Among the many funny things Jeff Borden said during our time as across-the-hall neighbors was his offhand observation about exercise: “I could get into it if I could find one like…oh, like sex. You work a little while, you get a big reward, and then you go to sleep.” Ha ha.
I swam on Sunday for the second time in 72 hours, and reflected that it is the most paradoxical of the three or four workouts I most often do. It’s the one I have to work hardest to show up for, but once it’s over, I feel much better than after boxing, cycling or doing weight work. I don’t know if it’s the shower, or what. I certainly don’t get an orgasm out of the deal. But I always leave feeling not just exercised, but energized.
Then I go home, eat my weight in carbs, and fall into a food coma.
Swam 2,075 yards in 58 minutes, average heart rate 121. Nothing special, but it started the week off right.
Most of the weekend, I worked. I had to file 1,600 words on pickleball, and I now invite you to ask me anything about pickleball, a game I’ve never played. My favorite research was on the war between pickleball players and those who do almost anything else on a court. Pity poor tennis, now eclipsed by what appears to be a goofier form of ping-pong. In Santa Rosa, Calif. in 2021, pickleball courts were vandalized by a deliberate motor-oil spill:
The players also found a profanity-laced note printed on a piece of white paper lying on one of the courts. Its writer threatened to key the cars of any pickleball players who came to the courts, and called tennis players who didn’t do anything to stop the pickleball players “chickens.”
Don’t cross Big Tennis! They don’t mess around!
Then there’s this guy, who squats on handball courts in New York to keep picklers away:
His name is Paul Owens (or maybe Paul Rubenfarb or Paul Rosenberg); he claims to be 97, and his cryptic business card reads “Let’s go dancing,” while listing a variety of genres like “doo-wop” and “1950s red-light mambo.”
All they know for sure is that his life seems to revolve around arriving at the North Meadow Recreation Center as early as 7 a.m., well before Parks Department employees clock in for the day, and just as the earliest pickleball players begin trickling in. That is when he stakes his claim in the middle of the courts and, in a sense, holds the pickleballers hostage. He contends they are taking away space originally devoted to the proletarian sport of handball, historically favored by teenagers of color. (He himself is an ex-handball player, but like many old-timers, he has switched to paddleball, which is more forgiving on the knees.)
To anyone who asks why he insists on ruining the fun, he hands out a flyer in the style of a ransom note that slams “pickleball’s well-off aggressive elite.”
My dad played handball. He often called racquetball “a ladies’ game.” I wonder what he’d think of pickleball. My guess: Not much.
Otherwise, it was a pleasant weekend. J.C. and Sammy are swinging through tomorrow for a brief visit, and I’m very much looking forward to that. Thanks for your comments on my Belle Isle piece, also. I don’t have a lot to add, except that the man with this big idea went on something called the Charter Cities podcast to discuss it. I gather the concept of charter cities is the same as charter schools, i.e., a boondoggle that allows chartered individuals to step outside the law with the promise of innovating their problems away. I expect it will end the way the charter-school movement has, i.e. with wealthy people getting wealthier, the problems remaining and the rest of us, screwed.
Bloggage? A good WashPost dive into the state of the Kennedy Center (gift link):
So what is the Kennedy Center now?
For one thing, it’s getting a Trumpian revamp. He ordered new marble and the repainting of the exterior columns in austere white. Portraits of the first and second couples now hang in the center’s Hall of Nations, and the building exterior is occasionally lit up in red, white and blue (a move that, many staffers joke, makes the building look like the flag of France, not America).
…(Kennedy Center President Richard) Grenell, who directed his staff refer to him as “Ambassador,” quickly began overhauling the center’s leadership. Hires included Roma Daravi, a White House communications aide from the first Trump administration and a former ballerina, as head of the public relations team; and Lisa Dale, a former senior campaign adviser to Trump ally Kari Lake, as the senior vice president of development. He installed the former national chairman of the Young Republicans, Rick Loughery, and his longtime adviser Nick Meade in top roles. None of the three had any previous arts expertise. (Staffers quickly dubbed the trio “The Icks.”) Grenell spends a significant amount of time in California, where he primarily resides, and is rarely seen in the building, staffers say.
Ai-yi-yi. Can’t wait to see the new medals.
OK, time to make some dinner. Have a good week, everyone.
Suzanne said on December 7, 2025 at 7:49 pm
Pickleball seems to be like a narcotic. The people that I know who play are more or less addicted to it, plan their days around it, and talk about it constantly. Maybe it’s fun but I have never played so I don’t really know.
