Hello and welcome to Minimum Effort. I am drinking. Oh, oh you're opening a Japanese one?
So is it similar? Is it the same? I don't know yet. This is live.
This is live. Let's see. Oh man, that's good.
Now, the American one. Look at the size difference. Yeah, that's a good better comparison.
JJ's gonna drink two energy drinks in the morning. Okay, so the carbonation's already a little different. Fake sugar.
I think it's fake sugar in Japanese one too, though. Is it? Okay, hold on.
Okay, so this one feels like I'm drinking lemonade. Okay. Right?
And it's like a Mandarin-like lemonade. You know what I mean? Like a...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's see. Let me get back to this one. This one... Tastes like lemonade that comes out of a fountain drink.
That's a good comparison. I think that's very insightful for people that will want to try. So, one is a Japanese one. It's the same drink.
It's Aussie-style lemonade, Monster Energy. Right? They're both the same drink.
This one's from Japan. This one is from the United States. Both Aussie. It wasn't available in San Diego. beautiful Brenda Sama was able to get me some, get me one from her neck of the woods in a different part of California.
out that the U.S. had it because I saw it in Colorado when I was there in October. Yeah. Which, let me tell you something. It's close, but it's not right.
It's not right. It's not right. Like, I'm definitely going to drink this one first, and then I have another one in the fridge. I'm going to save it.
Yeah, don't drink it. If I can make it out in February, I will. If they still have it.
Maybe I'll just buy a few now so they don't run out. Ooh, can you get some of that winter grape one, too? Yes, I can.
I've seen it around here. And then if there's other ones, I'll bring some for you. Whether it's going to be in February or when I see you in June or when I'm back in August.
August. Yeah. Whatever it is. It's, it's off. It's off.
And while I'm drinking, um, double, I guess since I'm double fisting, uh, energy drinks, what are you drinking? Blanton's whiskey. Ooh, Blanton. Alright. I see you, Mr. Sophisticated.
And water. Are you drinking it straight, or do you have an ice cube? Straight. Straight. Some.
Usually I drink it with an ice cube, but I didn't have any more ice. Ah, okay. Good. Do I have to say that was one thing that, uh, I, when I went to Japan, they were like, oh, you know, when you go to Japan, you have to drink it with an ice cube. Go to different countries.
They don't give you any ice. They don't give you any ice. I don't know about all that. I have plenty of ice.
I had the right amount of ice that I wanted in my drinks. Yeah. Since I was a two drink JJ when I was in Japan. A lot of times if you go to like chain restaurants, it's like a drink bar, right?
You get your own drink and you put it in. Right. There's no refilling at the fountain drinks, right?
Not at McDonald's and places, but if you. If you go to a diner, like a family restaurant, what they call it, like Denny's, places like that, they usually have what they call a drink bar. You can get as many drinks as you want.
I don't care. We went to a burger place in, um... Whatever part of town Team Labs is at. Wherever that was at.
Is Team Labs in Yokohama? I don't think it's in Yokohama. I don't know.
Yeah. But we went there and we, uh, I was like, Oh, cool. And it was like a cool little burger joint and it had a fountain drink and it was really aggressive about no refills.
It was like, all right. A lot of Americans came in. and just start trying to refill, yeah. Probably.
Probably. It makes sense. I see a fountain and I'm like, well, that's well. Yeah, if you can access it yourself, right, yeah. Yeah, that's for you.
Yeah. So let's go ahead and talk about our what's up? We didn't do the introduction, did we? Yeah, yeah, we did. No, we didn't.
Did we not? No, no, no. I did it.
No, we didn't. Okay. Alright. I guess we'll do it right here.
Go for it, Minkin. Oh, me. This is... You gotta speak up a little bit, buddy. I hate you.
This is the Minimum Effort Podcast featuring J.J. Jones and Minkin Reagan, the most hated man in American soup bowl. No, you're not. The fifth most hated man in American Sumo. We know exactly who the most hated man in American Sumo is.
JJ? No. I'm not gonna say the name. If you know, you know.
He's the person that, when people get injured, he cracks little jokes about people snapping their arms and shit. You know? And it's like, damn, dude, for real? You're gonna just jab at a whole state of people? See, you got me heated.
