Rhythmic Gymnastics may look easy to some but in reality it’s an incredibly difficult Olympic sport. One that requires athletes to train more than 60 hours a week. We talk the four events of Rhythmic Gymnastics, training 10 hours a day and the rivalry between Rhythmic Gymnasts and Artistic Gymnasts. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Summer Olympic Sports.
Serena Lu: 01:15
Pointless: 27:08
Top 5 Olympic Sports: 45:11
Interview with Rhythmic Gymnast Serena Lu
Nick VinZant 0:00
Nick, welcome to profoundly pointless. My name is Nick vinzant Coming up in this episode rhythmic gymnastics and the best Olympic sports, rhythmic gymnastics,
Serena Lu 0:22
if I were to explain it is a combination of artistry and coordination and dance, because there's you're doing a routine to a piece of music, you have to have a pretty strong connection to your music and understanding of the music, and that's what I loved about it.
Nick VinZant 0:39
How high do you throw that up in the air? Like, how high is that in the air? I couldn't
Serena Lu 0:43
give you an exact measure, but we often have a hard time finding training facilities because the ceilings are too low.
Nick VinZant 0:50
I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance subscribe, leave us a rating or a review. We really appreciate. It really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So I want to get right to our first guest. This is rhythmic gymnast, Serena Lou what is rhythmic gymnastics? Because I see this and it looks incredibly impressive, but I don't really know what's going on
Serena Lu 1:24
rhythmic gymnastics, if I were to explain, it is a combination of artistry and coordination and dance. And there are four different apparatuses that you are required to compete with, and those are hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon. So
Nick VinZant 1:42
how does it different than the kind of the gymnastics when I first think of the Olympics or gymnastics like, how does it differ from that? Okay, so you need this school skill set for that gymnastics. You need this skill set for rhythmic gymnastics. There
Serena Lu 1:57
are quite a few differences. I guess visually speaking, rhythmic gymnastics appears to look a little more like dance. I think artistry is a big component of the routines. There is an artistry component actually in the score. I think in rhythmic gymnastics, it's a lot more about kind of the gracefulness you can have a strong routine, but it's you are not supposed to be flipping at all. There are rules against that. Actually, you are kind of judged on criteria of different body elements as well. We have jumps, balances and turns for your body difficulty, and then you also have the apparatus component, which you're handling with, throwing it, you're rolling it, if it's the ball, you're flipping it, if it's the clubs, you're doing spirals it. There are different, I guess, parameters surrounding each apparatus. Do
Nick VinZant 2:52
most people start out specifically in rhythmic gymnastics, or do they start in artistic gymnastics? Like, yeah, not
Serena Lu 3:00
necessarily. I know people who started in artistic and then pivoted because rhythmic seemed like more of a fit for them. I know people who started directly into rhythmic gymnastics if they knew that it existed. For me, I started because my parents saw an ad in a newspaper, and they just kind of brought us there and we liked it. I never did artistic gymnastics in my entire life. Rhythmic is, I think, a bit smaller in the US, yeah, it's a bit less known of a discipline.
Nick VinZant 3:29
Yeah, in the United States, I would say it is. Would you say that that's the case in other countries, though,
Serena Lu 3:35
definitely not. It's more popular in certain countries. In Europe, it's probably a lot more popular than it is in the US.
Nick VinZant 3:45
Does that? Does that bother you? Does that create kind of an image around it, or anything like that? Or,
Serena Lu 3:52
I think when I was younger, it definitely bothered me. But I also think that as a sport, we've grown, and I am actually having a lot of fun with that now, realizing that it's great to be able to show something new to people who haven't seen something before. And I think there's a greater recognition in almost the legitimacy of what we do. I think people interpret that it's quite an easy sport, that some people said it wasn't a sport, um, that it's too much like dance. But I think the constant exposure of it through things like social media and just like greater I guess awareness of it helps people realize that it's actually a very difficult sport, because it requires a lot of different elements, and you have to make it all look very easy and fluid and continuous. That's something
Nick VinZant 4:42
that like, from a personal perspective, like when I saw the sport when I was younger, I'll be real direct. I was like, What is this? Like, what is this? And then as I got older and saw it some more, and realized what people were doing that looks incredibly difficult, like the timing of things. Things and stuff like that. Do you think that people understand that part of it?
Serena Lu 5:04
I don't think as many people understand it to the degree. I think acceptance of this, for understanding is obviously growing. I think, I think that has improved. But I also, I also know people who still don't consider it as much of a sport as some some other sports.
Nick VinZant 5:22
So kind of backtracking a little bit. You got into it from an ad on the newspaper.
Serena Lu 5:29
Yes, this was a long time ago,
Nick VinZant 5:32
couple of weeks. We'll give you a couple of weeks, right, when
Serena Lu 5:35
newspapers were still
Nick VinZant 5:38
how well then, what made you stick with it? What did you like about it?
Serena Lu 5:41
So when I was a kid, I did a lot a lot of different things, a lot of them related to the arts. And I think the sport really pulled me in, because it combined everything I loved about the various art forms I was doing. I played piano, and because there's you're doing a routine to a piece of music, you have to have a pretty strong connection to your music and understanding of the music, and that's what I loved about it. I also did acting, and so the drama of your expression and the emotions you're able to kind of put forward in a routine really stuck with me, too. And then I did dance, and it just all kind of fell together. And then there's the the competition element of it, it's it's a sport, and I love being an athlete, and I think it was just something that felt really right.
Nick VinZant 6:32
What makes you good at it?
