"Sports are, after all, one of the few remaining realms in which we generally accept the legitimacy of hierarchy and order. Anyone can play, of course, but some people are simply better than others, and this fact is out in public for everyone to see. You cannot cry or bully your way into victory. You cannot call HR or summon a Twitter mob to wangle your way out of defeat."
Uh, heard of Lia Thomas by any chance? Riley Gaines might beg to differ.
I've never played pickleball, but I hate tennis. I'm not an especially out of shape person (I am physically active from dawn to dusk most days), but nor am I particular into aerobic conditioning. Even so, I find tennis just about impossible to play meaningfully. The court is just too damn big, and minor disparities in skill and physical conditioning are dramatically amplified by this. I never thought about it before, but tennis IS elitist and exclusive for this reason. And I'm sure the culture follows suit, as your article tends to suggest.
I might have to give pickleball a try. It makes sense to fix tennis into an actually fun game for regular people.
"Everyone who has learned to play tennis at an adequate level has demonstrated that they possess certain qualities that we prize, or once prized, in our fellow man."
Only as Jock would think this. It's a game! Get over it!
"In sports, there is talent, hard work, sheer dumb luck, and nothing else—a fitting metaphor for life, whether or not we choose to acknowledge it."
Well, that used to be true, to be sure. But in a world where "Lia" Thomas can crush girls' dreams of winning swimming competitions, what used to be obviously true is now as false and hurtful as the idea that only women can become pregnant. Pushing wholesome, noble tennis aside so frivolous, ridiculous pickleball can have room to be all that it can be is a no-brainer.
Pickleball is a nice aerobic exercise for this geriatric, and kinda fun. But it totally lacks the aesthetic appeal of tennis. I can't imagine ever watching a pickleball match with the pleasure of a Federer, Borg, or Laver. Thus, I think tennis is quite safe.
There's been little controversy in my town for the simple reason that the tennis courts were largely abandoned well before the Picklers moved in. I guess maybe in some patrician holdouts like Connecticut there is still a vibrant tennis culture, but not by me.
Well it's simple. Tennis has been getting less popular over the years, and it makes total sense to re-purpose unused or under-used tennis courts to pickleball.
This author needs to recognize that America has spoken. Get more people to play tennis, and you can have your courts back.
I feel ya. My buddies and I have been playing Basketball on the same court, every Sunday morning, for years. We are now told by the city rec dept that if someone comes wanting to play Pickleball, we must yield the court to them. And there’s only ONE Basketball court!!
Sounds like bridge. Go play a card game and chit-chat with your range-of-competence trend-followers. F Pickleball.
Can we make chess easier? Can we create a game that give some logic opportunities, but makes it easier to match all skill levels, and not have to find a 2000 rated player to get a good game? Perhaps, but why the hell would we want to do that, and then move it into the NY Chess Club or Washington park? Chess is chess. Pickleball, for people that "just can't even" for tennis, or raquetball, or squash, or badmitton...would love to see how the pickleballers act if you come up with a new version of it that improves on it in 15 ways...they will likely say "no, don't mess with a good thing!". Exactly.
I have become a pickleball addict and (before a recent knee injury....don't say it) played 6 days a week, 3 hrs a day. I only limited it to 6 days because at 7, I could feel myself breaking down. I understand the author's disdain for the sport, but you'll never win against the obsessed pickleballers 🙂
If the tennis courts were in constant use, as are pickleball courts, they wouldn't be converting those courts to pickleball. I walk by the tennis courts in our community on a regular basis and they are always empty -- all six of them. But the two courts that have been converted to pickleball are in constant use. I loved watching tennis in the McEnroe/Borg/Connors/Nastase era -- serve and volley. Today's best players go into long and often boring exchanges where the player with the best endurance wins. Frankly, I've lost interest. But I can sit and watch pickleball players for an entire afternoon. They're not always the best players, but they're always exciting. BTW, today's young people are more interested in playing video games than working up a sweat on the tennis court. It's a dying sport. My opinion -- No hate-mail please!
"Sports are, after all, one of the few remaining realms in which we generally accept the legitimacy of hierarchy and order. Anyone can play, of course, but some people are simply better than others, and this fact is out in public for everyone to see. You cannot cry or bully your way into victory. You cannot call HR or summon a Twitter mob to wangle your way out of defeat."
