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Speaker 1: On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, SI staff writer

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Speaker 1: Emma Bacholari takes us to Oklahoma City for the two

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Speaker 1: women's College World Series, where the Sooners helped secure the

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Speaker 1: crown jewel in the collegiate career of home run Queen

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Speaker 1: Jocelyn Olo. I'm Jordan Rozsieri, producer from Sports Illustrated and

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. This month

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Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, softball fans witness one of, if not

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Speaker 1: the greatest team ever assembled at the college level. Washington

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Speaker 1: Crowder Jennings first, the trophy hunting soon tracked National Championship six.

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Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated staff writer Emma Bachelary was there to witness

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Speaker 1: the whole scene unfold. This Oklahoma team is just a juggernaut.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think you have a pretty strong case

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Speaker 1: for there certainly the best college softball team we've seen.

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Speaker 1: They went fifty three this year. They scored over nine

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Speaker 1: runs per game, just an incredible offense. They not only

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Speaker 1: did they lead Division One in hitting, they also led

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Speaker 1: in pitching with an ear that was barely over one.

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Speaker 1: An incredible team all the way around, and really that's

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Speaker 1: anchored by Jocelyn Olo, who is certainly the best power

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Speaker 1: hitter college softball has ever seen. This closest I think

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Speaker 1: a strong case for perhaps even the best player. She

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Speaker 1: gotta get a chance to make compare she is. I mean,

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Speaker 1: she's the n C double as all time home run queen.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely destroys that one white back. She had a batting

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Speaker 1: average over five hundred this year. Just absolutely astounding stuff

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Speaker 1: and phenomenally talented at the plate and a huge part

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Speaker 1: of the success that they had. I've definitely enjoyed my

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Speaker 1: five years and I'm excited to see what the Sooner

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Speaker 1: softball team does, and I'm just excited to see, um,

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Speaker 1: what little girls gonna work hard out there to come

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Speaker 1: and break my record. She's from Hawaii and that's very

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Speaker 1: important to her. Um. That's she was actually able to

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Speaker 1: break the home run record at a tournament in Hawaii

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Speaker 1: this year, which meant quite a lot to her and

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Speaker 1: very close to her family, and that Hawaiian heritage means

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Speaker 1: a lot des It's in her home stake. So this

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Speaker 1: was your first time covering the Women's College World Series. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it was something I had always wanted to attend, maybe

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Speaker 1: not even to cover, but just to be there, you know.

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Speaker 1: I'm someone who played softball growing up who's always really

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Speaker 1: loved the sport, and this is the pinnacle of it.

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Speaker 1: So I was really excited to get the chance to

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Speaker 1: finally go out there. Where is it. It's us A

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Speaker 1: Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, which is part of the

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Speaker 1: larger Hall of Fame complex that USA Softball has there

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Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, where it's headquartered. I actually didn't get

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Speaker 1: a chance to check out the Softball Hall of Fame,

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Speaker 1: which I was hoping to, and you know, perhaps on

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Speaker 1: a future trip I'll be able to do. But you

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Speaker 1: have the Hall of Fame there, you have this Marquee Stadium,

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Speaker 1: which they expanded in recent years. It now seats about

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Speaker 1: thirteen thousand, which is great because you know, sold out

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Speaker 1: crowds every night and there were far more people out

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Speaker 1: in the parking lot, tailgating, uh and just trying for

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Speaker 1: their chance to see anything. So it's it's a great venue.

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Speaker 1: It's a really cool place in a city that has

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Speaker 1: a lot of softball history. You know, us A Softball

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Speaker 1: has been headquartered there for quite a while. Yeah, just

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Speaker 1: a great environment. Can you tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: about the fans. Yeah, there's a great variety of people

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Speaker 1: who were there. I saw, you know, just walking through

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Speaker 1: the arching about, you had license plates from all over

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Speaker 1: who would come to Oklahoma City to watch. And I

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Speaker 1: think obviously this year the eventual champion, Oklahoma winning for

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Speaker 1: the second straight year, their six championships since two thousands,

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Speaker 1: a real dynasty they have their under a Patty Gasso,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that it has played in Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: means you have a ton of really die hard Oklahoma fans.

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Speaker 1: You also had Oklahoma State came within one game of

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Speaker 1: coming to the Championship Series, so you also had a

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Speaker 1: lot of Oklahoma State fans who were there who had

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Speaker 1: been hoping to get their chance to watch their team compete.

