Olympian Robyn Stevens is one of the fastest walkers in the world. The two-time Race Walking Olympian can walk at more than 10 miles an hour. We talk how to Race Walk, swiveling your hips and being a Professional Walker. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Villains We Wish Had Won.
Robyn Stevens: 01:18
Pointless: 16:24
Top 5 Villains: 27:20
Interview with Race Walking Olympian Robyn Stevens
Nick VinZant 0:00
Nick, welcome to profoundly pointless. My name is Nick vinzant Coming up in this episode, Olympic race walking and villains who should have won
Robyn Stevens 0:22
our body are using all of the muscles we're engaging, all of the muscles that a sprinter, a middle distance runner and a distance runner are utilizing, but all at the same time, even if you have a lot in the tank, physically, you have to sacrifice that or sacrifice a higher place just to stay in the race.
Nick VinZant 0:40
There is some swilling of the hips there. Isn't there? Yeah, yeah. So
Robyn Stevens 0:43
like a former coach of mine, Susan Armenta, she used to say, merengue. Merengue, if I didn't have enough hip flexibility to remind me just kind of relax into the hips. I
Nick VinZant 0:54
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 new to the show, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, I want to thank you so much for all of your support. So I want to get right to our first guest. This is Olympic race Walker, Robin Stevens. How do you race walk? Is this just walking fast, like, if I was in a hurry, or is there a whole technique to it?
Robyn Stevens 1:25
Oh, there's a whole technique to it. So usually, if we're gonna teach youth how to or beginners, we'll say, like, just pretend that you're at the pool. And they say, you know, the snow cone place just opened up and everybody's jumping out. And they're like, don't run, you know, walk, don't run, and you're trying to hurry over to it. So that's how you start. You know, walk as fast as you can to get there, but to not get thrown out of a race, there's two rules. You have to land with a straight leg and then keep it straight until it passes underneath the hip, and then, but one foot has to be on the ground at all times. And that's how it differentiates from running, obviously. So get sometimes confused, because when you say that, people will start walking like a Frankenstein, yeah, and um, but it's that's where I like to just incorporate the dance. If you're thinking of a manga, you land at the straight leg, drop that hip, let it pass. As you're pulling that back, you know your other leg through, and then you can bend that last one as you're straightening the other one. And then that's how you get that, that smoother rhythm.
Nick VinZant 2:30
It seems like a sport that would be easy for somebody to cheat,
Robyn Stevens 2:33
no. So we have minimum five judges on a course at all times. That way, that there's always a judge that can see us, and then it has to be by that so for the one foot off the ground there, it has to be by the judge's eye, and there's like a fourth of a second that the human eye can't see. So if you see, if you slow down videos of professional race walkers, if you like, watch the Olympics, and you slow it down and you see a side profile, profile of us. Or if you see pictures, you might see like, oh, that they're cheating. I see them, they're just a little bit off, and that's by the judge. So that's the key, is like, by the judge's eye, because they're not going to be able to see that seconds. Now, we're not doing that on purpose. That just happens naturally at the speeds that we're going and it's just going to go up. So the judge has two paddles. They can give us the yellow is a warning. That is a courtesy. They don't have to give us that. That's just to let us know we're we're in danger of getting red carded, and if we don't fix it, they're going to red card us. So those rules make it so it's hard to teach, because there's people watching us all the time and the last 100 meters, you can get dequeued whether or not you have previous red cards. So that's why you're not going to see too many of us like this. Is one of the things I loved doing when I was running competitively, is I love a strong kick, so I still like to do that with race walk, but I have to be really careful, because judges don't like it if you if you switch, if you significantly change your pace, and because if you change your pace, your technique might change a little bit too, and they don't like that. They like to be like you know that it just, it just seems that they don't, they don't like it as they don't appreciate as much. So even if you have a lot in the tank physically, you have to sacrifice that, or sacrifice a higher place just to stay in the race. Because it could mean, if you sprint at the end, it could mean that that Chief Judge doesn't like how you look, and they'll just throw you out that last 100 meters.
