173. USAP Delists Facolos Pro Elite X, Frozen Luzz Inferno, & Nerdy Tourney Recap

Alright, what's up guys?

We are back with another podcast episode this week.

We've got a bit of a shorter one, but we do have some interesting news that kind of flew

under the radar.

We have some delistings, some other paddles that are under investigation, some paddles that

were supposed to be delisted and aren't delisted anymore.

We're going to talk about the new Frozen Luz Inferno, and then we're going to recap the

nerdy turni, which if you're watching the video, you might have some clues as to how

the nerdy turni went.

And if you're listening, you have no clue what any of that means.

And then we're going to do some Q&A in the kitchen, and we're also going to do that paddle

guessing game again, because you guys seem to really enjoy that last week.

And I think I've come up with some new ways to make that just a little bit better or entertaining

this week.

So we're going to try that out.

Alright, so first thing I want to talk about, I just wanted to give a quick shout out.

So this Instagram account popped up.

I just happened to come across it while we were at the nerdy turni.

I was like, getting ready to go to bed, just scrolling through Instagram or whatever.

It's called How To Pickleball.

I'll leave it linked down below.

So his name is Preston Bias, and he's done a lot with Ben.

I know he's been on a lot of their pickable getaway stuff.

He's kind of been coaching a lot, and he's learned a lot from Ben.

And now he is making an Instagram account that is doing a lot of teaching content.

And the second I found it, what I really liked is there is still a lot of really good

teaching content out there.

I would just say because there's so much of it now that you see a lot of the same things

getting repeated, which is fine.

There's plenty of things that should be repeated and people should know.

But sometimes it's like, I feel like I've just heard this said the same way over and over.

And just watching a couple of his videos, the way he explained a couple concepts on different

things, I was like, ooh, I really like how he broke this down.

Like this is very different from how other people, how they have explained it or broke

it down in more nuance than most people go into, right?

Like a lot of times, this one was talking about a drop.

They're just like, I don't know, it feels very simple.

And so the way he was just explaining all things, I was like, oh, this guy's account is

going to be big.

So I'll leave a link down below.

You guys can go follow it.

You know it's going to be good if he has been being trained by Ben for a very long time

and done a lot of coaching with Ben.

So and Ben, we've all seen when Ben's done coaching videos.

He's like one of the best we've ever seen.

Yeah, obviously.

For sure.

Yeah, I just really like his content.

It's very early.

I don't know, maybe 40, 50 videos or something like that, but I have a feeling given another

year or two and it's going to be a very good account.

That's sure.

It's already very solid.

So I just wanted to shout that out because I thought that was worth talking about.

Nice.

All right.

Next up, I don't know how this managed to fly under the radar.

I missed it.

Every to my knowledge, every other reviewer missed it.

I have literally not heard about this, talked about anywhere.

And I'll actually explain how I came across this news.

So first, the news is the facelose pro series Elite X, which I think there's two.

I think there's the rounded head one and then there's the flat top one.

I don't know that the names are different when I was looking it up.

It both of them came up.

So I'm assuming it's both, but it was a little unclear.

Anyways, they got banned.

And I believe it was for grit.

Yeah, it was for service roughness, not surprising, considering in like every interview

it's sticking to Gabe's shirt.

We've talked about how good the spin on that paddle is.

So absurd.

Yeah, like you loved it.

So no one is shocked here.

Okay, that it did eventually get cracked down on.

But I am surprised that is that the information just wasn't anywhere.

So the way I found out about it is I was trying to come up with a funny topic for this week's

podcast, which we might save for another week.

It was basically asking AI paddle questions to see how good or bad of answers it will give

because there are certain things I think it can do.

Okay.

So the thing is it's like horrendously bad at it.

You should never ask.

I remember.

We've heard stories of AI recommending Z5s to people and saying it's the best paddle.

Yeah, exactly.

And I think I saw one that I asked it like a twist-weight question one time and it was

like, oh, the twist-weight of this paddle is 695 ounces.

And I'm like, first of all, none of that is correct.

Nothing in that statement is even remotely close to being correct.

But okay.

So anyways, the question I asked is, what do you think are the top five worst paddles?

And I was purely just looking for performance and the list it gave me was just list of band

paddles, you know, like the mod TA and stuff like that, pro power elongated.

And then as I'm going through it, it goes, oh, the back-alos pro elite X is banned by

USAP.

So that's not a good paddle.

And I was like, what?

And so I clicked the little thing and I'm like, wait, it did get banned.

So I am, I keep my ears pretty close to the ground.

If I'm pretty good at keeping up with the news and nothing.

I'm how we all missed it.

Didn't see it anywhere.

USAP didn't post about it on social media.

They have one place that they put it on their website, which no one looks at.

It's gonna say.

USAP, please like put this on social media or something.

That is where everyone is looking these days.

So anyways, yeah, I saw that on there.

I'll just read the statement really quick here.

Following additional review and testing, the FACOLOS Pro Series Elite X paddle was found

to exceed USAPingable's allowable surface roughness standards.

Following the review process, FACOLOS acknowledged that the production version of the paddle

differed from the version originally submitted for certification testing.

Based on these findings, the FACOLOS Pro Series Elite X paddle has been removed from the

USAP PIGABALL approved paddle list.

USAPIGABALL has been in communication with the manufacturer regarding the status of

the paddle and potential next steps related to the marketplace.

USAPIGABALL remains committed to transparent and consistent equipment testing standards,

any paddle seeking or maintaining USAPIGABALL certification must continue to meet all applicable

testing requirements and compliance thresholds.

Then there's just a list of approved paddles if you want to go check that out.

But yeah, that's the statement, not surprised at all.

If anything, I guess I'm more surprised that it took this long to get caught, but better

late than never.

Then because of that, just stumbling around the website, I found this other page that

I don't know that I was aware existed.

It's maybe new-ish or at least it's new to me.

There's basically a tab where you can see paddles that are currently under investigation.

There were several paddles that I was unaware of that are under investigation.

They don't say what for for the most part, but the Pro TAN Series 3 Project P-Cock, if

I had to guess it's grit, the speed up tide 14s, almost certainly that's grit.

If I had to guess just because those are also ridiculously gritty, then raw, rain, and

wind, it just said multiple models unauthorized use of the USAP logo.

So I don't know if they had the logo on it and the paddles weren't approved.

Then on that list, for whatever reason, the 6-0 Ruby Pro is still there, even though that

was reported November of last year.

So I don't know why that's not removed because I'm pretty sure that whole thing's been

taken care of.

Interesting.

Died up.

See, this is one of the things like after reading this statement, you go, well, duh, we've

all been saying this.

I know.

And think about, okay, how long is the FACOLOS Elite X been released for over a year

now, I think?

It's been a while.

I think it was May of 2025 is when it was released.

So it took you 12 plus however months to be able to do this.

And there's however many paddles that were like, guys, this is also over the limit.

And it just takes forever.

Yeah.

So like reading this statement, although like, yes props, you finally did what you're supposed

to do.

It still looks really bad on you because of how long this took you to do this.

And I don't feel like it should take that long, especially for something as simple as

grit, right?

It's not that difficult to just get some off the shelf and be like, hey, this is reading

way over the limit of the ones you sent us gone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know.

I don't know what the whole process is, but it's like we've talked about this many times

with lots of paddles.

It's unsurprising.

I won't be surprised if more on the list.

I mean, there's already some popping up.

I am glad to see that that list is expanding just in the sense that it's like, okay, maybe

more people are finally about to be held accountable to what they should be held accountable to,

right?

Like everything should be in equal playing field.

It shouldn't be like one company gets a pass and another doesn't.

Some play by the rules and they're basically punished for it and then others get to skirt

the rules and they're rewarded for it because everyone wants a grittier paddle.

We've talked about this a million times.

No one's going to willingly say, yes, please give me the smoother paddle.

That's what I want, right?

You're always going to take the grittier one.

Always.

100%.

It's like imagine me like, do you want a paddle with a larger sweet spot or a smaller sweet

spot?

All things equal.

You could have a bigger one or a smaller one.

Yeah.

I want the small no, no, no, never going to happen.

So I'm glad to see that page.

I'm glad to see there are some other paddles being looked into.

Hopefully this starts to speed up.

Maybe this is a start of things finally being cracked down on.

That would be good.

Yeah, I was just shocked that this everyone missed this.

That's how not disperse this news was.

It's crazy to me.

Yep.

And then the other thing is I couldn't find any news about this.

I just saw RPM post about it this morning that the friction pro V1 will stay approved

until November 2026.

So May of this year, all the paddles that were exceeding the PB core limit that were

grandfathered in for, you know, a year or whatever were supposed to be delisted and they

have still been around.

People have been messaging me saying, Hey, they're still on the list.

Like, what's the deal?

And I was like, I don't know.

I've literally seen nothing about this.

