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Here’s a sampling of what they had to say. Comments have been edited for style, brevity and clarity.
bradley f stolfi: Obviously a tongue-in-cheek article, but surely there will be people who take it literally. If you’ve watched a pickleball game, you will see that the players are engaging balance, timing, vision and movement. If that’s not a good thing for the senior set, I don’t know what it is. Raining on the pickleball parade is just another person who doesn’t like something new and different. Even if it is a good thing.
H. Bruce Miller: True, pickleball isn’t as strenuous as tennis or racquetball or running marathons or doing the Tour de France. And it isn’t as hard to learn as other racket sports. And that’s THE WHOLE POINT. It’s a simple game meant to be played among friends for relaxation and amusement. Why can’t people accept it as such, instead of drawing odious comparisons with other sports?
Robert Owen S: Thank you, Mr. Reilly. I share your passion. At age 65, I recently picked up my tennis racket (after 40 years) to fend off the pickleball apostles. A condescending “no, I play tennis” brings me great joy and is usually met with “tennis, that’s too much running.” Exactly.
ragmansnake18: Someone I know quite well went from a beginner in pickleball to certified teaching pro in less than two years. Granted, he was an outstanding athlete in other sports, but if someone can become a teaching pro in two years, then the “sport” cannot be that hard to play.
cathy t: I was laughing right along until he dissed Zumba. Them’s fighting words, buster!
Doc Sarvis: My wife recently retired and has taken it up. I now travel for work as much as possible.
Buffalo Romeo: No need to quibble over what was clearly a satiric piece. The sociological and physical benefits of pickleball are legendary. We had a 70th birthday party for a friend last year. He talked about how as a kid he could go outside and find a handful of neighborhood kids to play ballgames with. Anytime, there was something going on. And he says, “This group — 60 years later — serves precisely the same purpose.”
Alex Stepanyk: Can’t do pickleball. I’m just one of those people who is constitutionally incapable of getting into “The Next New Big Thing.” I grew up on the streets of New York. We played basketball, baseball and football in the streets as well as things like stickball, stoopball, handball and box ball. I endorse all of them. All of these sports were superior to pickleball, which I just can’t do for the simple reason that everyone is doing it.
thomaskmorin: Rick is so right. I have told my kids that if I ever say “I want to move to the Villages and start playing pickleball,” it means that I have lost my mind and the only merciful thing to do is to put me down!
PortlandDuck: I play pickleball three to five days a week. I have played many competitive sports in my life, including baseball, football, swimming and tennis. Pickleball is by far the most enjoyable. And one cannot become good in an afternoon; it requires lots of drilling to acquire the necessary skills, such as a third-shot drop.
Tony B2: At 72, I tell friends who ask me to play that I’m not old enough.
Mass57th: Very funny column, Rick. I enjoyed it. But if you think you’re “pretty good” after playing for one morning, you’re playing with chumps. I promise.
AP in NY: Rick, if your crocheting is not epic, you are doing it wrong.
CMLion: Rick Reilly wrote that there is no “epic” in napping. This is where he lost me. I’m not retired, I’m not even yet 60, but naps? Glorious. And every so often, there is an epic one that makes my weekend.
actioneod: You don’t quit racket sports because you get old. You get old because you quit racket sports.
CaptainHook: “It was a lot of people who hadn’t played a sport in 30 years suddenly thinking they’re athletes.” Please give this writer a Nobel. Truer words will be hard to find.
Random Reader 3: I love a good misanthropic rant, and this certainly delivered. Yes, picklevangelists can be every bit as annoying as those people who feel compelled to constantly post their Wordle results. Don’t know why I need daily updates on people’s latest recreational obsession.
And yeah, pickleball ain’t much exercise. Tennis players can fairly look down on it in that regard, just like we squash players look down on gently moving racquetballers. It’s always fun to feel superior.
But so what if pickleball isn’t tennis? It’s better exercise than sitting on the couch. And you do move around a lot more than in ping-pong. Anything that gets people up and moving has to be good for something.
Simpletonoone: I play pickleball. The game is fine. It’s better than not getting any exercise. But it’s the constant talk about pickleball that I find hilarious. And the least-proficient players seem to jibber-jabber the most. My wife loves the social interaction. I always say, “I like pickleball. I just don’t care for the people who play it.” She thinks I’m a curmudgeon, too.
DenverTank: Pickleball is pretty fun. And it’s also pretty cool that within half an hour of starting, you can be good enough to have entertaining points — unlike tennis or golf, where it can take a year to attain basic competence, which can then desert you on any given day, in any given minute. That said, even though it is easy to play decently, it is very hard to play well. High-level players are generally legitimate athletes.
doglovermn: Too funny! I love pickleball, but I can laugh at myself, too!
Bing Hampton: I’m going to talk about pickleball twice as much thanks to this article.
Blu in Tejas: As a lifelong tennis player, I find pickleball amusing for a variety of reasons. The sound is amusing (I don’t live near a court, so I might not be an authority); the scoring is amusing (think volleyball, only more confusing); and the terminology is amusing (the kitchen, really?). After a pickleball career of one match, I told my host that if you’re taking up a new sport at 70, pickleball is it!
DaleFrances: Pickleball is fun, easy to pick up (harder to master) and an incredible social game. Someone said once, how can you tell the difference between a tennis game and a pickleball game without looking? There’s more laughter and interaction in a pickleball game. And surely that’s a good thing.
oaklandr: Very funny, and yet I cannot laugh right now because the laughter radiates down my back. I have a broken vertebra and left forearm, because I did what I have been taught not to do: run backward. I ran backward and sideways to reach a far ball and fell on my hand and back while playing pickleball.
It may not be the sport Rick Reilly wants to play; however, millions of us want it. It is easy to make a lot of friends, it’s fun and it gets me out in the open. I don’t get competitive and don’t want to play in tournaments, just an afternoon out.
I wonder what Reilly will say when padel shows up in the United States. It is the fastest-growing sport in Europe and the Middle East.
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