Broke Priorities & Switching Sides | Christie w/ Dink and Dine

Share Your Thoughts! 🎙️ If you had to survive on Ramen noodles, what's the ONE thing you'd refuse to give up? (The answers got weird fast.)

🔥 We're diving into: 

🔹 Why Dutch Bros might be worth more than rent 

🔹 The mid-game switch debate that broke our brains 

🔹 How 55,000 people showed up to watch pickleball (and one 18-year-old dominated everything)

Plus, Christie from Dink and Dine reveals what happens when you combine 13 courts, brisket fries, and an app that pays you back just for showing up.

🎧 Listen now before your foreclosure notice arrives and you're still ordering coffee.

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Chapters

• 1:04 Sponsor Ad
• 2:21 Kitchen Talk - Hot takes, weird news, and what’s on our minds this week
• 9:03 Fan Mail (Shout Outs, Comments, Love)
• 9:36 Just The Tip - Pickleball Wisdom
• 10:22 Pickle Pals - Deep Dive with a Pickleball Court, Club or Influencer
• 24:52 Dink or Destroy 💥 This-or-that debate: Love it or trash it?
• 29:08 News You Can Use
• 31:50 Wrap-Up & CTA - Final thoughts, shoutouts, and how to engage with us

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.47)
You fall on hard times, like man, money's tight. What are the comfort items that you're definitely not giving up? What about wine or alcohol?

Ooh, that's...

would be hard. mean, you do a little something, something, you can still get that. You can be on hard times and find that anywhere.

This is Big Dink Energy, the pickleball podcast that's half insight, half nonsense, and all entertainment. If you love pickleball, don't take yourself too seriously and think a little trash talk makes the game better. Welcome home. This is the place where life and pickleball intersect. We celebrate the chaos, call out the nonsense, and put the fun back in dysfunction. You're either in or you're out. And if you're still listening, you're in. So let's go.

Big Dink Energy starts now. Nobody puts baby in the corner and nobody puts us in the corner either. It is the Big Dink Energy podcast right up in your ear holes. And this episode is sponsored by one of our favorites, Blue Balls. Proving once and for all, the Blue Balls can actually be fun. Who would have guessed? Not me. For just $29 you get...

Speaker 1 (01:13.708)
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Alright!

I bought the big dink energy tonight. Okay. So I thought it would be fun to talk about, and I don't know where I heard this this week, this past week, but it was you fall on hard times. Like man, money's tight, Ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, maybe some of that good giant block of cheese, right? Things just, they have their names on them. They're not brand names, right? So you fall on those hard times, but what are the comfort items?

That's right.

Speaker 4 (01:57.198)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:24.898)
that you're definitely not giving up. not, I'll give you an example. Two-ply toilet paper. Not giving it up. Not giving it, now that's not for me, I don't care either way. Sandpaper, whatever, don't care. Newspaper, doesn't matter to me. But I'm just saying, what's the creature comforts, the luxury items that you refuse? You will pinch the pennies and make sure that you still get this.

Okay. Well, I'd probably sell furniture before I gave up my Dutch Bros. I definitely like good coffee and I would probably keep my Dutch Bros.

Okay, all right. For me, I think coffee is one of those things too. I don't know if it needs to be all that fancy, because I would rather go for volume than fanciness. So probably coffee, coffee beans, coffee grounds. another one I thought of was internet.

internet. that's a good one.

Thank you too.

Speaker 1 (03:19.148)
Yeah, what else?

I would say my cell phone. I... I... No, I...

I mean, can get cricket. mean, cricket is like, isn't that something? Is that on fall on hard time? Maybe it's not fall on hard time.

Cricket green!

Speaker 1 (03:29.07)
Yeah, Cricket Wireless.

Yeah, I mean

Speaker 1 (03:33.948)
It means you do also have to get a flip phone though if you get

No, I would need a smartphone. would need, I mean, in order to be able to buy the ramen noodles, I still have to have a phone to work off of. So, I mean...

Yeah, we have to have a phone so we can order our groceries. I'm definitely not giving that up. I will pay that membership and Amazon Prime membership and Walmart delivered to my house membership. And I would keep all of those things.

