*Note: our analysis of the paddle-testing process was wrong. We will revisit this next week!* Tyson and Thomas weigh in on PaddleGate 2022. The PPA Tour has a new paddle compliance policy. We asked the dink fam, would Serena Williams crush the pickleball world on day 1? Tyson goes viral every year on May the 4th and you can too.
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*Show notes*
(0:26) PPA North Carolina Open starts a shorts discussion
(3:40) The Dink Fam lives the pickleball life
(8:15) The Paddle Controversy
(13:30) The PPA Tour’s new paddle compliance policy
(19:50) Field testing vs lab testing
(28:09) It’s time for the Serena Williams pickleball debut
(32:45) Tyson’s 33 million views formula
(35:20) Recruiting Twitter warriors to defend pickleball
Transcript
Tyson 0:00
The Serena Williams thing is great. The carbon paddle thing.
Thomas 0:04
Uh huh. What else?
Tyson 0:08
There's indoor PPA going on right now. I just saw Tyson deaf and lost as the number one seed in singles men's we lose to Julian
Thomas 0:21
Arnold. Yep. Really?
Tyson 0:23
Yeah. Just like an hour ago. And I don't know who's what and Ryan Sherry is second seed and Frank Anthony Davis our third is the third seed. I don't know why I said our third seed because he has like three first names. That's why Frank Anthony Davis our third seed so second third seed and I left right before match point where I think third game and Ryan Sherry was up 10 nine so I don't know we could find out right now who won.
Thomas 0:52
Oh, so he didn't I mean yeah, whatever. What? It's a really light it's a really light draw.
Tyson 0:58
I was looking at Wow, did shots fired?
Thomas 1:02
Well, I mean, it is I was looking at Rose you
Tyson 1:05
listening to this? Are you listening to Thomas? You guys are out there battling for the prize. And Thomas is saying that it's easy out there. Easy. You know what?
Thomas 1:15
Door streets about a stressful week? I'm slinging it. You know what else I want to
Tyson 1:18
say? Yeah. Wait, is it directed at me?
Thomas 1:22
No, this guy. This guy took the first game off Tyson this morning. And I want to say that somebody should disqualify him because his clothes were too small. Oh, I saw that. But he was super tall. He was tall though. Yeah, when he was jet and it's like alright, so like you like to shorter shorts. Yeah, like to five inches and Tyson MacGuffin wears a five inch inseam kind of
Tyson 1:47
taller Tyson MacGuffin,
Thomas 1:48
it looks shorter on me this guy. He's far too big. Yeah, his got jacked. Yeah. And he's wearing like a tank and also the tank was not loose fitting.
Tyson 1:59
You got to have loose fitting tank to swing that paddle. That was probably his problem.
Thomas 2:04
That's why I didn't pull it out. But I think 11 Two first,
Tyson 2:10
I can't even go to sleep. If my clothes are too tight, dude. Sometimes I'll get up and change my underwear just because they're too tight. And I'm like, I got to have looser underwear to sleep in. Alright, it's a little bit about me.
Thomas 2:22
Yeah. Nice. Thank you. Well, nope.
Tyson 2:25
Is this Vela? It's short sleeved valore. Zip up. Oh, I
Thomas 2:30
assumed it was like a jacket.
Tyson 2:33
No. It's a warm up. Pretty dope. Ah.
Thomas 2:37
Yeah. You might have to put some some more clothes on too much sex appeal going on. Right?
Tyson 2:42
You think so just like the guy that was battling Tyson MacGuffin earlier today
Thomas 2:46
that disqualify you from this podcast? Please don't get a little bit of context here, though. Yeah. So I'm on headphones. I'm in Michigan. I was traveling last second. So this is kind of, we'll probably only we probably only go like 3045 minutes today. Yeah. But we wanted to get some out, even though we are in disarray today. Yeah. But there's a lot of news. So I think we can still make a great episode.
Tyson 3:16
I think so. And it just proves our adaptability. Like on the fly on the go in the midst of crisis, the midst of crisis, we're still able to pull something out something not just something but probably something some grade a gold content.
