Cold Open And Team Catch-Up

0:02

Let's say they're twins separated at birth. The funniest family reunion on earth. USB taekwondo in the head you tied at the hip and they don't have a clue. They're special all right in a special way, but definitely not a good way today. Golden combos down the lowest down the big man dropping all over no strategic. Conditioning's broken. Enjoy your chaotic, ridiculous ride. No, they're not my monkeys. But oh man. They are definitely clowns. We are back in black, and we're just talking about how good we look. And I'm in the room with the uh the head of the uh WT. That's the WT uh technical committee behind me, and then uh TJ is as always in his basement. I'm not gonna say where I think he's at. But uh and then uh Coach Moreno is always in Miami. Gentlemen, what's going on? Hello, hello, hello. How are you? I'm good, I am back, I am home, I am no longer in Pennsylvania, I am rejuvenated, and the week has started already. But we'll get it. Yeah, I the American East Open was this last weekend, so I was out there with my team. I had some color belts, some cadets, some seniors. You know, we did a lot of karate this weekend, so it was cool. It was cool. It was it was it was good to be with the team. How about that? We'll say that. TJ, I saw I got some I got some candid pictures of you, man, practicing Pumse stuff. I don't want to tell you who gave it to me, but because you know I got I got I got I got people all over the place. I had somebody ask me like ask me some about some picture on online today, and it was actually young of the 91 Pan Am team. There was half the people standing up, half the people doing pogo. And I said, they go, hey, what happened here? I said, Poppy ain't no snitch, poppy ain't no snitch. I ain't talking like that, bar. I ain't giving you that juice, boy. If you weren't there, you don't need to know. Poppy ain't no snitch. Exactly. I can tell you, I can tell you who was standing. Yeah, I can tell you who standing too, because I won't do no pogo. TJ, I thought we'll talk about later, but I apologize. I couldn't bring myself to come to Oaks, Pennsylvania. Hey man. Didn't you know I could, I couldn't, couldn't do it. Where is Oaks? Exactly. Exactly.

NBA Soccer NFL And Sponsorship Shock

3:32

Look, I want to talk about some quick little current events. Got my little note right here. First, talk about the W or the W the NBA finals. The San Antonio Spurs upset the Oklahoma City Thunder. That was crazy, man. This guy Wemby, man. He's he's he's the real deal. And now they're gonna match up with the New York Bricks. And uh Knicks have been playing some of the best basketball in the NBA. They are on fire. They seem like they can't miss their gelling. So I think it's gonna be a really interesting opportunity because the Knicks haven't won for 50 years or whatever. And quite honestly, this might be their best chance to win a championship. And so, but then you got this young upstart team, and we know the history of San Antonio with Popovich, the coach, Parker, Mino, uh Ginobly, uh the uh the Admiral, Tim Duncan. They have such a great uh history of championships, and now here they have their next superstar. So it's gonna be really home first, right? Spurs are number one seed, right? You know what? I mean, I think they should be because they probably had a better record, but I'm not sure because they were the number two seed over there, which was pretty good. Anyway, let that go. Next on the list, PSG is the defending back-to-back Champions League champions after they defeated Arsenal. I watched that, it was a one-one game. Arsenal had a great defensive tactic, just totally shut PSG down, but in penalties, they missed two, and it was ugly, and PSG won. But I know it sounds crazy because you should talk about the game, but did you see what they did in Paris? They wrecked that city, brother. I it was bad, ugly. I I just don't understand how how are those two things connected? Like, is like is that like a is that a like white team won? I'm gonna go destroy the world. Like, I don't understand how that like the celebration part gets lost in completely chaos. Look, I understand getting you know euphoria, a bunch of people in the streets and everybody having fun and like some crazy stuff happens, but this was like almost like organized. It was listen, they showed a picture of 1998 when France won the whole World Cup. The World Cup. This is just a league, and there's like thousands of people in the streets, and they're all like cheering, France, France, France, whatever. But this time, this the city team won a Champions League and they ripped the place apart. I know it's not gonna be popular, but I'm gonna say that's why you got to be careful who you let into your country. When you have all these people that come from all over places of the world and they all get together and they act a fool, that that is not a good look. And that's why you should protect your borders. Next on my list, bam. How about Miles Garrett, the two-time defensive player of the year from the Cleveland Browns getting traded to the Los Angeles Rams? Like good getting gooder. I mean, that's crazy, man. What a pickup that happened today. That's that's tough for the NFC. TJ, you know, we're NFC fans. That's not that team is gonna be stacked tough. It's getting close like NBA, though. I mean, like football teams are a lot of football teams are getting scary right now. I think they're they're doing a lot of interesting holes, a lot of like big trades or things that I guess I feel like last season or two season four wasn't a normal thing you would see, you know? Like the it's a lot of movement from a lot of different places. It's crazy. I'm excited about it. Philly, Philly let go of AJ Brown today to the Patriots, their wide receiver. I'm like, those guys made it to the Super Bowl last year, and now they're getting uh like literally a like a number one receiver. That's that's big too. So that's kind of crazy. And the last thing on my current events, you guys know Steph Curry, right? Of course. You know who is Steph Curry sponsored by before? Armor. Yes, under armor, under armor. Guess who he's guess who he signed with just today? Not Nike, not Adidas, not the Jordan brand. USA Taekwondo? Tusa, Muto. Yes, yes, biggest pickup. This guy signed with the Chinese brand Leaning. That's crazy, man. I know like Dwayne Wade did that before. I mean, it's a smart business move, you know. You think about how many people they have over there, and they are a basketball crazy country. They love basketball. So I mean, I was thinking maybe it's the twilight of his year, maybe he's trying to expand, you know, what he's gonna do after basketball and what better market to go into than the biggest market in the world, China, you know. So pretty impressive, pretty crazy. I don't know. It's weird to see whatever. Oh, he just closed his wife. Just closed their restaurants. Yeah, smoke, they just closed them all. Oof, I wonder what that means. It means restaurants have tough businesses. Is it well that's a fact, that's the truth. That's not that's not easy at all.