Those are hard times. think that might be like medium times where you can still afford all of that.

Yeah. What about skincare routine, paddle princess?

Speaker 4 (04:08.598)
I mean, if it came down to it, then skincare would just have to be something that waits until it became more affordable. Surprisingly, like if you watch a lot of like skincare TikTok, there's a lot of actually really good clean ones at Dollar Tree that you can get. haven't tried them yet. I'm kind of afraid to, but if it came down to it. I love my Medicube, so.

Bye.

My MetaCube.

I started doing my skincare routine and making my husband do it with me at night, too. So now he has his own med-i-cube

How nice.

Speaker 3 (04:44.115)
Hey David!

So that might be

Shout out to the big D out there. Yeah. skincare done.

I think my main one would be my phone. Just...

Yeah, I guess a phone and memberships and coffee and nails and...

Speaker 4 (04:59.288)
I remember my dad having a whole crash out moment over coffee because my mom bought generic coffee. I mean, and this has been recently within the past couple years and he went to the cabinet to go make coffee and he's like, I didn't work my whole blank life just to drink generic coffee. Go buy the good stuff. And he was so mad that she bought generic coffee.

He did over 20 in the military. mean, he's had bad coffee. I guess I can see that.

That's probably why he doesn't want to drink

Here's a whole crash out.

Yeah, I mean...

Speaker 1 (05:29.038)
What about, okay, what about wine or alcohol?

Oooooh

That would be hard. mean, you do a little something, something you can still get that. You can be on hard times and find that anywhere.

Yeah, I do think you ladies have it a little bit easier. You could do a little something something as you say. Yeah, as you say.

What are you talking about? was talking about like what were you talking about? Definitely need to keep your cell phone for your only fans again

Speaker 2 (05:57.112)
Yeah.

I think I would go to more of the generic wines like the the $3 wines. I don't think I would give up God

Boon's farm. my gosh. almost threw up. Mad Dog 2020.

like 20 years.

my god.

Speaker 3 (06:13.454)
It would be really I don't know All I know is that that just made that question just made me extremely grateful right and I mean Thanksgiving is coming soon. So yeah

I'm just got triggered.

Speaker 4 (06:22.552)
I know, I'm starting to-

Sitting here thinking, like, gosh, I didn't have this.

Good mattress.

Yeah, I mean, I love our purple. Yeah. And it's

Shout out to you, Purple, get in our comments and sponsor us.

Speaker 3 (06:35.136)
I love that mattress. But you know, another thing that I have been extremely grateful for and I would not want to give up is hair ties. Cause good God, I do not need to wear this hair down. And if you have ever been stuck without a hair tie, which you haven't, it's frustrating. Yeah. You need the Rogaine and all that. And we can't forget like, you know, our pickleball paddles.

I probably wouldn't want to give up my hair care routine.

Speaker 1 (06:57.49)
Yeah, well for sure.

But those are things that we already have.

Yeah, but then you'd have to like, well, I guess you'd have to go to free courts. Ew. Like I was up have a foreclosure notice in my bag and still be like, can I come to your open play? Right.

I want to play with the pores.

Speaker 1 (07:15.436)
Gotta get in this tournament, y'all. Get that bling. Okay, now, not necessarily thinking about it today, but what about air conditioning?

Here in Texas? Absolutely. I will do a little something-some for that.

Well, I should have been charting all along, it seems like.

Air conditioning is an absolute essential. think that maybe like even just raising the temperature a little bit warmer would still drive me insane, but I think I could make it.

69 or 67 I think we keep saying everything's essential if you if you look is a coffee's essential manicures essential skincare is essential cigars That's what I'm saying

Speaker 1 (07:45.162)
server and the house.

Speaker 1 (07:54.206)
Cigarettes? yeah, they gotta stay. They gotta stay. I mean, I have enough to take me to the apocalypse if it comes, so I'm good on that. And maybe I could sell some. Car?

Oh, there's Uber. Well, you'd have to pay for that. I don't know then.

