do that, you know she's doing the other other stuff with her team and vice versa. You know if she's communicating with her team and getting them all fired up, she's going to be good at absolutely communicating to the public. So should we move on to week eight recap? Let's talk about Thursday's games. First, we can through this San Diego the Grand Rapids. Yeah. So man, seeing more injuries. So we have Hayden Kubik who was in a boot. I don't know what her timeline we're praying for you, you're getting well soon. Yeah. And then the middle blocker from Grand Rapids. What's her, how do you say her first? Ramat? Yeah. Is that it? Middle blocker. Yep. Al Hasan? Yeah. So she's also out with a foot injury, but again, don't know the time. was I didn't catch the very beginning of the commentary but Sage did not start. Is she injured? didn't. Sage is the setter. Okay. That I don't know. Because their second setter, Cameron Turner, she started. She played both matches this week. I'm wondering if... be another injury? Yes. And I'm like, ⁓ my goodness. Well, how convenient was it? Do you want to say something? Because I want to just notice how convenient it was for you to just skip over that you picked Grand Rapids. and I pick San Diego. But you just, you just skipped right over that. to about it? What do you want to say? Hey, point for me. Yeah, point for you. Good job. I really thought that Grand Rapids like would, you know, they have Morgan, which speaking of Morgan, she got, I think it was the, she got 20 digs in a three set match. That's a lot. Yeah, that's really good. And it made me think I saw that the MLV I don't know if it was a tweet or a Instagram post, but it was like, did you all know that 70 % of the earth is covered by water and the rest is covered by Morgan Hens? And I'm like, yeah, that's, I've heard that one before with specifically, I've heard that before with Morgan Hens, but it never gets old. That's, she did a great job defending the courts this week. Unfortunately, her team showed up short in this match, but ⁓ she did great. So anyway, I thought that that would I thought that they would get the win. But it didn't. It didn't. And San Diego swept at Grand Rapids. So why? San Diego's they just got that mojo. They got that yummy. They got that mojo. Yeah, you got that. They got that mojo. I don't even know that song. That's Biebs. You don't know Biebs. Oh, I know Biebs. No, but while we're on this, you talked a little bit about somebody's post. What was your favorite pro volleyball meme this week? ⁓ man. They are good. They are so good. And they're dead on. I think it was actually the Omaha Post. Which one? When Bud Crawford's son ran onto the court. That was so funny. was like, I don't even know what character that is, but it was like this little chubby girl in this raincoat. And it was like the background was all smudged and she was like running. forgot about that. That was crazy. I don't even know how that happened. I've never seen that before. So Bud Crawford and his family were there that night because we were honoring a couple of wrestlers. And I don't know what happened. It was very, I mean, Bud Crawford's son is fast. He was cooking across that court. was cooking. He's got to be what? four, if that three maybe. they're the one of the cameraman got a great picture of he's on the court. He's got his arms pumped and he's looking back and he has this tiny like smirk on his face. It was hilarious. He went for it. It was so funny. So yeah, the meme of that one really got me. just because I experienced it. I was there live and seeing that post. But along those lines, mean, San Diego is actually rolling right now. Yeah, I was trying to you to say something about Marley because I think Marley is a huge testament of there's like why they're successful. I've been talking about her. I know. I know. just I love when when you're talking with Bird and Thomas and you were saying how I can't believe you guys didn't get that. I don't. I can't believe I didn't either. In my head, I was just like, ⁓ he loves Morgan. It's probably Morgan. But you love Marley, too. So it makes sense, but Marley and Mia are definitely the top two players as far as like, they just exuberate joy, passion, freedom, zeal, the things, literally all the things. don't know if there's any other players in this league that I could say match them. I think Mia and Marley got it on lock. And the thing of that is, You don't teach that you don't coach that you either have it or you don't. And when you have it at your quarterback position, the center, we're going places. I agree. that's why, and Hayden told us us from the get go, she said they're on the upswing and now it's just a matter of time. Now they're creeping up. They've been creeping up little by little in the standings. And now I think you see them in the top four. They came down from the bottom. They come up from the bottom. they hit. Yeah. Cause we remember when we entered, when we were talking with Hayden, they were bottom. They were last in the league. Yeah. So. I agree with you that that