Nick VinZant 4:33
So you really have to maintain a certain pace. Yeah,
Robyn Stevens 4:38
it's all like I'm doing a constant body scan the entire time. There's no checking out mentally. So
Nick VinZant 4:45
if you have people who are the best in the world at this and they're still getting those red cards, is it the kind of thing where you got to push it and you got to see and go right up against that line and just see how much you can get away with?
Robyn Stevens 4:59
Yeah, yeah, we're pushing, and that's part of our training, is just figuring out where we can how much and what that feels like to push that line and know that we're, we're technically sound, and most of us at that level where we are technically sound, but, you know, judges are human, and different. Judges have their preference on what they like and what they consider good technique. They're, you know. So, you know, we might be fine in one country, but then another country's judges, like, they interpret the rules a little bit differently. So you're, you're probably going to get carbs because you are going super fast. I mean, we're going sub seven. The women are going sub 715 per mile pace. The men are going sub seven minute pace. You know, about 650 so we're, we are going fast. So one of the things that we'll push for is how, you know, it's almost like you've aced it if you can walk. You know, the two cards is almost like a badge of it's not a badge of honor, but it's like, it's like, you know you you know you're pushing yourself. Because if you're not getting any cards, maybe you know, it's almost like, Well, are you pushing yourself enough? Yeah,
Nick VinZant 6:11
you're bumping up against that edge all of the time. And if you're not, well, you're not really trying. That's
Robyn Stevens 6:17
something I'm trying to figure out for myself, because I cross the finish line with so much energy still left in the tank, because I'm still trying to figure out what it feels like to push that edge with the energy that I have. How did you get into this? I started in junior high. I had ran a cross country race in Dixon and had beat a little boy that in the race, that youth coach had wanted to humble, and so she came over, and she was a club coach, and I had only ran for junior high, you know, for the school system. I never heard of club track and field. And so she came over, and she was just like, hey, you know, I run a club team. I'd love for you to join, if you stick with me, I believe that you have enough talent that you could make an Olympic team and even get into any college that you could ever dream of. And since it's a club team, they they purchase all those events. So you know, are going to have all of the events that are in the Olympics. So she would teach all of her athletes every single event that's in the Olympics. So all of us learn throwing, all of us learn race walk, all of us learn, you know, the only two that she couldn't teach us was hammer throw and pole vault, because there was no access to the the items, oh, and steeple chase, because there was no steeples.
Nick VinZant 7:34
So putting all humbleness aside, what makes you good at it?
Robyn Stevens 7:39
I think I just picked up on it from all the years of dance that I had done. I started dance class when I was two, and when she discovered me, I was in competitive dance. So I was doing tap, jazz, ballet and hip hop. And I think just with all of that, just years of dance, I was able to take to it. It was nothing. It didn't feel any different from, you know, like, a lot of people are like, Oh, don't you want to run? Or, or, you know, how do you race walk? Like, doesn't it make you want to just break into a run? I'm like, No, it just, it feels like a, like an athletic endurance dance. So it just feels, definitely, I don't get it confused of running,
Nick VinZant 8:19
there is some swilling of the hips there? Isn't there? Yeah, yeah.
Robyn Stevens 8:22
So like a former coach of mine, Susan Armenta, she used to say merengue and merengue, if I didn't have enough hip flexibility to remind me, just kind of relax into the hip. Is
Nick VinZant 8:33
there a prime age, like a certain age range, where people are really at their best? So
Robyn Stevens 8:38
race walking, we don't usually hit our peak until late, mid 30s to early 40s. I took a few years off from the sport. I retired in 2004 came back in 2000 officially 2016 and what encouraged me to come back was I had learned that one of the Olympians that I had watched I didn't realize she had made her Olympic debut at 42
Nick VinZant 9:04
What is it about race walking like what? Why can people compete so late in their life, athletically speaking,
Robyn Stevens 9:12
because it's low impact, and so the body can handle a lot more and recover faster.
Nick VinZant 9:18
Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions. Sure. Is there trash talking and race walking?
