A long, long time ago, all the way back in March of 2021, two locked-down comedians, one current and one former, decided to start a podcast. They both loved pop culture, and they both loved competition. So they asked, “what if we started a pop culture podcast that saw our favorite niches of pop culture in a vicious battle so that each week, we could declare one thing in the niche a victor?” And The Tournament Podcast was born.
I’ll cut the crap. Those two comedians were us, Trent Dozier and Nia D’Emilio, and over the last year and some change, we’ve loved getting to ask you impossible questions. Questions like “Which Succession Character is the best Succession Character?” or “Which Thanksgiving side is the best Thanksgiving side?” or, a personal favorite, “Which Paul Thomas Anderson movie is the best Paul Thomas Anderson movie?” (it’s There Will Be Blood and it was even before y’all confirmed it).
As we approached our 100th episode, we knew we didn’t want to do a tournament. Labeling a tournament special enough to be the one we do for our 100th episode didn’t feel fair to any subject (sorry, Beatles albums). Plus, we’re reflective folks. It wasn’t all that long ago that we managed to make an hour-long episode about just four sports leagues (and that’s not even all of the sports leagues!). After some thought, and considering we’ve done two Oscar brackets, the first of which was our third ever tournament, we decided that our 100th episode had to be a good, old-fashioned awards-style episode. And thus, The Tourneys were born.
Now, I’d be leading you astray if I claimed this idea to be entirely our own. No, the person who actually conceived of The Tourneys was none other than our fearless leader, Trident CEO & Founder Val Agnew. And that’s why she’s co-hosting with us this week. Together, we came up with categories, and on this week’s episode, we nominate contenders and pick winners in real time. Exciting, I know!
So sit back, relax, and enjoy this vote-free, slap-free reflection on what we’ve done so far and what we plan to do in the future. As always, thanks for joining us on this journey called tourney. And remember, may the thing with the most votes win.
Categories for The Tourneys:
Most Upsetting Omission
Best Guest
Worst Winner
Best Winner
Most Controversial Seeding
Best Upset
Worst Upset
Best Take
Worst Take
Most Anticipated Future Bracket
Favorite Bracket
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