October 31, 2025 • 40 mins
As a pickleball player, you actually want to avoid being “pickled,” because that means your team has been completely shut out! In this episode, we talked all things pickleball! The owner of the Boston Dragons pickleball team, Michael Tow, joined the chat to talk about his new senior players group in the U.S. Legends Pickleball League which features players aged 50+.
You can hear NightSide with Dan Rea, Live! Weeknights From 8PM-12AM on WBZ - Boston's News Radio.
You can hear NightSide with Dan Rea, Live! Weeknights From 8PM-12AM on WBZ - Boston's News Radio.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray WBS video.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, thank you very much, Al Griffin.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
As we move it into ten o'clock hour, there's some
other sports going on tonight, but.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're going to talk about a different sport, a sport.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That has come on the American scene with a great
deal of vigor in the last few years, and it's pickleball,
and specifically we're going to talk about a professional pickleball league,
a senior professional pickleball league, with a professional pickleball team
in Boston called the Boston Dragons. And we're delighted to
(00:36):
be owned by, to be joined by not only one
of the players on the Boston Dragons, but the owner
of the Boston Dragons senior pickleball team, Boston based team,
Michael to Michael, welcome back Tonight's Eide. We did a
brief interview with you within the last week or two,
but I wanted to give people an opportunity tonight to
(00:57):
talk with you about the sport and about what you
hope you will be able to bring to this sport
through through its identification with Boston.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Good evening, sir, how are you tonight?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How are you great?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know, as I talked with you this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I came to realize you have had a very interesting
career path yea, and I want you to explain it
a little bit. You have been a certified financial planner.
That's really your professional career. But in addition to that,
you now have developed a following and a resume as
(01:35):
an actor in several movies and actually are becoming someone
who can make a living being an actor. But you're
also a pickleball player, and you decided that it would
be great to own a Boston pickleball team, which you
now own. You're a player on the team as well.
You are a renaissance man. Michael toe Well, I am.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I am fifty so over all over in fifty.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So it's been a career and I tell you have
accomplished quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let's talk about you start off as a financial planner,
which you know, you certified financial planner. Are you still
doing that or have you put that on the back burner?
Tell us, tell us a little bit about yourself, and
then I want to get to the to the story
at hand, which is the birth of a new league
and the birth of a team, and who knows where
this is going to go?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Sure, yes, so I was. I was a stock broker
with UBSP level for many years and opened up my
own practice and Brookline. I still have it now a
CFP and have a kind of a botique firm. But
you know, it's I've been doing that for since I
was twenty, you know, twenty one, twenty two. I started
right out of college, and I've been in this career
for thirty years. Probably about twenty years ago when the
(02:52):
when movies started coming into Boston, you know, with the
Masschustt tax credit. Sure, you know, big moves started to
come in and I asked to do to be an
extra in the movie that are parted Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon,
Leon and I DiCaprio, Jack Nicholas, and it was, you know,
it was so exciting and I used to act as
(03:13):
a kid, and so I'm like, so all these movies
started coming in, and it started with extra work. But
then you know, I slowly started getting in and moving in,
getting to you know, a few like a few lines
on these like you know, these movies, and but then
it started getting bigger and bigger, and you know, I
had my practice going and I've had it, you know,
for a long time, so that was kind of always going.
But I so I'm like, all right, I wanted to
(03:35):
fill this other side of me that I've wanted to
do come back to since I did it as a kid.
So I started to go into New York and started
to make these drives and too, you know, Boston out
in New York. While you know, I would take client
calls and you know, during the during the drive down
with my assistant kind of patching them in, but I
would kind of do kind of do the accthing and
trying to you know, just do it as a hobby
(03:55):
for fun. Whenever I do something. And maybe you can
kind of tell already, but when I focus in on something,
I go in pretty full and it doesn't necessarily have
to be with some end goal. But I just like
when I'm passionate about something, I love it and I
just kind of jump right in. And so I'm like,
all right, this actually is great, but I want to
do it as best I can. So I started getting
known in New York and started getting bigger roles in
(04:17):
New York and bigger shows and you know, the Law
and Orders and the Royal Pains and the mcgivers and
the you know, Daredevil's and all those kinds of things,
and then but COVID hit. And when COVID hit, it
changed the audition style. So instead of used to have
to go into a casting office and you know, go
in and audition there. But you know, most of the
(04:38):
work is in LA, and then the second hub is
New York. But I would get things in New York,
but I couldn't get into LA until COVID hit, and
it changed the audition process. Instead of going into an office,
you would actually have to do auditions through video, and
that opened it up to people all over the country.
(04:59):
And really it's focused in on who was the best
actor for the job rather than who lived ten minutes
from the LA office. And that what kind of brought
me to some of my large roles as a serious
regular a show called City on Fire on Apple TV,
and I was on Landman and Linus, the Taylor Sheridan shows.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
You know, looking at your list of credits, and it's
a big list. You started in two thousand and seven,
You've worked literally every year with a variety of shows,
and I'm impressed. I had not looked at this list
(05:38):
before today, and this you've you're doing well. I mean
you got this going here. I mean you've it looks
like forty seven different productions, which that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
You know, yeah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I guess I know how difficult it is. I had
one role in a movie called Reversal of Fortune, and
no one else has ever come back to me looking
for me to make a and I haven't gone and auditioned.
I do with this thing here on radio, and I
used to be in TV, so I'm kind of a
similar spirit with you in terms of I like adventure
(06:22):
and all of that, and now your big adventure is pickleball.
How long have you been playing pickleball? And give me
a quick biography on pickleball. How long has it been around?
I think you said to me it's been around longer
than I realized.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, and actually it started the nineteen sixties. I think
it was nineteen sixty five, so I just had its
sixty year anniversary of the founder of pickleball. However, though,
it was one of those sports that really got popular
also through right at COVID, so people started, you know,
doing kind of games and you know, kind of in
their driveways. When you know, people can really do stuff,
you know of things that were you know, contact, and
(07:03):
so pickleball started really picking up, and it is now
the fastest growing sport in the country. It's one of
the fastest growing sports, one or two fast growing sports
in the world. And I'm actually now right now calling
from a hotel in for Florida at the Pickleball World
Cup where there's seventy two countries open and the Senior Division,
(07:26):
which is fifty plus that are competing. It's I mean,
there are thousands of literally thousands of people here and
it was it's crazy. I just kind of came in.
We played, We played tomorrow and Sunday. But the sport
has gone huge.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
When you say we.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Play, are you down there playing with a partner or
are you down there in your capacity as a member
of the Boston Dragons.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Is the Dragons in this competition?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I know? So this is all different countries coming into play.
I'm actually representing. I'm on Team China. I'm Chinese American
off at Generation and I got asked to play, and
so I am. I am playing with you know, with
with Team China, with a lot of my friends all
over We're all in a lot of these other teams,
and so it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Okay, well we haven't even touched on the Boston Dragons,
so let me take a break. When we got back,
I want to talk about the Dragons.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I want to talk about where they where they have come.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know when I say where are you at this
point in that the team I know exists, there's a roster,
there's a website. I've looked at it. That's very impressive.
But then the question, of course is going to be
where is this taking you? And where where will we
be three or four or five away? Do you hope
to be three or four or five years from now
(08:42):
with Seeingior Pickleball, the Boston Dragons, You have sponsors. I mean,
this is the real deal. This is not some fly
by night operation. And I think we have learned. Look,
I know that I myself a couple of years ago
realized that there were corn hole competitions on these these
(09:05):
uh these networks, and I mean that just seems to
be a total appetite for genuine, you know, live competitions,
not just the World Series, just just not the NFL
or the NHL or the NBA, but other competitions. And
I think that's what you're. Uh, You're you're, you're, you're
(09:28):
really getting getting into here, and that's where I think
you may end up going, but I want to hear
it from you. I'm looking where I think you should go,
but you've got to tell me what's possible.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
My guest is Michael Toe. He's the owner of the
Boston Dragons.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Obviously an interesting guy, has quite a resume as an actor,
also happens to be a certified financial planner, and in
the meantime has come up and developed a skill at pickleball.