Thomas 3:34
Yeah, here's the thing. I get to go play pickleball after this, too, so that's why I'm so jealous, dude. But I'll tell you all right, so I don't just listen, I didn't just start writing the pickleball newsletter and it and do this and grow the dink into what it is. I live the life okay. i My family lives the life. So my dad was supposed to play in the US Open this past weekend. Right? And so I call him on Monday, and I'm still thinking like, Alright, I gotta book a flight because I'm the last second flight Booker. To do it. Every time I go to Florida to watch your dad to Yep. And well, just to help out with us open to we're going to help Pickleball Channel with some stuff. Okay. And my grandpa was supposed to play. He's 85 My dad's 62. And on Monday, I call my dad and I go, you know, what would they get there? He goes, I'm not going I go what? And he said he was having chest pains or, you know, he's having shortness of breath or, or whatever. And we're like, alright, well, you gotta go in you gotta get that checked out. And I was like, his grandpa's still going. 85 He goes, yep, sounds like he dropped out too. And I go, Well, what the? What the heck, I think he just wasn't up
Tyson 4:45
and you weren't like you didn't call him quitters or anything. You were like, okay, that's fine.
Thomas 4:49
I did not that was like you guys. Take care of yourselves. Like yeah, I was like figure yourselves out. But, so anyways, my dad go was on this past Monday, right? So he doesn't play in the US Open. Yeah, this past Monday, he, he goes in to get his like a CT scan or something and they notice blockages. So all of a sudden within a span of you know, a few hours, he's going in for open heart surgery. So I jump on a flight. I've been in the hospital with him all week. He's doing phenomenally. And when he did get out of surgery, you know what the first thing he said to me was? I want a Diet Coke. Close so he has been offering all the nurses $1,000 for a Diet Coke. Wow. Okay, but he looked at me and first thing he said was want to go play pickle tomorrow. Oh, and I wasn't sure if he was making a joke. Or if he was like still too drugged up. I think he was he's making the joke. He's been in good spirits. So all as well. But I am back in Michigan. And I played pickleball last night for the first time in forever. And I'm playing tonight too.
Tyson 6:01
So it sounds so don't we I'm unable to talk about certain things at this juncture. But I was not able to pick up a pickleball paddle for almost six weeks. And upon my return, it felt very weird and foreign to put a paddle in my hand and I'm very happy to be back on the courts. I'm really really happy but like the first day I was like, all the things I had built and all the talents like easily close to a seven out like duper was having a hard time categorizing me somewhere. And then and then after my hiatus I've dropped all the way back down to probably maybe under a forro
Thomas 6:48
I like it. I'm just realizing we I don't even know what ads we're supposed to do. We're I have one lead personally in disarray.
Tyson 6:59
It's our forever hydration. relight? You know, you can get them with the discount code pickleball. And they are the only salt company that is mined in the United States out of Utah. Tons of electrolytes in there, they have a lot of great different products. And especially as it gets, it's getting hotter. It's for reals, the only product I've noticed has made a difference with muscle cramps. And so I'm going to keep drinking that stuff makes me feel really good. And especially down here in Arizona where sometimes can get up to 115 in the summers. I can go an extra half an hour to an hour when I'm drinking relight in the in the heat of the day. Tech superpower. Yeah, I mean a booster for sure. So I recommend trying it again. Pickleball at checkout on relights website. And yeah, let's get into some news, dude.
Thomas 8:02
Yeah, I mean, a lot of a lot of stuff has been has been going on. You did a good job. Recapping that thing, but we should we didn't comment on it. Yeah, right. So we should go over what we should talk about just the panel controversy. And what happened first.
Tyson 8:17
Okay, so this is what I know. Because you're gonna use and you fill in the gaps. Because all I got was this is me following it on social media, seeing the headline seeing the deep newsletter headlines, basically, USA pickleball said Carmen paddles. For some reason, even though they passed the system and are approved paddles, they now all the sudden are not approved.
Thomas 8:48
Yeah, that's correct.
Tyson 8:49
And then earlier today, I started seeing things that were saying that actually they do meet the guidelines ish or there's some weird thing going on, but I did not delve too much into that. But it is weird to have a bunch of athletes show up to the US Open with a paddle that's been approved only to then get there and say the paddle you want to play with and that you've planned on playing with and that we have given the thumbs up to is no longer paddle you can play with that's got to screw some people up. Definitely did. Yeah. And I'm assuming USA pickleball just reimbursed everybody who brought a carbon paddle for their time and energy and travel to make it you know, more fair.