East Regional Setup And System Glitches

8:44

DJ, you want to talk a little bit about uh this East Regional? Anything big, crazy? I mean, there's a couple things I want to talk about, you know, dabble in nothing major, but what anything? Um, I mean, like I said, I was there for three days coaching a lot of a lot of different matches. I was so I was in a few different rings, and as far as setup, as far as flow, I think in the mornings we had a couple of little errors. I'm not sure. I get a little jumpy if I'm just being honest with you guys, and maybe I'm scrambling around here. Stop me if you need to, but uh, we we kept having to like adjust the system a lot. And I don't know even for what sometimes. Like, and I know obviously the system gets disconnected, you gotta reconnect it, blah blah, blah, but it felt like there was always something being changed with the system or something needed to be fixed in the receiver. I mean, it that that gets me in a in a weird space just to kind of like start the day, you know. Now like everything becomes a little bit unpredictable. I'm seeing early matches or the day before the matches, like with the testing stuff. It's you gotta really hit it 12 times and it goes off, and then we fix something, and all of a sudden it flies up with like zero effort. Like, so I that that made me a little bit uninteresting. Our I mean, if I'm being speaking for you, our holding area sucked or not holding area. I I say not heralding area because there's no way they're they tried even a little bit with that, if I'm just being honest. Like TJ, that that bothers me a little bit because for the value of money. I mean, listen, I'm a father, I pay for my kid to compete, and it's 195 bucks. Are you telling me you can't put down there's not a holding area, there's not a dedicated holding area? I I get a local tournament, you know, I get some places or other places around the world, but this is a what this is one of the marquee events for the n you know for the for the organization. And you have the the floor looked nice. Um from what I could tell, I wasn't there. I just saw it on video. The floor looked nice, it looked nice, but how can you not have a place for people to go and train? And then you just have a for I I had three videos sent to me, so I posted something, you know, and I'm like, is this Legoland? Because people are building shit. I'm like, you gotta build your own training. Yeah, I don't know. It's it's kind of weird for me because I'm going and it's funny, I'm walking past, and people are like just doing their poom saying stuff through the middle of the walkway and stuff. But I'm like, poor Pumsei people for I'm like, like, no what they should be pissed off, I think a little bit. Don't they that like you know get the feel of the mat so they can do all their stuff? I mean, there we're everyone's all like you said, four squares here, four squares there. And I'm not about to sit here and put this together. I just don't know how we leave it like that for like three days, you know what I mean? Like maybe maybe day one it was a hiccup, you know, but three days it just it's just it just seems a little weird, seems a little crazy. I know maybe people say I'm nitpicking, but that's really not cool though. Like just from any if you're being an athlete, if you're if you're a coach, if you paid your money to to be there, it's just there was zero effort put into the organization of that. Like I don't got time to complain about it because I gotta figure it out with my guys, but not even a little effort went into that, you know? Not even a little bit. If they combined all the maths, how big it would have been a whole ring, double two rings? I don't know. I don't know. I it's it's it's it's just how do we go from having it at one place and not having it at another? Like you said, isn't this an important event? This is the East Regional, like this is supposed to be a little bit like you know, a little a step up, a change, you know what I mean? You got people flying in and paying lots of money, and I mean there's nowhere to there's literally nowhere to warm up, like in a sense of no even I don't know what it was. Like, nobody don't think like block off the holding area or something, or am I like that doesn't have I'm pretty sure I've walked in a lot of blocked off holding areas. Don't think you have to like no, is that a thing or anymore? No, I know it should be. Is there is there a difference? It should be a holding area. So I don't know what you call it because it was just an open area as you come in. Um, the the two sub booth was on the left, and then that was just kind of in the back of the room, kind of just just there, you know, random as here, random as there, and then the whole area was on the right. I just I just don't understand. That was silly. There's a lot of weird things. I mean, that the that come on, that's that's a minimum standard. If you're hosting a national level event, it should have been there should have been one. I mean, this whole glove thing, you know, buying a glove that is not gonna be used anywhere else in the world, but they're making them use it here. That's a hustle. They're just taking people's money, and next year, when it's gone and there's a new one, they're gonna make everybody buy it. So it's bailing out dado or whoever else is getting a cut of it. That's just some bullshit. Well, that's a two that's a TUSA thing, right? So TUSA No, it is. Who'd they buy it from? It's DATO. Don't matter. TUSA's selling it. TUSA's the distributor. So when you go to these events, TUSA has the rights which they pay for. No, I think TUSA does uh KPP. I'm telling you, if they're selling it at this event, Tusa's TUSA's supplying it because TUSA's the exclusive vendor of things. I think it's for the systems. I don't know, I don't know. It may be the manufacturer's system, but at the end of the day, TUSA's getting its cut, which means the USAT is getting its cut. That's why they do these deals. But well, USAT is getting it cut for sure. I mean there's the other the other problem is when you do an event, if you're a professional, and you don't have any professionals in USA Taekwondo, but if they were professionals, the way it works is you send a writer. If you're gonna host this event, here are the bare minimums of what we need. And then you have that. You have a site inspection, and then you say, Do you have this? Do you have this? And if you don't have it, you pull the contract. That's what they they do what they want when they want. No, but I was gonna say something simple as like I know for a fact because I I talked to people that they were doing inspections in the ring. Okay, I think that just slows the tournament down, you know. I don't understand why you couldn't have two referees in the back and they're checking people, go, checking people go because they get to the ring, and some people didn't get checked in the ring, they forgot. And again, I'm sure nothing bad. They were they were checking in the back and then uh oh, excuse me, they were checking, I don't know. I think it switched like three times. Not it switched like three times. I think they were checking in the back at one point and then they then they started checking at the ring, they were doing the foot things. Uh it was a little bit sporadic. I it was it though, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I'm not I'm not quite sure. It switched a few times though. But again, that's just I mean, protocol is you do it in the back and then you go to the ring and that's it, you know. And I know I I've got two people that didn't get checked twice, yeah. You know, so it is what it is. I mean, again, stupid little things, but I just I don't expect those kind of hiccups, you know, at a again, this is not just a state championship. This is the the the the organization is hosting this, they're running this thing. You would think that they would have all of that. That would be, like you say, young, the bare minimum, easy thing. I I got a question too.