is nature versus nurture. think that comes natural to someone. I think that would be really, really difficult to coach out of someone. Does that make sense? It does. You either got it or you don't. That's what I'm saying. I think a coach It's like forcing somebody to trash talk. You point at me because you're the trash talker and every time I try and trash... talk back, it's like it's a dud. It's like a bust. just blocks. got it or you don't. I don't got it. So it's like a coach can do a lot to at least get them to a certain extent, but that extra 20 feet on the mountaintop is a natural, God-given talent or characteristic. And to me, that's another X factor. We talked about a closer being, you know, the closer having an X factor. This is another position. with that level of exuberance or joy or freedom is another X factor from my perspective. I don't have anything to add. I think that's then let's move on. at Omaha. I picked the ATL. You picked Omaha. So you're two and oh Atlanta one and four. Man. We were at this one. This is on the floor. Yeah. And I was... watching I go Jones with your mic. was watching I code Jones. I want to make sure the sound is good. Hit absolute nuke balls. She has a heavy ball. Yeah, we were texting each other during that match because you just don't get the same effect on TV. No way is strong. Yeah, well, I mean, I was I'm sitting right there on the end core and I'm like, ⁓ that's, that's a strong swing. Yes. And she was she was on fire. like there was nobody blocking. Yeah. I mean, sometimes there wasn't. And sometimes there wasn't. But yeah, she she really. And maybe the reason why there wasn't always a decent block up is because Phoebe was playing out of her mind. In the middle. So you're saying the block was staying with her. because she was effective out of the middle. Phoebe Phoebe had ⁓ a franchise record An opponent franchise record for hitting percentage against Omaha. Okay. So she hit, I think she, she hit like 650 against us that night. We've never had an opponent hit that high. In any position or just out of the middle? In any position. Okay. So she broke another franchise record. That's- Thank you, Phoebe. I got to talk to Those are the ones you don't want to break. I was so proud of her and happy for her. She's really, you know, she hasn't been a starter this whole season. What has happened? What's transpired over the course of the year that now she's not only starting, she's actually a go to middle and playing. Classic. Another injury happened. Okay. So I think it's Raven Colvin. Yeah, Colvin. She's done for the year. just see that it's a season ending injury. Raven. So, you know, with that, although that's unfortunate, provides opportunity for someone else that someone else happens to be Phoebe. So she's really stepped in the last couple of matches and she is making a name for herself. She's really coming off strong, playing confident. She's playing with her team. She's not like in her own head, like, ⁓ I'm so nervous. Like now I'm the star. You know, a lot of things can happen and that's natural, but she's like, nope, I'm with my team. I'm rocking. Let's keep rolling. She is rocking and rolling, but an interesting serve, might say. A little bit of a chicken wing. It's, it's really, from a coach perspective, I don't understand the mechanics of it. ⁓ and I said, Ooh, because she probably tough to pass when it's coming off like that. Well, I'll get to that, but she served against Omaha and she almost missed the entire net. I've never... under the net? She hit the bottom of the tape barely. It happens. It happens. And she ended up, you know what? Who cares? You had a franchise opponent franchise record against us. So it's okay. No one even remembers it, but she, it is effective when she gets it over. I think it's like... More of a knuckleball? Yeah. It's definitely a flow serve and it, it's like low. So it barely goes over the tape, is. it's chicken winged. Exactly. It's almost like a shot put. Right. Exactly. So. But Atlanta has been playing awesome every time they're here. So I don't know why in the world would you pick Omaha? Because I was hopeful. OK. Atlanta is the only franchise to have a winning record over Omaha at Omaha. And it ain't just a winning record. It looks like a dominant record. Atlanta is now five and one since year one in 2024. In Omaha. In Omaha. Okay. That is crazy. I don't know what I mean, the roster has changed. I think it's the home court disadvantage for the Omaha Supernovas. No, don't go there. No, don't do it. No, don't do it. I was also impressed with ⁓ Taylor Swift Smith. Head. Head. start over. is her maiden name. So it Taylor? No, no, no, I lied. Smith is her married name. Okay. Taylor Head is her maiden name. ⁓ she also played well. She did play well. They've been looking for a, you know, a third head or a third hitter. Yeah. And I think she's going to be a long term solution for them. I think so too. They're moving and grooving with her. So she's athletic. She's explosive. ⁓ I was thoroughly impressed with her as well. Yeah, I would say