Serena Lu 6:34
I think it I have a very personal tie to my sport, and I think I have very personal feelings towards it, and through that, I think comes great passion and great dedication and perseverance to stick with it. I think, um, I also, like many people who excel in the sport and willing to do whatever it takes. I'm willing to spend the long hours in the gym, not lose sight of my goals, and just work really, really hard every day, because it is something that your dedication can waver, because we train six days a week, we're in the gym like 10 hours a day, and that's that's kind of like a normal training day. And I remember when I was preparing for World Championships, we had these crazy lawn days where they just, like, didn't seem like they would end. And it's very taxing mentally and just physically.
Nick VinZant 7:38
Why does it require that much training, like 60 hours a week. Like, dang,
Serena Lu 7:42
it's a lot.
Nick VinZant 7:43
What is it about it, though,
Serena Lu 7:45
by how many hours we train, I think because it is such, such a diverse sport in terms of what you need, you need the apparatus, coordination, and that takes so much precision, it also takes a lot of smart repetition to be able to get your throws that precise, and also just to get the foundation of apparatus work. And then there's four apparatus there. You have to master all four of them to be a competitive rhythmic gymnast. And then there's your body. You have to from a young age, you're training everything from strength to flexibility. And then there's an element of, like, artistry, and then you have your routines, and you put that all together. And it's, it's 90 seconds, but it's 90 seconds that are jam packed from beginning to end, um, and every single little detail, every single step, matters, so that, like, refining process takes a lot, a lot of time.
Nick VinZant 8:41
You mentioned a personal connection, like, what's the what's for you is so personal about it? So
Serena Lu 8:47
my personal journey in the sport has kind of been all over the place. Um, I started very young, as many do. I started when I was five, six, and that journey took me from Minnesota, where I grew up, to New York, where I currently still train. And I've been an 11 time national team member, which is a lot of years, but I had a five year retirement in the middle. So I actually retired from the sport competitively in 2017 and didn't return a competition until 2020, 2022, and I think I just had a lot of like, pent up sadness, like burned out, a little bit anger, all of it when I finished the first time, just because it's you put so much into it. You put so much of yourself into it. And when I came back, it just requires me to have a very personal reason for coming back, and I think that's where my perseverance comes from. Now, is that, in its essence, I'm doing it for myself and for the reasons that I've established for myself, and it's a very personal journey.
Nick VinZant 9:56
So if we can, let's run through the. Some of the different events. There's four events correctly, yes. So like, when we talk about the who, like, what's you're trying to do? What? What's the difficulty, that kind of stuff,
Serena Lu 10:11
I think this actually applies to every single apparatus you have, a set of body difficulty that you must fulfill. And you'll see that is in three categories, jumps, turns and balances. Every routine has those you can use the same ones in each routine. Hoop specific things would include roles. So you'll see the role rolls across the body roles on the floor. You obviously do not want the hoop to roll away from you and high throws. So high throws are called risks, which I think is funny, because they're risky. And in every apparatus there will be apparatus difficulties.
Nick VinZant 10:53
Okay, that makes sense to me. Let's watch this a little bit.
Serena Lu 10:58
I can go through and tell you what each thing is. So this is, this is a turn, this is part of a body difficulty. And then this will be a jump, which is another body difficulty. Each one is worth a different amount of points. And those are kind of connector steps into another turn. And in these set of rules, you have to have dancing steps, which actually are still a thing in the last set of rules that I did. But the dancing step, we don't have to go into the nitty gritty of it. So a dancing step has to fulfill certain criteria of balance. And now this is a risk. So there would be, there'd be a high toss with a number of different rotations underneath into a catch. That's
Nick VinZant 11:39
incredible to me. I don't even understand how you do that. Like, throw that up with your foot. How high do you throw that up in the air? Like, how high is that in the air? I couldn't
Serena Lu 11:50
give you an exact measure, but we often have a hard time finding training facilities because the ceilings are too low. So that is a struggle for athletes in the US. A lot of them do not have stable training facilities with proper ceiling and enough space, because the carpet is massive and the ceilings have to be very tall, and it is better if you're able to throw higher
Nick VinZant 12:10
that was high enough that it was in the air for three seconds. Yeah. So like, how long does it take before how many times do you practice something like that before you can do it.
Serena Lu 12:20
Oh, so many times. Yeah, repetition, like I said, is a big part of our sport. Um, smart. Repetition is a really big part of our sport, because you, if you over repeat, you can get injured very easily. And I learned that the hard way.
Nick VinZant 12:36
Okay, so after the hoop, there is then,
Serena Lu 12:39
then you have the ball. So the ball is not a bowling ball. That is something I get asked way more than I'd like to admit. The ball is quite similar to the hoop, because you can also roll it. So rolls are a big part of ball as well. And you'll see that where the rolls usually have to go across two large body parts. So that can be two arms, your trunk and your legs, one leg, the other leg, any sort of formation of two large body parts. And I think Visually, it looks a little softer. Um, I don't know. Let's explain it just is a little like smoother. Um, okay,
Nick VinZant 13:24
so let's watch this.
Serena Lu 13:26
Yeah, and the cool thing about this, for is you can be very creative. Um, and creativity is really fun to watch. That's it's that specific thing I train. I can remember how many times I trained that. And honestly, there are people who do that from a huge, large toss now, which I didn't need with these rules. But people do that catch with with many rotations under the toss too, which is very impressive. I will be completely honest, I do not remember if this routine was good or not.
Nick VinZant 13:59
I mean, really impressive to me.
Serena Lu 14:01
Thank you. So that is what's called an apparatus difficulty, with a role.
Nick VinZant 14:07
Are there required things? Like, you have to do this, so many times you have to do that, so many times
Serena Lu 14:12
you have to have, in this set of rules, 20 apparatus difficulties. I'm like watching this, and I just, I see so many mistakes.
Nick VinZant 14:21
But weird, okay, but to me, like, watching it, like, what are you noticing that? Like, oh, that was a mistake. That was a mistake. Just to me, this all looks like, okay, great, yeah.
