Episode 6 - 500 + 50

Episode 6 is hosted by Atik Syed with guests Zahid and Belaal Merchant. Special thanks to Lokma for sponsoring this episode.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:18

500 plus 50. I'm joined by Mr. 500, Zyhead Merchant and the Junior, the Law Merchant, with 50 hits this so far. And this episode is also brought to you by Lokma. Lokma is located in Oakville, providing heavenly bites of dessert. Mention BSL for a special promo. Visit Lokma.ca. Some great, I've had some great, great dessert foods from there, to be honest. But before I get into me, let's get into the the the guests. Guys, what's up? How y'all doing? Everyone's good.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

How about you? I'm the left.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

I'm good. I'm good. Today's a big day for some of us. We have some OUS playoff games today, but we're not here to talk about OES. We're here to talk about BSL. And the the key story right now in BSL is the big milestone that was reached by Mr. Z Merchant getting that 500 hit this past Sunday. How did that feel?

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Uh it was pretty crazy. I well last week I knew I had a chance at it. I needed seven hits uh last week in order to get it. I ended up getting five. I didn't even get, I don't think I got more than seven at bats. But uh this Sunday uh I got a hit in my first one, so I knew I needed one left. And I had my family there, Riyadh and Ray, and all these guys knew I need one more, so a little bit of pressure, but uh I got out on my second one, I flew out, but on my third at bat, I was able to get it, and it was uh it was pretty nice. Uh I got an ovation from the the guys that were watching, and Riyadh came and took the game ball and got it for me. And so yeah, it was pretty it was pretty nice. Um, I enjoyed that. Um, it's obviously 13 years in order to get to this point, so a lot of hard work and and whatnot. But uh sad I wasn't able to do it against Bilal because he was playing on the other diamond, but uh my wife and uh the other kids were there to to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, that's crazy. Bilal, when you saw that when you saw that going on on the other field, what was what was going through your head, man?

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Yeah, so during the game I was too locked in. Uh, I didn't see it, but after that after when I was walking by, like my dad told me from beforehand, he was like, Yeah, I have like two more hits to get the 500. So I mean, he could have just flew out two more times and then done it against me, but I mean it works on the left.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Yeah, we don't play like that. We don't play like that. You get it when you get it. I don't think you're one of the sabotages to lose it. Yeah, but but no, none of my teammates knew nobody on my team knew. Uh, I don't think the team uh Ottomans I was playing against, I don't think anybody else knew. Uh Riyadh obviously knew um because he had to do some of the the league orchestrated stuff afterwards, and uh I think he told the guys that are in the bleachers, so it was uh it was kind of a a hidden um achievement. Like not a whole lot of guys knew that it was it was right there and right on the cusp of it, but oh wow, yeah. I had no idea. I think when Riyadh announced it, I think I think that's when maybe it kind of clicked into everybody to say first time it's happened, and there's a few guys that are very close to getting it too, like Ray, uh Emma the Mod, Osman. There's there's a bunch of guys that are very close, and probably next season or the year after that they're gonna get there, but yeah, it was the first time happening.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Well, speaking of last Sunday, we had some interesting games and the standings kind of mixed up a little bit compared to last week. You guys want to get in get into those standings? Talk about what's going on because we only have one week left before playoffs, correct?

SPEAKER_04 3:46

That is correct. Yeah, final week of the regular season.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

That's crazy. Well, the season kind of flew by, I feel like this year, and we're we're 20 games have already been played. That's crazy. We got two more games, and then it's uh it's uh it's on to the regular season, the postseasons, the postseason's here.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

Yeah, what's going on with the Nuts right now?

SPEAKER_03 4:08

They're booming, I feel like. Nah, we've been playing really well. Sammy's been locking it down. Obviously, we've had a couple attendance issues recently, so that it kind of like messes it messed us up. Like last week, we went, we should have done better. Uh we tied one and we lost to the Abbasids. But other than that, like when we have a full roster, our team is like like it's killing it. Like we have Sammy at short. When he's here, he's killing it, like he's locked down. Uh our L field is really stacked too. We have like guys like rotating out of the L field that can still catch like crazy ball balls. So our team's good. Uh our hitting is really well too. It just comes down to attendance issues, which inshallah, like when it comes to playoff time, then we shouldn't have those issues. But yeah, I feel like our team has a really strong chance this year.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Okay, okay. So you you're you're confident on the on the team's chances for the postseason, eh?

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Oh yeah. My team, my team is chilling, inshallah.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Would you say that you're this team's better or the team that you were on last year was better?

SPEAKER_03 5:16

See, I can't say that when you're here because then it's like taking a dig at you. But I I will leave that up to uh debate.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

For the sake of uh who was on your team last year again? What team was it?