Referee Conflicts And Trust Problems

15:19

Like, I don't know if it's a ethical question or not. Like, what do you think, Young, about this? Like, you know, there's there's always a conflict of interest. Like, for example, like uh uh someone's at the like it in the world championships. If you're a United States referee, can't referee a United States athlete, right? It has to get out. Um, what about like domestically? Like if I'm from the same club as you, can I referee you? No. How about this little loophole? What if I'm from the same club as you, but from a different state? Same thing, right? Should be. Should be, right? I mean, theoretically it should be. Yeah, and yeah, just I So there's two levels of conflict of interest. One is an actual conflict, and you avoid that one no matter what. You recuse, you announce and recuse. So you say, I'm a member of uh Joe's taekwondo, and I I can't ref this match because it's my athlete from my club. I don't have any relationship with him, but I'm not comfortable. Second is a perceived conflict. The second one is while you're not from the same club, you're from the same organization. So that's a perception issue, and you you avoid those equally as hard. Yeah, I mean, that's I I thought about that because again, someone brought some things up to me about that as well. And I'm like, that's a little that's a that's a little sketchy right there, you know, if people are doing that because I mean, I I just again I listen, I'm I admit it, I I'm hypersensitive. What if I was a peak referee? What if I had a peak referee from New Jersey, and all of a sudden they're they're there refereeing and they're helping out, and you know, one of my athletes comes in there. Are they gonna let that happen? Uh I bet you no. But I think for other people, it's it they just kind of like, oh, well, we don't have enough referees. Oh, we didn't know, oh, it's from a different state, so we gotta let it go. And there, you know, their club is registered in this state and this, yeah, but they're still run by the same person, same organization. So I think that's uh that should be something interesting. You know what's nice today on a on a side note and get back to your thing, but there the video today is nice because we did it on Zoom, we were having some trouble with the other video provider. And I had never really truly gotten the scope of the man cave that TJ has. I mean, take a look at that, look at that, that framing and everything that's going on down there. I get I just I do have one question though. I'm looking at the door, and I can't tell what's hanging on it. And does that door lock both from the inside or outside or just the outside? I just want to know. His voice activated, and do you say, put the notion in the basket? Put the notion in the basket. I'm just curious.

Last 10 Seconds Double Penalties

18:10

Those are coaching badges from different events, but hey, I got to see, I got to see the last two-second double gonjon rule in action. Oh my gosh, I think I am a firm hater. I don't understand it. It makes me nauseous. I don't care what anybody says. It is silly. I don't and I saw I don't understand it. Even if I'm the person that's winning and I'm chasing somebody out of the ring and I slip and fall, the other person will get plus two. I'll get a gomja and they'll get plus one point because falling is avoiding the match. That's what see that I'm hoping it's just a misinterpretation. I'm honest. It cannot be the case. It has to be a misinterpretation. But listen, yes, because like you said, that the spirit of the rule, which I think is a freaking stupid. I haven't met not one person. Listen to me, people, not one person that said, huh, great idea. Zero people. And so again, the spirit of the rule, though, they don't want people avoiding, going out of bounds, just defending. For what reason? I have no idea. These people obviously have never fought, so they don't get it. But okay, so let's say you don't want me to do that, so I'm winning. I just attack you. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. You're going back, going back, going, and you cancel me and I fall down. Well, I'm not avoiding the fight. I'm I'm I'm literally attacking. So they could give me a deduction for falling, but they shouldn't give it to me. Like, they're basically saying any deductions during the last 10 seconds are two. My wife won twice because like she one of my kids is attacking, he's winning. He's attack attack. The referee stops and gives him for not fighting. She's like, What what are you talking? He was the one going forward, and so the referees they looked a video, they're like, Yeah, like what is that referee? Unless they got mixed up on the colors or whatever, but I'll say I'll say the referee uh the referee wasn't you know, uh it wasn't awful, it was consistent with these stupid rules. I'm I'm gonna start with there. I and I had some uh and we talked about it before, I had some conversation with some referees about some things that happened in right. At least I could have that conversation. So I'll give them that made it make make me make it a little bit further in my day, you know. I think there were some goofy things. I think that rule is goofy. I think some people are not understanding the rule 100% possibly, or trying to enforce the rule, or sometimes like it's it's it makes the fight a little bit weird and messy at the end for for absolutely no reason. It's just it's just chaos. I again I this is secondhand knowledge, but someone told me they were talking to the referee chair, and they said, you know, if you clinch in the last 10 seconds, it's a deduction. He's like, you can't avoid the clinch, and he's like, Yes, you can, yes, you can. I'm like, but let's but let's say the offensive person clinches me. Like, so hey, wait, don't forget we went through a period where there was always a gomjong given in the clinch. Like every time we enter the clinch, like so. Someone's holding someone's pushing, someone's yeah, someone's doing something, someone's doing something. They were just giving gomjons every time we entered the clinch. So I have no idea. Like this one, this is probably this one's worse for me. These guys are looking. Listen, I just turned around and I talked to the council. So let me remind you again. You are looking at the flower, not the seed. Do not look at the finger. The finger is pointing, you do not look at the finger. The finger may be pointing to your anus. I mean, your anus. I mean uranus. So don't look at the finger unless it's tickling that small spot between your anus and you know, the uh the uh what is it called? The testicles, the taint, the taint. You guys are expecting you're expecting this to make sense. Just stop. It doesn't need to make sense. Do you know why? Remember where the rules came from. It came from a culture of punishment rather than a culture of reward. They don't understand how to fix something by rewarding only punishment. Oh, you will run out of the ring again. Dude, double kanjong. Just like the movie, my favorite movie, the uh with the the animal house. Yes, an animal house. You want double super secret probation last 10 seconds. I mean, so stop trying to make sense of it. They don't know how to they they've ruined taekwondo and they can't fix it. So they keep trying, you know. You guys have I you guys have owned old cars, beat up cars, right? And at some point everything breaks on it, and you keep trying to fix it. There's time you finally got to take that bad boy and donate it to cars for kids or something because the car is broken. This is another attempt to fix that broken window, which is leaking on the broken roof with the flat tires and the carburetor that don't work. I would agree with all of that. But TJ, I'm gonna say this one. Like I again, you if you say the refereeing was good, I think it was a little not crazy. No, no, no, no. I don't uh go ahead, finish that. No, I was gonna say I I I'll give everybody a pass because, like you said, it's the first time at it, and I know the you know the next regional in wherever Arizona, wherever, I'm sure it's gonna be a little sketchy too. I think Nashville's is gonna be tough because it's gonna be more rings, you know, less of the good referees because you're gonna, you know, they're all gonna be spread out. So I think it's gonna be a little crazy over there as well, you know, because it's it's new, and unfortunately, everyone's interpretation is different, and everybody's uh experience level is different, and I think you're gonna have a lot of chaos, you know, you're gonna have a lot of weird things happening, but it is what it is. Yeah, I just it was it just makes the it just makes it messy. How about that? And then when you're dealing with that, and then the constant adjustments of the chess cards up, down, left, right, good, bad, I don't know, disconnected, switching them out, like it just makes me uncomfortable. It's just like, dude, we gotta get this right. This can't be the battle every competition. It makes zero sense. I don't understand it. I don't understand it, and I hate it. It's it's it's not okay. I don't want to know that you're switching the system or fixing something or tweaking something before we go out there. I don't like that. Like, it makes no sense. Every every time or every round, every three, four, five fights, it's it feels like we're switching it around. It's it's it's silly. That's a dato problem. I mean, that's I mean, yeah, that looks sketchy. And then we're talking about these glove