And uh is the owner of the Boston Dragons. So look,
we'll be back if you I'd like to ask a question.
(10:01):
If you're a pickleball player and you're as enthused about
it as Michael Toe is, feel free six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I intend to talk about this until eleven, and at
eleven we will go to the twentieth hour, and in
the twentieth hour we will have a Halloween themed twentieth Hour.
I don't know who we've ever had a well, I
(10:23):
guess we probably in nineteen years have had Halloween on
a Friday night, We're gonna take advantage of that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Tonight. Back on night Side, Light the lines up right
after this.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
My guest is Michael Toe. He's the owner of the
Boston Dragons. It's a professional pickleball team, a senior pickleball league.
How long has the league been around, Michael?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
This is our inaugural year. Okay, it's it started. We
had our first we Are Combine in Richmond, Virginia. We
had hundreds of players try out to try to be
on a team and it was a great event and
we end up having and we had our first event
in Indianapolis in September. We have twelve teams in the
(11:12):
league and the United States Legends Pickaball League the USLPL
fourteen players on a team, so we have and it's been,
it's been. It's a ride. We just came back from
Philadelphia for our second event a few weeks ago, and
then we go to Baltimore in the first week of December.
(11:34):
So we're kind of right now in the training level
of trying to get our get our get our team
up and running and working on things and getting our
plays in and getting our training in to really kind
of compete. We got some tough matches coming up into.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So this is strategy.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
When you talk about getting plays in, you get some
strategy in this. This is just not what when you
see pick a ball, h You know, when you're going
through your your recreational facility in your community and to
see four people playing pick a ball, they're hitting the
ball back and forth.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This is a little more intense than that I assumed.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh yeah, it's I mean, that's doing about pickball. The
reason why it's such a fast growing sport is that
it's a sport that you can play day one. You
could have someone who you know, a relatively that doesn't
have to you know, very ethnic. It's just a relative
person with some hand eye coordination. You can have a
ten year old play with a seventy five year old
on a court, have so much fun day one and
(12:31):
just jump on the air and play. That's why the
sport is is growing like wildfire across the country. People.
You know, so many courts are being built outdoor indoor.
I'm at a place where the ford in Fort Laude
with there's like forty outdoor courts. It's unbelievable it is,
and they're all packed, and so it's been happening that
like this across the country. But the thing is, the
(12:51):
sport can start that way. So it's very the entry
to play, it's very easy. Unlike golf or maybe tennis,
you can't really have a great rally. I was a
college tennis player, and you can't really kind of come
in and be a beginner and tennis and kind of
have fun really back and forth. That doesn't happen till
later on. Just like golf, you know, to get under
(13:13):
one hundred, you know, kind of a you know, a
you know, a ten fifteen handicap or lower. That could
take years.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I'm working on under one hundred on the front nine.
So believe me, I know of what you speak there.
Let me tell you so, Michael, let me ask this,
what's the funding mechanism for this league? The funding mechanism
for the NFL and MLB is the major sports networks,
you know, NFL Football every Sunday, Thursday night through Monday morning,
(13:41):
Monday afternoon. Ye know, they's just everywhere.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
What's the funding mechanism for this pickleball league?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sure? Well, that's the difference with pickleball. It's different than
especially senior pro pickball. It's there's not a huge demand
for people watching, right the TV rights are not a
people are not knocking on the door to try to
try to get the TV rights. However, the people who
want to get involved, uh in the sport is huge.
(14:08):
It's it's it's because it's such a fast growing sport.
There's as you kind of as you've probably heard a
lot of the stories, there's a lot of injuries now
people who who get involved with you know, injuries from
the sport or now people are now doing you know,
the pickleball shoes, you know shoes and the outfits and
the and all the different gears. So there's a lot
of companies who who who connect to the sport.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Mark market merchandise.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, yes, marketing, merchandise, uh, you know, healthcare. Uh. So
there's a lot of places that kind of connect and
so that's, uh, that's why the sport is so enticing.
And you know, because you have so many people playing.
That's a difference I think a lot of times with
with the sport is you know, we you know, I'm
a huge you know Red Sox fan, Patriots fans, but
(14:58):
the last time I played baseball, the last time I
played you know, you know, played flag football back in
the day, and that was, you know, fifteen years ago,
twenty years ago. The thing with pickleball is that there
is now the pro circuit is really starting to grow,
the young pros and the senior pro market. And but
people can, you know, you can, you can strive for
(15:20):
this sport is so young that the barriers to entry
to kind of make it to the to a limit.
It's there's no real limit right now. Okay, one of
the one of these.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
My assumption is is quite different than yours. Yours probably
obviously an assumption that that is based much more on
experience and reality. What I'm thinking is that if one
of these sports networks needs to fill time, they could
broadcast pickleball games, particularly pickleball games tournaments where your team
(15:58):
and the other teams here, got teams from Florida and
New York City, and it is this said Baltimore and Pittsburgh,
a Jersey team, a Buffalo or Roanoke, Virginia team. It
would seem to me that there would be a television
market marketplace. Now, they may not pay you, you know,
(16:20):
NFL money, but I still would think that people could
sit on a Saturday afternoon or for that matter, during
the week and say, you know, they can identify viewers
can say, hey, you know, I'm learning, I'm not only
enjoying the competition, but I might I can learn something
from the competition, or am I over selling it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I do think that that's definitely something that's in the
cards and it's go and to me, that's where the
future is going. I mean, the sport is going to be.
It's we talked a little bit about this, but there
are now clubs across the college teams now across the country.
Now there's a whole College World Series and so there
there are some either either clubs or full teams. We
(17:02):
just had the bu pick a Ball club join us
at eleven OZ at the Patriots Place for our exhibition
last Sunday. You know, so we have these a lot
of college players, high school teams are starting to join
in with clubs, and the Olympics are you know, there's
talk about the Olympics having pick a ball as as
uh as the next new sport there. So it's it's
(17:23):
it's so young in the in the growth of the
sport that all this stuff to me is possible, and
that's why it's so exciting to be to be part
of it, you know, be part of the ground floor,
and and knowing a lot of these pro players and
senior pro players and and you know, it's really exciting.
And so I do think that'll get there. And that's
why it's that's why I love it. It's it's like that.
(17:45):
It's not something it's like starting. You know. You see
these these documentaries about the Last Dance with Michael Jordan
and the Chicago Bulls or you you kind of see
these back you know, but this and that happened in
the eighties, you know, or you know when the you know,
in the uh, I don't know when the when the
first football you know as the the NFL's first started
and it had all these different leagues or or the NBA. Well,
(18:08):
right now we're talking about, you know, something that's that's
forming right now in the last few years. I mean,
all things are happening.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Michael.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I can tell the NBA formed before I was born,
but I'm enough of his story to know that they
were teams like the Cincinnati Royals and the Syracuse Nats,
the Philadelphia Warriors. Those teams have moved on. They were
teams like the Buffalo Braves. I mean there were teams
that have.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
The BA right well, no, no, this was this was.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Some of it was a BA.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But but in the late forties when when the NBA
was formed, and the Celtics were an original team. But
this was the late forties and pro basketball didn't exist
in the twenties and the thirties and and until after
World War Two, and then of course it was it
was a league. They used to play double headers at
Boston Garden. You would have the Celtics playing the Neck
(19:00):
and you'd have the Cincinnati Royals playing the Syracuse Nationals.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You see four different teams.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
And the Celtics, even when they were doing great in
the sixties and dominating the league. You can walk up
and buy a ticket any game when they if they
got five thousand people in the garden. They were the
Bruins who were losing, were selling it out thirteen nine
oh nine every night even though they were losing. And
then basketball, you know, just took off. Hockey now is
(19:29):
well behind basketball. Even though hockey now has teams across
the country, it's it's still considered you know a Northern
American Canadian sport. Yeah, you got teams in Florida, and
you got Nashville, and you you had a team in Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
There now in Utah, so you have growth potentially here.