SPEAKER_03 5:33

I had uh it was my dad, umr. We had Ray, Rhea.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Was it the Mughals or what team was it? Yeah, Mughals. Oh, well Mughals were one seed.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

We were the one seed and we lost in the final.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

We were the one seed, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember you guys did have a great team that year. Wow. And Idris was part of both of these teams. Is that is that a sign?

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Idriss was a part of both of these teams. Ray was on both of my teams, so a couple playing with the same two P like two people both seasons, but uh they're good brothers, so it's been fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah, it's crazy. And Zahead Merchant forgot last year that averaged a 691. Golly.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

Yeah, age catches up with you at some point. So there's there's no way that I thought I was gonna repeat the 691. There's no chance. I told the team when they drafted me, I'm like, hopefully, you're not expecting me to do what I did last year, because last year I felt like was uh a bit of a unique year. Uh everything just kind of worked out perfectly. But uh I I I think I I I think I'm I'm I'm doing okay from what I expected my expectations to be at the beginning of the year. Like uh it was a little bit of a slow start in the middle, um, but uh it's starting to come back around. Well, what about you guys and the Mamluks? What's going on with the Mumluks recently?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Well, we had a dry spell. We had a dry spell of no wins in the past, like I think it was all of July. I don't think we won it all in July. We had a game of six game streak where we lost five and tied one, and it was just terrible. We were missing guys, some guys were injured, and it just it was a terrible, we were just playing bad too, honestly. We were just it was a terrible streak for us, and me especially, and I feel like hitting-wise, I'm not where I should be at all. But we've kind of picked it back up. We got the new signing, we got Kareem coming in. We picked it back up the past couple games. We got picked up a couple wins, and we're confident, honestly. We still believe we have a great team, and we do have a great team, a great roster. And defensively, we got better with Kareem. The outfield is we're locked. Like, I don't know if it's in the air in the outfield, especially towards me and Kareem. I don't see it dropping at all. So, yeah, confidence is still there on the team. Ahmed Ahmad having an amazing season, 731 average. He's killing it. And we're I can tell the guys we got were competitive. We want to win, we want to win bad. So I think we're gonna make something happen in the playoffs. We're gonna try to get that three seed um with these last two games in the regular season and keep that momentum going to the to the playoffs, man.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

You guys have a chance to move all the way up to second if things bounce your way, right? Like the Nustrids have a healthy lead, they have a three-point lead, but yeah, if the Nustrids lose both, um you guys have a chance to go all the way to the second seed. Who are they playing?

SPEAKER_02 8:21

They're playing we play um Ottomans and a Ubid.

SPEAKER_05 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Ooh. Z.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

But oh are Ubids? Oh no, Bosses. Okay. Oh those are winnable games, though. Who are you guys are you guys full all there this Sunday?

SPEAKER_03 8:43

I think we're just missing one person. I think. I have to double check with that, but well, you'll see, you'll see, you'll see game come game time.

unknown 8:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

He's gonna get a call from MGM. Why are you telling everybody what's happening with the team?

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Okay, well, we can't forget about the Bostons here. Mr. Z, the number one seed your team right now. How are you guys feeling?

SPEAKER_04 9:10

We know we just gotta win one game on Sunday, and we're locked in at number one. Um, because we have the tiebreaker on the Nessrids with the run differential. So uh we just need to win the first game, and then the second game we can I would say not take our gather foot off the pedal, but just make sure that we rest the guys that are maybe hurting or whatnot because they may have playoffs elsewhere or whatnot. So we're just going into the first game, just try to get that W, and then the second game will kind of uh manage the what's it called? Uh what's the Kawhi term? Load management, load management load management in the second game. So but the standings are so tight, like you've got they are you've got two till six that are separated by like five points, right? Like, I don't think the the Ottomans can go to number two, but the Sultans can definitely get all the way to number two if if things bounce their way. So like it's at this point it's it's all up in the air. Uh the crazy part about this this the season this year is there's been five teams that have been in first place at one point in the season. Like obviously the Ayubit started the year in first place, then I think you guys, the Mamluks were in first place, and then the Masriz and the Ottomans, and now us. So it's kind of wide open, all depends on who's playing well that given Sunday and who has their full squad, and that's kind of determined the the kind of which team's hot and which team isn't.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Yeah, that's actually another thing that kind of like gets you gets at you is like those little mistakes in like one of those games that you thought were meaningless, and like you lost one or two games, you're like, oh whatever, we'll get the next one. Those two two one or two games could have changed your standing severely because of how close these uh close how close the gaps are between the teams right now. So every little mistake matters. As as Buck Martinez would say, it's a game of inches.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

