More CrossFit Games Team Cancellation Developments

Our opinion piece last week on the Games doing away with the team competition this season looks to have gained some traction, as Morning Chalk Up has...

Friday, May 8th, 2020

Our opinion piece last week on the Games doing away with the team competition this season looks to have gained some traction, as Morning Chalk Up has started to run with it.

Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.

My name is Ben Garves and today is Friday, the 8th of May, 2020. Don’t forget, links to all of these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, as well as on the new WODDITY.com.

Time is Running Out for CrossFit Games Team Division

Last weekend on Elite Sports Insider I did a piece about how the team over at CrossFit has all-but cancelled the elite team division for the 2020 CrossFit Games. People called me crazy. People said I’m nuts for thinking CrossFit would shut down the events that brought Rich Froning to the yard. But Tommy Marquez wrote a piece on Morning Chalk Up yesterday. What was it called? “Next Up on the Chopping Block? The Team Division”.

That wasn’t dead air. That was me reveling. Just soaking in the feeling of being right for once. It happens once a year. So, yes. It’s not crazy. CrossFit will: A) do the right thing to keep people and athletes safe, and B) do anything they can to salvage as much of the season as they can. And if it means taking the top ten females and males and only letting them come to the Ranch? That’s what they’ll do. Leaving behind the beloved Rich Froning? The force that is Scott Panchik? The heartthrob beast that is Chyna Cho? Bye Felicia. It’s cold, but it’s business. And it’s for the sake of the sport. They’ll be back. Those three athletes? Yeah. They’ll be back. It doesn’t end here for them. And you’ll enjoy it. It’s not what anyone hoped for. But it’s what we get. And it’ll be great. If there’s one thing we know Dave Castro can do, it’s throw one heck of an event.

It’s Friday. I’m feisty.

Elite Sports Insider is our new live show - our poor-man’s DIY version of SportsCenter about CrossFit. Sunday on our YouTube channel at 12 PM Eastern. This week I have my hands on the Reebok Nano X and I’m going to test that shoe until I can’t stand anymore. Which may not be as long as you think. The shoe is...well, you’ll have to watch to find out.

Here are the two major developments in this pending story about teams. First, six athletes declined individual Games invites to compete on a team. Five, because we know Rich Froning would never return to individual competition. So what happens to them? Are they re-offered their individual invites? What happens to their backfills? If CrossFit only takes the athletes who qualified through the top-20 in the Open rule, that could knock out athletes like Ben Smith (set to return for his 11th consecutive CrossFit Games) and Haley Adams.

The other development? There are whispers that Rich Froning could be hosting a team competition at CrossFit Mayhem in Cookeville. What do we know about that? Pretty much nothing.

I’d say “keep your ear to the ground” but we all know that’s a good way to get a neck injury when you’re doing burpees.

Okay, some other headlines before you slide into the weekend.

Headlines

Jason Khalipa was on the BarBend Podcast talking about how COVID19 is changing the face of the fitness industry.Emily Beers at MCU wrote a story about a group of people buying and opening affiliates during the outbreak: The Phoenix, a nonprofit supporting addiction recovery through community and fitness is offering virtual classes to continue their mission while everything is shut down. And the recurring theme of the day is stories about gyms being unhappy about being unable to open yet. I’ve put five articles in my show notes, if you want them, but the gist is this argument about whether fitness is an essential service during a medical crisis. PetitionPalm BeachFrustrationApprovalAdaptation

Now, let’s close it out with my favorite kind of story. Another person who has lost close to 100 pounds since joining a CrossFit gym. We sometimes lose grasp of what it means to walk into a gym when you’ve struggled with your weight your whole life. How intimidating it can be. The rumors you’ve heard. The struggles that got you to this point. So to Leslie Ramirez, who lost 90 pounds doing CrossFit - you’re incredible. You’re inspiring. You’re a beast.

And that’s it for news about CrossFit for Friday, May 8th. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. Behave yourselves out there.