Robyn Stevens 9:25
Oh, probably more on the men's side, I believe the the women are more we just focus on what we need to do. So we're either going to be friends or we we're just in our own little we just kind of keep to ourself on race day. But the men definitely like to have, like, playful, playful banter with each other. And
Nick VinZant 9:44
can you spot a good race Walker in public, like, if you see somebody walking to try and catch a bus? Oh,
Robyn Stevens 9:50
yeah, totally, uh, I mean, that's how a lot of us race walkers who ended up in the sport got, you know, head hunted, as you know, a coach sauce or someone's sauce, and thought. Oh, you would make a great race Walker. I see it all the time. And when we're training out on, you know, on the trails and the bike trails, sometimes kids or other people will try to try to mimic it, or try to, you know, go along with us. And there are times I'm like, wow, actually, that's really good. She's doing pretty good. You're doing pretty well.
Nick VinZant 10:19
Can you make a living off of this? Like just earn a living doing nothing but race walking,
Robyn Stevens 10:26
you can a very humble living very, very humble. So like, the average that we might make is at most, not average. The most that we might make is 25k so it's really humble. Couldn't live in Silicon Valley on it. The highest paid American race Walker was John Nunn, and that's because he worked for the army. So he actually was a salaried Walker. What
Nick VinZant 10:56
would be your top speed? Like the fastest you can go.
Robyn Stevens 11:02
We don't normally race anything faster than a mile, and once we hit the elite level, it's not often we're going to be doing anything less than the 3k like two miles. But there is, like, once a year, there's the Melrose games where we'll do a mile. And so that's the only thing I can judge off of, um, the fastest that a male is gone is a 531 and the fastest a woman is gone is 618 that's
Nick VinZant 11:29
like 10 or 11 miles an hour. And if I go to the gym and try to, like, walk at three miles an hour, I feel like I'm moving
Robyn Stevens 11:38
pretty quick. I mean, so what's interesting for a lot of like, when so our body are using all of the muscles we're engaging, all of the muscles that a sprinter, a middle distance runner and a distance runner are utilizing, but all at the same time, and then our turnover is as quick as it about like between a 408 100 meter runner. So actually, a lot of a lot of sprinters race walk really well. A lot of sprinters like take to it quickly. Oh,
Nick VinZant 12:08
just because of the just because of the turnover ratio,
Unknown Speaker 12:12
yeah,
Nick VinZant 12:13
do you generally walk fast everywhere you go?
Robyn Stevens 12:17
I'm told I do. I never really noticed. But my, you know, I'm short, so my dad always seems super tall to me because he's six one, and so when we would go camping and hiking, we do a lot of camping and hiking. Growing up, I was always constantly trying to keep up with him, because I talk a lot, and I'm trying to, you know, tell them my story, and I couldn't keep up with them. So my best friend Ashley, she always just likes to, she'll laugh about it, because people always she's shorter than me, and people are always like, why do you walk so fast? And he's like, Well, my best friend is a professional race Walker, and I'd always have to try to keep up with her in the hallways in high school. So, so I think the key is, like, if you're around someone taller than you, I think you're just gonna naturally be a faster Walker everywhere, because you're just trying to keep up with the taller walkers. So I'm told, I walk pretty fast. I know I get really annoyed when I'm in the shopping, you know, the grocery store, and like, oh yeah, I can't. It's a big pet
Nick VinZant 13:21
peeve. Oh, that would be so awful if you were walking in a crowd. I
Robyn Stevens 13:27
can't stand crowd speak if they can't walk fast, you know, I don't like the the idly, especially the the packs that walk in, like, groups of five, oh yeah. And then they're all on their phones and they're just walking super slow. It's like, can you walk single file or learn how to walk faster.