It really is.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, like if we if we won that game against you guys last week, then we would have a much better chance at like still being able to clinch first two. Because then they have to win bosses would have to win both their games, so it puts more pressure. Well, that's that that two to six race is gonna be tight, man.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Yeah, you guys have uh the Nestors have had two ties in the last two weeks, right? If any one of those games went the other way, or if you had lost both of those games, you guys would have been down in third or or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

We'd be stuck in that, yeah. We'd be stuck in that 20s race. Yeah, so it's tight.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

You know, this this Sunday should be interesting. Let's see if uh all teams come out with a full squad and and and try to move up the standings because obviously the higher you are, the chances are you get an easier matchup in the first round in the playoffs. So obviously it's it's meaningful. Um, there's no buys in in our playoffs, but uh you get an easier matchup and you get to be the home team for the the matchups that you play. So I'll have to wait and see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah, I guess we will. Well, if we can talk about the standings, but we can also talk about some of the stats that are going on. Uh batting-wise, the same type of leaders that we'd expect. Ahmad Ahmad average wise is leading the league home runs. Oh, Faisal. Faisal's back with the home runs. Has he been hitting out of the park home runs?

SPEAKER_03 12:29

No, he hasn't been hitting as much as last year.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Yeah, he's at least he's tied with Amad. He's tied with Amid. Yeah, he is.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Oh wow. They both even knock him, so but he it definitely not like last year.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

I will say the Amadamad home runs that I'm seeing I've been seeing is just out of this world. And oh no, Amr Usgri took Tamura's RBI leading spot. That's not good. My boy Tomor, he deserves that, man. And then Ambe's percentage and hits, Amadamad are sweeping those categories. Um, not really any surprises. Any surprises? I don't think so. I think it's kind of what you'd expect.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Well, I'm I'm just surprised that the number of home runs is significantly down from last year. I don't know what the reasoning for that is.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Um, yeah. Like I feel like guys who usually hit home runs have not been hitting home runs recently. I don't know what it is. Like I would expect more of the few.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

I know Ahmad has hit a few over the fence. Fessel is hit a few. Uh Hamad's on my team. I think all of his are inside the park home runs. Uh Imrans are all inside the park. So like the number of balls that have gone over the fence this year is significantly down. We're not using a different ball, so I don't know what the reasoning is for that. Maybe the pitching's gotten better, maybe the wind and the the weather conditions have been affecting it. I I don't know what the reasoning is, but it's significantly down. Like for for last year, Vassal had 19 home runs. 19, I remember, yeah. I think if you I think if you add up the top, I think if you add up the top 10 guys, I don't think you get to 19 just for those top 10. Yeah. That's crazy. That is pretty crazy.

unknown 14:06

It's weird.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

It's weird.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

But yeah, okay. Well, let's talk about some defensive defensive stuff. That's one thing I feel like we don't talk about enough in this league. Some some defense. You know? We're gonna talk about some defense. Let's look at the pitching stats here. And oh, also, are we doing do we have uh what's it called? Any award predictions either right now?

SPEAKER_04 14:32

I don't know. Do we want to get into that? Like what time week now. I think the the award voting is gonna go out next week after the final regular season games are done. So the GMs have made their nominations. Now it's just uh we're waiting for the final games to be done before it goes out. So yeah, we should know in a few weeks uh who these award winners are. But uh I think some of those awards will probably be very tight. Like I don't even know, I don't even know who the MVP would be. There's just just too many close candidates that would be there. I I think the offensive player of the year is is pretty uh self-explanatory based on kind of the offensive stats, but um I think from an MVP standpoint, it's it's it's a toss-up between like four or five guys.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah, I guess we'll see. I guess we'll find out. I guess we'll let we'll let the next week's podcast get into all that stuff because they're gonna have all the nominees and stuff. Yep. But talking about defense here, pitching wise, we have Zaheed with the most wins right now with going to the last weeks of the season. Hanan Upal still carrying the most strikeouts with 38 strikeouts this year. But ERA, that's a huge stat. Zaheed Merchant with 7.6. You're doing your thing this year, eh?

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Yeah, I had a good week last week. My team helped me out, played really good defense, so that uh that really helped me get that ERA number down last week.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah, and the whip for Isvan is looking pretty low as well. He's doing a great job, and Fuzal is there for batting average against. Learned what that meant last time on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Yeah, but the surprise category for me is Hanan leading the league in strikeouts. Like, I didn't think that would happen.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Yeah, it's random, I feel like. I don't even remember him being a pitcher.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