Let's do this.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Let's take a pause for the news and we'll go
to phone calls right after the ten thirty newscasts. So
sit back, get a glass of water, and we will
got one line at six one seven four ten thirty
that's still available, and I got a couple at six
point seven nine three thirty. Love to have some of
you folks join in. If you're a pickle ball player,
you feel free to join in. But this is the
(20:13):
real deal, and I am not nearly as excited about
it as Michael Tolway's, but I am excited about it
to be able to talk to you about the really
the birth of a league that someday might I don't
know if I'll ever be as big as the NFL,
but it might have an audience that rivals the NFL. Look,
(20:38):
there was a period of time when baseball was the
national pastime. Not that way anymore. It's now this professional
football baseball is still big. Don't get me wrong. But
it has taken a bit of a backseat to the NFL.
So taste change sports, come and go. This one is coming.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Feel free to join our conversation back on Nightside right
after this.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
It's Night's Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
My guest is the owner of the Boston Dragons, the
new senior pickleball team here based in Boston, based in
New England.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Michael Toe is our guest. Michael, let's go to phone calls.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Our first call is from one of your rival owners, Ron,
who owns I guess the New York team.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Ron. Welcome to Night Side. How are you?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It would be great if we get the New York
Boston rival We're going here tonight.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You go right ahead. You're on with with Michael Toe.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
Oh, it's a pleasure to be here. And uh and
uh now the Boston rivalry has been super fun. Uh
we we we took the first battle in in uh
in the Philly area. And I'm sure Michael is going
to be gunning for us in the in the next battle.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So, so tell me a little bit about about your team.
How'd you get involved in this?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Ron?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And and we're we're I guess you guys had a
calm and you had a draft like the NFL.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Right, yes, well, first twelve owners. Twelve owners got selected
to their purchase franchises from different cities, predominantly across the
East Coast, and then we were able to protect four players.
And then we had to pick ten people in the draft.
And so we went to the combine in Richmond, and
(22:24):
there was some great talent and we all assembled very
competitive teams.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Now, by the way, both all the teams have a
male contingent and a female contingent. So, yes, how was
the team brought? Either of you could jump in here,
Michael or Ron. Is it seven men seven women or
is there a different balance?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, seven men, seven women. And there's actually an age
component too, so we have we have two males and
two females who are over sixty to over fifty, and
two over fifty five, and the rest can be any
any age over fifty. So it spreads out the age
(23:07):
range too, rather than just being a league of you know,
if it's fifty over you, you probably have a primarily
young fifty kind of league.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Like to see the golfer, you know, everybody who's winning,
it's fifty one and fifty two because they can still hit.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The ball three hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So do you have is it, you know, two men
competing in men's event's two other guys?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
When when this when you guys are playing?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Or can you have a mixed doubles team or is
there a mixed double element of it? Obviously in tennis,
mixed doubles is is a traditional element as well as
you know, women's doubles and men's doubles.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
How does this work?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well, that's the exciting part of it. And i'ron I
think can attest to this as well. They're in tennis,
it's primarily singles with pick a ball. It's primarily doubles.
And the thing about it's not just right, it's not
just we don't want type of doubles. It's gender doubles.
So we have men's uh you know, two men against
two women, I mean two men against who men and
(24:07):
then uh, the women have their matches and then we
have mixed matches, so a man and a woman versus
a man and woman. So uh, it's a pretty it's
it's they're in they're different games. A men's game is
different than a women's game, and a mixed game is
different than than gender games. So it's it's really kind
of all and this is all within the torment we had.
(24:28):
We had the Boston Dragons play against the the the
New York Ballers, and that was that was part of
a rivalry that that kind of was, you know, that's
kind of fallowing a tradition of Boston New York teams.
And and unfortunately the Boston team came, we came a
little bit short, a little bit short, uh, and I
had to uh do a bit of a payoff a
(24:52):
bet with with Ron here. But but but that's only right.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Unlike found out football, Betty is a looted amongst the
owners and the players of pickleball.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, we had a we had a private, private, well
not too private. It was on social media that that
the losing team at where the gear and and pose
with gear. So so unfortunately I had to put on
a New York Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
No, I'm joking with you, because obviously you're getting this
thing off the ground.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Ron, how was it that you came to own the
New York team?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Michael has told us a little bit about since you're
kind of have to call in what is your background
that you were able to purchase a franchise.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
One of my friends is one of the other owners
of the Del Rays, and she told me about the league.
And I haven't played competitive team sports since college tennis.
And who would have thought at the age of fifty one,
I would not only be able to get a wonderful team,
but to also compete. And uh, it's it's been, it's
been a dream.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
What college do you play tennis?
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Binghamton University in New York.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, I know what Binghamton is. Yankees used to have
a farm team out there many years ago. All right, gentlemen,
I thank you very much for well, not gentlemen, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Ron.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
We're gonna thank you for calling in. Uh and Michael
say right there, we got other phone calls.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
All right, thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You're very welcome. Rom. Thanks Ron, thank.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
You, Michael, and congrats on all the accolades.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well we'll have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Thank you, Thank you, Ron, appreciate it. Let me go
to David in Ohio. David in Ohio, David, welcome. Are
you involved in the league as well?
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Well? Interestingly enough, you and I have actually met and
part of the reason you're talking to Michael tonight is
because you and I are connected to one another. And
I'm connected to Mike through the Legends Pickleball League because
my wife Pam plays in the league on another team
against Michael.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So how have you and I met? David? Did you
do prison time with me?
Speaker 6 (27:08):
You know what? No comment?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
No, no comment?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
And I met you and I met in the doctor
Al Frankie's office a number of years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I have a mutual friend.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Yeah, yeah, and I bought I bought the whole concept
of prolo therapy to him in the Boston area and
I've been there a couple of times and we've met
and Al's a great friend. And as you may know,
Al is currently the title sponsor of the Boston Dragons.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Okay, I know that I want to turn over my
I want to turn over my wife to you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
So you have the opportunity to speak to a former
collegiate player. When she graduated college from Flagler University in
Saint Augustine, Pam's ranked first United States in both singles
and doubles. It was a few years ago, but she's
one of those plus sixty players for the d m
V Picklers out of the District Maryland and VIRGINI. This
(28:02):
is Pam Lippy. This is my friend indirectly through doctor Frankie,
whom she's known for ever since we've been married. This
is Dan Ray night side baby.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Yeah, Hi Jan and Hi Michael, Hi Pam Bam.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Were you a tennis player in college? Did your husband say?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Well?
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Not only was I a tennis player in college, I
still am a tennis player.
Speaker 9 (28:27):
Whoa Okay, the most famous tennis women tennis players that
I've ever known are Nancy Ritchie, Cliff Ritchie's sister.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
She's in the Hall of Fame. Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And I once hit with Barbara Potter, who was a
great player in the eighties. I think she was ranked
number ten in the world and she just blew me away.
I mean this amazing, The respect that I have for
phebale athletes having played, played, tried to play.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's I know.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
If you remember Barbara Potter, she was out of Connecticut, uh.
And she was an awesome, big left handed tennis player,
and she could. She could hit the ball so it
goes right so close left, an unbelievable experience.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So I stand in awe of women tennis players.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I want you to know that and actually again a
lot of the a lot of players, as Pam, you
admit that you're still playing tennis, but a lot of
people are switching from tennis over to to pick a ball,
and it's Pam is one of those ones who can
do both. To me, it's hard. I've kind of put
up the put uh hung up the rackets, uh you know,
uh years ago, and it's it's all pickaball now. But
(29:39):
but we have a lot of people who are now
coming in who are pro tennis. As my sister's a
was a pro test player on the tour and she
she's a pro pickaball player now as well, not a senior.