Uh, heard of Lia Thomas by any chance? Riley Gaines might beg to differ.
I've never played pickleball, but I hate tennis. I'm not an especially out of shape person (I am physically active from dawn to dusk most days), but nor am I particular into aerobic conditioning. Even so, I find tennis just about impossible to play meaningfully. The court is just too damn big, and minor disparities in skill and physical conditioning are dramatically amplified by this. I never thought about it before, but tennis IS elitist and exclusive for this reason. And I'm sure the culture follows suit, as your article tends to suggest.
I might have to give pickleball a try. It makes sense to fix tennis into an actually fun game for regular people.
"Everyone who has learned to play tennis at an adequate level has demonstrated that they possess certain qualities that we prize, or once prized, in our fellow man."
Only as Jock would think this. It's a game! Get over it!
Here, here! My own take on P-ball and the demise of decorum. https://tokyoyenta.com/2022/08/23/in-a-pickle/
"In sports, there is talent, hard work, sheer dumb luck, and nothing else—a fitting metaphor for life, whether or not we choose to acknowledge it."
Well, that used to be true, to be sure. But in a world where "Lia" Thomas can crush girls' dreams of winning swimming competitions, what used to be obviously true is now as false and hurtful as the idea that only women can become pregnant. Pushing wholesome, noble tennis aside so frivolous, ridiculous pickleball can have room to be all that it can be is a no-brainer.
No one plays tennis. Millions are playing pickleball. It's a much better game. It's faster, more social and much more fun. Give it up, man!
Pickleball is a nice aerobic exercise for this geriatric, and kinda fun. But it totally lacks the aesthetic appeal of tennis. I can't imagine ever watching a pickleball match with the pleasure of a Federer, Borg, or Laver. Thus, I think tennis is quite safe.
Larry, nice to hear from you. We’ve been living in Maine since 2019 where I do play some clay court tennis as well as Pickleball.
There's been little controversy in my town for the simple reason that the tennis courts were largely abandoned well before the Picklers moved in. I guess maybe in some patrician holdouts like Connecticut there is still a vibrant tennis culture, but not by me.
Tennis is dead. Long live pickleball!
Well it's simple. Tennis has been getting less popular over the years, and it makes total sense to re-purpose unused or under-used tennis courts to pickleball.
This author needs to recognize that America has spoken. Get more people to play tennis, and you can have your courts back.
I feel ya. My buddies and I have been playing Basketball on the same court, every Sunday morning, for years. We are now told by the city rec dept that if someone comes wanting to play Pickleball, we must yield the court to them. And there’s only ONE Basketball court!!
Agree to disagree😊. I “played” squash after an hour of instruction.
Sounds like bridge. Go play a card game and chit-chat with your range-of-competence trend-followers. F Pickleball.
Can we make chess easier? Can we create a game that give some logic opportunities, but makes it easier to match all skill levels, and not have to find a 2000 rated player to get a good game? Perhaps, but why the hell would we want to do that, and then move it into the NY Chess Club or Washington park? Chess is chess. Pickleball, for people that "just can't even" for tennis, or raquetball, or squash, or badmitton...would love to see how the pickleballers act if you come up with a new version of it that improves on it in 15 ways...they will likely say "no, don't mess with a good thing!". Exactly.
I have become a pickleball addict and (before a recent knee injury....don't say it) played 6 days a week, 3 hrs a day. I only limited it to 6 days because at 7, I could feel myself breaking down. I understand the author's disdain for the sport, but you'll never win against the obsessed pickleballers 🙂
If the tennis courts were in constant use, as are pickleball courts, they wouldn't be converting those courts to pickleball. I walk by the tennis courts in our community on a regular basis and they are always empty -- all six of them. But the two courts that have been converted to pickleball are in constant use. I loved watching tennis in the McEnroe/Borg/Connors/Nastase era -- serve and volley. Today's best players go into long and often boring exchanges where the player with the best endurance wins. Frankly, I've lost interest. But I can sit and watch pickleball players for an entire afternoon. They're not always the best players, but they're always exciting. BTW, today's young people are more interested in playing video games than working up a sweat on the tennis court. It's a dying sport. My opinion -- No hate-mail please!