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

[00:00:03] All right, 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 Luzz Inferno, and then we're going to recap the Nerdy Tourney, which if you're watching the video, you might have some clues as to how the Nerdy Tourney went.

[00:00:30] 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.

[00:00:49] All right, 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 Tourney. 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 Pickleball getaway stuff.

[00:01:12] 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. There's, 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.

[00:01:39] 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 if someone's 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.

[00:02:07] 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. And Ben, we've all seen when Ben's done coaching videos, he's like one of the best we've ever seen, obviously. For sure. So yeah, I just really like his content. It's very early. There's, I don't know, maybe 40, 50 videos or something like that. But I have a feeling, give it another year or two and it's going to be a very good account. For 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.

[00:02:35] I don't know how this managed to fly under the radar. I missed it. 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 Fakalos 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. Both of them came up.

[00:03:03] 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 surface roughness. Not surprising considering in like every interview at Stick in the Gabe shirt. You've talked about how good the spin on that paddle is. So absurd. Yeah, like you loved it. So no one is shocked here that it did eventually get cracked down on. But what I am surprised at is that the information just wasn't anywhere.

[00:03:30] 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. And then other things it's like horrendously bad at. Like you should never ask. 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 like a twist weight question one time and it was like,

[00:04:00] 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 banned paddles, you know, like the Mod TA and stuff like that. Pro Power Elongated.

[00:04:28] 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. I'm like, wait, it did get banned. So I am. I keep my ears pretty close to the ground. I think I'm pretty good at keeping up with the news and nothing. Somehow 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. I was going to say. USAP, please like put this on social media or something. That is where everyone is looking these days.

[00:04:57] So anyways, yeah, I saw that on there. I'll just read the statement really quick here. Following additional review and testing, the Fakulos Pro Series Elite X paddle was found to exceed USA Pickleball's allowable surface roughness standards. During the review process, Fakulos acknowledged that the production version of the paddle differed from the version originally submitted for certification testing. Based on these findings, the Fakulos Pro Series Elite X paddle has been removed from the USAP Pickleball approved paddle list.

[00:05:25] USA Pickleball has been in communication with the manufacturer regarding the status of the paddle and potential next steps related to the marketplace. USA Pickleball remains committed to transparent and consistent equipment testing standards. Any paddle seeking or maintaining USA Pickleball certification must continue to meet all applicable testing requirements and compliance thresholds. And then there's just a list of, you know, approved paddles if you want to go check that out. But yeah, that's the statement. Not surprised at all.

[00:05:54] If anything, I guess I'm more surprised that it took this long to get caught. But better late than never. And 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. But there's basically a tab where you can see paddles that are currently under investigation. And there were several paddles that I was unaware of that are under investigation. So they don't say what for, for the most part. But the Proton Series 3, Project Peacock, if I had to guess, it's grit.

[00:06:23] The Speed Up Tide 14S, almost certainly that's grit. But if I had to guess, just because those are also ridiculously gritty. And then Raw, Rain, and Win, 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. And then on that list, for whatever reason, the Sig Zero Ruby Pro is still there, even though that was reported like 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.

[00:06:54] See, this is one of those things, like after reading this statement, you go, well, duh, we've all been saying this. Yeah, I know. You know? And think about, okay, how long has the Fakulos Pro Series 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.

[00:07:23] 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. Yeah. And I don't feel like it should take that long. Yeah. Especially for something as simple as grit. Right. 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.

[00:07:51] 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 are 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, hey, maybe more people are finally about to be held accountable to what they should be held accountable to. Right. Like everything should be an equal playing field. Yeah. 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.

[00:08:18] 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%. Like it's like, imagine being like, do you want a paddle with a larger sweet spot or a smaller sweet spot? All things equal. You can 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.

[00:08:48] Maybe this is a start of things finally being cracked down on. That would be good. But yeah, I was just shocked that this everyone missed this. Like that's how not dispersed this news was. You know, 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.

[00:09:12] 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.

[00:09:39] I think that an organization that's supposed to be so big in this sport does not make these things clear. Yeah. Right? Like, okay, if you are going to extend that deadline and change the date, make an announcement. It's not that difficult. We have social pages. You have your website. Just 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, yeah, that's what I'm confused is. I mean, I'll pull up their social page right now.

[00:10:07] Like, maybe it was posted 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 Fakalos. Yeah, I don't see anything immediately. So yeah, I hadn't seen anything. I don't know. I just think there needs. USAP could do a much better job at dispersing information, whether it's to news outlets, like having an email news list like, hey, this is happening in the news. They're using their social media page to talk about things. I don't know.