But there are people Von Lindel, Andre Agassi, you remember
those names, manxby lend All, they're all they've all come
over into into pro P.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I did realize Lendel and Legacy. Half wow. I'll tell you,
Michael told you you may be onto something here. Let
me tell you, well, we got to take a break, David,
thanks so much for calling in. Pam.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Pleasure to meet you, and probably at some point I'll
bump into you guys up here in Boston sometimes through
our mutual friends and uh, great to uh.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Great, great to meet both of you.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
We have a lot of listeners in Ohio, believe it
or not, so feel free to tune into night'st any night.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
From all hid right, Well, thank you, great show, and Michael,
I'll see you in our showdown in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
That's right, Pam, we'll get ready.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Okay, ball players are very polite here. I like that. Thanks, guys,
we talk, we'll talk. So thanks, Thanks David, Thanks man.
I appreciate it very much. Have a great night.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
All right, this is wonderful. We got a bunch of calls.
Let's keep rolling.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Michael, we got to take a final break here, one
final commercial break, but I got coming up up Jennifer
in Boston. I got Sienna in Boston and uh te
ha or t h t t y'aw uh from Denham.
We'll be back on Nightside right after this. We'll finish
it up right after the break.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
It's night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
All right, here we go. We have we four lines.
I'm gonna try to get everybody in. Won't be easy,
but let's start with Jennifer and Boston. Hey, Jennifer, welcome,
how are you tonight? You're on with Michael Toe.
Speaker 8 (31:29):
Hi Dan, Hi Michael, this is Jennifer Jenna Metti. I'm
a SAG actor and any film producer. And my question
for you, Michael is have you considered doing a film
on pickleball, especially a comedy and what are your upcoming
projects acting projects that you're working on.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Thanks Jennifer. So it's actually we're actually I would love
to be in a pickaball movie. The only thing is
it's and there have been there, there's a there's a
new Benseller one, but I because it's a new sport,
I think they it's one of those ones where they're
they're taking people who are not necessary players in it
(32:07):
and so so so my skill there doesn't really translate
over into into being a caster. However, we are actually
doing a documentary and I'm doing a documentary with my
uh my producing partner while we're doing the team. So
we're doing a documentary called Making the Boston Dragons, and
so we're documenting uh it's it's it's combining my my
(32:30):
film side and and you know, having a cast and
crew and director and sound people and videographers and all
the stuff that's happening with making a team which is
which is way more complicated and stressful, but but awesome
and great and fun at the same time.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We have Tea on the line. Uh, she's the next caller,
so we're going to be able to talk with her
about that. I know she's involved in this project with you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yes, Jennifer, Yes, but thank you Jennifer.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Thanks for calling in. Jennifer, appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Good.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Now let me go to Taya, who actually I believe
is involved in the documentary with you.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Tya, you're on with Michael Toe.
Speaker 7 (33:15):
I am here, and I am very excited to talk
a little bit about this short form documentary series. Mike
is a really good friend of mine. I've been producing
videos with him for many years now. The footage that
we're getting is quite exhilarating. You get to see some
(33:36):
very very interesting perspectives of age and playing pickleball and
athleticism and all of the very complicated routines and all
the expectations there are from building a team like this.
Mike is doing an amazing job and I'm just really
(33:58):
proud to work with him.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
How will you How will you market I'll tell you,
how will you market this? This film.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Is this sort of something going to go to different
film festivals or do you hope that you can get
it on I don't know, ESPN or one of the
one of the sports channels.
Speaker 7 (34:17):
I've made hundreds of documentaries, and there's usually a marketing
strategy for any any of this kind of work. The
difference in this case is that we're not only developing
it as we you know, as Mike is building the team,
but we're we're creating a new sort of genre of
(34:39):
short form documentary uh and uh series. So we're not
quite sure yet where it will fit. But what we
do know is that the drama of the the story
is very compelling, So I think we'll be able to
find that market once we get closer to finishing uh
(35:01):
the most of the filming.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Well that's great, actually I could. So the great thing
about it. Tea is is my partner, but he's he's
uh my producer, part he is an Emmy award winning
editor and so he we have a great team involved,
uh you know, making this. But what what I found
really interesting so far is not just that not just
(35:26):
the pickleball sports piece, but it's actually all the human
stories behind it. So some people. I mean the people
you know all my yeah, I mean that the people
on my team. That there are people who are doctors,
who are entrepreneurs. One of one of my team, my
my team captain, was the one of the founders of
Constant Contact. I have my managers Tabda who used to
(35:46):
be a dragon back in back in Ducks for Duxbury Days.
You know. There there's a there are pro tennis players
as a captain on my team. You know, business owners,
you know. Uh, it's people all watched life with every
very different stories who have now come together because of this,
because of this sport that we all love and are
playing at. It's such a high level, and it's really
(36:08):
you know, it's really been our passion. It's it's it's
changed and and helped helped our lives in so many
different ways. And I think that's the part that Tay
and I are seeing, uh in in the documents the
footage that we've seen so far, as the great human
interest stories behind the sport of this awesome sport of pick.
Speaker 10 (36:25):
Oh yeah, the great the great stories and sports are
not not not the box scores or even the game reports,
but they're the backstories the player who perseveres and uh
and and somehow prevails.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Hey, I got a couple of other calls. I'd just
like to give them a quick minute. Do me a favor.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
When you when you get this and you're going to,
you know, show the documentary somewhere, let me know and
I'll have you on and we'll get you some publicity
on it.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Okay, you got it?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Sounds great, Tell you, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Let me keep going here.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I want to try to accommodate Sienna and Jody do
your next on nightsig go.
Speaker 11 (37:01):
Right ahead, Hi, Hi, I just have a question for Michael.
Right ahead, Yeah, I and I know he's.
Speaker 12 (37:12):
He's not only is he a senior pro Pagaball player
and a team owner, he's also an actor and a
financial player and even a fall They're like, I just
wonder how you can balance all these different things like
in your day.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
That's great, it's a great question. Go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Well this is coming from uh, from someone himself with
my daughter, and it's you know, when you have when
you have so many things going on, it is it
is it is tough because you know, I do have
a family and I do have you know, I do
have daughters, and and sometimes sometimes it's tough when you
have all these kind of passions. But what I've always
(37:50):
tried to do is kind of actually incorporated my family
with it into this. So so now in terms of
pickle ball, my wife plays, she's down with me here
in fort Lydale, and in my movie areas, I've always
brought my daughters in to be involved, whether or not
it's being helping me with producing something or joining me
in a play that we have in or you know.
So to me, it's it's the combination of of the
(38:13):
passions that I have and kind of bringing you know,
bring my family and integrating them with me.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
How many daughters do you have, Michael, I have.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
I have three. And unfortunately this is a whole another thing.
But my oldest passed away a few years ago. She
was at nineteen. But pickleball, thank you. But but pickleball
has been what really has saved our family in many ways.
It's been a place that we've been able to go
to heal and to work with grief, and and it's
(38:44):
really been a saver. And this is actually a lot
of stories like that when you when you hear pickleball,
because you know, if you're you know, when we were
dealing with the loss, you know, three years ago, it
was one of those things when we played, when I
jumped on a court and pick a ball while I'm
still grieving, I could. I had to focus on the ball.
If I went anywhere else, I would get I would
get hit.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
You know, understand Sianna.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
We're flat out a time, so I'll give you your
dad back and thanks, thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Yeah, of course, Michael, gotta.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Let you go.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
If folks want to get more information on the Boston Dragons,
what's the website? How can they find you?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
The best way to find us is on Instagram or Facebook.
Boston can look up to Boston Dragons. You can find myself,
Michael Toe. You can kind of see all our you know,
kind of events and you know, you know, our our
training facilities at leven Oh or you see our players
like Lauren Charles and Randy Park. You'll see all the
footage and videos there. And Dan, thank you so much
(39:45):
for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Very welcome, Juny welcome, Michael, best of luck, keep in touch. Okay,
thank you so much. We're gonna wrap the week and
wrap the evening here in the twentieth hour, Come up.