No, he's a pitcher for sure, but like last year, he wasn't anywhere near the kind of the top in that category. So I whatever he's doing differently this year to get more strikeouts is it's is definitely good for him. Um, it's taking the pressure off some of his defense. Obviously, his team's not in the top five and in the standings or anything like that, but he's doing his job, at least trying to get guys out.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Yeah, uh Doc Zabek is he's 36, he's right behind him right now with the strikeout, so got a little race going. And nerve is right there at 35. And Nerv Nerv got some of my strikeouts, which I'm not happy about. But and he every time it happens, he'll he'll send it, he'll take a screenshot of it from the uh website and then send it to me on WhatsApp and then just send laughing emojis. He really likes to rub your nose in it.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

So I guess that strikeout race is close.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah, it is. Well, I guess this last week is gonna be it's gonna be key. Let's see who I wouldn't I wouldn't I saw something recently.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

There's this guy I follow on Instagram. Uh he has a thing with his team. If you strike out for your team, I don't know if it's strikeout swinging or strikeout looking or whatever, it's probably strikeout swinging. After the game, the the guy lines up on the fence. Uh, you remember the game Red Ass? You guys probably never played that. But basically, you go you line up on the fence and the entire team gets to throw their glove at you. Oh. Oh I'm sure that hurts.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Oh, I thought I thought it was gonna be like hitting a softball at him, but that's a lot better.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

You're gonna kill your teammate, but I'm sure that hurts. I saw that, I'm like, wow, that's like that's like painful. That's probably punishment for like striking out. But I I wouldn't mind.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

I know would be disabled if that happened. He'd not be playing right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Oh, that'd be good. Set it up, keep keep us accountable. Keep you accountable, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

But yeah, okay. I think that is enough looking at stats and uh looking at other stuff like that. Otherwise, though, one thing I did want to say, looking at the standings and stuff, if you couldn't say your team, what team do you think has the best chance to reach the finals?

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Here's the thing, come playoffs, anything can change. So it's tough. I would say I would say you guys actually have a chance to make finals. Okay, if I'm not saying my own team, you guys are like when we played you guys, you guys have shown like your batting is just like you guys just non-stop hit. And it's like the same thing with the bosses too. The bosses, these guys, they literally small ball everything, and it's it's like they hit they have everyone who can hit like everywhere too. So it's tough. So I would say between one of those teams.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Okay, okay. What about you, Z? Who would you go with?

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Uh making the finals. I think I think probably the uh outside of my team, obviously. I think uh favorites probably to make the finals with the Nasserids. But if I were to pick a Dark Horse team to make the finals, I think my dark horse team would be the Sultans. And only because they've got so many veterans on that team that have been in BSL for so long and been in so many situations that uh I think they might find a way to to win some close games, right? Um, obviously they have a couple a couple of uh scenarios where they don't have the best fielder or maybe the best lineup or whatnot, but sometimes when the game is on the line, you need your big dogs to show up, and those big dogs have been in these situations so many different times that they'll just find a way to pull off a victory for the team. So that's why I think they're probably my dark horse. Like nobody's paying attention to them, but when it comes playoff time and you face Amaraskri, Ray, Umer, uh Fay, right? Like these guys have been in the league for over a decade, right? So they they know how to get stuff done.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Yeah, you only saying that because they're their logo of the horse too.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Sorry?

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Are you only saying that because they're logo of the horse too?

SPEAKER_04 20:34

You trying to like play on nothing and then nothing new. There's no there was no pun intended there.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Yeah, I thought I thought you were trying to play something there. No, no, nothing to do with that.

SPEAKER_04 20:47

But now that you point that out, that's that's a pretty good analogy. Great analogy.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

But yeah, okay. Well, I think we're we're off the the BSL stuff. I think we should get into some would you rather before the the listeners get a little bored of us yapping and give them something something that they might like. Um are you guys ready for some would you rather? Sure, yeah, let's do it. Okay, well, I think these questions are more for me, but I'll answer them right in front of you guys' faces. Would I rather dunk on Bilal or strike him out? Um I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna hit you with a haymaker, buddy. I'm hitting you with the 360 under the legs, yeah, right in your face. Right in your face.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Not shaking me out.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

No, no, I'm talking about I'm talking about dunking in your face. That'd be way worse.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

Oh, I think Bilan plays right field. You can't even hit the ball right field.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

What do you mean I can't hit the ball right field? Hey, I think I think you remember the catch I made this week.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Oh my god. That was so annoying. Just let it go foul. Let it go foul.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

I I'm gonna get your get back. Don't worry. I'm gonna see you. I'm gonna see you out there. But yeah, I'd rather dunk on Balal for sure. Like, just hand like he's gonna fall on the ground, like it's gonna be like I'm over like dunking on him, like I'm gonna hang on the rim. Like, I have it all in my head, it's perfect. Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Yo, this is not a movie, bro. This is not a movie. You think it's gonna be like a loony tune? Like I do feel like end up on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Tongue out like MJ, like it's gonna be it's gonna be it's gonna be cinema. Um okay, next one. Would I rather rob Zahead of a hit or hit a home run on him? I think I'm hundred I I've robbed Zahead of some hits already. I'm trying to hit that homer off of him and just just just stunt it, you know? Do a little bat flip, you know, walk the bases like real slow, like give a nice little fish.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

