Jackie Dubrovich is one of the best Fencers in the world. And after just missing out on a medal at the 2020 Olympics, she has her sword fixed on 2024. We talk Fencing, the Olympics and movie sword fights. Then, from parking garages to concerts, we countdown the Top 5 Hardest Placed to Park.
Jackie Dubrovich: 01:27
Pointless: 34:12
Top 5 Hardest Places to Park: 58:04
Fencing Non-profit: Note from Jackie: This organization was started by a teammate of mine, Nzingha Prescod, whose goal is to bring fencing to the Flatbush, NYC area and introduce the sport to an under-served community that may otherwise not have access to it. The program is at no-cost to the kids, and they have free access to coaching, training and fencing equipment. If any listeners are moved by their mission, they can donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fencing-in-the-park-inc--1
Interview with Olympic Fencer Jackie Dubrovich
Nick VinZant 0:12
Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, fencing and parking,
Jackie Dubrovich 0:20
fencing, there's advantages and disadvantages to every style to every body type. It was my first Olympic, it was a strange one, Tokyo was very, very, probably pretty well, like probably better than the average person. But it's fencing. Fencing is very different sword fighting and fencing is very, it's very different.
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. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is an Olympian who competes for team USA. And what I found so fascinating about this is that I've seen fencing, a kind of know what's going on. But the ins and outs of this sport at the highest level are just so much more than I would have ever thought. This is a Olympic fencer, Jackie dobro vich. So starting with kind of the basics, like I've seen fencing on TV. I know what's going on, but I don't really know what's going on.
Jackie Dubrovich 1:35
Yeah, we hear that a lot from a lot of spectators. So, yes, at its core fencing, you're trying to hit the opponent in front of you. And where it starts to get a little bit tricky is there are three different weapons. So I fence foil, there's also FAA and Sabre that have their own rules, their own target of where you can actually hit and touches register. And then it gets even more complicated because there's something called right of way. So there's a lot of rules. You have a referee, right, who ultimately designates whose touch it is based on the rules of right of way. Um, it's definitely complicated. But I would say at its core, you're really just trying to hit the person in front of you, and you're trying to get to 15 touches, whoever gets to 15 touches first. Or once time expires, whoever has the most touches, if you don't get to 15 is ultimately the winner. So I hear this a lot from my friends and family that it's very complicated to follow. It isn't the most spectator friendly. It looks cool,
Nick VinZant 2:43
though. Right? Like, every time I see it on whenever the Olympics comes around my eyes like ooh, fencing.
Jackie Dubrovich 2:50
Yeah, that's usually where most people first the fencing is during every four years at the Olympics. Um, I would say probably people who you most commonly associate fencing with like, you hear one of two things sorrow or a Parent Trap, that's usually people's first introduction to it. And people love Sabre Fencing Sabre is the really flashy weapon, it's the one where you can kind of they look like they're flying, you can hit people in the head, and accounts is a touch. Oil is a little bit different. I would say it's more technical, it has a smaller target areas. So we like to say that we just have a little bit more finesse. And then FA you can hit anywhere in the body. So any, you can hit somebody in the toe in the finger, and it would still count as a tough,
Nick VinZant 3:38
which one of those is kind of like that's, that's the big one. That's the big discipline, right? Like I think of track. There's all these kinds of things, but I go 100 meters at the end of the day,
Jackie Dubrovich 3:48
they were the one that people just love to watch because it's super flashy. It's super fast. You're seeing people get hit in the head, sometimes a bit brutal, I would say saber so I think if you're a non fencer, that's the most appealing to watch.
Nick VinZant 4:01
So then when we look at that, right, like the Sabre fencers do they have a little bit of like, Oh, I'm the Sabre fencer. Are they a little cocky er than the other fencers?
Jackie Dubrovich 4:14
I would say there are very distinct personalities that do better in each weapon. I will just leave it at that.
Nick VinZant 4:22
Very, this. So basically, I'll fill in the blanks for you like, that's a yes. But you're very diplomatic about it. So how did you know like, that's fencing doesn't seem like the typical sport that people do. How did you get involved in it?
Jackie Dubrovich 4:36
I first when I was younger, started doing dance and gymnastics. And I was very tall for my age. I'm 510. So grew to be pretty tall. But I was always very uncoordinated, very lanky. And so I didn't fare well in either of those two sports was very bad for my self esteem. I was not good at all. So I had a cousin that bends To the New Jersey has a pretty big high school fencing scene. It's the most developed in the nation, you have some of you know, the best fencers amount of the New York New Jersey area. And so I started fencing when I was eight, out of just playing around with it. Fencing has definitely grown in this country. But back then, it was very, very nice. Very few people have heard of it. I had kids make fun of me in school, they're like, do you jump over fences for a sport. So people didn't really know what fencing was. And I initially didn't like it. I really just didn't enjoy it. My parents kind of pushed me to keep on saying, and I started getting good results. First, kind of at the local state level, then I started traveling to regional competitions, big competitions. Eventually, as I got older, I started representing the US on various teams, for international and like world championship teams. And then obviously, I've grown to really love and appreciate the sport as I've gotten older. But I would say in the beginning, it was purely motivated by winning and medals and just being you know, talented at that young age.
Nick VinZant 6:10
Kind of a two part question, I guess, like, why are you good at it? When did you realize like, Oh, I'm, I'm pretty good at this,
Jackie Dubrovich 6:18
I always had a natural advantage because I was taller than a lot of the younger girls. My age. So having that length is pretty advantageous. And fencing, you'll see that a lot of the top fencers in the world, particularly for my discipline, women's oil are pretty tall. And yeah, I would say I started noticing. Probably when I was like, in my early teens, maybe like 1112 13. And once you started getting exposure on the national level and kind of seeing the other fencers that you're contending with. And I saw that I could contend with them. You know, I was a very physical fencer and I still am. In my career. I'm very physical, very aggressive. Those were kind of attributes that really benefit me and have gotten me to where I am in the sport.
Nick VinZant 7:11
When we look at like the sport, is it? Is it better to be faster, endurance wise, like what's kind of the physical demands that makes somebody successful or not successful?
Jackie Dubrovich 7:22
Yeah, that's a great question. I would say fencing is super unique, and that all different body types can excel in the sport. Yes, being tall and physical, has shown in this day and age of women's oil fencing in particular to be, you know, advantageous. But you also think of like fencers who so the, the Olympic champion in Tokyo was my teammate Leakey for and she has completely different body type than me, she's much smaller, skinnier. And it's interesting because fencing there's advantages and disadvantages to every style to every body type. And so it kind of levels the playing field. It's really I would say how best you develop those fields and attributes based on kind of like your, your God given you know, your body type. So it's really cool because I know obviously in other sports, there's there's certain body types that Excel and fencing, obviously, you need to be in shape, but there's no like one overarching body type that you have to be or you have to strive to.
Nick VinZant 8:30
There's not like there's not like a thing where you would look at somebody and be like, That person is a fencer, that's the fencers dream body to have or something like that.
Jackie Dubrovich 8:38
Not Not really, um, you can have a really small but fast fence, they're, they're very well against a taller fence or because they're able to kind of get in between the taller fence, there's tempos, and presumably the taller fence there is a bit slower than the smaller fencer. So immediately what comes to my mind is like, the Korean fencers or Japanese Spencer's, they're pretty short compared to us than some of the other countries. But what they lack in height, they're very, very quick. And they can kind of get in between our tempos and they're really hard to hit. So there's definitely advantages to all, every single body type.
Nick VinZant 9:15
What would you say is kind of like your overall strategy for when you're like going in?