she's She brings something different to the table than Leah. Leah is a dominant, can jump and smash a ball. Taylor will really hit the block, like tool the block or find different shots. So ⁓ that's hard for a team to defend. Then they got a game plan for two different styles. So yeah, she's been doing good. But Omaha, this just was such a tough loss. The only reason I'm still hopeful that they'll make it to the final four and potentially even win is because a team, it's good for a team to go through it, to go through something. And they're definitely going through something right now because I think of like, I hate to bring up college, but you think of like Nebraska this year, perfect season, they were on fire. Nobody could stop them moving and grooving and what happens in the tournament when it matters. They come up short. one remembers. No one remembers like, ⁓ but you had a perfect season. like the end is all that matters. So yes, as a fan, it is terrible to watch the Omaha Supernovas go through what they're going through right now. But I'm still hopeful because the end is the only thing that matters. And I think back to like, but you got to get to the end. And not everybody's gonna get to the end. That is why I am nervous now because they slid past like into the bottom four. Right. And only the top four obviously make it to the final. So I but when I think about certain teams in my life that have won it all, I'm like, like, I think about why I don't want to name names. But there was a team that won the national championship when I was in college. And I had a friend on the team and she was like, we hated each other for a majority of the season. Like no one got along. The team hated each other? Yes. They fought, they did not hang out outside of volleyball. They, you know, they had some beef with the coach, all these things. And what they ended up winning the national championship. But what did they do to change the culture mid season? I think that's going to change. I think that's going to depend on the personnel. I think that's going to change. So do think the personnel is going to change? No, no, no, sorry. I'm saying like it's up to the personnel to decide that. What worked for one team may not work for the other team. But what I am saying is that, you know, as cliche as it is, like they could be the diamond in the rough right now. Like we just got to find ways to clean ourselves off and to chisel and sharpen. in the end, hopefully we're shining. The principle is If you're going through hell, don't stop. Don't stop in hell. Just keep going. Keep on going. But if you're catching hell, let go. Is that part of the song too? It ain't a song. It's a principle. If you're going through hell, keep on moving. Don't look back. Do we need to edit that? Is that a song? It's a country song. I'm surprised you don't let go. Do something different. Make a change. Shift. Pivot. What are they going to do? I know it's we'll see. We'll see. But I agree with you. Something's got to change. Indy at Columbus. Both picked Indy. Indy wins in three with a sweep. Pretty competitive sweep. A little bit. Almost. ⁓ Indy's in the league of their own pretty much sitting at the top of the, of the food chain. Yeah. They're just firing all. on all cylinders here. The team as a whole hit over 300. ⁓ That's tough wherever you're going is killing. Yeah. I thought, ⁓ I got to bring up this play. Did you notice? ⁓ man, I don't remember what set it was in. So Indy, Anna DeBeer hit a pipe. Columbus blocked it, but on their side and it was a scramble play. where someone popped it up and it went over the net. So it was an overpass short, super short to zone two on Indy's side. Cameron Hanna dove, full body dove, got it up with one hand. Mia was right there facing her. So Mia was facing the crowd like in zone two. Not even a foot away from Cameron Hanna. Cameron Hanna. pops it, emergency play pops it perfectly straight to Mia. Mia's right there. Mia sets behind her head to Blake Muller and there's no block and Blake Muller smashes it. Did you remember I did not see that, but I felt like I was just there because you explained it so well and the whole time I'm thinking, does Mia have eyes in the back of her head? Look, I have goosebumps right now describing that play. Okay. I didn't feel that, but I mean, I was with you. was sick. It was... this crazy scramble play, Cam and Hannah flies, one arm passes it straight to Mia. Mia's like, I got this. She's like, knew she's back there. It was like a Spider-Man moment where time freezes and she looks everywhere. And she's like, yup. And she just sets it one foot behind her head and Blake Muller is like, thank you and smashes it down with no block eye. is volleyball right there. is like, it was so good. I'm getting goosebumps all over again. MLV socials. Did you see it anywhere? is this what are you sure this wasn't in your imagination? No, I am positive. I even rewound it to show my husband. I was like, you gotta check this is the sickest. we can see exactly if you made it up or this actually happened. We