[00:10:33] It just feels like everywhere else, the information is usually easy to acquire for like anything, whether it's paddle manufacturers, whether it's UPAA. They're pretty good at dispersing information. I don't know. Information generally feels pretty easily dispersed in Pickleball 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 Fakulos paddles.

[00:11:01] 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... And how big is USAP over in Asia? Exactly. Because, I mean, do you know anyone in Minnesota that uses a Fakulos paddle? I'm sure someone does. One. Okay, yeah. Just one person. Yeah. So and was it that model? No. Okay. So I guess they're fine. Yeah, I don't think it even mattered. I was just about to say that. So yeah, it's not that big of a deal.

[00:11:30] I think most of the people that are using Fakulos paddles are probably playing PPAs anyways. Yeah, right. Where they end up being fine. Yep. Okay, well, that's news. Let's talk about a new paddle here. So we've got the Luz Frozen Inferno. And I'm probably... I really should make a video about this along with the regular Inferno. I feel like it's just a... It was one of those paddles that I was so late 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.

[00:11:58] There's also just a ton going on at that time around the release of the Inferno. Totally. So I thought this was just going to be like the same thing, just a new colorway 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.

[00:12:27] 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'm like, this is not an all-court paddle. This is a power paddle. But... This is more powerful than an Omni. Hmm. I'd have... 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.

[00:12:56] 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 soft and dense. I mean, I've been playing with Evatic Pro Prism in tournaments recently, you know? So, this, to me, the second I started hitting it,

[00:13:26] 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 what their premier paddle should be. Come on, Luz. Get with the program. But, yeah.

[00:13:54] 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. 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 making pretty high-end, good performance paddles,

[00:14:20] 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 would be nice if it was more obvious. Yes. You know, and I don't know if, like, just kind of changing some graphics and calling it a frozen Inferno or Inferno Frozen. That's confusing.

[00:14:50] It's a bad, confusing move. Right. Because, let me just go on their page. If you look at all the Infernos, there's four of them. Because I imagine most people would not assume that it's a completely different skew. Agreed. Completely agreed. And it's just a color change. So you have the Luz Inferno Frozen, the Luz Pro 4 Inferno, the Luz Pro 4 Darkness Inferno, and then the Luz Pro 4 Blue Blaze Inferno. So you're looking at that, and you're going, okay, well, it's just different colors. But people have noticed some of the Inferno. The Blue Blaze one's way different.

[00:15:20] 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 their way. You know, like Apple, you know, iPhone 13 Pro, Pro Max, Mini, you know? Yes. 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.

[00:15:48] The others are $229. Oh, interesting. You can use code PBStudio 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. Reading the marketing to each other. Yeah.

[00:16:17] This would have 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 Corp. Molecular. I don't even know. Molecular. I can't say it. No, molecularly. Molecularly. I didn't even say it right, bro. English. I turned 30 today and I just can't speak English anymore. My brain's degrading. Molecularly. Okay. Engineered with a PTFE and carbon crystal blend,

[00:16:46] delivers on outer rigidity, inner resilience profile with long-lasting dual 85 performance to prevent the core from softening over time. What does any of that mean? And I'm not even done yet. Hang on. Let's get to the surface. Let's talk about the supercar grade EP12 surface. A premium multi-component epoxy matte finish engineered with ultra high adhesion, waterproofing, guess we can dunk this paddle in water,

[00:17:15] and weather resistance. What does that even mean in pickleball? Weather resistance? Bro, I am ready for my underwater matches. It boosts overall wear resistance by 28%. Percents. I can't speak. Dude, I'm so old now. English. Yeah, you turned 30 and now everything's gone downhill. Delivers a physics-based magnetic-like ball bite driven by coding resilience rather than rough grit. Bro. Bro. First of all, the name of that supercar grade EP12.

[00:17:45] I think in that entire marketing bit there, maybe 10 words were genuinely applicable to pickleball. Yeah. Like everything else. I'm sure someone's going to correct you there. I'm pretty sure it's applicable. Applicable. I'm just going to say now so someone in the comments doesn't have to say it. I was just going to say, when you were trying to pronounce that word at the beginning, I was just thinking of all the dang grammar police in the comments freaking out because everyone has to correct us. Okay, hang on. The next one. All weather performance.

[00:18:14] 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 pickleball 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.

[00:18:43] 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. So 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.

[00:19:09] And if you're reading that, it's such a word salad that if you owned an Inferno, you're like, what does this mean? Is it different or is it not? You'd just be more confused. Yeah. So, all that to say, the paddle's great. The marketing's crazy. Yeah. Did you notice that the butt cap is way different? Like the bottom? I mean, maybe this is just random variance, but, like, there's, like, no butt cap it feels like. Oh, like it's very flat? It doesn't flare? Yeah. Yeah. It feels very small. Let me grab the other Inferno.