It's going to be Halloween themed. I'll explain it on
the other side of the eleven o'clock News
It's Night Side with Dan Ray WBS video.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, thank you very much, Al Griffin.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
As we move it into ten o'clock hour, there's some
other sports going on tonight, but.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're going to talk about a different sport, a sport.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That has come on the American scene with a great
deal of vigor in the last few years, and it's pickleball,
and specifically we're going to talk about a professional pickleball league,
a senior professional pickleball league, with a professional pickleball team
in Boston called the Boston Dragons. And we're delighted to
(00:36):
be owned by, to be joined by not only one
of the players on the Boston Dragons, but the owner
of the Boston Dragons senior pickleball team, Boston based team,
Michael to Michael, welcome back Tonight's Eide. We did a
brief interview with you within the last week or two,
but I wanted to give people an opportunity tonight to
(00:57):
talk with you about the sport and about what you
hope you will be able to bring to this sport
through through its identification with Boston.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Good evening, sir, how are you tonight?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
How are you great?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know, as I talked with you this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I came to realize you have had a very interesting
career path yea, and I want you to explain it
a little bit. You have been a certified financial planner.
That's really your professional career. But in addition to that,
you now have developed a following and a resume as
(01:35):
an actor in several movies and actually are becoming someone
who can make a living being an actor. But you're
also a pickleball player, and you decided that it would
be great to own a Boston pickleball team, which you
now own. You're a player on the team as well.
You are a renaissance man. Michael toe Well, I am.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I am fifty so over all over in fifty.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So it's been a career and I tell you have
accomplished quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Let's talk about you start off as a financial planner,
which you know, you certified financial planner. Are you still
doing that or have you put that on the back burner?
Tell us, tell us a little bit about yourself, and
then I want to get to the to the story
at hand, which is the birth of a new league
and the birth of a team, and who knows where
this is going to go?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Sure, yes, so I was. I was a stock broker
with UBSP level for many years and opened up my
own practice and Brookline. I still have it now a
CFP and have a kind of a botique firm. But
you know, it's I've been doing that for since I
was twenty, you know, twenty one, twenty two. I started
right out of college, and I've been in this career
for thirty years. Probably about twenty years ago when the
(02:52):
when movies started coming into Boston, you know, with the
Masschustt tax credit. Sure, you know, big moves started to
come in and I asked to do to be an
extra in the movie that are parted Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon,
Leon and I DiCaprio, Jack Nicholas, and it was, you know,
it was so exciting and I used to act as
(03:13):
a kid, and so I'm like, so all these movies
started coming in, and it started with extra work. But
then you know, I slowly started getting in and moving in,
getting to you know, a few like a few lines
on these like you know, these movies, and but then
it started getting bigger and bigger, and you know, I
had my practice going and I've had it, you know,
for a long time, so that was kind of always going.
But I so I'm like, all right, I wanted to
(03:35):
fill this other side of me that I've wanted to
do come back to since I did it as a kid.
So I started to go into New York and started
to make these drives and too, you know, Boston out
in New York. While you know, I would take client
calls and you know, during the during the drive down
with my assistant kind of patching them in, but I
would kind of do kind of do the accthing and
trying to you know, just do it as a hobby
(03:55):
for fun. Whenever I do something. And maybe you can
kind of tell already, but when I focus in on something,
I go in pretty full and it doesn't necessarily have
to be with some end goal. But I just like
when I'm passionate about something, I love it and I
just kind of jump right in. And so I'm like,
all right, this actually is great, but I want to
do it as best I can. So I started getting
known in New York and started getting bigger roles in
(04:17):
New York and bigger shows and you know, the Law
and Orders and the Royal Pains and the mcgivers and
the you know, Daredevil's and all those kinds of things,
and then but COVID hit. And when COVID hit, it
changed the audition style. So instead of used to have
to go into a casting office and you know, go
in and audition there. But you know, most of the
(04:38):
work is in LA, and then the second hub is
New York. But I would get things in New York,
but I couldn't get into LA until COVID hit, and
it changed the audition process. Instead of going into an office,
you would actually have to do auditions through video, and
that opened it up to people all over the country.
(04:59):
And really it's focused in on who was the best
actor for the job rather than who lived ten minutes
from the LA office. And that what kind of brought
me to some of my large roles as a serious
regular a show called City on Fire on Apple TV,
and I was on Landman and Linus, the Taylor Sheridan shows.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
You know, looking at your list of credits, and it's
a big list. You started in two thousand and seven,
You've worked literally every year with a variety of shows,
and I'm impressed. I had not looked at this list
(05:38):
before today, and this you've you're doing well. I mean
you got this going here. I mean you've it looks
like forty seven different productions, which that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
You know, yeah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I guess I know how difficult it is. I had
one role in a movie called Reversal of Fortune, and
no one else has ever come back to me looking
for me to make a and I haven't gone and auditioned.
I do with this thing here on radio, and I
used to be in TV, so I'm kind of a
similar spirit with you in terms of I like adventure
(06:22):
and all of that, and now your big adventure is pickleball.
How long have you been playing pickleball? And give me
a quick biography on pickleball. How long has it been around?
I think you said to me it's been around longer
than I realized.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, and actually it started the nineteen sixties. I think
it was nineteen sixty five, so I just had its
sixty year anniversary of the founder of pickleball. However, though,
it was one of those sports that really got popular
also through right at COVID, so people started, you know,
doing kind of games and you know, kind of in
their driveways. When you know, people can really do stuff,
you know of things that were you know, contact, and
(07:03):
so pickleball started really picking up, and it is now
the fastest growing sport in the country. It's one of
the fastest growing sports, one or two fast growing sports
in the world. And I'm actually now right now calling
from a hotel in for Florida at the Pickleball World
Cup where there's seventy two countries open and the Senior Division,
(07:26):
which is fifty plus that are competing. It's I mean,
there are thousands of literally thousands of people here and
it was it's crazy. I just kind of came in.
We played, We played tomorrow and Sunday. But the sport
has gone huge.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
When you say we.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Play, are you down there playing with a partner or
are you down there in your capacity as a member
of the Boston Dragons.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Is the Dragons in this competition?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I know? So this is all different countries coming into play.
I'm actually representing. I'm on Team China. I'm Chinese American
off at Generation and I got asked to play, and
so I am. I am playing with you know, with
with Team China, with a lot of my friends all
over We're all in a lot of these other teams,
and so it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Okay, well we haven't even touched on the Boston Dragons,
so let me take a break. When we got back,
I want to talk about the Dragons.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I want to talk about where they where they have come.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know when I say where are you at this
point in that the team I know exists, there's a roster,
there's a website. I've looked at it. That's very impressive.
But then the question, of course is going to be
where is this taking you? And where where will we
be three or four or five away? Do you hope
to be three or four or five years from now
(08:42):
with Seeingior Pickleball, the Boston Dragons, You have sponsors. I mean,
this is the real deal. This is not some fly
by night operation. And I think we have learned. Look,
I know that I myself a couple of years ago
realized that there were corn hole competitions on these these
(09:05):
uh these networks, and I mean that just seems to
be a total appetite for genuine, you know, live competitions,
not just the World Series, just just not the NFL
or the NHL or the NBA, but other competitions. And
I think that's what you're. Uh, You're you're, you're, you're
(09:28):
really getting getting into here, and that's where I think
you may end up going, but I want to hear
it from you. I'm looking where I think you should go,
but you've got to tell me what's possible.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
My guest is Michael Toe. He's the owner of the
Boston Dragons.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Obviously an interesting guy, has quite a resume as an actor,
also happens to be a certified financial planner, and in
the meantime has come up and developed a skill at pickleball.
And uh is the owner of the Boston Dragons. So look,
we'll be back if you I'd like to ask a question.