Serena Lu 14:30
So I'm very good at this. I'm very picky, um, so that would be an execution deduction for shape and for a large step underneath, I'm, like, exposing myself. Um, there was a hop. See, like it was a small, minuscule hop, but the rest of that element could be not counted. So there's just, like, execution deductions on that,
Nick VinZant 14:54
but not the kind of thing that any casual person would notice. No,
Serena Lu 14:58
this will all be things. That a viewer who knew the rhythmic rules would really be able to tell I think even watching this routine, I'm getting stressed.
Nick VinZant 15:08
But did you catch that with your legs? You did? Yeah, that's crazy. So when you do that, right, like when you make one of the throws, are you throwing it to a specific spot. Like, is it just perfectly timed, or are you making adjustments all over the place to make that happen? I
Serena Lu 15:28
think when you do a toss, how I approach it is, I try to remember the sensation of when I'm throwing it to the correct spot, coupled with kind of my baseline technique, making sure my arms are, for example, for that toss, my arms are extended, that I'm square, like my shoulders are square with my hips, because common mistakes, like, if you're off by a degree or two, the toss will not go the direction you want. It's also important that the toss is forward of you, because you can get a deduction for trajectory if it's not precise in front of you, you can also get deduction for not you can also not get credit for the big toss if you don't fulfill your rotations underneath. So these are all very specific things, and because of that, yes, in Long story short, I do direct my throws to a very specific area of the carpet.
Nick VinZant 16:22
So you're trying to throw it up to have it land on this spot, as opposed to, like, I'm going to throw it up and then I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and adjust to where the ball is.
Serena Lu 16:34
I think you have to be flexible. So what makes a lot of athletes in the sport stand out is their ability to adjust. So you cannot be perfect. Tosses will go far or they'll be too short, and you'll see very incredible saves from great gymnasts, because they're able to adapt quickly underneath the throat. They're able to adjust their bodies. That's how you can tell someone is, one, a great competitor, and two very seasoned is because they're able to adapt their body to how far the toss is. Yeah, a lot of elements can affect it, but the ribbon, when the AC is on, can go every which direction we actually I we do consistency, I guess, drills, consistency, markings for ourselves during training, like I will practice each risk, each throw multiple times, every practice of every single apparatus, because you do need them to be that precise.
Nick VinZant 17:26
Now, okay, when we talk about these clubs, like, the first thing that I'm thinking about is like, bowling pins.
Serena Lu 17:31
Yep, yep. They do look a little like bowling pins. They
Nick VinZant 17:36
do look like bowling pins, but how big are they? Like, how big? How heavy? In real life,
Serena Lu 17:40
it's funny because I'm watching these videos and I'm just like, cringing a little, but I feel like it. This was my second year back from competing, and there were a lot of things I had to figure out, like, what worked for me and what didn't. So some of these elements in my routine I don't have anymore because they just didn't work for me. So
Nick VinZant 17:59
for example, like, okay, the person who wins the World Championship or wins the gold medal in this competition, like, just from my perspective, like, what are they doing that you would not be doing?
Serena Lu 18:15
At least from my experience, back in the day, when we would, we would train with these girls, and they would this sport would be like their entire life. And it's very different in some of these countries, where they are able to make training their priority, whereas I wasn't able to do that. I had to go to school. Athletes in the US don't get paid enough to live off of, yeah, just speaking, so, yeah, I have a day job. I train at nights, and I think that's kind of like the biggest thing, all
Nick VinZant 18:53
right. Last one the ribbons, this is the one that I noticed the most. That's the one I feel like I usually see. This is
Serena Lu 19:00
the most identifiable out of all of them. That's why, whenever I explain rhythm gymnastics, usually first thing I say will be, it's with the ribbon.
Nick VinZant 19:07
So what's the goal? Like? You're trying to just constantly keep it moving the whole time? Yes,
Serena Lu 19:12
so part of the technique in ribbon is keeping it moving and making sure your patterns are precise. So if it's if you're making these little loops called spirals, they really are looking for how clean and how tight and how many spirals are happening. And if you're making a snake, which looks like the zigzag, it's the same thing. So they're evaluating kind of based off of how your ribbon is moving as well. Do
Nick VinZant 19:46
you have to have a different outfit for every single one? Like, is it hard? Is it hard to find an outfit that matches the ribbon?
Serena Lu 19:53
So we we get these custom made most people, I think, at an elite high level.
Roles. Basically, almost all come from Europe, Europe and Asia. I think you never know what's going to happen in the Olympics, but the front runners, based off of scoring from this year, are from Bulgaria, Germany and Italy. China has very good gymnast as well, particularly the group within the US California has the has a lot of rhythmic gymnast. They have a lot of gyms. There a lot of different teams. Um, yeah, I think, I think I would, if I had to place money on it, I'd say them California. That's
Nick VinZant 25:37
pretty much all the questions we got is or anything that we missed? I
Serena Lu 25:41
know we touched upon the leotards and the music selection. Oh, I think the music selection is another thing that's a big thing in rhythmic if,
Nick VinZant 25:48
yeah, what's Why is? Well, why is music so important?