Electronic Gloves And Vendor Money Grab

24:36

things. Like, are they they're not even using the gloves in Rome? How about that? How about that? How about that? We're not they're not even using the electronic gloves in Rome, and we've been forcing this in this country for no friggin' reason, and they don't work, and it's just stupid, and nobody else is doing it but us. We're just listening if if it doesn't work in Grand Prix, and we'll talk about that. If it doesn't work in Grand Prix, why are we doing it here on a domestic level with gloves that aren't even gonna be used anywhere else? It's just again, it's a money grab. That that's it's that's a bad one. Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll talk a little bit about more of that later. I I got a little funny bone to pick, not a bone to pick, uh, some more little rumor mills and stuff like that.

AAU Rumors Membership And Power Plays

25:20

Uh I've been here. A rumor mill. We gotta we gotta get the segment going, the rumor mill. We gotta get we gotta get a sound effect for that. Sounds like a new graphic, maybe a new t-shirt. That's a good idea. So I hear that these guys are a little upset at me because I was talking about numbers uh of the AAU. And it's funny because you know, I left one really important number out because uh the fearless leader, Mr. Joe Merza, he's he's good at one thing, he's good at a couple things. He's but one thing he's really good at is not growing membership. Matter of fact, he's been what he's been the karate leader, whatever chairperson for 20 plus years, and and they got 5,000 people or less. Oh, double. I mean, that's what you've done in 20 years. So, you know, I hear through the rumor mill that they're the whole AAU could be down 100K, 150k, maybe up to 200. Like in what? And membership, and overall membership in all the different sports. I mean, it doesn't help, you know. He's he's also good at firing people. I mean, he keeps getting rid of like all these top sports. I I mentioned last week they they they fired the golden goose, the golden egg of volleyball. Like these guys bring in millions of dollars, and and he decides that it's a good idea to get rid of them. He's shrinking the whole organization by membership, and I guess that's what he's good at. So I hope he's listening because apparently he is, because apparently their butt hurt that I've said some of these things. But I mean are they lies? What you said, is it a lie? Nah. So what is he mad about? What are you gonna be mad about? Listen, I I could care, I could care less. First of all, this this this gentleman, I met him a couple different times, and all I can say is he's a liar. Because when I met him the first time, he said he would never work with an NGB, he would never work with the Olympic movement, you know, uh specifically. And I was just like, wow, he sat there in front of a table and said it to me like that. And what's the first thing he did? Because he was so hell-bent on not letting these other guys partner with the USAT that he basically sold the AAU tech auto soul so he could block those guys. That's what he did. So that's that's not a lie because I sat there. And I and there was a lot of other people that were at that table. So I mean, the guy can't, you know, the guy doesn't he you're only useful to him while you're useful to him. And as soon as he feels a little threatened, which is why he's probably getting rid of all these different sport leaders. I mean, people are just dropping left and right, and significant people, you know. I heard he just got rid of a uh a wrestling coach that is like beloved as well. It's just crazy. So um, unfortunately, like I said, he's he's he acts like he's so good because he was they didn't supposedly. He was they weren't they weren't they weren't mad about their boys stacking votes in North Carolina. He wasn't exactly he wasn't mad about that. Did the election finish? That that didn't no, not yet. That didn't that didn't come up in conversation? No, didn't come up. He should be somebody should do something about that. I'm just saying, because that's easy. I mean, you know, a little bit weird, and now you don't care about that. So maybe they maybe he's not listening, or maybe whoever's telling him what he should be hearing, he should probably hear that or do nothing because it's you know, all in all what's going on, you feel so listen. The problem between him and Clinton, they're gonna they're gonna do what's in the best interest of themselves and not the organization. And it's apparent because the numbers keep dropping, people aren't aren't satisfied, and you know, it's only a matter of time before uh listen, if this guy has someone running against him, I hope, you know, again, I don't I don't know either one of them, but like you're not he's not doing a good job. I mean, definitely, I mean, like I said, even in the office, significant people, like look at even our own AAU Jennifer, she left. I mean, that lady worked there for how many years in combat sports? She was a staple, and something drove her to leave. Like, she's weathered everything. She was with the Friello era, she was with the Stone Era, she's with this era, and this lady just said, I'm out. She's an AU lifer and a good woman. Like it's people like her that you know would be there at five o'clock in the morning to 10 o'clock at night doing whatever they had to do for AAU. And now they're just like, I don't want any part of it. It's just a dismantling of the organization as a whole. And specifically Taekwondo. You know, you know, you got these guys, you know, not just work not just signing MOUs, running 10.0 tournaments with you know 80 people, 100 people at it. Just because 10.0, what's a 10.0? I don't know. Is that a is that an AAU number or a USAT number? I I mean I don't know. I think that's a USAT number. I think it's a USAT USAT number, but like I well, obviously AU is doing something like that, but USAT has has that stuff. It's funny, I was talking to my kids today, I'm like, so it's not about the nationals. About winning the nationals is about getting in the top 16 for cadets and top 12 for juniors, and or you can