(10:01):
If you're a pickleball player and you're as enthused about
it as Michael Toe is, feel free six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I intend to talk about this until eleven, and at
eleven we will go to the twentieth hour, and in
the twentieth hour we will have a Halloween themed twentieth Hour.
I don't know who we've ever had a well, I
(10:23):
guess we probably in nineteen years have had Halloween on
a Friday night, We're gonna take advantage of that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Tonight. Back on night Side, Light the lines up right
after this.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
My guest is Michael Toe. He's the owner of the
Boston Dragons. It's a professional pickleball team, a senior pickleball league.
How long has the league been around, Michael?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
This is our inaugural year. Okay, it's it started. We
had our first we Are Combine in Richmond, Virginia. We
had hundreds of players try out to try to be
on a team and it was a great event and
we end up having and we had our first event
in Indianapolis in September. We have twelve teams in the
(11:12):
league and the United States Legends Pickaball League the USLPL
fourteen players on a team, so we have and it's been,
it's been. It's a ride. We just came back from
Philadelphia for our second event a few weeks ago, and
then we go to Baltimore in the first week of December.
(11:34):
So we're kind of right now in the training level
of trying to get our get our get our team
up and running and working on things and getting our
plays in and getting our training in to really kind
of compete. We got some tough matches coming up into.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So this is strategy.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
When you talk about getting plays in, you get some
strategy in this. This is just not what when you
see pick a ball, h You know, when you're going
through your your recreational facility in your community and to
see four people playing pick a ball, they're hitting the
ball back and forth.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This is a little more intense than that I assumed.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh yeah, it's I mean, that's doing about pickball. The
reason why it's such a fast growing sport is that
it's a sport that you can play day one. You
could have someone who you know, a relatively that doesn't
have to you know, very ethnic. It's just a relative
person with some hand eye coordination. You can have a
ten year old play with a seventy five year old
on a court, have so much fun day one and
(12:31):
just jump on the air and play. That's why the
sport is is growing like wildfire across the country. People.
You know, so many courts are being built outdoor indoor.
I'm at a place where the ford in Fort Laude
with there's like forty outdoor courts. It's unbelievable it is,
and they're all packed, and so it's been happening that
like this across the country. But the thing is, the
(12:51):
sport can start that way. So it's very the entry
to play, it's very easy. Unlike golf or maybe tennis,
you can't really have a great rally. I was a
college tennis player, and you can't really kind of come
in and be a beginner and tennis and kind of
have fun really back and forth. That doesn't happen till
later on. Just like golf, you know, to get under
(13:13):
one hundred, you know, kind of a you know, a
you know, a ten fifteen handicap or lower. That could
take years.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I'm working on under one hundred on the front nine.
So believe me, I know of what you speak there.
Let me tell you so, Michael, let me ask this,
what's the funding mechanism for this league? The funding mechanism
for the NFL and MLB is the major sports networks,
you know, NFL Football every Sunday, Thursday night through Monday morning,
(13:41):
Monday afternoon. Ye know, they's just everywhere.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
What's the funding mechanism for this pickleball league?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sure? Well, that's the difference with pickleball. It's different than
especially senior pro pickball. It's there's not a huge demand
for people watching, right the TV rights are not a
people are not knocking on the door to try to
try to get the TV rights. However, the people who
want to get involved, uh in the sport is huge.
(14:08):
It's it's it's because it's such a fast growing sport.
There's as you kind of as you've probably heard a
lot of the stories, there's a lot of injuries now
people who who get involved with you know, injuries from
the sport or now people are now doing you know,
the pickleball shoes, you know shoes and the outfits and
the and all the different gears. So there's a lot
of companies who who who connect to the sport.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Mark market merchandise.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, yes, marketing, merchandise, uh, you know, healthcare. Uh. So
there's a lot of places that kind of connect and
so that's, uh, that's why the sport is so enticing.
And you know, because you have so many people playing.
That's a difference I think a lot of times with
with the sport is you know, we you know, I'm
a huge you know Red Sox fan, Patriots fans, but
(14:58):
the last time I played baseball, the last time I
played you know, you know, played flag football back in
the day, and that was, you know, fifteen years ago,
twenty years ago. The thing with pickleball is that there
is now the pro circuit is really starting to grow,
the young pros and the senior pro market. And but
people can, you know, you can, you can strive for
(15:20):
this sport is so young that the barriers to entry
to kind of make it to the to a limit.
It's there's no real limit right now. Okay, one of
the one of these.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
My assumption is is quite different than yours. Yours probably
obviously an assumption that that is based much more on
experience and reality. What I'm thinking is that if one
of these sports networks needs to fill time, they could
broadcast pickleball games, particularly pickleball games tournaments where your team
(15:58):
and the other teams here, got teams from Florida and
New York City, and it is this said Baltimore and Pittsburgh,
a Jersey team, a Buffalo or Roanoke, Virginia team. It
would seem to me that there would be a television
market marketplace. Now, they may not pay you, you know,
(16:20):
NFL money, but I still would think that people could
sit on a Saturday afternoon or for that matter, during
the week and say, you know, they can identify viewers
can say, hey, you know, I'm learning, I'm not only
enjoying the competition, but I might I can learn something
from the competition, or am I over selling it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I do think that that's definitely something that's in the
cards and it's go and to me, that's where the
future is going. I mean, the sport is going to be.
It's we talked a little bit about this, but there
are now clubs across the college teams now across the country.
Now there's a whole College World Series and so there
there are some either either clubs or full teams. We
(17:02):
just had the bu pick a Ball club join us
at eleven OZ at the Patriots Place for our exhibition
last Sunday. You know, so we have these a lot
of college players, high school teams are starting to join
in with clubs, and the Olympics are you know, there's
talk about the Olympics having pick a ball as as
uh as the next new sport there. So it's it's
(17:23):
it's so young in the in the growth of the
sport that all this stuff to me is possible, and
that's why it's so exciting to be to be part
of it, you know, be part of the ground floor,
and and knowing a lot of these pro players and
senior pro players and and you know, it's really exciting.
And so I do think that'll get there. And that's
why it's that's why I love it. It's it's like that.
(17:45):
It's not something it's like starting. You know. You see
these these documentaries about the Last Dance with Michael Jordan
and the Chicago Bulls or you you kind of see
these back you know, but this and that happened in
the eighties, you know, or you know when the you know,
in the uh, I don't know when the when the
first football you know as the the NFL's first started
and it had all these different leagues or or the NBA. Well,
(18:08):
right now we're talking about, you know, something that's that's
forming right now in the last few years. I mean,
all things are happening.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Michael.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I can tell the NBA formed before I was born,
but I'm enough of his story to know that they
were teams like the Cincinnati Royals and the Syracuse Nats,
the Philadelphia Warriors. Those teams have moved on. They were
teams like the Buffalo Braves. I mean there were teams
that have.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
The BA right well, no, no, this was this was.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Some of it was a BA.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But but in the late forties when when the NBA
was formed, and the Celtics were an original team. But
this was the late forties and pro basketball didn't exist
in the twenties and the thirties and and until after
World War Two, and then of course it was it
was a league. They used to play double headers at
Boston Garden. You would have the Celtics playing the Neck
(19:00):
and you'd have the Cincinnati Royals playing the Syracuse Nationals.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You see four different teams.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
And the Celtics, even when they were doing great in
the sixties and dominating the league. You can walk up
and buy a ticket any game when they if they
got five thousand people in the garden. They were the
Bruins who were losing, were selling it out thirteen nine
oh nine every night even though they were losing. And
then basketball, you know, just took off. Hockey now is
(19:29):
well behind basketball. Even though hockey now has teams across
the country, it's it's still considered you know a Northern
American Canadian sport. Yeah, you got teams in Florida, and
you got Nashville, and you you had a team in Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
There now in Utah, so you have growth potentially here.