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Deborah said on December 7, 2025 at 8:52 pm
When I first met my husband he played either handball or racquet ball every week with some guys he worked with. After I read your post Nancy, I asked him which it was and he couldn’t remember, he said he only played it for about 4 months and he hated it and that was 35 years ago or so. Talk about getting old.
I tried playing tennis in my youth and I was lousy, My eye to ball coordination is horrible. I like badminton and was better at that, probably the birdie was much slower coming at you. It has been so long that I had to look up how to spell badminton just now and was shocked to find out I’ve mispronounced it all my life, I thought it was badmitten.
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alex said on December 7, 2025 at 9:24 pm
I’m off to bed, even though I never left it for most of the day. I think I have a bad case of gastroenteritis, but no idea what the offending food item might have been. My head hurts so badly that my hair even hurts.
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Brandon said on December 7, 2025 at 9:28 pm
Also, https://abcnews.go.com/US/california-town-moves-ban-pickleball-city-park-noise/story?id=127676467
The pickleball party may be coming to a close in one small California town.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is looking to permanently ban pickleball due to years of noise complaints surrounding the only public courts in the city — due to the popping noises caused by pickleballs connecting with rackets and the court.
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Julie Robinson said on December 7, 2025 at 10:16 pm
Around here, parks departments are becoming war zones as the pickleball vs. tennis and basketball players compete for space. I’ve read of some similar ridiculous battles, and the one friend I have who plays is definitely addicted. She plays all through the summer here, when it’s already 90 at 7 in the morning. D, who is good at tennis, played her once and was in pain for a week. My knees and ankles tell me to stick to swimming and lifting, and so I shall.
Deborah, I was also crap at tennis, but I learned sometime in my 30’s that I have double vision, and felt vindicated. I enjoyed sports, played basketball my last two years of high school, but even there I was a “defensive specialist”. If you think that means I couldn’t hit the rim, you’d be right.
As for the Kennedy Center medals, while I love the rainbow symbolism, the ribbons were gaudy and clashed with what most people wore. So, I guess I kinda, sorta, agree. With that one thing, that is.
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David C said on December 8, 2025 at 5:47 am
My cousin’s husband is an orthopedic surgeon. He says he makes good money from the knees and ankles of people who haven’t participated in sports in years taking up pickleball. It only came up because he’s treating me for my knees locking up on me and asked me if I started playing pickleball. I haven’t. It’s just loose bodies in my knees from being sixty-six.
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Dorothy said on December 8, 2025 at 8:24 am
I’ve never played pickleball either. My friend Susan’s husband Mark plays A LOT (so does Susan but not as much as Mark). He had a hip replacement last month and I think he’s already back on the courts. He is having a knee replacement sometime soon as well so I’m guessing the pickleball playing borders on obsession. For me, any time there’s something that EVERYONE is doing, I generally tend to avoid it like the plague. Just because I’m ornery like that. My life motto is “Try Not To Jump On The Bandwagon”
Speaking of joint replacements, my hubby is getting a new left knee on New Year’s Eve. As if he hasn’t already had enough surgeries this year! Three in his throat and now his knee. The only place to go next is up. And I don’t mean celestially. His voice rest is going pretty well; he’s allowed up to 50 minutes of talking per day now, but that’s ‘confidential’ speaking voice – a directive from his voice therapist. (We do not and HAVE not used a timer for this talking thingy. It’s more a state of mind and a reminder to not overdo talking. Rest, rest rest) He sees the surgeon next week and I think the surgeon is going to be happy to hear how he sounds. It’s not 100% back to what it was before (and that was not to be expected) she took some sections off that left vocal cord, but I think his voice quality is not going to be as bad as we’d imagined. Fingers crossed.
I will return to watching the Kennedy Center Honors after this administration is sent packing.
We were in Pittsburgh for less than 20 hours this weekend. Picked up a lot of antique sewing things from my cousin Kate’s cousin. And then to make it a truly full circle cousin weekend, we had just stepped inside the Pennsylvania Macaroni company in the Strip District at 9:15 yesterday morning when a guy breezed past us. I did a double take and yelled “KEVIN!!” He’s my Uncle Jack’s son. We have bumped into him TWICE like this in the Strip! The first time I was sitting in our car while Mike ran inside a Polish specialty food shop. I spied Kevin crossing the street on foot and could not get out of the car fast enough to yell his name. He’s an assistant DA in Allegheny County, a top notch person who, when we were little kids, was famous for being able to go sit in a corner somewhere when all the fun was about over at some aunt and uncle’s house and just sit down and fall asleep LIKE THAT.
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Jeff Gill said on December 8, 2025 at 8:30 am
Dan Diamond of the WaPo had some live coverage on Bluesky & Xwitter that was interesting to follow:
https://bsky.app/profile/ddiamond.bsky.social/post/3m7gvmqamfk2k
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tajalli said on December 8, 2025 at 11:48 am
Thanks, Jeff, for Bilbo’s speech. Would that we had a Baggins in the White House: more good will and less destruction, physical and social.
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Dexter Friend said on December 8, 2025 at 1:45 pm
Now I admit to telling some stretchers, but I was witness to this. I use to walk the Macinac /Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day…probably just 6 times as I recall. Celebrities got a 20 minute head start before we proletariat were allowed to begin. Governor John Engler and his wife had toddler triplets, in a triple-stroller.
It’s 5 miles across the bridge. I was in pretty good shape and I walked it in 56 minutes, according to the big running timer at the finish line.
Fat-ass John Engler and his lovely plump wife, with the guv pushing that big triple-seat stroller, also walked it in 56 minutes, according to Detroit newspapers the next day.
I was moving well and quickly amidst the crowd, not hindered…but I still marvel at how those two made it in 56 minutes.
Engler was but 38 then, but how did he do that? The first half of the walk is uphill.
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Jakash said on December 8, 2025 at 2:06 pm
Tennis, table tennis, paddleball, squash, racquetball, badminton — I believe I’ve played them all, with the most focus on tennis and ping-pong. I didn’t realize that a new way to hit a ball back-and-forth over a net would be such an exciting development for so many.
Like Dorothy, I generally refrain from jumping on bandwagons, but then I also kinda agree with the attitude expressed by the axiom “Don’t yuck my yum.” These days, I’m not in earshot of any pickleball courts, nor am I trying to reserve tennis courts that are being occupied by pickleballers, so I’m not too exercised about this issue. So to speak.
The Fuhrer is such a needy bastard, it defies belief. The fricking FIFA bullshit, and insisting on inserting himself into the Kennedy Center proceedings are just more manifestations of his utterly insatiable need for ego-enhancement. His personality is more like that of a toddler than a president, but we’ve known that for a long time.
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Scout said on December 8, 2025 at 3:25 pm
AMA pickleball. Yes, I’m one of those obsessed people you’ve heard about. I was an avid competitive tennis player in the 90’s, so pickleball seemed as natural a progression as switching to yoga after my ballet career ended was. It’s really helped my reflexes and stamina and it really is addictive. I’ve made a whole bunch of new friends who are now happy hour and game night buddies. One new friend is a psychologist who said that it hits ya right in the dopamine.
Best meme about the FIFA “peace award” silliness – a photo of drowsy Don reaching for the medal with the caption “This is the moment Qatar realized they spent more than they needed to.”
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Colleen said on December 8, 2025 at 4:11 pm
I toyed with the idea of learning pickleball, but couldn’t find anything suitable near me. So I joined a yoga studio.
He really is a toddler, isn’t he? And the MAGATS are such hypocrites. They make fun of “participation trophies” — what do they think this FIFA award is? It’s the equivalent of a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug…having meaning only for the recipient.
He is just so boorish and classless and tacky.
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Deborah said on December 8, 2025 at 6:11 pm
I guess I could look it up on Gooogle, but are the rules of pickle ball like tennis? I assume so, like serving and volleying and how points are scored etc. Are there any major differences? Is the ball different? Is that the sound issues? I get that it’s a paddle, not a racket etc. I know nothing about the game obviously.
I’m making the french pork stew with prunes and brandy etc. It smells so good right now, I can’t wait to eat. I heard about this stew on NN.C, and am forever grateful. I love it.
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alex said on December 8, 2025 at 6:31 pm
My brother has become a pickleball addict. I’ve never had good eye/hand coordination or I might try it myself. It just looks like great exercise and if it’s a dopamine fix, all the better.
For my brother, recently divorced and recently returned to town, pickleball is also a social outlet, although from what he tells me the conversation always turns to religion and when he admits to being “unchurched” people pester him about joining theirs. He’s not really unchurched. He was attending UU until he dated a woman there and things went badly so he feels awkward about going back. Now he’s dating someone else and that seems to be going well.
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Suzanne said on December 8, 2025 at 9:31 pm
Deborah, I have not made that French pork stew for years but it is fabulous!! I need to plan a dinner party with someone and cook it. It’s so good!