Nick VinZant 13:42
Where do you think race walking ranks, in terms of coolness, like, if this was Olympic High School, where does race walking sit there
Robyn Stevens 13:52
in my mind? Or where do they actually rank? Because they rank pretty low in in most people, unless, unless you're from Japan or from Spain, or from parts of, you know, South America, or from Russia. You know, race walking is ranked pretty low, but I think it's because a lot of people, most people, don't understand what's going on. And once you understand what's going on, it's really fascinating, and it's really interesting, and that's why I've gained a new appreciation for baseball, because I used to think baseball was super boring. And I'm like, how can people think race walks boring when people watch, like, four hours of this, just people standing around on a field? I also think that with race walk at the elite level. I mean, since we're using all the muscles of like a sprinter, middle distance and distance and distance runner, our build is going to be similar to a dancer or, you know, I used to get mistaken for a gymnast when I was younger, and I just think that, like, the musculature is just really esthetic. Ly beautiful. And when you see, when you see it done right, it's, it's gorgeous. Who is
Nick VinZant 15:05
the Michael Jordan slash LeBron James of race walking, like the best race Walker ever. In
Robyn Stevens 15:12
my eyes, it's gonna be Jesus Garcia of Spain, because, like, He is the true goat of race walk in my eyes. Because, I mean, some people would argue that it's Jefferson Perez. Some people might argue that, you know, it's somebody more current. But I think, Oh, well, Jesus Garcia is current. I mean, he was at the Olympics at 52 he's made every Olympic team and every world's team. He's been in the top like, I think his first one was in 1990 or No, I think it was 1991 or whatever. But, I mean, he's been doing that ever since, and he's always in the top 30, like now, because he's in the top 30 now, but back then it was like the top eight. I mean, I just think he's remarkable, and he's just incredible.
Nick VinZant 15:55
I want to thank Robin so much for joining us. If you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media sites. We're profoundly pointless on Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube, and we've also included her information in the episode description. And if you want to see what high level race walking really looks like, the YouTube version of this interview will be live on August 1 at 12:30pm Pacific on YouTube. Okay, now let's bring in John Shaw and get to the pointless part of the show. What do you think is weirder not wearing underwear or wearing socks without shoes?
John Shull 16:36
I actually have an easy answer to this one, because I just started the no underwear club recently, and I have to tell you, it is enlightening and amazing. So I'm gonna say wearing shoes with no socks, to me is would be weirder.
Nick VinZant 16:52
How did you make the decision to go commando? That's actually
John Shull 16:57
a good question. I'm not really sure the true answer to that, other than it's just kind of makes you feel free.
Nick VinZant 17:04
I have been a commando person for a long time. I have gone Commando, I would say, at least, at least for the last five years. And it is very freeing. It also feels a little bit cooler. I haven't personally ran into any difficulties with going commando. Maybe other people have, but I personally haven't ran into other any issues.
John Shull 17:29
I mean, I haven't either, and, you know, I'm new to the club, so please accept me with open arms. But yeah, it's, it's, I feel like we sometimes could put too many layers on. I'm getting, the older I get, the less layers I want on. Does that make any sense?
Nick VinZant 17:46
Yeah, I would agree with that. I generally don't want to really have to deal with any kind of hassle in anything, whether that is just tasks or clothing or whatever. I just want my life to be a lot easier, and that's one step. Like, not putting on underwear is one step. I don't have to
John Shull 18:04
do Commando. There's something to be said for going commando. It's good. It's not it's not else. It's not as bad as you think.
Nick VinZant 18:11
No, but I would never wear shoes without socks. I would never wear shoes without Yeah, to me, that's like the grossest thing. Like, I can't stand that feeling.
John Shull 18:24
Yeah, I never, I never would.
Nick VinZant 18:26
I don't go around my house without socks on. I don't really. I'm almost never barefoot unless I'm going to bed. That's the only time I would say that I'm barefoot.
John Shull 18:36
I mean, is there a reason? Why is it just,
Nick VinZant 18:40
I just don't like the idea of like, I don't know what's on things like, people who walk outside without shoes on that That's crazy to me. It's crazy to me.