Serena Lu 25:52
I think, I think some gymnasts oftentimes select music that they want to tell a story too, like I said, and I think that is a portion of the sport that's just really interesting. For example, my programs this year, one music was written specifically for me, and the other one was arranged specifically for my routine, and the other two, one is kind of a a montage to my Chinese heritage and background, and so I think the choice of routine and the pairing of leotard really just sells a story. I think a lot of religion is that's like a huge part of the sport and where a lot of appreciation for it comes from. I
Nick VinZant 26:39
want to thank Serena so much for joining us. If you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media accounts. We're profoundly pointless on Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube, and we've also included her information in the episode description. If you want to see Serena do some of the routines that we talked about. The YouTube version of this episode will be live on july 25 at 12:30pm Pacific. Okay, now let's bring in John Shaw and get to the pointless part of the show. Okay, what percentage of people do you think like you
John Shull 27:16
probably 90 to 95%
Nick VinZant 27:19
that's ridiculously high. There's absolutely no way that 90 to 95% of people like you. I would agree that 99 to 95% of people may act like they like you, or may appear to like you, but I don't think that many people actually like you. I would say 25% of people probably like me.
John Shull 27:40
No, I'll go, I'll stick it. I would say nine out of 10 people that I meet like me.
Nick VinZant 27:46
Oh, I think you're vastly overestimating how many people like you, or you're or you're deceiving yourself about how many people like
John Shull 27:54
you, nine out of 10 people like me. But how many people would actually want to be my friend? Maybe three or four out of 10. Oh,
Nick VinZant 28:02
I still think that's pretty high, man. I still feel think you're overestimating it. I would say two to three out two to two to three out of 10 like me and maybe one, maybe five out of 100 would want to be like my friend?
John Shull 28:18
Do you need friends. I'll be your friend.
Nick VinZant 28:21
I think everybody needs friends as they get older. I think that's really I think it really becomes harder to have friends as you get older. See, this is why I think that you're vastly overestimating how many people like you. So it polled the audience. This was one of our highest votes. We had over 1000 votes already. Uh, 39% of people said zero to 25% 25% of people said 25 to 50. 26% said 50 to 75 Only 9% of people said 75 to 100% of people like them. So most people think only 25% or less of people like them, which I would, I would agree, if you kind of go with no actually liking you rather than tolerating or being friendly with, I think it's far lower than what you're estimating.
John Shull 29:11
Once again, I think there's a difference in someone liking you and actually moving on beyond just the like,
Nick VinZant 29:19
uh, you ready for your shout outs, or whatever you going to do next? Shout outs,
John Shull 29:23
where people come to hear their names spoken by the guy that everybody likes. Uh, let's see here. Uh, Heath, Baldwin, Ken Lewin Shane root. Don't know if that's an actual real name, but I feel like there's not enough Shane's in the world. And I kind of like that name, Shane,
Nick VinZant 29:44
yeah, but that's one, also a name that there can only be so many if it loses its power. If there's too many, Shanes can't have too many shades. Uh,
John Shull 29:55
Richard Klein, Chris Michou, uh, annas. Asia boyganovich, that's a tongue twister there.
Nick VinZant 30:04
Justin area Russian. That sounds like a Russian name, Justin
John Shull 30:08
Mariano, Peter Jones, and we're going to end here on Norby Vasquez. Now you don't hear very many norbys too often. No,
Nick VinZant 30:18
huh? I knew a guy named Jeff Norby. Way back when that's the only thing that I knew was his name was Jeff Norby. That's, there's a lot of people that I've realized in my life, the only thing that I know about them is their name. Like, oh, that's just their name. That's, I can't put any single other characteristic to them. I have two shout outs. Oh, shout out number one, the first person you mentioned, Heath Baldwin, who will be competing for the gold medal decathlon.
John Shull 30:44
I was kind of stole it, but I was going to segue into an Olympic rant. But you know what? Never mind not going I'm not going to No
Nick VinZant 30:51
Okay, so shout out to Heath. Good luck, USA, baby, USA. And then I'm going to mispronounce their name, I think, because I'm doing it right off the top of my head. But Kurt or Curtis, whichever one you're going by Holmes home. I don't have the email right in front of me, but said, this is a very nice email. I appreciate that. Thanks. Man.
John Shull 31:09
Did he say that he thinks he would like us if we met in person? Uh, one of us? Well, you are the face that runs the place. I'm just the side rhyme. I am just the sidekick that could be thrown into the vat of acid, and I
Nick VinZant 31:24
needed to come up with a rhyme for that. If you would have said the face that runs the place and the sidekick that something, I don't know what you could have rhymed it with, but if you would have been able to rhyme it that would have you know, that would have upped your likability.
John Shull 31:36
I definitely feel like Rhyming is kind of like Olympic break dancing. You don't think you need it in your life, but when it's there, you have an appreciation for it.
Nick VinZant 31:46
Oh, you always got to find the time to rhyme. It's sublime when you find the time to rhyme,
John Shull 31:53
that's damn fine. Well, now it's time to talk about some current events. Uh, anyways, he couldn't, so
Nick VinZant 32:05
you almost got it. What rhymes? It's hard man. Nothing right. I could never rap event. I don't know how people rap at all. I could never rap like the most amount of right lines that I could possibly rhyme together is maybe three, just off the top of my head.
John Shull 32:23
I mean, I could, I feel like I could rhyme a little longer. I mean, you get it's pretty easy. Cat, bat, sat mat,
Nick VinZant 32:30
no, but like an actual rap, not just like repeating words that rhyme, like the frog on the log, watch out for the smog the bog. Yeah, your
John Shull 32:43
dog chilling in a bog in the fog. What's up? Dog? I don't know. Anyways, you
Nick VinZant 32:48
see, you threw dog out there three times in the space of five sentences. Man, like it's hard. I couldn't rap at all.
John Shull 32:54
Nobody knows. Well, there's a reason why no one's ever approached us to do any of that. Alright, let's start. Let's talk a little current events here. Uh, the RNC. I don't want to talk about anything political related, but I have to mention Florida Congressman Matt Gates's face. And I don't know if you saw the before after pictures, before and after pictures, and I'm not going I'm not making fun of him as a person, so no one take this as a political anything. Uh, but the dude looked normal before his speech at the RNC, somehow between him doing an interview and actually giving the speech, he had Botox done on his face, and he looked like Meatloaf From from that one music video where he's like a demon. I mean, it looked terrible.