[00:19:41] 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. 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 butt versus that. You know, that's what I would consider a big difference. So, I mean, we didn't do an official announcement on this, but I'll just bring it in. On the day of recording, he is turning 30, so I guess, you know, everything goes out the window. Eyesight, hand feel.

[00:20:11] 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? Yeah. 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. Oh, interesting. But it's not bad. I could build, like, a nub here. Sure.

[00:20:38] Also, stock overgrips on Loz pedals, 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 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.

[00:21:05] But I wouldn't go in expecting, you know, going from a full-blown power paddle all the way to an all-court paddle. It's like you went from a high-tier power paddle to, like, maybe the medium tier, you know, middle tier. Yeah. 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.

[00:21:30] 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 Inferno. I'd have to see how it feels with weight on it because we hadn't put any weight on it. So, once I put weight on it, maybe I'd be able to tell better. Gosh, I don't know. I really like both.

[00:21:58] Is it four different things, do you think, or why? No, I mean, I really like the stiff and hollow paddles. I play with Loco, Inferno, Aura 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 and I feel like I can play fine with.

[00:22:28] The dense and soft, or this is like kind of almost hollow and soft. I can play with pretty much whatever. So, it would just come down to what I feel like on the day, you know, I'd say. Yeah, for sure. But I don't think I really have a heavy preference towards either one. Okay. Like you. Okay, got it. Yeah. 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.

[00:22:55] 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 and plays 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 mean, it's like the Blue Blaze one.

[00:23:26] 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 Frozen Inferno. I do want to try and get a video out on this and give you guys a little bit more of an in-depth comparison because I like it. So, does this one have the new texture? See, that's the thing. That's what's confusing. Like even reading that, I don't know.

[00:23:51] They used different, if I'm recalling correctly, because I do mix up Aereo and Luz's terms a little bit. Let me go pull up their glider here. Glider. Uh, 2026. I'm pretty sure that they used a completely different, yeah. They called it 984 Aero face grit on the glider was the long-lasting grit. And then that wording is not used anywhere on the Frozen one.

[00:24:18] 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 coating 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.

[00:24:45] Also, can you just take a moment to, like, why does, why'd 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'd 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.

[00:25:14] 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, oh, it's the Boomstick, whatever. There'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 2, Boomstick 3, 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, oh, it's the 2026 MacBook or whatever.

[00:25:36] 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 differentiate it. Unlike this Inferno where you're like, okay, well, I guess the Frozen one's different. But then are they going to come out with like a Inferno 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 kind of know, oh, it's the new one.

[00:26:02] I just think Luz as a whole makes everything confusing. Yes. Right. Like they're not doing us any favors. Yes, I agree. I agree. All right. That's the only paddle we had for this week. Now we're going to talk about the nerdy turn. It was light this week. Yeah, your back kind of hurting over there. Huh? Well, you know, this belt is kind of weighing me down. Getting a little weight 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're the one who walked over to me with it that way.

[00:26:32] He wanted me to look stupid on the podcast. On my 30th birthday, can you believe this guy? That's 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 Olsen 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

[00:27:02] 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 randomly AI generated images. You're like, what is going on? Is 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

[00:27:25] if all the reviewers played a tournament and you had a group that was higher dupers and then a group that was lower? You 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, 4-0, there's pool A is everyone 4-0 and below and pool B is 4-0 and above. And then you randomly get drawn from a hat and you get paired with one high duper and one low duper. And then you just play a tournament. And it's random drawings.

[00:27:55] You just get your random partner. Yeah. You don't pick anything. They do a video every year where they draw them out of a hat. It's kind of fun. But it's very much advertised at the reviewers. I feel like 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 maybe 20,000 people are interested in seeing how

[00:28:24] 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. How great would that be, though? What's that? Me and you? We just do podcast V podcasts. Well, that would be crazy. That would be wild to see. So it 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.

[00:28:52] And 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 a media outlet Paul. Some of that, I think, is just Doug likes some of these people. So it's like, oh, hey, you know, feel free to come. But largely, it was supposed to just be reviewers originally. That's why it's called the Nerdy Tourney. Yeah, it's a bunch of paddle nerds. It's a bunch of nerds.

[00:29:22] Who's the best nerd of them all, you know? So that was the original point of the whole event. And it's not even really about the tournament, to be honest. Like, yeah, obviously, you're coming and you're playing a tournament. You want to win and you don't want to lose. We'll get to that in a second. I was going to say. We're going to 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. Whether it's the YOLA event, a sell career. No one's like, you got to make a video. You got to say. No one ever says that. It's literally.

