What does it take to get into the United States’ best sororities. And why would you want to. As the world’s first Rush Consultant, Trisha Addicks literally wrote the book on getting into sororities.
We talk the secret to sorority rush, why sororities are exploding in popularity, the influence of “Rush Tok” and her new book “The Rush Bible”.
Then, its the roar of the crowd vs. the crack of the bat as we countdown the Top 5 Sports Sounds.
00:00 Introducing Rush Consultant Trisha Addicks
01:28 Why Do Women Join Sororities
02:18 What Top Sororities are Looking For
04:11 When Women Don’t Get In
06:13 Preparing for Sorority Rush
09:04 Three Big Things Sororities are Looking For
10:06 Dealing with Parents
15:23 How Rush is Different Now
16:30 The Influence of Rush Tok
19:18 The Secret Score
21:34 Fraternity Rush Consultant
23:45 Being a Legacy
26:38 Pointless
44:41 The Top 5 Sports Sounds
Interview with Sorority Rush Consultant Trisha Addicks
Nick VinZant 0:00
Nick,
Nick VinZant 0:11
welcome to profoundly pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, sorority, Rush and sport sounds,
Trisha Addicks 0:21
finding your people is everything, everything grades personality and charisma. It is not it is not about looks. That's what it's all about. It's all about helping these young women understand how to get what they want and how to understand themselves and how to communicate
Nick VinZant 0:42
that
Nick VinZant 0:42
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 helps us out. So I want to get right to our first guest, because she is an expert in something that has become a quintessential part of going to college, and is also just fascinating, because it's one of those things that people have conceptions and opinions about how it works, and then there might be how it really works. This is rush consultant and author of the new book, The rush Bible, Trisha addicts. What's the appeal of sororities like why do people want to join them?
Trisha Addicks 1:28
Sense of community, sense of belonging, connecting.
Nick VinZant 1:32
It's not just to join the cool club.
Trisha Addicks 1:34
I personally do not, which is why I'm here. Do not think it's joining the cool club. I feel like everyone needs to find their people, whether that's through a sorority or whether it's through theater, or whether it's through the Equestrian Club, whatever finding your people is everything, everything.
Nick VinZant 1:50
How hard is it to get into one
Trisha Addicks 1:53
the resumes that I see come across my desk now are insane. I mean, I went to Georgia with a 2.6 GPA like, no. Now you can't get into these schools. I'm using Georgia as an example, with less than a four Oh, so how do you set yourself apart in rush and beyond? So you have to intentionally prepare for the process, just like you intentionally prepared to apply to college or do anything. It's just everything's ramped up. Now.
Nick VinZant 2:18
What are sororities like looking for
Trisha Addicks 2:21
they are looking for well rounded, dynamic, interesting, kind, genuine people.
Nick VinZant 2:29
What would you say to people, though, who hear that answer and go, bullshit?
Trisha Addicks 2:33
Well, I do have a lot of people who say bullshit to me about it, and I would say to them, do your homework. You You don't know what you're talking about. And there are a lot of people out there who immediately judge one, what I do, what sororities do, sorority girls, without actually researching. And that's you know, feel free to judge if you've done your research, but if you haven't done your research, then you need to shut up.
Nick VinZant 2:58
So as a rush consultant, you help people with the rush process. Why did you start doing this?
Trisha Addicks 3:05
So I went through sorority rush my freshman year at Georgia. Did not get into sorority, so that was crushing to me, and it was really, really hard to connect, because that's how I wanted to connect. I wanted to be a part of Greek life. My roommate very, very sweet girl. I'm still friends with her. She just hosted a book launch party last week for me. She did get a sorority, and she was great to me, but she was always busy. She always had places to go, people to see all that. So I went back through rush my sophomore year and pledged my top choice. But those feelings stayed with me forever. So that is what I'm trying to accomplish with my business and my life's work, is to help people navigate this system so they don't go through that and it's trauma to leave home, go to college for the first time, all the transitions, and then be rejected right off the bat stuff?
Nick VinZant 4:02
Yeah, I can understand that you're out on your own for the first time, you're trying to join this group that you want to be a part of, and you get told no,
Nick VinZant 4:10
right?
Nick VinZant 4:11
How do some women react from that?
Trisha Addicks 4:14
Many of them transfer schools. Many of them go home. I mean, there's nobody that gets through and unscathed, unscathed and unscathed, excuse me, in that situation and the reactions are different, but they're almost always more than you would have expected before, and the parents are also often blindsided.
Nick VinZant 4:35
Do you then have young women who will come to you just in a state of mental distress about this.
Trisha Addicks 4:41
Oh, yeah, yeah. Lots of mental distress. Lot of parental, parental mental distress. There's a lot. We get a fair number of clients, I'd say maybe 40% after the fact, when they are like, Wait, I thought I was just gonna show up, go through rush, and it was gonna work. Work out and they get blindsided. So they're either transferring or they're going to go through again, or they're going to go through what's called continuous open bidding, which is a whole nother podcast episode. But there's a strategy after the fact, if you don't get in,
Nick VinZant 5:14
do you think it's too competitive, right? Do you think Has this gotten to the point where this is too much for these young women, or is it? No, this is the real world, and you got to get ready for it.
Trisha Addicks 5:26
I feel like there is so much pressure on these kids today, regardless of yes, it's, I think it's a lot, it's, but it is a finite amount of time, and assuming that you end with a result that you can live with, then that's okay. But I feel like everything is so ramped up for these kids. And I mean, the things that they are doing to get into college are just insane to me. I mean, great, but like, insane, like, I mean, I was like, ripping six behind the the the gym in high school. You know, there's so much better than better and more involved in more philanthropic and all these things. So it's really hard to set yourself apart in anything, including rush.