Jackie Dubrovich 9:21
Yeah, I would say my personal style is very aggressive. I've always been a very aggressive physical fencer, I've definitely tried to develop other aspects of my game as well. And just use my strength and my, my height to my advantage, but also, you know, just, it's in fencing, you're always adjusting. That's something that I'm sure it happens in other sports. But you know, you see on the International Circuit, a fencer who kind of has a breakthrough who does really, really well at a competition. Everybody's immediately watching video on them immediately seeing what kind of style they have their tendencies and they pick up on that and know what to do to counteract that. And I would say from that aspect, fencing is a very cerebral sport, right, you're constantly changing your strategy, your tactics, and so you have to be very flexible in fencing, you have to be able to adapt. And so everybody kind of has, I guess, their core style and things that they're good at, but they're always trying to adapt to their opponents, and also to just everybody, you know, watching video on you, and knowing what your tendencies are. So in that respect, fencing is, is really, really difficult, but also really fun, because you always have to be creative and constantly changing.
Nick VinZant 10:37
So I was gonna ask you, right, like, do you even think, necessarily during a match? Or is it just all reflexes?
Jackie Dubrovich 10:43
It's a combination of both. I think if you had to choose, it's probably the reflexes that at the end of the day, if it's like 1414, and you're your one touch, whoever wins the next touch, you're probably going to go by your reflexes and all that training that you've done, versus being able to like have a game plan and that last touch, it really varies. It can be really exciting in that way, because I think, you know, you can be a top fencers. Not on any given day, but it happens more frequently that you would think
Nick VinZant 11:14
some sports I feel like 10 out of 10 Somebody's gonna win this 110 and a 10. And then some of them are like toss UPS all the time. Is it one of those things where like, you can get anybody on any given day?
Jackie Dubrovich 11:27
I would say, and this is speaking specifically for women's blow right now. There are definitely I would say like four or five fencers that have kind of differentiated themselves to be more consistent than other fencers. But they're not immune to losing early. So I wouldn't say on any given day they can lose. But it does happen more often than not. Yeah, I think like you said in other sports, some of those top athletes like it would be absolutely shocking. If they lost in the first round. It happens more frequently than you would think and
Nick VinZant 12:03
what do you like about it?
Jackie Dubrovich 12:06
Um, I would say how cerebral it is of a sport, I would say that I love the physicality of it how fast it is. But I also love being able to outrank my opponent, you know, when you have that game plan, and you're actually able to execute it, it's so gratifying, because so many things can go wrong and not actually work out in your favor. And so for you to be able to execute what you've been working on in practice, or what you your game plan was going into a specific belt feels really good. And it's kind of corny, but people call fencing physical chess, because you're always trying to think a couple moves ahead from whatever your opponent is doing. And so I really liked that that the Rebrov aspect to the sport.
Nick VinZant 12:51
D can you usually go back and look like okay, this is why I lost to this person.
Jackie Dubrovich 12:57
Yeah, yeah, that there's a lot of video that we watched in fencing, you pick up on things that you did, in certain moments of the bout, you can see like specific moments, maybe lapses of focus or judgment. And then like very concrete strategic things, you can see where maybe the bout has shifted, where maybe you were up eight, five, and then you are in your one minute break. And then the next period, your opponent's scored like 1010 touches and one. You can see why those things happen. Whether it's it's a strategic shift on your opponent's and maybe you stopped doing something, or just mentally you know, you you lost it. So video watching videos, a very integral part, I think of the training process for fencing.
Nick VinZant 13:42
So I may get the resume wrong, but 2020 Olympian? What was that? Like?
Jackie Dubrovich 13:48
Yeah, it was my first Olympic. It was a strange one. Tokyo was very, very, very different. Very different experience. And obviously, I'm so like, thankful and appreciative of the of the experience. But it was not like your typical Olympics that you've heard had happened in years past. People were very scared of getting COVID and not competing. So there was less socializing. There was less of that. Magic at the Olympics where you're meeting athletes from different countries and you're socializing in the in the lunch room, right? There was not that much of that. So I am hoping I'm training for Paris 2024. And I hope to be able to make it to, you know, again, have a shot at another Olympics, but also experience kind of the quintessential part of the Olympic experience. Yeah, I
Nick VinZant 14:43
would imagine that that was kind of right. Like, if it was me, I wouldn't leave my room. Right? Because you'd be disqualified if you got anything and they wouldn't they would kind of take away from the experience. I would imagine as you've looked back
Jackie Dubrovich 14:54
on it. Yeah, there was that whole element of people just avoiding contact with others and You know, everybody was still wearing masks in Japan was still one of the strictest places in the world in terms of COVID prevention. And so, um, you know, we were being tested every day. So there was definitely an air of just nervousness and people were really scared of getting COVID.
Nick VinZant 15:17
Are you ready for some hardware slash listener submitted questions? Sure. Can you do this professionally, like outside of the Olympics, can this be something that you can do as a full time living,
Jackie Dubrovich 15:29
and the United States, I would say, it's pretty rare. Um, you, you would have to have some pretty lucrative sponsorship to be able to, I think financially be able to sustain yourself. The money that we make from the United States Olympic Committee, and from like, the International fencing body is not a livable salary. So for me, personally, I have always had a full time job, I actually recently quit my job in this past January, and just decided to slowly train for the first time in my life, and just friends up until Paris. But for most people, that's not a reality, the system in the United States is not really set up to be able to spend full time after college. And that's why we kind of see a pretty high attrition rate from when people graduate college because it's, you know, you have to, you know, 99% of the time have a full time job right with unless you have parents who are still, you know, covering your living expenses and training expenses. So it's definitely difficult. And there's other countries around the world who have different systems right with their governments, right, where the government sponsors and Olympic athletes, or they are part of like their policed or their armies. And so that's how they get their salaries that way, but a niche sport, like fencing in the US, it is definitely very, very hard to continue fencing post college.
Nick VinZant 17:04
I know this is like a really difficult question to necessarily answer. So as close as close as you can possibly get pulling talk about like popularity of it? Where do you think that it would be? Right? Like the ones that I can think of immediately off the top of my head? Like, is it above ping pong? Ball? Oh, ping pong? Like, where would you say that it's kind of sit in the hierarchy of American popularity?
Jackie Dubrovich 17:30
Probably not high. I would say, you know, I've been doing a sport for 20 years now. And it's definitely grown a lot. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that. One is that people have a lot of parents have understood that fencing can be great for college recruitment. So that's been a big driver of like, adoption of fencing. And the United States is, you know, the top Ivy League schools, right, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, have all great have like fantastic fencing teams. And so there's definitely a driver there is to get into college. And then you have other great programs like Notre Dame Stanford, right, all fantastic schools. So that is definitely, I think, a big factor. And I would say also, you know, fencing, has gotten more popular through just some people in the sport, have gotten into, like fashion and things like that, and kind of have pushed the sport a little bit more into the mainstream, I still think there's a long way to go. And I think fencing, fencing is a really unique sport, and it's great to see that it's growing in this country, I definitely think we can grow even more. But from where it was back when I was eight years old, I think there has definitely been a lot of growth. And I think one thing that does make it sometimes difficult for it to grow in this country is because it often has a reputation. It's not spectator friendly, because there are a lot of rules, right? And it's kind of sometimes hard to follow. Like you said, when you watch it, you kind of have no idea what's going on. If you're not, if you're not a fence there. I think there's a lot of things on the back end that, you know, USA fencing can do more in terms of promotional content marketing things to kind of draw the masses to learn more about the sport. And I'm curious to see in the lead up to La 2028 Because we do have, you know, really great metal potential both in Paris and in LA as well. How sport can grow even more?
Nick VinZant 19:38
What Why do you think that it isn't more popular?
