For roughly 50% of you reading this right now, the short answer is “yes.” From the endlessly annoying “dink” sound to the picklers (awful name) always asking you to try pickleball to the fact that seemingly every ex-NFL Pro Bowler and washed-up celebrity has to post highlights from playing with John McEnroe, the entire pickleball atmosphere is ripe for contempt.
Or are you just a hater?
Because it does feel like “everyone” is playing. And some people you consider legit athletes do enjoy it. And they just converted four tennis courts at your town’s rec center into eight pickleball courts, which begs the question: How the hell did this happen?
How did a sport you’d never heard of five years ago simultaneously become a popular activity in high school gyms, at your local park and at age 55+ communities throughout the country? Shouldn’t that not happen?
If retirees enjoy it, shouldn’t frat guys hate it?
And if it’s played outside college dorms, shouldn’t your 78-year-old mom not be into it?
Alas, this is where pickleball has landed us. It is popular with young and old, athletic and unathletic, pro athletes and amateurs.
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Also, many people think it’s a stupid activity meant to nullify every advantage actual athletes might have in an actual sport: speed, quickness, strength, size, etc…
Where do you stand on this? Is it stupid? Is it fun? Is it even a sport?
As you think about it, here’s something you likely didn’t know:
Pickleball is not a recent invention – not even close.
The “sport” has been around for nearly six-decades and it was created by Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, and Bill Bell in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The story goes that Joel and Bill came home from playing a round of golf and saw that their families weren’t doing anything active. The moms were fed up, and the kids (in classic kid mode) claimed they had nothing to do.
After probably hearing “we’re boooooored” for the hundredth time, Joel and Bill decided to invent a game on an old badminton court that sat off to the side of Joel’s property. They didn’t have the right equipment, so they used ping pong paddles and a plastic ball and created a game the whole family could play. The rest is pickleball history.
By 1967, they’d built a permanent pickleball court and come up with the official “rules of the game”. By 1972, they created a corporation to protect the creation of the sport, and in 1976 the first pickleball tournament was held.
As the game progressed and grew more popular in the late 20th century, you still likely hadn’t heard of it. You didn’t know the United States Amateur Pickleball Association was formed in 1984 and you didn’t click on the Internet’s first pickleball website, Pickleball Stuff, in 1999 and you definitely weren’t one of the first 10,000 members of USAPA in 2015.
Cut to 2024 and everyone from Drake to Kevin Durant and Kevin Love have invested in pickleball teams. LeBron James even owns a Major League Pickleball team. Individual teams have valuations nearing $10 million and the league itself might be worth nine figures.
All this for glorified ping pong.
Yes, we said it. Pickleball is glorified ping pong.
The court’s bigger and the net’s bigger and the balls and paddles are bigger but other than that, it’s a game of reaction time and reps. Spare us the highlight video of that point you love. Don’t bother mentioning that high school kid who’s amazing. We’re sure they are, but it’s pickleball. It’s boring to watch in person and even more boring to watch on a screen. Every highlight is the same: Dink! Dink! Dink! Dink! Dink! Dink! Dink! Dink! Awwwww…
Remember, this was a game invented so that the whole family can play, meaning, it’s a game where the fastest, strongest and most athletic siblings or parents have their advantages blunted with a small court, a plastic ball and the lack of bounce on the paddle.
If you’re on the pro-pickleball side of things, don’t get upset, because while we come down on the idea that pickleball is a stupid sport for the reasons mentioned above, we think it’s a fine activity.
If this is the thing that gets people who don’t normally exercise off their butts and outside sweating, excellent. If this is the thing that gets retirees and seniors to move their bodies and stretch and run a bit, terrific. And if this is the game that a family can play together, or that a group of out of shape buddies can play together, or that you can play with your parents for some friendly competition, then we’re all for it.
Just don’t call it a sport, because that’s stupid