go to two international competitions, get a medal, and send in the brackets, and you can go to the team trials, and they're like, I see everyone's face like what'd you say, coach? I'm like, I don't know what I said. It's just it's crazy, it's just obvious nuts. So, yeah, that's my thing for for Mr. Merza. Hope you're listening. If not, Clinton, I know you're listening, so you can go ahead and tell him what I said. If not, they can just go down the list. I mean, they're all listening. So keep doing what you're doing, running into a ground. And uh, whatever you do, don't give your your membership drive uh speech to to any uh organizations because by the looks of your your uh karate group, not doing so good. Sorry, not sorry, homeboy. He's from Chicago, I want to like you, but you gave me a lot of reasons not to like you a lot, starting about last November. And not never was uh yeah, it's crazy. It's it's crazy. He's a big dog. No, no, I had to say it, man. I had to say it, I had to get that out because these guys are just they're just they're just jokes. It's it's it's they they're trying to act like they're you know, young, you said it many times. And you know, I I I I think there should be other places where people compete. It doesn't have to be just monopolized by the NGB. Um but people think we're lying when they say when we say like they're manipulating votes and doing weird stuff. Nah. And like just they think you just think about like making it up or something. I don't like to think I won't say manipulate just just like you know, now we're dealing with 40 clubs from 15 to 40 now. Like, I mean, what are we big number changes, you know, during an election like that? The same thing they told me was basically gonna happen. Like, it's yeah, it's actually talking about it last episode. Yeah, nobody cares unless it happens to them. Oh TJ, I'm sorry about if it happens to you, then that it happens to them, then they're gonna make a big deal about it. So all these people, like and I like some of these, I'm gonna call them kids. I like some of these young men. I actually like them. And then when you say this stuff and they're like, oh yeah, but but you're just a you're just a coward. You're being a coward. You're just yeah, but you know, I don't I don't want to rock the boat, I don't want to say anything. Don't go, don't support. You can still be friends with people, just like I don't I don't believe in it, but that's listen, I think we're cut from a different call, you know, cut a cut of cloth, and we come from a different era where you know people's word kind of meant something, but these guys just like I said, they're all in the best interest. From I hate to go back to it, TJ, but going back to that conversation that you had on the phone, and all they talked about was money. All they talked about was how they're gonna help. You will win, you're gonna run this, you're gonna run that. It's just it was so self-centered. I never heard anything about real development, never heard anything about how it's gonna help the athletes, never heard about how we're gonna support the athletes. It was just money, money, money. And these guys are you know, they get rate for their nationals, and they're giving the district chair people ten dollars per entry. Like, I I guess it's good. I don't know. I mean, looking at some of the numbers, you know, people have three or four hundred people coming from the thing, well make you know four grand, four grand, five grand. I mean, that's that's the way they're gonna incentivize them. Which by the way, I thought New York had like 900 people plus at their district, and New York as a whole has like, well, as of the other day, like three or four hundred people signed up. I don't know what the number was, I had it written down somewhere, but kind of funny, man. Come on, get your rebate so you can give it to your little brother, Clinton. Oh shit. That's that's my rant for it. It's it's it's rifle rant, man. He's got a he's just doing what he wants to do, and and and and and it's it's affecting, I guess. No, you're right. It does affecting only the people it's affecting. And I just feel like we're that like even this group right here, it's only okay because it feels like it's only okay because it is us. I don't think you let this happen to anybody else. I mean, think about that. You know what I mean? We're we've been telling you that this has been going on for a very long time. We've been telling you that stuff like this has been happening, we're telling you this is where we are, and people continually kind of like you said, pat you on the back and act that you know, act like they they understand. Now people I know that I don't think they understand, they're just avoiding because it's either you say something, it's either you say something or you don't now, you know. Either we just keep showing up to tournaments where there's not even like a decent hold in there and like acting like it's normal because other things like I don't want to compare, like I know you said something about the floor, and I think the f the floor was not the issue, the floor was normal, the floor was set up, uh it made whatever. I went to the rings, the they had chairs, they had a thing, like whatever. Great, great, great, great, great. But when we're talking about this particular thing that is a very big issue in our sport, somewhere to warm up, somewhere to practice, somewhere for these kids to work out, and if they slip and fall, they don't bust their head on the floor because they're standing on a piece of mat. You know what I mean? It's not just the elite levels I'm talking about. I'm talking about the kids, the the ones in between, the people practicing poom say all of them. It's just a silly thing to overlook. That's it. It's a silly thing to overlook, and that's still happening, you know what I mean? It's crazy. It keeps looking like you're pointing like you're gonna you want to say something because the thing goes in the back. Like, I'm gonna say something. Looking at the moon. That's a fun. That's a good thing. I mean, you guys aren't wrong, and I I guess at some point stay there, you know.