[00:29:50] But, you know, if I'm going, I'm like, well, I should probably cover this in some regard, right? You guys listening want to 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 going to 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 duper would have been about a 3-0 all the way up to 5-5.

[00:30:18] Not necessarily paired as a team, but if you took the lowest duper of the 30 or so people that there were, and then the highest duper 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. Just roasting everyone during games. Yeah. Like it's not that serious. It's the tournament side of it. So let's talk about the format because this is what I think makes the tournament very funny.

[00:30:46] You know, winning is great, but really the goal is to not lose. Is to 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.

[00:31:16] There's the winner's 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 draw. Then you lose in the back draw. You're done. Yep. No, 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.

[00:31:39] 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. Yeah. It goes down. You are trying to figure out who the worst team of the entire tournament is. So literally everyone's goal is please, for the love of everything, win the first round. Yep. Because if you win the first round and you lose your second one, 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.

[00:32:09] 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. So 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 quarterfinals, 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.

[00:32:38] Also, I guess quickly before we go over the results. So if you don't want spoilers, obviously you 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 paddle did you play with? Elongated Loco. And I was the wide body Loco. And so we were, now that Bread and Butter was acquired by Selkirk, Rob Barnes was there, and their CMO, Doug Thielen. Yep. We were allowed to use Selkirk pedals as well.

[00:33:07] So there were people using Omnis. Yep. And I had the choice between using an Omni or Loco. So 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. Yeah. So yeah, those are the pedals we used. It was actually pretty decently split. There was a good chunk of Omnis, good chunk of Locos. Braiding used an Aera Power. I think there was, I can't remember if anyone used a Filth.

[00:33:36] There was a Fatboy. Okay. Yeah, there was a Fatboy. Yep. I didn't see a Filth. Maybe you know what I'm thinking of? I'm thinking of the Psycho. I think Matt's Pickleball 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 pillow, really soft one. Yeah. Yeah. Which is funny given how powerful the new Loco is versus the old one. The old one wasn't even crazy.

[00:34:06] Yeah, opposite sides. The name didn't really fit the old one. No. Okay. Let's go. We'll start. Hmm. We'll start with the winner's 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.

[00:34:36] 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. The CEO of Bread and Butter versus Dustin, who's Pickleball Medicine. Yes. Right? And yeah, that was brutal. That was a slaughter. You laid down the slap. Yep. I was like, Isaac does not want to go to the toilet bowl. No, I would do anything to not go to that toilet bowl.

[00:35:01] So I pickled them, and I was cutting up the match, and it was, I think, almost under five minutes. That's crazy. 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 pickled him. Yeah. So that was- That was you and Logan Brown. I don't think we said-

[00:35:30] My partner was Logan Brown, who was one of the original Pickleball Effect podcast co-hosts. Yep. So 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 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 winner's bracket.

[00:36:00] Quarterfinal, Chris Olson and Logan Brown versus Mike and Wilson. 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. We definitely should have won that one. So we- there was like five returns missed. I think Logan started getting really tight.

[00:36:29] And I originally, like in the first match, I was taking a lot of balls, and then I started noticing him missing a lot of returns and stuff. So I was like, okay, maybe if I just give him a little bit more space and let him hit a few more, he'll loosen up. So didn't end up working out. And then they also hit like two or three neck cords. One of them blew off and like hit him in the bottom of the neck and he had a huge red mark. Oh, wow. So yeah, just got a little tight. I probably should have just taken the entire court. But I mean, yeah, they were- they played really well. So yeah, it was a close one.

[00:36:58] 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. Um, 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' duper is bad because obviously he's busy running Selkirk. So it's like a 3-5, but I've seen him play. He plays much closer to a 4-5 level.

[00:37:27] So you have Paul, who is also underrated based on his duper. And then you had Rob, who was- plays well above his duper. Rob is just a pure 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 played, I was like, oh shoot. And when I saw we were playing them, I was like, this is going to be a hard match. And then, 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.

[00:37:56] 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 Brayden from Pickleball Effect versus Pickleball Blast, Bobby, who's actually from Minnesota, and Justin Barton.

[00:38:24] And Brayden and Rafa ended up winning that one 11-3, which is- I would not have expected that scoreline. I would have expected much closer. So I didn't get to see that game, but yeah. 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 Pickleheads. 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.

