ESPN, meet Pickleball

duh, duh, dun... duh, duh, dun!

Author

Sunday Dinking Club
May 07, 2023

Zero, Zero… let’s do this!

Wake up!

It’s Sunday… and you know what that means?

It’s DINKING time!

If you’re enjoying the newsletter or podcast, please share it in any of your pickleball related text groups, Spond groups, Facebook groups, etc. and let’s grow the membership!

If you missed last week’s podcast, listen or watch top 5 pro singles player, James Ignatowich and I discuss some of pickleball’s hottest topics (i.e. paddle delamination, pro singles, shot clocks and more).

Listen on Spotify 🎧 | Watch on Youtube 📺

Turn on the tube!

Not only can you catch the North Carolina Open Mixed Doubles Championship today on ESPN2 (6 p.m. EST), ESPN x PPA have reached an agreement to cover seven more tournaments throughout the year.

Yeeeaahh, I’m going to need to book a trip, asap.

Check out this video of the largest indoor pickleball club in the country 😮.

Yes, he’s the real deal.

Jack Sock came out guns-a-blazin’ and had all (well, most) of Pickleball’s best pros talking. The good news? The best pickleball we’ve ever seen has yet to be played.

Locals Only. 

Speaking of Jack Sock, Charleston, South Carolina’s own Jake Kusmider took him down this past Thursday in the third round of singles. Who’s Jake Kusmider? Check out this profile on him in Charleston Mag.

An Austin billionaire with a pickleball addiction.

Read this bio on Steve Kuhn, owner of the MLP and Dreamland.

Did I accidentally jinx Jay Devilliers? 

I personally had Jay Devilliers and Jessie Irvine going to the semi’s (at least), but unfortunately they ended up getting upset in the first round of mixed doubles on Friday 😬. Sorry Jay!

Up your game.

Watch Connor from Enhance Pickleball discuss the 10 tips that helped him on the path to 5.0

ESPN Top 10 

number 5 actually. This tweener lob by Jack Sock is dirty. If you thought Mike Rowe got dirty… this is down in the muck kinda stuff.

Major League Pickleball can’t come back soon enough. 

Yesterday, we got ourselves a little taste of MLP with the Challenger League Shuffle draft (results, here). TLDR; Ben Newell hit the waivers and DJ Young (from Milwaukee Mashers) was traded for Matt Wright (from Frisco Clean Cause). MLP is back June 15.

ICYMI…

  • Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone took a paddle to the forehead

  • Charles Barkley thinks it’s still a sport for old people.

Earlier this week, Denver Nuggets (NBA team) head coach Michael Malone was seen on the sidelines with a sizable cut on his forehead.

How did this happen, you might ask?

Well, it turns out that coach and his pickleball partner couldn’t decide on a 50/50 ball up the middle, so he ended up taking a paddle to the dome 😬.

Charles Barkley decided to chime in on the injury during the halftime report, stating… “Pickleball’s for old people”.

If anybody wants a good deal on pickleballs, apparently coach Malone has about 8 boxes lying around 🤣

Alright folks, I’m out. It’s time to play some pickleball.

If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, share it with someone you’re dinking with later. Or better yet, send it to your entire group. Please?

Until next week, enjoy your Sunday and have a dink for me.

– “Downtown” Logan Brown