So I don't know what's going on.

So maybe they just extended the deadline as like a grace period, but I just saw that the

friction pro V1 is still good.

And a lot of you asked about that.

And an organization that's supposed to be so big in this sport does not make these

things clear.

Right?

So if you are going to extend that deadline and change the date, making an announcement,

it's not that difficult.

We have social pages.

You have your website.

Just put it, put it out there so people can see it and talk about it.

Otherwise, it's just like, I guess you can use it till November.

Well, that's what I'm confused is I mean, I'll pull up their social page right now.

Like, maybe it was post on social and I just never saw anything, but I also checked

their blog.

And I couldn't find anything on the blog, which was where I found out about the facalos.

I don't see anything immediately.

So yeah, I hadn't seen anything.

I don't know.

I just think their needs.

USAP can do a much better job at dispersing information, whether it's to news outlets,

like having an email newsletz like, Hey, this is happening in the news.

They're using their social media page to talk about things.

I don't know, it just feels like everywhere else, the information is usually easy to acquire

for like anything, whether it's paddle manufacturers, whether it's UPA, they're pretty good at dispersing

information.

I don't know, information generally feels pretty easily dispersed in pickaball right now.

Yeah, it's not hard to get information out there.

So I don't know.

That was just kind of interesting.

But yeah, that's what we had for the news this week.

I just was surprised to see that happen.

I don't know a lot of people that are playing the facalos paddles that probably impacts

a lot more people in Asia than it does in the States.

If I had to guess, I know there are people that use them, but then how big is USAP over

in Asia?

Exactly.

Because I mean, do you know anyone in Minnesota that uses a facalos paddle?

I'm sure someone does.

One.

Okay, yeah.

Just one person.

Yeah.

So is it, was it that model?

No.

Okay.

So I guess they're fine.

I don't think it even mattered.

I was just about to say that.

So yeah, it's, it's not that big of a deal.

I think most of the people that are using facalos paddles are probably playing PPAs anyways.

Yeah, right.

So we're then up being fine.

Yep.

Okay.

Well, that's news.

So we've got the Luz Frozen and Furnow.

And I'm probably, I really should make a video about this along with the regular and

Furnow.

I feel like it's just a, it was one of those paddles that I was so laid on that I was

like, well, I guess I won't do a video now because it's probably everyone probably has

the information they need on it.

It's also just a ton going on at that time.

Yeah.

Around the release of the inferno.

Totally.

So I thought this was just going to be like the same thing, just a new color way or design

on the paddle.

And then it is not.

So the simplest way to explain it is that it's a, I would say it's mostly the feel is changed

a lot.

It feels less stiff.

It feels softer.

I would say to me, it feels like it vibrates a little less.

And the pop is toned down a little bit.

I would still, I'd still call this a power paddle in there.

Definitely still a power paddle.

Yeah, they called it kind of like all court in their email.

I mean, this is not an all-core paddle.

This is a power paddle.

But this is more powerful than an omnipotent.

Hmm.

Yeah, I could see that.

I'd want to hit them a little bit more to say confidently, but it's, it's a power

paddle.

Like I do think to me, it felt easier to use than the regular inferno, but I'm curious

how much of that is a feedback thing.

Like I was telling you this when we were hitting it, I'm starting to find that I, I think

I'm just preferring paddles that are a little bit softer, maybe a little bit more dense.

And stiff and hollow is not, it's not that I hate it or dislike it, but when I have the

option to go between either, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm definitely preferring something

softer than dense.

I mean, I've been playing with a vatic proprism in tournaments recently, you know?

So this to me, the second I started hitting it, I was like, oh, I like this way more

than a regular inferno.

Like if I had to pick, wouldn't even be close.

I would take this over that.

In fact, dang, I wish Luz would make the inferno in other shapes because I feel like

I would kind of like this paddle a lot, you know?

Give me a wide body, give me a hybrid.

You're already doing it for the other ones, the glider, the cannon, make the inferno great,

make it great.

They know, they know what their premiere paddle should be.

Come on Luz, get with the program.

But yeah, I don't know if you have thoughts you want to expand on.

I probably have some other stuff, but you can go ahead if you want.

Yeah, no, I mean, I pretty much agree with everything you said.

I really like how this paddle feels.

I just find Luz such an interesting brand.

I agree.

Like the history of how it has gone for us of it being like this weird clip art brand,

not a lot of information, kind of just copycat paddles.

Now I'm making pretty high end good performance paddles, but still doing a pretty bad job in

my opinion at like, again, giving information on things, right?

Like this was released and we kind of had to figure out that it was different.

I mean, they said it.

I was kind of more making an assumption, but it'd be nice if it was more obvious.

Yes.

And I don't know if like just kind of changing some graphics and calling it a frozen inferno

or an all frozen like that's confusing.

That's a bad confusing move.

Right.

Let me just go on their page.

If you look at all the infernos, there's four of them now.

Imagine most people would not assume that it's a completely different skew.

Agreed.

And it's just a color change.

So you have the Luz and Ferno frozen, the Luz pro four in Ferno, the Luz pro four darkness

in Ferno, and then the Luz pro four blue blaze in Ferno.

So you're looking at that and you're going, okay, well, it's just different colors, but

people have noticed some of the.

The blue blaze ones way different.

Yeah.

And that one I do not like at all.

So it's like what either call it something different or do like EPP turbo MPP turbo.

You know, I know they're still using MPP.

You know, I guess this is the way, you know, like Apple, you know, iPhone 13 pro, pro max,

many, you know, but at least that's more obvious that something changed.

Right.

This one, the other thing too, I forgot to mention.

So the frozen inferno is 250.

The others are 229.

You use Coupe B studio if you want to shave that down a little bit, but they did raise

the price on this, which I thought was an interesting move because it's, I don't know,

I just don't know why.

Yeah.

And then it's going to be even more confusing when people look at it and be like, why is this

more expensive?

And then talking about things being confusing.

Let me just read some marketing material from Luz.

Some of these companies recently, man, I think we remember not that long ago, we did that

game of marketing the marketing to each other.

Yeah.

That's what had been dead perfect for that game.

This paddle couldn't be more perfect for that game.

Let's just go.

Okay.

Let's start with the MPP Z core.

Molecule.

I don't even know.

Molecule.

I can't say.

No, molecular Lee.

I didn't even say it right.

Bro, English.

I turned 30 today and I just look and speak English anymore.

My brain's degrading.

Molecule Lee.

Okay.

So with a PTFE and carbon crystal blend delivers on outer rigidity in a resilience profile

with long lasting dual 85 performance to prevent the core from softening over time.

What does any of that mean?

What does, and I'm not even done yet.

Hang on.

Let's get to the surface.

Let's talk about the supercar grade EP 12 surface.

A premium multi component epoxy matte finish engineered with ultra high adhesion.

Superproofing.

Guess we can dunk this paddle in water and weather resistance.

What does that even mean in pickable weather resistance?

Bro, I am ready for my underwater matches.

It boosts overall wear resistance by 28% percent.

I can't speak.

Dude, I'm so old now.

English.

Yeah, you turned 30 and now everything's gone downhill.

Deliver is a physics based magnetic like ball bite driven by coding resilience rather

than rough grit.

Bro.

Bro.

Oh, the name of that supercar grade EP 12.

I think in that entire marketing bit there, maybe 10 words were genuinely applicable to

pickable.

Yeah.

Like everything else I'm sure someone's going to correct you there.

I'm pretty sure it's applicable.

A applicable ball.

I'm just going to say now, so someone in the car is not to say when you're trying to

pronounce that word at the beginning, I was just thinking of all the dang grammar, grammar

police in the comments freaking out because everyone has to correct us.

Okay.

The next one, all weather performance, exceptional structural insulation ensures that your

paddles pop and touch remain completely identical whether you're playing in freezing

cold or scorching summer heat.

I'm just going to go ahead and guess that is almost certainly not true, but I don't know

that because I have not played in all temperature, but that would be everything you know about

pickable paddles.

There's just no way it's playing the same in all weather conditions.

Oh, yeah.

There's actually no paddle that does that, especially a foam paddle like this.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then I guess I got one more.

This one's a little less over the top, but built with deep core cushioning that filters

out 45% of harsh shock from heavy incoming balls.

It drastically reduces elbow strain while providing a clean impact sound and precise hand

feel.

I do feel like, like I said, I do think vibrations are more dampened with this one than

the last.

Yeah.

I think that part, whether the 45% is true or whatever, but I just had to say all that

because of, again, that marketing is insane.

And if you're reading that, it's such a word salad that if you're if you owned an inferno,

you're like, what does this mean?

Is it different or is it not?

It's just be more confused.

Yeah.

So all I just say, the paddle is great.

The marketing is crazy.

Yeah.

Did you notice that the butt cap is way different?

Like maybe this is just random variance, but like there's like no butt cap.

It feels like, oh, like it's very flat.

It's very flare.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let me hold grab the other inferno.

Yeah.

Do they not both feel pretty small to you?

Maybe it's a little more.

No, this feels way different.

There's way more of a lip on this one.

See?

Let me see it again.

I mean, I guess I'd say like, if I was going to say way more, I would have said like

the boomstick but versus that.

You know, that's what I would consider a big deal.

So I mean, we didn't do an official announcement on this, but I was bringing in on today, the

day of recording, he is turning 30.

So I guess, you know, everything goes out the window.

I cite hand feel.

I mean, 30 and he's just gone.

I am the new host of the Pickleball Studio podcast.

Thank you for joining us.

I mean, it is a little flatter.

I just wouldn't have said a lot.

Dude, it almost feels like there's not a butt cap.

This feels like, which one do you prefer?

I feel like this one would be more.

Other one.

Really?

I feel like you always really like ones that don't have a butt.

Like this isn't bad, but the other one at least like this, I feel like I could, this

would fly out of my hand.

No, interesting, but it's not bad.

I could build a, like a, a nub here.

Sure.

Also stock overgrips on, on Les Pettles, solid, you know, not that that really matters too much

because I'm probably just putting an overgrip on it, but I do appreciate when companies

have good stock overgrips because most don't.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I, I think if you are someone who, the inferno was too much or maybe you just

wanted a little less emphasis on a little, because I wouldn't, I think I do think in

my opinion, this one's easier to control overall, but I wouldn't go in expecting, you

know, going from a full blown power paddle all the way to an all core paddle.

It's like you went from a high tier power paddle to like maybe the medium tier, you know,

middle tier, something around there, but I like it a lot more.

The way it feels is highly appealing to me.

Yeah, I think, I mean, I do also really like how it feels.

I think, like you said, it's easier to control.

I think the sweet spot is pretty much just on point with the regular pro inferno or

inferno pro or whatever.

So, which one would you pick?

Because I think it all comes down to feel like if you want something stiff and more rigid,

go old and turn it.

And have to see how it feels of weight on it.

Yeah, sure.

Because it doesn't, we hadn't put it any weight on it.

So once I put weight on it, maybe I'd be able to tell better.

I don't know, I really like both.

What is there, is it four different things, so you think or why?

No, I mean, I really like the stiff and hollow paddles.

They play with local inferno or a pro, but at the same time, like I feel like my preference

for paddles continues to keep widening, right?

Like I used to be pretty particular about how a paddle felt.

And now that everything is getting so good, stiff and hollow, I really enjoy it.

And I feel like I can play fine with the dense and soft, or this is like kind of almost

hollow and soft.

I can play with pretty much whatever.

So I would just come down to what I feel like on the day, you know, I'd say.

For sure.

But I don't think I really have a heavy preference towards either one.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, got it.

Yeah.

So it's one of those ones where I don't think it's very much a side grade in my opinion.

It's not a, yeah.

Which I think really that's kind of where paddles are at these days.

It is so much less about, oh, this one is strictly better.

And it's more player A might like this, player B might like this.

So you could have a, to one person, it could feel like a very big upgrade.

Like to me, the frozen inferno feels like an upgrade in that I much prefer how it feels

in place for my play style.

But it's not actually performing any better.

I could imagine someone else would say, I hate this one.

Give me the old inferno.

For sure.

You know, yeah.

I'm sure the blue blaze one.

Like I'm sure there are people who think that's great and like it.

I hated it.

Like how that one feels.

No chance I would play with it.

Sure.

Yeah.

So that's kind of what we have on the, the frozen inferno.

I do want to try and get a video out on this and give you guys a little bit more of a in-depth

comparison because I like it.

So does this one have the, the new texture?

Say that's the thing.

That's what's confusing.

Like even reading that, I don't know.

They used different, if I'm recalling correctly, because I do mix up a radio and Luz's terms

a little bit.

Let me pull up their glider here.

Here you use lighter 2026.

I'm pretty sure that they used a completely different, yeah, they called it 984 arrow face

grit on the glider was the long-lasting grit.

And then that wording is not used anywhere on the frozen one.

But then they also kind of, the way they describe the longer lasting surface or whatever

sounds kind of like what thrive was doing.

Yeah.

Where it's like some finishing or coding over the top.

So then if you're going, okay, Luz, are you confused?

Is it the same thing?

Are they different?

Is one better?

Because we already know the last one wasn't that great.

So what does that mean for this one?

Yep.

It's all very confusing.

Can you just take a moment to like, why does, why did they put 2026 in the name of the

glider?

That doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.

Is this going to be like cars now?

What do you play?

I'll drive a 2026 model glider.

See, I'm actually not that opposed to that because I think, for example, as paddles,

let's take the boomstick as an example.

I think this one's perfect.

The boomstick in my opinion is one of the best names in all of Pickleball.

It is so easy to remember.

There's so many funny things you can say, like you're yelling boom on the court or, you

know, it's the boomstick, whatever.

It's just, it's a perfect marketing name.

So I can see where you wouldn't want to change that.

And I don't, you could do boomstick to, boomstick three, whatever.

But I feel like there are a lot of times, like, you know, even let's take tech a lot of

times it's OS the 2026 MacBook or whatever.

So I'm actually not that opposed to it because I think if the name works well and it's

not that much of a change, at least there's something to different.

Unlike this in Ferno, where you're like, OK, well, I guess the Frozen ones different,

but then are they gonna come out with like a, in Ferno Blaze, that's the same thing,

but just orange or something, you know.

Yeah, I don't know.

I just think it's easier than what some of the names currently are in Pickleball.

And at least you kinda know, oh, it's the New World.

I just think Luzz as a whole makes everything confusing.

Yes, right.

Like they're not doing any us, any favors.

Yes, I agree.

I agree.

That's the only paddle we had for this week.

I was gonna talk about the nerdy turn.

It was light this week.

Yeah, your back kind of hurtin' over there, huh?

Well, you know, this belt is kinda way in me now.

You know, way over there?

Of course you would have it on upside down too.

Is it on upside down?

Yeah, well, you're the one that put it on me.

Hey, you little walked over to me with it that way.

He did, he wanted me to look stupid on the podcast.

Am I 30th birthday?

Can we leave this guy?

Crazy.

That's crazy, crazy.

Okay, let's talk about the whole nerdy turn.

So obviously, based on you know that I am holding the belt,

you know that I won.

So at least one Olsson came home with a belt this time.

Unlike last year, there were no belts.

I am glad that at least one of us got it.

All right, so let's just talk about,

kind of set this whole tournament up.

Because I think, unless you're a reviewer,

you don't really know what this tournament is,

what the purpose of this tournament is,

why does it exist?

To outside people, it is just super random.

Yeah, everything makes no sense.

You'll see BNB posting these random like AI generated images.

And you'll be like, what is going on?

I, it was BNB being weird again or something, you know?

So let's just talk about the purpose of the tournament.

So last year was the first time they ever did this.

And it was literally just a basically goofy event that was like,

hey, what would happen if all the reviewers played a tournament?

And you had a group that was higher doopers,

and then a group that was lower.

So just split it right in the middle of what the pool is.

Exactly. So if you had 20 people and the split was that,

I'm going to make up a number, 40.

There's pool A, is everyone 40 on below,

and pool B is 40 and above.

And then you randomly get drawn from a hat,

and you get paired with one high dooper and one low dooper.

And then you just play a tournament.

And it's random drawings.

You just get your random partner.

Yeah, it's, you don't pick anything.

They do a video every year when they draw them out of a hat.

It's kind of fun.

But it's, it's very much advertised like at the reviewers.

I feel like it maybe, there are probably a lot of ways

that this could be done in a way for general public to be more involved,

which I actually think could be kind of fun.

Because I mean, you guys, I see the views on this podcast,

like 20,000 of you watch this thing.

You could probably make it a thing where 20, maybe 20,000 people

are interested in seeing how all the reviewers play against each other,

especially when it's paired randomly, right?

It's not, oh, it's just Chris and Isaac.

It's like me and Lewis or, you know,

I'm great with that.

Be though.

What's that mean here?

Just do podcast, podcast.

Well, that would be crazy.

That would be wild to see.

So, I kind of just started out as this goofy thing.

I don't even know if they knew they were going to do it a second time.

I mean, I think after the first one it went well enough,

I was like, oh, we should do it a second time.

And so they did it again this year.

And it just, it was just kind of a random thing.

Like last year was basically all reviewers.

There was a couple people this year that got invited.

That weren't necessarily reviewers.

Like Nico, the lefty was there.

Alex from the dink was there.

Kind of, I guess, more on media, Paul, outlet, Paul.

Some of that I think is just dug like some of these people.

So it's like, oh, hey, you know, it feel free to come.

But largely, it was supposed to just be reviewers originally.

That's why it's called the nerdy turning.