John Shull 18:49
I'm going to say this, and I hope some people out there know what I'm saying, but I think I have soft feet. I don't, I don't think I have hardened feet to doll like, if I, if I'm to walk, you know, on the sidewalk without shoes on or socks, I'm, I'm that person that's like,
Nick VinZant 19:07
ooh, ah, e ooh, oh yeah, I can't walk if it's not, like, perfect concrete. I can't walk on it. Like, if there's any sort of unevenness to it, or any sort of small rock, we're talking like, grains of sand, my feet are hurting like I'm maybe that's why, because I baby my feet. I take care of my feet, man, I think that's the most important parts of your body,
John Shull 19:28
alright. Well, let's, let's go to some people that hopefully don't have bad feet. Gonna give some shout outs here. Archie Barton, Chris Pabst, Cole McLaughlin, Paul Rinaldi, Sky Smith said, Yes, sir. Fabian Han David Larson, Carter, England, Aaron Yang in Zane Whitson and. Congratulations.
Nick VinZant 20:02
I forgot about this, but I polled the audience asking them, what's weirder wearing shoes without socks or going without underwear? 56% said no underwear. 44% said wearing shoes without socks. So wearing underwear, not wearing underwear, is apparently weirder than not wearing socks. But this was a big vote, 2000 votes. Wow, pretty close, honestly.
John Shull 20:25
Alright, well, let's, let's go to some some current topics here. I literally, so I've been keeping, I'm changing this up, and I've been keeping, like notes of things throughout, throughout the last week, of things that I think are interesting, so we'll see how. Okay, so Hulk Hogan, we all know what he did at the RNC, but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about his new beer line. Would you and I wanted, I want to bring up for two specific reasons. One, do you consider Hulk Hogan, and hopefully he's listening to this or watching this? Do you consider him to be a washed up celebrity? And two is the whole him getting his own beer line strictly a money making venture because he wants to be relevant and needs the cash.
Nick VinZant 21:18
I always wonder about celebrities when they do stuff like that, like, are they broke, or do they just need the attention? Yeah, because I don't understand a lot of it. Like, we obviously have a podcast, but there's a lot of people who start podcast, and I wonder, like, why are you doing this? Because if I ever had an opportunity where I hadn't had millions of dollars, you would never hear from me again. Like, why would you start doing that? Like, I guess maybe it's they need the attention. Or some people just the thing is, is, like, I was very lucky in life to make this a whole rant, and then I learned very early on the idea of when enough is enough. And I think some people never learned that, because if you can't find the happiness with the things that you have, like that black hole is never going to be filled. Like you're never going to have enough money, you're never going to have enough attention. And I think some people just they never learn when enough is enough.
John Shull 22:14
Well And for somebody like him, or you are literally the top person, maybe in the world in terms of entertainment, for five to 10 years, and then the last 30 years have been the downfall. I mean, I just don't know how, I don't know how you do it if you're that person,
Nick VinZant 22:32
but then, but you have to have a concept of when enough is enough. Like, you were one of the most famous people in the world for a little bit, like, that's not good enough for you. That didn't fill that hole. You got to keep doing this and selling like crappy beer, like I would want to just ride off into the sunset by that time, like you had your run. Let somebody else have a turn.
John Shull 22:50
All right, let's, uh, let's talk. Let's talk about something that has me completely mind boggled here. Okay, last week in Winstead, Connecticut. I've no idea where that is, but I do know where Connecticut is. Somehow, someway, an adult black bear and its cub became locked inside of a car. After opening the door, got inside the car, the car, then the door then shuts, and they're locked inside. So as as typical bears would do, they literally ate themselves out of the car to get out, breaking the windows, eating, you know, eating the interior. I have a lot of questions about this one, but apparently it's a true story, but I don't know how bears get in and shut the doors on themselves. That's the first question I have. I don't get it well,
Nick VinZant 23:39
I mean, they do have, like, pause. It is possible maybe they, like, push the door too hard. Like, you know, if you push the door too hard, it bounces back and then shuts. I don't know. Man, it's like, that's a mystery. That's just one of those things. Like, how do you even explain without video? Like, how do you explain that to the car insurance company? Like, um, everything was torn apart. It looks like something ate my upholstery and broke all my windows. It was a bear. Like, okay, sure, it is. What did you really do? Right? Like, that's a hard one to explain. Don't mess with animals. Man, they'll always find a way to do something.