Who Really Pays Tournament Fees

36:32

It's you gotta you gotta stand up and and say something. But just so everybody understands how the money works, USAT, AAU, whatever organization, fill in the blank, they generate a certain amount of money. They usually keep all that. Anytime you see the kind of membership fees that you're seeing to enter a tournament, entry fees, it's because they take that money now and spread it out. So who's paying is not them, you're paying. So when you're spending $95, $195, $195, you're paying, not them. So don't look at the finger, look at the moon, or you'll miss the hair. We're catching they're catching bodies with the spectator fees, too. Those are like probably $15, 20 bucks a day or something. We I didn't even check, right? It's they charge for the the live stream too, right? That's what I heard. What? I don't know. Yeah, they did a live stream or something. But that's the same when they did it, that's when they started team trials, right? That same company or something. Yeah, but you guys know, like, if you can, if you can, if you go. I'm a good hacker. I hacked into the to the AU Zoom call. I hacked into the USAT. Oh, yeah, that's right. You're a master. Now I can't have no idea you could code that one. James Vaughn. I know. No, my my daughter's like, did you watch the matches? I'm like, nope. And she's like, You didn't? I'm like, I ain't paying. No way. Crazy. But yeah they sent me the videos. These the the reality is that people let it occur so it'll continue to occur. And remember, all you got to do is put together the right jigsaw puzzle of something, and you'll get to go nowhere. So if you win tournament A and tournament B and C, and then if you've if the moon is the right size on a particular day, you'll get entry into something that may or may not matter 12 years from now, where you can wear gloves that may or may not matter 12 years from now in a scoring system and and double super secret probation. It's harder to do, understand what you have to do to get anywhere than it is to do calculus, apparently. So but um, and then watch the matches, which I can you know, if I watch one more crappy uh TikTok video of whatever, my latest favorite one, and I put a thing up, start training, is a particular player that again hasn't figured out to put his shirt on, take his hat off, stop jumping over fences and sporting shoes, and start training. Um, and then there was some weird video from I don't remember Moss or Mundo, one of them, where they're rating the players, and that particular player who's gotten his ass beat five times in a row, hasn't won once, has a higher imaginary rating on aura and spinning. Well, I tell you what, he doesn't have a higher rating is winning. So you can aura and spin your well self into the toilet. Um, but keep TikToking because that's doing you justice, and then keep having your coach cheerlead for you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Uh his coach exercises more than he does. Um, but uh anyway, I watch those videos and I just want to kill myself. Um I'm gonna send you guys this this

Broken Promises Coach Development Stalls

39:37

this video. This uh I was going through my Gmails and I saw a file and said USA coaching. It's like let me see if I clear this thing out, whatever. I I clicked it, and I keep I a lot of stuff from the past. And um the last one in there was um uh an email from May, May Payo Spence, and it was like, I wanted you you guys to hear this before it goes out tomorrow. And it was basically the announcement of of the hiring of the coaches and then the appointment of of uh uh the para coach, and it was like the para-coach was talking about how he was going to uh build the para program and and and and take the reins and blah blah blah. And I'm sitting here going, like, you guys still don't have a para program, you failed. And then it was talking about the current coaching staff and how you know they were excited about the opportunity. Of course, they said all the good stuff, but then it was you know talking about they want to do good in in Tokyo and Paris, but they're really focused on 2028 and being this and that. And I'm sitting there going, like, here we are, seven years later, and no progress. It was funny to actually read that. And it was hey, this is about bringing people together, not excluding anybody. We have a bunch of good coaches, you know, in the country that you know we want to make sure we add these people to them and they're gonna we're gonna be that much better. I'm like, yeah, none of that happened, right? None of that happened. That's crazy because we've talked about who is sitting in the chair, who's going on these trips, and it's I mean, there's a few good ones, I I I admit that, but there's many more that shouldn't be there. So it's funny to kind of go back and just nostalgically read something from seven years ago, and you're kind of like, what? Whoa, whoa, what? Bad stuff. Well, you gotta you gotta you gotta ask yourself a question, right? Because I remember thinking about that very statement. We've talked about this before, and the question first and foremost starts with when you make those kind of predictions and promises, there should be some throughput. So it's not really that hard to follow the metal count because there isn't one. And then you gotta look at the progress on the coaching, and there hasn't been progress on that either, with your systems. So, what you're basically saying now, which we said last week, and I'll say again, so people in case you missed last week, you're saying by the hiring of these particular coaches eight years ago, seven years ago, and the latest coach, there is not a single individual, and you could have said this eight years ago if you wanted to, it wouldn't have been true, but you could have said it. We don't have a single individual coach in this country capable of putting us on the podium. Well, that wasn't true eight years ago, but now ask yourself the second question. After eight years, after you've been running the coaching program, which by the way, I started along with some others and Coach Moreno and some others, um, now that it's under your control, we developed a lot of coaches and athletes, and a lot of them served on the U.S. team for years. How many coaches have you developed? You said it was a problem. So when you don't develop a coach, it's the reason there's only two. One is you can't. In other words, the people in the United States, all of you, all of you AAU coaches, all of you USAT coaches, all of my friends who are coaching currently, you're too stupid, you're too dumb, you're too incapable of coaching at a national level. You're just too stupid. And we used to hear this from the Koreans all the time. Oh, when you are ready, we will give it to you. Okay, well, guess what? Your new version of Koreans are here: brown, green, and black. And you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you're too stupid to coach. Because in eight years, they couldn't find one of you, not one, that is capable of coaching the U.S. national team. That's the first thing that needs to be said. Number two is this is the true one. You're protecting your job. You're saying there's no one good enough because you know, if you actually got a qualified coach from the states in, you'd be unemployed. As you should be, you non performing jerk offs. You haven't put a person that has come from anything that you've had anything to do with on the U.S. team that has won a medal. Every piece of talent you have has come. From outside the organization. And the only thing that you're managing to do is to further diminish and marginalize Taekwondo in the United States with your continual non-performance and you're the laughing stock of the world, which by the way, you don't care about because I'll say it, you ain't American. That's it. Listen. It's again you well said, young. I can't really don't use anything. Look at look at the look at the fingers. And by the way, this is the finger I use, not the coach that sits in the chair to everybody else. And guess what? I don't do. I don't slap female athletes. Sure gone. TJ, I this is not a rumor.