Jackie Dubrovich 19:41
I would say there is a bit of a barrier to entry. Fencing is an expensive sport. Getting started, you know, you have your equipment fees, do you have coaching fees? Fencing has also always kind of had this reputation of being this elite sport, right? You think of kind of the pro EPI, elite sport and I think it's trying to kind of shed that image. There's a lot of organizations in this country that are like non profit organizations are trying to bring fencing to communities that otherwise wouldn't have had access to fencing. Myself, you know, included, I, my parents couldn't afford to pay for fencing for me. And so I got by a lot, you know, you know, coaches identified my talent pretty early on. And so they kind of helped Invest in me. And I was able to get funding, you know, through through the club's system and in this country, as well. As you know, once you reach the top four in the US, you get funded for your travel. So, I think, I think that's one of the biggest factors is kind of that reputation and that barrier to entry. And so making fencing more accessible, introducing him more to communities that may otherwise not have had access to it before is a great way to start growing the sport in the US.
Nick VinZant 21:02
Follow that up with a lighter one. How many times do you think you hop in about?
Jackie Dubrovich 21:10
I have no idea. I've never been asked that before? Um, I don't know. But it's a lot. It's a lot because you're constantly moving. Right? It's it's short spurts of really, really intense movement. I don't know, I'd have to get back to me. But I will say a lot.
Nick VinZant 21:30
Wider fencers move like that, is that just like the fastest way to kind of move forward and move back or side to side? Like, what's the reason for that style of movement?
Jackie Dubrovich 21:38
Yeah, it's, I don't know, like, historically, why that's always been that kind of position. Right? If you're right handed, you have your right leg faced facing forwards and your back leg and like a 90 degree angle. Um, I'm not sure the historical reasons behind that. But like, you know, I've seen photos of like, historical fencing and things like that it is always in that position. So it's always been that way. It's definitely a very awkward position. And it's very funny when I have like friends who want to try the sport for the first time. It's very funny to try to see them get into on guard position, because it's not a natural position for anybody to get into.
Nick VinZant 22:17
Who's the who's the country? If the EU, if it's the US, it's the US, but like, what's the country that like, oh, no, here come the.
Jackie Dubrovich 22:27
For us, it varies by between the men and the women and the different weapons. For us, for women spoil our biggest competition. Right now, I would say, our Italy, Italy's number one in the world, or number two, and also France. So obviously, the Olympics will be in Paris. So fencing, brands, if we end up hunting them will be Gary is there the the home countries, so always have to, you know, they always have an advantage on home soil. And then Italy, historically has been the toughest country for us, they have beaten us much more often than we have beaten them. And they beat us in the Tokyo Olympics in the bronze medal match. So we ended up finishing four. So that's gonna be hard. Fourth, is very painful to walk away with nothing. Sorry, if
Nick VinZant 23:23
I just brought up a hole.
Jackie Dubrovich 23:25
Okay, I've had a couple of years away from, you know, away from it. So I can talk about
Nick VinZant 23:30
is this a sport where a woman can beat a man? Yeah.
Jackie Dubrovich 23:33
And so I would say in foil fencing the men, right, if they're faster and stronger, there's kind of no way of getting around that. But what braid about fencing, you know, when we were talking about kind of the different body types, like an Excel, there are always counter actions to every action and somebody straight and always be, there's always something that you can do to overcome that strength. So I be in many men in my training, I would say if I was fencing, let's say at a World Cup in an international event in the men's event, it would be very difficult because of just this, the strength and the speed component. But I do think women are more technical. And I think I can beat a decent amount of men, I would say, and I think I'm also very physical fencing very tall. And so that physicality and aggressiveness I think, benefits me and so when I do encounter a man who is very strong and fast, I can kind of go head to head with him a bit, but there's there's also a limit to that as well.
Nick VinZant 24:44
I'm just okay, but somebody who goes in one discipline, can they transfer over to another one? Or is it like, no, no, no, you're good at this one. And you are going to not transfer over to this one.
Jackie Dubrovich 24:56
Yeah, so I'd like at this stage in my career, I would never be futzing up there. Your saber, they're very different. Now a lot of people are kids, when they start off fencing, they started foil and foil, you build a really strong technical foundation. And then from there sometimes, you know, you may move into eBay or you may move into sabre. So I think oil is a great foundational weapon because you just learned the the technique really well. And just kind of the basics of fencing. And then you can kind of branch out if you want for the other weapons. Again, fa like, some things that coaches look for when they kind of move their students into different weapons is for FA funds there, they may choose someone who's really really tall, being very, very tall and FA right you can at that you can hit anywhere in the body. The timing is though is a little bit different. And so being tall is more advantageous than FA. And Staver, you kind of sometimes look for somebody who has a lot of passion and strength and is very, very emotional fence. Sabre Fencing is very emotional, I think. And so there's certain attributes that that coaches will look for, depending on you know, and then they'll place them into another weapon. If they don't stay in foil. Does it hurt. Um, you get used to it. So you get bruises. You know, we have our protective gear, and it does its job for the most part. But if somebody is very strong, they can hit you and you come away with bruises. Other injuries, like we get a lot of women have a lot of hip problems and fencing because you know, the way that you stand and fencing and the lunging is really hard on our hips and just women's hip third, shaped differently the men's hips. And so you see a lot of the top female fencers have problems like torn labrum, things like that, in terms of like, when you get hit, you kind of get used to it. It's not that painful. But for somebody who was not used to it, it will be a little shocking to just get hit with a sword.
Nick VinZant 26:59
I would imagine it feels like a paintball gun. Like Yeah.
Jackie Dubrovich 27:04
So I can't compare it. But yeah, it leaves a bruise. Like I have bruises after practice, every every practice and I just get used to it.
Nick VinZant 27:12
How would you do in an actual sword fight?
Jackie Dubrovich 27:15
Oh, gosh,
Nick VinZant 27:17
how often do you get asked that question? Right? Is that is that the first question somebody asks you what did they find out? You're usually Yeah,
Jackie Dubrovich 27:23
okay, like that. Sword fighting and fencing is very, it's very different. Probably pretty well, like probably better than the average person. Um, but it's fencing is fencing is very different. Fencing is not like what you stereotypically imagine like Knight, sword fighting, right? There's, it's very different than that. But I would say probably better than the average human.
Nick VinZant 27:50
There's never been like a situation where there was maybe something going on and even like, let me use my fencing background to stop this fight or anything like now.
Jackie Dubrovich 28:01
I stay out of those kinds of situations, but I will say fencing definitely like it your reaction time your hand eye coordination, it's pretty, pretty elite, though. I would imagine if I ever got into an altercation like that I would be.
Nick VinZant 28:19
Okay, do all right, who's the best fencer of all time.
Jackie Dubrovich 28:21
She is an Italian women's Boyle fencer. This is across all disciplines, and between women and men, her name is Valentina Vitali. She retired. Rio was her last Olympics, I believe, but she has won every imaginable thing like multiple multiple time Olympic champion world champion. Many World Cup medal titles, Team titles, she is the goat of the sport.
Nick VinZant 28:52
What Why was she so good?
Jackie Dubrovich 28:54
She was her timing was incredible. She incredible, incredible timing, um, fencing when she was fencing was a bit different. I would say now, women's football, fencing has definitely become more physical. Whereas before the women were not as the women that were doing very well, we're not as tall, I would say as physical. And so her timing was just impeccable. Like you would watch her and you just your mouth would be a gate, but just like how fast she wasn't decisive, and she knew exactly what to do at every single moment. And she had a crazy work ethic and was a perfectionist and she, yeah, she was just really, really incredible to watch.
Nick VinZant 29:39
Is there trash talk?