Thomas 9:34
Yeah, you know how they do? Super accommodating.
Tyson 9:42
So what happened?
Thomas 9:43
Yeah, okay, so I think the gist is that what carbon seven is there was a bad batch of paddles that went to market. So, okay, so like they were produced differently. AJ Kohler for example playing with a carbon paddle that was a bad batch, if you will. That's what they're saying.
Tyson 10:06
corked like a corked bat in baseball, maybe
Thomas 10:11
you can make that I guess you can make that comparison. Okay. But they had previously been approved by USA pickleball. All the carbon paddles had, but apparently, whatever was tested at the US Open. That led to the disqualification of those paddles. What those paddles that were tested to separate those were different than what had previous whatever has been previously been approved. Right. There was there was a difference there. And that's whether that was a bad batch, whether it was on purpose, whether there's something whether it's, you know, USA pickleball bias or something like that, right. Like, at this point, it's all conspiracy conjecture. But they're all there are some interesting, interesting theories. Well, some fun assumptions being made.
Tyson 11:04
I mean, the we go to the cork bats thing, like there's a paddle gets approved based on the design, but then who's overseeing that that is replicated every single time and not changed, manipulated a little bit in production? Like that definitely is something that, especially as the sport grows, is going to have to be policed more, right?
Thomas 11:24
For sure. I think they should be testing every single night. I mean, who's to say that every single paddle that a Pro uses it, the exact paddle could even take a you could even take a paddle that's within the guidelines. And you could go take a penny, right? Scratch it on the surface, and all of a sudden, you just like, you know, five extra grip. Yeah, technically still USAPA proof paddle, right. So there's all sorts of ways you could skirt the rules if you if you wanted to. But whatever happened here, it gave rise to new policies for USA pickleball. And for the PPA, well, there will be more stringent testing. Moving forward,
Tyson 12:07
do you want me to tell you what I think they should do? Sure. For the pros. If you're a pro sponsored athlete, you send a box to the tournament of the paddles that you will use during that tournament. Whether it's five paddle six paddles, however many paddles, you need to play in a tournament, send them they can come brand new from the factory, your sponsor can send them to the place. And then once they get approved, you can wait them however you need to do whatever you got to do to them. But then maybe those paddles travel with the PPA to the events for the players. Are you taking notes?
Thomas 12:46
I am. Okay. So you said something and I wanted to write it down so I can remember it. Okay.
Tyson 12:54
So that's what I'm thinking like something like that. You need to submit your paddles beforehand. So that they have time to really look over them.
Thomas 13:06
I remember, as I said, Listen, we're in disarray today. Yeah, I'm at my uncle's house, which is in in Michigan,
Tyson 13:14
you're not even at your parents house? No.
Thomas 13:18
So I asked to borrow their office what my uncle just had to come in and grab something.
Tyson 13:23
And you'd have a note to him, like, leave me alone. Now.
Thomas 13:27
I actually wrote down the fact that you're saying like, Okay, so the players should send in their paddles or whatever. So the PVA their new policy is they are shifting the onus on to the players themselves, where the they're actually opening up like a two hour window before each event where players can go and voluntarily test their paddles. Because sort of play it. This is totally optional, right? Yeah, they wouldn't have to, but if they don't, and then they go play with something that is later deemed illegal because maybe somebody challenged it or some other reason for it to be tested. They'll get in trouble. Okay. There's like a number of sanctions and let me read them because otherwise, I'm going to butcher this ready? Yes. So a policy passed the pro player council vote unanimously last night, and this will be implemented 515 Right. So the 15th of May so in 10 days, players can only use paddles on a USA pickleball approved list. The PBA will hold open testing for each person goals and doubles event. Players can utilize these testing windows to ensure that their paddles are in compliance. The PPA has the right to challenge paddle compliance at its sole discretion. At any point during before or after a match a player may challenge the compliance of an opponent's paddle. The match continues and at match end players was handed paddles to officials for testing prior to leaving the court or risk forfeiture and further disciplinary action. On illegal paddle results in a forfeit If the paddle is deemed legal, the challenging player must pay a $250 paddle testing fee, which is interesting. For the second offense, assuming that the paddle was found to be illegal, yeah, any player caught using an illegal paddle twice in a 180 day period will be suspended from PBA events for 90 days and then phased, 90 days of probation. If a player is if a paddle is tested again, within those 90 days, in a player as a third offense, they'll be banned from the PPA indefinitely. And again, it's kind of like up to PVH discretion right
Tyson 15:37
now, I don't like this, I'll tell you why. It's putting too much on the player when it might be the producer of the paddles fault, it might be the production of the paddle. So like getting caught like a couple times, it's like cross contamination with performance enhancing drugs, like some factories that produce vitamins also produce like some things that will help make your test positive on a drug banned list. And it's not necessarily your fault. So I think that they need to just be more direct with it with every player and say, Everybody submit your paddles in a box with your name on it. Those are the paddles you get for the tournament, however many you need wait them however you do whatever you got to do to them, they still got to be legal, we're going to test each and every one or we're going to randomly test boxes of them. They don't even have to test all of them at that point. If everybody's submitting them, they test 10% of them. And then they play.