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Speaker 1: So you do have those teams specific fans, especially for

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Speaker 1: those Oklahoma schools, but there's also just a lot of

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Speaker 1: people who really love softball and that this is the

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Speaker 1: biggest stage that you really have to watch the game

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Speaker 1: in the US is the Women's College World Series. And

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Speaker 1: so I saw, you know, there were quite a few

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Speaker 1: older women who had loved the game for a long time,

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Speaker 1: a lot of kids, which was nice to see, just

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Speaker 1: both little girls and little boys who were really excited

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Speaker 1: to be there. Just a collection of people who really

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Speaker 1: love the sport and we're really excited to be there,

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Speaker 1: and a great tailgating environment too, So they bring a

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Speaker 1: lot of energy to the game the fans. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: I mean one of the things I've always loved about

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Speaker 1: college softball is you have so much energy with the

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Speaker 1: dugout chance and to what every team does there to

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Speaker 1: kind of be really vocal and like keep that energy up,

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Speaker 1: and it's the same vibe in the crowd in a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways of just that like total enthusiasm and

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Speaker 1: happiness to be there. So after seeing that level of

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Speaker 1: excitement in the stands and what we see on TV

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Speaker 1: and on social media, do you think there's a wider

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Speaker 1: audience for professional fast pitch softball? Yes, I really do.

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Speaker 1: And that's something that I know I'm not alone in

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Speaker 1: because we've seen just this year, ESPN has gone in

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Speaker 1: on the broadcasting rights for both the regular season of

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Speaker 1: Athletes Unlimited Softball, which is league that will start later

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Speaker 1: this summer, and also a kind of exhibitions series that

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Speaker 1: they're doing right now. Actually in mid June, ESPN is

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Speaker 1: showing both of those, the current exhibition series and we'll

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Speaker 1: also have the later one and there's additionally beyond that,

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Speaker 1: there's also a new league that's starting this year called

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Speaker 1: Women's Pro Fast Pitch, which is where Jocelyn Ala will

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Speaker 1: be playing. That was started by former n C double

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Speaker 1: A home run queen Lauren Chamberlain, whose record is the

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Speaker 1: one that Alo broke. She's the commissioner of that league

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Speaker 1: and has gotten that off the ground for this summer.

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Speaker 1: So there is appetite here. I think we saw with

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Speaker 1: the ratings for the Women's College World Series. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of people who are interested in the sport, and

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Speaker 1: you know, this kind of new professional stage is very

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Speaker 1: much in in its fledgling years. This is, I believe

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Speaker 1: the third year for Athletes Unlimited. It's the first year

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Speaker 1: for Women's Pro Fast Pitch. But there's been quite a

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Speaker 1: bit of effort to get those off the ground and

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Speaker 1: now you can watch it on ESPN. Tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit about the role that softball has played in

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Speaker 1: the story of women's sports. So it's the fiftieth anniversary

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Speaker 1: of Title nine, it's the forty anniversary of the Women's

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Speaker 1: College World Series as we see it today, and really,

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Speaker 1: especially in the last decade or so, it's become the

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Speaker 1: most prominent women's sports college final other than of course,

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Speaker 1: the Women's Final Four. It's been a really big part

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Speaker 1: of kind of pushing forward the visibility of women's college

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Speaker 1: sports and something that's really found an audience. But it

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Speaker 1: has a history before that. You know, before women's sports

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Speaker 1: were under the n C Double A, when they were

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Speaker 1: under a group called the A I A W, which

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Speaker 1: was sort of a separate n C Double A for women.

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Speaker 1: Before women were in the n C Double A, there

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Speaker 1: was a women's College World Series. There. There was a

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Speaker 1: women's College World Series even before the AI A W existed,

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Speaker 1: going back to the sixties. Just because the sport has

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Speaker 1: such a long history. Women have played this for a

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Speaker 1: really really long time. And even before we had Title nine,

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Speaker 1: even before we had kind of that more level playing

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Speaker 1: field for women to be able to participate and have

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Speaker 1: opportunities in college sports, women been playing softball. Having that

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Speaker 1: as one of the key sports that's really propelled forward

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Speaker 1: women's sports at the college level. Okay, Emma, overall, did

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Speaker 1: going to the Women's College World Series live up to

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Speaker 1: your expectations? Yes, it was just such a cool atmosphere.

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Speaker 1: The softball was great. It was cool to see a

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Speaker 1: team as just dominant as Oklahoma up close, and I'm

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Speaker 1: looking forward to hopefully going back next year. Sooner celebrated

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City ten to five, the final of My Holy Spohardware.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and a reminder to please rate and

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Speaker 1: and podcasts, visit SI dot com. This episode of Sports

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Speaker 1: Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jessica your Mooski, Jordan Rizzieri

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Speaker 1: that's me, and Isaac Lee, who is also our sound engineer.

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Speaker 1: Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Our executive producers are

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Speaker 1: Scott Brody and John Gonzalez. Our theme song is by

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Speaker 1: Nolan Schneider. If you've stuck around this long, we leave

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Speaker 1: you with this and a reminder to please, Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: this is impossible. Why am I having such a hard time?

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Speaker 1: Because you're trying to do it like John. That's why