Jackie Dubrovich 29:42
Like in the middle of a fencing ballot or afterward? Either one? Not really because Benson kind of has this. There's a certain decorum that comes with fencing. It's a very respectful sport. You're always you know, you salute before and after about you shake hands with your opponent, there's a lot of respect that happens in the sport. So I would say min saver has probably the most amount of trash talking. But I wouldn't say there's there's very much trash talking.
Nick VinZant 30:15
I don't know if this one applies, right if you want. Do you want to take this one day? Good? If not, if not, best swordfight seen in a movie? Oh,
Jackie Dubrovich 30:24
yeah. Honestly, they're all horrible. You know? Like, I truly think that if you feature fencing and like a movie, or TV show, you need to work with actual fencers to be able to accurately reflect what fencing is like, everything that you see in like, The Parent Trap, or like I hear about the James Bond scene where they send recently wasn't there the Netflix show with who was a Wednesday the Addams Family, I think there was a fencing scene in it too. It's all so inaccurate, it's very frustrating. It's a little bit of a pain point in the fencing community because all they have to do is hire somebody for a couple of hours to show you how to like properly be in like fencing position. And you know, and just kind of coach you through it, and it would be a lot more accurate than it's currently portrayed.
Nick VinZant 31:24
This may you may crush my feelings here. But how do you feel about the Princess Bride scene though? Right?
Jackie Dubrovich 31:29
Like that's kind of that's that was not the worst one. There's there's much worse. It's really not that bad. It's one of the better ones that I've seen.
Nick VinZant 31:39
I still think of I'm not left handed. I love. I love that one. Anyway, oh, best piece of fencing lingo.
Jackie Dubrovich 31:50
Oh, this one's kind of funny. Whenever I say this. I mean, I don't think it's funny. But people who are not fencers think it's funny. So we call our the pants that we wear. They're called knickers. And so people think it's really funny. And in England, they call them breeches. So it's just kind of like an outdated term that, you know, people kind of laugh that whenever we say that we have to go put on our knickers or our breeches.
Nick VinZant 32:16
Yeah, it's kind of um, okay, I don't know if one person no one actually athlete that I asked this question too, is like, I don't want to answer some superstitious. Um, but what's kind of coming up next for you, I know, you got a lot of stuff coming up. It sounds.
Jackie Dubrovich 32:33
Yeah, it's very busy for us now. So I leave for Peru this Thursday for zonal championship. And then we have a training camp at summernationals, which is the biggest fencing competition in the country. And we have a training camp in preparation for World Championships, which will be in late July in Milan. And it's a big one. Because all of this counts towards the Olympic qualification. So the way fencing works is instead of like gymnastic, or I believe, like diving, there's certain sports where you have just one event and that the event that you have to do well out to qualify fencing as a full year. So you have to compete at both national and international events. And then you cumulate points based on your results. The top three will if you qualify team, the top three will go as individual competitors and then you have the fourth as a reserve athlete for the team event. So it's, it's a long, it's very important events coming up and it's a long qualification season for us.
Nick VinZant 33:38
I want to thank Jackie so much for joining us if you want to connect with her. We have linked to her on our social media accounts. We're Profoundly Pointless on Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And we've also included her information, as well as some links about how you can get involved in fencing in the episode description. If you want to see some of her competitions. We've included those in the YouTube version of this episode, which goes live on June 22 at 4:30pm Pacific. Okay, now let's bring in John shawl and get to the pointless part of this show. Would you want to fight somebody with a sword?
John Shull 34:21
No, actually, I would rather run at somebody with a gun with the intent that they may shoot me before I go to try to attack somebody or defend somebody with a sharp object
Nick VinZant 34:34
is like a sword to me is scarier than any other weapon. Like if somebody was coming after me with a sword than almost any other thing. I mean, like Whoa, man getting the hell out of here.
John Shull 34:44
I think there is a there's something about folks and I said sharp objects to where you go like that takes a lot more effort.
Nick VinZant 34:53
I can understand that. Right. Like if somebody's coming at you with a gun or a firearm or something like that they might not be entirely serious. It's like, okay, maybe they're just doing this for show. But if somebody's coming out with you with a sword like they mean some business.
John Shull 35:08
Are you saying this because you have a sword and you went after somebody?
Nick VinZant 35:12
No, I do have a sword, but I keep it in the back of my car. My children look at it every time, but I bought it for six to $5 when I was drunk, it's pretty awesome sort. Honestly,
John Shull 35:21
that was one of the best purchases I think you've ever made in your entire life.
Nick VinZant 35:25
I really feel like that was one of my best purchases. The most value I've ever gotten out of $65 is talking about injuries or what's the best purchase you made in your life that you've been like, Ooh, that's a good purchase really happy I bought that thing.
John Shull 35:41
There's not there's not really many to be honest. I mean, things that really I mean, I can't really think of one right now that stick out. I guess I there's isn't one object or the where I'm like, Man, thankful I bought this object or this thing.
Nick VinZant 35:54
I can think of a couple I bought a wagon that I use to both cart my children around and my groceries. That was an incredible purchase. Having a wagon Hooli rake. I don't know if you've ever known who the rake is. But if you have an opportunity to buy a Hooli rake, you should absolutely buy a Hooli rake. good pair of scissors. Good kitchen knife. I can think of a lot of things that I bought was like, Oh, thanks. I'm glad I bought that thing. That was a good idea. Bike Rack.
John Shull 36:24
No, I mean, are there things where I'm like, Yeah, that was a good idea to buy. Sure. But are there things you know? Is there one item where I'm like, Man, I'm really thankful I bought that, man. I
Nick VinZant 36:33
really, it kind of sounds like you're not really making making smart purchases then.
John Shull 36:38
Or I am because I'm not spending any money.
Nick VinZant 36:41
That's not true. You buy a lot of dumb shit.
John Shull 36:43
I wouldn't say dumb. That's things that I like, makes me happy.
Nick VinZant 36:48
So then, but you didn't list those as any of the purchases that you're happy with. So then how happy could you possibly be? Because I'm
John Shull 36:55
not gonna sit here and tell you buying a tabletop board game is what made me happy, but it does make me happy. I'm so used to tabletop board game. I don't know. I mean, they vary. I mean, it's like anything you can get one, you know, for 50 bucks or you can buy one for $150.
Nick VinZant 37:12
Which one are you getting?
John Shull 37:14
get you on the shipping? Well, that's where the bathroom get you know, they
Nick VinZant 37:17
always get you on the shipping. Do you think that they're really spending that much money on shipping? You think that's just a hidden charge? Oh,
John Shull 37:23
it's a hidden charge? For sure.
Nick VinZant 37:24
Yeah, it is. Why did you say that? Like Ben?
John Shull 37:27
What do you mean? How did I say it? Why? Josh? Well, I just took I just took a drink of something real fast. It's kind of like the back of my throat. So I just
Nick VinZant 37:37
know. I've been noticing you've been drinking a lot of flavored water. What's going on?
John Shull 37:42
I have well, I'm trying to drink so much water a day, right? And there just comes a day where I'm like, I don't want any more fucking water. Like, you know, I'm just done with it. I'm drinking like nearly 200 ounces of water a day. And it's like, when I get to the to like now. It's late afternoon, early evening. I'm like, Man, I just don't want any more regular fucking water though.
Nick VinZant 38:07
Why are you drinking so much water?
John Shull 38:10
I'm just trying to clean out the system a little bit. You know, trying to trying to just trying to do one thing decent.
Nick VinZant 38:17
I'm the only thing that annoys me about water is that the answer to everything seems to be just Hi be hydrated now. Like, oh, you got it. He lost an arm just get hydrated.
