We here at Murmurs from the Losers’ Bracket have wandered far beyond our comfort zone to watch reality TV. Specifically, The Golden Bachelor on ABC. All in the name of pickleball research.

The new season of this popular TV franchise is based on the ridiculous premise that if you release one desirable guy into a den of 20 eager women, soulmates will find each other and march off to a lifetime of marriage and commitment by the end of the broadcast season.

The twist this season is that instead of using young or middle-age adults, the “golden” bachelor is a 72-year-old widower, and the women seeking his company are in their 60s and 70s.

I guess somebody decided it was about time to show Medicare-aged people making out. We had no idea this was in such high demand.

And as for a name, it’s pretty easy to see that The Golden Bachelor sounded way better than The Enlarged Prostate Bachelor or any other age-related reference that might apply.

The casting directors have found a peachy leading man in Gerry Turner, a tall, blue-eyed, flat-stomached septuagenarian from Indiana who still has his teeth and wears the good kind of hearing aids.

Let’s face it, he’s a unicorn.

There’s nothing sexier than an older guy who still wants to hear what other people are…

When pickleball pro Hurricane Tyra Black (with her partner Christian Alshon) faced off against Julian “Andiamo” Arnold and Meghan Sheehan-Dizon, she knew she had to find a way to frustrate Arnold, who is known for his fiery, animated play and “hot” streaks on the court (in other words, when Arnold is “talking and yelling” on the pickleball court, he is in the zone and playing his best). Black wanted to find a way to cool Arnold’s momentum and keep his “Andiamo” screams between rallies to a minimum. So, Black came up with a plan that was based on a strategy used during a women’s match the year prior at the same venue. Black identified that the elements—notably, the sun—made this pickleball strategy effective the year prior, and she and Alshon could have success implementing it again. Black’s pickleball strategy to frustrate her opponent Arnold was—the high lob!

The high lob can be frustrating as it:

•       Is generally an untraditional and uncommon strategy—especially at the pro level. So, the high lob can throw off pickleball players because they are not used to seeing it and can throw off their rhythm on the pickleball court.
•       Is disorientating, as pickleball players are required to look high into the air (almost…

On Friday, July 21^st, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team took to the world stage with game 1 of group play at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. On this same date/time, Pickle4 broadcasted the second event of its inaugural Ballpark Series at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, which featured both an amateur pickleball tournament and an all-women’s professional player event (headlining the professional event included world #1 Anna Leigh Waters).

With the overlapping air time, and overlapping “girl power” across the pitch and court, it is hard not to consider potential comparisons or contrasts between the two sports. Obviously, soccer (or football) is way beyond the sport of pickleball in terms of reach, engagement, participation, etc. in both the United States and across the world. Soccer/football was first modernized in 1863 in England, which is a whopping 102 years ahead of the sport of pickleball. So, the sport of soccer/football had a much longer runway to grow and develop. However, there may be one aspect where pickleball has an advantage in its youth—parity in pay between male and female athletes (although, notably, a markedly lower dollar amounts than other more established sports).

According to a new CNN analysis, players…

Pickle4 and its Ballpark Series—which is bringing pickleball to iconic baseball parks around the country and has common ownership with the US Open Pickleball Championships—just announced that the top pro pickleball players are headed to the ballpark. Starting with Fenway Park on July 14^th through July 16^th, top pickleball pros will be playing against the backdrop of the famous Green Monster. Then, the following week on July 21^st through July 23^rd, San Francisco’s Oracle Park will feature an all-women’s pro lineup that is headlined by the world #1 Anna Leigh Waters.

Learn more – including how to grab tickets and how to watch on TV in the article below!

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• The Ballpark Series at Fenway and Oracle Park features the only professional pickleball events in Boston and San Francisco in 2023
• New partnership with CBS Sports Network will broadcast the Ballpark Series Professional Showcase Exhibition Friday and Sunday afternoons at each event
• Spectator tickets, now on sale, give fans access to all the pickleball action and full ballpark experience

Naples, FL (July 6, 2023)- Pickle4America (Pickle4), a rapidly emerging organization dedicated to building the best ecosystem in the sport of…

A transgender woman with aspirations of playing professional pickleball made an unusual plea on Facebook, a plea to be allowed to play.

“I’m not a professional, a scientist or a doctor,” said Sara Weiss. “And honestly I don’t care where I have to play, I just want to play. And if someone wants to make that hard on me, you can, but I’ll show up and play.”

Weiss was rattled after the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), a group that advocates barring transgender women from competing in women’s categories of sports, singled out her participation as a woman last month in pickleball’s US Open in Naples, Florida.

ICONS identified her as a “trans-identifying male” competing as a woman in pickleball events. It elicited a lot of strong reaction.

“These men have no shame,” one poster wrote. “We have to kick them out. They will never back down. EVER. They love trampling on us.”

Weiss said it cast her in a light that was far from the truth.

“I don’t want to be a martyr for a community,” Weiss said. “If I’m being completely honest, in the LGBT community, there’s a lot of negativity, toxic negativity. And people, who say, ‘You need to bend to my will because I exist’ I don’t feel that way.

“You don’t need to…

Have you ever heard of a meme? Or, more particularly, a pickleball meme (or meme of pickleball)?

