Summer Smash Episode 8- Reflections

SUMMER SMASH

Alex Boyajian

9/9/202312 min read

Last week, a Champion was crowned, Michael Scarlett dominated the defending champion, Armen Boyajian, to become the second Chaotically Intolerant Classic Champion. This week, in the final episode of Summer Smash, everyone comes back to reflect on the last 9 weeks of play including a major announcement from Commissioner Alex Boyajian. The Boys of Summer are back! 7 Players square off in a high stakes Table Tennis tournament, the second annual Chaotically Intolerant Classic as they all try to take the trophy back from defending Champion Armen Boyajian. Commissioner Alex Boyajian, reeling from his loss in the 2022 Championship, is learning to balance his duties as Commissioner while keeping his game sharp for his own title run. This season features 4 rookies, including Michael Scarlett, who enters the playoffs on a 21 game win streak which includes sweeps of Armen Boyajian and Alex Boyajian. Starring: Alex Boyajian Armen Boyajian Lleyton Verheul Kevin Steinfeld Jaxon Greer Michael Scarlett Ivory Upchurch Produced by: Tyler Cook

0:06

foreign

0:59

to grade myself and and my season

1:05

you know idle winning record

1:07

wasn't by much I mean I made a large

1:10

step back you know if I graded my season

1:12

last year

1:13

I I probably would have given myself

1:15

like an a you know you get swept in the

1:18

in the title but you go to the title

1:20

game right you go undefeated you win the

1:23

golden paddle that's a great season

1:24

right you you go and you lose in the

1:27

finals but you still make it out of the

1:28

semis

1:30

um this year a huge step back I mean

1:33

not as good I mean a bad record

1:36

um you know I didn't barely sneak in I

1:38

definitely made it you know

1:41

um but

1:44

I would say

1:49

I would say I would give myself probably

1:51

around a c minus didn't make it you know

1:54

I didn't make it out of the first round

1:56

I didn't get swept which was nice

1:59

it's nice to win one in the playoffs you

2:01

know win a game in the playoffs but I

2:02

didn't get swept

2:04

but that's that's not what I'm I'm not

2:06

not working for that I'm not working to

2:09

to just win one playoff series I want to

2:12

win the whole thing

2:26

backs against the wall right

2:33

he was just playing really well at that

2:35

point in time

2:42

it was very exciting

2:53

well Kevin does really well with is he

2:56

doesn't give up on the play

3:02

it's a better player

3:06

it's a little bit of a gust of wind

3:12

Just Clips it

3:14

table

3:30

so if I would grade myself based off of

3:32

everyone else I'd give myself like a d

3:34

because you know I was on the lower end

3:37

of things but if I was creating my own

3:39

performance how I felt about how I

3:41

played I'd probably give myself like an

3:43

a

3:45

um just because

3:48

especially if you compare my performance

3:50

from you know game one week one to my

3:54

final game of the tournament it like I

3:58

think the difference is crazy especially

4:00

just with that um

4:02

I think it's like a backhand serve that

4:05

I was trying to do against Ivory a bunch

4:07

like

4:08

that alone I think makes me like a

4:10

decent competitor especially going into

4:12

next year

4:14

um if I can just get some free serves on

4:17

people like I think that would

4:19

completely change where I played or

4:21

where I was in the standings and stuff

4:23

like that I just had nothing like that

4:25

going into it so

4:27

um

4:28

I think I

4:30

drastically improved during this and so

4:34

I'm extremely happy with how I played

4:58

you're kidding dude get that cheeky

5:01

stuff out of here

5:02

oh my God you're no Armin you know me

5:05

that was a good game

5:09

let's go dude I was popping off right

5:12

there now you work

5:22

man I think I played really well

5:24

um obviously there are some of the

5:26

the 2-1 games I wish I could have just

5:28

closed out to be 3-0

5:30

and like other than me getting

5:33

completely dominated by Michael

5:35

I would I would say I played pretty well

5:37

I would give myself like a B plus or

5:40

something like that

5:41

um

5:42

but yeah some

5:44

needs to change I need to keep improving

5:47

because obviously we've all played each

5:48

other now we kind of all know each

5:49

other's game and I don't want to come

5:51

back into this playing the same way and

5:54

then have that get taken advantage of

5:55

because people were putting in work and

5:57

I just stayed the same skill level

6:00

and obviously I'm gonna need to keep

6:02

improving to take home the title but

6:31

foreign

6:44

that's all that matters in the end

6:52

week one I didn't play Angel or Leighton

6:55

so that was a tough one you know playing

6:58

a lot of people who