didn't make it up. It really happened. But yeah, they. You were describing it like you were there. It was so good. I was drooling. Like that is, that was so good. What makes that work? Honestly, well, whatever they're doing there is working. of it is luck because with Cameron Hanna, I think that was luck that she passed it perfectly to Mia. Yeah, that happens. It's the connection between your setter and your hitter. But the skill of the connection between like Mia knowing her hitters and knowing that Blake was there and credit to Blake she went for it. That's that's so good. That's a tough set. I mean that's a tough timing. I mean you're feeling you're seeing you're hearing everything where they're at behind you. I mean, hopefully not. Hopefully not. But I mean she did go to the middles. The ⁓ Moller and Martin, the ⁓ &M's combined for 17 of 29. Almost 30 sets to the middle. that a lot in a three set match? Yeah. Comparatively, I would say, yeah, not a lot of teams feel that confident and comfortable setting their middles always. From any position. mean, she's back by the 10 foot line setting the middle at a weird angle in system. Yeah. Lord hear our prayer. But anyway, Eminem, ⁓ Moller and Martin. really establishing themselves in the middle for the Indy. think they're, I mean, the timing is impeccable. They're handing out ⁓ kills like they're candy, one right after another. And they're not just baby tapping stuff. Balls are being driven to the floor without a doubt. They are earning their points, but specifically in this game, they also were not earning their points because Columbus had 16 hitting errors. That's In a three setter? That's bad. That's bad. What does that speak to? Cause we're talking about Indy on the other side of that. They're just firing, clicking on all cylinders. Then you have the, the Grand Rapids player or the Columbus players that are just airing left and right. It really is it your connection? Is it your passing is a little bit of everything. It's really everything. And it totally varies from night to night. I mean, one night it just, you, your team can catch that funk and it's not a good funk. And it just, things could just, not be going your way at all. And so it really just depends. You'd have to ask the players like what happened. So. But you always talk about the value of the middle. How does having, I mean, setting the middle 30 times, getting them going, how does that change from a blocking that's the cheat code. I think that is the cheat code is to have effective middles. When you have middles who are a threat, it frees up the game for every single player and not just the middles because then the defense is going to be really focused on those middle blockers and that usually leaves your pin hitters one on one or at the very least a huge hole in the block. So when you have effective middles, it really puts the defense in a scramble mode. In a defensive mode. Yeah, all the time. And so it's like you can't really ever catch your breath as a defensive player. ⁓ So yeah, I think I said this weeks back, but having good aggressive threatening middles is the cheat code. Both offensively and defensively. that's why they're, that's where you're scoring right in your fantasy league. Didn't you mention that? I'm trying to. Yeah. I'm still finishing seventh every week. Orlando beat Dallas. Yeah. Orlando won in four. Interesting. Shampoo was back. Yeah. Natalie Foster really just, I mean, She was a So she got an opportunity because somebody's hurt? I don't think so. I don't think Bree Kelly's hurt. I think she probably just got the start. OK, we'll have to look into that. Yeah. But again, set the middle 40 times. Shampoo set the middle 40 times in that match. That's a lot. Yeah, this was four sets versus three sets. So it's equivalent. ⁓ Natalie just, in my opinion, she was most effective on the service line. She was also effective out of the middle. She was. She was, but they won that first set because of Natalie. Did you watch that end of that? I did. At the service line. think it was six in a row. I think it was 19 to 20, whatever, 23 or something like even have been 23. I think it was 18 to 23 at one point. And she went back and served six times. So then, but that would make sense because they got the point at 18 and then she went back, it? Yeah. So she, she's the reason why they arguably won that match just because of that first set alone. They stole all the momentum away from Dallas. And she, did look at the stats. She is almost double the next leading ace getter, which I think is Anna DeBeer. ⁓ really? Yes. ⁓ yep. Nice. So she has almost double the second place in terms of as it relates to aces on the season. So effective. This one that she finished with two aces, but more importantly, she got them out of system on that serve that apparently she knows exactly where that thing's going. Apparently. I don't think she does. Except for the one that went 10 rows up. Yeah, did she? That was in a later set. went, pretty sure it hit someone. To your point, she hit 435, downtown Cass Brown hit 353. mean, they got the middles going, got Dallas on their heels and they needed, Dallas needed both Thunder and Lightning didn't get them. Lightning only hit 130. Maldonado Diaz hit 130, Thunder, Mimi hit 20, she had 27 points at 388, four blocks and one ace. Yeah. But I mean, you're going to need both of Thunder and Lightning in order to beat some of these top tier teams, I think. One without the other. Yeah, and... Kaylee Cox on the opposite. ⁓ yeah. Don't sleep on her. Yeah. All right. Let's keep this show on the road. Sunday, this is your trap match, right? You don't like Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons are for sleeping and for naps. Not for MLB volleyball. It's tough as a player. I hate to keep giving that excuse, but for whatever reason, it's just like, it's a natural engravement into our human nature to like want to rest on Sundays. is a day of rest? Yeah. It's biblical, but I feel like it's just, it's also natural. And so, it's just tough, ⁓ to get like in that mindset. ⁓ but again, I don't want to keep using that as an excuse. You, you're an athlete, you're hired to do this. You gotta get the job done no matter what day of the week it is. ⁓ Indy, because Indy wins in four of Omaha on a Sunday. I mean, I'm surprised we've been. I'm surprised we won the first set just by the next three sets. I I feel like Indy just dominated us. After the first set. They just made it. So I know it was 25-22 and 25-21, but even with that, like it just felt easy for Indy. Every single player was contributing. Every single player was on. ⁓ They were like laughing, it seemed like. Having so much fun. having so much fun where it's like when you're laughing, when you see that from the opponent side and they're laughing, it's like they don't take us seriously. Like they don't feel threatened at all. And so that is so discouraging. ⁓ and it's a great mind game. If you're like that team and you're laughing and you're dancing and you're selling and you're gritty in And you're just having fun. It's a mind game right there. And they are number one with that. They mess around and bring somebody off the bench that haven't really seen much all year. And she goes off. I am so impressed. Like I said in the beginning, she was just like a complete star, just untouchable. Nothing fazed her just playing with a torn MCL too. Right. Did you hear that on TV? meniscus? ⁓ meniscus. I think it's meniscus. ⁓ And she's like, you would have never known. I mean, nothing was phasing her or hindering her. She was playing out of her mind. What is your perspective on that in terms of coming off the bench versus being a starter? Personally, your experience, did you prefer one or the other? I always prefer being a starter and not because of selfish reasons. But I just think, I know I've described this before, I'm more comfortable in my role. When you're in the, when for me as a bench player, I think there's way more pressure. Really? I always felt way more pressure when I'm on the bench. I always think there's some value to spending some time on the bench watching the game. So I see both sides of it, but obviously. Yeah. I'm, been on bench. could be different. But the bottom line is you gotta stay ready so you don't have to get ready when your number's called. Yeah. And she was ready. Just listening to her post-match interview on the court. seems like she's a great teammate. She's really put a lot of emphasis being ready for her team, wanting to contribute however she could, stepping up when the team needed her. she seems like she really believes what she's saying, because she played that way. And the question becomes then, I mean, from my perspective, it looks like it's pretty much plug and play all day long for the Indie Ignited, no matter who they put in. So my question to you is go ahead is that coaching is she pushing what how do you say her name Bertolotti? Don't know Bertolotti Bert. I think it's a coach. Yeah Bertolotti. Is she pushing all the right buttons right now? I think so I Think her she's got it figured out as well because obviously they're I mean you you this is like This is a fan's dream to see the team and these individual players play this way. And she's got it figured out. I feel like that's like that's a testament to her. don't really see maybe Dallas comes close, but you don't really see any other teams this year play that way. So to maybe besides San Diego. Okay, right now. So we're back to Terry Pettit's original point. Does this have a lot to do with the trust that's been developed between the players and the coach? I think yes, absolutely. Even more so for Indy because Indy's bench is the same amount of skill and level as the starters. that's like to have those bench players not turn on their coach and turn on their players because they think they should be the one starting. That's huge. And I think that is a huge testament to the coaching. And on a side note, into the players too, it never hurts to have Mia as your quarterback, calling the shots, running the show. Yeah. Dallas at Atlanta. Yeah, we got to get