[00:38:52] His duper is like 5-5, though I think he will self-admit that he's probably closer to a 5-2. Constantly. Yeah. Constantly says it's inflated. Yeah. So Steven and John ended up winning 15-10. That, in my opinion, on paper when the drawing happened, was definitely the 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 playing with someone like that, I think

[00:39:21] he really excels because he just- one, John loves his backhand counter. So on the right side, you just slide and hit a backhand. It's perfect for John. It's literally the best spot he could be in. Yeah. He crushes that backhand counter. Um, and then after that, we had- oh wait, hang on a second. I- that match that I just said, that was the semifinals. My bad. So we read all the quarterfinals. Ha. Uh, building Pickleball and Farmer lost to John and Steven 11-2.

[00:39:47] And then in the semifinals, they played Braden and Rafa and won 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 it the last few podcast episodes, my back has not been doing so hot. So, I had not played doubles in about 25 days. Like, no competitive doubles.

[00:40:15] 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 tweak. And I was like, oh, that wasn't very good. But then this match, we ended up winning the first game, 11-5.

[00:40:46] 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 it'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 me from playing.

[00:41:10] 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 pickleball. But one side, like it's a garage. The garage has this like very shiny silver insulation. And when you're looking on that side, dude, the ball just disappears. But you know what's funny? That ended up being the side that everyone was winning on. I know. It was super weird. I didn't want to be on that side. But I agree with you. Somehow that side was the – it was the worst side but the winning side.

[00:41:40] 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 reset because I didn't want to bend. And then the last game, we went 11-5. Yeah. I have no idea what happened. We again started up 6-0.

[00:42:09] At the podcast the week before we went to the Nerdy Tourney 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. No, his duper is also lower than it should be. What is his duper? 4-0-6. Yeah, I'd give him a little – He's definitely not a 4-0. I don't think he's quite like 4-5. Yeah. But maybe like 4-2. It depends on the day.

[00:42:37] Lewis is either like – you're like, oh my gosh, this guy could easily be a 5-0. Or he will also self-admit. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Some days he's like, whoa. I don't know if I've ever seen him easily be a 5-0. Okay, that's – I get it. 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 had to carry this gimp back. I love you, Lewis. He'd probably take a 5-0 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 off.

[00:43:05] Like that's how it was in your guys' second game. Yeah. Could not make a reset to save a slide. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't doing us any favors either. I was playing pretty bad. But yeah, I mean, Lewis is a great partner. Just good vibes. I mean, that was the biggest thing is like I don't really care if I draw someone that is really good. I just want the vibe to be good. Like again – Just 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.

[00:43:35] 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. 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.

[00:44:04] Which everyone gets one if you didn't win anything or get the toilet bowl. The belt, which I now have. And then the triple crown is the toilet bowl. So next year you already know. I'm sorry whoever my partner is. I'm taking you straight to the bowl. 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.

[00:44:34] 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'd be hilarious. It'd be hilarious. People would be like – like newcomers would be like, what is this? Yeah. Like I don't know. Why is there a golden toilet bowl on their trophy or table? All right. Now we'll go over the toilet bowl bracket. So the first round was Kyle Tranga and Matt Hoffman versus Pickleball Medicine and Doug from Bread and Butter because there are two Dougs.

[00:45:02] There's Doug Sapusik, the owner, and then Doug Thielen who is the CMO of Selkirk. 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.

[00:45:31] And I want to say their dupers are like 4-2-4 for Alex. And I think Whiskey is 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 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 minus maybe the finals match.

[00:46:00] But I was like, dude, I just don't go to the toilet bowl. So props to 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. Yep. Then it was Nico the lefty and Eric Witt, I believe is how you say his name, versus Doug Thielen and Matt's pickleball. And so this is, again, still the quarterfinals. They ended up pickling them. Nico the lefty and Eric pickled Doug and Matt's.

[00:46:29] 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. He's a lefty. And Doug's wife is probably around a 3-0 in that area. So it was just a, you have a pro who has to play right handed and then a lower level player.

[00:46:57] So it was just an interesting combo. To put it in perspective, though, he did tell me that he has beaten Ben Johns and they're both playing offhanded. Really? Yep. 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 quarterfinals. JJ and sleeves won that match 11-6. So there again, out of the toilet bowl. So now the semifinals was pickleball medicine and Doug Sapuzak versus Whiskey Dink and Alex Weaver.

[00:47:26] That was actually a burner of a match. That was a crazy one. So the semifinals 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 end 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 Thielen, again, the CMO of Selkirk, versus Robert Slutsky and Doug's wife.

[00:47:52] And Robert Slutsky and Doug's wife won that one 15-4. So the toilet bowl finals was Whiskey Dink and Alex Weaver versus Matt's pickleball and Doug Thielen. Now we'll mention Doug Thielen 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 a 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.