John Shull 38:28
I mean, it's you know, the one the it helps though the functional functionality of your body. Right, does it? I think it does. I'm gonna listen, I have no fucking clue. I'm only going by what doctors have told me. But I mean, why would they? While I almost just said one of the most asinine comments, you can
Nick VinZant 38:43
go ahead, go ahead and say go ahead and say it. Let's hear it.
John Shull 38:45
Why would the doctors lie?
Nick VinZant 38:49
I mean, for the same reason anybody lies me dad's
John Shull 38:51
a doctor. How many times? Did he just not give a shit?
Nick VinZant 38:55
No. I mean, that's a job that you take pretty seriously, right? Even if you don't care, like you don't want to get sued. So like, you kind of have to get that right. You generally want those people to kind of know what's going on. My dad is a doctor and he would always go on a big rant about how the eight glasses a day was bullshit. And that you really only needed to drink when you're thirsty. And I was never really sure if he was like, does he know what he's talking about? Or is he just set in his ways? As I think he might have been set in his way sometime? I might have been right. He was a doctor.
John Shull 39:25
You're probably right. I don't know though. I don't know. But that's a cute little McGee got there. What are you drinking tea?
Nick VinZant 39:32
No, I don't drink tea.
John Shull 39:34
Oh, what are you drinking on the mug?
Nick VinZant 39:37
I'm going through a cup phase. Do you ever go through phases where you're like, I'm gonna drink everything out of a cup. Like it's just soda, but I put it in a cup. I go through phases. You never go through a phase where you gonna put everything in a cup instead of drinking it out of the container that it was in? No, because I'm a grown ass man. I'm a grown ass man too. That's why I got this fancy ass cup. Not summer cut. Pay I'm sure we both got haircuts, how much you paid for your haircut, that's cheap off,
John Shull 40:03
I was actually ranting a little bit. And I, this is gonna sound terrible. And I apologize in advance for the place and I love this place, by the way, before the pandemic was 16 bucks, then during the pandemic, it went from 1822. Now it's $25 you're paying $25 for a haircut, that's a $10 increase in four years.
Nick VinZant 40:27
I look at everything in terms of percentages, that's almost 100% increase. If you think about it, it's probably like 75% increase. I got my man. I don't know what his name is. I don't think he speaks English, but he cuts your hair for 1895.
John Shull 40:41
Is there like a? Why is there a cent thing on there? Should it just be 19? At that point
Nick VinZant 40:46
at 95? That's what he wanted. That's my man. Well,
John Shull 40:51
you know, but by the time I'm done with tip, it's, you know, 30 to $33, which is fine, right? Because if you think about it, but you go every two, three months, I mean, it equals out to like, $15 a month, which is not bad. I really wait. You're getting a haircut every month. Probably I have to go like every two months in the summer. I probably should go every month. My hair grows. I'm like a chia pet.
Nick VinZant 41:13
Yeah, I could see that. Actually. I could see that a little bit. Longer. Is it still there? Man? That's good. Okay, all right. Let's
John Shull 41:20
see. All right, well, well, listen, I gotta, I gotta say one thing real fast. So this has been kind of bothering me for the last couple of days. So you know, we put out our top five lists on on social media, right? I don't know. I'm gonna I'm gonna screw up this guy's name. But Ben,
Nick VinZant 41:36
are you going to try to argue? Are you gonna try to argue? Why don't you
John Shull 41:41
don't listen? Here's the thing. Don't Don't don't respond on social media to a post and say that I have the worst list your list and not terrible. It was fine and not give any backup to anything. All right. So Ben, if you're listening, which you maybe you maybe you are. Put your top five out there. Let's see. I want to see what your top five shows are.
Nick VinZant 42:04
I think it's because that like, so my former career I was a news reporter and you just faced criticism for anything that you did no matter what Right? Like if you wore a blue shirt on a Monday, people would be mad about that. So I don't pay attention to any kind of criticism. It doesn't bother me in any way. It didn't it well. Oh, you're good looks. You seem like it's pretty upset about you will flustered it's not that a bothered me. But
John Shull 42:26
first off, you say guy on the bottom. You didn't even you don't even know my name. So that pisses me off. First off, take the time to get to know my name before you call me out young man.
Nick VinZant 42:34
In his defense, we don't put your name anywhere on that my name isn't on it anywhere. There's no yes. Then listen, listen, like he's not gonna invest that time. I'm frankly on his side. That's one of my favorite things, right is when somebody just puts on the post and puts wrong and says nothing else. I love it. Because I know that it drives you crazy, which is why I love it. Right? I like some construct. I agree with you that I like some constructive feedback. And I don't care what it is. Somebody's got to make a legitimate point. And they can kind of like hey, this is how I feel about thing. I'm legitimately interested in what people have to say. But I love it when somebody just puts like wrong. No, no, I know it noise the hell out of you. And I'm just like, I can't wait for John to really bad
John Shull 43:18
is to off. I had this whole thing I literally over the weekend. I had it on two separate occasions, I had probably two paragraphs ready, click Send a bend and I was like now. Now I'm not going to do that. So
Nick VinZant 43:32
I got the advice one time that write a letter and then burn it. I never don't argue with people online man.
John Shull 43:39
There's just kind of like that, too. Right? Like, you know what, once you send it once you put it out there in the world, it's out there like it's out there.
Nick VinZant 43:49
That's why I don't like to say things over text message or anything because you have a written record of everything that you've done. I am trying to adopt the Soprano's method of like I only talk to people about things face to face. That's fair. In a middle of a field. Why no, there's no cameras. You can't trust people, man. Something might be recorded.
John Shull 44:10
Oh, absolutely. Like you
Nick VinZant 44:13
gotta watch it, man. You never know what's gonna come back by genius.
John Shull 44:16
All right, here's some shout outs for the week in Bend. You are not on this list. By
Nick VinZant 44:20
the way. Shout out to what's his name. What's
John Shull 44:21
his full name? Ben doesn't even the guy that you know what he gets as much respect as he gave me the guy that commented on her Instagram posts about that,
Nick VinZant 44:30
you know that he took time out of his day to watch something that we created and if you put something out in the world, you can't be sensitive about what people have to say at it. Once you put it online. It's not yours anymore. It's the world's gonna handle the criticism than your own business.
John Shull 44:46
Don't get me wrong. I It's I already said it's not about the criticism. I'm fine with that. I mean, he could have said a million things about my appearance, whatever a god knows it's there. But instead he just said the list is terrible. Tell me why give me Your ideas may be more constructive with your feedback. Yeah, exactly. Tell me make me make me a better podcaster Ben All right.
Nick VinZant 45:09
I hope that people just keep crushing you. From now on I hope anyone listening to this just goes wrong all everything Johnson sure
John Shull 45:16
they will. I'm sure they will at least a certain a certain group of them I'm sure will. All right some shoutouts first, Brent Purvis Joseph colada.
Nick VinZant 45:27
God, how much does he hate his last name? Purvis
John Shull 45:31
Dylan blow. Mickey Gibson, Josh of Ullaeus. Josephs ditzel. Jack Edmonds, that's a good strong name Jack. Edmonds sounds like
Nick VinZant 45:43
a car dealership. Jack Edmonds Ford. That's a car dealership right
John Shull 45:49
there. Miguel Ruiz. Chris, you and Noah Harding. Chris Gaea? That's why you h and it looked like it was wasn't you know, as a real last name. So good. Good for him.
Nick VinZant 46:02
Why would anyone ever use their real name on the internet?
John Shull 46:07
I mean, don't we?
Nick VinZant 46:09
Do you have a burner? Do you have a burner accounts? Do you have any burner accounts that you troll people on?
John Shull 46:14
No, because I don't I don't troll. I don't care enough to troll people.