Nick VinZant 6:13
So let's kind of jump into the the mindset of somebody who's preparing for this. So we're recording this in May. What should people be doing now to get ready for rush
Trisha Addicks 6:23
so in May they most likely haven't got and we're talking freshmen going to freshmen. It's a whole different ball game for sophomores. Sophomores should be connecting while still on campus before they leave. But May, as a high school senior, you want to be organizing your recommendations and or reaching out to people who are going to your school and who are already there. And so you're trying to make connections. It's all about connecting with people. So that's all you do. During May you enjoy your senior spring. Have all the graduation parties, fun, fun, fun. And then you start in June, getting your recommendation sent to the houses. And there are, there are all different kinds of rules now which and those change every year. So that's part of our research, getting your recommendation sent, continuing to connect, working on your style wardrobe, and then practicing conversating conversations and listening and learning, getting those soft skills, which are so lacking so in a lot of people so they should be going to their local Starbucks and chatting it up with the barista, they should be reaching out in other ways, besides texting and DMing,
Nick VinZant 7:48
yeah. Like, do you feel like people are more prepared for this now than they were a few years ago? Or are they less prepared for this now than they were?
Trisha Addicks 7:56
Less less the games have changed. Also, I can't believe I forgot to mention this social media is is a huge thing, and that should you should already have that in May. You should make sure that that is what you want to portray, because the minute you register for rush, they're going to start looking at your social media, getting background on you. They're going to do a deep dive on you. So your social media needs to be perfect. But I forgot what was the question,
Nick VinZant 8:23
Do people seem more prepared for this now or less prepared for this now than they were 510, years ago?
Trisha Addicks 8:32
Less prepared, which is one of the reasons I wrote my book and why I have my company. It's it's gotten so competitive, the numbers are just increased. People are more interested in Greek life now than they ever have been. So what how that translates is, if you show up thinking this is you're going to be able to win, you're going to wing it and just walk into the sorority of your choice, then you have a world of hurt coming. I mean, it can happen. I've seen it happen, but not, not nearly as much as if you've prepared
Nick VinZant 9:04
if
Nick VinZant 9:04
you were going to kind of look at it like, okay, what are the three big things that most sororities are going to be looking for out of potential members,
Trisha Addicks 9:14
grades, personality and charisma. It is not, it is not about looks.
Nick VinZant 9:23
It's really not about looks, or
Trisha Addicks 9:25
it's really not about looks. It's really not about looks. And I've never picked a friend because of the way they look. And there's a lot of noise out there. There's a lot of noise with Rush talk, and there's a lot of a lot of Ooh, you have to be skinny, blonde and pretty. But if you boil boil it down, it's really about girls or young women trying to find genuine friends. And so the fact that somebody's skinny and blonde and wears pink does not that doesn't factor into friendships.
Nick VinZant 9:59
Mm.
Trisha Addicks 10:00
And if it does, then there's the wrong friendships.
Nick VinZant 10:02
Are you ready for some harder, slash listener submitted questions?
Trisha Addicks 10:06
Sure.
Nick VinZant 10:06
Who's harder to deal with? The potential sorority members or their parents?
Trisha Addicks 10:12
Depends. It's case by case. But traditionally, parents
Nick VinZant 10:17
how come?
Trisha Addicks 10:18
So here's the thing, here's the thing, I'm a parent, and I would do anything for my boys and my daughter in law. I would do anything for them. And when it's out of your control, and you're used to opening doors and you're used to helping them, you know you're arguing with the coach about playing time or whatever it is, you're, all of a sudden, you have zero control, and you're also, you have a sorority rush consultant who, so you're yelling at the sorority rush consultant, so be and then, you know, I get a lot of flowers after rush. Oh, I'm so sorry that I was so mean to you. But it's really hard for parents to understand that this is something that their daughter is prepared for, that she's most likely, if she's done the work, gonna find her people. And that's really all you want, but you they straight up lose their minds during rush week. Straight up.
Nick VinZant 11:18
What would you say is kind of one experience like that that stands out to
Nick VinZant 11:21
you the
Trisha Addicks 11:22
most. This was, I don't know, a long time ago, but I worked with the mom and the daughter, but mostly the daughter. The daughter understood. So everybody gets cut, right? Everybody gets released. You can't end up with more than one. It's just a means to an end, and it stinks, but it is how it has to happen. So the girl was prepared for this. I mean, she was upset, but she was we were working through it, helping her pivot all the things. And two in the morning, my phone rings, and it's the dad who I'd never spoken to before, and he's like, What the hell you I hired you, and my daughter is and so here's the thing you you know your daughter, or they know their daughter. They know that she's wonderful, and they know that she's all these great things, but they don't understand the system. So when something happens, like an inevitable cut, the parents are like so he was losing his mind, so I stayed up with him on the phone from two until seven. But it it's really shocking, and that's not that's not abnormal. Why did they take it
Nick VinZant 12:30
so hard if they don't get into alpha, alpha, alpha, and they instead get into beta, beta, beta, like, Does this really affect people's whole life trajectory?
Trisha Addicks 12:41
That's not what they're upset about. They're upset because their their daughter may have said, I want to be an alpha, alpha alpha. And then they're like, Okay, she has to be an alpha, alpha alpha. But in reality, keeping an open mind is so important, because beta, beta beta might be her people or whatever, but so this is what we work with on the daughter. There are parents out there who are like, my daughter has to be what they perceive as the top sorority. And I don't. We don't even take clients whose parents say that that it is sometimes they bait and switch us, but they we don't take clients who say, Oh, I have to be in one of these top three sororities because you're doomed for failure, because, let's say, even if your best friend from Camp is in one of those top three sororities, and you're being rushed like crazy, let's say the sophomore that's has more friends in the sorority about is the sophomore who has more friends than the sorority has a friend from camp, and she's advocating for that person and their best friends. And so then all of a sudden, even though you are sure you're going to get a bit bid from them, doesn't happen. It doesn't have anything to do with you. Your friend still loves you, but the other friend, the other girl, had way more connections in the sorority. So there's all kinds of dynamics that play out. Can you just as somebody not knowing anybody, not having any connections, just get into one of these top sororities. Or do you kind of have to know somebody? Well, you're talking to the wrong person when you're saying top sorority. Because I don't think that there's a top sorority. I recognize that there are traditional ones, but because of the competition at every school, and this includes Ivy League, down to Sanford and Alabama. At every school there are, you're going to find your people, but the competition is so tough that so let's say, I'll just use numbers an example. Let's say 2000 people go to Alabama. Now, let's use Georgia. All right, 2000 people go to Georgia. Now, the riggers there. So they're, they're four, Oh, wonderful. If there are top three or five sororities, where are all those other amazing, smart, dynamic girls going to go? They're going to go into other sororities. So
Nick VinZant 14:59
you.
Trisha Addicks 15:00
You can find your people, and there's no such thing, although I'm recognizing, and I do recognize it in my book, that there are, like, people who think that this is traditionally, that's usually a little more old school. Grandmother's grandfather's, I mean, grandmother's mother's aunts, that kind of stuff. Are like, Oh, you have to be a whatever, wherever. But that is really gone by the wayside. It has to just because the sheer numbers,
Nick VinZant 15:23
what do you think has been the biggest change that you've seen in the way that rush happens over the last over your since you've been doing this?
Trisha Addicks 15:32
The biggest change in the way Rush is done? I would say the social media part of it is one rush. Talk has made people think sororities are something different than they are. And I mean, super like the dances outfits of the day, all that stuff. It's really fun to watch, but that's not what it's all about when you get in. And so that's the biggest change, is people watching that, having those expectations that they're going to be doing coordinated dances in $5,000 outfits when they get to campus, and then they're like, wait, what? Why is this person wearing a t shirt and just chilling with me? It's just, it's just a different social media has put a shiny spin on everything.
Nick VinZant 16:19
Yeah, and
Trisha Addicks 16:19
there is some, there are some, there are some shiny parts, for sure. But going in, expecting that that's what it is, has really done a number on these people.
Nick VinZant 16:30
One of the big questions that we got is about rush talk. Like, what is your overall thoughts about it like, when you first started kind of seeing that stuff appear, what did you think?
Trisha Addicks 16:39
I think it's a fun thing to watch. I do think it can be dangerous for someone to see someone saying, oh my David Jeremy bracelet, my air maze bracelet. You don't need to have brands to be successful and rush. And I feel like, especially for people who might not have the budget or the money for that,
Nick VinZant 16:59
I
Trisha Addicks 16:59
think it can be really daunting and it can be really a bad thing. So I think understanding what rush talk is, which is very entertaining, cool, whatever, but also understanding that really the only thing you need to have is charisma and grades and confidence.
Nick VinZant 17:21
Is this a full time business? Like, can you give me any perspective on, like, how many clients you would see in a given year, or anything?
Trisha Addicks 17:28
Yes, it's crazy. Full time. I have 28 people who work for me.
Nick VinZant 17:33
You have 28 people working I thought you were gonna say clients, period, not 28 people working for this is huge then,
Trisha Addicks 17:42
yeah, no, it's, I mean, we, we are, you know, the first and I think the best, and we are very elevated in that, that we're really not so one of my very favorite stories is we worked with a girl, young woman, who was going through rush. Her family signed us, signed her up for our services, and she went through our program and what, and she decided she didn't want to go through rush. She wanted to be in the theater at her school. And her parents were at first, like, what? And then they were like, You gave her the confidence to know what she wants, and that's what it's all about. And so that was one of the biggest wins I've ever had as a sorority rush consultant, which is not a very good business model, but it that's what it's all about. It's all about helping these young women understand how to get what they want, and how to understand themselves, and how to communicate that
Nick VinZant 18:44
schools and universities where Sorority Life is the biggest,
Trisha Addicks 18:49
I venture to say all of them, I really, I really, so I get that also surprises people when they're like, Ooh, I'm going to Alabama. I have to prepare for rush. And I'm like, Dude, you could go to, I don't know what I mean. Every school that has Greek life, for the most part, has a big presence and or the people that are in it are really into it. So it's everywhere. It's everywhere.
Nick VinZant 19:18
What is a secret score?
Trisha Addicks 19:20
So there is a score that you get as a PNM before you ever step on campus, and that is your grades, your video, your resume, your all the things that you submit, your rush materials and or connections. It's going into rush knowing that you have a score and that you can only add or add or subtract in a very low margin from that is important.
Nick VinZant 19:52
What do you think? What do you like? Is there anything to read into, or there's there any concern in your mind, in the idea that you've got 1920 21 year olds judging the future of an 18 year old?
Trisha Addicks 20:04
Yes, yes, there's there. I am the biggest proponent of Greek life, national pan, Hellenic. I feel like they're doing the best they can. But sure, yeah, it's the inmates running the asylum someplace sometimes, and it's, it is girls who, I mean, girls have a lot of drama sometimes, and so that all plays into it.
Nick VinZant 20:28
Yeah, do you think there should be I don't, right? The only I, only reason I say this is because I remember myself at 18 to 22 and I didn't know anything compared to what I know now, right? Like, I wouldn't consider myself an adult at that age, even though I legally was like, does there need to be, I don't want to say adults in the room, but does there need to be older people in the room also making these decisions?
Trisha Addicks 20:54
No, because then that become so yes, there are advisors.
Nick VinZant 20:58
Advisors. That's a better way of Yeah,
Trisha Addicks 21:00
yeah. So there are advisors for every sorority has advisors and but they're not actively involved unless things get crazy in that decision making process, because the girls or the young women are the ones who are going to be living with them, working that kind of stuff. So but that does lead to to answer your question very candidly, which is what I do. I mean, yeah, there's, there's some, some issues with that. And, you know, there's some, there can be stuff where people are like, well, I don't like her.