going. one and five. You mentioned the commentator. ⁓ man, that was a tough one for me. They first of all needed to change her mic. Where was it? It was on YouTube. the mic was so like my husband and I would like cringe when she was talking just basically I think if she would have had a different mic it would have been a little bit better. too much treble like sometimes at these maybe matches where it's just too maybe it was that I don't know but I will say she was a great hype woman I would hire her okay she was very passionate and I think maybe that was Maybe why the mic was like so bad too, because she was maybe like emphasizing and putting a lot of sound into it. Anyway, that's not that's not what we should be focusing on. But Dallas one and five. I feel like Maldonado Diaz, Lightning and Mimi Callier close it out. I feel like they got a couple closers and then Van Buzirkirk in the middle. she's actually one of the best blockers. Yeah. And so I would consider her a stat sheet stuffer on the week. I hired her this week on my fantasy team. So she better. you? No, like this Oh, coming up. Yes. I mean, she hit 5.56, three blocks, three digs, two aces out of the middle. Yeah, that's That's pretty good. Yeah. And then in this match, we saw Leah Edmond hit her 1,000 kills mark. I've been trying to figure that one out all week. What do you mean? 1,000 kills in the MLV, 1,000 kills pro, 1,000 kills from college to pro. How does that work? I don't know actually. Because it sounds like she's the first MLB player to reach a thousand kills. Yeah, so over three years, two and a half years, I would have to, so if you average, let's say you average, I mean 20 would be on the high end. if you have a three set match or yeah. go 20 because she's also above 20. So you paid. 24 matches. A season? In the first year, in the second year, and this year, I think it's 28. 50 times 20. That's a thousand. Oh, so yeah, it's just the MLV. Okay. Okay. I've been thinking about that all week. I mean, we figured that out in like 20 seconds. You couldn't do that within a week? Couldn't do it. Okay. And they were led by Iko Jones in this one again. No? No, I think Iko hit negative. Yeah, she was, she did not. Again, it's like everyone just plays good in Omaha because that was the same thing with Morgan Lewis with San Diego. She had the best match of her life in Omaha and then the next match flopped. It's like, Gosh, why are we like that? But you know, so come to Omaha and play your best match of your life. Welcome to Omaha. We don't want that. But you know who didn't flop? Phoebe. Yes. Yeah. Another great performance by her. That's she's stacking up. I'm excited to see how far she goes this year. Absolutely. Grand Rapids at Orlando. Grand Rapids wins in four. And we both picked Orlando to win this one. Yeah, where did this one come from? ⁓ it's a Sunday sleeper match. It's a Sunday sleeper match. So I'm like, just, it's so it's so frustrating from a fan's perspective too, because it's like Orlando, you just beat Dallas, like, come on, you're on a high right now. And then you lose to Grand Rapids. So it's, but with Grand Rapids, we saw that ⁓ Elizabeth is back. So she did. I mean, I don't think she had the best hitting percentage, but she had I think the highest points on the team. So Glad to see her back and being effective right away. Um, yeah, Morgan got 20, excuse me. Morgan got 25 digs. This was a four set versus the three set. got 20 digs. So five extra digs in one set is, is really good. So, but this is I'm pointing out. Paige got 23 digs this match. So that's really good for someone who's in middle back zone six. 23 digs is really good. So what is this telling you? Defense wins matches? Because we both picked Orlando in this one. I don't know if I could confidently say defense is the reason why you win. I don't think I could say that. I think there's so many different factors. But in this specific one, we see that it was extremely effective because when you are constantly digging, the offense of the opponent becomes frustrated. And sometimes there are players who don't know how to problem solve. So they'll continue hitting the same shot thinking something's going to change and it doesn't. It's just like, thank you. Here's another dig. So it can really frustrate the offense of an opponent. So in this specific match, I think that's what happened. Okay. Is they were defending everything. So eventually it turns into high errors by the Orlando perhaps. That on top of Grand Rapids was siding out when they dug a ball. So they were then the ones who were being creative and finding ways to score when it wasn't the same with Orlando. So I've always, I'm from the thought process of offense wins games, defense wins championships. Nice. Doesn't apply? No, I think it does. But I don't know if I could say. Overall, that is the only thing but a good offense and a good defense Beats. I mean Orlando we were speaking of defense from Grand Rapids Orlando hit Terribly as a team if it wasn't for Kaz Brown. I think the team would have been hitting zero Why