Thomas 16:31
But does that accomplish the same thing?
Tyson 16:33
Well, the thing is, they're putting too much on the player here, when it could be a production blip. Like let's say you're playing with a paddle that's like stock off the shelf.
Thomas 16:43
It's your responsibility to just go get your paddle tested before play.
Tyson 16:47
And if you get it tested before playing and it fails, then you have to find another paddle. And there's no repercussions for that. And they'll test it for free. There's no $250 Charge. Yeah. So there's, they're discouraging people from challenging somebody's paddle that they are suspect of, which is also a problem.
Thomas 17:10
Well, they're just yeah, they're discouraging unnecessary challenges, but sure, invade the $250. Fine, you're probably already unlikely to challenge another player's battle. Just because like it's an it's like, the law if I'm a player, I'm not gonna it's like I like if I'm playing pickup basketball, I never call foul, even if you like hack me, I'm just not gonna do it. Right, he should
Tyson 17:29
just randomly, they should just randomly test paddles. Like, a lot of sports drug testing, like if somebody has like a crazy performance or something they take, like, you know, they choose like, 10 15% of the field and just test their paddles at random.
Thomas 17:43
Well, seven, seven out of seven of the players voted on this. So apparently they liked it. And there's something about it,
Tyson 17:48
you know, seven layers is a big enough sample size.
Thomas 17:52
I mean, who knows? I'm just curious, like, what the? I'm just curious, like, what the ultimate goal is like, what were they driving it? So when you create this policy, what's the ultimate outcome that you're looking for? It sounds like they're just trying to figure out a way to be able to hold players accountable. But I don't think it's about accountability. Right? It should be the goal should be eliminate illegal paddles from the match. Correct. Fair play. That's that should be the focal point, not necessarily being able to like punish a player. Yeah. So I think maybe the way it's structured is a little bit odd. But either way, I feel like this is sort of this is not really going to be a big deal moving forward. Like it's not really, I think, like, basically a slap on the wrist for carbon is going to make other brands realize that like, Okay, we can't push the limits. And we got to be a little bit smarter about what we sell, and what paddles we put in the hands of who
Tyson 18:48
sure, but I think this way the sport is going and as there's more money involved, individuals themselves are going to look for any advantage they can get. And if they can get away with playing with a paddle that may not pass all of the testings. They could do it. It happens in every sport. It's human nature.
Thomas 19:13
I think all of this has a long way to go. And it's going to evolve. And this is just kind of like the first pass. Yeah, this is the first like, this is where I'm going like
Tyson 19:24
and I saw JOOLA or JOOLA or joola. Came out with a statement to did they have an issue with some of their paddles being tested. Yeah. So how do you pronounce that? JOOLA. Yo, so
Thomas 19:35
yeah, so I was testing one of the guys over there because I was like, alright, let's hear it from you. I'm not gonna listen to what these people are saying online. So basically, somebody went with a USA pickleball official at the tournament, behind the scenes and unofficially tested at JOOLA paddle. For my understanding if I'm wrong about this, I'm sorry. But essentially, the way it tests works, is you don't just test one, you test six you get Get a read for each of those six. And then you take an average of those six, because
Tyson 20:03
there's gonna be small discrepancies between each paddle in production, whether it's a 2% difference up or down, right? Yeah.