Nick VinZant 21:34
Is there an opposite? Do you have a counterpart, right? Like, is this a thing also for fraternities?
Trisha Addicks 21:40
There's not a need for it. I believe in fraternities, the process of going through Rush is completely different for fraternities and sororities.
Nick VinZant 21:48
What is it about it that's different? It's just,
Trisha Addicks 21:50
it's just a more chill it's more chill process. And if you show up and you show up consistently at Rush events, you're probably going
Nick VinZant 22:00
to get a
Nick VinZant 22:00
bid. I was in a fraternity. Does that surprise you? Like I was
Trisha Addicks 22:03
not, it does not in the slightest. And if you tell me where, if you tell me where you went to college, I could probably
Nick VinZant 22:11
guess
Nick VinZant 22:11
what it was K State.
Trisha Addicks 22:13
This is my super power, but not with fraternities. This my caveat. If you, if I meet a woman, talk to her for however long we've been talking, 45 minutes, and I know what school she went to, I'm usually that in 1000 Sigma Chi would be what I would say. That
Nick VinZant 22:32
is exactly what I was in. I was a Sigma Chi at K State, but yep, I was a Sigma Chi at K State in the sense of like they asked me to join. I joined, and then I think I was there for like, three months, and then never showed up again, but just hung out with the people that I liked.
Trisha Addicks 22:47
I also get that, yeah, no, it's I also,
Nick VinZant 22:50
I was just a dude who signed up. Is there a sorority equivalent of that? Like, are some sororities, like, hey, just this, ain't that serious?
Trisha Addicks 23:00
They, they take it seriously, yeah, meaning, I don't. There are sororities that do not traditionally do well in rush because they're disorganized and but that's a self fulfilling prophecy, meaning that if they don't prepare for I mean, the amount of work that these people are doing is insane, like they started working in October for this coming up falls rush, so And there's all kinds of dynamics that play out in there, but there are some sororities that do not put in the work, and it's just like anything, you don't put in the work, you don't get the results.
Nick VinZant 23:45
How important is being a legacy?
Nick VinZant 23:47
It's
Trisha Addicks 23:48
not important at all anymore. Sheer numbers, you can't at one particular school, there were 177 Chi Omega legacies going through one year, and their pledge class was 89 so even if they had space, I mean, even if they gave only chi omegas, a spot that still leaves out a huge part that just the numbers are just insane, you can't legacy just doesn't matter.
Nick VinZant 24:16
So
Nick VinZant 24:16
when you put together the rush Bible, what do you think is the most important part of it, like, what would if you had to sum like, Oh, this is the thing that people should take away from
Nick VinZant 24:26
it.
Trisha Addicks 24:28
The thing that people should take away from it is that you have to do the work to get the results you want. You have to do the work, and this gives you the tools to do it. The other thing that I want people to take away from it is that being in a sorority does not determine your worth.
Nick VinZant 24:51
Does it say anything about the person's like, what advice I guess, would you give to somebody then, in that sense, where I really worked hard, I really wanted to get. To this sorority, and I just didn't get in.
Trisha Addicks 25:04
So in that instance, there's a whole chapter in my book. Rejection is redirection. You You got to come up with a you have to fall in love with Plan
Nick VinZant 25:14
B.
Nick VinZant 25:14
How do I know a sorority is really what they are saying? Like, if I'm trying to find the place that's right for me. How do I know that they are really accurately putting out there what they are like?
Trisha Addicks 25:28
It's hard to know that, but you can trust your gut, and you can also look around the room, see the way they're they're interacting. There are a lot of tricks, for lack of a better word, to figure out what's, what's the smoke and mirrors and what's really, what it's really like. Another way that you can do it is when you're going through rush, or I'm supposed to say recruitment, but my book is the rush Bible, so No, when you're going through, look around at who's in the room with you the other PNMs, and you can kind of get a sense for that, I mean, but it is. I mean, they're putting on a show. You're, you know, everybody's playing a part in this, and their part is to sell you on their sorority.
Nick VinZant 26:14
I want to thank Tricia so much for joining us. If you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media sites were profoundly pointless on Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube, and we've also included her information in the episode description. And if you want to learn more, the book is the rush Bible. There's a link to it down in the description. It's available now. Okay, now let's bring in John Scholl and get to the pointless part of the show. If somebody was going to take you out, do you think it's going to be a stranger or somebody you know?
John Shull 26:50
Probably, probably a stranger? I don't feel like I don't think my wife would ever take me out, and she's probably the only one that would even care enough to take me out personally.
Nick VinZant 27:01
I also think a stranger is more likely to be the person to take me out. I can't really think of family or friends or people that I know that have that big of an issue that they would do it, but I think most people would say someone that they know, but I don't, I don't, I guess I don't really understand that a little bit.
John Shull 27:26
For me, it's not even a question of, really, who it's, just how, like, I feel, like, if it's somebody, you know, it's going to be more of a personal attack, right? Like, probably a knife or something like that. If it's a stranger, it's probably more or less going to be something random. Still doesn't mean it's not going to be terrible. But look, I'd rather take a crossbow to the back then, like be stabbed 40 times.
Nick VinZant 27:51
Oh, stabbing is the worst way. I would not want to be stabbed. As a former news reporter, I've been to some stabbing scenes, a number of them, and those are nasty. Would you either be shot or hit by a car?
John Shull 28:04
I'm dead, right? Or no,
Nick VinZant 28:07
you are going to, you are going to survive long enough to feel the pain shot or hit by a car.
John Shull 28:14
I'll say shot, I guess, because I feel like, if you're shot, you know it's, it's, you probably have more of a chance of, a chance of, well, no, that doesn't make any sense. I'll just say shot. They both suck. I don't know. It's hard to choose one or the other.