[00:48:21] The guy is like just a cool guy. You know, pickleball skills aren't quite there. It's going to be a minute. It's going to 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.

[00:48:47] So in the finals, Alex and Whiskey Dink pickled Matt and Doug in the first game. And then in the second game, Alex and Whiskey Dink win 11-3. So Matt and Doug Thielen 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. So I got a crown to get, my man. I got a crown to earn. I don't care how good you are.

[00:49:14] You're going to 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 it. Rob. Rob Barnes from Selkirk. Yep. Doug Thielen from Selkirk because he won the toilet bowl. And then Doug Sapusek ended up doing it. Yep.

[00:49:43] Now, Doug Thielen, 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 roasts I've ever heard. Instantly, he had, yeah, the greatest roast of all time for every single person. I'm like, bro, this guy knows all the lore. Yeah, I was like, how does this guy know everything?

[00:50:12] Nobody knew that he was researching all this beforehand. Yeah. And 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. He was wearing it around his neck the entire night. That's hilarious. 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, all right. Imagine he was the belt. I was like, next year it's you and me, buddy. 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

[00:50:42] 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. They were very, very good. It was great. So anyways, that's kind of the recap of the Nerdy Tourney. It was very fun. They put on a great event. It's just, it's just a very funny event. Random partners. It's like built to be very much an environment of very jokey and not serious when you have random partners. Some of these people you've never played with.

[00:51:09] And it's great too is because, I mean, okay, how many people do you think overall is probably 35 plus people there? Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Around there. Everyone gets along pretty well. Yeah. 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. True. 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,

[00:51:37] but getting to like be in person, talk, get to know each other is just really cool. Yeah. It was 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 guy. I mean, so funny. I love talking with him.

[00:52:05] Like hanging out with him the whole week was really cool. So just random stuff like that. The event's 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. Selkirk and Rob did say he wants to keep doing it each year. So I thought potentially I 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 crown. I'm not walking away without all three. Oh man.

[00:52:35] Okay. So that was the event. A lot of fun. Yep. Let's get to the kitchen here. Okay. Since all of you liked the paddle guessing 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 pod. We need 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.

[00:53:06] Let's do. Let's do a minute and a half. Yeah. Maybe like a minute and a half. Because we weren't. 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 Selkirk 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.

[00:53:36] Okay. So you can't ask. You have a minute and a half to ask questions. Yep. That stops. And then you get your final guess. Yep. 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. Okay. And then before you can guess as many times as you want, but after the minute, you get one. We'll try it. Okay. 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. So get the timer on yours. I'll get your paddle. Okay. Hold on.

[00:54:06] Hold on. I got to hold it over here. Okay. Ready? Yep. Three, two, one, go. Is it a controversial paddle? No. It's come in 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. No. Is it the Thrive Ignite?

[00:54:36] No. Is it Honolulu? Blue Grit? Does it come in multiple colors? Yes. Is it the Ruby Pro? No. Is it the Ruby? No. The Ruby. Sorry. The Coral Pro. That's what I meant to say. Has a longer lasting texture? Yes. Is it...

[00:55:04] Oh, is it the 11624 Vapor? Nope. What? That comes in all three shapes. Shoot, you're right. Longer lasting texture. 30 seconds. Oh, is it... Longer lasting texture. I feel like I've guessed every other longer lasting texture paddle. How can I not... 20 seconds. Question, question, question. Is it dual approved? No. Oh, it's not. So is it UPA approved only? Oh, it's USAP? Yeah. Longer lasting texture? 10 seconds.

[00:55:34] Is it the... Is it a rubbery texture? No. Is it... Five seconds. I can't figure this out. Okay. Last... Three, two, one. Okay. Final guess. Bro. I can't believe you haven't got it. You are so close. I know. I'm blanking out. Okay. Think of everything you just asked. It's only USAP approved. It has a longer lasting texture. I feel like I've guessed every single longer lasting texture paddle.

[00:56:05] No. 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. Lux! Bro, that... Okay. Honestly, the longer lasting texture thing screwed me over. That's... I thought that would... Because once you said multiple colors, I was like, the Lux comes in multiple colors. I honestly forgot it.

[00:56:32] 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 going to nail it. I was like, I can't believe this. I thought... Yeah. Once I had that, I was like, I'm going to get this right away. The longer lasting question was a really good question. Yeah. That was really good. All right. I'll get your paddle. Man, you were so close. I know. You almost had the glory. Oh, gosh. Okay. Let me make sure the exposure looks good. Okay. Ready? Give me a second to think directions of questions. I know. It's tough. Okay.

[00:57:02] All right. Three, two, one, go. Did I ever main this paddle? No. Do I like this paddle? No. Would 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.

