☠️ Are you scared of life, Eagle?

Stacked Teams, Gangbuster Deals, and Shoeys

November 23, 2022

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter where football takes a backseat on turkey day.Email Read Time: 4 Minutes & 48 Seconds

It’s officially been a full year since I started TPM. What better timing than Thanksgiving to thank each of you for supporting and reading this 5 min ramble from yours truly.

Thank you. Now let’s get into it.

The “Don’t Care “ Mentality

Hosted by Chelsea Howells, the Basket Case podcast discusses “stories of when [players’] mental game had the power to make or break their rounds.” As her 1st guest, Eagle McMahon discussed his unique season.

He explained how his shoulder injury not only affected his play but how he perceived himself. Even when he was most confident, the narrative surrounding the loss of “the most powerful weapon in the game” allowed doubts to creep in.

To him, it’s impossible to ignore what people say, so remember what’s important and enjoy what you’re doing. His “don’t care mentality” allows him to put full intention into each shot while detaching from the results.

If you didn’t know, McMahon uses a lot of breathwork to help him during a round. Here are 2 simple breathing methods he recommends:

  • Box Breathing - Inhale for 4s, hold 4s, exhale 4s, hold 4s, repeat.This can help nerves and calm you down to a sympathetic state

  • Whiskey Breathing - Inhale 4s, hold 7s, exhale 8s, repeat.Try this when you’re angry after hitting a tree or getting a bad rollaway

2022 Manufacturer Rankings

As is tradition, the boys over at The Upshot went through their season ranking of the manufacturers’ “teams”. They considered depth, performance, and popularity.

Here’s how they stacked up for FPO:

  1. Latitude 64° - 6 wins through Tattar’s dominating year. She was a team-defining player and was relevant at every event

  2. Innova - Only 1 Major win with King, but they have insane top-25 depth

  3. Discraft - Solid but not spectacular year with 6 wins through Pierce & Gannon

  4. Dynamic Discs - Great depth and potential with room for improvement (*cough* Panis *cough*)

  5. DGA - Catrina Allen 🖐️🎤

And for MPO:

  1. Discmania - To everyone’s surprise, Crush Boy #1 with 4 wins and Crush Boy #2 with the most impressive win of the year. Don’t forget their young European Anttila.

  2. Discraft - The team is stacked: McBeth, Dickerson, Gossage, Ellis, Hammes, Ezra, Brodie, etc.

  3. Dynamic Discs - Ricky Wysocki 🦖🦵

  4. Prodigy - Blowing past early doubters, they have the most talented group of gen z’s running the show

  5. Innova - Great top-25 depth, but outshined by other teams

Question of the week

Fresh Plastic

Sponsored by Powergrip USA… A PRETTY GOOD disc golf shop.

👉 Powergrip’s Highlight: Black Friday ExtravaganzaRemember when the day after Thanksgiving used to be a huge? Like door-buster deals that actually blew your mind causing you to wait in the cold for hours.

Well Powergrip USA is bringing us back to our Black Friday roots before Prime Day existed. Lasting the next 11 days (until 12/4), here are the deals you won’t want to miss:

  • 30-45% off Trilogy discs, Ledgestone special editions, and more. Sort through the marked-down list here

  • Everything else is 25% off using code BLACKFRIDAY22

  • Spend $100, get 15% off a future purchase

  • Spend $150, get 20% off a future purchase

  • Flying Plate Hats are marked down too

If the dozens of Reddit posts didn’t already clue you in, we’re deep into mystery box season. But if this isn’t your 1st rodeo, then I know you’ve been burned before.

Skip the mystery this year and pick what you want/need at Powergrip USA. Remember it’s always the arrow, never the archer.

Random Triples

1️⃣ Add an interesting shot to your arsenal that you’ve likely never seen before. Demonstrated by Scott Stokely, the “Scoober Roller” is an approach shot that goes left to right (RHBH) where there’s a low ceiling.

Stokely makes it look easy, but you be the judge next time you’re out. Simply use a mid/putter, pick your line then your angle, and uncoil your arm.

2️⃣ The week after Nikko Locastro's news of his partnership with Lone Star Discs, it seemed like hundreds of amateurs joined him. LSD’s new marketing strategy includes a shotgun spray of mini “sponsorships”.

Giving Prodigy Street Team vibes, LSD gave many sub 900-rated players a spot on their Ranger Team. That exclusive membership includes 4 free discs, a one-time 50% off, 20% off thereafter, and the opportunity to be their spokesperson.

But clearly, LSD’s making money from all these moves. They just added another injection molding machine to their production lineup.

3️⃣ The Australian DG Championships (11/18-20) were held on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. It was played on Tunnel Ridge Ranch where the challenging holes are a mix of open and woods with kangaroos everywhere.

Unlike the 2017 Aussie Open (M), it didn’t draw many touring pros. But notables in attendance were Drew Gibson, Scott Stokely, and Jennifer Allen with the Gatekeeper Media crew filming.

No spoilers, but I’ll leave you with this teaser... Jen Allen doing a Shoey. If you’re curious, click here for the results.

Meme of the Week

Thanks for reading today. Get out and play with the fam this weekend!

- Charlie

What'd you think of this week's edition?