Nick VinZant 33:45
Every once in a while, there's a celebrity that does some kind of celebrity, or a public figure, or however you want to define it, that does something to their face. And you're like, What the hell were you thinking that? Like, every once in a while, I remember that carrot top guy came back and, like, what? He didn't even look like a person anymore. Dude. Uh, Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, did something. I
John Shull 34:09
mean, yeah, like, what do you do then? Like, like, if it's an accident, you're just, I guess you gotta man up. You just have to keep going with their plans.
Nick VinZant 34:17
I don't know. Like, I would just pull a hammy like, oh, I sprained my leg or something like, I'm not going out there looking like that. I think that without getting into politics, because we are not a show that gets into politics, but I think that all of us can agree that there has to be some sort of consideration of what the hell is going on on on every direction you can go. Like, I don't know if it's the media that just is hyper focused all the time on any little thing that anybody says, like people misspeak. It happens all the time. You call Jim, John. You call John Jim. Like those things happens, not a big deal. But. Like, What the hell is going I cannot wait for this to be over. If I could be put into a coma and wake up in December, I absolutely would. All
John Shull 35:12
I'll say is, I can tell you from someone that is still actively in the media. Every day brings a variety of good stories, bad stories. It's it's going to be a wild ride till we get to November.
Nick VinZant 35:25
There is definitely something about the old adage that if you get a bunch of people together, we will always somehow find a way to make the worst possible decision. And that seems to sum up the state of American politics in every single direction, whichever way you want to go, the more people you have involved in decision, the worse that decision is going to be.
John Shull 35:50
Yeah. I mean, I don't think that's just politics. I feel like that can be applied to any decision for anything group of people,
Nick VinZant 35:56
the more people involved, the worse the decision will be. Okay, all right, let's
John Shull 36:02
move to something that's a a little fun here. Um, you're a museum guy, right? You like history,
Nick VinZant 36:10
not really. I mean, I like history, but I would never go to a museum. I like any even the word museum like I'm bored by the if I knew how to is it m, e, u or M, u e, how do you spell Museum,
John Shull 36:23
M, M, S, U M, E, M, U S, e, u m,
Nick VinZant 36:28
m, U S, I don't know. Dude, are you sure? Yeah, dude, museum,
Unknown Speaker 36:35
it's m,
Nick VinZant 36:37
U S, anyway, M, U S, e, u m, I am bored by the s in museum. By the time somebody gets to the second syllable of the word Museum, I'm already bored. All right, like you want to go to a music
John Shull 36:51
Well, what if I know? Hey, Nick, let's hop in the car and go to the pusium. And it's in Arizona, and apparently it is a pusium that specializes in poop.
Nick VinZant 37:09
They just, I don't know, I don't want to go see that at all.
John Shull 37:11
It has a variety of displays ranging from termite poop to massive poops that weigh 20 pounds.
Nick VinZant 37:20
What? Who's taking a 20 pound poop? I mean, probably elephants, elephant, that's probably massive. I don't, I don't ever want, I don't want to see poop at any at any time. Mean,
John Shull 37:31
once I feel like, I feel like, if you, if you've been a parent, or if you've been around a child, I mean, you're, aren't you? Like, kind of poop sensitized? I guess the word is,
Nick VinZant 37:42
I still don't want to see it, like, I'm not like I ever want to. I don't have a sense. Why
John Shull 37:46
not?
Nick VinZant 37:48
I wouldn't I mean, I don't have a sense of smell. Poop affects me in no way whatsoever. I still don't want to see it. I certainly don't want to go see like, fossilized poop, like, I'm just not really very interested in it. Although poop can tell you a lot about what's going on in your body? It's a very healthy medical tool, but I would never speaking
John Shull 38:05
of Healthy People. Britney Spears, apparently, is back at it, and yeah, this time, she got called out by another stable person that being the Osborne family, Ozzy and Sharon, and I just got to know, when's this going to stop with her? I mean, we all say she has some kind of psychological problem, right? But she's been doing this now. I think it's like a year where she just releases these videos of herself,
Nick VinZant 38:36
yeah, that's, that's like, like, to me, is that's become a train wreck, and I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to be a part of that. Like, I don't. I don't want to watch, like, I somebody who may or may not need mental health help. I don't like, I don't want to be any part of that.
John Shull 38:55
Yeah, I Yeah. I just don't. I guess some of the reason why I really brought up with I was surprised that the Osbornes would come out and just kind of voice their opinion on it when it's been happening for a year now. Like, why wait? You know, seven months into it to finally say something, it just and why say anything at all? It makes no sense.
Nick VinZant 39:14
What do they got look whenever you hear a celebrity say something about another celebrity, the ultimate question is, when's their next album, movie event coming up?
John Shull 39:22
Like, Hulk Hogan,
Nick VinZant 39:26
see, right? Like, that's just all they're doing. They're just, it's just pre promotion. Like, they don't really,
John Shull 39:32
what, what? Once again, not, not, not bringing politics into it, but Hulk Hogan, for everyone who thought he stood up on that stage and just did it for Donald Trump. Paul Cogan is on a national advertising tour right now for his beer. So, oh,
Nick VinZant 39:49
I mean, it's, it's, there's always a con man. There is always a con going on somewhere, right? Always, somebody's always selling something same as anything else you.
John Shull 39:59
Uh, all right, uh, in the cinema world, any interest in twisters?
Nick VinZant 40:08
I'm from Kansas, bro, I've seen real twisters. I've seen real tornadoes. Why would I want to go and see the movie, this fake stuff? What's also from classes. I'm from Kansas. Like, I don't care about, like, the movie Twister. I was, like, you ever seen the movie Twister? It's like, No, man, I'm from Kansas. I've seen a real one.