Athlete Funding If You Leave The System

44:45

Uh the 74 Victor Rodriguez's father is moving from Florida to Atlanta, I heard. And this could be the rumor, but I heard Victor's leaving the academy. So if he does, like, like I want I'm curious to see what that's gonna do to his funding, right? Because he's one of the top 74s in the world. He's got a very high Olympic ranking. He's going to these grand prix. Obviously, he's got to reprove himself, but good young kid, successful, getting living at the academy right now, getting funded. What are they gonna do now that he leaves? What do you think they do? You think they keep funding him? Oh, you're asking me. Um, yeah, if you say the basement dude, the basement and there's not a ball gag in your mouth. Come on. Right answer, the right answer would be yes. The actual answer will probably be I don't know, no, most likely not. Like, you know, hey, it's been cool, but again, I haven't seen and I was talking, I forget who I was talking to when I was at the competition. You'd have to go outside the organization and win. That's what you'd have to do. Think about what I'm saying. Like, you go from being in the room and being maybe a part of the system or just anywhere close to it. Wait a minute, maybe he could be the one that breaks the mold because he is good. What if he go hey at the Grand Prix coming up, him and T uh CJ could fight in the quarterfinals? Yeah, but anyway, let's say he goes, let's say he goes and does well. He might be the one that finally leaves the academy and does more. And will they fund him? I mean, we've we've talked about that with a number of people who are like, listen, they're doing good, you know, without going out there. You guys think by putting him in that room it's gonna make them better? Maybe it does. It hasn't proven to be that the case at all. Um, so what if they what if he leaves and and keeps on the same path? If they don't fund him, if they don't support him, that'd be a oof, that could be a tough one. That could be a tough one. I mean, I mean, not realistic. I guess before this, like you said, it would have to be a mold breaker. I don't think anyone outside of that room gets funding for travel and stuff like that, unless you're a part of the academy. So it would have to be a mold breaker if he continued to got to get uh you know, whatever stipend said or money for training. I I don't know. I think I think the the biggest hold they have on everyone is the fact that they can spend X amount of dollars and going and getting X amount of points. You're gonna get more opportunities than everybody else in this country, you know. All right, I throw another zinger at you, and it's a little close to me because I know the person, but we've talked about this other person at length on this thing.

Weight Classes And Risky Program Choices

47:32

I'm trying to understand why Michaela Greenwood is gonna fight in the 57 and basically challenge faith. If you're trying to build the program, why wouldn't you keep her at 62, run her at 67, you know, for the Olympics? You would have two good girls. Basically, I guess what I'm saying is you're gonna have one of one of these girls get knocked out. And listen, if if Michaela can can can do it against faith, okay, good for her. But like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like you're losing a good athlete one way or the other. And I'm thinking, like, as a coach and coaching staff, you put that person in your room, you help her, and you're like, wait a minute, you've been gone for X amount of years, and this has been the person we've invested in, went to the Olympics, did all that stuff, beat you head to head. Like, don't actually did she? Yeah, right. Somewhere. I don't know, they fought somewhere for something. I don't remember what it was. Maybe it was a pen, was it Penn M games? I don't remember. No, because she went to the Olympics. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you're talking about no, no, no. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. That's not what I was talking about. I thought you were talking about um, I thought they fought somebody else, but I don't know. I guess, yeah, I just like if you're trying to build a program, it seems like you would you would spread them out a little bit. But I mean, I'm not I'm not mad at you know Michaela fighting 57. I think she should have been 57 all the time. But it's just crazy. Like, if you're trying to build a program, she fought 62 with the last couple opens and she did pretty good. You know, she's tall, she's strong, and you know, I think she could. I mean, they obviously don't have a 67 right now. That 62 girl can't fight 62, so she went up to 67, but she's not she's not strong enough. There's no way I like her, nice person, but she was a strong 62. She ain't gonna be a strong 67, she ain't gonna be a hang with those girls. So there's a void. So I go with grandmaster. There's no way there's been a plan for anything that's happening. I mean, there's just no way. There's no way, there's no way we just gradually just just got here where again you experiment, you add people to the room. I uh and it's funny you were talking about eight years ago. I mean, a handful of these people are are the ones that were still buying for for top spots. Yes, so some of these kids have been, yeah, Faith for a long time. Kafani for a long time, and Michaela now, yeah, for a long time. We're looking like these are similar from eight years ago. Yes, and I know there's been a couple add-ons or a couple new additions recently within like the yeah last year or so, but we're still majority of them were there for a way before, or have been a part of the system, you know what I mean, or been around the system for for that long. We're looking at the same faces. So when we talk about development, let's not even we don't gotta we don't gotta talk about like winning or losing. Like there are just there's nobody here. The the we're empty, and and these and it's being said, and we all know as coaches on the outside, we're we're trying to motivate our kids to build towards something that's gonna be sometimes in certain conversations impossible. They they they're they make all the rules, they have all the money, they're they're they're promoting people to go there to be identified, to be a part of their team, which when which and then they will look at for 2028 and 2032. Like I it makes none of makes no sense. Like you you can't make it make sense. And think about like when those people that I just named, you know, they all came in at the beginning. So that means they they took those people at the beginning, and there's there's nobody else that they they've been able to take from scratch and and build up like nobody. That's kind of weird. They took a lot of shots at a lot of people when they came in too. That group was about eight, maybe between 15 to like 20, 21 deep. There are of kids that are rotating through that program. Yeah, they they struck out on a lot of them. Yeah, wow. Wow, wow, wow. And now you're gonna have one of the good ones leave. I don't know. I don't know. We shall see. We shall see. What do you think about this grand prix coming up?