Nick VinZant 28:26
I think I would rather be shot simply because it seems like it would be more localized to one area, whereas if you get hit by a car, it's probably just everything. Like, it's not just going to be like, Oh, you cracked some ribs. Like, no, you get hit by the car, then you hit the ground, then something else might hit you. So I think that there's too many other factors involved in getting hit by a car. Now bus, if I got hit by a bus, you're just done. I would, I would take that.
John Shull 28:56
Yeah. I mean, I'm not making light of this whatsoever. But few days ago, there was that guy that, or, I actually don't know if it's a man or woman, but they, they jumped over the airport fence and and basically stood in front of a plane that was landing. I mean, that would be, you know, once again, I don't know the circumstances, that I'm not making light of it at all, but in terms of what we're talking about, like, if you're gonna get hit by a blunt force object. I would just want it to be very quick. I wouldn't even want the 30 seconds.
Nick VinZant 29:25
I don't think, I think it would actually be kind of difficult to get yourself hit by an airplane. Was it a full size airplane, or was it a small airplane?
John Shull 29:35
No. I mean, it was a, yeah, it was a full size, 200 people on board, things like that.
Nick VinZant 29:39
Was it landing or taking off
Nick VinZant 29:43
landing,
Nick VinZant 29:43
I think that would actually be really tricky to do. Like, you would have to position. You'd have to know where that was going to happen in the first place, to really put yourself into that position,
John Shull 29:53
right?
Nick VinZant 29:54
Like, but am I wrong?
Nick VinZant 29:55
Yeah.
Nick VinZant 29:55
I mean, I don't want to, like, make light of the situation, but if you taking about the legit. Sticks of getting that done, you'd have to really know where that airplane was going to land, in terms of, like, where on the runway, and where on the runway, like lengthwise and width wise, to position yourself correctly to get hit by it. Think that's a lot of work.
John Shull 30:19
There is video that was released, I believe, by the airport infrared video that shows the person on the runway and then not anymore.
Nick VinZant 30:29
But so I polled the audience, 91% say someone they know. Only 9% say stranger. I would have thought stranger would be a lot higher, because I personally don't know that many people who would want to take me out. I
John Shull 30:46
don't think people are thinking like thoroughly on that. You know, I think people are
Nick VinZant 30:51
right.
John Shull 30:52
Are leading with their heart. So to speak, I wouldn't want someone that I know to kill me like that'd be even if you showed up at my house and like to kill me. I'd be sad about that more so than if I just got popped by a random stranger.
Nick VinZant 31:06
What if, like, you got hit by a car you knew you only had a couple, like, minutes left to live, and you see me
John Shull 31:16
get out of the car? I You know what, I would probably just lay my head back on the asphalt or wherever I am, but just yep, this, this is a perfect culmination to my life. Nick ended up doing what he set out to do two decades ago, and he killed him.
Nick VinZant 31:32
What if I said, like, this is how I've I've been planning this for years.
John Shull 31:40
Are you get out, you're like, Hey, I've been banging your wife for two decades,
Nick VinZant 31:45
right? It was like, Hey, man.
John Shull 31:47
Like, just yeah, I'm
Nick VinZant 31:48
sorry I hit you. Just wanted you know I'm fucking
John Shull 31:53
your wife. Your
Nick VinZant 31:55
children are mine.
John Shull 31:56
Yeah, no, no, that would Oh, my God, that dude, that sounds terrible. I mean, yeah, that would be, that would be brutal. That would be not like, just put yourself in that situation. You get hit by a car, and then the person that you dislike the most gets out as you're dying, and it's like, Oh, hey, by the way, your life is mine. Your children are mine. Money is mine.
Nick VinZant 32:19
This could potentially touch on why I ultimately believe that there is nothing after us in the Hereafter, like we don't go anywhere. We just die because my father, God bless him, had on my mother's tombstone written, they're not leftovers, they're planned overs. And if there was a God, if there was an afterlife, she would have risen from the dead to kill him. She would have risen from the dead to kill him. And so this is why I ultimately don't believe in an afterlife.
John Shull 33:01
First off, that's the if anyone's wondering, that's where Nick gets all of his wit from. It's his father. And I would imagine, if your wife goes before you, you would probably do something similar on her gravestone.
Nick VinZant 33:15
I'll be there in a second. I'm almost ready. That's what I'm going to put on my wife's I'm almost ready.
Nick VinZant 33:23
It's like,
Nick VinZant 33:23
All right, we got 20 minutes.
Nick VinZant 33:24
Oh, man,
Nick VinZant 33:25
okay.
John Shull 33:27
All right, let's, let's do some shout outs here. So we'll start with Clinton. McCain, Max Stanton, Wallace, Stafford. Stafford, I don't know why I said. Stafford. Leanna Morrow, Jeannie Jacobs, George Hoffman, Ryan Blevins, Marvin O'Reilly, Noah, Bryan and Olivia. Blair,
Nick VinZant 33:53
oh, Olivia, I like the name Olivia. That's a good one. That's pretty solid. Okay,
John Shull 34:00
the name of my first crush back in elementary school, Olivia, just FYI.
Nick VinZant 34:04
Mine was Kristen,
John Shull 34:05
Olivia horn, and she had a sister. We used to call them the horny sister.
Nick VinZant 34:11
Did she? Did she return your affections?
John Shull 34:16
No, actually, I don't think so. Neither sister. I went after both sisters as a as a third grader. Imagine how that turned out.
Nick VinZant 34:24
Wait, the both sisters were in the same grade. Were they twins?
John Shull 34:29
Yes, they were. It was the horn. Horn sisters.
Nick VinZant 34:32
Do you think twins think it's weird if you hit on one and not the other? Do you think twins think it's weirder to hit on both of them, or not to hit on both of
Nick VinZant 34:43
them.