Thomas 20:10
And then there's also field tests versus lab tests. Now, lab tests are the ultimate decider. So a field test is sort of like, should we sent that's the test to say, Should we send it to the lab for the official test? So anything in the field is essentially irrelevant? Especially because because it's not in the lab, which is the official testing process. And you're not doing the correct way of doing it, where it was just like the six paddles that would take the average, you know, whatever procedure they typically do. I'm sure there were probably some other things that differ. But essentially, they tested this one jeweler paddle, and it came back illegal in the video in the USA, pickleball there guys is saying like, yeah, it's, it's illegal. And you can tell that they didn't realize they were on camera. So somebody's taking a video of this. Now, many people think it's a certain Pro. I'm pretty sure it is that certain pro because I recognize his voice in the video. But you know, then this, this video gets released out to the public. And everyone's like, oh, so USA. Pickleball wants to go after carbon but won't go after JOOLA because the number one players player plays with Viola and you don't want to screw over the number one, you know, so there's all that type of conjecture going on as well. But I think in my like defensive JOOLA, it's like, All right, well, all of their paddles are approved. It sounds like USAPA did some behind the scenes testing that they didn't talk about in public that people don't know about of the yellow paddles just to be sure at the tournament, and they determined that they're still within the guidelines. And they allow you to let it continue to be played at the tournament and the USA pickleball continues to say that JOOLA is in compliance, and there's no issue there. So I would say that just like, the illicit business, until it's certified, otherwise, it's not really fair to be like, Oh, I think this I think that, but I do get why given the sloppiness of the way this situation was handled altogether, there's all these like conspiracies and conjecture and different things flying around. So it's, it's, it's interesting. And depending on what you're interested in it, because our email, our newsletter, you have more opens than like I've ever seen. It was crazy. Wow,
Tyson 22:22
you got the perfect clickbait bait this time. It's great. One paddle company finds a way to defeat the system. Is that what your headline was?
Thomas 22:31
Yeah, yeah, it was like pickleball company, sandbags entire industry.
Tyson 22:42
Well, I've never had an issue with any of my gamma paddles, and I love them. So I'll stick with those. But it is an interesting time. And I think that it's, like I said earlier, as the sport gets more competitive, and there's more money involved, people are gonna go through to greater lengths to gain in the advantage, some time ill gotten. And that's just the nature of sport and humankind. And there's no way around it other than to counter whatever things you're seeing happening. So something has to happen before a guideline can be put in place. So this is that moment for these paddles.
Thomas 23:17
Yeah, yep. So
Tyson 23:21
well, it'll be interesting, I think that will change, I think we'll see it. My prediction is that it will go from the paddle company to each person's liability, because the paddle companies won't want to be involved with making paddles that aren't approved. They'll want to steer clear of that. And it will be up in layers.
Thomas 23:42
I guess, just to add a little bit more context, one of the interesting things was, I think, when we had Colin out, and he was sort of indicating that he thinks that the carbon is pushing the limits to a degree that's unfair. And so he's sort of already had an inclination that it was illegal, he was kind of implying that he never outright said it. I also sort of heard whispers about that generally around the pickleball world that like what you could do with the carbon is unfair. And there was sort of whispers that it was beyond the limit in terms of grit. And that's what this is all Bennett. So
Tyson 24:16
it's all grit. It's a surface surface is so gritty.
Thomas 24:20
Yeah, right. And so you can put a ton of spin on the ball. And it's also why, and again, this is just something that I've heard. I don't know enough about singles, I'm not good enough to really have any sort of opinion here. But a lot of the players who are sort of newcomers who have picked up a carbon are able to advance up the ranks much quicker, particularly in singles, because of the way they can continue to hit their tennis strokes. Whereas when you typically transition from pickleball to or from tennis to pickleball, is to flatten out your stroke to change some things, but the carbon allows for you to not have to change as much and so it's more of a natural Tennis motion, be able to shape the ball better be able to ping lines and hit the deep corners and do things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do when playing with another paddle. So a lot of the pros were saying, Hey, I think this thing's like in the red here, similar to what had happened with the Electrum in the past, but the tests in the USA pickleball lab, they, they comply, so the carbons were legal. But now people are saying, See, we told you so.
