pickleball convince
spectators that game is as
fun to watch as play
How many sewers could you hit?
The Sportswriter Joe Falls tells the story of interviewing a baseball player when he was just starting out on the Tigers Beat for the Detroit Free Press.
I cannot remember the player in question but the great Rocky Colavito stands out as a possibility as the sports star in the story as Falls was a young kid, fresh on the job, approaching a big star.
Falls also mentioned that the star, like Falls, was a native New Yorker from New York City.
Falls tells how he had a pad and pencil and walked into the locker room and joined the queue around the star who was describing his performance on the field that day.
There was a pause in the question and Falls asked the first question that popped into his head on meeting a big league baseball player from New York City.
“How many sewers could you hit?” Falls asked.
Falls remembered that in the bouquet of sportswriters clustered around Colavito, there was more than one smirk, more than one person rolling their eyes.
But not Colavito.
He look at Falls for a second and said, “Three, on a good day. How many COULD YOU HIT?”
Falls wrote that with that, he was allowed entrance in the brotherhood of sportswriters.
It also seems that Falls said it led to a lifelong relationship with Rocky.
How many sewers could you hit?
What they were talking about was the sport of stick ball.
The game kids played when they wanted to play baseball but they didn’t have a baseball, baseball mitts and gloves, baseball bats or, maybe most importantly, a baseball field.
They got what they could, a sawed off broom stick and a rubber spaulding (spaul DEEN) ball and they played in the street and measured the field by the number of sewers the City of New York spaced down the street.
To hit three sewers was the marque d’excellence.
The point is, they made do and had a great time.
Kids were allowed to be kids and play.
And most those stick ball games went on all day and kids played and played.
Then along came the adults who looked at the lack of equipment and the lack of organization and lack of rules and they asked how can this be allowed to happen?
The asked, how can they be having any fun?
And along came little league.
Orgnaization.
Uniforms, leagues, fields and RULES.
Now the fun can start said the adults.
And kids sat and watched from the dugout and waited.
Oh boy.
Now these kids are older.
Seeing empty tennis courts all over the place they came up with a little game that uses these un-used courts.
Seems that tennis and golf need a big marquee name to justify anyone else spending time on the sport and the big names in tennis and golf are all retiring as is interest … or so some say, but I digress.
Anyway, these empty tennis courts are being used as this simple game that picked up the name, pickleball, is in and being played everywhere.
As might be expected, someone starts asking about equipment and leagues and RULES.
As might be expected there are some people who excel at pickleball.
Say that out loud please.
Some people think they just might be the best pickleball player ever.
Which just leads you to think that there should be PRO pickleball.
This morning in the New York Times is the story headlined, “Will Pickleball Be as Fun to Watch as It Is to Play?“
The sub header states: “Pickleball had no problem attracting millions of amateur players. Now, as the sport looks to grow at the professional level, it must convince spectators that the game is as fun to watch as it is to play.“
Did you catch the key word here?
Might be FUN but nope.
Must.
Must!
The sport must convince spectators that the game is as fun to watch as it is to play
Boy howdy can’t we just once do something for fun anymore?
How many sewers can you hit?
No Haiku For You 