John Shull 24:16
I remember I was in college and I hit a deer coming back home from college, and I was able to lie to my parents and the sorry, by the way, parents and the insurance adjuster that I hit a tree, like the tree came down on top of my car, and they totally believed it, even though I totally cracked a deer driving on the freeway. Why
Nick VinZant 24:38
did you lie about it? Though? Like it wasn't like, hitting a deer was your fault.
John Shull 24:42
I was your fault. Probably. I mean, you know, I don't really remember it, but I remember, oh,
Nick VinZant 24:50
wait a minute, was one of those,
John Shull 24:54
something like that? Anyways. Oh, okay,
Unknown Speaker 24:56
let's stand guys.
Nick VinZant 24:57
I don't know why you needed to make up that. Lie. Like, did you hit a deer? No, tree fell on it. Like we don't care. Man,
John Shull 25:05
I remember the deer hair stuck in the grill. And the adjuster was like, Yeah, I don't really believe you, but I just don't want to be here anymore. So here you go, yeah,
Nick VinZant 25:15
you got to remember that, as much as you don't care about your job, not saying your current job, but as much as you don't care about your job, other people don't care about their jobs either. Man, we just want to. Everybody just wants to check the boxes. Just let me check the box so I can go on about this my life.
John Shull 25:30
That's it. Man, that's it. Nobody, yeah, nobody really wants, nobody really wants to work. I think the days of loving your job, not to say we don't, I guess. But the days of actually loving your job and committing everything you have to it, I feel like that generation is kind of trickling out. And I'm not saying us, but I feel like that generation is slowly dying off to where they're just jobs now, people just clock in, clock out.
Nick VinZant 25:57
I have always been baffled why jobs. Ask you why you want to work here for money. Like, nobody wants to, like, why are you making me lie to you? All right, let's
John Shull 26:07
move on to Rhode Island, where, apparently, this past weekend in Westerly Rhode Island, because apparently we're just giving all the Atlantic States love today, say you're laying on the beach enjoying a nice day, 79 degrees water, sun, and the next thing you know, there's a million dragonflies all conversing onto your one little, tiny beach spot, forcing you to run into your car and never come back. That sounds like a horror movie to me, and hundreds of people lived that nightmare on a Rhode Island beach this past weekend.
Nick VinZant 26:44
Okay, I don't know, what are you going Dang.
John Shull 26:48
That's like, something out of a horror movie. Like, that doesn't happen. Like, Oh
Nick VinZant 26:52
man, you've never been like, Oh well, I guess, because I've gone hiking in Canada in the summertime and like, Yeah, that happens.
John Shull 27:00
Oh, yeah, I, like, most people don't know that. Most people don't know what happens.
Nick VinZant 27:05
Well, I mean, if you go to like, if you're going up north in a wet area in the summertime, like, you should not be surprised that there's mosquitoes. Man, don't mess with the planet. Well, don't mess with animals. Don't mess with the planet. You're gonna lose every time. Uh, so our top five is top five villains we wish would have
John Shull 27:24
won. My number five I have Magneto.
Nick VinZant 27:26
I agree. I think the only question about Magneto is where to put him on the list of top five people, villains who should have won.
John Shull 27:34
I always felt he was misunderstood. Magneto.
Nick VinZant 27:39
My number five is caster, Troy from face off. That's
John Shull 27:43
a how do I ever get caster Troy, that's a good one. That's a really good one, actually. Caster Troy, solid top five pick one before shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore.
Nick VinZant 27:54
Why do you want shooter McGavin to win? Because you
John Shull 27:58
know what, not the biggest Adam Sandler fan. And you know what? Happy shouldn't even have been on the tour. Alright, that was shooter's tour to win, and he kept getting boned around and sure he tried hiring that big, giant guy to, you know, kill Adam Sandler didn't work. But shooter McGavin, that's my number four.
Nick VinZant 28:17
Shooter McGavin, he felt like he deserved it a little bit more. That's my number five is somebody who I or my number four rather is someone who I think really deserves it. And that's Wile E Coyote. Wile E Coyote needs to win. Same with Tom from Tom and Jerry, like they both, I always root for the both of them. I root for Wiley Coyote and Tom from Tom and Jerry, like they should win. The cats should win over the mouse.