John Shull 40:27
All right, so tell me a story. Tell us a story. What's, what's the closest you've ever gotten to a tornado? And I don't mean like, you know, it was three miles away, you know, and you heard the sirens? Like, were you ever within where, like, you could see the the the funnel cloud coming at you?
Nick VinZant 40:46
Oh, yeah. Like, I don't know how many funnel clouds that I have seen. The closest that I have ever been to a tornado was 2008 maybe 2009 I was working as a news reporter in Kansas, and I was storm chasing, and I was in between two cities and driving towards Greenberg, Greensburg, Kansas. And as I got close to Greensburg, Kansas, I felt the back of the car start to go up, and then I ran over a telephone pole that was on the ground. And then eight people were killed by that tornado. So, oof, yeah. Now, don't
John Shull 41:25
you feel like a jerk. I mean, like, oh, you
Nick VinZant 41:28
never seen tornado. Yeah, I've seen a bunch of people killed by one. No, I
John Shull 41:31
didn't. I never said. I just wanted to know the story. I mean, it's a tragic story, but, man, that's a that's a crazy story. Oh,
Nick VinZant 41:38
yeah, those things are they? Usually aren't fatal. They're generally, not usually fatal because they like, there's something about, like, a big city or populated areas. They don't, usually don't. They'll stay away from them because the heat pushes them away. I don't know, I'm not a meteorologist. They just don't usually hit big cities, so they don't usually cause, cause a lot of damage. But they're not usually fatal, because people in Kansas are ready for them. But that one wiped out. Think it was 96% of the town. The only thing standing was a grain elevator, which is like made out of solid concrete. Literally, the whole town was destroyed,
John Shull 42:14
damn. All right. Well, I guess we'll have to,
Nick VinZant 42:16
I need to see your Twister movie, man, real life.
John Shull 42:22
Well, I'm not, I'm not going to go see it, actually, because I don't really want to see it. All right. Last thing here, this is Olympics related,
Nick VinZant 42:30
okay,
John Shull 42:31
uh, can you name the oldest gold medalist to ever win a gold medal at an Olympic Games, winter or summer? No. Oscar swan.
Nick VinZant 42:46
Can I guess the sport?
John Shull 42:50
Yes. Do you want to know older you try to guess the age and the sport I'm
Nick VinZant 42:54
guessing? Well, give me the I'm guessing, in his late 40s, early 50s. No. Older than that, older than that, yes, then it has to be something like archery or bad or shooting.
John Shull 43:09
It is shooting. Yes, yeah. I
Nick VinZant 43:12
mean, that you could do. I could see somebody doing that their entire life, I mean, until your eyes go bad, but then you just get glasses like I can see somebody being a gold medal shooter in their 80s. How old was he?
John Shull 43:24
So he was 64 when he won a gold medal, but he competed in the Olympics when he was 72 years old. Yeah. I mean,
Nick VinZant 43:34
that's not like a physical I'm sure it's physical, but it's not a physical sport. In the same way, like track and field as a physical sport. We had a person on here a couple of years ago that was a speed Walker, or race Walker, or whatever they're calling it. Now. They change the names every once in a while, and they said that actually people don't reach their prime until their 40s in that sport, that it's a much older sport, even though it's very athletic.
John Shull 43:59
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I could see that. I mean, this was deer shooting where they actually shot deer.
Nick VinZant 44:08
That was, oh, they actually shot the deer in the forest in the Olympics.
John Shull 44:15
From my understanding, they brought these deers to the range, and then would set them free and you had to shoot them.
Nick VinZant 44:23
Oh, that's a pretty can't do that now, peanut, it's
John Shull 44:28
not our fault. It's not my fault. Don't be angry at me. Look, we
Nick VinZant 44:33
have made progress in a lot of areas. Okay, that's why my general message too, no matter what the world seems like, we're doing all right, like you're doing fine, you're doing all right. We're all just doing the best that we can.
John Shull 44:49
Yeah, exactly sure. Are everybody,
Nick VinZant 44:51
everybody's just doing this is my philosophy of life. Now that I want to segue into this, nobody knows what we're doing. You. Nobody knows what they're doing in life, and we're all just doing the best that we can.
John Shull 45:06
Well, I feel like that's a perfect time to segue into our top five of this week. Okay,
Nick VinZant 45:10
okay, so our top five is the top five Summer Olympic sports, and we're going to name the sport, but then also, if applicable, applicable, you have to name the event in that sport, because a lot of them are like, okay, so it's this, like, say, track and field, but there's tons of events in track and field, so you gotta name the sport and then the actual event. What's your what's your number five?
John Shull 45:38
So I have two different running events on my in my top five. Oh, god, my number five is the 200 meter dash.
Nick VinZant 45:49
Oh, that's an interesting pick for your number five. Why? Why that's a big track and field event. So I used to run track and field in eighth grade, so I feel like I know a lot about track and field. That's not one of the more popular events. That's probably in the top 10 track and field events.
John Shull 46:12
That's okay. I mean, I feel like in the Olympics this and the other one, which I'll get to later, especially nowaday track. And once again, I only follow it on the outskirts. They're the quickest, they're the most intense. You literally can't mess up, usually. And the 200 or the 100, because you're done from the get go, if you have a bad start, it's over. It's just you have to be on your best in that moment to win it.
Nick VinZant 46:41
That's I would be so nervous to get that start right. My number five is diving, specifically the three meter springboard. I think that's just the coolest thing. Like the way they go up to it, they do the little bounce thing, they do the flips. They go in like, no splash. Like, to me, that is kind of an epitome of human ability, like, look what we can do.