You're not hitting the ball over the fence. What are you talking about? You can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Bro, I'm gonna get it over there. Trust me. Next year I'm gonna go. Next next year I'm coming in with some muscle, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

If you if you go to the gym with your brother, then maybe, but like nah, don't worry.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

He came out the gym more than you. I'm a busy guy.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

Well, softball season two, bro. You get you get you can't go gym now often. I know it's it's tough. You're supposed to go winter.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Yeah, I know. Well, that's what offseason's for. Exactly. Like, I know Z over here, he hibernates in the offseason. You don't see him, no, no winter softball, none of that. He's gone.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

No, I don't play no winter softball, but I'm in the gym in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

That's my exercise.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Like two months, two months before the season starts. That's that's that's that's where he goes. He goes to the gym, and then the second the softball season starts, it's like it's yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

As soon as the softball season starts, there's no more gym happening. I I work out at home, I have dumbbells and stuff, but as soon as January hits, you're like, okay, softball seasons are on the corner, and you get back in shape.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Damn. Uh okay, well, I want to ask you guys some would you rather questions too? Um, Bilal, actually, would you would you would you rather would I can ask you the same thing actually, but on my version. You almost struck me out. I remember what what you pitched, remember the last inning?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah, I pitched one inning.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah, and then I got did you get a foul ball off of me? Or am I tripping?

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Uh I actually don't remember. I think you flew, I think all like the three people I pitched to either like flew out or grounded out. I don't think I got a strike out.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

You didn't I know you didn't, but you're you had like two strikes on me, and I was literally, I remember in my head, I was like, if he strikes me out, I will never I'll never not hear about this. So I have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

If you let that happen, I am putting it everywhere, bro.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

That's gonna be like I had to make sure I got bats a ball. I was so scared, I was like, no, this cannot be happening right now. You get in your head though, eh? That's my biggest, like, I think, down thing is I get in my head sometimes, but I do too, but like it's software, bro. You just how do you how do you avoid I'm gonna ask Unk over here, Mr. 500. How do you get out of your head?

SPEAKER_04 25:08

How do you get out of your head? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Can I do I have to reveal my secrets now? A little bit. Give us a little sauce. Play a song in your head. Play a song in your head. Okay. I don't like that. Socket full of sunshine.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Don't focus on the situation. Just go up there, play a song in your head, relax, and just do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

I will say though, sometimes playing angry does help.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

Playing angry.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

Maybe especially when it comes to hitting. Bro, if when it comes to hitting, you can just smoke a ball if you're like in the right headspace.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Yeah, that can help when you're hitting, but probably you won't be very smart playing defense and running the base.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

I can tell you that from experience. Uh, but uh yeah, it can help you if you're uh like amped up before you go up there to hit. Maybe give a little give you a couple more feet on the on whatever ball you hit.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Yeah, gotta get the timing stuff right as well, depending on how you're hitting. But okay. Some more would you rather questions though? I'm gonna ask some something a little different, some a little different, not really like situations, but people. Would you rather Zyad Merchant? Would you rather your team, the team that you're playing for right now, the Abbosses, win it all this year, or Arsenal win the Champions League? Oh buddy.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Yo, he got so close lad this year.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

That's a hard one, bro. That's a hard one. Uh, I know my answer. They they've never won the Champions League ever before. I've won I won a BSL championship, but for my guys, the other 11 guys on my team, I have to win the chip.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

I have wow, you're taking chip over Arsenal Champions League.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

I don't get anything out of Arsenal win. Yes, I get enjoyment.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

You get so much like that's your that's your that's your do or die. That's your squad.

SPEAKER_04 27:07

They finally no one can say, oh I've been Arsenal fans since I was like what younger than you guys, like 12 years old or something, right? But I don't know, bro. I'm committed to the guys on my team. I have to do what I gotta do for the guys on my team.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Don't you hate hearing the champions of Europe, you'll never win that. Don't you hear like hate hearing that all the time? Wow, I don't have to listen to that. I did not, I did not he's not that he's not that into it. He's like okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Bilal, would you rather win the championship or bar or Barca win the championship?

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Champions League, yeah. I was gonna ask you the same thing, Bilal. What's what's your answer?

SPEAKER_03 27:43

I played the fifth. I am not you gotta answer an answer. You gotta give me an answer. Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I have a long career in Barca. I've had too much heartbreak, so just do what you will with that.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

Buddy, you're 20 years old. What heartbreak. Arsenal didn't win the Premier League title for 20 years, longer than you've been allowed.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Yeah, but the way that Barcelona loses, don't get me started, man. Don't get me started.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Well, so we have his answer, though. He's picking Barca team.