Tyson 25:31
Interesting. Yeah, that is interesting to think. Do you think that as because based on your description, like? Is that the future, then will the limits be changed for maybe more spectacular play in the future?
Thomas 25:51
Yeah, I was talking about this with someone earlier today. It's tricky, right? Like you want paddles to continue to innovate, you the paddles need to get better. I have to every summer they pay a little better. But I'll say there is a certain brand who makes a certain paddle that a lot of people play with, it's considered one of the best in the game. But for some reason, it's a really low price point. And I'm Listen, the only reason it's a low price point is if you can make up the margins elsewhere, meaning it's a really low cost thing to produce, right? So basically, like it's a cheap paddles,
Tyson 26:28
or the grip falls off, you think you're saying the grip and they
Thomas 26:30
break, and they break all the time. Yeah, the great falls off, they break all the time. It's cheap to make in the first place. Like, there's a long way for paddles to go better materials, more innovation all across the board, I do think that you have to limit the amount of spin in the amount of like, let's just call it like the amount of tennis you can play with with a paddle. Otherwise, you just turn pickleball into tennis, right? And that's not what we want there. They're different games. But at the same time, you don't want to limit innovation to the point where we can't improve the equipment that we're playing with. So it's like a delicate balance. And I don't know, are there other things you can improve like the type of Corbin use, like the type of handle, you know, the honeycomb, like, I don't know enough about paddles to know what types of tweaks you can make and what impact they'll have. But I think we just have to be tasteful about what we limit and what we don't limit and where we allow innovation and where we say no, that's too much. When you were everybody's kind of playing that game or when
Tyson 27:32
you were talking with Colin Jones. Did he give any sort of number or Have we heard anything like 5% 10% 20%? Like what is have we heard a number like that, like how much grittier It is past the level of acceptability.
Thomas 27:47
I think he did say some sort of number but I can't remember. Okay, well, yeah.
Tyson 27:53
Hopefully we get it all sorted. Because we like fairplay even though we know that everyone's gonna push the
Thomas 28:01
pod we'd like fairplay. Okay on the record.
Tyson 28:06
Next news, Serena Williams and Ellen DeGeneres talk about pickleball on Ellen DeGeneres Show, tease Serena coming into pickleball. And I think if pickleball grows 100 times what it currently is, within the next couple of months, we will see Serena Williams at a pro tournament
Thomas 28:30
maybe down the road. I to be honest with you, I think this is kind of like alright, so back when I first started writing the newsletter, if anybody on TV mentioned pickleball I was like they mentioned pickleball because it was like there wasn't that much news. Now you have to we had to go find the news, right? Yeah. In this scenario, I think it's kind of one of those circumstances where it's like, okay, it's a massive stage. It's the biggest tennis player in the world and it's really cool that she's talking about and acknowledging pickleball and not only pickleball but that there is a pro tour. However, I think there is zero shot that we see her on a pickleball court in any sort of competitive capacity anytime soon. So I think that's totally overblown but it is fun to just kind of like imagine her going out there and and absolutely crushing everybody. Yeah, with a carbon paddle with the carbon battle we that's what I'm saying though, is if she picked up a carbon battle, I think she could like Cool Metal.
Tyson 29:29
I'll give her as many gamma toggles as she wants. The I also think like you mentioned, like, anytime Pickleball is mentioned in the media anywhere it was newsworthy. Now I think it's almost becoming trendy like so many shows are like we're gonna go play pickleball so now it's like people are picking up on it and writers and and talk show hosts and everything are like now we have to mention pickleball because such a large percentage Have our audience enjoys pickleball that they're gonna get a rise out of it. And it's so new that anybody who recognizes the pickleball reference immediately gets excited.
Thomas 30:10
Yeah, right. It's because yeah, it's very close to becoming cliche.
Tyson 30:14
Yeah, I like it.
Thomas 30:16
We're just about two years to go up. It's just like, aggressively inserted into everywhere hands.
Tyson 30:23
Yeah. Well, we're here. So, yeah, we're already here. Yeah. What I did do,
Thomas 30:34
sir, I did survey our readers though. And I was just like, alright, like,
Tyson 30:39
Tyson or Thomas.