Nick VinZant 46:19
I thought about it. But then I just got lazy. Like, that's just too much effort to be involved and things like that. You
John Shull 46:25
would absolutely troll people because you're kind of a troll in general.
Nick VinZant 46:30
Yeah, but I don't think it's as interesting if you don't like if you got to, like, let them know who you are, right?
John Shull 46:36
I mean, I guess so. I don't write I
Nick VinZant 46:38
think it's more. I like I've said I've said this before in previous episodes, I don't think there's enough confrontation in the world.
John Shull 46:45
Well, listen, I'm gonna stop you there. Because that's my first question. Because I had a little incident over the weekend on the golf course, which we won't get into. But wasn't it wasn't terrible. It wasn't about what to get into it. No, it wasn't like, there was no lay. It never got maybe above like a two, right? But me, two out of 10 out of 10. But anyway, so my question to you is, how old is too old to get animated? Or, like, basically be ready to throw down over something? 3540? Like, when do you just not give a shit anymore?
Nick VinZant 47:25
I don't think you should ever reach that stage. I think that you should be 95 I think you should be two days away from the grave ready to go at people if they're doing something that you'd be willing to stand up for themselves. Man, world is gonna walk right over you. You don't have to be mean, you don't have to be violent. You don't have to be a jerk about it. But I think that standing up for yourself is something that's incredibly important. And people should always do. Don't take people's shit. Most people will like and the thing is like, I'm not a big guy. I'm a smaller guy. And if you come at somebody,
John Shull 47:56
they'll most of the time they're gonna back down. Like you got to fight for what's yours, man. I cannot take you seriously as you keep drinking up out of that mug. Just can't do it.
Nick VinZant 48:06
I like this mug. It's got that special kind of cooling stuff that I don't know if it actually works, but you definitely have to pay more for it. My wife got it. My wife got it says teaching is a work of art. She's a teacher because you have a good Father's Day. I love Father's Day. No man. Father's Day is a coolest. That's my favorite holiday in the world.
John Shull 48:23
I know like my wife and kids did it up for me. And I was thinking yesterday like man, I probably should start taking mother's days.
Nick VinZant 48:32
Yeah, it's weird that as much as I like Father's Day, I don't really pay a lot of attention to mother's day cuz I don't want to go to brunch. Fucking high brunch always hated much. What was your story?
John Shull 48:46
It was it. We don't have to get into it. I just wanted to know what,
Nick VinZant 48:49
wait a minute. So who did you get into with on the golf course?
John Shull 48:52
I wouldn't say got into it. But we mean somebody's golfing. Obviously, we're walking up to a green to putt. And somebody had hit their ball into a sand trap near the green. And they were driving near it. So I pointed to the ball. And I said it's right there. So then the driver and these are two younger guys. The driver then says can you point to the ball again? Kind of like being a smartass. So I was like it's right there. And then they said something else. And I said, Well, you wouldn't have to worry about it if you were to hit the ball straight. And then the other ball and drove away. But But then my friends afterwards kind of made me feel like the day they almost pulled the nickname Zan on me. And they were like, what if you know, the driver, his buddy was basically making fun of the guy that hit the ball. It was like telling me like the point out the ball again, like making fun of him. Like what if they weren't talking shit to me, but like the guy was actually asking me to like make fun of his buddy. Again,
Nick VinZant 49:54
probably. I don't think that there's not a lot of confrontation on the golf course. How many people were in the car
John Shull 50:00
too there's too many more of us two of them. Yeah, dude,
Nick VinZant 50:03
he wasn't gonna start to people aren't going to start stuff with four people. He was probably just trying to get you to make fun of his friend and he misread the situation took it took ours. This is the whole thing, right? You can't take things personally so much, man. People aren't always out to get you
John Shull 50:17
must. It must have been man it must. It must just be me. Maybe I'm just ready to attack always. I have no idea.
Nick VinZant 50:24
What are you so upset about? Dude, why are you so stressed?
John Shull 50:26
I mean, you're my friend. Right? That's one thing right there to be stressed out about?
Nick VinZant 50:31
Right? You can't always be a firecracker, man. Sometimes you gotta be slow burn.
John Shull 50:35
Well, my second question here is, it's not serious at all. Do you prefer was your first question? I was asking you what? At what age is a tool to confront somebody?
Nick VinZant 50:47
Oh, never. I think this guy, right. I think that you've always got to stand up for yourself. Otherwise the world's gonna walk all over
John Shull 50:55
you again. My second question is, what what's your favorite type of noodle? Regular noodles. Whole wheat noodles. Or chickpea noodles.
Nick VinZant 51:11
What's this? The kind of what's the spaghetti? Doing? My favorite? I
John Shull 51:14
don't know why put any thought into this question. Yes, spaghetti. Right? Like what? Give me the blue box or wherever you shop?
Nick VinZant 51:22
Right? Like, I don't know, what kind of answer are you looking here for Right? Like I want the kind of noodle that's an ancient grain that is descended from the fields of Italy and been passed down through generations and is cultivated by a small group of farmers that only farm with non industrial equipment, talk to the spaghetti.
John Shull 51:44
I should have known my audience. I don't know why I even thought that you may have any kind of anything on a different kind of noodle than literally, you know,
Nick VinZant 51:53
I've just never like I think about a lot of things. And I've never thought to myself, what's my favorite kind of noodles? The cheapest one. That's how I buy spaghetti. What's the second cheapest thing that I can find? Because it's all spaghetti.
John Shull 52:08
I just should have known what's what's the better color blue or black probably get more out of you for that.
Nick VinZant 52:14
Oh, well, but it depends what you're doing right like blue is ultimately the better color it makes you feel better think it's a better looking color. But Black is always a standard thing that you can really it's hard to go wrong with black and a lot of situation.
John Shull 52:27
All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna move on here. So, like usual. Check out our Twitter. usually on Mondays you can check out we have a bowl up. You pick it, we talk about it. So here are the choices that did not get chosen this week. Beavers color of beavers I love beavers to
Nick VinZant 52:44
write animal Right? Like I think that as a society we have greatly underestimated the importance of beavers.
John Shull 52:51
I don't know how beavers made it into like being a sexual innuendo?
Nick VinZant 52:57
I don't know either. Honestly,
John Shull 52:58
what like there was a lot of animals. You could compare it to a woman's you know what? Maybe
Nick VinZant 53:03
his hair cut. Maybe it's the same color.
John Shull 53:05
A beaver like
Nick VinZant 53:08
why would it be called a beaver? That doesn't really make any sense.
John Shull 53:11
Doesn't like as sharp teeth and a floppy tail.
Nick VinZant 53:14
I have no idea. And it's not exactly like I mean, a beaver is not really a hairy animal. I don't think so. Right? No. I would have beaver.
John Shull 53:25
No idea. All right. Let's see the show date rush. Apparently a new season is coming out and it was trending all over Twitter. Have you got to tell me what country the show date rush comes from? I will buy you dinner. For Norway, Norway. Now gonna close. There was a new poll released.
Nick VinZant 53:49
What is it? What is it?
John Shull 53:51
It's kind of what you think it is. It's a it's a Canadian television show. Apparently, that it's a dating show. But it's like out of Ghana. It's Canadian. And I guess
Nick VinZant 54:05
if you had Did you know it was Ghanaian? Did you know that's like the way to refer to people from things coming out of Ghana Ghanaian? Or did you have to look that up?
John Shull 54:15
No, I actually knew that actually. That's incredible.
Nick VinZant 54:19
Thanks. Good for you. Raymond. Nalli.