7:00

who were better than me

7:03

um still won one game you know had a few

7:05

close ones you know that's probably

7:07

d-minus D at best winning only one game

7:10

uh week two you know shout out Angel and

7:16

um beat Kevin in a game which that was a

7:19

big one for me

7:21

um I'd say that performance you know

7:23

four winning four losing five I'd say

7:26

that's a solid C maybe maybe C plus

7:28

because of the games I lost were still

7:31

pretty close

7:32

same with week three one four you know c

7:35

c plus

7:37

um and the champion championship match

7:40

um

7:41

for the uh

7:43

the quarterfinals

7:48

I don't know I'm giving myself better

7:50

than a c plus I'll go

7:52

I won't go a because if I did an a that

7:55

that'd be like at least getting to the

7:58

getting to the top two but

8:01

um I'd say around a b you know

8:04

um

8:06

made it through the wild card and my

8:08

games against Armin were very close I

8:11

think you know 21 17 21-16 you know a

8:14

little bit better and those could have

8:15

gone either way

8:17

um so

8:19

I'll say a solid B so overall maybe

8:23

around a c but

8:25

Improvement that's all that matters

8:56

if I had to give a letter grade I would

8:58

say like a c probably just because you

9:03

know a lot of the Winds came against

9:04

just opponents that I should be beating

9:06

in uh I think I you know I was happy

9:09

with my results against Alex in the

9:11

regular season because we had a lot of

9:13

close games and he's a very good player

9:15

and I was able to close those out but

9:17

yeah other than that there wasn't really

9:18

much success you know I beat Armin in

9:21

one game out of three but he still took

9:23

the series

9:24

uh you know

9:26

yeah I'd say c

9:28

maybe maybe C by this you know I should

9:31

have

9:32

been I feel like I should have been able

9:34

to take

9:34

you know at least one game out of seven

9:37

from Michael but uh it didn't happen you

9:40

know so

9:43

yeah C minus is a figure that I hope to

9:45

hope to improve upon that you know next

9:48

year

10:05

thank you

10:09

foreign

10:20

how are you going to prepare for next

10:21

year

10:22

practice more against my donkey son

10:27

and remember to work on some weaknesses

10:30

of Michael's because he's the real

10:32

competition for me

10:35

all the others still aren't real

10:37

competition but

10:42

um

10:59

he's going off

11:08

don't look at us okay

11:23

all right

11:28

at all

11:35

foreign

11:47

it's I'm probably at the Pinnacle of my

11:50

ping pong game right now uh I don't

11:52

think I've

11:53

ever played any better ping pong in my

11:56

life but then again I as I said I've

11:59

never actually competed in ping pong

12:02

um there's

12:03

it's like a part of the tennis competing

12:05

boat that I go back into and you know

12:08

once I get in that competing mode my my

12:10

game goes up

12:12

but also accredited it towards

12:15

playing practice matches against Canada

12:17

up at FSU and uh against my little

12:21

brother too we have a Outdoors ping pong

12:24

table that's fun uh my older brother too

12:27

great great at ping pong maybe better

12:29

than me but probably not

12:31

so yeah

12:34

I'm at the top of my game and I'm only

12:36

gonna keep getting higher so yeah I'm

12:38

excited

12:51

yes sir

12:53

that's what I'm talking about let's go

12:56

dude

12:58

absolutely go off yes

13:00

oh my gosh

13:05

I love you too

13:08

let's go

13:13

if I had to grade the tournament

13:17

you know on a a through f scale

13:21

I would

13:23

to be honest I would give it like a c a

13:26

c a dead in the middle like 75 see

13:30

you know

13:32

I'm I'm also like my the world's biggest

13:34

critic

13:35

for myself I don't I don't give myself

13:37

any

13:39

I'll give myself any leeway when it

13:41

comes to stuff I'm I'm learning how to

13:43

do that you know

13:44

part of it

13:46

is again learning to go with the flow

13:48

and and learning how to do things

13:50

um

13:52

there's a lot of improvements that could

13:53

be made there's a lot of improvements

13:55

from last year the production quality

13:56

was was you know probably 10 times

13:59

better I mean we had a real camera

14:01

versus two GoPros uh

14:05

you know a camera that I use to to film

14:08

The that podcast episode and my iPhone

14:12

that's 10 times better we had a real

14:14

camera and we had a a 4K

14:17

drone courtesy of Tyler

14:20

um

14:22

we had

14:24

10 I mean it was it was insane the the

14:27

different level of competition I was

14:29

very I was really happy with that I

14:32

thought I can build on that for next

14:33

year so much

14:35

um I think I need to ask a little bit

14:38

more out of the players just just