SPEAKER_04 28:15

You guys are young Bucks, man. You guys haven't felt what we felt. Imagine being a Leafs fan since 1967.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

I'm never even gonna in the world.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

Okay, I was also a Leaf Leafs fan during the the worst period of like their thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

But I've I've never been a Leafs fan in my life, and it's the happiest decision that I've ever made.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Yo, genuinely, yo. Don't get into any Toronto sports. I think T can tell you just don't get into Blue Jay.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yeah, T T's that number one. The Blue J is the only Toronto team that I really mess with for real.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

Yo, Atik, I'll ask you one.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

I'll ask you one. Would you rather win the BSL title with the Mamluks? Uh-huh. Or would you rather win Salam Cup?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Oh, that's a good one, you know?

SPEAKER_03 29:07

You've got people from both teams listening, so you gotta be very careful.

unknown 29:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

So it's basically like either win the win the You can only win one.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

You can only win one.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah, it's basically win the league or win the World Cup. Basically what you're asking me right now. Wow. I I don't know. I think I'm gonna have to take the Salaam Cup, maybe. I don't know. Ah I wanna win both. Is both an answer?

SPEAKER_03 29:35

No. I could have said both too. You gotta choose one.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

If I had to pick one, uh you gotta go with the World Cup, you know. You gotta go with the World Cup.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

What a sellout.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

I'm just saying it's the World Cup. Like that's like that's like I have to be honest. Yeah, Salaam Cup is the World Cup, basically.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

This is my problem with Solomon Cup. It's one weekend. Okay, fine, everybody waits for it all summer or whatever. But what if what have you what have you done with your team or invested in your team in order to win that thing? Like most people, nothing. You're just committed to a team, and that's what you play for. This BSL season, you you spent what 13 weeks with that with that same squad working out the kinks. You go here, you go there, we'll move you up, we'll move you down, trying to perfect the the team or the lineup or or whatnot. Like I would 100 out of 100 times I'd want to win with my BSL team. Because that's the team that I've spent the entire summer with. I've invested so much time and energy with that squad.

unknown 30:40

Right?

SPEAKER_04 30:41

Don't get me wrong, if I could win both, I would love to win both. But the investment that I put into my squad, like it doesn't match any other investment I put on any other team.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Yeah, slow cup is kind of like the the Olympics roster. Like you just join with the US, they just join them.

SPEAKER_04 30:57

You just join them in that in that one, you know, that one weekend and then you're done, and you and then I all of a sudden everybody from the day after the next Salaam Cup, you're like, alright, we gotta start planning for the next one. It's like, bro, this is like 11 months of doing nothing, and then you show up for one weekend and you play. Like, yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm not like as as much as I played I've played all these Salaam Cups and we made the finals almost every single one of them. It's just like it's like you it's like what's the the the the thing like you basically it's an assembly of uh guys that play for one weekend and then kind of dismantled, right? So that's the one thing that I missed, right? If we if I was a lot younger when this was around, um we started this as a group. We used to play in like the provincials and stuff like that. And this was when I was like my maybe my late 30s, early 40s, but if it was around when I was your guy's age, right? Like I'd be playing in a turn softball tourney like almost once a month, right? Just get out there with the same group of guys, go hang out for the weekend, you show up and you just go enjoy yourself, right? So that's what I'd encourage you guys to do. You guys should be considering going playing in other tourneys and stuff like that while your bodies can still handle it. Because when you get to my age, I play on Sunday, and then for Monday, Tuesday, I can't do nothing.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

I'm literally hot tub or just golf. That's pretty much the only thing I can do.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

You guys have been loving golf recently. What's going on? Everybody take Tyumore's been like just it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 32:25

Yeah, it's uh it's a love-hate relationship with that sport.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Oh, it's taking over BSU, bro.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

It's taking over it is it actually is these guys are getting older and they realize that hey, this is uh a lot less, I guess, taxing on the body. It's fun. I'm not gonna say it's not fun. Uh, I'm not as obsessed with it as some other guys. Like, I enjoy doing it.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Like Tamur, Tamur Sheikh. Yeah, he's he's lost it this year. No, he has like this guy. I remember after our games on the weekend. I go, I went to the car. I was literally just we just finished our games. I'm walking towards our the cars where the parking lot is. I look at T, he's he's already in his golf clothes, he's already in his golf clothes, you know. I'm like, where you going? He's like, I'm going golfing, man. What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Like, oh for sure. Yeah, he's got the bug.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Yeah, I would say driving range is fun, but like I don't know if I could do like a full tourist.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Yeah, I've never been early that good at golf. I've never had I never I don't know how to get that golf swing. That's just I'm so used to the baseball. I'm just not it's an adjustment. It's an adjustment. I feel mini golf though, mini golf.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

I'm pretty good at, but no, mini golf is fun. That's my type of golf.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah, honestly. Me, Bilal will go mini golfing. Winner gets custody of Zahead Merchant. I never said I was available.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

I don't think that's how it works.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Well, it's too late. I already made the deal, so you're playing for your dad, buddy. We're gonna see what happens. Okay, well, we have one more big topic to talk about, and it's happening soon. The all-star game and the all-star festivities that we got going on. Are you guys ready for all that?

