Is Pickleball A Scam?

Some seem to think pickleball not only isn't a sport, but that it's a scam! Either way you're exercising which will, as Joe said, "keep you from the graaaaaave."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the sort of thing I'd have to ask
my wife about. Exactly when it was. We were taking
a walk with some good friends of ours who lived
in retired to Montana, and we were taking a walk
and there was a racket across this little river we
are next to, and our friend said, that's where I

(00:21):
play pickleball.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
And I said, what the hell is pickleball?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I think it was about five years ago, maybe
might have even been more recent than that, Thank you, gladys.
From twenty twenty one through twenty twenty two, according to CNBC,
the number of people reporting engaging in pickleball, that's a
funny way to put it, grew from five million to

(00:50):
thirty six million. Now that seems a little odd to me,
but the point is there are now thirty six thirty
seven million people playing pickleball now and again across America.
Tennis is more like twenty three million. Pickleball is exploded
and tennis players a little frustrated because pickleball.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Is taken up the court space. Anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
It's a game with like racketball looking rackets.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
If you're not familiar with it.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
The ball is plastic. It looks like kind of a
whiffle ball, and it's semi bouncy. It bounces much less
than a tennis ball and much more than a rock,
kind of midway between. And it's played on kind of
small courts, and you can play singles or doubles. It's
not as much running as tennis, so it's more popular
among older folks, you know, from middle age to retiree

(01:38):
and that sort of thing. I have a joke with
my physical therapist. I'm doing some stuff, but I won't.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Bore you that it's pickleball is actually injury ball, because
you know, as he said the other day we were
joking about it, you got people who haven't run backwards
since they were ten years old. Then now that they're sixty,
they decide they can run back goord plane pickleball, and
sure enough something goes snap or spraying or snapper or whatever.

(02:08):
And so but anyway, it's hugely popular. I haven't played
for various reasons, but my wife's really big into it.
This is how should I set this up? Should I
give away the punchline, Michael, or just play it.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Let's just play it then you can expect afterwards.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
All right, fire away, I'm a pickleball instructor. To be
honest with you, I have no idea why this sport exploded.
These people have no idea how much of a scam
this is. This isn't even a real sport. It was
invented for the elderly to improve their blood circulation. Now
every thirty something with no stamina and bad knees, it's
hitting me up to learn how to play. These people
are too unathletic for tennis and too poor for golf.
This is their only option. I'm hopping on this trend

(02:43):
now because God knows it's not gonna be around long. Okay,
in two years from now, everyone's gonna be obsessed with
bad men.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh that you know.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
That's my only amusing But it's completely wrong. You know,
what it was invented for is immaterial. It's crazy fun
for people. They enjoy it, and and wives can play
together if they get along. And all it takes is
a reasonably inexpensive racket, a ball, and some decent court shoes.
So I think it's fantastic. And while I appreciate his

(03:11):
youthful cynicism, every damn study that comes out and we
share some of them here on The Ang Show, says Hey,
little exercise is way better than none. It'll save you
from the grave. So yeah, I'm getting all sweated up
and breathing hard playing pick a ball.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
Good for y'all to find whatever you enjoy, man, That
makes exercise so much easier when you're doing something you
like and or you know you're listening to something you enjoy, Hello,
or watching or what have you.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
So so good for y'all, you pick a baller's