John Shull 54:23
Tom, I can do that. Ah, let's see the other one that you
Nick VinZant 54:27
know, you have a piece of knowledge that you would love to come up in conversation so that someday that you can say that. Like, I just can't I want someone to ask me this question so that I can someday say this thing.
John Shull 54:39
This? I mean, that really? I mean, I don't I don't think so. Do you?
Nick VinZant 54:43
I know why the wind blows and I always am hoping that someone asks me what why like the wind blows? And I always want to answer that question, but I've never had the opportunity to give an answer as to why wind wind exists.
John Shull 54:58
Nick Yeah, Can you tell me why does the wind blow?
Nick VinZant 55:02
Well, it's ultimately because the Earth doesn't heat up at the same rate, the Earth is tilted on its axis about 24 degrees. So as the sun comes up, it heats up the earth in different parts differently. And that temperature imbalance causes air to move from one location to another, which causes when,
John Shull 55:20
let's see, the other one that did not win was there was a poll released. I don't even remember who it was by now. But basically, that stated that just because you drink every day does not mean that you are considered a heavy drinker. I kind of agree with that. So yeah, I mean, you know, does usually for me, though, just doesn't end at one beer.
Nick VinZant 55:43
That's the problem. Right? So I don't think that you should read that. And then think that there's an excuse, like, oh, okay, I'm not heavy drinker. You haven't six beers a day, man. Yeah, you are? You may be at that point. Right. Right. Right. Everything is relative.
John Shull 55:58
So what one actually and this is an ongoing story. So by the time this podcast comes out, probably won't be relevant anymore. But apparently, there was a there's a there's a submersible that that Tours The Titanic. wreckage, and apparently that little submersible has gone missing with five people on board.
Nick VinZant 56:23
Well, they're probably not going to be found.
John Shull 56:27
It's just weird, right? It's, it's one of those things to me. And the reason why I kind of put it on there was one for two reasons. One, it's interesting and it's current to it kind of reminds me of that Malaysian flight that just disappeared and has never really been found. How does a submersible with you know, how many tracking things they have on it? Just go missing? I mean, he doesn't happen.
Nick VinZant 56:51
The ocean is a big place, man. I don't know if you're aware of this. The ocean is quite a large place. And something probably happened in crushed everything that I do I understand what you mean, right. There's some things that I I can never tell. Right. Like, how Don't you find this? And how could you find that I feel the same way about stuff. Like wherever people go missing, like in Florida and the swamps. Like, how could you not find them? And also, how could you find them? I think I feel both ways about the same thing. Like how could you do this? And how could you not do this at the same time? I would never get in a fucking submarine man. Never.
John Shull 57:29
I mean, I mean, I say I would, I would, I think I would, especially for something like that. Like, if they're like we're gonna go to are you around the you know, I'm gonna set the remains of the Titanic that if I guess that's what they are. I would do it for sure. I would do it sounds fantastic. I didn't
Nick VinZant 57:45
do no way I would. That's the kind of thing that I would wait for, like, Well, I'm just gonna wait 10 years when they get virtual reality and I won't be able to tell the difference. Okay, well, wait to bring up the last hope they find him.
John Shull 57:59
I hope so to be praying for we'll talk about it next week.
Nick VinZant 58:02
Okay, all right. Are you ready for our top five?
John Shull 58:05
I am.
Nick VinZant 58:06
So our top five is top five hardest places to park.
John Shull 58:10
I love how you pick this out first off you we never plan these things more than like two hours in advance. And you sent me this on like a Friday so I'm curious to see where you're going.
Nick VinZant 58:21
I was high watching somebody trying to park
John Shull 58:25
um, so my number five it's pretty boring. But it's just the grocery store.
Nick VinZant 58:31
I don't have any trouble parking at the grocery store. Just grab the first spot you seeing get over with it stop looking for the thing that's gonna save you 20 steps of walking.
John Shull 58:42
I mean, mind you. This is kind of like a really terrible list for me because I have anxiety parking so I I've documented a plenty of times on this podcast. I don't like confrontation and parking lots. I will just dart into spots. Like I will park a mile away from the store. Yeah.
Nick VinZant 59:01
My number five is an airport. I don't know really struggle that much with like the airport parking like extended parking. But when you've got to like drop somebody off or pick somebody up that whole parking experience is a pain in the ass because you have no idea where anybody is coming from who's going where what lane you're supposed to go in. I think airport arrival departure parking is one of the most difficult places department.
John Shull 59:27
Orlando we're a city where we both used to live has by far. And I've been I mean I don't want to sound worldly, but I've been to a few airports. And Orlando by far is the worst arrival and departure drop off slash parking you can imagine because they always have. I don't know if it's an airport officer. I don't know if it's an Orlando Police officer but there's some kind of officer out there that does not let you sit there for more than five seconds before they're like, you gotta go. You gotta keep going. You can't stop here and it's like, oh, like what am I supposed to do? Like I'm waiting for a loved one. Like, I'm not going to pay 20 bucks to park to come back to walk across, you know, it just makes no sense. If somebody
Nick VinZant 1:00:07
tells you that they want you to be at the airport to pick them up at 1230 their flights coming in at 1215 What time are you actually going to get to the airport to pick them up?
John Shull 1:00:17
See, I'm always in early. I'm always early. I mean, I probably get there around noon. And then No, not in Orlando. I would not like but you know, in Detroit, like Chicago, like you can sit there like and wait for arrivals, like in a line or whatever.
Nick VinZant 1:00:32
You're gonna get there early before their flight leaves. Blot Rives. Yeah,
John Shull 1:00:38
yeah, of course. Because what if it comes in a little, I mean, usually it will nowadays, you can check the flight, right? So you can see where they're at, if they're actually coming in, but back in the day, and I say back in the day, like a decade ago, you know, yeah, I'd get there half an hour early. If if that was the case,
Nick VinZant 1:00:55
you're a nicer person than I am. If I'm picking you up from the airport, you can fucking wait. If your flights coming in at 1230 I'm gonna get there. 115 give you 45 minutes to get through everything. And I'm coming in there. And you're getting picked up. I'm showing that I'm showing up 45 minutes after your flight. I'm not going to leave my house until your flight lands.
John Shull 1:01:19
It's quite a dick move. But I mean, that's, I mean, efficient, right? Because by the time they get there, they have bags or even by the time it takes them to walk, you know, from the gate to the to the you know, to the where you're getting picked up. It's probably 20 minutes. And
Nick VinZant 1:01:32
yeah, that works out generally. I've most places that I've lived the distance from the airport, and I'm going to leave when your flight lands, and it's probably going to be about right. I don't know why you're showing up 30 minutes early. That's all right. You got to you. That's a bad strategy, man. You gotta adjust that. My number
John Shull 1:01:51
four is parking at get togethers. And I specifically mean you know, say you parked in the driveway and then someone parked behind you. Or you get there there's like that one spot at the end of the driveway or you park on the street but you know, be a lot easier if you parked on the driveway or should you park on the street it's there's there's a there's a lot of angst that goes in the parking I get togethers.
Nick VinZant 1:02:15
I never Park in someone's driveway, you pull in somebody's driveway when you go to their house.
John Shull 1:02:19
No, not usually. But you know, it's always a thing. And I'm glad I'm never a part of it to where someone's like, yeah, I parked in the driveway, and you back up to let me out. And it's just like, No, want nothing to do with that.
Nick VinZant 1:02:31
No. Why would you park in the driveway, you don't park in the driveway at somebody's house unless they specifically tell you ahead of time to park in the driveway. You don't park in somebody's driveway. And they probably did. So rookie mistake, man
John Shull 1:02:44
it is it's a rookie mistake.