I don't know. Now here's one that hits close to me in what lets me have air conditioning, my job. Pets.

yeah, but you know, so this is always a struggle because like in your job, you, you know, remove people from their homes and you'll see kids like running around dirty and they'll have like five, six dogs with all the good dog food. And you're like, what? So, I mean, there's a point where it's like, you should be taking care of your family and children before you take care of animals.

Keep your rent going. That'd be something for sure. Tell us in the comments, get up in the Tickety Talks or the Instagram. Find us over on the BDE podcast, anywhere you get us and tell us what you think. What creature comforts, what luxury items do you have to have if you fell on hard times? Pictures say a thousand words, so send pictures too. Yeah. So we got some fan mail. I love fan mail.

Speaker 3 (09:04.812)
Yeah. So Beautiful by Design says, I'm submitting this fan mail while standing at the water cooler for the 47th time today. I told you.

I you.

Water cooler

Bez wishing it dispensed Kool-Aid instead of this lukewarm disappointment because yes, I like flavor and I like snacks.

There you go. Thank you, Beautiful by Designs. Number one, that tells me you listen. Number two, it tells me you're in my age group. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (09:37.208)
Just the tip. Just the tip. Quick pickleball wisdom in and out before you know it. And if you watched Worlds this week, you saw one thing loud and clear. The pros don't panic reset. They purpose reset. When Annalee Waters got pushed off the kitchen, she didn't try to win the rally. She bought herself time. Three soft resets, a deep breath, and then boom, back on offense. So the tip this week, don't rush the firefight.

Slow the game down before you speed it up because every wow point starts with one calm dink.

Awesome.

One calm dink used to be my stage name.

Just

Speaker 1 (10:17.633)
to

Speaker 1 (10:22.395)
It's time for PAPA

Speaker 1 (10:28.16)
Another interview just for you, the listener. Now listen, pickleball is fun and food is connection. I love food. Christy is making sure both hit just right. She's the CMO or the chief marketing officer of Dink and Dine, the event company turning rec play into full blown experiences. Food, drinks, local vibes and courts that feel more like community than competition. You know what I'm talking about out there.

Today we're digging into what takes to build a lifestyle brand in the middle of a pickleball boom, which we're having, how Dink and Dine is redefining the way people play and gather and why the hospitality world should be watching what Christie's creating over there. So Christie, thanks so much for being here today on the Big Dink Energy podcast.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

It's our pleasure. obviously, listen, I love pickleball and I love food. So I mean, it just makes sense. You've got to be on the podcast. Now, where are you where are you guys located?

We are in Mesa, Phoenix, Arizona.

Speaker 1 (11:20.718)
All right, there's a lot of pickleball places out in Arizona. So let's kind of get your background of how you got to Dinkin.

There are, yes.

Speaker 2 (11:30.67)
Well, I've been in marketing for, I don't know, like 17, 18 years. The years just keep ticking away. And I've started with a smaller restaurant concept that has grown to, they just opened their 40th location. And then I moved on to independently working with Eustis and Demeter and a couple other independents. Some I do independently on my own, but I do marketing. And I also was a chief marketing officer for a Mexican group in

Portland, Arizona. And then I just realized I just love the variety of things so much. And the ding and dine is by far amazing because it kind of combines the fastest growing sport in the United States with food obsession. So bring it all together in one spot.

Yeah, I mean, I'll probably say this a ton throughout the interview. I love both. Obviously, I'm not trying to go out there with a brisket in my belly and play a couple rounds, but afterwards, for sure, just gathering with friends and pickleball is such a great community sport. know, that's the next, you know, that's the next step, right? First step is play, get the community and then hang out afterwards and talk about, you know, all the bad shots, all the good shots and everything that brought you out.

Yep, I started early on before the pandemic, which I think a lot of it boomed after, but I started before. And during the pandemic, it just kept us all together. We found ways to meet. then it's fun because I've seen marriages come from the different groups of people. So, and that's one of the things we love about Dinkadine. We have a huge event area, the whole one side. And so I can't wait for us to do our first pickleball wedding.

that's going to be awesome. Yeah, I've seen a couple out there, very few and far between though. So yeah, that'll be an awesome event. It's bound to happen, right? We've got a we've had a couple of dink and date kind of app people on here before. you know, that's such a great way to meet people and figure out, you know, under stress, can you how are you going to react? Right. So I know going forward how you're going to be in our in our life. So

Speaker 1 (13:36.402)
Tell me a little bit about Dinkondine and their mission within this space.