[00:57:33] Do we know anyone that mains this paddle? Did anyone ever main it that we know? No. Oh, my gosh. What the heck? Is it a weird paddle? Weird-ish. Not super weird, no. Does it come in many shapes? All three shapes? I think two, possibly three. No, three shapes. Is it a major brand? Medium. Medium. Six-zero double black diamond infinity?

[00:58:03] Nope. 30 seconds. Oh, my gosh. What other questions could I ask? I don't even know what I could ask. I might have made this one a bit tough. Oh, gosh. I can't ask a brand question. Dang it. 20 seconds. There's some good questions you're missing. Is it a Gearbox GX5? Nope. Is it edgeless? Nope. Does it have a gimmick? Yes. Is it the Arrow one shot? Nope. Oh, my gosh. Five seconds. Three, two, one.

[00:58:32] Does it have a hole? No. Okay. Final guess. I don't know what I could possibly guess. Man, what would my final... There's like an avenue of questions that would have really helped you get there. Is it a Franklin trainer paddle? Diadem Blue Core. The original Blue Core. The original Blue Core. The reason why I said like kind of on the gimmick was like the edge guard. I guess.

[00:59:02] Man, yeah. Or like the core being blue. Oh, I should have... I could have asked polymer or foam core. That's... Yeah. That would have helped me narrow it down. Dang. If you had asked what the core was, that would have helped a lot. 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. Okay. So neither of us got it this week. That was really funny. You were a lot closer than I was. I got close. That was really funny though. I think that was better than last week. Oh, yeah. For sure. The stress of like the time.

[00:59:32] Maybe what we got to do is there's a... When 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 times so our questions are not dialed. Yeah. I think at some point we will just know what the big questions are that will... Narrow it. Like split it in half. Exactly. You know? Yeah. Is it foam? Is it not foam? Is it controversial? Is it not? Is it UPA? Is it USAP? You know? Yep. Those types of things. Okay. That was pretty good. I think that was better than last week.

[01:00:01] That was a lot of fun. Let us know in the comments if that was better than last week or not. I like that. I think it was. All right. Let's do some Q&A. Okay. 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. Okay. Let's get to them.

[01:00:26] Why do people get so addicted to pickleball rather than tennis or other racket sports? Want me to go first or you? I'll go first. Okay. 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, Spadela, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 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

[01:00:56] the skill gap is different, even at all, it's just not fun for the other person. Plus 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 that's just not fun. I mean, I guarantee you if 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. My swing would be so messed up. I can guarantee that. Yeah. Yeah. So like the barrier of entry is a lot higher, but also I think the bigger contributing

[01:01:23] factor to that is the sport is just so much more social, right? Like 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.

[01:01:52] You find a good sense of community, 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,

[01:02:21] 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 a 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,

[01:02:48] everyone craves being around people and having a community interaction 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. Yeah.

[01:03:18] 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. Yeah. It's also 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.

[01:03:48] You can get very good equipment at a pretty low price. A tube of balls is 10, 15 bucks. So it's just accessible everywhere. 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, it doesn't exist. There isn't just like open play tennis. Yeah. And I don't think it would work even if you could. It wouldn't. If you're just learning to play, right? Whereas I feel like with pickleball, people are usually at a park.

[01:04:15] 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. I'd say like 95 percent of my friends now are pickleball players. Yeah.

[01:04:44] Pretty large percentage of my friends are also pickleball friends. Yeah. Budget full foam paddles that also have durable grit, 150 or below. Well, that's starting to happen. A paddle that should be here in a day or two that's getting talked about a lot is the Packle 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.

[01:05:11] I want to say the Packle Fuse after a 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?

[01:05:42] 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. So, otherwise, I'm trying to think of what other paddle would be your option.

[01:06:11] As far as all-court? Yeah. With the grit? The Aura. Yeah. You know? Or the Omni. Mm-hmm. 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. John ran his test on it with the doubling amount of the diamonds in the texture and the much how... Oh, my word. I cannot talk to that. And how much grittier the paddle is.

[01:06:40] It was in what John places as, like, tier one. Like, it 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-lasting 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.

[01:07:06] So, 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 feel profile or something. Yeah. That would be the only thing because otherwise it comes in all three shapes. Yeah, it feels good. I like the paddle. So, there's no... Not overly expensive. Yep. There's no outlying things that are like, this is really bad about it. Yeah. To me, I would probably just say purchase Coral Pro. That's what I would say, too. I wouldn't bank on someone else.

[01:07:34] 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 that is something you're waiting for and then you see, I'm just going to throw out a brand. Say Friday comes out with a longer-lasting. Actually, 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.