Grand Prix Rome Brackets And Storylines

51:47

Uh so after being at the grand magnificent East Open, I'm excited to watch. I'm always excited to watch the Grand Prix. Rome is one of my favorite places, but I I just think um from some of the the presets of the brackets per the ranking I've seen, I think we're gonna see a lot of good fun fights. I think day one is 67 and 80. 57, 67, 80. Good day. First day out off out the gate. Oof. Hey, I I I I'm excited. I know I it's always like I said, Rome is my favorite, but I just like I said, seeing those brackets, we're gonna have some good matches, some good fights. And I I'm interested to see. I mean, some of these spots that we're in from I'm looking at like the 80, the 80 brackets, the the 50, the 67 bracket. I think I looked at a little bit, 57. There's so there's a lot of good people in some of these pockets. There's not really much wiggle room for me, from what I see. And I think it's gonna get worse. Like it's the they're gonna get harder because there's a couple of people that are getting get in late that are actually pretty good too. Like some of the Iranians, you know. I'm saying they didn't get in this first one, but they got into the second one or third one. So I think that's gonna make it a little bit tougher. Um, I'm still curious to see if the Russians show up because you know they didn't go to the uh they're not at the European President's Cup, which is happening too. So that was a little bit surprising for me. Did that start already? It starts this weekend too. Okay, okay, okay. And but yeah, there's it's gonna be it'll be tough. I think it's gonna be interesting. And then add in the new rules, add in the you know, the dado. I mean, are is it gonna be the dado from the you know Charlotte, or is it gonna be the dado from other tournaments? Like we don't need you don't even know. And three days of Charlotte will be rough. If it's like that, three days of that will be fun. I can't I don't think I've finished watching it. I'll turn it off. Yeah, yeah, I gotta it's gonna be a rough one, but uh like you, I'm I'm excited. I don't, I don't, I think I'm not sure like who I could pick right now because it's a little bit, it's a little wild. I I think I I think I gotta wait a little bit. I gotta see everybody kind of because I think up until this point, there were some countries that weren't taking things serious, you know what I'm saying? Like I I even said that at the world championship. I think everybody fought hard, but it seemed a couple countries were kind of chill, like laying kind of like back a little bit. And when they won, they were happy, and if they lost, they weren't too crazy. So I want to see now these things are gonna start to become much more important to get a good lead, you know, good position. Today was the reset, right? Today was the reset. Today was the reset back a bunch of zeros, a bunch of zeros. Crazy, yeah. That's what I'm saying. I it and again, I think this is the first full one, but like two years to the Olympic Games now, two years to the Olympic Games from here, you know, and so these, like you were just saying, I think these grand pries have to be important for for point-wise too, but I think we'll get a good read on where everybody is. Like I said, like I was looking at some of those names, some of the the situations, and it's it's not it's not an easy one for I'm gonna say anybody, you know. You got you got young new kids or you know, people that are just switching over, you got your you know, veters in different places, but it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting, I think. Let me look for a second because I have the draws. And like I the is the Tunisian kid 58, he's not even in there because he's playing 68 now. Yeah, let me see. So, yeah, I mean he he's not he's not even in the 68 draw yet, but he will be, you know what I'm saying? He's gonna I like him so much, even for 68, dude. He's good, he he can he know how to fight. He he knows how to fight this system, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll he'll stand in front of you and not go back. I mean, he's good. Like that young Korean guy's not in this yet. So in 68, it's gonna get worse. It's gonna get worse. I know, and this one for me is pretty worse. It's pretty pretty worse. I like that word. It's pretty worse, it's pretty worried, you know. But I'm excited about some of the fights. I mean, you know me, we always we do this every grand prix. We kind of see where people are, and like, oh, we kind of I want to see this one, I want to see this one, because you know, a lot of I think a lot of these are just like you know, matchup makes you know, matchup, the matchups make the fight, and and where people are in the day, obviously. But yeah, always excited to see 68 because I think it could get it can get funky quick. 80, you know, uh 80 is always a good one. Um and I think you said 67 is on the first day, right? 57, 57. I'm gonna give you 68, a first-round matchup. Zaid Karim from Jordan versus Burke uh Ira from Turkey. That's gonna be a tough first fight, bro. Say that one again. Jordan Jordan and Turkey. Yeah, that's a tough one. I like that though. Ooh, we that's right. I like that though. First one of the day, too. Yeah, I like that. I like I said, I'm excited. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna wake up for it. I'll be up at 2 3 in the morning, watch as many matches as I can just because it's Rome, baby. I'm gonna be up at 2 30 morning, too. I heard I heard my boys told me that uh that Eurovision's doing the semis and finals for them. Yeah, I heard Eurovision is doing the semis and finals for the taekwondo matches in Rome. Okay. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, that'd be nice. Yeah, I'll definitely be up watching, but it's it's it's that time of the year, it's that time of the season for these to pop off, and then they start coming pretty quick after that. You know how that goes. So we're gonna see a lot of these matches over the over the next little bit or back to back to back when a couple people just start shifting with ranking. But like you said in the add-ons, it's gonna be a good year. I I'm I'm excited about this Grand Prix series all the way from the beginning to the end. So yeah. I think it's 23. I'm trying to look. I think you're not waking up, Grandmaster. I'm waking up, but it's gonna be uh I usually wake up about that time and getting old, so I go to the bathroom about that time. I think uh there's gonna be some uh there could be some people not making wait so that can be this early. Nah, stop it. Throw them away. Yeah, I want to make it you can't not make wait for the first one. Yeah, I guess you could. I guess if if you're gonna miss one, would it be the first one? Yeah, but I don't want you to miss any. Whoever you are, go get in the sauna. Go go like just for a little bit longer. You got it, keep going. I'm cheering for you. Don't do that. I want to see the best of the best in Rome. I want to see everyone that's supposed to be in Rome in Rome. That's what I want to see. That's that's all I asked for. You know, it's better that way, right? Yeah, yeah, but we'll see. I mean, we'll see. I don't know. I don't know what people are gonna do. Well,

Nationals Ahead Final Rants Goodbye

58:44

listen, guys. I mean, this was a little bit of a hodgepodge. There's another crazy word of uh of some topics today. But listen, uh, congratulations, TJ, on your uh your success at the uh at that tournament. I know uh nationals is coming up. Hopefully, I'll see you in North Carolina. Come out there and hang out with you for a little bit. But uh couple weeks, we're gonna be uh you said it's gonna be on Eurovision. The Simmons and finals. Okay. All right. I think so. I would watch Eurovision. I think that's what I heard. That's why my boys told me it's gonna be on there. But yeah, nationals will be is right around the corner. We got a few weeks. I'm excited. I'm always excited now to kind of you know be in the venues. And again, it's always good to watch matches and see things unfold. So I'm I'm glad you're gonna be out there. Um looking forward to that for sure, for sure, for sure. All right, let's call it a night. Sorry, not sorry, people. Don't forget. Not sorry. This has read, read, read, read, read, read. You gotta educate yourself if you want to be educated. So that's just that's the way it works. Anything else for the good of the order, my gentlemen friends? No, sir. I'll leave you with this last finger. Watch the finger. Oh, watch the finger. That one looked a little suspect.