Let's do this.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Let's take a pause for the news and we'll go
to phone calls right after the ten thirty newscasts. So
sit back, get a glass of water, and we will
got one line at six one seven four ten thirty
that's still available, and I got a couple at six
point seven nine three thirty. Love to have some of
you folks join in. If you're a pickle ball player,
you feel free to join in. But this is the
(20:13):
real deal, and I am not nearly as excited about
it as Michael Tolway's, but I am excited about it
to be able to talk to you about the really
the birth of a league that someday might I don't
know if I'll ever be as big as the NFL,
but it might have an audience that rivals the NFL. Look,
(20:38):
there was a period of time when baseball was the
national pastime. Not that way anymore. It's now this professional
football baseball is still big. Don't get me wrong. But
it has taken a bit of a backseat to the NFL.
So taste change sports, come and go. This one is coming.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Feel free to join our conversation back on Nightside right
after this.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
It's Night's Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
My guest is the owner of the Boston Dragons, the
new senior pickleball team here based in Boston, based in
New England.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Michael Toe is our guest. Michael, let's go to phone calls.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Our first call is from one of your rival owners, Ron,
who owns I guess the New York team.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Ron. Welcome to Night Side. How are you?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It would be great if we get the New York
Boston rival We're going here tonight.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You go right ahead. You're on with with Michael Toe.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
Oh, it's a pleasure to be here. And uh and
uh now the Boston rivalry has been super fun. Uh
we we we took the first battle in in uh
in the Philly area. And I'm sure Michael is going
to be gunning for us in the in the next battle.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So, so tell me a little bit about about your team.
How'd you get involved in this?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Ron?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And and we're we're I guess you guys had a
calm and you had a draft like the NFL.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Right, yes, well, first twelve owners. Twelve owners got selected
to their purchase franchises from different cities, predominantly across the
East Coast, and then we were able to protect four players.
And then we had to pick ten people in the draft.
And so we went to the combine in Richmond, and
(22:24):
there was some great talent and we all assembled very
competitive teams.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Now, by the way, both all the teams have a
male contingent and a female contingent. So, yes, how was
the team brought? Either of you could jump in here,
Michael or Ron. Is it seven men seven women or
is there a different balance?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yes, seven men, seven women. And there's actually an age
component too, so we have we have two males and
two females who are over sixty to over fifty, and
two over fifty five, and the rest can be any
any age over fifty. So it spreads out the age
(23:07):
range too, rather than just being a league of you know,
if it's fifty over you, you probably have a primarily
young fifty kind of league.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Like to see the golfer, you know, everybody who's winning,
it's fifty one and fifty two because they can still hit.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The ball three hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So do you have is it, you know, two men
competing in men's event's two other guys?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
When when this when you guys are playing?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Or can you have a mixed doubles team or is
there a mixed double element of it? Obviously in tennis,
mixed doubles is is a traditional element as well as
you know, women's doubles and men's doubles.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
How does this work?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well, that's the exciting part of it. And i'ron I
think can attest to this as well. They're in tennis,
it's primarily singles with pick a ball. It's primarily doubles.
And the thing about it's not just right, it's not
just we don't want type of doubles. It's gender doubles.
So we have men's uh you know, two men against
two women, I mean two men against who men and
(24:07):
then uh, the women have their matches and then we
have mixed matches, so a man and a woman versus
a man and woman. So uh, it's a pretty it's
it's they're in they're different games. A men's game is
different than a women's game, and a mixed game is
different than than gender games. So it's it's really kind
of all and this is all within the torment we had.
(24:28):
We had the Boston Dragons play against the the the
New York Ballers, and that was that was part of
a rivalry that that kind of was, you know, that's
kind of fallowing a tradition of Boston New York teams.
And and unfortunately the Boston team came, we came a
little bit short, a little bit short, uh, and I
had to uh do a bit of a payoff a
(24:52):
bet with with Ron here. But but but that's only right.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Unlike found out football, Betty is a looted amongst the
owners and the players of pickleball.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, we had a we had a private, private, well
not too private. It was on social media that that
the losing team at where the gear and and pose
with gear. So so unfortunately I had to put on
a New York Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
No, I'm joking with you, because obviously you're getting this
thing off the ground.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Ron, how was it that you came to own the
New York team?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Michael has told us a little bit about since you're
kind of have to call in what is your background
that you were able to purchase a franchise.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
One of my friends is one of the other owners
of the Del Rays, and she told me about the league.
And I haven't played competitive team sports since college tennis.
And who would have thought at the age of fifty one,
I would not only be able to get a wonderful team,
but to also compete. And uh, it's it's been, it's
been a dream.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
What college do you play tennis?
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Binghamton University in New York.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, I know what Binghamton is. Yankees used to have
a farm team out there many years ago. All right, gentlemen,
I thank you very much for well, not gentlemen, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Ron.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
We're gonna thank you for calling in. Uh and Michael
say right there, we got other phone calls.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
All right, thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You're very welcome. Rom. Thanks Ron, thank.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
You, Michael, and congrats on all the accolades.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well we'll have a good night.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Thank you, Thank you, Ron, appreciate it. Let me go
to David in Ohio. David in Ohio, David, welcome. Are
you involved in the league as well?
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Well? Interestingly enough, you and I have actually met and
part of the reason you're talking to Michael tonight is
because you and I are connected to one another. And
I'm connected to Mike through the Legends Pickleball League because
my wife Pam plays in the league on another team
against Michael.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
So how have you and I met? David? Did you
do prison time with me?
Speaker 6 (27:08):
You know what? No comment?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
No, no comment?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
And I met you and I met in the doctor
Al Frankie's office a number of years ago.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I have a mutual friend.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Yeah, yeah, and I bought I bought the whole concept
of prolo therapy to him in the Boston area and
I've been there a couple of times and we've met
and Al's a great friend. And as you may know,
Al is currently the title sponsor of the Boston Dragons.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Okay, I know that I want to turn over my
I want to turn over my wife to you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
So you have the opportunity to speak to a former
collegiate player. When she graduated college from Flagler University in
Saint Augustine, Pam's ranked first United States in both singles
and doubles. It was a few years ago, but she's
one of those plus sixty players for the d m
V Picklers out of the District Maryland and VIRGINI. This
(28:02):
is Pam Lippy. This is my friend indirectly through doctor Frankie,
whom she's known for ever since we've been married. This
is Dan Ray night side baby.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Yeah, Hi Jan and Hi Michael, Hi Pam Bam.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Were you a tennis player in college? Did your husband say?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Well?
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Not only was I a tennis player in college, I
still am a tennis player.
Speaker 9 (28:27):
Whoa Okay, the most famous tennis women tennis players that
I've ever known are Nancy Ritchie, Cliff Ritchie's sister.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
She's in the Hall of Fame. Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And I once hit with Barbara Potter, who was a
great player in the eighties. I think she was ranked
number ten in the world and she just blew me away.
I mean this amazing, The respect that I have for
phebale athletes having played, played, tried to play.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's I know.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
If you remember Barbara Potter, she was out of Connecticut, uh.
And she was an awesome, big left handed tennis player,
and she could. She could hit the ball so it
goes right so close left, an unbelievable experience.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So I stand in awe of women tennis players.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I want you to know that and actually again a
lot of the a lot of players, as Pam, you
admit that you're still playing tennis, but a lot of
people are switching from tennis over to to pick a ball,
and it's Pam is one of those ones who can
do both. To me, it's hard. I've kind of put
up the put uh hung up the rackets, uh you know,
uh years ago, and it's it's all pickaball now. But
(29:39):
but we have a lot of people who are now
coming in who are pro tennis. As my sister's a
was a pro test player on the tour and she
she's a pro pickaball player now as well, not a senior.
