"The Weird World of Sports" w/ Bomani Jones [Best-Of Episode]

The Puzzler team is taking a short summer break, and in the meantime we're bringing you some of our favorite episodes from the archives. We'll be back with brand new episodes soon!

Puzzling with us today: sports journalist, analyst, commentator, and host of "The Right Time with Bomani Jones," Bomani Jones!

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Buzzlers, I am thinking of a six letter word.
This word has appeared many times in the New York
Times crossword puzzle. One clue to the six letter word
is a terse email reply. Another clue to this word
is something given before many a feast. And here's one
last crossword puzzle clue to this word. What's meant by

(00:21):
asante in Swahili or mahalo in Hawaiian. Yes, that six
letter word. The answer to all three clues is thanks.
And I bring this word up because I want to
say a huge gin or miss thanks to the puzzlers
at home. Thanks to your support, The Puzzler Podcast has
been renewed four season two and we are so excited

(00:45):
to tease your brain to monkey with your cortex. As
we speak, the Puzzler team and I are hold up
in the Puzzler Lamp, cooking up all sorts of mischief
for season two this weekend. Next we'll be running some
of our favorite episod from season one as we get
ready to launch season two, so please enjoy these classics.
And then on September thirtieth, we will be back with

(01:08):
brand new episodes for an entirely new season. Even more
puzzly than ever, so please enjoy. Hello puzzlers, Welcome to
the Puzzler Podcast, the two point Conversion on your daily
Puzzle Touchdown. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs, and I am

(01:36):
here with our guests, the fantastic Beaumani Jones, host of
HBO's Game Theory with Bomani Jones and much much more.
Baumani I had a quick question your earth. Do you
have any favorite weird sports lingo?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:53):
For instance, I'm thinking fartluk, which is a Swedish training
method of running fast than slow than fast.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I got one.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
Now, I don't know if I had one prior to
you asking the question, but I think we got it.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
He definitely have a new leader in the clubhouse.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
So honored to help you out. Well, you might get
more because today's puzzle is about weird sports words. And
by weird, I'm referring both to the sport and the word,
and I use the word weird lovingly. These are not
sports that you generally cover on Game Theory with Beaumonti
Jones available on HIMAX, but they are real. And I'm

(02:31):
going to read you the word and then I'm going
to give you two definitions. One definition is real and
the other is fake, and you have to try to
guess which one is real. So are you ready?

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Der?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
All right? The first word number one is scrounker s
k r o n k e r skrunker. Is this
a in competitive stone skipping a stone that never even
hits the water? Or is it b in competitive of
quad ball also known as quidditch, a play that causes

(03:04):
the opponent to drop their broom. So stones that never
hits the water or broom dropping play.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
I am going to go with the stone skipping because
skronker seems like we'd from one of them countries where
they ain't got nothing to do with skip stones.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
You are absolutely correct, and I still I'm not quite
sure how a skronker works, Like how do you not
hit the water?

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, there's a lot, there's some physics that I don't
quite I mean, at some point he's got to right,
but think other wise they to spin around a world
fev Maybe that's it.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
But it's in all of the stone skipping website, so
I gotta believe it's true. By the way, uh, a
plank is a stone that sinks on first contact with
the water. But a plink is a clean skip. So
you want plinks?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
All right?

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Word number two of five. The word is shagger s
ha g g E are. Is it a in competitive
dodgeball the player who is in charge of making sure
the balls don't roll back on the opponent's side, or
is it B in barefoot water skiing, a move involving

(04:13):
one foot and one hand on the water.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
I'm going to go with the first one again.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
And you are going with the rag one. It is
a dodgeball hangarbacker.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Interesting. I didn't know that there was that position existed.
That seems like a great way to get hit with dodgeballs.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Exactly. It's not a very popular position. All right, Well,
you're two for two. Round three. The word is maximummer
m axim umm r maximum er. Is it a in
competitive indoor skydiving a move where you go from the
very bottom to the very top of the air chamber?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Or B?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Is it? In competitive chess problem solving a problem where
the black side is under the obligation of always playing
the longest legal move.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Hmm, I'm gonna go with a again.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh thank god I tricked you on one. I feel good.
I feel I've done my job.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I know I should have bet on the percentages.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
I will say it is. It's a move in chess.
But have you ever seen videos of competitive indoor sky diving?

Speaker 4 (05:24):
I have not, in the sense that apparently you can
go from down to up it is.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
I mean they do all the it's like acrobat It's
it's pretty cool. Anyway, a plug for competitive sky diving.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
I feel like the composition is skydiving is just living exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
You don't want to lose that one, right, yeah? All right?
Two more. The next one is the word is spock,
as in the logical guy from Star Trek with a
point of years spock? Is it a in professional thumb
wrestling when a player illegally splits their fingers in an
attempt to gain leverage? Is it b in competitive batchie

(06:03):
a ball bowled specifically to knock away an opponent's ball?

Speaker 4 (06:08):
All right, So my logic as I think about the
thumb wrestling, what they describe and it is what we
used to call like the tag team, like the manager
will come in off the ropes and you stick your
finger out and then you bring your thumb back down
and I can see that making the shape likes boxier.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
That is so good and It is so much smarter
than what we we had planned because it is bochi.
But wow, I love that it also happens to be
this spot single. So thank you for reading into it
more than we.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
I think I just came up with a new term exactly,
or thumb wrestling. Actually, they should picked this up. It'll
be it'll be right by the time this air.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Total, it's going viral. No doubts, all right, last one.
It's actually a pair of words, two words G and
ha as in gee and h a W. So is
this a and competitive dog mushing the words for turn
right and turn left respectively, or is it b in

(07:06):
e sports a strategy in battle royale games where a
player hangs back, allowing opponents to take each other out.
That's the G part, and then goes on an ambush
the haw part sort of rope a dope.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I'm gonna go with A and you would be.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right competitive dog mushing. So you got them all all
but one. I got you on one.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
I'll take you a bit.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Well, thank you, Boumani. It was a joy. And where
can people find more Boumani non stone skipping content?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
All right? Well, check out the right time with Bomani
Jones podcast about sports and a lot more wherever you
get your podcasts and check the Max app for Game
Theory with Bomani Jones.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Fantastic. And before we wrap up, as always for you
puzzlers at home, here's your extra credit puzzle. What is
a bond spiel about on spiel? Is it a a
curling tournament or b the leftovers in a competitive eating contest. Puzzlers,
please don't forget to subscribe to the Puzzler podcast and

(08:11):
I'll meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that
will puzzle you puzzlingly.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Hey, puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska here with the extra credit
answer from our previous episode. Paula Poundstone joined us for
the inside Out game, where we took words and turned
them inside out, basically by reversing them. Every clue had
two blanks. Each blank is filled with a word, and
one blank is the reverse of the other word. Your

(08:42):
extra credit clue was that horrible scarf my aunt made
is a real blank. I hope she unravels it and
blank something else. This is a tricky one. The horrible
scarf was a real stinker, and I hope that she
unravels it and reknits something else stinker and renits.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Thanks for playing, and we'll catch your heir.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
For more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly