163. Pickleball Etiquette… Who’s in the Wrong?

Alright, what's up guys?

We are back with another podcast episode.

This week we've got some fun stuff in the beginning.

We just have some quick paddle updates, but there actually wasn't a lot of paddle news

in general.

So we're going to do something a little bit different on this episode.

There's a format on the internet called IATA short for Am I the A-hole?

We're going to abbreviate that to Am I the Jerk today because I don't feel like censoring

this entire episode.

And if you have any kids, well, now you can listen to your car.

But this is just a fun format where we surveyed you guys online and said, just give us your

best Am I the Jerk story in Pickleball and you guys gave us some really good ones.

We also found some fun ones online and then came up with a view of our own.

So we're just going to go over a bunch of those today.

And then you guys can let us know in the comments what you think and we'll see if Isaac

and I disagree on any today.

I look forward to this.

I was going to be a lot of fun.

I feel like you and I are going to agree on a lot of them, but we'll see.

I would be shocked if there was many that we disagree on.

I think we're pretty similar with these things.

There's maybe one or two, but yeah, I think I think we're going to agree from the most

part.

Baby, you guys disagree.

Let us know down in the comments below.

This is going to be a pretty fun one.

So okay, let's start off with just some of the news really quick.

So the Honolulu J2CR is now UPAA approved because they're doing their longer lasting

texture, which we covered a couple of weeks ago on a podcast episode that it was coming

out.

And they had said it was likely not going to pass us a piece of notification, just like

how hex grit from 11 624 doesn't pass.

And I just saw on the UPAA website, it is now approved.

Now if it was going to be used for pro matches, it is only the black, you'd have to use

a blackout model because they didn't pay the licensing fee or whatever.

Like I said, one company does it and has a grittier paddle.

More companies are going to start doing this.

I mean, you did speculate when we talked about this last time, the Honolulu would be one

to do it next.

Did I?

I'm pretty sure.

I'm pretty sure.

But yeah, it's just, it makes sense, right?

Like if you can have a better long lasting texture, like hex grit has been doing and your

UPAA certified and most tournaments at the moment, don't care.

There are still a handful that do.

I actually think I heard that some of the bigger tournaments in California are USAP only.

Yeah, they're like money balls and stuff.

Yeah, which I think is kind of interesting, but I do think at some point, I think it

makes sense.

It's just going to get to a point where most probably accept both because I think realistically,

with how both standards are for the most part, I don't think if you played against a UPAA

paddle or a USAP paddle, you're going to be like, oh man, like it's not like we're talking

powers here on one and powers way down here on another.

So I think we're just going to keep seeing what's happened.

For sure.

There's almost no doubt about it.

So keep an eye on for that.

I don't know the exact release date.

I can't remember if it was like maybe May, but don't quote me on that.

I could be completely wrong.

But yeah, keep an eye out for that.

I'm sure more companies are going to start doing that.

And then yeah, next thing I had an 11, 624 update.

I was actually wrong last week.

So the original power series, not the new power two series, that dropped to $99 and

I was under the impression that that was just about to go away.

But I think it was actually the alpha pro power that is eventually going to go away.

Currently, it sounds like the power series is going to remain and currently it is $99.

So for a Gen 3 at $99, great deal.

Luz Cannon is probably a little bit more powerful.

We just got some new ones that aren't core crush.

So maybe I can finally test those.

But yeah, I just think for a Gen 3 at $99, like if you're looking for a good deal, that

is.

I mean, now you have either that or the Cannon.

Now there's another Gen 3 option at $99.

I mean, just look at all the $100 options.

They're like crazy legitimately so flipping good for the price.

You have the turbos, which is basically kind of like a logo.

Then you have kind of like an inferno.

Then you have the V-Soul Pro, which is just a good all around paddle.

There's like nothing wrong with it.

You have a Friday fever at as a Gen 3.

You have the Luz Cannon.

You have the 11, 624 power series.

It used to be like your options were those spray-ungrant, really colorful Friday

paddles that were 50 bucks or well two for a hundred or a Vatic Prism.

Those were like your $100 options.

Now there's just so many options at that $100 to a $110 range.

It's wild.

Covers different play styles, different fields, shapes.

I mean, we were just outside hitting the other day.

We were testing some paddles and I had brought out the Vatic Pro Saga, which

there might be some of you on here who don't even know what that paddle is.

That's not that old.

But it's just a Gen 1.5 honeycomb paddle.

It's $99.

It's a good all-core paddle.

And hitting that again, I was like, this is still good.

For $100, this is still a good paddle.

Yeah.

So I don't know.

Vatic, I think, kind of has the most complete line up from control, all-court to power.

And then the rest are kind of skewed towards power.

But if that's what you're looking for, I mean, I don't know.

At $100, you literally can't go wrong with these options.

It's hard to pick the wrong option.

Yeah, honestly, I don't think you're really good.

Yeah.

Then the last two paddle updates really quick.

Coda Harmony Grit.

So the chorus Coda had come out, didn't have Harmony Grit,

which was their version of a longer lasting texture.

We finally got the longer lasting texture.

So now I'll put that through its paces.

So you're telling me that we have a company named

chorus with a paddle named Coda.

And then we've got apes with a paddle named Harmony.

And the Coda's grit is named Harmony.

What are we doing here, guys?

A lot of that.

I didn't think about that.

But yeah, so that the hybrid and elongated

will be releasing May 12th.

The standard will release in June, I believe.

It'll be $199 before code, $179 after code.

And then people who already bought a Coda can buy the new one for $75

and keep their old paddle.

I just never really checked out the old one

because I knew this one was coming.

Yeah.

I was kind of like why double up on the work

if I know a better version is going to be out soon.

So once I've hit that and we've tested the grit,

we'll keep you guys updated.

We have some interesting updates that I guess I don't...

I want to say anything, I don't want to spoil it.

I don't want to spoil it.

But anyways, okay, last update.

Flick, the Flick F3 line.

Actually, I think this applies to all their USAP approved paddles.

Flick Pickleball is basically doing a $50 sale.

If you use code, gas me up because it was kind of like a...

Basically when I sent out the email, it was like,

hey, the prices at the gas pumps kind of suck right now.

Here's $50 off our paddles.

So that's why it's gas me up.

Yeah.

So code, gas me up, we'll give you $50 off.

But then you can also stack code PB Studio on that.

So the Flick F3, that one, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of it.

I really wouldn't recommend it.

But the F3, well, it wasn't like this crazy paddle.

I also hit that yesterday, kind of brought that out.

Just remind myself a little bit.

It's $199, but then after all these codes, it's $126.

And I think in all court paddle, bullfom,

that is on the soft and dense side of the spectrum.

When a lot of these paddles are power and stiff and hollow,

is something that would be appealing for a lot of people.

And so at $126, I think if you're looking for an all court phone paddle,

that's a great deal.

Like, I know we haven't reviewed it, but at $126,

like if that fits your profile, like, it's a good deal.

Easy recommendation.

I mean, I would say soft and dense in the realm of kind of like a coral,

like they're, they're in similar ranges as each other,

but now you're just 80 bucks cheaper.

Yeah.

So I don't know that potentially, if that's what you're looking for,

I would consider that because I think that's a great deal for an all court paddle.

So all right, that is our news and updates on paddles.

Now let's get to get into it.

All right, first one.

This one, okay, I, this is my first, he put these in here.

So he put some of them in, I put some of them in.

The first few is my first time reading them.

So this is, wait till you get this one.

This one's crazy.

I already know my answer.

Am I the jerk for breaking someone's already core crushed paddle?

At a club I no longer frequent, there was a self-rated,

four-o player we will call Randy, who played with a Yola 3S that is overwhelmingly core

crushed and crunchy to the touch.

He consistently sandbags and plays with 303.5 groups,

and his game revolves around driving the ball on every shot as hard as possible,

often hitting the lower rated people.

I saw his paddle on the paddle rack and noticed how core crushed it is and told him

his paddle was core crushed, which makes it illegal to use and it could possibly seriously

injure his opponents.

Randy told me to f off and that the club hasn't told him to stop and he paid over $200

for the paddle, so he won't stop.

I told the director of operations and they said that because it is

four recreational and not sanctioned play, he has no obligation to put the paddle down.

The next day I came back and there was Randy again.

He had his paddle again on the rack and I saw him go to the bathroom.

I took his paddle and went to a little staff closet that had the door open,

stomped on the paddle near the neck and the handle until it slightly cracked and I heard

crunching and I put the paddle back.

Randy came back and did his usual antics and mid match drove a ball in his paddle broken half.

Although I am unsure, although I am sure he bought the same paddle and did it over again,

it felt good to force him to put down the very illegal paddle.

That's a crazy story.

I just want to say first of all, you have done what everyone wishes they could do.

Everyone wants to do.

But at the same time, that's got to be illegal.

You can't just take other people's property and break it.

Yeah, for sure it's illegal.

Damage of property, theft of property.

As much as we would all want to do this and we want people to not use

corecrushed paddles, this guy is for sure the jerk.

Yeah, even if he doesn't know, look, here's the thing.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

You're both the jerk.

Okay.

I understand.

Right?

Like, let's say this guy is actually a 4-0.

Most of the time, self-rated fouros aren't.

And you're playing with a lot lower level people and you're just trying to hit them.

That's a whole other M-I-the-jerk story.

So in my eyes, you're both the jerk.

Like, look, I've been mad about people using corecrushed paddles and rec play that are like

the mod, egregiously broken.

And I'll say something, but I'd never go as far as to break someone's paddle.

I'd be like, I would be like, look, I'll give you a paddle if you break it.

Yeah.

Like, break it in front of me and I'll give you a paddle.

Totally.

You know, that would be my solution.

Yeah.

I, yeah, they're both the jerk in this case.

Also, it's interesting to me that the club basically said, oh, it's fine.

One, like, I get it, it's recreational play.

Okay, sure.

But then, so what's interesting, I find about this type

and why I think clubs should have maybe more of a standard is because let's think about this.

Okay, can you come with a hush, like a diadem hush?

Yeah, right.

Probably I'm going to guess the club won't really care about that.

But okay, then let's take it one step further and go extreme.

What if I show up with a tip-toe racket?

Yeah.

Then let's go one further extreme.

What if I show up with a tennis racket?

Yeah.

Like, what line do you go, hey, I know it's recreational play,

but you shouldn't use that.

Exactly.

Like, if I show up with a baseball, it's just recreational play, bro.

Like, I don't know.

So I feel like the club does have more of a responsibility.

I think that is something, I mean, I'm sure there are clubs out there who do have more strict rules

and do, you know, make people abide by it, but I feel like that should be a standard thing

across, like, facilities or, like, you know, lifetime.

Yeah.

Like, things need to be put in place because if they aren't,

somebody's going to get injured and someone's going to be mad and

yeah, it's going to cause a whole bunch of problems if nothing gets put in place.

Yeah, so I don't know.

I feel like if you can show up with a core crush,

battle, why can't I show up with a tennis racket?

That's a crazy story.

As I was reading that, I was like, man, first the story is really long and two,

it just gets crazy.

Bro, that's wild.

I want to know how old these guys are now.

Yeah, how old is Randy?

Yeah, yeah.

All right, let's go to the next one.

All right, next one.

I, female, played around Robin this afternoon with a lefty man.

The first thing he told me when I got on the court was that we needed to stack because he's a lefty.

I don't like to stack because I am never able to remember which side I'm supposed to be.

So I get frustrated and even though I'm right handed,

my backhand is actually stronger because of my tennis days.

Needless to say, my partner insisted that we stack because he is stronger.

Seemed like he had no consideration for me and my skills.

Is there a rule or etiquette about this?

Really no rule about it.

I do think there's probably etiquette in that you should ask.

And if the person says no, then you should just accept.

My rule of thumb is if I ever want to stack, okay, actually,

my rule when I play rec games is I never ask to stack.

Yeah, even if even if it's better to win or whatever,

I will literally never ask to stack, especially if I'm playing with a female.

Like we just played the other day with a group and it was two guys against me and a friend of mine,

who's a girl.

And ask it like saying, hey, we should stack.

Just feels just feels bad, right?

Like it's just wrong.

So like I always just immediately typically she'll always just want to start on the right.

And then after we win a point, I'll just automatically walk to the right box.

And then she always will go, but do you want to stack?

And then they go, if you want to and she goes, definitely.

So then we do.

If she asks and she wants to stack, then I'm more than happy to stack.

But if they don't want to, I never say anything.

I will just play straight up and play normally because it just feels wrong.

You know, to be like, oh, we should definitely need to stack here.

Yeah, even if you're a lefty, like when I play wreck games with lefties,

there are times I'm like, I don't want to stack.

Let's just play straight up.

The lefty doesn't want to stack.

Exactly. I'm like, it's not that serious.

So now I think I think regardless of like man, woman, whatever, like, I think women get it worse

because they're sure like just this like, oh, well, like the guy is always better, whatever.

So I think it happens to them more frequently.

But regardless of who it is or what gender it is, I think it's fine to ask.

Like in the case of a righty lefty, I think it's fine to at least ask.

Because generally speaking, that would be the better way to play.

But if the person says no, then you just have to go, okay, that's fine.

Like if you insist to stack, you are the jerk.

Yeah, I was just going to say, I know this isn't the person who wrote the story.

But if you are the one who's always telling or forcing people we need to stack,

then you are always the jerk.

Yeah, always.

Especially in wreck play.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, especially wreck play.

Like if it's like duper games or something, okay, there's a little bit more something on the line.

You want the winning is important.

But you should just always ask.

Yeah, not just like, there's one guy I've played with.

You play with.

He would just automatically walk to the other side.

He wouldn't even say anything.

Yeah, he would just automatically walk over like he's, you know,

forcing me to stack.

And like, come on, man.

Yeah, that's in.

This is dumb.

So yeah, that guy's the jerk.

For sure.

Yeah.

Okay, next one.

So yeah, this might be petty, but it's been bugging me.

I, 34 male, play a lot of pickleball.

It's my thing.

I've got a regular group.

Oh, hang on.

It's just, uh, okay, yeah, okay.

I'm just making sure this wasn't a different one.

I 34 male play a lot of pickleball.

It's my thing.

I've got a regular group.

We mess around.

Keep it competitive, but chill.

I went to this open play thing last weekend.

Got paired with some dude.

Let's call him Mike for doubles.

Never played with him before.

First view points were fine, but then he starts with the quote,

tips like you should have dinked that.

Try stepping in more on your serve.

You're crowding the net a little.

Every single point.

I'm like, bro, it's not a clinic.

I actually told him I'm good, bro.

Just not to sound rude.

He says totally, but kept doing it.

By the second game I was done, I grabbed my stuff and left the court.

No drama or anything just got up and left.

Now people at the courts are saying I was overreacting

and that he was being helpful.

I don't know.

I feel like he killed the whole vibe and made it weird.

Maybe I could have sucked it up, but honestly, it just ruined the fun.

I mean, that guy is for sure.

The guy coaching is for sure the jerk.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

I can understand the frustration to leave.

I have only been frustrated enough one time in pickleball

to where I was so mad and I was with a group of people I knew

and I was so frustrated by some of the situation going on

that after the game, I literally just grabbed my bag and left

which I would never recommend anyone to do.

And I actually apologize later for doing that.

I do think that just up and leaving

is probably not the right thing,

assuming it was just a group of four or something.

But I also think if you told someone,

I don't want this and you don't respect that.

Yeah, you might expect that I'm going to leave

because I'm frustrated.

I definitely think I mean, I totally agree.

Given the unsolicited advice for sure the jerk,

I don't care.

It doesn't matter.

That's terrible.

Yeah.

I think leaving calmly, not saying anything.

Honestly, it's probably a better move than blowing up.

Like blowing up and starting an altercation and like,

dude, you need to stop this yet.

And then even if you do keep playing and it's not that big,

then it's just awkward for everybody.

Honestly, I feel like W move.

Just calmly grabbed the stuff, walked off.

There's only ever been one time I've mid-game walked off of court.

Yeah.

It was a terrible situation.

Guy who shouldn't have been there,

don't need to get into the story.

But yeah, honestly, he waited until the game was over.

Grabbed his stuff, calmly left.

Nah, this guy did nothing wrong.

The other guy, that guy sucks.

Yeah, I completely agree.

I was like, if any of you out there

who give unsolicited coaching, stop.

Please stop.

No one wants it.

No one asked.

If someone wants it, they will ask for it.

Yeah.

Or if you're a close enough friend,

where you just know by default that they might want.

But if you ever a stranger,

if any piece of advice comes out of your mouth,

short of them being brand new and you know they need,

like they don't know a rule that they need to know.

If you're like, hey, on your forehand,

Dinky should really hit it like this and they didn't ask.

If you're the jerk.

If you ever see me giving someone unsolicited advice,

you need to rush me to the hospital because there's a brain tumor.

Like I have actual issues going on.

There's no way I would ever give unsolicited advice to a stranger.

Again, close friends.

If we're working on things or playing, sure.

But even that is really rare.

I just don't do it.

If you want advice, you can ask.

This is another one where women definitely get it more than the men.

Well, do you remember the one story?

I bet you I already know.

I was going to say the same story.

This one guy, was he on a different court?

Or was he on the court?

Was this the overtime story?

Yes.

Okay, no.

It was a different court adjacent to us.

We're playing some roughly like four, five, five,

oh level games.

And there's a woman on our court who is a legitimate five oh.

And the guy on the other court,

three, five, yeah.

Max four oh, but I doubt it.

And then at one point, we're like between a point.

She might have like missed a drop or something.

I don't know.

Drive.

I don't remember.

He looks over and says,

Hey, if you hit that with more overspin,

that ball would go over the net.

And first of all, I was like,

overspin, you mean topspin, my man?

And second, I was like, a three five,

giving a five oh woman advice.

I was like, shut up dude.

That's why he's a three five.

He's hitting with overspin and not topspin.

That was probably one of the most blatant,

unsolicited, terrible like pieces of advice.

I've ever seen given to someone who is clearly better.

Yeah.

Then the pride just is crazy.

Yeah.

That guys just don't,

don't give unsolic advice at the wreck park

or any park anywhere, any games.

Don't do it.

Dude, since we didn't have a question of the week,

I mean, I'm sure people are going to be responding

with a grier disagree,

but I feel like if there are any women listening to this,

which I think is a pretty small segment of our audience,

you should let us know your worst unsolicited coaching

store.

Because I've seen it plenty of times,

and it is cringe every single time.

Oh, it's so bad.

All right, next up.

Oh, we might, we might disagree on this one.

Let's see.

Really?

We'll see.

I haven't read this one.

Hi guys, am I in the wrong here?

I'm a four oh banger style player.

I hit it hard with a fairly good accuracy rate.

Most players struggle to return.

Whilst I do play shots when there's space,

if I'm at the kitchen and dude,

and I do think what needed,

a lot of time, I'll just aim straight at the person

in front of me to their body,

body bagging as someone has said,

as I know they won't get it back and I win the point.

Might I add, this is only in duper rated matches,

not recreational play.

I got called up last night by a woman opponent saying,

how I was targeting her,

and I shouldn't hit it that hard at women.

It made me feel bad,

and like I'm some kind of woman beater.

That was a crazy way to phrase that.

Which I am not.

And now I'm thinking I should stop doing what works

and wins matches for me in order to be more friendly.

Personally, I don't think I should,

as it's a competitive match.

I obviously wouldn't do it on

in recreational play,

but happy to hear others' views on this.

I'm a 32, 32 year old male,

and majority of opponents I play are older for perspective.

Okay, hold on.

First, I have so many things.

So many things.

First of all, I feel like there's levels of competitive play.

Okay.

Are you, like there's, there's rec play,

there's playing duper games with your friends,

there's like events with duper games,

and then there's tournaments, right?

And then even inside that,

you've got local tournaments, big tournaments, whatever.

If you're in a PPA or a big tournament or whatever,

I have no issues trying to full speed bag somebody,

do your thing, right?

It's a serious competitive game.

But I think if you're just playing duper games, man,

it's not that serious.

And if you're playing with older women,

like dude, you're 32 years old,

there's no need for this.

Okay, sure, it works.

But like, bro, even at the pro level,

you don't see Hayden trying to full speed bag Annelie.

Okay.

You know, I have, I've said this a couple times with friends.

I said, everyone who does that too,

it's always a guy.

Yeah, it's always good.

The day he does this to a woman,

I'm like, the world's gonna be outraged.

Yeah, the world will freak out, right?

So like, look, man,

32 years old, it's not that serious of a wreck.

But okay, at 4-0, let's just say he is actually a 4-0.

How high is your accuracy rate with your drives

and speed ups at 4-0, right?

I've played with 4-0s,

and I don't like, who knows where the ball is going, right?

So I just, I think you're kind of the jerk.

Okay, so I have a couple thoughts on here.

I think I could be swayed either way,

but I have like, a couple different perspectives on this.

First of all, the thought about duper, so okay,

I see the distinctions you're making between like,

wreck a league, a duper league,

and then like, a tournament or whatever.

But realistically, what is the difference between

a duper league and a tournament?

They both have duper on the line.

They're both a thing that is supposed to be competitive.

Like, why separate them?

Like, why should, why is it okay to go for that

in a PPA tournament,

but not another thing where duper's on the line?

I guess maybe phrasing it wrong,

I phrased it wrong there.

Maybe it's not like,

maybe it's just a mental distinction for me.

Like, I take certain things more serious than others.

Like, if it's just like,

oh, it's Tuesday night, duper league.

Yeah.

It happens every Tuesday.

It's not that big a deal.

Doesn't really matter, but it's like,

oh, we're at PPA Worlds.

You know, it's just, it's a bigger thing, right?

It just, it means more, it's like, it's not like,

okay, oops, I went down a court,

my duper went down a little from Tuesday night league

versus I just just like, differentiate.

I agree because I feel very similar though,

I haven't done a duper league that I have some stories

from a regular league that I could probably tell

in just a second here.

I do think if duper was on the line,

would I do anything at any cost to win?

No, probably not, just because I care about how people feel

and like if I'm gonna keep seeing them in this league,

I probably don't want them to hate me.

Whereas I get an tournament.

Okay, I'm probably gonna see this guy like one time,

you know, whatever, like, also at a tournament,

you're probably more likely to be playing people

at closer to your level and much more serious, right?

Sounds like he's in a duper league with older women,

right?

Like just have some common sense, I feel like.

Like that's just not, I don't even know

what the word I'm looking for, it's just don't do that.

I don't know, I'm torn.

I don't think, I don't know exactly what line I would draw.

I think in a duper league match,

I think people are doing it because they wanna get their duper up,

it is something that matters to them just like a tournament,

right?

It's like why I was doing change.

I just put you in the situation, you're,

you're at a duper league, your duper's three eight.

If you win the duper league, you get to go to the open play

that you've been dying to get into,

but you have to full swing bag 50 year old women to win.

Well, okay, me, otherwise, me personally, no, I wouldn't,

but that's because I'm just kind of soft

about certain things.

But I would need to see this in person.

I wouldn't do it either.

Okay, but like, think about it this way, it depends.

Like if we're talking a full Hayden Patrick Quinn,

like I am basically trying to kill you when I hit this ball.

If that's what we're talking about here,

I'm like, okay, that's a bit egregious.

But if we're just talking like I drive the ball from mid court,

a reasonable drive, not like I'm trying to murder you

and hit you in the face, and it's like, you know,

chess, stomach height.

Okay, but think about some of the four O people in an area.

Their drives are, let me use my entire body

and flail around the court and hit the balls.

Hard as I can.

But not all of them, right?

There's levels to it.

There are some that do that on some of them.

A lot of them.

So I feel like I would need to see this to know,

but I don't think aiming at someone's like,

chest is inherently bad, right?

Like I'll hit speed ups and like, that's the area

I'm going for, but my goal isn't, I'm trying to bag you.

Right, I don't think it's that bad,

but I do think the demographic of people

you're playing against matters.

If I'm playing against you, I'm not going to feel that bad.

If I'm playing against Sam Allen, any of my other friends,

I still don't do it in rec play,

but I don't feel that bad.

Yeah.

If I'm playing against any female in rec play,

not going to do that.

But see that here's another interesting debate

because this is another one people can comment

in the, the, the, the, down in the comments,

is should you, just because it's a woman,

should you treat them differently?

Like, oh, I'm not going to hit the ball.

It's like, I know women who hate that.

Like, no, no, no, treat me just like you would the other guy.

So I feel like it, it's, it feels like a lose, lose,

because it depends on the person.

Some people like, hey, dude, you're being a jerk.

Just like some guys would be like, I think it depends on skill level.

If you're very closely matched in skill level,

at particularly the higher levels,

then sure, that's fine.

And you know the person.

But I personally think that targeting people

and trying to bag them at the kitchen at lower levels in general

is just like, this is a no go zone.

Like, don't do this, right?

Like, I think if you can't win any other way at three, five,

and four, oh, then trying to hit the person at the kitchen,

you get a lot to work on.

Sure. Go do some other things, right?

Like, especially if you're playing again, older women,

yeah, that's, I just, I have a lot of issues with that.

I personally think body bagging, targeting speed ups at the kitchen.

Just, there's no point at that low level.

I think what I would say is you are potentially the jerk in this situation,

depending on how he wants to move forward.

Like, he said when he got confronted like, oh, I felt bad.

So if you feel bad and you continue to do it,

you're probably the jerk.

If you modify it or stop from here, then you're probably fine.

Like, I think it's kind of context dependent on how he wants to move forward.

I really wish I knew how old these people were talking about.

Well, he did say 32, and then majority of opponents I play are older for perspective.

I guess older, what does that mean?

If he's, does that mean his same age?

Does that mean, yeah, exactly.

So I don't know.

I'm in the, you're the jerk camp.

Okay. Yeah.

How do know that?

That one's a really tough one.

I don't, I was a good debate.

I like that.

That was a good one.

That was a good one.

Finally one we disagree on.

Yeah.

The day I female was playing with a guy against two guys, they proceeded to hit every ball

to me for about half the game.

I eventually said, hey, you know, my partner would love to hit the ball too, and they got

real weird and quiet.

They tried to be so friendly afterwards me and my partner one, even if I crush guys in

every point, they still often target me.

It's endless.

It's annoying.

Am I the jerk for calling them out in the middle of a game?

Okay.

Okay.

So I'm assuming, I'm assuming it's rec play.

Yes.

And it must be people they, yes, like an open play because it seems like they don't know

them.

We have this later in the notes as just like a one liner question.

In my eyes, hard targeting in rec, whether male or female, all four male doesn't matter.

No.

Don't do it.

It's just dumb.

There's no point.

Completely.

I'm like, if you are continuously targeting and trying to keep away from one person in

rec play, not the play.

Go home.

Right.

Like you're the jerk.

That's how I see it.

But now the question is, because I feel like calling them out.

Yeah.

No, you're not the jerk.

That's dumb.

I would have no issues with that.

I guess yeah, I don't think I would say the person is the jerk.

Like I feel like, especially if your friends with the person, they like, actually, I'll

think it's a pretty funny way too.

I'll go back to some of the examples I was going to talk about on our last question.

So a league that you and I both used to play, which was not a duper league.

It was just, you know, every Wednesday or so.

It was pretty competitive because it was private invite only.

Yeah.

If you drop down the spots, they invited someone else.

And if you dropped too low, you did, well, if you dropped like all the way to the bottom

court and you stayed there for too long, you'd get kicked out, but like, it was pretty

difficult to get kicked out.

Correct.

It was not like people were getting kicked out left and right.

That didn't happen often.

But I would say there was like maybe seven, eight courts going and basically how the system

worked is you would play with everyone on your court and round robin round robin.

And however many games you won, there'd be two rounds round one play with everyone on

your court.

And then however, if you won the most games, the if there were five people on your court,

two people would move up.

The person in the middle would stay and the bottom two would move down a court.

So it was like up and down the river style.

And there were times.

So like winning mattered in that people wanted to go up to be able to play better people.

I wanted to go up like I didn't want to go down.

Yeah.

I was going down and there were weeks where clearly someone was having a really bad day

on that court.

And everyone would, you know, kind of tired because it was like, oh, it's free points

if you go here.

I, in that league, when I saw someone struggling that hard, I would stop hitting them

the ball.

Not entirely, but like I would kind of funnel more balls to the other guy for two reasons.

One, the guy being targeted is getting really frustrated, right?

You know, you're getting picked on.

The guy who is not getting to hit any balls is frustrated because he's not playing.

And two, he might go down if he's lost too many.

So I was of the mindset like, this is not that serious.

I'm going to move it around so everyone kind of has fun.

Yep.

So in my personal opinion, like, I hold the belief that, look, if I'm there for a league

and there's nothing serious on the line, then I want everyone to have fun.

And targeting someone is not fun for anybody.

Yeah.

You're getting easy points.

You're not learning anything.

And then the other guy on the other court isn't getting to play.

So yeah, I agree.

In that situation, like, it's not that serious, not that competitive.

Like it's competitive, but it's not that, like there's not that much on the line.

I also think, I mean, given how they said this, I think calling them out probably was not,

they weren't like, hey, jerks, like, yeah, it wasn't aggressive.

It was just like, hey, you know, they're maybe hit it over here too.

Yeah.

They're here to play.

Yep.

So I think that's fine.

Totally fine.

Now I think if you had like an outburst and you're like screaming, okay, like, you know,

maybe you'd be the jerk.

But that doesn't sound like that.

This is this I have no issues with this.

Yeah, stop targeting.

Yes.

Targeting a wreck plays stupid.

Really ridiculous.

Okay.

Short of someone on the other side being a jerk.

Actually, it's like it's like getting going to a clinic or getting to like an exhibition

getting a play with a pro and targeting like some other four oh, right?

And not playing with the pro.

Yeah.

Like, you're there to hit balls with the pro.

So hit them the ball.

Totally.

All right.

Next one.

I'm not sure if you see these people or not, but are this not.

This was a good one.

I'm not sure if you see these people or not, but there are players who will say the

score before you say it for no reason at all.

One of the players doing this also got on my nerves.

I was at rec play playing down with these people and he kept trying to bag me.

Next time he said the score before I was about to serve, I stopped the game and just told

him if he does it again, I'll start calling it a distraction and taking a point.

He was pretty upset, but he stopped saying the score before others would say it for

the rest of the game.

So I messaged him back and I said, wait.

This person on your team is like, that's going to say it must be the opponent.

Yeah.

It was the opponent calling it on their behalf.

That person is for sure the jerk.

That would drive me insane.

Like why are I'm about to call the score?

Why are you saying it for me?

Remember what happened to Mesa?

Oh, wow.

Do you mean the recent one?

Yeah, but that's a little different.

It's a little different, but yeah, I, you know, I've never really run into that.

I've never seen that either.

And especially never in any competitive games.

Like why would you ever even think to do that?

Like what's the benefit?

Like how ask the score?

But I don't think that would bother me very much if somebody, like if they did it every

point, I'd be like, I got it.

But I mean, there are times where I've had my teammates as I'm picking up the ball, be

like, hey, 742, whatever.

You know, I'm like, okay, cool.

You know, if my team is, even if I couldn't care about it.

Even if I know the score, right?

I'm just like, okay, cool.

I forget the score all the time.

So anyone help me out?

I just appreciate the help.

Yeah.

I don't know.

This is a bit of a weird one.

I'm going to say that the other guy calling the score is the jerk.

I just don't know.

Yeah.

I just don't think there's a reason to be doing that.

Yeah.

The other guy is definitely the jerk.

And I don't think like, I think it wasn't super aggressive what he said.

Mm-hmm.

Like, reasonable, right?

So yeah, no, no problem with that.

Well, we have another targeting story here.

Oh boy.

So this one said, well, I made it to a gold medal match in a men's doubles, in a men's

doubles tournament.

And this match was going to be streamed live on a YouTube channel.

I noticed that one of the players was notably nervous due to cameras being on the court.

I told my partner to hit every ball to him.

It worked and it threw out their game completely.

I felt bad because we exploited their weakness, but it was a gold medal match.

Afterward, the other teammates on their side said, wow, the other guy said, wow,

y'all didn't even hit a ball to me.

I said, didn't need to.

And they were good sports in the end.

Yeah, this is a gold medal match tournament.

And all you did was, I mean, go for it.

You had a good strategy and won a tournament.

Good for you.

Like, okay, that's great.

No, it's not a jerk at all.

That's tournament.

As long as it's within the rules, that's everything goes.

Yeah.

Well, kind of.

Because technically aiming every single ball at someone's face would be within the rules.

However, I would say that's probably bad etiquette.

Yeah, I agree.

You know, but yeah, no.

Use common sense.

Targeting in a tournament to get a turn.

Again, wreck play targeting.

Bad.

You know, I mean, gold medal match means something.

You just, that's called strategy.

You had a good strategy and it helped you win.

You know, I've had, I've been in metal matches and I was the one I stout.

And we lost.

You know, like, I just wasn't able to help my partner enough to win.

So they just had a better strategy.

Yeah.

I think you're definitely not the jerk.

Yeah, for sure not the jerk.

All right.

So now some of these are still ones we got from people and then some of these are just

short ones that we can't.

So there's less of a story, but more just a situation.

Like a, well, we can debate about it.

Yes.

So I know we're going to agree on this one, but this story was just crazy.

You know that jumping thing most pros do when their drop is going to be short for those

of you who don't know, think like J.W. Johnson when he hits a drop throws his arms in the

air.

Kind of, yeah, throws it up and his arms up.

His head.

My ex called it a hindrance and yelled at me at open play in front of everyone.

Am I the jerk?

No.

She's the jerk.

She's the jerk.

She's yelling at you over that in front of in an open play.

That's crazy.

That is the most insane thing to do.

No, you're not the jerk.

She's the jerk.

I do feel though, like if something like that is happening, you know how when like there's

always the joke in like relationships, like, oh, you spilled milk everywhere and then

like this giant fight happened.

It's like, well, it wasn't actually about the milk.

It was because it makes me think there was some other stuff going on and then this was

the tipping point.

Are you icing her out and bagging her?

All the other stories combined into one and then that's what happened.

Giving out and soliciting coaching advice while on the other side.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, yeah.

No, definitely not the jerk.

I mean, I do that.

I don't like throw my arms up super high in the air like J.D.

But a little bit.

Yeah, I'll do that.

Or if I'm hitting a drop and I think it's low, like as I'm moving to the kitchen, I'll

kind of jump, you know, like skip my way over there.

So I don't know.

It's just kind of a habit.

We all know we all, but a lot of people do it.

I don't think it's a hindrance.

Yep.

All right.

I told this guy at a foro open play that he had an illegal serve.

I then proceeded to tell other people there to let him know as well.

It was illegal.

Am I the jerk?

I'm going to say, I'm going to say yes.

I'm going to say telling other people to call him out.

That okay.

Yeah.

I was nothing about that at first, but yeah, if you're like trying to get other people to

like notify him and let him know, that's a little tough.

Okay.

But it is just open play, right?

Yes.

You let the man, whatever.

I don't care.

Okay, but now I have the guy ripping like overhead serves.

What are we talking here?

Like, I've played plenty of people have a gregiously illegal serves just wreck play and

they're just not that like crazy of a serve.

I just don't care that much, but I played people in tournaments who are ripping the ball

from their shoulder.

I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

We got to, we got to stop this.

Well, okay.

So I guess I have to walk this back a little bit because of the core crush thing.

So like using a core crush paddle would be illegal.

And I would be fine with other people continuing to call that out until that person stopped using

it because I think it is a detriment to everyone.

So then I guess it depends how illegal this serve was, right?

Because if it wasn't overhead, yeah, I'm like, okay, that's not legal.

But if it's just barely above your waist.

So now it's like a, like we're talking like Tyson illegal, Deco illegal, you know, like

how far illegal are we talking?

And then some of my mind, I'm like, does it matter how illegal it is if it's just illegal,

right?

Like, are we going to cherry pick rules?

Well, I mean, there's severities to it, right?

Like littering is illegal and murder is illegal.

I think one's a little worse than the other, right?

You know, like obviously actual law versus pick about rules are a little different.

But, yeah, I definitely think you're the jerk for trying to tell other people to get

it done.

If it's just wrecked by like round round, we need to know how illegal.

Like for example, I wish I had an older height and he was like winning points off the

serve.

Would you still feel the same way?

But then I think you wouldn't have to tell other people if it's that bad, right?

If he has to tell other people to say something, it must be close.

Pretty close, right?

Okay, I could see that because other people would just say it.

Other people would definitely just say it if it was at his shoulder and it was like ripping

serves.

Since we don't know, we'll assume the context was close.

If it's close, then yes, I would say you're the jerk.

You're the jerk.

Sorry.

Damn, we've only disagreed on one.

I was thinking we would disagree.

Oh, yeah, this one would be interesting.

I think there's going to be a few more coming up that we might disagree on.

Am I the jerk for canceling on a group from 11 to 1pm to play with a higher level group

from 9 to 12?

Told the first group I couldn't play with them because I had to be somewhere at 12.30,

but I really just wanted to play with the better people.

This was all at the same facility.

For sure, a war?

For sure, the jerk.

I, 1000% of the jerk, if you commit to something, you commit it.

Okay.

That's my thing.

Fair.

If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to be somewhere.

I'm going to listen to it.

I would go by it.

I was going to say originally that I think it depends on if it made it difficult for

the group to have enough people.

If you were basically not a sub, but they were going to have an extra, let's say you had

nine people, two courts, or let's say you had five, and you're just going to rotate.

I'm like, okay, well, if you had five, then the four just gets to keep playing.

No, we got to assume it's four and four.

If it's four and four, okay, if it's four and four, then yeah, you're definitely the

group because you left them up in pain.

With three.

But then the way you phrased it, I would agree with that that I think you should just

stick with the thing you committed to.

You committed to playing with the first group?

I think you got to stay with that group.

I'm sorry.

That's just my personal, like, I would feel terrible if I was just like,

oh, hey, I had something come up.

I can't make it.

Such last second, too.

If it was days before, two days before, and you're like, oh, I'd actually rather play

with these people, even still, I wouldn't feel great, but that's better.

We also got to think, too.

What did that group think when they saw them there?

They're playing the same time because even if you said I had to be somewhere at 1230, you're

like, okay, well, that's still well, but that'll only be an hour and then that leaves

them hanging.

11 to 1, 9 to 12.

Yeah, you'll be at the same facility at the same time.

Yeah, you're the chair.

I just wonder what the other people were thinking.

Like when they saw them, they're like, hey, wait, he's still playing.

How did this happen?

Here's the thing.

I know all my friends by their cars.

So if I pull into a parking lot and I see their car, I'm like, I know you're here, okay?

You can't lie to me.

That's crazy.

I don't know.

I think I'll agree.

A moral thing inside of me is like, that's wrong.

Yeah.

That's messed up.

Because if I was the first group and I saw him, yeah, I'd be like, you suck.

I just wouldn't invite that guy anymore.

But if we were assuming the thing was true about having to be somewhere at 1230, that meant

you would have left that group alone for an hour versus like finishing at 12, you would

still get to your thing on time.

But is that a true story?

Or is he just saying that?

If he's lying, which it sounds like he was, that is bad.

But I could see where the group wouldn't care if they saw him there.

Because obviously, I would never like interrogate somebody and be like, okay, what do you got

going on at 1230?

Yeah.

Right?

I would never do that.

You didn't give a reason.

If you were like, oh, hey, I have a doctor's visit, I actually need to be at 1230.

I at least give a fake reason.

Right?

Just like, oh, I gotta be somewhere.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, the jerk.

Okay.

Now we've got more just scenarios.

These are some that we came up with.

One line or two.

One line or two.

But okay.

Are you the jerk for wanting to warm up after showing up late?

How late are we talking?

I'm going to say 10 to 15 minutes.

Yeah.

If you're that late, no warm up.

You get to hit a dink, a drop, and a drive.

And then you got to start playing.

I agree.

Yeah.

I think, if you're like, look, you're five minutes behind.

And now for me, I will just let the person warm up one because I just, for me, warm up

is important.

And I always show up 10 to 15 minutes early so I can physically warm up my body.

Because it's important to me.

But if I show up late, like if I'm the guy that shows up 10 to 15 minutes late, I'm

assuming I have to skip all of that.

Like it was on me, I was late.

I don't get to go do the extra things I want to do.

For sure.

Because I made you guys sit.

Yep.

So I think if you're late, you should not get to warm up.

I agree.

Okay.

Next one.

Am I the jerk for always being late to a session with only four people?

Thousand percent?

Yes.

Yes.

Always yes.

If you, if you like, let's say this is just a consistent thing.

Like it's basically you're just only known.

If you show up on time.

You're probably late.

Yeah.

If you show up on time and it's a surprise to people, yes, you are the jerk.

Yeah.

Which goes in time with our lives.

If it's like with my friend groups at times, we bet on how late someone's going to

be.

Right.

Like if you were that person where people start doing that or you're again, and it's

not five minutes, it's 10 to 15 to 20 minutes every time.

Yeah.

You're going to be better than mine.

Yeah.

Like there's, it's hard to have a good excuse.

If it's, if it's like a one-off scenario, like, you know, let's say you played, I don't

know, 15 times with a group of people every month and you're late like one or two times.

It's like, Hey, you know what?

Like traffic got me a little unexpected.

But if, if you're on time, two of those 15 times and late the rest, like, yeah, you're

the jerk.

I'm sorry, but you're the jerk.

If you're that guy that's always late, that's for people.

That's for sure.

With all the options.

Yeah.

If they're only just sitting there warming up with three people waiting for you, that's,

that's messed up.

I have whatever because they can still play.

Yeah.

But if you guys haven't noticed yet, I'm someone who really cares about being on time.

I'm the guy who's there like 15 to 20 minutes early to everywhere.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm saying.

If it's not 10 minutes or earlier, then I feel like I'm late.

Yeah.

Am I the jerk for lobbying a lot in rec play?

Well, as someone who lobs a lot in rec play, no.

Okay.

So I put this in here for one specific friend of ours.

And he believes that he is a jerk for, he is a really good lob.

And he thinks he's a jerk for lobbying in rec play a lot.

And we all tell him we're like, dude, if you have a really good shot, you should use

it, right?

That's like saying I have a really good flick.

And not, it's a good flick.

I don't, I feel like I shouldn't use that.

That's dumb.

Okay.

Well, now we've got to go back to an earlier one.

Okay.

If you have a great forehand driving, you're just aiming at someone's chest because you

know they can't block it.

Okay.

But one physically endangered someone potentially, a lot of old person going back to see now.

Okay.

Again, context matters of who you're playing with.

If I'm playing with old Susie, who's 85 years old and has two hip replacements, probably

not loving.

But if I'm playing with my buddies, we're all 505.

Okay.

Yes.

That was a contest that wanted you to add.

Yeah.

Right?

Like these are all my buddies.

I lob your hearts content.

Like in a group of buddies.

I think lob all you want.

If you're in an open play, it's tricky because personally, and this is why I lob all

the time, so I just think a lob is a really good tool.

But I do think the lob is also something that is going to make people angry.

Like let's say in a point, you lob three times, you do that just over and over and over.

You're going to annoy some people for sure.

So it's kind of like, you have to, if it's in an open play situation, you kind of have

to decide like, look, you're going to be viewed as the jerk if you do this, even though

it is fine.

Reck an open play.

I do not care unless it is someone who is elderly.

At that point, then it's like, look, you just, it's, that is at risk of them getting injured.

Their movement and mobility is a little hindered, right?

Then don't, don't be lobbing.

So that's my, that's my rules with, I agree.

Loving.

It's great move.

More people should lob.

Loving is a great strategy.

Look at Anna Bright.

Loving is a lot like eight times in one point or something ridiculous.

Exactly.

It's a great play.

Yeah.

Oh, man, this one, this one's an interesting one.

Am I the jerk for telling someone that they are way below the rating?

I know, wait, am I the jerk for telling someone that they are way below the rating?

I know they are even, what the, they wrote this wrong.

Basically, are they the jerk for telling someone that they're well below the rating that

they think they are, even though it's hard for them to hear?

Context matters.

Is it close for any years?

Is it someone you just met a wreck play?

Is there strangers?

And he's just trying to tell you he's a foro, right?

Like, let's, let's go.

You don't know this person.

Like, let's say it's a scenario where, you know, maybe you're out of facility or something.

I guess, let's just say a park.

Yeah.

You're a group of fouros and a threeo is like, I want to play this group.

Like, they're like, hey, can I get a game?

You know, because that happens if you're out of park.

Yeah.

What would you say?

I wouldn't say anything.

If he wants, like, if he's saying, he's like, oh, yeah, I'm a foro.

And he keeps telling me, oh, yeah, I've been working hard.

I'm a foro, right?

I just let him go on.

I just beat him, right?

Like, so you, so you, I wouldn't correct.

I wouldn't be like, dude, I'm sorry.

You're not a foro, realistic.

Like, cause then you just look arrogant and snarky.

And it's like, it's not a good look, right?

Like, it's, it's bad.

But now, other contexts, if you're like at an open play or some round robin event

at a facility and you have to be foro or for five to get in and you're just clearly

not there, I even still maybe wouldn't say anything.

But gosh, that's tough.

I don't know.

Like, cause then is there any scenario where you would tell someone, hey, you're not this

rating.

If they're a close friend of mine and they really suck.

Like, yeah, I'm a foro.

I'd be like, buddy, you're trash, you're not.

Like if they're the really close friends of mine, they're really good friends.

Yeah, sure.

Then I'm not surrounded them.

But like, yeah, if I don't really know you, I just met you, I wouldn't have the heart

to say it.

Cause why does it, what does it matter if you do or don't?

Yeah, I guess we really need more context in this scenario.

But I mean, I would not want to have to tell someone.

Yeah, I would not want to have to do that.

Nope, I wouldn't do it.

Sorry, you're the jerk.

All right, next one.

Am I the jerk to join a tournament that did not have a skill level set, but there was

$200 for a $20 buy-in.

I'm a 50 plus player and no one else was close to that.

Is it my fault or the facilities fault?

Facilities fault.

Sorry.

Yeah, 100%.

I'd walk in there and do the same thing, man.

I'm with you.

Like, they should have, I mean, they should have either labeled it open or labeled it,

you know, specific rating for those people.

If there's no rating and there's money on the line and you know there's not going

to be other five O's, I mean, good on you for just being aware.

Yeah, I'd say that's the facility's fault.

They need to put a skill level cap on that.

Am I the jerk for telling someone how they should set up their paddle?

Yes.

Like, if you're telling people, you should have lead weight somewhere else in that paddle.

You wrap that overgrip wrong.

Now, actually, you know what?

No, I take the overgrip one down.

I was going to say, I just made fun of a friend.

The overgrip job was so bad.

I was like, what is this?

I actually take, I revoke that statement.

You can bully anyone you want if they have wrapped their handle, egregiously bad, right?

Like if it's Kyle Kazuda level bad, you can absolutely braid them with insults.

Yes.

That's allowed.

I think the overgrip is allowed.

The lead weight thing, though, man.

But weight is just so, it's so individualized that like what is right and wrong.

Like the only thing that I...

That's what I'm saying is don't do it.

The only thing I, and I usually haven't done this, I've probably only done it with close

friends.

Everything I was in these scenarios comes down to.

Are they a friend or not a friend?

But where I will see them use like quarter gram strips of tape that are like no longer

than an inch and they put it at the throat.

And I'm like, it's not doing anything.

It is doing nothing to your paddle.

Like quarter gram right at the throat.

I'm like, if you want to do something to paddle, maybe don't do that.

But I would never say that to a random person.

Like, well, you got that, you like it?

You think it works?

Biomines, man, do you.

But I will roast my friends.

Yeah, for the overgrip, that one is go all out.

Okay.

Let's see.

Okay.

I'm going to do these in a different order.

There's two left.

Am I the jerk for not wanting to play against UPA paddles in tournaments?

This is an interesting one.

Must be like local tournaments.

I wish all of these had given more context because the more context tells you narrow down

the screen.

I know.

Like what, what UPA paddle are we talking about?

I don't even think that matters.

My mind is more like, I don't know if I'd say you're a jerk for not wanting to play

against it, but if you're throwing a tantrum, you are the jerk.

But if you're just like, man, I don't like playing against it.

Like, okay, I mean, that can be your opinion.

But my context of what paddle is it matters because I'm like, okay, why do you care?

If someone's using, I'm trying to think of a UPA only, like, let's just say.

It's only ones like the new Vulcan and like the 11624.

Well, that's the, yeah, because all the other ones are dual certified.

So why does it matter?

Why do you care?

So, okay, let's just say it is one of those only, let's just say it's the power

two.

Okay, you playing against boomsticks.

What's your complaint?

Like, is it because of the powers and because of the spin?

Like, it does, why does it matter?

I don't see an issue with it.

And I think they, the performance is generally so equal in that there's not like this.

It's not like, there's not a big reason to complain.

Exactly.

It's not because the powers overtuned.

It's not because they get so much more spin.

It's not because of what, there's no big advantage of using a UPA approved paddle, right?

So like, why complain?

And okay, if the tournament strictly says we are not allowing UPA paddles,

then yeah, you have, yeah, you're bringing the rules.

You have a reason to complain.

But if they don't specify, I don't really see a good reason to care.

I wouldn't care.

Now I've been at tournaments, local tournaments where they say in the rules, you're not allowed

to use UPA approved paddles.

And this is back when the only one was the three S and I was like, okay, now we've got

an issue.

You know, like, you can't use that.

Yeah.

I agree.

So in this case, I would, I, it's calling this person a jerk for this seems to extreme.

But like, if I'm kicking, like, that's what I would pick.

Yeah, it's, it is extreme, but yeah, I have to go with the jerk.

I would just call it like more a bad take than for jerk.

For sure.

Yeah.

There's no reason to care.

Yeah.

Okay.

Last one that we have for this.

Am I the jerk for wearing wet shoes at an indoor facility?

Depends.

If you're wearing your pickleball shoes after it's snowed and it's lushy, and you get

your shoes wet and you walk straight on the court, 1000%.

Well, yeah.

So if you, yeah, that's my, if you're not changing shoes, you're wearing your pickleball

shoes outside, you walk in, you don't dry them off.

How long did you take to dry them off?

There could still be a little water in the, the, the creases of the shoes.

And after the point where you're not seeing marks when you step on the ground.

Now if you're doing your due diligence and making sure they're dry, you should not

step on the court with wet shoes.

I, because that's the problem.

Potentially a slipping hazard for other people.

Exactly.

Depends on the problem.

But, because if you're like, I just, I mean, this goes back to the whole like, don't

wear your, don't wear court shoes outside.

You know what I think is so funny?

I'm going to go back to this argument.

I, though one argument I'll give people about going, wearing your court shoes to somewhere

is when it's snowing or like severe amounts of water.

Okay.

You know what?

I get it.

Snow I get more because of salt, at least in like Minnesota.

Completely understand that argument.

I'd even go as far as to say I agree.

What I think is so silly of the argument is when people talk about like, oh, you wore,

you wore your court shoe from your doorstep, drove here and then walked on the court.

Bro, you are an animal.

I'm like, okay, hang on.

Let me get this straight.

You went to an outdoor court, which has all the debris of anything you wear your

court shoe on and off that court.

You walk in the parking lot to go get some from your car.

There's no difference.

Yeah.

Your court care a lot less.

If it's an outdoor court, I think it's the whole argument of like, I can't believe

you wear your court shoes to the court, is insane.

Now, if it's snowing, yes.

And you play an indoor case.

The big reason why I don't like wearing court shoes a lot of times, particularly outside

of places, especially in the summer, if you're playing outside of summer, it's just being

stuck in the same sweaty smelly shoes.

I get, I just want different socks, different shoes.

If I'm playing a competitive, high level, you know, session, yeah, that's the time

I care.

Wear different shoes.

But again, those new silker shoes, if I'm wearing those, it's probably not that intensive

a session.

And I do think those are great.

If it's not wet and snowing outside, to just wear around, they're so comfortable.

Totally.

Just to hit.

Well, I've got one more.

I haven't read this yet, so you might have to cut this out, because I don't even know

what the context is, but I got one more DM.

So we might as well read it.

Here we go.

So I feel like it's going to be a good one.

Said, here's one of my stories.

When I started playing pickleball, I made a friend.

I'll call him Tom.

Since I'm sure he listens and don't want to embarrass him that much.

Oh, man, that's crazy.

Well, depending on how he told this story, his buddy might know it's him.

Okay.

Tom loves pickleball.

And at this point, he was in the three, five to three, seven duper range.

Well, buddy, you just narrowed it down to a duper range.

Your friend might figure this out.

He wanted to join the four-o league at his club.

The club lets you play matches against people in the league.

And depending on how you do, regardless of your duper, they may invite you.

So Tom asked me to play that evaluation match with him, leading to the match.

Tom shared a full scouting report of our opponents and a game strategy.

Wow, that's intense.

I feel like this guy's going to figure this out.

This is way too specific.

Yeah.

You are really specific.

I've never had this much prep for a match in my life.

The match was hilarious.

I was put in a freezer, Tom panicked and strategy went out the window to no one's

surprise we lost.

A few days later, I got a text from the organizers of the four-o league inviting me to play.

They didn't have my number.

So I assumed they asked my friend Tom for my number and I told him they were going to

invite me, but not him.

Ooh.

Turns out they didn't.

They got the number from my guest account and didn't tell Tom.

I show up for the league and Tom's there wrapping up a drilling session with his coach.

He sees me and I was genuinely surprised.

I said, hi, told him I was there to play and as the mad, oh, I said, hi, told him I was

there to play and as the madagascar penguin smiled and waved as much as I could to avoid

the awkwardness of the fact that I got the invite and not him.

So was I the jerk?

No.

And what were the jerk?

How could you be the jerk?

I mean, the only thing I'm going to say is I think you made that you might as well have

used his actual name.

You're so specific.

I'd be like, you might as well have said what paddle you guys were playing.

What's I know this is the alias, but Tom, if you're listening, I mean, at least you

came prepared.

Yeah.

You didn't stick to the plan, but you came prepared.

I don't think anyone was the jerk in this situation.

I'm just trying to figure out how anyone could be the jerk.

There was no altercation.

There was no.

I think what he's worried about is that he had, it sounds like he had texted Tom and said,

hey, I got the invite and I'm going.

And he had only done that because he assumed the organizers got his number from Tom.

But then when they didn't, it was kind of like saying, hey, I got invited.

You didn't.

It's kind of hard to be a jerk in that situation.

Because it was you didn't know, right?

If you didn't know, then it's just an awkward situation.

It doesn't make you a jerk.

I mean, did Tom hate you after that?

Definitely.

I'm sure Tom was probably pretty annoyed.

Tom was probably frustrated.

Yeah.

But I don't think that's anyone's joke.

He was no obligation to like not go.

You didn't play.

Your body didn't play properly.

Didn't get invited back.

You played fine.

You got invited.

I mean, what more are you saying?

That is a really weird thing though at the facility that they like judge you based on

how you perform against other people in the league.

I could say that being fine.

I think it's mostly fine.

But the weird thing about pickleball is like, what if what if your partner is in the league,

but he just played really bad that day, you know, you're talking like Tom specifically

here.

Like Tom's partner.

Yeah.

Right.

Like the guy who did get invited.

I get in this situation.

He was being iced out.

And Tom was being targeted.

But what if he wasn't?

What if his partner was just missing everything and it wasn't Tom's fault?

Well, maybe there was enough, you know, like I feel like you can kind of look at some people

and be like, well, the ball wasn't getting hit.

Oh, I.

But when he touches the ball, they win the ball.

Oh, no, I agree.

But I definitely think there are situations where it's the other guy's fault.

It's not your fault.

And you get punished for it.

I mean, yeah, that could suck.

But it probably just means, you know, even if you couldn't, if you were clearly getting

abused in that league and your partner wasn't out, like he could have been bad too, but

you also clearly getting abused.

Well, you probably just both didn't belong in that case.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would agree.

Well, okay.

Should I just read that guy's Instagram username?

Tom, Tom, if you're listening and you know it's you comment, let us know.

I'm really curious.

That's crazy.

I just think, man, you did a bad job at hiding the store.

Like it was so specific.

I'm just imagining if he told the story is like, yeah, so we played the pickler in Arizona

and I use a boomstick and he uses my helmet dresses this and my social is like, would you

like my credit card number in the last four?

As Susie was in the league.

Oh, that's really funny.

Yeah, it was just a really, really detailed story.

That's really funny.

Yeah, that was, that was pretty funny, but man.

I mean, I don't know how I would have tried to hide it, but that's crazy.

Okay.

Do you want to keep going with, yeah, let's do the kitchen here.

Okay.

Moving on to the kitchen.

I got an interesting one that I think we can debate on.

I don't know if you and I are going to agree, but or a degree agree.

But there was a, this sparked a while ago, a massive debate online.

Yeah.

Probably one of the bigger ones in recent times for pickleball, because it's so polarizing.

The debate on mixed strategy at the pro level, yeah, particularly the pro level.

Okay.

So we go back to the PPA in Minnesota.

We had all Sean and Tyra winning.

Okay.

All Sean clearly took even more court than normal in mixed, but all Sean's always a very

aggressive player and mixed whoever he plays with.

Right.

Tyra is an incredible player.

I would consider Tyra a friend.

We've talked a lot of hung out with Tyra a decent amount.

We talked about the PPA in Minnesota.

Okay.

The debate was, yeah, go ahead.

The debate was, all Sean's taking way too much court.

You have an incredible player.

You've got Tyra.

Let her hit the ball.

Let her do this.

I think that's the dumbest thing of all time.

I think that's a stupid take in, I'm not even going to try and sugarcoat this.

Okay.

My opinion on this is if you are nowhere near that level, right, you should have zero

opinion on this, right?

Because if you've never even come close to playing at that level, right, even for me

in my opinion, what you shouldn't have, oh, say in whether it's right or wrong strategy,

what they should or shouldn't do.

Because at that level, their entire goal is to win.

Whatever wins that matches is their, like the strategy they want.

Okay.

I think it's dumb to like tell pros, oh, this is a bad strategy.

You need to let her hit more balls, blah, blah, blah, this and that.

No, she was happy they won.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's the end goal.

They won.

She's not mad about it.

Afterwards, she doesn't give a rip how he played.

So I think it's really silly and dumb to be mad at someone for the strategy.

If you're a three oh or three five saying, oh, you shouldn't do that.

Stop taking so much court from the girl, you should have zero take on this, in my opinion.

So I don't, I don't know if I agree with the zero take part, but I think what it's always

funny when one of these comes up, either whether it's a highlight or a match like the Christian

and Tyra match, there's always, you know, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, this outrage

of, you know, everything you just said, I can't believe you wouldn't let her hit the ball.

Like they're so good.

Just let them play.

What's the point of playing doubles if you're just going to play singles?

It's just so funny to me how average we get because I think what happens a lot is people

project themselves into that situation based on the context that they know.

Yeah.

So for example, people who play open play and rec play some of the stories we just talked

about, if your partner is coming, oh, that's one we should have done.

Hmm.

Maybe we'll come back.

I was going to say like, are you the jerk if in rec play?

Oh, you're poaching and taking every, oh, we should come back.

Okay.

We'll go back to that because it's kind of related to this, but I completely different scenario

I think.

For sure.

So I think people look at like, okay, hey, if I pay money to go to a facility and play

an open play, I want to play the game.

If my partner poaches every ball from me, I'm going to be mad because yeah, I'm capable

and I can play the game and you don't have to take every forehand that would be a back

hand.

Like every story context matters.

Exactly.

So I think people often project that scenario where it's like, hey, the goal of an open

play is for you to play and have fun.

The goal of the tournament is to win the match, make money so you can get sponsors and

have a living.

Yeah.

And so if like, I think what people often think too is like, these things aren't like

premeditated.

Like, it's like they didn't talk about it before and all of a sudden the guy just started

to show up on court and start pushing you out of the way.

Yeah.

None of that happens.

And I, you know, I've asked plenty of pro women's players like, hey, do you like how

mix is played?

I've asked many 50 people.

Do you like how mix displayed?

I don't know if I can think of one scenario, maybe one where any of those people, all women

said, hey, I don't like this.

It basically always comes down to if the guy can do it consistently and we win more points

than we lose and he's not taking a ball that like, I could have hit and then just dumping

a dink in the net like get all of a sudden, yeah, if they're doing that, then don't do

it.

If you're working, then I don't care whether it's been my partners or friends of other

people.

And I also think too, like, let's just say for the Minnesota match with Tyra and and

Alshon.

Let's say, okay, Tyra, you have two choices.

You can play it how you did and you won or what you do, you get to play more pick a ball.

He doesn't take as much court, doesn't push you off.

He's not as aggressive, but you end up losing the match.

Which are you picking?

I think she's picking the win.

But I think what people would debate is like, do you know that they would lose just because

he took last court?

You know that.

I mean, there's never a guarantee, right?

There's never a guarantee.

But let's just hypothetically say you do know, obviously she's taking the win.

Like, she does not care how often she hits the ball, right?

Like, I mean, just wants the win.

I would feel that, I mean, I've had this conversation with my mix doubles partner before.

We have had tournaments where I wasn't playing well and it was very evident to both of us

put her on the left.

Like, I think what people need to realize is that a lot of times it ends up being, oh,

guys on the left, women's on the right.

But I think there, like a lot of times the guys are taller.

They have more reach.

It's easier to cover more court than it is for the woman.

But you could have scenarios where that could be flipped, right?

Right.

My mix partner, plenty athletic can cover the court.

Honestly, in a lot of scenarios, probably play the left better than me.

So there are times where that makes sense.

So like, I think it needs to be a little less about like, oh, guy versus woman, because

that's what it typically ends up being.

And more about what is the right decision that can get us to this win if that's the objective.

Yeah.

I'm just looking at it at the side of like, there's so many people debating it.

There's so many people getting angry over it online.

And a lot of them, obviously majority of pick-up-out players are between three, five and four

or oh player base.

Like this is like me telling Alcaraz, you need to hit less four hands cross court.

Just say it.

Like, really?

That's the wrong strategy.

Backhand down the line.

Yeah.

Okay.

Like, that's just dumb.

Yeah.

I'm not Alcaraz.

I've never played pro tennis.

I've never even played four, five, five, oh tennis of that matter.

Yeah.

I should never have any say in what he is a better strategy for him.

Yeah.

Okay.

Like, I get it.

If you're in a wreck park, don't be like, you can be mad at someone taking over and pushing

you off the court.

100%.

But if you're a three, five angry at Christian Allshon for taking court at the pro level

and winning a PPA, I think you got some problems.

Like, don't, I don't think you should be able to tell them what they should or shouldn't

do in my opinion, right?

I've never played a main draw match.

I've made it to the final round of mixed qualities.

I shouldn't tell him what he should or shouldn't do, right?

Like, I've never played at that level.

I've played quality level.

It's completely different.

Yeah.

So I just think it's silly to get mad over.

There's another clip that recently blew up for the same reason.

The context of the video looked like it was a tournament, very competitive games, probably

around between 4.5 and 5.0.

The guy was taking tons of court.

He would hit a bird, then he'd run back onto the court.