But there are people Von Lindel, Andre Agassi, you remember
those names, manxby lend All, they're all they've all come
over into into pro P.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I did realize Lendel and Legacy. Half wow. I'll tell you,
Michael told you you may be onto something here. Let
me tell you, well, we got to take a break, David,
thanks so much for calling in. Pam.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Pleasure to meet you, and probably at some point I'll
bump into you guys up here in Boston sometimes through
our mutual friends and uh, great to uh.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Great, great to meet both of you.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
We have a lot of listeners in Ohio, believe it
or not, so feel free to tune into night'st any night.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
From all hid right, Well, thank you, great show, and Michael,
I'll see you in our showdown in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
That's right, Pam, we'll get ready.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Okay, ball players are very polite here. I like that. Thanks, guys,
we talk, we'll talk. So thanks, Thanks David, Thanks man.
I appreciate it very much. Have a great night.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
All right, this is wonderful. We got a bunch of calls.
Let's keep rolling.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Michael, we got to take a final break here, one
final commercial break, but I got coming up up Jennifer
in Boston. I got Sienna in Boston and uh te
ha or t h t t y'aw uh from Denham.
We'll be back on Nightside right after this. We'll finish
it up right after the break.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
It's night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
All right, here we go. We have we four lines.
I'm gonna try to get everybody in. Won't be easy,
but let's start with Jennifer and Boston. Hey, Jennifer, welcome,
how are you tonight? You're on with Michael Toe.
Speaker 8 (31:29):
Hi Dan, Hi Michael, this is Jennifer Jenna Metti. I'm
a SAG actor and any film producer. And my question
for you, Michael is have you considered doing a film
on pickleball, especially a comedy and what are your upcoming
projects acting projects that you're working on.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Thanks Jennifer. So it's actually we're actually I would love
to be in a pickaball movie. The only thing is
it's and there have been there, there's a there's a
new Benseller one, but I because it's a new sport,
I think they it's one of those ones where they're
they're taking people who are not necessary players in it
(32:07):
and so so so my skill there doesn't really translate
over into into being a caster. However, we are actually
doing a documentary and I'm doing a documentary with my
uh my producing partner while we're doing the team. So
we're doing a documentary called Making the Boston Dragons, and
so we're documenting uh it's it's it's combining my my
(32:30):
film side and and you know, having a cast and
crew and director and sound people and videographers and all
the stuff that's happening with making a team which is
which is way more complicated and stressful, but but awesome
and great and fun at the same time.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
We have Tea on the line. Uh, she's the next caller,
so we're going to be able to talk with her
about that. I know she's involved in this project with you.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yes, Jennifer, Yes, but thank you Jennifer.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Thanks for calling in. Jennifer, appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Good.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Now let me go to Taya, who actually I believe
is involved in the documentary with you.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Tya, you're on with Michael Toe.
Speaker 7 (33:15):
I am here, and I am very excited to talk
a little bit about this short form documentary series. Mike
is a really good friend of mine. I've been producing
videos with him for many years now. The footage that
we're getting is quite exhilarating. You get to see some
(33:36):
very very interesting perspectives of age and playing pickleball and
athleticism and all of the very complicated routines and all
the expectations there are from building a team like this.
Mike is doing an amazing job and I'm just really
(33:58):
proud to work with him.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
How will you How will you market I'll tell you,
how will you market this? This film.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Is this sort of something going to go to different
film festivals or do you hope that you can get
it on I don't know, ESPN or one of the
one of the sports channels.
Speaker 7 (34:17):
I've made hundreds of documentaries, and there's usually a marketing
strategy for any any of this kind of work. The
difference in this case is that we're not only developing
it as we you know, as Mike is building the team,
but we're we're creating a new sort of genre of
(34:39):
short form documentary uh and uh series. So we're not
quite sure yet where it will fit. But what we
do know is that the drama of the the story
is very compelling, So I think we'll be able to
find that market once we get closer to finishing uh
(35:01):
the most of the filming.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Well that's great, actually I could. So the great thing
about it. Tea is is my partner, but he's he's
uh my producer, part he is an Emmy award winning
editor and so he we have a great team involved,
uh you know, making this. But what what I found
really interesting so far is not just that not just
(35:26):
the pickleball sports piece, but it's actually all the human
stories behind it. So some people. I mean the people
you know all my yeah, I mean that the people
on my team. That there are people who are doctors,
who are entrepreneurs. One of one of my team, my
my team captain, was the one of the founders of
Constant Contact. I have my managers Tabda who used to
(35:46):
be a dragon back in back in Ducks for Duxbury Days.
You know. There there's a there are pro tennis players
as a captain on my team. You know, business owners,
you know. Uh, it's people all watched life with every
very different stories who have now come together because of this,
because of this sport that we all love and are
playing at. It's such a high level, and it's really
(36:08):
you know, it's really been our passion. It's it's it's
changed and and helped helped our lives in so many
different ways. And I think that's the part that Tay
and I are seeing, uh in in the documents the
footage that we've seen so far, as the great human
interest stories behind the sport of this awesome sport of pick.
Speaker 10 (36:25):
Oh yeah, the great the great stories and sports are
not not not the box scores or even the game reports,
but they're the backstories the player who perseveres and uh
and and somehow prevails.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Hey, I got a couple of other calls. I'd just
like to give them a quick minute. Do me a favor.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
When you when you get this and you're going to,
you know, show the documentary somewhere, let me know and
I'll have you on and we'll get you some publicity
on it.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Okay, you got it?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Sounds great, Tell you, thank you very much, appreciate it.
Let me keep going here.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I want to try to accommodate Sienna and Jody do
your next on nightsig go.
Speaker 11 (37:01):
Right ahead, Hi, Hi, I just have a question for Michael.
Right ahead, Yeah, I and I know he's.
Speaker 12 (37:12):
He's not only is he a senior pro Pagaball player
and a team owner, he's also an actor and a
financial player and even a fall They're like, I just
wonder how you can balance all these different things like
in your day.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
That's great, it's a great question. Go ahead, Michael.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Well this is coming from uh, from someone himself with
my daughter, and it's you know, when you have when
you have so many things going on, it is it
is it is tough because you know, I do have
a family and I do have you know, I do
have daughters, and and sometimes sometimes it's tough when you
have all these kind of passions. But what I've always
(37:50):
tried to do is kind of actually incorporated my family
with it into this. So so now in terms of
pickle ball, my wife plays, she's down with me here
in fort Lydale, and in my movie areas, I've always
brought my daughters in to be involved, whether or not
it's being helping me with producing something or joining me
in a play that we have in or you know.
So to me, it's it's the combination of of the
(38:13):
passions that I have and kind of bringing you know,
bring my family and integrating them with me.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
How many daughters do you have, Michael, I have.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
I have three. And unfortunately this is a whole another thing.
But my oldest passed away a few years ago. She
was at nineteen. But pickleball, thank you. But but pickleball
has been what really has saved our family in many ways.
It's been a place that we've been able to go
to heal and to work with grief, and and it's
(38:44):
really been a saver. And this is actually a lot
of stories like that when you when you hear pickleball,
because you know, if you're you know, when we were
dealing with the loss, you know, three years ago, it
was one of those things when we played, when I
jumped on a court and pick a ball while I'm
still grieving, I could. I had to focus on the ball.
If I went anywhere else, I would get I would
get hit.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
You know, understand Sianna.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
We're flat out a time, so I'll give you your
dad back and thanks, thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Yeah, of course, Michael, gotta.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Let you go.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
If folks want to get more information on the Boston Dragons,
what's the website? How can they find you?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
The best way to find us is on Instagram or Facebook.
Boston can look up to Boston Dragons. You can find myself,
Michael Toe. You can kind of see all our you know,
kind of events and you know, you know, our our
training facilities at leven Oh or you see our players
like Lauren Charles and Randy Park. You'll see all the
footage and videos there. And Dan, thank you so much
(39:45):
for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Very welcome, Juny welcome, Michael, best of luck, keep in touch. Okay,
thank you so much. We're gonna wrap the week and
wrap the evening here in the twentieth hour, Come up.
It's going to be Halloween themed. I'll explain it on
the other side of the eleven o'clock News
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