John Shull 47:07
Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm gonna seem probably nonchalant in a couple of these things. I don't mean it to be that way. Diving, to me, is more of an art than it is a sport
Nick VinZant 47:20
that makes no sense. That makes no sense to me. How is it more of an art than a sport? Because
John Shull 47:25
you are judged based upon your entry into the water, in your in your form, going into the water, I'm not saying once again, I'm not saying that it's non athletic to be able to twist your body and do all those things, but a perfect dive is like a drop of water going into an empty cup, and it makes no sound like that's an art to me. Oh, I
Nick VinZant 47:49
kind of, I see a little bit what you're saying.
John Shull 47:52
It's like soccer, basketball, uh, golf, even those are sports, right? Yes, diving is a sport, but the way that the Olympics have made it, it's like figure skating, it's like gymnastics. It's almost an art within a sport.
Nick VinZant 48:08
I could see that a little bit what you were saying, okay, all right, that makes a little that makes more sense. I see what you're saying. Initially, I was going to be like, What are you talking about? But, like, I kind of get it that you have to perfect this. Yeah, I mean, what's your Go ahead?
John Shull 48:24
No, I was just saying it's, diving is kind of like sprinting. You only get one chance most times. Well, actually, you might get like, three attempts, but, you know, you really only get one chance right to pull off a perfect dive. And it's, it's pretty awesome. It's, it's quite, quite intense. I would imagine it's cool. What's number four? Oh, man, it gets so hard for me. But my number four, I'm gonna put fencing at number four. Oh,
Nick VinZant 48:55
I also have fencing as number four. But fencing I put in there is kind of like a combat sport tie, where I actually put it, my number four, fencing, karate wrestling and tae kwon do. I think all of those are kind of the same in the sense that, like, they're really cool to see, but I'm not going to sit there and watch the whole thing. Like, if I see two fencing matches, like, Alright, I got it, two karate matches, like, Alright, I got it.
John Shull 49:18
Yeah, I'm, you know, the reason why I put fencing kind of exclusively on the list is there's just something about the intensity of when they, you know, jab each other and they just scream, you know, like, once again, I'm not taking anything away from wrestlers, taekwondo, folks, you know, judo, that's also intense. But fencing, it's just you gotta be so fast and you gotta be precision. And it's, I, don't I just, yeah, just, it's amazing. All this amazing, if
Nick VinZant 49:48
anybody is interested in learning more, we interviewed a Olympic fencer, Jackie dubrovich,
John Shull 49:55
oh doobers,
Nick VinZant 49:56
she's going for it. She's going for gold. She's really good. Good. I think she got silver last time. So, I
John Shull 50:02
mean, go, Jackie. Jackie, what's your number three? Specifically, specifically, Summer Olympic related? I don't think this would be on my overall top five, but Summer Olympics specific, I gotta go with rowing. What?
Nick VinZant 50:30
Why that's so boring, like they're still rowing, it's not, and they're still rowing.
John Shull 50:36
It's not they're still rowing. It isn't, to me, it is intense. And I, I don't know why, but I, I'm just glued to the TV. What can be two? Man four. Man one. Person. I'm just interested in the television. Oh,
Nick VinZant 50:50
I don't find that that's one of those things that like, all right, tell me. Tell me a later, like, I that I have no interest in watching that whatsoever. That's like, the the 10,000 meters, like, all right, we're gonna be going around the track for the next 30 minutes. Stay
John Shull 51:08
tuned. You're really gonna think my number two is probably pretty boring then, but we'll see. Oh, but
Nick VinZant 51:14
if it's what you're hinting that it is, I've actually watched the entire thing before. There's a story behind that, if it's what I think you might mention. But if it's not, my number three is Ping
John Shull 51:27
Pong. Is awesome. My number two is table tennis.
Nick VinZant 51:32
Oh, sorry, I should be using the official table tennis. But, okay, the reason that I put table tennis, aka ping pong, on there is, I think it's one of the sports that clearly shows you how much better the Olympian is because some of those other sports, like archery or like, oh, maybe I could do that. Like, you don't really realize how much faster those people are, but when you see table tennis, you're like, Whoa. I can't do anything like that. They
John Shull 52:02
are incredible. I mean, they are amazing. It's, yeah, there's nothing else to say. They are incredible athletes. What's your
Nick VinZant 52:10
okay? So your number two is table tennis, yeah, my number two is gymnastics, but specifically the floor exercise.
John Shull 52:20
Okay? I, you know, I should have probably put gymnastics on the list. I did not have gymnastics
Nick VinZant 52:25
on the list.
John Shull 52:27
I do not at all. Oh, I
Nick VinZant 52:28
think you have to gymnastics is probably that might be the biggest thing at any Olympics. It's tough to tell if gymnastics is the biggest thing or if it's the most marketable thing.
John Shull 52:45
I think, I think we think it is just because it's an America and we always push, and rightfully so. We always especially push the ladies teams. But I don't, I don't think it's the most populous, and I don't think it's the, you know, I don't think it's the thing that drives the Olympics. I think swimming is more sought after than gymnastics. Oh,
Nick VinZant 53:05
swimming is, to me, is very boring. Like, I'm not interested in watching swimming. That's fair, like, it's just more like, it's just more efficient to run like, and there they go, and he's gonna be swimming for the next 20 minutes, back and forth,
Unknown Speaker 53:25
back and forth. Okay, back. Let
Nick VinZant 53:28
me know. How is Michael Phelps still competing?