He'd taken overhead and he was just all over the court.

But when they won the point, you would see the girl fist pump and get excited and she

was clearly happy there, winning points and everyone was blowing up over in the top.

Oh my gosh.

Let her play pickleball.

Let her hit the ball.

This and that.

You can clearly tell she's happy there, winning points.

I don't think she cares how often she hits the ball.

Right?

So I think it's dumb to get upset over that.

Bro, I don't care if I go to a tournament.

I don't care of its men's.

I don't care if it's mixed and if it's mixed and I'm on the right, if my partner hits

lit, if I don't hit one ball except for the serve in that tournament to win that tournament,

I don't care.

Dude, if I'm playing with Ben Johns and he takes every ball from me because obviously he's

the better player.

I don't care less.

Step on my feet.

Take the ball hit a winner.

I mean, same thing.

You flip it with Annelie, same scenario.

Yeah.

So like, it does not matter.

Whoever, if I have a obviously better player with me and it is going to get us more points

and wins if they hit more balls or push me off the court, I don't care if you're kicking

me in the gut.

Do it.

And we win.

Like, right?

I personally don't care.

It's really so like any sport for me telling any, I don't know anything about soccer.

Me telling Ronaldo how to play soccer would just be dumb, right?

It's like all these people telling Christian how to play, I think is just really silly.

I think it's just one of those things where it's like, look dude, they're always going

to talk about this beforehand.

It's not a surprise when you step on the court.

They probably wouldn't be partners if they hate how the other one is playing, right?

You know, so it's like, I just think people make a lot of assumptions about the intentions.

And how they would feel in that situation.

It's just funny when people get chirpy about like mixed strategy.

I think it's just, I mean, I pick your partners wisely.

If they like that strategy, go for it.

If they don't like it, you're probably not doing it.

But you're probably not partnering.

Now we can, we can shift it into reverse.

Yes.

And that's pro strategy.

Now we can go to like, rec play.

Yeah.

I'm just saying if you, I, male, female, double gendered, I don't care what scenario

it is.

If you are posting every ball from your partner in open play, and you're pushing,

pushing them off the court, yeah, you're the jerk.

It's like the same thing as forcing people to stack, right?

You're just saying like, you shouldn't hit the ball, right?

Like you should be put on the right.

I'm going to take everything.

It's way different in rec play, especially at the lower level.

It's just because you know, that person came there because they wanted to play pickle

ball.

Obviously you want to win games.

Right?

No one likes losing.

Yeah.

But your main objective, generally speaking, when you show up at an open play isn't win at

all costs or some people their goal is to get better.

They're not going to get better if they're not touching the ball, right?

So the difference of amateur level, rec play and your goals there and what you want to get

out of it versus pros at tournaments are so drastically different.

Pro's have one goal in mind.

Win, right?

All costs, nothing else matters, right?

Rec play 3540, have some fun, maybe get a little better, socialize a little bit.

It's different.

So yeah, you're the jerk if you're lower levels, rec play, poaching everything, stepping

on people's feet, pushing them off the court.

Poaching is fine.

But egregious poaching, pushing some off the court.

You're coming to take it there for hand-dink.

Taking a dink.

Yeah.

If it's a volley, that's one thing.

That or like, oh, here's a good one.

Are you the jerk if you're constantly, I see again, context matters so much for you.

That's why that's why it's so hard.

Usually in these stories online, there's a whole context that maps it out and not just a

broad scenario, you know?

Someone who constantly takes backhand volleys in the middle and clanking paddles someone

with their forehand.

I don't think that's jerk at all.

I think you should both swing for that.

It'd be better than only one of you swinging or thinking the other person might take

and it just goes to the middle.

I'd much rather see two people swing and go for a ball than no one swing.

Actually, okay.

I agree.

Does that's like a righty lefty combo?

You have a great story from when we first got into pickleball.

Haha.

Yeah.

Okay.

Do you think you're the one I'm thinking of?

The middle ball one?

Yeah.

Okay.

So I had this story.

I was playing.

Got, I knew some people and they let me play in a higher level group that I absolutely

should not have been in.

It was just like, hey, we like Chris.

Let's let him play.

But I was, I don't know, probably little better than a three five at the time and these

were, I don't know, four or five.

Well, you're not better than a three five now.

Don't give yourself too much credit.

Okay.

It's reversely.

So I'm playing with this group and I'm playing with this guy and a ball goes kind of through

the middle and I swing at it and hit with a backhand.

Should have been that guy's forehand.

Well, I think we both kind of went for it, but I'm the one that made contact.

Chanked it, lost the point and he was like, never do that again.

That's my ball.

Like, you should never hit a backhand in the middle and I was like, okay, okay, sorry.

He was like, actually kind of a pretty aggressive about it.

And then the very next point or one of the next few points, the same scenario happens and

I was like, okay, well, it's not my ball.

So it just, through the middle and he looks at me and he's like, why didn't you go for

it?

Now, what do you mean?

Why didn't I go for it?

You just told me not to go for it.

Like, I'm the worst player here and you just gave me the advice.

Like, the people who, the worst type of people are the ones that scold you for like everything

you do.

They say, hey, don't do this.

You don't do that.

And they're like, why didn't you do that?

Yeah.

You're like, you just told me not to do that, bro.

Yeah.

Like, oh, it's bad.

Also another scenario that I think if we go up from like the, some of the mixed up from

like wreck into like intermediate, I think this could apply to tournaments.

Like let's say you start going in the range of, I'm going to say 402 50, but I do think

that's a big range.

I know, I know, but you'll understand in a second.

I think it stops happening less at 50.

But I think in all scenarios, whether tournament and you're choosing partners or it's open

play or you're playing with friends, the guys should stop just assuming by default that

because they are a guy that they are the better player.

If they're playing mixed.

Yeah.

That is a trait that a lot of you see in actually I saw this meme.

That was really funny.

I don't remember who posted it.

I saw this months ago.

It was basically like two women playing in one goes, hey, we should stack to win the game.

And the other goes like, oh, yeah, that's a great idea.

We should say I start stacking.

And then it cuts to the next scene.

And it's the same girl, but with a guy.

And she goes, hey, we should just make, they were down like, oh, 10 to or something.

She's like, hey, we should just mix it up.

So you know, see if it gives them a different look.

And the guy goes, no.

And then just serves the ball in the net or something.

And I just think it is a bad trait just because you are a guy to assume like, oh, yeah,

I'm obviously the better player.

Like yeah, just because you that does seem to consistently be the case at the pro level,

that does not mean it is always the case at the amateur level.

Does not apply at the amateur level.

Like I think there are contexts where yeah, that is clearly the common strategy and it often

works in tournaments.

But I think you should also be able to put your ego aside to know there are scenarios

where you should mix it up.

Yeah.

Like I just people's egos are crazy and big way too, way too big.

The amount of like, I don't know what it is.

Just about content play wise in general for pickleball, but just the haters and all the

commenters come out.

We had a friend who posted some content and then screenshot it a comment and sent it

to a discord group of ours and was like, the comment, I mean, I think the context of

video was just to women playing and they were stacking.

And the guy goes, wow, stacking is women as women is embarrassing.

It's like, what on earth that is embarrassing?

Yeah.

So are you implying that just women should not stack?

Yeah, that's insane.

A woman not allowed to use a strategy and pickleball.

Yeah, well, that's insane, right?

Like, I got a good one.

Probably just thought of another, are you the jerk scenario that everyone it listening

to this can probably relate to.

You can consume pickleball content.

Okay.

Are you the jerk if you watch a video online of gameplay and you comment, this is not

whatever the claim of the title is.

Yes.

I completely agree.

Yes.

You have no clue.

Or if you're like, oh, well, this is three, five in my area.

Yeah.

If the following thoughts come through your mind when you watch a YouTube video, this

is three, five in my area.

I know fouros that could beat these guys or I'm better than these people and I'm not

actually just just because someone has an orthodox looking technique or form does not

mean they're that bad.

Also video, video always makes you look worse, always makes you look worse, right?

Especially because most of these people commenting have probably never watched themselves play

and understand how bad they look, right?

I'm just going to say this.

If you're watching right now and you've sent that comment before, you need to go take

a look at them.

You need a bath.

You need a bath.

You need a bath.

Okay.

That's funny.

I literally said this.

Actually, I was filming gameplay for the YOLO review the other day and there was a highlight

where I was at the baseline.

I hit a drop or I hit a drive and someone hit a drop shot like very shallow to the net.

I genuinely didn't believe I was going to make it to this ball.

I still ran for it, but I had no thought I was going to make it.

I made it, hit it, got out of the kitchen and then hit a clean winter down the middle

and literally because I was mic'd up so I could hear myself say this.

I literally said to everyone there, I said, man, as sick as that highlight just felt,

I guarantee you when I go watch that, it is going to look so stupid or so on athletic

or easy.

It kind of did look that way.

Every time I'll have points, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm super winded.

This point's going on forever.

Then it's a crazy winter.

Something happens and I watch it.

I'm like, that wasn't that cool.

I wouldn't, if somebody else puts that, be like, okay.

Now look, I'm not saying that there aren't times where someone could say, hey, this is

5.0 gameplay and it's genuinely like we could be 4.0.