Okay, well, dig and dine. So first of all, the space is 72,000 square feet, so it's not a tiny little thing. We have 13 pickleball courts. In Arizona, it's prime space to have them air conditioned. And eight, nine, 10, 11, no, 10, 10 of ours are air conditioned. And then the other three are covered with a dome. So even when it's been about 115 degrees outside, you can still play because it keeps all the coolness. And I think the air conditioning from the two sides.

kind of filters into the center. So that's one of the amazing things. The other is we have five different food concepts that are under this. So we started out with breakfast with homemade muffins and croissants and paninis, your breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos. We just launched brunch on Sundays. So that's the fun part. You could come at six o'clock in the morning and come with a group.

play some pickleball and then sit down and have brunch and have mimosas and, you know, cheers on the weekend. So I love that. And it's funny because I live in Ventura, California, and I told my husband he was coming out for the first time for our grand opening. And he's like, what should I pack? And I'm like, just pickleball. And he goes, well, aren't we going to go somewhere else? And I said, honestly, hon, if we were going to go anywhere, if I was somewhere,

it would be here, I would want to take you. Because at nighttime, there's 17 crafted cocktails, there's a bar right in the center of the south wing where we have eight pickleball courts, there's paddleheads bar and grill, and then you could sit inside or you could sit outside. So what we were worried about when we first created it was, is the sound going to be too much? But you're sitting there and you're having cocktails or you're having dinner because we have like salmon and halibut and turns into like.

Speaker 2 (15:25.73)
the amazing food and you're having cocktails and then there's all this excitement around you. So it's a lot of fun. And I love the way like you can play, take a break, eat and then go back and play some more.

Yeah, you do see some of the news stories where communities are up in arms over the sound of pickleball. Well, if you're at a pickleball court and you're eating and you happen to not like the sound of pickleball, you may be in the wrong spot, you know?

But see, we have things that absorb the sound, so it's not like that. Because I've been to some where it's just like, kong, kong, kong, kong. And that's the thing. We thought we were going to have to install some more. They're like artistic pieces that absorb the sound, but we didn't have to. Because it's like, well, wait, we wouldn't want to take. This is just enough that creates a vibe that you're somewhere fun.

Yeah, so I mean that is you guys have the vibe going on. What's from the marketing, guess, and branding, what's really the creativity behind that? What kind of drives that for

Well, a few things. So I got to, thankfully, be in on the very beginning stage. So I got to work on the logo, the colors, the everything. I created huge murals in the space. So that kind of creates a lot of the vibe is the look of it. Even we have a stage with a big screen above it where we play like watch games or on the weekends we'll do, we have a DJ. And even the DJ thing, one time I was sitting out in the park and we have like lights that are.

Speaker 2 (16:51.662)
on the ground, different colors. And I thought, we should have like the DJ booth, should kind of reflect that look. So artistically, it's heaven for me because I get to really express and create this fun vibe. And then on the other side of it, programming, we're just starting to get all of that in place. We just got our director of Pickleball in place last week. So I'm super excited about that because like you just said, for singles to meet, you had some of them on.

looking at doing like a Wednesday singles night, so where people can meet and play and different kinds of fun happy hours. I mean, a lot of this is still in the works right now. In fact, I'm headed out there right after this and meeting with the team to kind of present an activation for the week and showing what different kinds of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday can look like, but just all real community-based. One thing about us that is super important is we're all inclusive. And when I say that, I mean for everything, down to like,

Three year olds learning to play up to 80, 90 year olds that are, you know, at the not as well, you better careful because they're really good. Oh my gosh. I know it's crazy. You don't pass with them.

Do not sleep on the octogenarians out there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they're fantastic kickball players. But it's for everyone. So it doesn't matter even if you've never picked up a paddle in your life. That's what we're here for. We're here. have pros on site that are very passionate about helping you just fall in love with a sport and helping you understand how easy it can be. So it is. We're all inclusive with all of that. And we'd like to, we don't like to become like a membership club, but we've gotten a lot of pressure like, can I buy a membership?