John Shull 34:49
I've never thought about that. So give me 20 seconds. Let me let's see. I mean, if I was a twin, like if we were twins, yes, I would be jealous of you. It. Few were constantly getting the affection and the attention, I would wonder, you know, what's Why aren't I getting that? Now, wasn't there a movie made where, I think, was based on a real life story of of twins that were together, and one of them was getting all the attention and the other one wasn't?
Nick VinZant 35:16
Yeah, it's
John Shull 35:17
like, can you
Nick VinZant 35:17
imagine the video and Arnold Schwarzenegger,
John Shull 35:20
no, that they weren't like, stuck together, right? They weren't like, born as one body,
Nick VinZant 35:26
oh yes, stuck on you, or something like that. But I
John Shull 35:29
anyway, it doesn't matter.
Nick VinZant 35:30
I feel like it would be especially devastating if you were the twin that didn't get the attention, because they're basically saying, Oh, it's just your personality. It's who you are as a person, right? Like, oh no, because I clearly like the way that you look, but it's just your personality.
John Shull 35:49
I mean, it's just so,
Nick VinZant 35:53
so,
John Shull 35:53
yeah, I mean, I'm just going from experience. I mean, the horn sisters there was definitely, I mean, Olivia was, I mean, you're the third grade, you're a kid, right? But I definitely remember Olivia being a little more attractive than her sister. I haven't thought of, I haven't thought of the horn sisters in two decades, maybe longer, but here we are. So yeah, I would feel pretty bad if I was the other twin. I guess.
Nick VinZant 36:15
Would you
John Shull 36:16
which I would be, of course,
Nick VinZant 36:17
would you rather be rejected for your looks or your personality? I
John Shull 36:23
personality, my personality for sure.
Nick VinZant 36:26
Oh yeah, because you can kind of change your personality. You just kind of look like that. Okay. Good twin talk, bud. Good twin talk.
John Shull 36:36
What? Well, what? Twin talk. Twin talk.
Nick VinZant 36:38
My dad is a twin
Nick VinZant 36:39
twin.
Nick VinZant 36:39
My dad is a twin, and only one time have I confused his twin brother for him, and it was really, really weird.
John Shull 36:48
My oldest daughter has a pair of twin boys on her soccer team, and you can't tell them apart. It's insane. It's yeah, I feel bad twins because they're both, you know,
Nick VinZant 37:01
you don't really know that well.
John Shull 37:06
So I have to start off the next part portion of the show with, I'm very disappointed in us as a species.
Nick VinZant 37:15
Okay, just now 2026
John Shull 37:18
so the White House releases, you know, classified documents on UFOs and aliens, right? Which some say it's a diversion tactic. Let's keep politics out of it. Let's just look at it from a base level, our government released what they say are are proven alien encounters, and it doesn't even make the main news cycle,
Nick VinZant 37:49
because we know it's
John Shull 37:50
not true in the I mean, okay, let me circle back for one second. I Yes, I agree with you. I a lot of it is already shit that's been out in the internet. Like, it almost looks like somebody copy and pasted shit from the internet, you know, ripped up a file and was like, hey, this file was made in 1946 like, but regardless of all that around the world on Earth, we say, here are some pictures of aliens, and no one gives a shit.
Nick VinZant 38:21
Well, okay, are they saying that they're aliens, or they're saying they're unidentified flying objects? Because that's very different, like, I don't think, I think the reason that we don't react to it is because it's not really proof. If they released pictures of little green men standing next to us, that would be a very different story. Instead, they're kind of releasing this thing about, like, there's an object that went by and we don't really know what it is. So I think that there's just a really big difference between like, it's not proof, it's just, hey, here's stuff we don't know what that is.
John Shull 38:57
So is it a me thing? Then am I? Am I, like, part of the problem, because I jumped to the conclusion, like Neil deGrasse Tyson came out, and he had a great podcast about this, basically saying, like, exactly what you said, essentially, that it could be anything. It could have been space dust, right? Some of the pictures they released, like, there is no picture of a little green man, you know, or they released a grainy photo of some kind of creature, but it could have been a dog for all we know, right? Like, I like, I wanted it to be real. Like, this administration, I've gotten excited about nothing, and I'm like, man, they're finally gonna and I should have known it. I should have known it was going to be complete.
Nick VinZant 39:42
Bs,
John Shull 39:42
I'm still, I'm still upset about
Nick VinZant 39:44
so you want, you want to live in a time where aliens visit the earth like you want to find out that there's other life in there. You want it to have come
John Shull 39:55
here, not against it. I mean, if they're friendly, sure, right? I mean, obviously I don't want aliens. To try to take over Earth and won't ruin us. But maybe that's what Earth needs at this point. I have no idea. Yes, I would be fine with with aliens visiting Earth, or even shit my ass up to an alien planet. I don't care. That'd be dope.
Nick VinZant 40:15
Oh, I Okay. I mean, I don't know about shit, but shipping your ass, which really sounded like, you said shit my ass, and I was like, What? What is shit your ass like anyway, I don't want to know that aliens exist in any way. And I don't want to be living on this planet when we find out that aliens do exist, if they do exist, I think that that will go over. Is one of the greatest colossal cluster fucks that we have ever experienced, like we are going to lose our minds if that happens, because as a history major from the great Kansas State University, I can tell you that anytime two different populations run into each other, it does not go well,
John Shull 40:55
you're not wrong. I will. I mean, it's we've, talked about a lot of things in this podcast, and to me, part of the reason why I'm disappointed is, for one, there was no like, definitive proof, which means there probably don't exist.
Nick VinZant 41:14
Oh yeah, if you think about the actual logistics of life from another planet visiting us, it's almost impossible. That would be something that I I would not be surprised if we exist for 1000s, 10s of 1000s, maybe hundreds of 1000s, maybe millions of years, and never find out like the universe is just too big. It's just a logistics problem.
John Shull 41:35
I mean, yeah. I mean it's yeah, we'll never, we will never have an alien encounter. Us, our our children, our children's children, times 50, we'll never have an alien encounter.