Yeah, it's just a lot of nerds.

It's a bunch of nerds.

Who's the best nerd of them all, you know?

Yep.

So that was the original point of the whole that.

And it's not even really about the tournament, to be honest.

Like, yeah, obviously you're coming and you're planning to turn me.

You want to win and you don't want to lose.

We'll get to that in a second.

I was gonna say.

We're gonna talk about that.

But it's kind of just a big hangout.

Like of any event I go to every year,

I don't really feel pressure at any event.

Yeah.

Whether it's the YOLO event, a selfie,

no one's like, you gotta make a video.

You gotta say, no one ever says that.

It's literally, but you know, if I'm going,

I'm like, well, I should probably cover this in some regard, right?

You guys listening, wanna see content about it.

The nerdy tourney is the one thing every year

where there is literally no expectation.

If I didn't show up with a camera or literally say anything,

nothing would matter.

It's basically show up, hey, this is just gonna be a fun time.

Yep.

So that's kind of the point of the whole thing.

And also I think the, roughly the biggest gap this year,

in terms of Dupor would have been about a 3-0 all the way up to 5-5.

Not necessarily paired as a team,

but if you took the lowest Dupor of the 30 or so people

that there were, and then the highest Dupor was about 3-0 to 5-5.

Another reason it's not meant to be that serious,

like during the tournament it's like loud music,

everyone is chirping each other.

We're all screaming.

Doug is on a mic literally making fun of people

in the middle of a point.

Roasting everyone during games.

Yeah, like it's not that serious, the tournament side of it.

So let's talk about the format,

because this is what I think makes the tournament very funny.

You know, winning is great, but really the goal is to not lose.

Do not lose.

Yes.

So the way the tournament works is you play a pool play round.

So in the first pool, I'm going to make them a number

because I can't remember exactly how many teams it was.

I think there were 16 teams.

It was different last year than this year though.

Because we had an odd number.

Yes.

So this year, I'm pretty sure it was 16.

This year it was more of just a regular bracket.

Yeah.

You played, there were eight pool play games.

So you played one pool play game and it decided which bracket you go to.

There's the winners bracket, the normal bracket,

and then there's what is called the toilet bowl bracket.

The toilet bowl is for all the people who lose.

Now, normally in a tournament, if you lose twice,

like let's take a PPA tournament, you lose in the main.

Oh, and change draw?

Then you lose in the back draw, you're done.

Yep.

No, no, no, no, not in the toilet bowl.

The toilet bowl's got different rules.

In the toilet bowl, you progress by continuing to lose.

And you do not want to continue, because if you get to the finals,

which is, you know, of the toilet bowl.

The losers keep playing the losers.

So it's a reversed bracket.

Yes.

You are trying to figure out who the worst team of the entire tournament is.

So literally everyone's goal is please win the first round.

For the life of everything win the first round.

Yep.

Because if you win the first round and you lose your second one, you're done.

You're done.

Yeah.

You don't play anymore.

And that's a great place to be.

Exactly.

That's all you want at this tournament.

Winning is great, but really you just don't want to go to the toilet bowl.

They literally have a golden toilet bowl trophy that the losers take.

Pretty awesome.

Every time people keep losing, it's like, oh no.

Like I'm one round closer to the toilet bowl.

Because after pool play, you start in the quarter finals, whether in the toilet bowl or

the main draw, and then you progress like a regular bracket.

Yeah.

So that's the format of the tournament.

You don't want to be in the toilet bowl.

Literally, I mean, every year, it's just like, please, please don't.

Also, I guess quickly before we go over the results.

So if you don't want spoilers, obviously already have a little bit of a spoiler.

But if you don't want to know all the matches spoiled, because I am going to make a video

about the whole tournament, I am about to spoil that shortly.

But what paddled you play with?

Long-gated loco.

And I was the wide body loco.

And so we were now that bread and butter was acquired by Cell Kirk.

Rob Barnes was there and their CMO, Doug Thielin.

We were allowed to use Cell Kirk paddles as well.

So there were people using Omnis.

Yep.

And I had the choice between using an Omni or loco.

I hit both the day before.

I ended up leaning towards loco, just how the weather was, like the little extra pop and

power.

So yeah, those are the piles we used.

It was actually pretty decently split.

There was a good chunk of Omnis, good chunk of loco.

Braiding used an era power.

I think there was, can't remember if anyone used a filth.

There was a fat boy.

Okay.

Yeah, there was a fat boy.

Yeah.

And then there was a filth.

Maybe you know what I'm thinking of.

I'm thinking of the psycho.

I think Matt's people had the psycho.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

Okay.

There was John brought it, but I don't think he played with it.

He brought the original original loco.

Oh, really?

The Gen 2.

Oh, that's awesome.

Hellow, really soft one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which is funny, given how powerful the new loco is versus the old one.

You know, like the old one wasn't even crazy.

Yeah.

Opposite side, you know.

The name didn't really fit the old one.

No.

Let's go.

We'll start.

Hmm.

We'll start with the winners bracket.

Then we'll do the toilet bowl bracket.

Okay.

So I'm just going to read off all the results here if you guys want to hear about them.

So you'll learn about some of the reviewers.

Some of these people you guys probably haven't heard of because again, some of them, there

was a couple that were Florida locals that knew Doug or worked within bread and butter.

And then there are some people who used to do more reviews or used to be involved in

stuff and now they're not as much.

So let's just talk about it.

So first round, we have.

It was me.

Well, the first round was me versus Doug and Dustin.

Doug's a piece like the owner of bread and butter.

Yeah.

The CEO of bread and butter versus Dustin who's a pickable medicine.

Yes.

Right.

And, uh, yeah, that was that was brutal.

You laid down the slap.

Yeah.

I was like, I think does not want to go to the toilet.

No, I would do anything to not go to that toilet bowl.

So I pickled them and I was cutting up the match and it was I think almost under five minutes.

That's great.

Yeah, it was very fast.

So for some odd reason, they returned every third to me and I said, all right, I will rip

this ball right at Doug and I body bagged him once on a drive and I'm not kidding.

It was like 11 drives in a row and we pickle them.

Yeah.

So that was you and Logan Brown.

I don't think my partner was Logan Brown, who was one of the original pickable effect podcast

co-hosts.

Yep.

I think we counted it up.

I think Logan hit less than five balls that game.

That's crazy.

I mean, the points were only a couple balls long, but yeah, that was crazy.

So I'm not going to go over all the pool play matches, but that was Isaac's first pool

play match was that.

So here was the main bracket.

So once everyone won their first pool play, here was the winners bracket quarter final.

Isaac Olson and Logan Brown versus Mike and Wilson.

Is Matthew K. Pickleball's co-host and Mike is one of the workers at bread and butter.

You guys ended up losing that one, 8-11, only three points down.

I think that one definitely could have gone either way.

Mike and Wilson were a sneaky solid team.

Definitely should have won that one.

So we, there was like five returns missed.

I think Logan started getting really tight and I originally like in the first match, I

was taking a lot of balls and then I started noticing and missing a lot of returns and

stuff.

So it's like, okay, maybe if I just give him a little bit more space and let him hit a

few more, he'll loosen up, didn't end up working out.

And then they also hit like two or three net cords.

One of them blew off and like hit him in the bottom and the neck and he had a huge red

mark.

Oh, so yeah, just got a little tight.

I probably should have just taken the entire court, but I mean, yeah, they played really

well.

So yeah, it was a close one.

Yeah, they were a really sneaky good team.

We played them Lewis and I a couple times just for some practice games and they were a really

solid team.

So then my next one, so this was me and Lewis from Pickleball pursuit.

We ended up playing Paul Lee and Rob Barnes, which that was another team that, so Rob Barnes

is duper as bad because obviously he's busy running sell Kirk.

So it's like a three five, but I've seen him play.

He plays much closer to a four five level.

So you have Paul who is also underrated based on his duper.

I think you had Rob who was plays well above his duper.

Rob is just a peer banger.

Yeah, Rob loves to just rip the ball and run in and keep ripping the ball.

Yeah, I mean, one of the matches I play it was like, oh, shoot.

When I saw where playing them, I was like, this is going to be a hard match.

And then I think, honestly, I think we just got hot really fast, but we ended up winning

ours 11 4.

But on, I think the match did not feel like 11 4.

It felt way tighter.

I think Rob and Paul are just both a team that if you get them firing right, they will just,

they will beat you very quickly.

Yeah.

And so that was a really fun one.

I was glad to take that because I was like, oh, shoot, man, I really don't want to lose

this match.

But they're a great team.

Next up, we had pickleball tech dude and Braden from pickleball effect versus pickleball

blast Bobby, who's actually from Minnesota and Justin Barton and Braden and Rafa ended

up winning that one 11 3, which is I would not have expected that score line.

I would have expected much closer.

So I didn't get to see that game, but yeah.

And then the next one, building pickleball and farmer Lanky against John Q and Steven

Majango.

So most of you aren't going to know who Steven is, but he is one of the reviewers for pickle

heads.

They don't really do videos.

They're mostly a blog website.

He played last year.

He also made it to the finals last year.

His duper is like 5 5.

So I think he will self admit that he's probably closer to a 5 2.

Constantly.

Yeah, Constantly says it's inflated.

Yeah.

So, uh, Steven and John ended up winning 15 10.

That in my opinion on paper when the drawing happened was definitely the like strongest

team.

I think that was everyone's favorite.

Everyone expected them to do really well.

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree.

I mean, that's just a good team.

Steven can take a lot of court.

And when John is like playing with someone like that, I think he really excels because

he just one John loves his backhand counter.

So on the right side, you just slide and hit a backhand.

Like it's perfect for John.

It's literally the best spot he could be in.

Yeah.

Like he crushes that backhand counter.

And then after that, we had, oh, wait, hang on a second.

I, that match that I just said that was the semi finals.

My bad.

So we read all the quarter finals, uh, building pickleball and farmer lost to John and

Steven 11 to and then then semi finals.

They played Braden and Rafa and one 15 10.

And so they made it to the finals and then me and Lewis played against Mike and Wilson.

And we ended up winning 15 7 to go to the final.

Yep.

Now the final.

This was an interesting one.

So as many of you know, because I've talked about the last few podcasts episodes, my

back has not been doing so hot.

So I had not played doubles in about 25 days.

Like no competitive doubles.

The only hitting I've done is basically you and I playing in the backyard because leading

up to this tournament, I didn't want to do anything stupid.

Like if I was going to hurt it, I didn't want to hurt it before the tournament.

I wanted to hurt it playing in the tournament because at least I had a chance to play.

Yeah.

Versus going in knowing, oh, I'm not going to be able to play.

So I just didn't play a lot.

So my back was mostly fine throughout the tournament.

I think there was one match where I ran for a ball and I felt it kind of tweaked and

I was like, oh, that wasn't very good.

But then this match, we end up winning the first game, 11.5.

I think we started up around 6.0.

I ran for a ball, tweaked it and I was like, oh, that did not feel good.

And I was like, okay, maybe there'll be just enough to get through the second game.

We can finish this quick.

It'll be fine.

Steven and John, I think they were up 10.0 at one point.

We almost got pickled.

They were.

We lost 11.1 and I was like, oh my gosh, either it was a complete fluke that first game

or holy cow, my back is really inhibiting.

I do think the side in that area matters a ton because one side you're looking at has

like, I mean, the whole thing is kind of white.

And so it's not ideal for a pickleball.

One side, it's a garage.

The garage has this very shiny silver insulation.

And when you're looking on that side, do the ball just disappear.

But you know, it's funny that ended up being the side that was winning on.

Yeah, no, it was super weird.

I didn't want to be on that side, but I agree with you.

It's somehow that side was the worst side.

The winning side.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

That was weird.

So they beat us 11.1 in the second game and I'm sitting there going like, oh my gosh.

Okay, you got to stop letting your back be an excuse here because there were a lot of

balls where especially, honestly, I think if they just dinked a lot more, I think they

beat us because I just could not bend over for dinks.

Like I was like very up straight or if they got it at my feet, it was hard to resex.

I didn't want to bend.

And then the last game, we win 11.5.

Yeah.

I have no idea what happened.

I began starting up 6-0 at the podcast the week before we went to the nerdy turni or

kind of that week.

It did say you drew a legendary partner.

Oh, I know.

Lewis is a great, he's a good player, right?

He's not that bad.

Now his duper is also lower than it should.

What is his duper?

406.

Yeah, I give him a little, I give him a little bit of a four.

I don't think he's quite like four, five.

Yeah.

But maybe like four, two.

It depends on the day.

Lewis is either like, you're like, oh my gosh, this guy could easily be a five-o or he

will also sell for men someday.

Oh, I don't know if I've ever seen him easily be a five-o.

Okay, that's, you guys did well.

And you're trying to gas up your partner.

But that's a little generous.

I don't know if he would.

I love you Lewis.

I love you Lewis.

I take a five-o to carry me.

But that's a bit much.

But yeah, I mean, he has great shots as long as he's his biggest thing is when his

resets are off, they're very young.

I think that's how it was in your guys' second game.

Yeah.

Could not make a reset to save a slime.

Yeah.

I mean, I wasn't doing a semi-favorite either.

It was pretty bad.

But yeah, I mean, Lewis is a great partner.

Just good vibes.

I mean, that was the biggest thing.

It's like, I don't really care if I draw someone that is really good.

I just want the vibe to be good.

Like, I guess I want to have a good time.

Exactly.

That's what this whole event is about.

And I think that's what everyone there needs to keep in mind is like, we're here just

to have fun.

Like yeah, we're all competitive.

We all want to win.

Of course.

But I think enjoying being there and just being with everybody is a way bigger part of

it.

Exactly.

So yeah, it was fun to take it.

Lewis was a great partner.

It would easily play with him again.

That was a blast.

He's made it to the final two years in a row now.

Yeah.

He didn't win it last year, but he did make it to the final.

So let's see if he can keep up the streak three years in a row.

Now I said, I said, there are only a couple people that can do this.

There are only a couple people that can triple crown this tournament.

Triple crown would be you've won the participation trophy.

Yep.

Everyone gets one if you didn't win anything or get the toilet bowl.

The belt, which I now have.

And then the triple crowns of toilet bowl.

So next year you already know I'm sorry whoever my partner is.

I'm taking you straight to the bowl where I'm going to have all three.

And then I'm going to have the belt on this table, the participation trophy and the toilet

bowl.

I did say I was like the punishment for winning the toilet bowl.

You should have to have that toilet bowl trophy in your background in either videos or

if you have a podcast for the whole year.

I would easily do that.

That would be hilarious.

I would be so funny.

How funny would that be to have that just like sitting right here on the table?

Yeah.

For a year it would be hilarious.

People would be like, like newcomers would be like, what is this?

Yeah, I don't know why I started golden toilet bowl on their trophy.

So funny.

It's all right.

Now we go over the toilet bowl bracket.

So the first round was Kyle Tranga and Matt Hoffman versus Pickwell Madison and Doug from

Brighton Butter because there are two dogs.

There's Doug Sipusik, the owner and then Doug Thielin who is the CMO of Cell Kirk.

So we'll get to that later.

So Kyle and Matt won that 11-8.

So Dustin and Doug progress further into the toilet bowl.

Then it was Aaron the editor and Matthew K. Pickleball versus Whiskey Dink and Alex Weaver

from the Dink.

Aaron and Matthew win that one 11-6.

And actually really quick, I'm just going to talk about this.

Whiskey Dink and Alex were actually the first team we played.

And I want to say their doopers are like 424 for Alex and I think Whiskey's like a

3-7, 3-6 maybe.

Yeah, around there.

That was actually the match.

I was the most nervous.

Maybe it's just because you know in that first one you don't want to go to the toilet bowl.

But by, like I think I missed my first four or five drops.

I was like, what am I doing right now?

I can't play this game.

That's crazy.

I think it was also the tightest one we had.

This maybe the finals match, but I was like, dude, I just don't go to the toilet bowl.

So props them.

They made me very nervous.

So then Aaron and Matthew won that one.

So they are out of the toilet bowl now.

They're safe.

They're good.

Then it was Nico the lefty and Eric Witt I believe is how you say his name versus Doug

Thielin and Matt's Pickleball.

And so this is again still the quarter finals.

They ended up pickling them.

Nico the lefty and Eric.

Oh, Pickle Doug and Matt's.

And then it was JJ Pickleball and sleeves versus Robert Slutsky and Doug's wife.

So for those of you who don't know, which is probably a lot of you, Robert Slutsky is

a pro pickleball player.

He's made APP finals.

He's very good.

Was forced to play with his right hand instead of his left hand.

And Doug's wife is probably around a three oh in that area.

So that was just a, you have a pro who has to play right handed and then a lower level

player.

So it was just an interesting combo.

The put in perspective though, he did tell me that he has beaten Ben Johns and they're

both playing off handed.

Really?

I mean, he wasn't bad with his right hand.

He was good.

His forehand is very good.

His backhand is sketchy.

Yes.

So then after that, that was the, that was the quarter finals.

JJ and sleeves won that match 11 6.

So there again out of the toilet bowl.

So now the semi finals was Pickleball medicine and Doug's abuse act versus whiskey dink and

Alex Weaver.

That was actually a burner of a man.

That was a crazy one.

So the semi finals were all games to 15 and I think at some point they were tied 10, 10

and then it went off like another 20 minutes from there.

That was a long match.

