Seven Things You Need to Know about Pickleball

Jul 23

WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY PETER MOORE

#1: No pickles were harmed in the creation of this newsletter.

The editor of parade magazine (circulation 33 million) popped up in my email a couple of months ago, asking The Question of our Age: “Do play pickleball?”

Unlike everybody else in the world, I answered, “uh…no.”

But, as a journalist, ignorance is my competitive advantage: There’s so much I know very little about! And, my editor went for it!

The resulting article hits newspapers on Sunday July 24.

Or you can read it here.

As I incorporate the Next Big, Orange, Bouncing Thing into my life, I made a few observations that didn’t quite fit into my article, including…

#2: Like the pickleball itself, the sport’s creation story is full of holes.

The game’s creators’, on Bainbridge Island off of Seattle, couldn’t agree on how the game acquired that ridiculous — I mean ridiculously popular! — name. It was either christened for 1.) a ball-chasing dog named Pickles, or 2.) the second-string — or pickle — boat in a race, made up of an odd assortment of rowers, just like pickleball is made from an odd mix of ping-pong, tennis, paddleball, and alien farm implements. It’s no wonder the dog story took over, though it’s probably not true.

#3: Pickleball is the fountain of youth.

One recurring theme among interviewees for my story was “it saved my life!” Another ubiquitous tale: Meeting some court-side coot who can barely walk, then being whipped by him and his even more decrepit doubles partner in a pickleball game.

#4: The pickleball court has a kitchen, but you can’t eat there.

It’s a cruel game. All savory references, no delivery.

**#5: Even the New Yorker is covering pickleball.**

Fearing the immense reach and definitive nature of my Parade story, the New Yorker rushed one into print this week as well. You can read it here, if you have a spare half-day or so. Or, in the same amount of time, you could buy paddles at Walmart, drive to a court, and master the game yourself.

#6: CAUTION: Pickleball is has side effects.

The game is universally described as “addictive,” which means larger and larger doses of pickling will be required to achieve the same initial zing. Let the pickler beware.

#7: My favorite part of pickleball?

It’s all in the ears.

What the hell is R2E?

When I was Editor of Men’s Health magazine, and before that, articles editor for Playboy, I was pretty good at my jobs. But I was great at taking vacations — Moscow and Minneapolis, Bermuda and the Badlands, Kathmandu and Kauai, Key West and the Congo, plus all those national parks you’ve been meaning to visit (Acadia, Great Sand Dunes, Everglades, Point Reyes National Seashore, and on, and on). I live to travel because every trip changes and enriches my life, starting with an epic run through Paris-London-the South Downs-Belfast-Sligo-Oslo-Zagreb (!)-Venice-Rome just after I graduated from college. The Road2Elsewhere tracks my own gleanings and mistakes from a lifetime of purposeful wandering through places, ideas, books and stuff that makes me laugh; harvests insights from the best memoirists and travel writers; and includes paintings and drawings and cartoons I made along the way. Not all who wander are lost…they’re on the Road2Elsewhere.

Peter Moore

PETER MOORE Writer/Editor/Illustrator/Wiseguy

3x NYT bestselling author...multiple National Magazine Award winner as writer and editor...2x interviewer of Barack Obama...chilled with Matt Damon in India for a week, for a Men’s Health cover story...NPR animator and commentator…cartoonist/columnist for the Colorado Sun

Peter Moore is an editor, writer, illustrator, animator, co-author, radio host, TV and podcast guest, speaker, editorial consultant, and journalism lecturer. He currently works as a columnist/cartoonist for The Colorado Sun and a commentator/animator for NPR. Peter recently completed gigs as interim editor of BACKPACKER magazine; launch editor for NatuRX, a cannabis/health magazine; and a two-decade run at Men’s Health magazine, where he topped out as VP/Editor. He has written or ghosted three New York Times bestsellers. He publishes twice weekly at petermoore.substack.com; his 8,000 subscribers open his emails to the tune of 20,000 reads per month.

In August 2008, Peter joined then-Senator Barack Obama on his

campaign plane for a cover story for the November issue of Men’s Health; the issue was on newsstands when Senator Obama became President-elect Obama. Almost exactly a year later, he interviewed President Obama in the Oval Office for a cover story in the October 2009 issue of Men’s Health. The following week he interviewed Michelle Obama for Women's Health.

Peter has written major features for Men’s Health, Prevention, Parade, and Backpacker, and AARP: The Magazine; between them they boast about 30 million readers. Following his own heart-health scare, Peter wrote “A Tale of Three Hearts,” which garnered Men’s Health’s first National Magazine Award. In April 2010, after his first year as editor of Men’s Health, the magazine won the NMA for General Excellence, in competition with The New Yorker, among other magazines. The January 2014 issue contained his account of a trip to India with Matt Damon, to visit villages impacted by Damon’s activist group water.org.

Moore has made 1000+ appearances on television, podcasts, and radio programs, discussing travel, career development, cartooning and drawing, second careers, humor as stress relief, relationships, and other stuff he makes up as he goes along. He has been interviewed on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning, as well as NPR, CNN, and MSNBC. He was the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show Men’s Health Live, heard in 52 markets; it had a million listeners per week. He now works as a commentator/animator for Front Range NPR and a columnist/cartoonist for the Colorado Sun.

Prior to joining Men’s Health, Peter served as articles editor for Playboy. A graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, he lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife. He is an avid mountain climber, backpacker, skier, basketball player, bicyclist, yogi, international traveler, illustrator, and cook. And he can juggle.

https://petermoore.substack.com