John Shull 53:32
No, I don't think so. Thank you. Did
Nick VinZant 53:34
you compare the last Olympics? Yeah, uh, what's your number so are you ready for what's your number
John Shull 53:38
one? My number one is the 100 meter dash. Yeah,
Nick VinZant 53:41
that's, that's my number one, the 100 meter dash. I think that is the biggest. I think that that not only is that the biggest event at the Olympics, but that is the biggest test of athletic ability in the world. Like that is the ultimate like, If weight lifting didn't have weight categories, and you just had, like, the overall strongest person, I think that would be a big draw, but like, who's the fastest? Who's the fastest person in the world?
John Shull 54:12
Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to say what you said, but I will say that it is by far the most exciting, at least 10 seconds of any Olympic sport that's played. Probably, I don't think you have to be the best athlete. And once again, hold on, hold on. Obviously have to be. You have to be, you have to be a non human to be an amazing sprinter. But, I mean, I'm probably going to put triathletes above them. I'm probably going to put decathlon athletes above them, you know. I mean, problem is, there's such different disciplines, it's hard to really, you know, I
Nick VinZant 54:52
I think decathletes are generally considered to be probably the best athlete at the Olympics, because you have to be really good at a. Variety of things. I think they're generally considered to be the best overall athlete, but the fastest person on earth. Like, what would you be if you're Usain Bolt, you're the fastest person who has ever lived?
John Shull 55:12
I mean, once again, that we know of right? I mean, there's probably some guy or some girl and some country that probably runs a nine one that will just never get the chance to
Nick VinZant 55:24
I mean, if you're that fast, you're probably, I understand what you're saying. I feel like now you probably get through like, oh, that person's really, really fast, yeah, especially if you're the fast yo world. One
John Shull 55:39
thing that I think, go ahead, I'll say one thing that I think I love the most about the Olympics is, you know, watch it in a couple of weeks, or whenever the 100 meter final is for men and women, and see all the different countries represented like it. It absolutely is a corner to corner, you know, of the world competition. I mean, you're gonna have somebody from Botswana running against somebody from Jamaica. Like, it's, it's, it's, it's awesome. It's just an amazing, it's amazing.
Nick VinZant 56:10
It's also cool to me in the sense that, like, with some of those events where you'll have, like, but then one country dominates it. Like, I think Jamaica went 123, in some sprinting events, and there's only, like 100,000 people in Jamaica. It's not a super I think it's a fair. What's your honorable mention? Why I look up the population of Jamaica?
John Shull 56:31
Let's see. So I do have gymnastics, specifically the flora tuna. I also put on the pores, because I feel like that would just be, it's incredible when they do backflips and somersaults on that thing and still maintain their ballots. I just don't get it. What's the what's the population of Jamaica? 2.82
Nick VinZant 56:54
point 8, million. So that's a lot more people than I thought.
John Shull 56:56
Just a couple other things I have, water polo. Water Polo is always fun to watch for some reason, just because you never know what's going to happen. I'm a big fan. This is a newer sport, but skateboarding, I think that's pretty awesome to watch nowadays. And then the triathlon, Decathlon, all those athletes, the marathon, I'll watch the marathon.
Nick VinZant 57:23
I've actually watched the I thought that was going to be your number two. I've watched the entire marathon. It was when my son was born, and I had to be up really early, like watching him. But I watched the entire marathon. It was actually somehow kind of interesting, like, two hours of it like, Oh, they're still running. I
John Shull 57:39
mean, you that's a whole another conversation, just being able to run 26 miles at you know, in under three hours. Are you serious? They
Nick VinZant 57:50
run that in like I saw one thing where, like, That guy's world record pace, or whatever, was basically running at 13 miles an hour for two and a half hours. That might be all of the other Olympic feats are very impressive. But in terms of like, oh my god, I can't believe we can do that, that would probably be the marathon. Just like, how far and how fast people can run, that's incredible.
John Shull 58:14
It's not even fair. I can't even walk up my stairs without breathing heavy, and these guys are running 13 miles an hour for three hours.
Nick VinZant 58:21
Can you walk up your stairs yet? Or do you still have to? I
John Shull 58:24
can hobble. I'm hobbling. I'm getting there. Are
Nick VinZant 58:26
you in a boot? Do you have a boot?
John Shull 58:30
I am out of the boot. No, all right, yes, I'm out of the boot.
Nick VinZant 58:32
What do you think, though? How does it feel? Watching the Olympics meanwhile, you tore your calf muscle, running three steps, playing softball.
John Shull 58:44
Uh, I really have no feelings about it, because I'll become very depressed,
Nick VinZant 58:50
right? Like, here's the pinnacle of human athletic ability, and then here's this guy who tore his leg walking off a baseball mound.
John Shull 59:01
Yeah, I got nothing. You're absolutely there's no way to put it. You're absolutely right.
Nick VinZant 59:05
Okay, put the Winter Olympics in this okay, what do you think is overall, what did I don't know if there's any, for me personally, I don't think there's any winter Olympic sport that even comes close to the
John Shull 59:16
um, I don't think I yeah, I don't think anything. I don't think anything beats the 100, but some of those short track speed skating competitions would probably be short track speed skating would probably be in there a big fan of ice, luge, you know the luge? Oh
Nick VinZant 59:31
yeah, that's kind of cool. Downhill skiing. I could put the only Winter Olympic sports that I think would make a top five for me, of overall Olympic sports would probably be curling. There has to be a certain amount of like, oh, I never see this otherwise, outside of the Olympics, oh, okay, that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of profoundly pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. Is, if you get a chance, leave us a quick review. We really appreciate it. Really helps out. Help helps out the show, possibly with some speaking lessons, and let us know what you think are the best Olympic sports I I don't know how John doesn't have gymnastics on the list. To me, gymnastics and the 100 meter dash are one and two, but the other ones, that's what's cool about the Olympics. Like the other ones could be anything like I wouldn't really argue with very much if you put other ones in the top five. I.