Nick VinZant 41:52
And I'm going to rerun
John Shull 41:58
that happens. Someone hire me, pay me money, because
Nick VinZant 42:02
I
John Shull 42:02
can see that this is
Nick VinZant 42:03
what
Nick VinZant 42:03
I don't understand about your jinxing, which you understand that you're a jinxing Why don't you do the opposite of what you think like, You're a terrible gambler. You always get it wrong. Why don't you do the opposite? Like, you know what? I really think that the bucks are going to win this so I'm going to vote for the other I'm going to pick the other team. Like, why don't you do the opposite when you know you always make the wrong decision.
John Shull 42:26
Here's the thing, I don't know what I've jinxed with you. For you to label me a jinxer? I ever think I'm a jinxer,
Nick VinZant 42:32
you're a massive jinxer.
John Shull 42:33
No, what? What have I ever jinxed? Give me a definitive
Nick VinZant 42:38
i There's so many that I can't think of it like,
John Shull 42:41
okay, okay,
Nick VinZant 42:42
tell me the last time you walked somewhere. I don't know. I walk all the time, all over the place, like, I probably can go through our text message chain and come up with at least five different examples of where you've jinxed something. You're a jinxer. You know
John Shull 42:55
your mind, I jinxed it. I'm not a jinxer. I'm not not a jinxer. I've had a fantastic life, and I've called out it from day
Nick VinZant 43:04
one. How's
Nick VinZant 43:04
your gambling?
John Shull 43:05
If I was a jinxer,
Nick VinZant 43:06
how's your gambling,
John Shull 43:08
I I made money on the Kentucky Derby. I didn't lose it,
Nick VinZant 43:12
right? Okay, so that's not really an overarching look at your gambling history that's taking one moment in time that you actually won. How's your gambling?
John Shull 43:20
What
Nick VinZant 43:20
are you up? Are you down? It's a simple
John Shull 43:22
question, gambling in like, the history of my entire life, gambling, yeah, I'm down. Of course I'm down. But that's not jinxing. That's because my first 10 years of gambling, I was young and dumb like now you know, you know how I won the Derby, because I put money on every horse to win, okay,
Speaker 1 43:45
and a
John Shull 43:46
long shot one,
Nick VinZant 43:47
and that's not really winning like, that doesn't count. If you bet on every single horse,
John Shull 43:54
did
Nick VinZant 43:55
you win money? I don't even know how that's possible, because I've always wondered the idea of, like, I'm going to spend a million dollars and buy lottery tickets. I've gotta win. Did you win money? Well, betting on every single horse,
John Shull 44:10
yeah,
Nick VinZant 44:10
like, net money.
John Shull 44:11
Well, now here's the thing, yeah, I netted some money, but it wasn't, I mean, it was, it was pretty close, but, you know, you put $1 down right on every horse. And if a like, I think it was a 36 to one one odds horse one. I won 36 bucks. There's only 21 horses, so I'm up $15 right there. Like,
Nick VinZant 44:36
I feel like this is a giant loophole in the system that people should be maximizing.
John Shull 44:41
Anyways, you ready for a top five? You're jinxing my way of trying to, you know, just get a little
Nick VinZant 44:48
just don't think that. Like this is the kind of thing that none of the people who are running these better opera betting operations ever thought of. Like, wait a minute, if they just bet on every single horse, we'll lose. Is money like? Do you think that you have discovered some ultimate loophole, or are you just not really doing math very well?
John Shull 45:09
No, I mean, I'm doing what I want to do, and it satisfies my gambling need, and it makes me feel like I come out on top. I know the house always wins, but 20 $22 to win 40. Essentially, that's fine,
Nick VinZant 45:25
okay, but then why not just put off if your strategy works like I would be dumping mortgage payments into it,
John Shull 45:33
because I am not that brave. There are people that are that brave in that's why they run the show. Okay?
Nick VinZant 45:40
Are you ready for our top five? Then
John Shull 45:45
I am, as long as you you can't criticize any of my my top five.
Nick VinZant 45:51
Not criticize any of that's the whole point.
Nick VinZant 45:55
Why
Nick VinZant 45:56
would I not criticize? Criticize? Can't you handle criticism? Think you got to toughen up there.
John Shull 46:02
All right, fine. Okay,
Nick VinZant 46:03
so our top five is top five sports. Sounds your number five.
John Shull 46:10
So I just want to say that my number one, I left it off because it's kind of generic, but my number one by far, is like the sports crowd pop in any sport, like when there's a goal, when there's a big hit and wrestling, when there's a surprise person that comes back, that's my by far number one. But I left it off because it's too generic, Steph way.
Nick VinZant 46:30
Okay, okay, sort of the crowd. And I wouldn't even have put that honestly at number one, and I don't really consider that to be certainly by far number one, so I'll just disagree with you.
John Shull 46:42
All right. So my number five and this, they're all kind of peculiar, but my number five is when a football in American football doing soft and upright, and it's going, it's going, and you just hear the thud and it kicks the other way. I have so off the upright is my number.
Nick VinZant 47:01
I agree with that. I have a little bit higher on the list. My number five is race cars zooming past. It's such a cool sound. You know exactly what that sound is, too. Like you can't get that anywhere else, I don't think
John Shull 47:16
so. I have that a little higher up on my my list, actually.
Nick VinZant 47:20
Oh, okay.
John Shull 47:22
So my number four, man, it's actually a really hard list to compose, but for my number four, I'm going to put when a boxer lands a clean punch and you just hear that smack or thud, and you're just like, oh damn
Nick VinZant 47:37
Yeah. Like a real clean connect,
John Shull 47:41
like, if you've ever been to a boxing match in person, and you you, you can just feel it almost like no matter where you are in the arena, and you're just like, how is that other person even standing? I would have been laying there crying.