SPEAKER_04 34:09

Yeah, I think uh after we get through this Sunday, I think the excitement for that will kind of pick up um uh still some stuff to be sorted out, but we've got some kids' activities and stuff like that to bring excitement. And then we got the home run derby. Uh, we got some special balls for the home run derby that uh should make it far more entertaining. Those balls apparently can fly 400 feet. So let's let's see what happens. It should be a pretty entertaining uh early well, late morning, early afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

What's the rundown of it?

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Like what's like the schedule for like there's the volunteer the volunteer appreciation game at 9 30, uh, which I think the both of you guys are invited to. Uh, and then the all-star game starts at 10. Um, the game's an hour and a half, so you guys will finish kind of 30 minutes before the all-star game finishes, so you guys can catch the end of that. And then we've got the home run derby for roughly about an hour um after that. And then we've got an ice cream truck coming. We'll be providing ice cream to all the players and families that are there, so should be fun.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Oh well.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

Yeah, it's gonna be a fun, fun day.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

I might not be there for the whole day though, because of my rec my rec finals.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

Yeah, that's right. It's on that Sunday, yeah. Yeah, it's on that Sunday. Yeah, but I think uh Imran was saying the ceremony is like at two o'clock, so you guys should be done well before that.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

The ceremony's at two? I don't know. You can sort that out. Oh yeah, I know, yeah, it is. But the I used to have to be there for games. Uh we'll see. Maybe I could play the game and then go there. We'll see. I'll I'll talk to merch and see what he's saying. That's a big boss right there. Scary guy. Amazing guy. But yeah, so speaking of the all-star stuff, let's look at our predictions. Who's winning the home run derby, guys?

SPEAKER_03 36:04

Yo, if if there are balls that can fly 400 feet, I I think is like it's gotta be Faisal.

SPEAKER_04 36:11

Who are the nominees? Who are doing it? Facil or something that hasn't been finalized yet, but you can probably expect Fasel will be in it. Hamad will probably be in it, Emma the Mad will probably be in it. Like those guys are in the top three or four in the home runs. Um, the rest of them Do we do we give Kara a Hall of Fame nod and like let him get in there too? Or yeah, I don't know. I don't know. We'll have to we haven't uh decided that yet that's up to Mr. Riyad to uh make those decisions.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Yeah, tell him if he admits LeBron is the goat, he can come.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

That'll never happen.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Yeah, never.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

That'll never happen.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Because he knows he knows the real goat is Stephen Curry. So I'm glad that me and him are on the same page with that. And the teams haven't been decided yet for the All-Star game either, have they?

SPEAKER_04 36:58

No, there's gonna be two captains, and those two captains are gonna pick. That'll happen probably after the Sundays games once players confirm whether they're coming or not.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yeah. Some people I heard might be going on vacation.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

Yeah, guys that plan vacation. It's just an exhibition game, so it's up to them whether they want to come or not if they're in town. Yeah, that is true.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

That is true. Well, both both those games are gonna be looking I think it's gonna have a lot of fun. What other like kids' activities do you guys have going on, though?

SPEAKER_04 37:27

Other than the bouncing castle, there's obviously a uh a small playground there.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Uh they stay within the bouncing castle, bro. That's that's that's my number one destination now. That's where I want to go.

SPEAKER_04 37:40

Yeah, there'll be other stuff for kind of kids to do to keep themselves busy. So be some volunteers there to kind of help out. So yeah, it should be fun. Like, obviously, we don't expect people to just drop off their kids and expect to come find them again in like two hours or so, but uh there'll be some people there to keep them busy for a while.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Oh wow, a little daycare, keep them in the where the doggy pin is, the little kids.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

The doggy pin. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Keep them a little it'll be like a little daycare, drop them off and come pick them up. Nice little nice little time for the kids.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Yeah, it's gonna be a fun weekend, inshallah.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

So yeah, that's uh it's giving me like carnival, like it's giving me good vibes, a little picnic, family picnic vibes. Definitely want to bring the kids out for that one. If I had kids, I'd bring them out. But yeah, anything else you guys want to hit on though before we wrap this up? Anything else you guys want to talk about or else on a bit on your mind, Balol?