[01:08:03] So, you might get excited, buy it, and then it ends up being bad. Yep. For sure. So, next one. What are the best ball machines at different price points and are they worth it for players above a 4-0 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.

[01:08:28] 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... A lot. For the Titan, which is a lot of money.

[01:08:54] 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. Mm-hmm. 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 things that ball machines can be like pretty good for, for hitting with. I'm not a huge fan of using them.

[01:09:23] You know, if I'm going to drill, I'd rather just have a person there and then you can do more like in-depth specific things or combos and stuff. I think 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 they will want to hit with you. They can become your ball machine. Let me just do some like rough math here. I don't know. We'll just do this. Buy them a paddle.

[01:09:52] 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. And you get a friend out of it. Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully they don't just like you for the food. Yeah, maybe a doubles partner. So 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.

[01:10:22] And it really is that setup time and picking up the balls that gets so annoying that yes, they can be useful, but you kind of get sick of it pretty quick. Yeah. Over time of using it, 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 shape foam paddles. I play a Scorpius 14 millimeter. What should I get? I'm assuming they want something that feels like that.

[01:10:50] Honestly, unless they, 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 to 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 lasts longer or some of these longer lasting textures. It's confusing. You 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.

[01:11:20] I like the Q2 is literally the Scorpius shape. You mean? Yeah. The shape. But I don't think it's, I don't think it's the, uh, just hates all the foam. The foam variants. It's not the shape itself. So my thought would be, I mean, just stick with the Gen 3 unless you're really sick of breaking them. Cause they're just, here's the thing. Gen 3s still have their place because of the feedback they give. There are a lot of people who really like them.

[01:11:45] Honestly, the more I've been hitting some recently, pulling out the gliders, like, man, I really like how this paddle feels. You know? And at 90 bucks is also cheap. Yeah. Which maybe that's, maybe that's your answer. You know, 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, and it's a hundred bucks. See, I, I actually did get confused cause I thought he was talking specifically about the shape, not the actual paddles themselves.

[01:12:11] But these kinds of questions of like, I use this, which one of X paddle, like, or, uh, core paddles would 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 sure you get this all the 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? Like 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 in stock?

[01:12:40] Do you want something 14 or 16 stiff and dense? 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 in the field category. Yeah. I'd be very curious to know what they have tried.

[01:13:05] 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, or let's just say a Genesis and a waves, 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, I mean, maybe an Aura Pro wide body that's relatively different from some of the foam paddles.

[01:13:30] But honestly, I feel like if you know you like the Scorpius 14 millimeter, I'd just say stick with it. Yeah. You know? Yep. So need a little bit more context there, but that's how we'd answer that. But last one, I just thought this one was kind of funny because I feel like there's a lot of different things this can 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 requires so much context.

[01:13:56] I feel like this one to me felt kind of straightforward because I feel like the judging is just the stacking. Like, the lefty probably wants to stack or the other person, the righty, wants to stack and they don't want to stack. See, that's the thing is usually I feel like it's the other way around where the righty wants to stack and the lefty's 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 a lefty, I will never start initiate the stacking.

[01:14:26] I will immediately, we'll win a point. We might start that way and immediately walk to the right box. Yeah. Because I don't care. Lefty, not lefty, doesn't matter to me. And then unless they say something or I'll 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. So. 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.

[01:14:54] 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. I mean. Because at different levels, it does change. Because I think at lower levels, the not stacking can. Well, for one, they probably don't know what stacking is. That's a huge thing. Two, if you don't stack, who takes the ball in the middle, clanking paddles, that gets really frustrating. I'm sure the righty hates it.

[01:15:22] The lefty has to deal with it all the time, so he probably hates it. You know. At the higher levels, if I play with the lefty and we don't stack, it's usually not really a problem. So, I don't know. I would just say if you're being judged as a lefty, all you righties out there, come on, man. Just be nice to the lefties. That's messed up. Be nice to them. I love all my lefty friends. Yeah. There was a lot at the Nerdy Tourney. So many lefties. There was like six or seven of them. I played a rec game after the tournament was over and I was the only righty. Yeah.

[01:15:51] I'm pretty sure there was a game at one point that was all lefties. 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 there were. Lefties everywhere. But I don't know. 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 $2,500

[01:16:21] 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 tourney. It was an hour and 20 minutes. Well, never mind. Guess it wasn't that short. Felt like it was. It felt like it was short this week. I guess it was more just that the topic variety was not very wide. Yeah. We just yapped for a really long time about probably the nerdy tourney, if I had to guess.

[01:16:50] So, anyways, thanks for listening, guys. Appreciate it. And we'll catch you next week. Peace.