14:39

getting hyped up getting you know

14:42

I don't know what I could do I'll have

14:44

to figure that out but just getting more

14:45

emotion I think I need more kind of

14:48

commentary from people but having a

14:50

venue for the championship I think is

14:51

important

14:53

might be a little ambitious but maybe

14:56

next year I'd you know I'd like to have

14:58

a crowd have an environment

15:02

um an excited environment rather than it

15:04

just being quiet you know

15:06

um

15:08

that would be that that's kind of a more

15:10

ambitious goal that might be for the

15:12

year after that

15:14

um but definitely having an indoor

15:16

venue next year I think the outdoors

15:20

truly affected the play

15:22

I think it had a negative effect on the

15:24

play I think

15:26

I think we have a lot closer games

15:29

if we are not dealing with the wind

15:31

because the breeze although it's small

15:34

it has a large effect on the ping pong

15:36

ball I don't think we see as many sweeps

15:39

I think it's a lot more competitive on

15:40

tournament day because it it truly was a

15:43

lot more competitive during the regular

15:45

season we have a kind of a passive goal

15:49

of 12 to go up from 8 to 12 this year

15:52

and we have an ambitious goal to uh to

15:55

go up to 16. I'm really not sure what I

15:58

expect for next year

15:59

um I'm gonna work hard this off season I

16:01

don't think I worked hard enough in the

16:02

off season

16:03

I'm gonna work my ass off this off

16:05

season I really want to win this thing

16:06

because this is my tournament I think

16:09

next year's gonna be a lot better I

16:10

think we we were a lot better this year

16:12

and I think next year is going to be

16:14

even better I'm excited for next year

16:15

I'm really excited for next year I think

16:17

we'll be able to make about a B plus

16:19

you know I want to thank everybody

16:21

um

16:23

everybody who is involved in this

16:24

everyone is watching right now

16:28

I just want to thank you guys

16:30

um you know

16:31

you guys are part of the reason why we

16:32

make this I enjoy doing this this is

16:34

just something I enjoy it's stressful

16:36

but it's it's also it gives me purpose

16:39

um you know everyone sees the

16:41

professionals right you get to see

16:43

professional ball players or baseball

16:45

players basketball players football

16:46

players get to see everyone who's the

16:48

best at their sport but not a lot of

16:50

them have personality you you also get

16:53

to be an armchair quarterback when you

16:54

watch the NFL you get to say oh I could

16:56

have made that threat no you couldn't

16:57

have no none of us could have we

16:59

couldn't have made that though I do it

17:00

all the time I say that to myself all

17:02

the time

17:04

this one you can actually be an armchair

17:06

quarterback and say why would they hit

17:08

that shot that's a terrible shot

17:10

I think that's a great aspect to this I

17:12

like that

17:14

um

17:15

but again I think I think I would just

17:17

say

17:18

thank you to everybody out there

17:20

we might be small but you know we're

17:22

growing I want to say thank you to all

17:24

the players special thank you to Tyler

17:28

um I've known the guy since freshman

17:30

year of high school he's he's a great

17:32

guy great person in general and dude he

17:35

worked his ass off and I appreciate him

17:37

to no end

17:39

um

17:40

I hope he's gonna want to be involved

17:42

next year and the year after that I hope

17:43

I can I can give the guy a job

17:46

um

17:47

you know at least keep him involved for

17:49

as long as we do this and hopefully I we

17:51

keep doing this and I appreciate all the

17:53

guys who played

17:54

and the guys who played in the past you

17:56

know what

17:59

this is this is a journey and they're

18:00

all a part of it now you know they're

18:03

they're all a part of this journey

18:06

and we're gonna make it

18:08

so thank you and

18:11

um you know I'm real excited about next

18:13

year

18:24

we are establishing

18:26

um kind of a new a new governing body

18:29

to play Under

18:32

I'm thinking this might be my last year

18:34

as commissioner as I am a player

18:37

I want to be able to focus on being a

18:40

player I'm I'm obvious I would be head

18:42

of the players union we're establishing

18:45

uh chaotically intolerant Table Tennis

18:48

League caloric intolerant table tennis

18:50

as as the entire league and just

18:53

tournament day is the chaotically

18:55

intolerant classic so think of there's

18:57

the NFL you have the Super Bowl Major

18:59

League Baseball

19:01

the World Series

19:03

um National Basketball Association the

19:05

NBA Finals that type of stuff

19:08

um