Thomas 30:40
Oh, yeah, that will not gonna reveal the results of that one.
Tyson 30:45
Okay. Let's hear this, right. Yeah, it was,
Thomas 30:49
it was just like, alright, so Serena Williams, let's just assume she's only stepped on a court one time. So she's just she's hit a ball. What do you think our baseline rating is? Is it you know, 3 4? Is it four to four or five? Four or five? Five? Is it above? Five? How much? Do you think most people said, like, where do you think people kind of,
Tyson 31:09
oh, probably like four or five. So I, but I think there's more to it. Like, if she's not familiar with how the sport moves, then she's gonna be lower, because she's gonna keep just trying to smash the ball.
Thomas 31:21
It depends on this is the whole thing that was like It depends on singles or doubles.
Tyson 31:25
And it also depends on singles or doubles. But I think that most readers probably put like a four or five.
Thomas 31:30
Yeah, I was surprised. Like, the highest percentage was five oh, plus.
Unknown Speaker 31:36
Really? People gave us a lot of credit. Yeah, right out of the gate.
Thomas 31:39
Yeah, I guess I should have specified in the survey, whether we were talking about singles or doubles,
Tyson 31:45
and also how much knowledge she has of the sport like, she seen the sport has she watched professional has she like, does she know about dinking? Does she know the rules? Like there's so much? Yeah, so
Thomas 31:57
the one the only, like criteria I gave was that she's gotten on a pickleball. Court and played it one time. Yeah. Yeah. I think I learned my survey will be better next time.
Tyson 32:08
Well, I think that's very, still very generous, I think of your readers to put her at a five oh, plus j to have her pickleball
Thomas 32:17
career. Right?
Tyson 32:20
If she ever comes to play pickleball This is my prediction. She trains in secret for like six months till she is certain that she is one of the top players in the world and then shows up.
Thomas 32:33
I don't think it would be harder. All right. Yes. Let's see. Wait, why did you have a 33 million view video on YouTube of like you as a Star Wars character? What was happening there?
Tyson 32:47
Pretty dope, right?
Thomas 32:49
I didn't. I didn't watch it. Or it was, Oh, you didn't? All I did was I like saw it. I saw the thumbnail or whatever. And I just wrote down 33 million video like to ask you about like, Oh, yeah.
Tyson 33:01
So this is probably about 10 years ago. I have friends who make viral videos, they specialized in viral videos back then. And their whole thing was this is
Thomas 33:15
3 million views per year, just before, you know. Yeah.
Tyson 33:20
But it got like 10 million views overnight. It was all over the news. It was like on people were calling me from all over the country as we launched this video on YouTube. And basically, their formula is something relevant to Star Wars news in the moment, combined with the most popularly viewed music video on YouTube in that time, and done really well. And that's what we did. So we did go TAS Somebody That I Used to Know, combined with Star Wars, Star Wars that I used to know as I think George Lucas rereleased the originals, but it made some changes to him. And we're upset about that. And so every year
Thomas 34:10
may 4, it like pops off again. Yeah, well, May
Tyson 34:14
14, I just shared it. It doesn't really pop off. But like if you read down the comments, people are like, that's Tyson from survivor. Oh, my God. Like people are losing their minds. And it's just like another resume thing. Like, am I the most interesting man in the world? I'm getting close.
Thomas 34:29
You do have a hell of a resume. It's quite eclectic.
Tyson 34:37
Well, you know, somebody had to live this life. I don't I guess. I may as well be me.
Thomas 34:42
It sounds like you might be adding. I don't know if I can reveal
Tyson 34:47
this night. Yeah, you can't reveal anything yet.
Thomas 34:50
All right. Well, we'll talk about it on next episode. Coming on your resume. Me too.
Tyson 34:56
You do too. Oh, we can talk about it. Yeah, well Let's wait. But it's coming out like going up. Yeah. Next week, what makes a big reveal?
Thomas 35:05
Yeah. All right. I wrote down a lot. I wrote down a lot of stuff. Good. So now I'm having option paralysis. And like, I don't know which one I want to talk about. Oh, man. I've been fighting a lot of people on Twitter. You have been battling on Twitter. Yeah. On behalf of pickleball. Okay. And so this is more of like a call to arms for our listeners. Yeah. listeners to
Tyson 35:32
battle for you. Yeah, let's
Thomas 35:34
get in the mud together.