SPEAKER_03 38:38

Uh not that I can think of, no. It's just gonna be this weekend is gonna be this weekend is gonna be a big one for standings-wise and playoff matchup wise. So definitely this is this is definitely gonna be the most stressful weekend.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Everyone's gonna be on edge and everyone's gonna want to get those two wins, but not everyone's gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Yeah, let's see what happens. It should be entertaining.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

And you're all good, Zina. Anything else you want to talk about? Anything else you want to hit on?

SPEAKER_04 39:07

No, we're good. Thanks for hosting the podcast this year. I'm sure you're probably gonna do one or two more, but uh my my first one this year. Um, you guys have been doing a great job, you and E mod, so keep it going.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

Yeah, and I know I know you guys, the listeners are probably wondering where's the poem, where's the poem, where's the weekly poem? Um, we're gonna take a week off of the poem. Um, but what I will give you guys is a quote. I'll give you guys a quote for today. Um are you guys ready?

SPEAKER_05 39:36

We're ready.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Yeah. I'm gonna quote uh Master Ugwe because it's actually been one of my favorite quotes um of all time, honestly. And I think Bilal knows where I'm going with this. Belal, you know Master Ugwe's quote.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Do you do you wanna think you say it?

SPEAKER_03 39:57

I there's a bro, there's like five of them. He's a wise guy, so I don't know which one you're talking about, but I think I know what you're going.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

Alexa, stop. Sorry, my Alexa started acting up. Okay, but yeah, here. This is the quote. Z you ready?

SPEAKER_04 40:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present. That's the one I was thinking you were gonna say. That's the one. Zee thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_04 40:28

Live in the present, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

You feel goosebumps? You feel tingly, tingly feeling at all?

SPEAKER_04 40:34

No, just live in the present.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Live in the present situation while you're in it. Yep, it's been a long season. We're coming to the end, playoffs are right around the corner. Let's see how all this how all this hits the fat the fence, man. All right, let's see you hit the fence this Sunday. I've hit the fence before, by the way. I've I've I don't think I've ever gotten it over, but I've hit the fence before, like right.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

When I see it, I'll believe it.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

You will see it. Man, I wish you guys could see me um on my co-ed team. They they treat me like LeBron. Like I remember, I remember last week we had our first playoff game, and and I was I made like a I was playing short and I made like a diving grab. Like it was it was going over like the second baseman head, and I knew for sure it was like a pop-ish fly that he was not gonna grab that. So I just ran over there, slid in, caught it, and I did like the same thing again the next play or something like similar to that. And I just the there's like people watching in the stands, they're going crazy, and like he wants a bat next to the like show I Otani. Like it's like they've never seen it before.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Well, so so when you need a when you need a confidence boost, that's where you literally.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

No, literally, like I batted a thousand. I did not get out once in that league.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

So if you did, that'd be concerning. I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Yeah, no, they're okay. Some of the teams are not bad, like the top teams are actually good because they have like girls that can play, guys that can play, but the bottom teams are booty, I'll be honest. We spank them. Your team then top, or we're we got we ended up third seed this year.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

All right, good luck in your playoffs, man.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Uh yeah, no, thank you. We're gonna need it. If Issa Merchant ever wants to show up to games, guy, man. Always doing something else.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

You got other priorities, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Literally, no dedication this year. Ridiculous. It's so fun. It's not even like it's just fun. It's fun to be there, you know? Be around people our age. That's what I'm gonna get Balal to join next year.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

Yeah, okay. We need to cut this podcast now.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Okay, sorry, we're we're we're rambling now. Thank you guys for joining. Shout out Lukma again for those amazing sweets and treats that they could be giving us. Uh, big Z 500 hits. Congrats on that. And I hope you get 500 more. I want to see you get to a thousand, honestly. That'll that'll be a real milestone.

SPEAKER_04 42:49

I I don't know that's gonna happen, but inshallah.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Maybe we'll add you and below hits and then we'll just count those.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

You guys have a chance to get to a thousand. I started playing in this league when I was what 34. So oh wow. So you you you guys got a chance. You guys play for 25 years, you guys can get there.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

God golly. Inshallah. That's it's a long time. But yeah, okay. Thank you guys for thank you guys for joining me. Thank you guys, everyone who's listening. Thank you guys for listening. We're gonna sign off, we're gonna end this podcast. Good luck to the teams this uh Sunday, and I guess we'll be we'll find out soon enough for the awards, all-star game, the teams, the home run derby, and playoffs. This the matchups we're gonna find out soon enough. And yeah, uh, thank you guys for joining us and have a great day. Peace, um everybody.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

Take care, Salango.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Where's the end button? Where is it?

unknown 43:46

There it is.