were they're hitting terrible those because they were Grand Rapids was digging the mess out of everything Yeah, that's probably why they hit terrible. That's what I'm saying is like that they couldn't problem solve they couldn't find ways to score so they They either aired or they got dug. Okay. Get dug. Yeah. All right. Moving on. Yep. Columbus at San Diego. You pick San Diego. I pick Columbus. Yay. San San Diego one and four. I can't believe you, you picked against your favorite team. What do you mean? You love San Diego. Yeah, but I thought they were going to do it. So for Columbus, they had not the best hitting percentage. Um, Which is kind of, thought the second setter played this match, Audrey Pak. I actually thought that she did pretty good. So I don't know. Do we have a setter controversy brewing? No, I'm just saying like the team had a bad hitting percentage. So was it from the setter? Was it the setters error or was it the hitters error? In my opinion, I thought it was more the hitters. didn't think, I thought Audrey did pretty good. ⁓ And in this specific match, there were only two Columbus players that didn't see the court. So on hell coach on hell Perez was like, he was using everybody out there. was trying to figure out just something that would work. And never really could get it figured out because of Marin Grote. She just, yeah, she was doing good. because she was given her her hitters the best opportunities we saw Maya Tabron is back. know she has a hand not cast but something. Some kind of strap over there. Yeah so she did really good. She her and Marin Grote led the charge so Marin had like 21 points something and Was it 17 points or 17 kills? think I'm 17 points, five of them being blocked. hits six 25. Okay. I thought maybe I wrote that she had 17 kills, but I mean that her a middle with that many points is exceptional. Right. So we Hayden in the boot. Sometimes they'll pay play Schooley on the outside. Didn't play her. They went to Tobron who must've been hurt. Now that we see her hand, just know she's back. I think just at the time, like, I don't know if she was injured before. think she ⁓ currently got injured, but it's playable. think just before Shannon Scully came and had a great performance, then Hayden's come in and been really successful and consistent. So they, think they were just trying to figure it out. Okay. Moving on. Rookie of the week, both of us picked Mimi. Thunder. Yeah. Thunder. Mimi Collier as our rookie of the week swept GMP and Doc. Player of week. High key. Impressive player. Interesting pick by you, but I think I agree with it. ⁓ I see it. Definitely. I don't know. I would consider that more of a low key, but you called it a high key. I called it a high key and I'll tell you why. So my pick of the week. was Phoebe Awolea from Atlanta. From not being a starter and being forced into this position because of an injury, ⁓ she had two dominant performances this week. two together. it helped. mean, Atlanta did lose to Dallas, but it went five. It was close. I think she was a difference maker. You can't ignore the fact that she had a franchise, an opponent franchise, hitting efficiency against Omaha. to Omaha and play out of your mind. I mean, you just can't ignore that. So huge shout out to Phoebe. She was exceptional this week. Okay. I went with the middles for Indy. No surprise. Well, you can't pick two, Doc. It's like... can if they both start with ⁓ and we got Lydia Martin and Blake Mola. We got the ⁓ &Ms. I see what you did there. They were handing out kills like they were candy. You made it a singular thing by writing it as ⁓ Yeah, I couldn't distinguish the two. Bottom line, is this my high key? Yes, my high key. They won both matches. They got set a ton. Their kill, everything was effective. They were doing everything well, so I couldn't... Overlook both of them one without the other I don't I don't disagree with you and I don't know if I could pick one over the other but But I still see your pick as well that makes sense But the reason why I didn't roll with her is because they lost with Phoebe Oh, I mean in five setters though. I've said her but she could have very easily been my low key Yeah, you're low. You're low key. Luke Luke. How low can you go? Hey, can you go down low all the way to the flow? What's your low key? gonna hurt your back. My low key impressive player, which I know you mentioned you could have put this as your high key. ⁓ we actually chose the same player. ⁓ And that would be Kayla Lund, which we discussed her indie. And the only reason why I picked her as the low key is because she only played in one match. Right. But it was arguably I don't know if we were in here typing at the same time. I don't know if you could see my edits. I had Kayla in my high and then I put her in my low and then I did the same thing with Phoebe. I put her in my high and then I switched them and then I switched them back. It's not that, it ain't that deep. I take this very seriously. Okay. Obviously you do because of the match of week. These selections mean a lot