You got me heated. Over here, double energy drink. JJ, and you got me heated. Oh, don't say anything.
Something you're gonna regret. Oh, no, no, no. I know how this all works, player.
If you know, you know. That's how this works. That's how this works.
But, yeah, speaking of that, what was your favorite tournament of the year? We're at the end of the year, right? We're at the end. So I think it's about time that we kind of dive into it and look back at the events that we went to, the events that we have to take a couple couple off the table right like obviously the world sumo championship is going to be ranked extremely high for me i cried i was happy my wife did well um kelly did good kelly did good she did great she did fantastic women's convention was there turn us on um joe performed well uh mark jones killed it like that was I was in a different space. I hung out with Miyagi and Onosato, you know, which was cool.
Pretty cool. Yeah. Good times. Yeah.
So that's probably, if we would include that, that would be the best one for me as well. Because JK was crying. I was screaming and shouting. Yeah.
Dude, you met Haku. What? I met Haku.
I got to shake his hand and take. a photo with him yeah yeah yeah all right so really okay so that's number one we kind of fucked up by like even talking about it but that was number one um but number two number two there are a bunch of good ones i'm thinking i liked the socal open of course but i'm a little bit biased about that right uh it was good fun competing was good fun being there was good fun jj put on a good show uh a lot of good talent came out and it was right before nationals too yeah i think it was two weeks before nationals we had you literally everyone like 40, 50 people somewhere along those lines. And a lot of new people which was good. A lot of guys from Northwest that like Portland and whatnot came out.
Some miscellaneous local talents that are just people that wanted to challenge themselves. And I think this was the first tournament for Gio, right? It was the first tournament for Gio, first tournament for Malik as well. Yep.
Those bright stars of sumo, I'm telling you that. Yeah. I got high hopes for both of them.
Yeah. Um. Uh, Rollertown was cool.
The production was great. They did some wild stuff with Rollertown. They did, but I like the production of it was fantastic.
That's what Corey does. is amazing, right? Corey is really, really, really good at the production. I wish I was that good. I need to, like, kidnap him.
I need to drive to Texas because I don't think I could kidnap somebody on a plane. I need to drive to Texas. I got to go there and be like, hey, Corey, let's hop in my car for a second and then drive him all the way back and be like, dude, I think I got work.
And be like, nah, man, don't worry about it. And be like, leave Christina there with Siggy. we'll get back to san diego and then say give me like i guess we gotta go and then her and christina will fly back and they'll be here for the socal open yeah like it's so cool like i remember watching a cowboy cop cup uh right and the graphics they put like he superimposed photos of each competitor like I wish I could do that for the SoCal Open.
That would be so cool. But I don't have that skill or the programming or whatever. Corey is a true visionary where he gets into it.
I wish I was able to make it to the Roll Attack. time especially because gaga maru was also there right so it's unfortunate that i wasn't able to make it i think speaking like we're talking about this year but i think next year i've heard rumors That Tocanotion's gonna be there? Oh, because Georgia? Georgian in Georgia?
Yeah, yeah. I've heard the rumblings. I've heard the rumblings.
I don't know if that's true or not. If that happens, JJ, you're gonna be out. there my goal is to be out there for it anyways but it's hard it's hard it is hard i i'm juggling a lot of things right now A little too much for one person.
Honestly, it kind of is. It kind of is. But everything, almost everything I'm doing, I absolutely love. So I have to make sure that I focus in on those.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But Tokunoshin, that would be pretty cool. Especially since I wasn't able to get his, was it, Tengeta? I wasn't able to get that.
Te Gata. I wasn't able to get that. It'd be cool to get one from him.
Get him on the spot. Get him to do it. Yeah.
I feel like that's a great opportunity. I've gotten a bunch of them, but I don't have his. I think that'd be cool. I think that'd be really cool. oh yeah that was roll town cowboy cup uh the miss olympia one was pretty cool i mean it was pre-recorded but it was pre-recorded but jake did a great job at at getting it out there i'm not sure who filmed it but it was well shot pretty well to be honest Yep.
With the budgets that people have, the quality is going to be better if you pre-record it. Yeah, right. Just based upon streaming.