John Shull 28:46
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go Anakin Skywalker as my number three.
Nick VinZant 28:52
Um, are you going at specific Now, see, now listen, I know a lot more about Star Wars than you do. So this is gonna get this is gonna get ugly. Here. Are you talking about specifically, Anakin Skywalker. You talking about Darth, Vader. I'm
John Shull 29:03
talking about when he was making the transformation in number three.
Unknown Speaker 29:10
I think of the Sith, and,
John Shull 29:12
you know what, he's fighting Obi Wan and, you know, like, you kind of just want, like Anakin just is doing it out of love. He's just doing it, you know, for his mother and for, you know, for Padme and Damn you, Obi Wan, you always have to get in the way. But
Nick VinZant 29:29
see, Obi Wan tried to teach him about the high ground. If you really look closely like Obi Wan teaches him about the high ground. And Anakin didn't listen. Obi Wan was probably, yeah, I'm gonna go full Star Wars here. Obi Wan was probably aside from Yoda, the only person who could have beat Anakin in that circumstance, because he knew him. He knew how to play him. But I would agree. I want Darth Vader to win everything like I don't know if I want Anakin Skywalker to win, but I want Darth Vader to win all the time.
John Shull 29:59
I mean, I don't know if I wanted Darth Vader to win, but I wanted Anakin to have a better time than he did. That's for sure.
Nick VinZant 30:08
My number three, I don't, I can't quite remember his name. I think it's Bodhi, but Patrick Swayze, character from Point Break. Okay,
John Shull 30:15
that's, that's a solid choice. But I mean, I mean, the character, if I'm remembering right, it's just an okay character. I think Patrick Swayze is the reason why you truly care about that character.
Nick VinZant 30:27
I don't know what the difference is. I would never describe Bodie or Patrick Swayze is an okay character.
John Shull 30:34
Definitely should have won. I mean, why can you give him a little bit of the jackpot? But that's why he's a villain, and that's why he died. He's a villain.
Nick VinZant 30:42
I feel no need for the villain to have to lose. I'm completely okay. Because in real life, it's not that the bad the good guy wins. It's just that the good guy, the the person who wins, becomes the good guy, because they get to tell the story. It's not like the villains really lose in real life,
John Shull 30:59
no, I mean, but we, we've created this. When I say we humanity, you know, good versus evil, what else keeps some people going, besides Good, good verse evil, right? I mean, yeah,
Nick VinZant 31:10
but I think the truth is, is just whoever wins becomes the good guy. Whether they were the good guy or the villain to begin with, you just become the good guy.
John Shull 31:19
Well, speaking of my number two is Bill butcher from the Gangs of New York.
Nick VinZant 31:26
Oh, okay, yeah. No, I liked him more than I liked Leonardo DiCaprio, his character, he was much more interesting
John Shull 31:35
by far. And I still don't know if he was really a villain, you know, because he just, that's just his character, like, but he apparently was a villain. I know he's the antagonist, but, like, I don't he was just doing what he had to do to survive. Once again, does that make you a villain? I don't know
Nick VinZant 31:53
my number two. I don't know if it's technically going to count or not, but I'm going to put it as my number two. My number two is the white walkers. They should have won the game of thrones. And that's the way that that show should have ended, because when they started it spoiler alert, and they killed off that one character that nobody thought that they were going to kill off in the first episode that set it up, that this was a TV show with different stakes, and it should have continued, and the white walker should have won the white walker should have won the game of thrones. You
John Shull 32:24
know, what's ironic about this is I also have a Game of Thrones character as but they're my number one.
Nick VinZant 32:33
Oh, okay, who's your number one? Then who are you there? Because there's so many people you could pick. I don't,
John Shull 32:41
and once again, you're gonna hate it and never and everyone else is gonna hate it, and I'm gonna get shit for it. But I love this person for some reason, and they should have won. And that's Cersei Lannister,
Nick VinZant 32:52
okay, I am also a big Song of Ice and Fire. I've read some of the books. Well, I've read all the books. I don't know if you've read all the books, but in the books, Circe is a little bit different. She's portrayed as much less cunning. It's much more obvious that she's like, not only morally doesn't deserve it, but also intellectually, doesn't deserve it. That like, Oh, she's not somebody who should be in this position.