to me. Okay. Yeah. So congratulations. anyway, Kayla did awesome. Yep. Match of the week. For me, I picked Indy versus Omaha. And the reason why is because I said, this is just a fan's dream to watch Indy, this team play the way they are. It just like, it extends into you. It's like, I- It's pure entertainment. I, when I'm watching them, I find myself smiling. I find myself laughing. It like reaches me through the TV. And do you find yourself playing more free and with more joy? I'm gonna bop you. went with a match of the week was any match that India is playing right now is gonna be until I see otherwise the match of the week. They're just hard to ignore. Right. It's just a plug and play. to look away. Plug and play all day long. It don't matter who's on the floor. It's a sight to behold. That's why they're leading the league standings. India at 12 and two, Dallas at nine and five and then we got a log jam. Yeah, this will be really interesting down the stretch because we have Orlando in third, being seven and seven and San Diego in fourth, also being seven and seven. And then sadly, Omaha moves to fifth place at seven and eight. Then we have Atlanta six and seven, which that could go, I mean, who knows what can happen in the coming weeks. And then we have Grand Rapids in seventh and Columbus in eighth. As I know down the stretch, it's a fight. It's a fight. You hit him with the left and you hit him with the right. It's going to be a dog fight all the way down to the very end. mean, I feel like Indy and Dallas are separating themselves from the pack. But now between the other four, I mean, it's going to be a scrap. Yeah. Who knows who's going to finish fourth and fifth. Who was your original top four? Omaha, Dallas, Indy and Orlando. Omaha. So I did not. Dallas, Indy and Orlando. ⁓ you're still alive. You can still do it. Well, yeah, I'm close, but Omaha needs to find a way to win. Yeah, let's get through week eight preview. Big week coming up in the MLV Volleyball League. Thursday, Columbus at Orlando. GMP picks Orlando. Same. Saturday, we got a few games. Omaha is at Grand Rapids. I think, no, don't go there. What? You're having a hard time with the supernovas are going, they're going to see Morgan Hintz. Yeah. And at Grand Rapids. Are you looking at the same screen? Yep. Cause I picked Grand Rapids and you picked Omaha. Exactly. Why are you doing this when we start talking about the match? Because I am sad that I am picking Grand Rapids. I want Omaha to win. Stop doing this. You're concerning me. Why? I'm going with Omaha. You're going with Grand Rapids. I'm going with Grand Rapids. just, I think there needs to be a Big change with Omaha. think Omaha will be able to side out after this defensive performance by Morgan Hentz and Well, and then Morgan Hentz is probably going to be all fired up. Do think the Morgan Hentz effect is going to raise its head? Yes, I do. That's why I picked Grand Rapids. Okay. I think she is going to fire herself up and fire her teammates up to beat Omaha. Probably won't be watching that one, nervously. Right? Dallas at Orlando. We both pick. Nope. GMP picks. I picked Dallas. And I pick Orlando. think Dallas is going to want a revenge match. Orlando just beat them. And now Dallas is going to Orlando. I don't know. And so I think they're going to be fired up as well. I think with Natalie Foster, Kaz Brown, I'm running with Orlando. That's fine. on the service line. mean, she took over a match. Literally. took over a set. I don't know if we've made this clear, but it could go any way this year. given match. It could go even away. you're playing Indy. Atlanta at San Diego. San Diego we both pick. Nope. I picked San Diego. And I got Atlanta. Wow. So we got some differences this We'll see who comes out on top. I mean, I think I won this week, didn't I? Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. You're welcome. Only one Sunday match. Grand Rapids at Indy and we both pick Indy. Yeah. But that would be cool. mean, that would be something if Grand Rapids came and pulled the upset. Well, we'll stay tuned. We're half over halfway through the season now. No, I don't think we're over. think this is right at half. Yeah, I think I think there's 18 weeks. The top two teams are definitely separating themselves from the rest of the pack. And we've got a log jam fighting for the third and fourth position. So stay tuned. It's going to be exciting. Yeah. Second half of the season. I wonder what it's going to be like a month from now. Like, ooh, this is our 16th episode, right? Yeah. And we're only halfway through. We're going to be 32 episodes by plus maybe. I to hang out with you that many times. You mean you get to. You're welcome. Hey, thanks for joining us on the Major League Minute podcast. Thanks, guys. Please like, share and subscribe. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok and we'll see you next time. Do they want to see a set? I don't know. In the comments, let us know if you watch us. If anybody pays attention at the very end. We're actually pretty good today. Bye bye,