I mean, unless you're Corey. If you're Corey, then you could just sit it out as the- awesome thing which I would dare say that his production value even if since it is smaller but his production value felt just as good as the US opens it has had a different flair to it but i you know some of that extra espn trying to look that the u.s open does i don't think it's necessary um you know especially when you compare it to a basho right when you're watching a basho it's it's a little bare bone and i think cory's was better than that not as good as nachos ymos though you know the dude you are the dude he is the dude he is the dude that anonymous character not the same um yeah miss olympia was cool i liked watching it it was great great fun watching that and it was cool to see the matches between former Rikishis, you know? Wakanohou and Osuna Arashi. Yeah.
Osuna Arashi. Big sandstorm. Big sandstorm.
Dude, that's perfect. That's literally what it is, yeah. Because he's from Egypt, right?
Yeah, that's perfect. Man, that was a great battle. All three of them. Yeah.
I saw a little bit of what's his name? Sensei Seth. He put out some stuff and it looked like Dan got his way a little bit.
He snuck in on the open weight. It seemed like he tricked everybody into going panty free in 2023. Like I saw Aiden was out there, butt cheeks out. Sensei Seth was out there, butt cheeks out.
Everybody. He said it was required, right? did he say is that what happened yeah okay alright dad alright I'll see you I'll see you everybody's with butt cheek out it was good stuff man hey as a person that goes butt cheeks out it's no big deal it is not it truly isn't it really really isn't it took JJ a while to do it but once you did it was like it doesn't even feel any different right yeah not at all not at all when you there's so much material Like, the Mawashi is so much material, especially if you got one of the black ones. You're like, it's like, look at five pounds around you.
You get heavy, man. You get heavy. Yeah.
Yeah. How about we talk to what was your favorite? I mean, I didn't have a favorite. So my personal favorite.
My personal favorite was the Consulate's Cup. I love the Consulate's Cup. Right.
It's like a safe haven for. like the sumo fans, sumo geeks that we are. We get there and it's welcoming.
I was able to connect with some Georgians. Kokai. Kokai was there and I was invited to the Kokai Cup, which I need to figure out when that is and if for when I can do that.
And I always love the fact that I'm practicing and I look like I'm a doofus that doesn't know what he's doing because it looks like I'm just playing around and then people yell at me because they don't know that I- I'm not going to say I know what I'm doing, but I have a, I have a pretty good concept of what I'm doing. All right. And, uh, Zora came to me and was like, Hey man, just push them out. I'm like, yeah, but you know, I want to do something cool.
So I'm like doing like, like Ski Nage, Dasha Nage, like just like spinning around, doing all kinds of cool stuff. And like, it's like just Yori Kiri is like, that's for winning. I don't want to win right now.
And that was my probably my best performance at middleweight. So for me, it's that was pretty cool. And my best performance in open weight. I got to second place.
Right, yeah. Or third place. Second place. Second place.
Second place. Look at your medal. I don't know where it's at.
I throw medals into a box. You have so many medals you throw in a box. And I have one medal, and it's right here. I've been doing judo. Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo for years.
I just put them in places. That's just where they go. You don't do the karate? I don't do the karate.
I don't do the karate. You don't do the Wing Chun? I don't do the Wing Chun. But I do.
I probably will have a Muay Thai fight soon, so maybe I can win a medal with that. And then throw that into a box. Throw it into that box, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't, I'm not a, like, you know, my place is pretty small, right? Can you imagine if I was just like, so self-absorbed of myself and like, I have all my medals. I don't know why that freaks me out. It's one of those things that freak me out.
I just can't do it. Like, there's nothing wrong. I know a lot of people that do it, right? And they look at that and they see accomplishment. For me, what that does is like, I feel like I'm bragging to myself, right?
And yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that. I mean, so I only have one so I have to brag to myself. So instead, what I do is I have nothing, and I have to make something.
And something stay, right? I have, um... Christina's one stay. So, no, actually. No, hers gets thrown in the box, too.
She's been doing it herself. She's been doing it herself, right? So, generally, we'll win something, it'll stay up with the forever trophies for a second, and then, as time goes, we remove those.
But... With that being said, we have not removed... I have a Master's Hall of Fame that is like a hand holding a globe. It's pretty cool.