Doug and Pickleball medicine ended up winning that one 15, 12 to send Alex and whiskey dink

to the toilet bowl and then the other match was Matt's Pickleball and Doug Thielin again,

the CMO of Cell Kirk versus Robert Slutsky and Doug's wife and Robert Slutsky and Doug's

wife won that one 15, four.

So the toilet bowl finals was whiskey dink and Alex Weaver versus Matt's Pickleball and

Doug Thielin.

Now we'll mention Doug Thielin here.

Doug if you do happen to listen to this, I just want you to know I highly enjoyed talking

to you at this event.

You are very funny and great guy.

Your roasts after the tournament were absolutely out of this world.

We'll get to that.

Incredible person.

Like the dude runs ultra marathons.

Yeah.

Like it's just a cool guy.

Pickleball skills aren't quite there.

It's gonna be a minute.

It's gonna be a little bit.

I mean, I get it.

Maybe he was a little nervous.

I mean, I was talking to Rob and Rob was like, I played with him a bunch.

I haven't seen him play that bad.

I think he also told me that he usually plays singles.

I don't know if he plays a lot of doubles.

That would make sense.

But yeah, Pickleball skills could use some work.

Yeah, they're a little sketchy.

So in the finals, Alex and Whiskey-Dink pickled Matt's and Doug in the first game.

And then in the second game, Alex and Whiskey-Dink win 11-3.

So Matt's and Doug Thielin were the toilet bowl champions this year.

Yep.

Dude, I'm telling you next year I'm getting it.

Whoever I'm getting, I hope you're ready to throw.

I got a crown to get, my man.

I got a crown to earn.

I don't care how good you are.

You're gonna have to carry me because I'll play left-handed to get that

toilet bowl.

That's crazy.

So they had a dunk tank.

So the losers had to go in the dunk tank when we got back from the tournament.

So I think Matt's ended up changing his flight.

He left early.

So he didn't end up doing the dunk tank.

So I think we had three people that ended up doing Rob Barnes from Selkirk.

Doug Thielin from Selkirk because he won the toilet bowl and then Doug's abusive.

He was like, I ended up doing it.

Now Doug Thielin, again, we were saying I mentioned a minute ago.

His roasts were out of this world.

After he lost and went back to the hotel, the commitment on this man, he said he looked

everyone up for like two hours and figured out how to roast everyone.

So everyone who came up to throw a ball at this dunk tank, the most on-point roast I've

ever heard.

Instantly he had the greatest roast of all time for every single person.

I'm like, pro, this guy knows all the lore.

Yeah, I was like, how does this guy know everything?

Nobody knew that he was researching all this beforehand.

I mean, he was a great sport.

He had like a necklace that he tied the toilet bowl trophy to.

So I didn't even see that.

I was wearing it around his neck the entire night.

That's cool, the guy was just awesome.

Really fun to talk to.

Great guy.

I hope he gets better at pickleball and plays in this again next year because I was joking.

I was like, imagine he was the belt.

I was like, next year is you and me, buddy.

That?

Yeah, he was very funny.

I mean, I wish I had more videos of it because some of the roasts, I was like, oh my gosh.

I was like, I can't.

Like I'm trying to remember, I don't even remember what he said for me, but they were all

just very funny.

Oh yeah.

It was very, very good.

It was great.

So anyways, that's kind of the recap of the nerdy turnie.

It was very fun.

They put on a great event.

It's just a very funny event.

Random partners.

It's like built to be very much in environment of very joky and not serious when you have

random partners.

Some of these people you've never played with.

And it's great too is because I mean, okay, how many people do you think overall is

probably 35 plus people there?

It's not like that.

Yeah.

Yeah, around there.

Everyone gets along.

Yeah.

Pretty well.

Right?

Like there's not any huge issues.

Like everyone's personality types are pretty similar.

We're all chatting joking.

Because we're all nerds.

Yeah, sure.

We have one big thing in common.

Yeah.

But it's cool.

Like we're obviously all friends online and have chatted with each other for years online.

But getting to like being person, talk, get to know each other is just really cool.

Yeah.

There's a lot of fun.

Like people that I wouldn't really expect to get along with or talk to like whiskey

dank.

His name's Martin is not a guy I would particularly think that I would get along with or laugh

with and have fun with.

He's a bit older.

He's a doctor.

Like just you would think nothing in common.

Right.

But hilarious.

But hilarious guy.

I mean, so funny.

I love talking with him.

Like hanging out with him the whole week was really cool.

So just random stuff like that.

The events great and I'm really happy to hear that Rob loved it so much.

And here's the thing.

It's not cheap.

Like they throw a big party.

It's a whole thing.

Yeah.

So Kirk and Rob did say he wants to keep doing it each year.

So I thought look potentially it was like this could be the last one.

They got to do at least one more.

So I'm not walking away without all three.

So you can triple crowd.

I'm not walking away without all three.

Oh, man.

Okay.

So that was that was the event.

A lot of fun.

Yep.

Let's get to the kitchen here.

Okay.

Since all of you liked the paddleguests in game last week, we decided we're going to do it

again.

We're going to do one round.

Maybe we'll make this a regular thing on the bottom.

We do like another phone to like set the timer.

Actually, give me one second.

Oh, yeah.

No, we don't.

We only need one because we're going to do it one at a time.

Oh, we're doing it one at a time.

So how we're going to do it this week?

Because I think it'll make it a little bit more entertaining.

What do you think we should do?

Time it.

You get to ask questions for one minute.

Let's do a minute and a half.

Yeah, I was making a minute because we want, we'll do a minute and a half, one person

at a time.

You can ask any question you want, but I think we're going to add one more rule this week.

You can't ask if it is this brand.

You can't say, am I a sell clerk paddle?

Really?

Yeah.

We're going to make it a little harder this time.

That's going to make it so tough.

I have a feeling it's going to make it really hard.

Honestly, if either one of us get it, I'll be very impressed.

I will also be impressed.

Okay, so you can't ask, you have a minute and a half to ask questions.

That stops and then you get your final guess.

You can't ask the brand.

Yep.

Any other rules?

So after the minute, you can have one final guess after the minute and a half.

And then before you can guess as many times as you want, but after the minute you get one,

we'll try it.

I have a feeling neither of us are going to get it, but we'll see.

I have a feeling that neither one of us are going to get it.

Get the timer on yours.

I'll get your paddle.

Okay, hold on.

Hold on.

I got it.

Hold over here.

Okay.

Ready?

Yep.

Three, two, one, go.

Is it a controversial paddle?

No.

Coming all three shapes.

No.

Does it have a longer lasting texture?

Yes.

Is it a Spartus P1?

No.

Is it longer lasting texture?

Is it nanograph?

No.

Is it the Thrive Ignite?

No.

Is it Honolulu?

No.

No.

No.

No.

Does it come in multiple colors?

Yes.

Is it the Ruby Pro?

No.

Is it the Ruby?

No.

There's the Ruby.

Sorry.

The Coral Pro.

That's why I'm asking.

No.

Has a longer lasting texture?

Yes.

Is it, oh, is it the 11, 6, 24 vapor?

No.

What?

That comes in all three shapes.

Shoot, you're right.

Longer lasting texture.

Oh, is it longer lasting texture?

I feel like I've guessed every other longer lasting texture

paddle.

How can I...

20 seconds.

Question, question, question.

Is it dual approved?

No.

Oh, it's not.

So is it UPA approved?

Oh, it's USAP?

Yeah.

Longer lasting texture?

10 seconds.

Is it the...

It does...

Is it a rubbery texture?

No.

Is it five seconds?

I can't be a saffron.

Oh, okay.

Longer.

Longer.

Oh, gosh.

One.

Okay, final guess.

Brawl.

I can't believe you haven't got it.

You're so clever.

I know.

I'm blanking out.

Okay.

Think of everything you just asked.

It's only USAP approved.

Longer lasting texture.

I feel like I've guessed every single longer lasting texture

paddle.

There's quite a few you haven't guessed.

There's quite a few.

What do you mean there's quite a few?

I should have asked if it was...

Oh.

No, because that's dual approved, isn't it?

Boomstick.

That's your final answer.

Yeah, boomstick.

Now...

Lux.

Lux.

Okay.

Honestly, the longer lasting texture thing screwed me over.

That's...

I thought that would...

Once you said multiple colors,

I was like, the lux comes in multiple colors.

Oh, I honestly forgot it.

I was asking so many back to back questions

that I forgot I even asked that question.

Oh, man, I was like, dude, he's gonna nail it.

I was like, I can't believe this.

I thought I...

Yeah.

Once I had that, I was like, I'm gonna get this right away.

The longer lasting question was a really good question.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was really good.

Wow.

Wow.

And you were so close.

I know.

You almost had the glory.

Oh, gosh.

Okay, let me make sure the exposure looks good.

Okay, ready?

Let me second to think directions of questions.

I know.

It's tough.

Okay.

All right.

Three, two, one, go.

Did I ever main this paddle?

No.

Do I like this paddle?

No.

What I recommend this paddle?

No.

Do I hate this paddle?

Yeah.

I don't know if you hate it.

Was this paddle controversial?

No.

Do other people like this paddle?

I haven't met anyone.

Is it an Adidas metal bone?

No.

Oh, gosh.

Is it pre 2023?

I don't think so.

Is it USAP approved only?

Yes.

Do we know anyone that means this paddle?

Did anyone ever mean it that we know?

No.

Oh, my gosh.

What the heck?

Is it a weird paddle?

Weird-ish.

It doesn't come in many shapes.

All three shapes?

I think two possibly three.

No, three shapes.

Is it a major brand?

Medium.

Medium.

Oh, god.

Six zero double-black diamond infinity?

Nope.

30 seconds.

Oh, my gosh.

What other questions could I ask?

I don't even know what I can ask.

I might have made this one a bit tough.

Gosh, I can't ask a brand question.

Dang it.

20 seconds.

Get a little bit of the line.

Dude, I don't know.

There's some good questions.

Wait, is it a Gearbox GX-5?

Nope.

Is it Ed's List?

Nope.

Does it have a gimmick?

Yes.

Is it the Aero One Shot?

Nope.

Oh, my gosh.

Five seconds, three, two, one.

Does it have a hole?

No.

OK, final guess.

What?

I don't know what I could possibly guess.

Man, what would my final guess?

There's like an avenue of questions

that would have really helped you get there.

Is it a Franklin trainer paddle?

Piedem Blue Corps.

The original Blue Corps.

The original Blue Corps.

The reason why I said, like, kind of on the gimmick

was like the edge guard.

I guess.

Man, yeah, I don't know.

Or like the core being blue.

Oh, I should have asked Polymer or Foam Corps.

That's, yeah.

That would have helped me narrow it down.

If you asked what the core was, could I help along?

I think at that point, I could have got to 008.

I should have asked that question as well.

Dang it.

That would have been a good question.

Yeah.

OK.

I think that was better than last week.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

The stress of like the time.

Maybe what we got to do is there's a,

we both finally get a win in a minute and a half.

Maybe eventually we lower it to a minute or something.

Oh my gosh.

A minute.

I think eventually we'll get to the point, though,

because right now we've only done this a couple of times

so our questions are not dialed.

I think at some point, we will just know

what the big questions are that will narrow it down.

And then we'll just get to the point.

And then we'll just get to the point.

The big questions are that will narrow it down.

Like split it in half.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Is it foam?

Is it not foam?

Is it controversial?

Is it not?

Is it UPAs at USA?

Yeah.

Those types of things.

I think that was better than last week.

That was a lot of fun.

Let us know in the comments if that was better than last week or not.

Oh, I think it was.

All right, let's do some Q and A.

OK.

So I put out a poll on Instagram.

Would some of you ask how can you submit questions?

A lot of times you can just do it on the comment section.

Or, you know, I would say every other week, every third week,

I put out a thing on Instagram and I just ask for podcast questions a day or two before.

So that's how a lot of people are usually submitting these.

Yep.

OK, let's get to them.

Why do people get so addicted to pickleball rather than tennis or other racket sports?

Want me to go first to you?

I'll go first.

OK.

I think there's a bunch of reasons.

I mean, now look, I'm addicted to all racket sports.

I don't hate any racket sports.

I love like there's all this beef between pickleball tennis.

But I love, I love, I love them all.

But I can understand why one, yes, the barrier of entry is a lot lower in pickleball.

So anyone can just start playing and it feels more welcoming because in tennis, one, if

the skill gap is different, even at all, it's just not fun for the other person.

And it's just hard.

It is very hard.

But like, yeah, if you can't serve the ball, you basically can't play tennis.

And it's just not fun.

I mean, I guarantee you that I got on a tennis court right now.

I feel like I'm a pretty decent pickleball player.

I would suck at tennis right now.

I would be so messed up.

I can guarantee that.

Yeah.

So like the barrier of entry is a lot higher.

But also, I think the bigger contributing factor that is the sport is just so much more

social, right?

Like if there's a massive social aspect, you're all very close to each other on a tennis

court.

While you're warming up, you can't really talk to the other person.

You're just there to hit, right?

But in pickleball, you can be warming up, talking, chatting.

I've said this a lot where I think pickleball is like the new golf.

You have like business meetings and stuff on the golf course.

Now people are doing that.

You just go play pickleball, right?

So I think the social aspect is probably the biggest part.

You find a good sense of community.

You meet a lot of new friends.

It's very easy to meet friends.

You can go to a new city and travel and instantly meet somebody.

Everyone has something in common.

So it's just very social.

Yeah, I think I agree with everything you said.

I don't know how much I would add, but I really do think that.

I think the thing I would probably add is on top of the social component.

I think one of the things that makes pickleball so sticky is it definitely feels, you know,

2026, I would say even since COVID, but we were probably already trending this direction

anyways.

It just feels like people are generally more lonely these days or more isolated.

I mean, think about all these things with even AI these days.

People can just talk to that instead of therapist or, you know, they handle their problems with

an AI instead of like a human being.

I feel like pickleball just gives people that thing that even if you don't realize it

logically, everyone craves being around people and having a community action.

And pickleball gives that to you very quickly.

On top of you improve, you can improve so fast at the game because the barrier to entry

is so low that I also think generally speaking, things you can improve at quickly are just

addicting.

If something is very hard to start, unless you have a certain personality trait, a lot

of times you are not heavily inclined to just keep running with it.

Like if you told people, hey, would you rather learn pickleball or would you rather learn

to play the violin?

Most people aren't picking the violin.

It's the way harder.

Just much more accessible, right?

Like there's courts everywhere.

You can go to any state and find a place to play either for free or an indoor facility

or somewhere.

The sport is not expensive to get into, right?

Tennis can be kind of, I mean, anything can be cheap or expensive, right?

Pickleball can get expensive, but it doesn't have to be.

You can get very good equipment at a pretty low price.

Tuba balls is 10, 15 bucks.

So it's just accessible.

And you can show up with that at a park and find people playing.

You're usually not showing up at a tennis court and going, hey, can I mix in?

Yeah, that doesn't exist.

There isn't just like open play tennis.

Yeah.

And it just, I don't think it would work even if you could.

Yeah, it wouldn't.

If you're just learning to play, right?

Whereas I feel like with pickleball, people are usually at a park.

A lot of times there'll be someone or a group of people that are like, oh, you've never

played like we can try and help a little bit.

I don't think that would happen with tennis for the most part.

Maybe in very specific areas.

But I do, I think the being, it progresses very fast, which is addicting.

You meet people and make friends, which I think everyone wants.

Everyone wants human interaction and friends.

And then I'd say those are the biggest ones on.

I'd say like 95% of my friends now are pickleball players.

Yeah.

Pretty large percentage of my friends are also pickleball friends.

Yeah.

Okay, next one.

When will there be budget full phone paddles that also have durable grit 150 or below?

Well, that's starting to happen.

Paddle that should be here in a dare to that's getting talked about a lot is the packal

fuse.

Now, whether it is going to have a durable grit, we have no idea whether that is going

to hold up or not.

We've obviously seen some that actually hold up and some that don't.

And so far, the ones that have held up have not been cheap.

I want to say the packal fuse after code is a good bit under $150.

Don't completely quote me on that, but I'll let you know when we actually get to talk

about it.

And then I think Vatic has been in the works on one, haven't heard an update in a while,

but they're probably coming.

But it does seem to be trickling down a little bit slower than some of the other technologies.

Next up, purchase the coral pro or wait for a different company's durable grit all

core paddle.

What do you think?

Hmm.

Depends on how valuable it is to you.

Like is that something that you truly value like you truly value durable grit over maybe

necessarily the feel and playability of a paddle?

Because if so, then yeah, just buy the coral pro.

Otherwise, I'm trying to think of what other paddle would be your option.

Far as all court.

Yeah, like the aura.

Yeah, you know, or the omnie.

I don't know what I'd do.

I mean, I would say if grit is the biggest one, I would just go buy the coral pro.

Ron ran his test on it with the new, with the doubling amount of the diamond, the diamonds

in the texture and the much how, oh my word, I cannot talk to that.

And how much gritty here the paddle is.

It was in what John places as like tier one, like he'd essentially lost no spin.

Actually, I think it technically gained a little bit of spin.

So in terms of one that you know is going to last and is already a well established good

all court paddle.

To me, the coral pro would fit that.

But if the long lesson texture is not the most important thing, then I think there are

some other options.

But honestly, I do think the coral pro is like one of the best all court paddles in general

you could buy.

Like my thought would be don't wait for someone else unless you think or unless you know

that the coral pro doesn't fit like a field profile or something.

Yeah, you know, that would be the only thing.