A pickleball meme is a humorous image, video, or piece of text that is shared across social media among pickleball players and fans. It often features a clever or funny caption or visual that pokes fun at some aspect of the sport or its players. Pickleball memes can range from light-hearted jokes about the quirky aspects of the game to more pointed commentary on controversial topics or personalities in the sport. And, now, one new social media account is using pickleball memes to poke fun at the pro side of the sport, including pro players, pro leagues and tours, pickleball organizations and manufacturers, and other personalities in and around the game.

Let us introduce you to @memesofpickleball on Instagram… And, if you are not yet following @memesofpickleball, you should!

@memesofpickleball first popped up on the scene on November 12, 2022, after pickleball pro Catherine Parenteau dropped her women’s doubles partner—Allyce Jones—for the 2022 USA Pickleball National Championships, in order to fill a spot and play with the #1 women’s player, Anna Leigh Waters. This drop left Jones without a partner to play with at Nationals, and resulting in quite a bit of…

Generally speaking, the goal on the pickleball court is force your opponents to hit the pickleball on an upward trajectory to allow you (or your partner) to hit the pickleball on a downward trajectory (i.e., hit the pickleball down toward your opponents’ feet). This is possible when the pickleball sits above the top of the pickleball net (and, the higher the pickleball sits, the easier it is to hit on a downward trajectory).

However, at times, you may want to be offensive with your shots in other ways. For instance, you may want to hit an offensive shot even when the pickleball sits below the top of the pickleball net. These can be difficult shots to execute, though, as you need to generally hit the pickleball on some upward trajectory to get the pickleball up and over the net. This puts you at risk of allowing your opponents to hit down on the pickleball. But, there are shots that you can use to apply pressure, while minimizing this risk.

If you need to create offense in one of these circumstances, try one of the following three shots:

1. Top Spin Volleys – One way to create offense below the pickleball net is to use top spin. Top spin – which is spin that travels from 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock toward your opponents – will help the ball get up and…

Every pickleball player has his or her own style on the pickleball courts (which is one of the reasons that the sport is so great—there are many styles that can be successful). Some players are more offensive in their play, while others may be more of a defensive specialist by keeping the pickleball in play and grinding out points.

One of these more defensive players is pickleball pro Callan Dawson, who is nicknamed the “Lob Doctor.” Dawson earned this nickname because of his prowess with the offensive lob. As Dawson describes it: “I don’t have a lot of offense off of the bounce. I like to dink a lot and grind it out. So, one of the things that I focus on to give me a little of that offense is to take the ball out of the air and throw in some lobs.”

If you are a defensive player like Dawson, or otherwise looking for more ways to create offense in your game on the pickleball court, consider doing what Dawson does to earn his nickname of the “Lob Doctor”—add the offensive lob to your game.

An offensive lob is like a bridge or a rainbow just over your outstretched opponents. An offensive lob will have a flatter trajectory (as opposed to a high up-and-down trajectory). To execute the offensive lob, try the following:

• Understand the purpose of…

The rules of pickleball are one of the most debated issues in the sport. For instance, pickleball players have weighed in on whether the spin serve be permitted, or what rises to the level of a hindrance. And, now, after a recent pickleball tournament in Newport Beach, California, pickleball players may need to weigh in on what is considered “inappropriate” clothing for pickleball.

The series of events in California are generally not in debate by the parties involved. However, how those events are interpreted, and how the pickleball rules are applied to those events, are subject to debate by the parties involved.

Dominika Julliet and her boyfriend and mixed doubles partner, Nick Bicanic, took to a court to warm-up for their bracket on the day. Julliet wore a matching set manufactured by the popular brand Alo (which is marketing to pickleball players and has notably sponsored pro pickleball players like Parris Todd). The Alo set featured a light blue free-flowing skirt and a matching sports top (depicted below).

This is a popular outfit amongst Julliet and other fellow pickleballers, as Julliet has worn the same outfit at another pickleball tournament at the same Newport Beach venue, and other pickleballers, Annie Davidson and Melissa Nespor, also wore…

Pickleball’s undisputed number-one super-fan, Kathy Demetri, is used to being called “Crazy Kathy.”

But she’s not crazy – just way more devoted to having a good time than most people. And her infectious passion for pickleball fun is contagious both for those on or off the court.

If you’ve attended a high-level pickleball tournament, chances are you’ve both seen and heard Demetri. She’s the 60-year-old woman roaming the grandstand while squeaking a rubber chicken in one hand and holding a wooden stick in the other hand that’s attached to a laminated photo of a player on the court.

And she’s shouting, “Let’s go!” or “C’mon!” or “Woo!” or a combination of those exhortations. And it’s filled with the kind of exuberance that comes after bolting a mini-bottle of her signature beverage, Fireball cinnamon flavored whisky.

“I’m trying to work out a sponsorship deal with Fireball,” she said.

It’s hard to imagine that underneath this presentation of pickleball delirium is a nuclear engineer with a pretty good idea of what she is doing and why she is doing it.

“I cheer for everyone,” Demetri said. “But I enjoy those people who do better when people are cheering for them.”

And there’s nothing like getting cheered by…