Nick VinZant 47:55
My number four is bowling strike. That's another really good one. Sound like that lead up to it, and then the strike sound. And you can always like, Oh, that's a strike.
John Shull 48:09
Yeah, it just sounds full, you know what? I mean, yeah, that's a good one. I have that one on my arm. Mentioned my number three is, what your number five was? The race cars going around, really, any, any race car like just going by, is it's an amazing sound, and it's so like to that sport, you can't get that anywhere else.
Nick VinZant 48:32
My number three is also your number five. My number three is the Doink on the uprights, because it's just such a funny sound. That's like, ah,
John Shull 48:41
yeah, that's, I mean, you two even made a song about it, which is kind of funny, yeah, back in the late or early 2000s late 90s. I forget the name of it, but it centers around a missed field goal, and that's how they open up the music video, and then that's the that's the premise for the song.
Nick VinZant 49:05
YouTube sucks. YouTube is a band that the farther you get away from them, the more you realize that they're like, crap.
John Shull 49:13
Did you get
Nick VinZant 49:14
you like?
Nick VinZant 49:15
It's
Nick VinZant 49:16
kind of, the thing is, like, it's like, I don't know what they're like now, necessarily, but it's kind of like eating at Applebee's or Chili's 10 years ago. We were like, Oh, that's okay. And then as you get away from you're like, oh, that's just kind of crap. That's you too. Like,
John Shull 49:33
stuck in a moment that you can't get out of. Is, was the name of the song a few or anyone out there cares
Nick VinZant 49:39
what this this this episode has made me realize how much I dislike you too.
John Shull 49:47
All right, my number two is the swish of a basketball or a basketball going through a net, and the swish sound of it, baby, which I as I've gotten older, I have learned to appreciate basketball even more. Four for how incredibly difficult that truly is.
Nick VinZant 50:04
Oh, my number two is also swish. I would put some other basketball sounds up there pretty high, like when somebody dunks it and you can hear the rim kind of give way a little bit. Another really good basketball sounding shot is when it hits the rim and then immediately goes in, like it's right next to a switch, like there's no question about it. That's another good basketball set. Okay, so what's your number one?
John Shull 50:30
So I wanted to put two at number one. I'm not so the other one's going to the honorable mention. My number one is going to be the crack of a baseball bat. There's nothing like it, especially when someone connects and hits the ball 425, feet, there's nothing like it. It's it's one of the best sounds on Earth.
Nick VinZant 50:49
I think that is an overrated baseball sound. I don't think that that is the best baseball sound. I think the best baseball sound is the ball hitting the glove. Because not only are you seeing that in a sporting event, but that's nostalgia, like everybody can think of a time playing catch with their parents or their friends like that. Sound is a really warm, heartfelt sound,
John Shull 51:16
like a warm hug.
Nick VinZant 51:17
Yeah, I've been playing a lot of catch with my sons recently.
John Shull 51:21
What I thought you were going to have as your number one, which is what I what I didn't put as my number one. That went to my honorable mention was the cracking of pads during football, like on a on a big hit.
Nick VinZant 51:33
Oh yeah, I guess I'm not really. I never played football besides, like, touch football and tackle football without pads. So I don't know what it's like to be tackled with pads on because played a harder game,
John Shull 51:47
I guess. Yeah, what's on your what's in your honorable
Nick VinZant 51:50
mention? Ton that you could put on your, on your honorable mention? I think that are on there, right? Like I would say a dunk is a really good one. I don't think that highly of roar of the crowd, because I feel like that's always going to be there. I would substitute roar of the crowd for silence of the crowd, like complete silence before you know what's going to happen. I think that's better than roar of the crowd. Honestly,
John Shull 52:19
I'm not. I don't know if I agree with you. I mean, there's nothing like a pop, man. There's nothing like a roar. I'll put professional wrestling like when somebody hits the mat
Nick VinZant 52:28
and
John Shull 52:29
it makes that, you know, like the sound there. Both of these are kind of the same, but really anything that goes off of a post, like a hockey puck, soccer ball. The thud that that makes is pretty awesome.
Nick VinZant 52:44
Yeah, I had one just a second ago that I lost. Dang it. I can't I just blanked. I
John Shull 52:51
also,
Nick VinZant 52:52
keep going. If you got any other
John Shull 52:53
ones, I also, I also, like when ice skaters stop on the ice and it makes like that sound and I sprays up. That's, that's pretty awesome.
Nick VinZant 53:03
I could go golf. You hit a really good drive. There's a certain sound to it, anything where you, when you do it correctly, it's got a really certain sound to it, like, oh, that's the sound that you're looking for.
John Shull 53:19
Curling knock I had on there too. Like, well, yeah, each other,
Nick VinZant 53:23
that's a good one.
John Shull 53:24
Like, that's
Nick VinZant 53:24
yeah, curling knock is a good one.
John Shull 53:28
Yeah, that's very, very, you know, sports Pacific, but that's it
Nick VinZant 53:33
for me, specific, or Pacific
John Shull 53:37
specific. Could
Nick VinZant 53:39
you just start saying that's very Pacific.
John Shull 53:43
Pacific
Nick VinZant 53:43
just, will you do me a favor for the rest of the week, whenever you have a chance to say specific, say Pacific instead, and be very Pacific about it.
John Shull 53:52
Why are you being so why are you being so Pacific?
Nick VinZant 53:55
It kind of sounds the same a little bit. You really have to, like listen to tell that the person didn't say specific, they said Pacific. Okay, that go ahead and do it for this episode of profoundly pointless, I want to thank you so much for joining us. I don't know why. I just felt like saying that as fast as I possibly could, but let us know what you think are the best sport sounds. I think roar of the crowd is overrated. It's probably amazing if you're hearing it as a player, but I think it's a little overrated as a fan, because everybody's always yelling about something. But let us know what you think are the best sports sounds.