Because otherwise it comes in all three shapes.

Yeah, it plays, it feels good.

I like the paddle.

So there's no overly expensive.

Yeah, there's no outlining things that are like this is really bad about it.

So to me, I think I would probably just say purchase core pro.

That's what I would say too.

I wouldn't bank on someone else, especially in the all court category.

I do think we're seeing a little bit of a pendulum swift back to some all court or

all court, like kind of leaning power.

But I just wouldn't bank on people doing it right now.

Power paddles are still pretty hot.

So I think companies are going to focus on that first.

And you can also like if you that is something you're waiting for and then you see.

I'm just going to throw out a brand and say Friday comes out with a longer last

and I should there's no guarantee that it's going to be better.

And it's going to take time to test it and figure it out.

So you might get excited by it and then it ends up being bad.

Yep.

Right.

Sure.

So next one, what are the best ball machines at different price points?

And are they worth it for players above a four level?

So I am not as up to date currently on what the best ball machines are.

It may have shifted a little bit.

But the ones that when I saw this question immediately came to mind.

There's the slinger which I own and is somewhere around $800.

And then the best one in my opinion from what I've seen and kind of messed with is the Titan.

For sure.

Because you have the app.

It's very good at being able to set up drills.

If you know where to you can just put the ball machine here and it can.

There's a lot of things with the app you can do.

It is a much more pleasant experience using the Titan than the slinger.

But you're also going to spend like $2,200.

The lot for the Titan,

which is a lot of money.

And in my opinion, while I think a ball machine is very helpful,

it's still much more annoying to use than hitting with a friend.

And if you absolutely cannot find people to hit with, then yes,

a ball machine is going to be awesome.

But they're not particularly fun to set up.

Especially if you're going to do a lot of different drills.

Yeah.

If you're going to do one or two, it's fine.

But if you're going to do like four or five different drills, it's a lot.

I think there is a couple of things that ball machines can be like pretty good for for hitting with.

I'm not a huge fan of using them.

You know, if I'm going to drill it, rather just have a person there and then you can do more,

like in depth specific things or combos and stuff.

I think I, if you're going to buy a Titan,

my recommendation would be take that $2,500 investment, find somebody and buy them food

and other things with that $2,500 and just make them your friend.

And then, and then they will want to hit with you.

They can become your ball machine.

Let me just do some rough math here.

I don't know. We'll just do this.

Buy them a paddle.

You could have, if you did like $30 for a lunch, you and them.

Or even if you just want to say them, you buy them a slightly nicer lunch.

What was that?

That was like 80 something sessions.

You could get out of them.

Exactly.

See?

And you get a friend out of it, hopefully.

Hopefully.

Hopefully.

And maybe like you pay food.

Yeah, maybe a doubles partner.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not a huge fan of ball machines.

I think they do have a place and they can be useful.

But I've personally just never been a fan of using them.

Yeah, they just really end up becoming a pain to use.

And it really is that set up time and picking up the balls that get so annoying

that yes, they can be useful.

But you kind of get sick of it pretty quick in mind.

Yeah, over time of using it just becomes like, I don't want to do this anymore.

Yeah.

Yep.

I'd rather have a person.

Yep.

Next one.

This one is going to be interesting to answer.

So they said, I hate all the standard shaped foam paddles.

I play a Scorpius 14 millimeter.

What should I get?

I'm assuming they want something that feels like that.

Honestly, since they didn't specify what?

No, go ahead.

I was going to say, since they didn't specify, I'm assuming,

or we don't know if they want a switch because they've been core crushing them

and they're sick of that, or why they necessarily want to go over to a foam paddle.

Maybe they just want something that last longer or some of these longer lasting textures.

It's confusing hate every single foam standard shape because there's so many.

Well, that's the thing is I want to know how many they've tried.

I think the Q2 is literally the Scorpius shape.

Yeah, the shape.

But I don't think it's this, just hates all the foam pads.

The foam variants.

It's not the shape itself.

Yeah.

So my thought would be, I mean, just stick with the Gen 3 unless you're really sick of

breaking them.

Because they're just, here's the thing.

Gen 3's still have their place because of the feedback they give.

There are a lot of people who really like them.

Honestly, the more I've been hitting some recently, pulling out the gliders, like, man,

I really like how this paddle feels.

And a 90 bucks is also cheap, which maybe that's your answer.

Look at some of the cheaper ones.

You have the Friday fever.

You have the Luz.

They don't have a wide body.

So if you're really attached to the wide body, then Luz isn't going to be an option.

But Friday is, there's 100 bucks.

See, I actually did get confused because I thought it was talking specifically about the

shape, not the actual paddles themselves.

But these kinds of questions of like, I use this, which one of X paddle, like, or core

paddles, what I like is so tough because there needs to be so many follow-up questions

to be able to ask this.

And I was like, I'm, you get the cell time.

This is the number one question I get all the time is, what's the best paddle?

Yeah.

It just doesn't exist, right?

There's so many different foam paddles.

Do you want something really light and you're going to wait up yourself?

Do you want something heavy and stock?

Do you want something 14 or 16 stiff and dense?

Or, well, no one wants stiff and dense.

Stiff and hollow.

You know, it just goes on and on and on.

I'm actually surprised.

I haven't, I've only met a couple people that are like, I hate all foam paddles.

There's not any that feel good because there's such a wide band of foam paddles now.

Right.

In the field category.

Yeah.

I'd be very curious to know what they have tried.

I think if we knew that, it would really help narrow this question down because if you

told me, okay, the only ones I've tried are a power two and a genesis or something.

Well, let's just say a genesis and a wave.

I'm like, okay, well, there's a lot you haven't tried.

So maybe I could give you a recommendation of an idea.

Like, maybe an aura pro wide body.

That's relatively different from some of the foam paddles.

But honestly, I feel like if you know you like the Scorpius 14 millimeter, I'd just say

stick with it.

Yeah.

You know?

There's a little bit more context there, but that's how we dance with that.

Last one.

I just thought this one was kind of funny because I feel like there's a lot of different things

that's going to be applied to.

But any tips for lefty players, I get judged as if being lefty is a crime or something.

See, this is something else that like requires so much context.

I feel like this one, to me, felt kind of straightforward because the judging is just

the stacking.

The lefty probably wants to stack or the other person that writing wants to stack and

they don't want to say that.

Well, see, that's the thing is usually I feel like it's the other way around where the

writing wants to stack and the lefty sick of stacking.

Anytime, because maybe this is just me personally when I play with people, if I'm just playing

rec play and they're lefty, I will never start initiate the stacking.

I will immediately win a point.

We might start that way and immediately walk to the right box because I don't care.

Lefty, not lefty, doesn't matter to me.

Then unless they say something or be like, hey, if you want to stack, we can, I don't

care.

I don't know.

It's never been an issue for me.

I think the only scenario I feel that makes sense that would be hard to deal with is if

you want to stack as the lefty and the righty doesn't want to stack because you're probably

not going to convince them or force them to stack.

That's uncomfortable.

I would like to know what level this is, too.

Because at different levels, it does change because I think at lower levels, the not stacking,

well, for one, they probably don't know what stacking is.

That's a huge thing, too.

If you don't stack, who takes the ball in the middle, clanking paddles, like it's really

frustrating, I'm sure the righty hates it.

The lefty has to deal with it all the time, so he probably hates it.

At the higher levels, if I put it the lefty and we don't stack, it's usually not really

a problem.

I don't know.

I just say if you're being judged as the lefty, all you righty's out there.

Come on, man.

Just be nice to the lefty.

That's messed up.

I love all my lefty friends.

There was a lot at the nerdy turn.

So many lefty's.

Six or seven.

I played a wreck game after the tournament was over and I was the only righty.

Yeah.

I'm pretty sure there was a game at one point that was all lefty's.

All four lefties, yeah.

Which is not something I, before this tournament, I don't think I've ever seen that.

Crazy.

Yeah.

So it was wild how many lefties were.

Lefties everywhere.

But I don't know.

Where's the judgment coming from?

Yeah.

I don't really see judgment on lefties really ever.

So yeah, I would just say, you know, if you can offer to stack, if they don't want to

stack, then just don't stack and know that the middle might be a little more open.

In this case, lefty person, if you're thinking about buying a ball machine, take that $2500

and find a new group of friends that won't judge you.

There you go.

Maybe that's the answer.

So all right.

Yeah.

That's what we have for the podcast this week.

Sorry that it was a little bit shorter, but getting back from the nerdy tournament.

It was an hour 20 minutes.

Well, never mind.

Guess it wasn't that short.

It felt like it was, it felt like it was short this week.

I guess it was more just that the, the topic variety was not very wide.

We just, yeah, for a really long time about probably the nerdy tournament, if I had to guess.

So anyways, thanks for listening, guys.

Appreciate it.

And we'll catch you next week.

Peace.