John Shull 33:18
I haven't read all the books, but I'm going strictly based off the TV show, and I know she's a terrible person, but once again, she's doing it all for family. And, you know, I don't know what, I'll say that show is one of the greatest shows ever. For one Secondly, you know, I mean she, she's not only like the worst person, but her spawn was a terrible person. You know, they were all awful, like, so, yeah, so and, and, plus, you know, she's a great character. And, yeah, so she, she gets my number one villain that I wish would have won.
Nick VinZant 33:52
My number one is Thanos.
John Shull 33:55
I knew it. I knew it
Nick VinZant 33:57
when he I completely lost interest in that entire franchise. As soon as Thanos lost, completely lost all interest. He was the best thing about that.
John Shull 34:07
Well, I mean, what? What was it just this past weekend, Robert Downey Jr is coming back as Doctor Doom now. I mean, that guy just keeps getting roll after roll.
Nick VinZant 34:16
Yeah, I can't believe they cat recast him as Doctor Doom. Like, what's the point of doing that? Like we already saw it. It ruins everything.
John Shull 34:24
Yeah, right. It's, yeah, this is a discussion for another time, but it's like, what, what's going to be made up next? What's going to be redone from our childhood next? Like, they don't need to redo. Dr Doom they just don't.
Nick VinZant 34:36
Well, I mean, as a comic book fan, like all the doctor dooms have been pretty terrible from the Fantastic Four. They need to actually do Doom right? And I don't think that they have done that with Robert Downey, Jr, no offense to him. Like they just gotta get somebody else. Get anybody else, which,
John Shull 34:52
by the way, one of my honorable mention, I know I just cut you off, but one of my honor mentions, speaking of doom, was the rock from.
Nick VinZant 35:02
Him, Oh, I thought you were gonna go the rock the movie that general, he that in honorable mentions, he had a pretty good case, like, oh, he kind of should have won. He wasn't really, like, he had a pretty good point. Was
John Shull 35:13
that Ed Harris, that played him. I think,
Nick VinZant 35:17
I can't keep track. That's one of those actors that I know them, but I don't know what their name is. Yeah,
John Shull 35:21
I think it was at Harris, which is, yeah, that's, that's a good movie, another underrated Nicolas Cage movie, by the way.
Nick VinZant 35:29
What else do you have in your honorable
John Shull 35:31
mention? Dr Evil from the Austin Powers, okay, okay. Franchise, the Joker from Batman,
Nick VinZant 35:42
yeah.
John Shull 35:44
And then I, I put on this, this was a top five on all the list I looked at. But Hannibal Lecter,
Nick VinZant 35:52
he kind of won. I don't know how he lost. How did he lose? Yeah,
John Shull 35:56
because at the end of the movie, right, isn't he like,
Nick VinZant 35:58
he escapes, like, that's kind of winning. I think. Um, I haven't seen this movie, but a lot of people put this in suggestions. Was Robert De Niro's character in heat. Okay, I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know anything about it, but a lot of heard that a bunch. Um, Denzel Washington's character in training day, Alonzo Harris.
John Shull 36:20
Alonzo Harris. Man, yeah, that's, God, what a great movie. That is
Nick VinZant 36:25
also Walter White,
John Shull 36:30
okay, I mean, once again, he's borderline villain slash not villain. But, I mean, man, he would be a top five I actually thought of him as a villain. Maybe that's how good of a job he did. I didn't think he was a villain.
Nick VinZant 36:44
I think that he was the villain. Now, I will admit that I watched all of Breaking Bad, except for, like, the last season, and I just never watched
John Shull 36:54
it, because everyone else watched it, and you just can't do things that everyone I just,
Nick VinZant 36:58
I just completely lost interest in it, and I never watched the end of Breaking Bad. I was like, nah.
Unknown Speaker 37:06
F this not happening today with that.
Nick VinZant 37:08
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. If you get a chance subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it really does help us out and let us know who you think are some villains that you just wanted them to win you.