Speaker 2 (18:34.722)
We call them passes, but still you can buy a monthly pass or you can buy a yearly pass we will have in the future. But right now we just want to be all inclusive. We want to be the space that people go to celebrate life, to have fun with their family, have fun with their friends, take the kids out and teach them. So that's a lot of.

Yeah, mean, you're creating a whole, like I said, you're creating a whole vibe out there and that's so important for the sport because we don't want to be the serious ugly cousin of tennis. We want to be fun and have the kids involved and all that. So do you see Dink and Nine as a pickleball brand with food or a hospitality brand that happens to feature pickleball?

You know, that guy is such a great question because when we first started it, it's, you know, Pickle Park, right? And that is a conversation I have been having in the last two weeks to try to help people understand and within our lead team, what do we want to be? Because we do have pickleball courts, but when you see the venue, we have a stage. have, like I said, we have watch parties.

We have country dancing on Sundays. We have Latin dancing on Sundays. They alternate. We have so many things that we can do to just bring the community together. So I like to think of it as this is a place you can come. You can come for amazing food. Like, I think it's the best food around Mesa. Sorry if somebody's like a restaurant over there. I haven't found better food yet.

And there's the whole variety of it. We have a dink dive cart that we bring out when we do like country nights or Latin nights or different kinds of events. And the cart, I've seen it, I've tasted it from all different things. My favorite when we did was a barbecue. So we barbecued brisket on there, chicken, ribs, came with cowboy salsa, homemade skillet cornbread. I'm telling you, I have barbecue clients, but this, I don't think he's listening. This is maybe one of the best barbecue I've had.

Speaker 2 (20:36.942)
I was so blown away. And then when we did our Latin night, we have tacos, make your own tacos on the truck. So here's this meat being made right there and then all these toppings on it. It's delicious. And then we did this last Friday for our happy hour, we did smash burgers and hot dogs. And this is just the cart that comes out. But then we have, like I said, the breakfast. Breakfast is amazing, brunch is amazing.

We have pizzas in the park. We have picnic baskets that you can get with paninis and side salads. We have our menu that spans all the way from cauliflower bites to my favorite, the fries with the brisket on it and cheese. Oh my gosh. I'm gaining weight just listening to this. Sandwiches, tacos, burgers. But everything is very chef-led. it's not like I said, don't just, oh, let's throw some food in there. mean, we are all restaurant people.

that brought this concept to life. So it's very food forward.

That's really good. I think that that does definitely make you a differentiator in the market.

So from your experience, what's one thing you would say the pickleball world doesn't understand about hospitality?

Speaker 2 (21:48.494)
So I think the pickleball world is used to playing at free courts, gathering together. They have their people they're playing with and they just play for free. So what I don't think the pickleball community has grasped yet is all this can exist in one place. You can come with your group, you can play and then you can just sit right down or you can bring a group that's gonna rotate in and out of the courts. This is just a fun place to come.

Kind of like Cheers, right? Where everybody knows your name. So let's do it. We like to do a little Dink or Destroy with our guests. This is a this or that kind of choice. I'm going to give you two choices. You can only pick one, okay?

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:24.342)
is like dinking it like over the corner or like smashing it.

Alright, pop-up events or permanent venue? Craft cocktails or comfort food? Craft cocktails. Alright, going out there and playing or sitting back and watching the vibes unfold.

cocktails.

Speaker 2 (22:40.834)
That's a difficult one. Is this for me personally or just for Yeah, for you. well, I'll play myself. Yeah. Yeah, I'll create the vibe.

The vibes will happen. Keeping the food local, local food collab or national sponsorship money. And your preference, foodie audience or hardcore rec players.

local.

Speaker 2 (23:00.504)
Foodies. Yeah. Foodies will figure out how to play. They gotta burn it off.

That's right. That's right. You have the paddles ready. We'll figure that out. Well, listen, it's been so great having you on, Christy. We love everything you guys are doing there at Dink and Dine. I can't wait to come out there. And if you're listening to this, go seek them out. Let's help them do that. Where are they going to find you?

at 1017 North Dobson in the Riverview Mesa Park area. Right next to Bass Pro, this is what people know, the old Toby Keith area. Dink and Dine, we keep it pretty simple.