Nick VinZant 1:02:46
Oh, my number four. If you get it if you know, you know, it's a crowded trailhead, because you've got really no other options. If there's no immediate place to park, you kind of gotta wait for somebody and you have no idea when this person might potentially be coming back. Or you've got to like find a parking space on the side of the road. And you have no idea if somebody's going to block you in or if that he can even park there. Or if your car is going to be back so like a crowded Trailhead parking. That's that's, that's a risk. You don't know what your car is gonna be there when you get back.
John Shull 1:03:22
It's funny. Yeah, I agree with you. I though I don't even know what you're talking about. My number three is metered parking. And once again, for those of you who get it, you get it. But it's just so stressful because you park at a meter. And then if you forget how much time you put in, you know and then I always find I always wind up having even if I get my car I feel like before the time is expired, I still got a fucking parking ticket.
Nick VinZant 1:03:48
Oh, why don't you just do it through like the app? Yeah, you do do it through the app. Once you just renew it through the app,
John Shull 1:03:54
just terrible. It's just terrible. It's stressful. Stressful. It should be free parking. I hate I hate it stresses me out. So metered parking is my number three.
Nick VinZant 1:04:04
My number three is a high school parking lot. I remember going to school and like the amount of accidents that happened in the high school parking lot. Between people walking, people driving people parking. That's a difficult situation to park in parking a high school parking lot. And if you go back as an adult for some situation where you have to park in a high school parking lot, and then you see all these teenage drivers. You suddenly realize like why did this ever exist? This is all a bad idea.
John Shull 1:04:34
I was gonna say to you go to high schools often now.
Nick VinZant 1:04:37
I mean, when I was working in news, you'd have to go and like, Southern happened at the high school. You had to go to park in the high school parking lot. Yeah, talk to kids and things. No, I mean, you had to go talk to like principal and school officials. Don't talk to children.
John Shull 1:04:51
Oh, sure. My number to
Nick VinZant 1:04:55
be like you turn that around instead of just acknowledging the different parking in high school Barton
John Shull 1:05:00
It was fine for me. I had seen your parking I had Junior parking like
Nick VinZant 1:05:04
I had an open lot all yours was well regulated. Yeah,
John Shull 1:05:08
I mean, I don't know, it wasn't, I don't remember ever being stressed out about parking. Mine was a free for all. Like I I do remember during like driver's training in my High School's parking lot. A guy named Tommy corn going up over the, you know, the sidewalk, literally almost into the school. But other than that it was fine. So parking
Nick VinZant 1:05:31
was great. I had a different experience. I saw a lot of racks in my high school parking
John Shull 1:05:35
lot. That's what happens when you go to high school and Keynes NASCAR and Budweiser main Do
Nick VinZant 1:05:42
you think they'd be able to drive better? Okay, what's your number two?
John Shull 1:05:46
My number two is I mean it's I don't know how to phrase this correctly. But it's really like any kind of like a traction whether that be sporting events, Disney World, even the zoo will put on there so like any kind of attraction parking is a stressful as hell.
Nick VinZant 1:06:05
I have no difficulty with event parking. They usually seem to have that pretty well. They got somebody flagging you, waving you over here waving you over there. That actually think event parking is very easy. They that tell you, this is where you go? Why is that stressful? someone telling you exactly where to go?
John Shull 1:06:21
Yeah. But they're like parking this spot. And you're like, I can't fit in that spot. And they're like, Yeah, you could. And then like, they pressure you and then you get in there. But you can open the door. And it's just this whole thing. Why don't you know and then you pay 20 bucks, like give me a break. All right.
Nick VinZant 1:06:35
So you'd rather have a free for all than somebody organized parking you telling you come this way. Go right into this spot that's organized goes to the next spot. That's not organized. To me. It's perfectly organized. This is like the definition of organization. Go down this row. Follow the guy he's gonna point you right in that spot. And the person behind you is gonna park right in their spot next.
John Shull 1:06:54
Herman is that spot open? Okay, you're just not
Nick VinZant 1:06:57
paying attention. Here's the thing. You're not paying attention. You're not an attentive driver. I think event parking is one of the easiest places to park.
John Shull 1:07:04
I don't like crowds. I don't like people. Good. You're just
Nick VinZant 1:07:07
nervous, man. You can't follow simple directions while driving. I think you're the problem out on the road. What's your underground parking garage. An underground parking garage is always smaller than a regular parking garage. You can't see underground parking garage to me is one of the most difficult places to park.
John Shull 1:07:26
I don't recall the last time I've ever parked in an underground parking garage.
Nick VinZant 1:07:31
It's hard, tighter spaces. Less maneuverability. Like the space is smaller. The space that you have to pull into the space is smaller. underground parking garage is way harder than an aboveground parking garage. That's that's one of the highest levels of driving difficulty. All right, Jim one
John Shull 1:07:50
street parking.
Nick VinZant 1:07:54
Yeah, my one. My number one I really actually thought about it, but it falls into the umbrella of street parking. My number one is downtown parking. Anytime you're parking on the street downtown, because there's a lot of traffic. There's a lot of people you don't know if this spot is going to open up. You got somebody in your ear that's always like that one's open. That one's this one. That to me is the worst parking place.
John Shull 1:08:17
It's you know, and you have to parallel park and there's so many cars now that pretend to do it for you. But they really don't do it for you. It's stressful. It's all stressful parking.
Nick VinZant 1:08:28
I do love the watching someone parallel park.
John Shull 1:08:32
Yeah, I don't I don't even like I just want to get away. Give me wherever I'm going.
Nick VinZant 1:08:38
I'll compliment somebody if they do a good job on a park parallel park and be like, That was a good one. That was nice.
John Shull 1:08:44
Do you know the key to a good parallel park is?
Nick VinZant 1:08:46
Yeah, start earlier in the think that you have to do.
John Shull 1:08:50
There you go. And don't be you're not you're not going to hit the vehicle in front of you. Because you're just not going to. So
Nick VinZant 1:09:00
I saw somebody that this weekend, though, that like they had started it off so badly. The start is really the beginning. If you line it up right at the start, you're gonna be fine. I live in Seattle, you got to parallel park, probably once a week. So I have to do it a lot. But I like it when somebody does it wrong. And then they've like almost gotten themselves stuck.
John Shull 1:09:22
There like awkward now, right? Because they don't want to back up but they don't want to go forward. Like that. For sure.
Nick VinZant 1:09:28
I think the hardest thing to do though, is parallel park on a hill with a stick shift, which is what I
John Shull 1:09:36
Oh, well, you include a stick and anything and it's gonna be tough to do.
Nick VinZant 1:09:40
Yeah. Okay, you're watching your honorable mention.
John Shull 1:09:44
You know what? I don't I don't really have any I mean, I put them all but like that's the same thing as a grocery store. Really.
Nick VinZant 1:09:52
I can see. I thought about an outdoor mall, because you got a lot of people, a lot of people kind of looking around not really paying attention to what they're doing. People walking across crosswalks that kind of stuff.
John Shull 1:10:07
Yeah, I don't I don't know. Like, you know, I had hospital parking too. But like I don't really once again, it's I know nothing really good on my honorable mention today really?
Nick VinZant 1:10:17
Okay. Yeah, it's kind of all covered by basically like street parking downtown parking. You need to get out more man. Try to park in an underground parking garage and see how you do. You want to talk about that? That nerve racking. Take your
John Shull 1:10:29
stick to the trailhead, and I'll see you later. Oh, okay,
Nick VinZant 1:10:33
that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of Profoundly Pointless. I want to thank you so much for why can't I talk? I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, leave us a rating or review. Doesn't have to be some big thing. Just a couple of quick words. And let us know what you think are some of the hardest places to park. I really think that John is under estimating the difficulty of an underground parking garage. But if you know you know
