He does have distance, looking at Portland open R1 now. . and the way he parked the 425´hole two with a Meteor IS impressive.

I think I saw him clock 75-76mph in one of the gatekeeper vids, serious power

His confidence has never been a part of the Brodie thing that was annoying. More his thoughtlessness. Brodie Smith wasn't just some ulti player. Not even just some top tier ulti player. He was in the discussion as one of the best players in the world at one point. Even if a ton of that was his athleticism as a downfield player, he's still a great thrower with plenty of highlights demonstrating his touch on the field and he SHOULD have expected he'd figure out the heft and spin on these new instruments to a mastery level if he wanted to get there.

Eh, I'd say it’s more about how his confidence effects and combines with his thoughtlessness. He has been very confident in his opinions about what should change in disc golf, what’s “wrong” with disc golf. He knows he is getting people annoyed or angry, even seems to be attempting to phrase things in a way intended to get people angry, then finds out he is wrong, and it doesn’t seem to make him think more carefully next time.

That does seem to be changing, Brodie's Jomez profile at DDO seemed to show a more reflective side, but it’s hard to tell if it has truly sunk in. See him referring to Blue Lake recently as “too easy”, and then publicly walking that back when he shot even par. Meanwhile, Paul said just before the tourney that the course wasn’t as easy as he remembered it and that he thought Blue Lake could be made a top-5 course in the world with “a few tweaks”. Not sure I buy that take any more than Brodie's, but I know which one of them has earned the right to speak on the subject confidently.

I think they both have the same right to speak on it. The difference is in how much we should care about one versus the other.

The few people I’ve seen say they’ve met him in person or played with him have all said he was nice and chill. Can’t say I’m into ultimate at all, so no idea what kind of reputation he had back in the day.

Seems like he just knows how to play the social media game, so he says some controversial stuff from time to time to generate some buzz.

I can assure you his rep was not viewed in a positive manner by most of us who played against him, but you had to respect his abilities on the field. He was an absolute force, but he also was obnoxious to play against (ticky tacky and phantom calls that changed the course of the game).

I think he kind of owned that in one of his videos. Meaning he acknowledged that was how he played.

I was hardly a boy scout out there myself, and if there was a grey area in the rules then it was to be explored, manipulated and taken advantage of. Let's just say there were lots of rules lawyers during my run. I can respect the fact that he came out and owned up to the fact that Spirit of the Game may not have been that important to him between the lines. That has kept more than one dominant Ulty athlete out of the Hall of Fame.

I don't think your experience is unique amongst competitive athletes. Teaching athletes how to foul without fouling (being called) is pretty common in contact sports.

Calling your own lines in tennis was always fun. I'm competitive to the point that I wouldn't cheat to win. I couldn't take a win knowing I stole it. That's just an OCD tendency I guess. Blame my mother. As a kid I had gotten better than her at ping pong. So one day I decided to play left handed. Before long, though, I realized that she had switched to lefty, too.

A lot of people would rather win regardless of how. I experienced that with both competitors and teammates.

Solo 9th place at the DGLO! :clap:
I'm guessing that was his best finish to date in a pro tour event? He tends to have 1 bad round at tournaments, but he was pretty consistent at the DGLO.

3rd at DDO this year, he's been improving steadily!

3rd at DDO

https://udisclive.com/players/brodiesmith?t=dgpt2022

Oops, forgot about that!
Steadily improving for sure.
No longer just a curiosity...not quite a contender yet either, but he has come a long ways.