Tyson 35:37
Here. So people are coming for pickleball. And then you're coming after them? Yeah, it's fun,
Thomas 35:42
though. Yeah.
Tyson 35:45
And you have any real good burns you want to share? No, I actually wanted to next time, we have a pro on. Also for our listeners. And for the pros that listen, if you want to join us as a guest. Pros, let us know we'll throw you on here for around for half an hour an hour. And if you are a listener, that isn't a pro, your chances are slimmer. But you could also recommend a pro you'd really like to hear from.
Thomas 36:16
Yeah, for sure. Right. I'm not opposed to having a listener on if they have something interesting to talk about. Yeah,
Tyson 36:23
I'm not either. But what I'm saying is that these pros, yet they have some input that we want to
Thomas 36:29
hear. So my dad just texted me from the hospital. Bring a pickleball paddle tomorrow. Some of the nurses want to see one. Okay, he's hanging out he's hanging out with he's making a lot of nurse friends. He's
Tyson 36:42
telling them about the pickleball paddles. Tell. Tell your dad to tell him to use Tyson 20 at checkout at gamma sports.com for discount on the paddle.
Thomas 36:51
Good plugins. Good.
Tyson 36:53
Thanks. What else we got?
Thomas 37:01
Let's see. So we have well, this is this is this, I typically would have brought this up at the end of an episode. But since we're talking about listeners, we have 74 reviews on Apple pods. You know, that is pretty good.
Tyson 37:18
That is pretty good. I bet we can get more but we can get over 100.
Thomas 37:22
Yeah, leave us a review. If you guys haven't left us a review on the Apple like podcast app. Yeah. Go do that.
Tyson 37:30
Yeah, we're this is free content for you. And the way that we keep going is Yeah, help like more listeners. So if you leave a review, it puts us up in the ratings so that more people find the podcast easier.
Thomas 37:43
Yeah, subscribe. And, yeah, DMS, like topics and stuff like that. I like hearing from our listeners more, I'm getting more and more like DMS from people like, and I always talk back, assuming I see it. It's not only me on the on on our social anymore. So it's not always me that you're talking to but I like interacting with.
Tyson 38:09
And how about this, Thomas? Yeah, let's say we get to a certain amount of listenership or a certain amount of reviews. Would you be open to then recording the podcast live for our listeners to then tune in as we're recording? Yeah, I
Thomas 38:25
think we're planning on doing that at one point.
Tyson 38:27
Yeah, we are. We are not.
Thomas 38:30
We're not very good at keeping our scheduled times. We're always shuffling around.
Tyson 38:34
We I do that on one of my other podcasts. And one of the beauties of it is that as we're talking, I can see people's comments coming up and then we can respond to those comments in the moment or if you have a really great joke, I can steal that and use that as my own.
Thomas 38:50
Yeah, right. Exactly. Gives us material.
Tyson 38:52
Yeah. So there's a lot of benefits to it. I look forward to that. Do we have any other great news for the week?
Thomas 39:03
I know I actually like I have to kind of jump here soon. Okay, but I will need their office. Yeah, I will keep talking about our listeners here though. We're always looking for I won't give like a certain criteria but people to help out with the with the dank running social writing. Honestly, like you name it. Assuming you have a good background. If you're like passionate you like football, you want to work for us. Reach out, I'd love to. I'd love to chat about it and explore what the possibilities are.
Tyson 39:38
Where can I send my resume to if I like let's say I need a job.
Thomas 39:44
Thedinkteam@heydink.com
Tyson 39:47
Okay, thedinkteam@heydink.com Tell your people to look out for my email, podcast or for hire.
Thomas 39:58
Just DM us to Oh,
Tyson 40:00
yeah, there's a lot of ways but the link is growing Pickleball is growing. It's an exciting time to be part of the sport. And let's keep this pickleball train rolling.
Thomas 40:12
Yeah, and I might have to record some ads and insert them retro actively do it. So we'll have to figure that out. But you'll figure
Tyson 40:23
it out. Sorry,
Thomas 40:24
advertisers. Crazy week. That's it. See, Doc,
Unknown Speaker 40:32
yeah.