And what are other social handles?

Speaker 1 (23:36.078)
You have a pretty good website too that helps out.

and dinkanddine.com. Yeah, the website, I mean, don't judge it yet. We're in the works of that. I have some much grander plans for it that will actually really show you the venue. yeah.

It'll get better. Please don't judge our podcast by me either.

We do have an app so you can download the Dink and Dine app. And the nice thing about the app is super simple. Anything you spend on food and pickleball, 10 % will come back to you the next month to spend. If I spent $1,000, I got $100 to spend. That just comes to me, says, hey, you got $100 to spend. Don't forget.

My gosh, that's unique.

Speaker 1 (24:17.41)
That's amazing. I like that idea.

You know, I was so sick of apps in this restaurant industry being so complicated. I tried to simplify it. I'm like, why are we complicating things? Let's just make this easy. Spend whatever you spend to get 10 % back. You have to come back to use it.

I love that. That is such a great, easy way for people to get in and continue showing up. Well, Christy, thanks so much. Dink and Dine, go find them. Go out there. When you're in your travels or if you live out that way, please stop in and go see them. Thanks again for being on, Christy.

Yeah, thank you so much, Guy.

Speaker 2 (24:57.326)
you

It is that time for the thing that we either say yes or no or to this or that. We send it over the net, we dink it, or we destroy. Thumbs down for us. What you got?

Something that we have noticed lately is when we go to play pickleball, especially sometimes at tournaments, they will have you switch sides mid-game.

Like at six points or eight points or whatever.

Yeah, whatever you're going to either at six or eight they'll have you switch to the different sides of the court Never at six seven So I wanted to get y'all's opinion on it Dink or destroy on whether or not you like to switch sides or you're fine with staying where you're at Especially when you are covered and their son is not a deterrent. Yeah

Speaker 1 (25:23.521)
at 6-7.

Speaker 3 (25:37.528)
that's when you're outside, it totally helps because if you have the sun in your eyes, like when we were playing at the last tournament and we were on the side where the sun was, yeah, you should switch because it makes more sense that everybody gets to have that inconvenience. Yeah. But yeah. And if, but if you're indoors, I mean, maybe I'm just not good enough to know why, like maybe there's another reason. I always thought it was because of the weather or whatever.

Right, everyone has to have the sun on their eyes at point.

It was hot too.

Speaker 3 (26:07.31)
But if you're inside, it's like, and when you forget, there's some people who are just like, we didn't switch, we didn't switch. I'm like, okay.

Hey, I hope to get to a point where the side of the court actually matters to me. That's what I'm saying. I'm not there yet. I don't care. know, hey, the ball went over. Yay. I don't care what side it came from. I hope it came from my side if I'm sending it that way. But no, I hope to get to that point. I don't care.

I don't care either. always forget anyway.

I always forget. don't know, mean was that the original design of the Inventors of Pickleball or is it something that was added? they do that? I don't know. Maybe they do. Maybe they do. Stupid game tennis. don't know.

I don't know. Somebody needs to look it up.

Speaker 1 (26:50.802)
Yeah, they probably do. But again, if you're at that level, then yeah, I mean, that could be an advantage. One side of the court could be an advantage, maybe.

Do you guys have like I play better over here no, I'm not talking about right verse left. I'm talking about back

Front I don't know you know you know when it matters to me is If I like to be on the side that has a backstop because I am chasing a lot of balls Yeah, so I don't want to go far for that like the court up in Gatesville. I don't like the long side on my side

Yeah, that was-

That one is rough.

Speaker 3 (27:23.85)
Yeah, I mean, I'm a dink if it's the weather is concerning, you know, because everybody shouldn't... I mean, the whole time you shouldn't have have the sun in your eyes. I get that. But if it's indoors, again, I don't care. And I'm gonna forget anyway. It's dist... distory.

Yeah, it's a...

De-strank. De-strank.

I don't care either way, so I mean I'll be the tiebreaker. What are you today?

It's destroy for me. I think it's obnoxious, it's annoying, and I just, I would rather continue play than be like, we gotta switch sides, and then you have to remember, okay, you guys are the-

Speaker 3 (27:58.742)
to the right, crisscross applesauce.

That's the other thing.

By that time, my brain is like, okay, what was the score? Who was serving? What is going on? There's, I can't focus. just, I need to keep going.

I everybody else out there is probably like, why are they having such trouble with that?

lot of trouble with it.

Speaker 1 (28:22.158)
I, my thing is, I already got enough to worry about. Yes. I can't be worried about, did I switch sides or not? Listen, I don't care.

Yeah, I don't care.

Well, and then I get an emoji like with my serves and then it's like, now I got to go the other side of the court and then I have to try to figure out exactly where to stand. And yeah, I'm not a good I'm not good enough to.

Maybe there's somebody out there that can comment on our YouTube or something and tell us like, this is the reason people.

Tell me why. Convince me that it's important. How about that? Yeah. Get up in the comments and convince me why it's important, because I'm a destroy on it. I hate it. It's stupid. It's dumb.

Speaker 3 (29:00.962)
But distrink.

drink.

Bunch of fence sitters.

No, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (29:10.254)
News you can use.

Alright, so this pal-

Ladies and gentlemen.

You just had to it to just slide right in.

That's right. right. Yeah. Hey, girl. So this past weekend at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, Texas, Pickleball World Championships. So yes. And this event's growth has been unreal. So in 2020, there was 2000 fans in Mesa in Dallas this past weekend. Fifty five thousand.

Speaker 1 (29:22.99)
Do you think?

Do

Do your thing and switch.

Speaker 1 (29:31.585)
Ooh, snooty.

Speaker 1 (29:36.238)
P.

Speaker 1 (29:50.926)
55,000. Everything is bigger in Texas.

Yes. So huge. And they had 4,200 players last year. This year they had 3,500 plus all the amateur. No, we're lower than that. Amateurs are like fours and fives. Close. could be like carnies. We could have worked on Pickleball Boulevard.

That's amazing!

Speaker 1 (30:05.762)
But we could have went up and played.

Speaker 1 (30:12.792)
getting pretty

Speaker 1 (30:16.664)
We probably could have gotten another t-shirt for sure.

So Pickleball Boulevard was a fan zone that drew tens of thousands with live music, celeb matches, and a lot of brands were out there. Pickleball is certainly not just a trend. is definitely taking over. 55,000. But Annalee Waters smashed her own legacy with her 168th career gold and 38th triple crown.

So fun.

Speaker 3 (30:44.654)
Officially becoming the most decorated player in pickleball history. And do know how old she is? 18. She has not lost a singles match in 529 days. Wow. Yeah. Like amazing.

18.

Speaker 1 (30:56.462)
Yeah, way to be greedy

That's awesome. Yeah, Ben John's lost though. Ben John's number one seed lost to the 28th seed, which was interesting. That's kind of like LeBron getting dunked on by some no name off the...

The only seeds I know are like seeds you plant.

Yeah, so that's more that's more 55,000 that's more people than like a minor league baseball game. That's crazy. That's more people that attend a Dallas Cowboys game for sure. Or you know, that's more people than robot cockfighting. That's right. Valid point. That's another episode you need to go listen to.

Crazy.

Speaker 2 (31:26.871)
Right.

Speaker 3 (31:33.55)
So yeah, very big news for the pickleball sport.

Yeah, it does speak well. mean, let's go Olympics. What are you doing? Why aren't we in there yet? Why are you considering Padel before you consider us?

Is it Padel? I don't know. It's Paddle. I don't know. Anyways, way to go, pickleball. Bring it.

That's it for this episode, unless you've got something to say. Think we got it wrong? Have a better take? We want to hear it. Find us at bdepodcast.com or at bdepodcast on the socials. Drop us a message. We might just feature you in the next episode. If you had a good time, well, same z's. If not, maybe try again. We grow on people. So you know the deal. Follow the show, tell a friend and leave us a review or just pretend this never happened. Until next time.

Keep the dink soft and the energy big.