And it's like all crystal. It's freaking dope. I keep that one up there because it's awesome. And the globe will break if we ever get a good earthquake. That little globe will fall and I'll shatter on the floor and that'll be its life.
And I'm okay with that. Christina's third place medal from the World Sumo Championship is up there. And let's see.
I have Kristen's fight gloves. I have my Abu Dhabi medal for Jiu Jitsu. I have my American Nationals gold medal from Jiu Jitsu.
So I have two gold medals up there. And then I have my belts. in judo that's it that's it it's fairly simple right instead of me having like oh my u.s open third place medal oh my blah blah blah oh my nationals blah blah blah my north american blah blah oh fuck all that bullshit you know what i mean it doesn't make sense it's just too much things i'd rather just reset but maybe when i'm like five times joe and i have like five national medals.
And then he'll get it tattooed on his inner arm. You know? Maybe that's the key. Hey, next year he might have competition.
I mean, every year he has competition, but it might mean even more competition next year. Awesome. Let me tell you something, Joe.
I know you're listening. Mister, I'm going to retire. I'm going to sit back and I'm not going to do anything.
Then all of a sudden you hop in. You're like, Hey guys, I'm going to go train at, uh, uh, what was it? Uh, North Carolina.
Hey guys, let's go meet in a park and get some soup. You're addicted. That's your drug. You can't stay away from it. Retirement.
Yeah, you're not going to retire until you win the international medal, man. Even then, even then, he's just like, I just need one more wrap of that mojito. Just one more.
Come on. Where that salt at? Where that salt at?
You're a liar, Joe. It ain't going nowhere. Five-time, five-time, five-time national champion, Joe. He's three times, two more to go.
Two more, two more. all I want is two more Joe that's it two more and then you can enjoy your life have children enjoy your marriage I need two more get on that creatine keep eating drinking that milk 12 eggs a day a steak every hour clean beans He has to go the opposite way from Trent. He can't go beans only.
Then Joe will go to his natural weight of like 120 pounds. He has to go exactly the opposite and go meat, eggs. Everything.
Lentil milk every hour. Oh no, JJ's-He just made himself laugh and now he's-Okay, I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what this is. Anyway...
I think we talked about what we needed to talk about. Your favorite tournaments? Oh, yeah, we were talking about that.
Sorry. Yeah. I mean, I had a few that I really liked. My favorite is the Consulate's Cup.
Yeah. Thank you, Justin, because there's... You told us that it was the Consulate's Cup.
Yep. You got to meet Pokkai and all that. Also, I did a whole bunch of YSUMOs, and I sat down with people and... I got bum-rushed by Jake from Grand Sumo Breakdown, which was pretty dope. Jake, I love sumo now.
Yeah, so he... I have this, like, social anxiety. anxiety because I have a hard time reaching out and being like, hey, I know you're having a lot of fun, but can I steal you to do an interview? Right.
In my mind, it's like, I don't want to bug them, you know, but. But, you know, I got Pat. I got Sabrina.
And I was like, man, this is fun. I got Caleb. I haven't released the Caleb one. You're coming up, dude. That was fun.
And then, you know, Jake was like, hey, are you going to ask me? I was like, you look like you're having fun. I don't want to interrupt it. And he was like, grab me by my shirt. I was like, let's do this.
I need to tell you why I do sumo. And that's how we. he speaks. That's not how anybody speaks. Alright, this is just what I'm doing.
Yeah, well. Now, my name's Trent. Let's go, Joe Boo! Let's go, Kellyanne! Oh man.
I could beat anybody at arm wrestling. What's up with it? Are you a little weird hood person? If you knew where Trent grew up, you'd be like, oh no wonder his accent's like fucking bizarre. So he grew up in Oceanside.
Yeah. Back in the day it was Redneck Central, right? No, so it's a combination of rednecks and like weird hood gang activity it's a very strange place way too many marines from around the world or from around the united states that show up there because camp pendleton's right there it's a weird weird place weird place doesn't quite make sense um and that's why when you look at trink you're like okay he's walking around and he lives in colorado no not colorado idaho he lives in idaho now right and you're like oh look at this country guy and he's always walking around in jordans but they're not clean they're fucked up they're dirty disgusting Jordans.
But they're Jordans. And you're like, what is this? He's as confused as anyone else.
Bye! Bye!