Sunday, November 17, 2019 (Court Day #323)

I arrived at Derby Park at 8:45 to blow off the courts and set up.

It was a mix of happiness and frustration today.

I’ve been continuing to play lefty for easier games and righty for harder games.

George and I signed up in red. Dean and Charles added their names. I wanted to play against Dean but also wanted the most balanced teams so I walked toward Charles. Dean wasn’t hitting his “you’re not a strong player” serves—he was hitting them low and hard. Charles and I each returned several into the net. We simply weren’t used to seeing serves that fast. It was fantastic to be exposed to those. I know it wasn’t as fun for Dean since there was less play as a result. Dean and George won handily. I made a few good shots and one got a compliment from Dean.

Later, I had a game with Grita against Charles and Shawnte. During some net play, Charles smacked a hard volley, and I took it with my backhand while playing righty. That hurt. Enough that I switched to lefty . . . that didn’t quite work out as Grita let the next shot down the middle go thinking I’d get it with my right hand. Oops. I switched back to righty. We lost, but I was “past my expiration date” in that game.

I closed out my time at 1:05.

I went home, and iced my elbow while watching the Oakland Raiders beat the Cincinnati Bengals to improve to 6-4. The 49ers won too, which is always good for the greater extended Bay Area.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 (No Play)

Today, I learned that Barney McCallum, the last living founder of Pickleball, passed at home two days ago on Monday, November 18, 2019. He was 93 years old. He lived in Seattle. Too bad. Not that he lived in Seattle—though it’s cold and overcast a lot—but that it was his time to leave us. At least he got to see his new sport explode in recent years.
Vintage photo of Barney from pickleball.com

It was too busy at work to play today. Hopefully, Friday morning will work out.

Yesterday, we were moving a lot of somewhat heavy boxes from a delivery of four pallets of drawing/sketch books. That’s taken a toll on my tennis elbow. Had I known, I would have brought a forearm band.

Thursday, November 21, 2019 (No play)

I don’t watch much live TV other than sports, but a photo is circulating today online about a question that appeared on Jeopardy last night:

Yes, the answer is pickleball. (Ok, to preempt you Jeopardy nerds, sure, it’s the “question”!) It’s great to get the exposure for our sport on National television.

Number of days on a court: 323
Number of total hours: 906.5

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