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ROGirl said on December 9, 2025 at 11:39 am
I’m saddened by the loss of one my faves, Raul Malo, from colon cancer at the age of 60.
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basset said on December 9, 2025 at 12:06 pm
I’m not mobile enough to take up pickleball due to Parkinson’s and just being generally old and slow, but I played a lot of racquetball back in the 80s – what happened to it, anyway? I know of only one place to find a court in the entire Nashville area.
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David C said on December 9, 2025 at 12:16 pm
My wife’s neurologist prescribed ping-pong for her Parkinson’s. She made it very clear that we weren’t (I wasn’t) to play to win but to see how long we could keep the ball going. So we’re getting a ping-pong table for Christmas. I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to keep things going because the cats will probably want to play too.
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Julie Robinson said on December 9, 2025 at 1:54 pm
Racquetball was very popular at IU in mumble, mumble…my era. You had to get yourself over to the HPER* building for signups, and if you ran long there might be pounding on the door from the next players. I really enjoyed playing, before I screwed up my knee.
*It’s actually been so long I don’t remember if that was the abbreviation? Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, pronounced hyper. I played intramural basketball, walked or jogged the indoor track, and swam in the Olympic length pool. It was a great perk of being a student there.
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Dexter Friend said on December 9, 2025 at 1:56 pm
A report from the entire 4-person Bennington Show (Sirius-XM, noon-3) back in October indicated that pickleball in NYC has all but vanished, played-out…in disfavor. All those tennis and basketball courts converted to pickleball usage were slowly abandoned.
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basset said on December 9, 2025 at 4:51 pm
The HPER building, remember it well… starting with registration for classes, done with punch cards at tables set up around the running track. Which was all cinder surface while I was there, plenty of dust to make the basketball courts slippery.
I expect the “men’s pool” is no longer there, a separate room with a small pool where swimming nude was not only allowed, but expected.
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Julie Robinson said on December 9, 2025 at 6:40 pm
The existence of that pool was an urban legend to my gal pals and I. I wonder if D remembers, he had friends on the swim team since he lived at MRC, practically next door to the HPER.
Anyone who is a Sondheim fan, please run to the movie theater to watch the proshot of Merrily We Roll Along. We saw the show in New York a couple of seasons back and it was the finest interpretation I’d ever seen. I don’t hand out that kind of praise easily, either.
Sadly, there were six people in the theater. I want filmed productions of shows to be successful so there will be more of them. I’m bankrupting us running off to New York!
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basset said on December 9, 2025 at 9:36 pm
I was at MRC too, 324 Edmondson Hall… wasn’t socially compatible and moved to a co-op dorm after freshman year. Julie, did any of your friends ever go out to Lake Lemon, or the quarries?
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Deborah said on December 9, 2025 at 9:46 pm
I’m often mad at myself for not taking more advantage of the theater in Chicago, mainly Steppenwolfe but also the Goodman in the loop area. We always go when in NYC and/or London but I never think about checking it here. We haven’t been to the symphony in a while or the opera either. The opera in particular has gotten very expensive for one thing. But aside from that (which is a big aside I realize), I need to get with it on the theater.
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Suzanne said on December 9, 2025 at 9:55 pm
Registration for classes in late summer 1976 when I entered IU was at the Fieldhouse (not the HPER building). It was the closest I came to quitting and going home. It was stinking hot and humid, I had no clue what I was doing, the staff working were crabby, and I was miserable. Going from table to table trying to grab those punch cards to get the classes I wanted while hundreds of hot sweaty bodies were doing the same was a slow, miserable process. My kids had it so easy as their registration was all computerized and they both registered in just a few minutes!
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Julie Robinson said on December 9, 2025 at 10:34 pm
Field House for me, too. And at the end of that long sweaty day they take the picture that will be on your student ID the next four years!
I never ran with the quarry crowd. I had two eras at IU, one revolving around the singing group I was in, mostly because we rehearsed five days a week and traveled to performances once or twice a week. Then I got hooked on religious studies and our student church group and became, as they say, a serious student. It was Thursday night choir practice instead of Belles of Indiana.
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alex said on December 9, 2025 at 11:44 pm
Registration at the Field House for me too.
I never knew anything about the naked men’s pool at the HPER but then again most people didn’t know anything about the gay sex scene on the sixth floor of the Student Union.
The nude swimming pool thing doesn’t surprise me, though. Apparently it used to be common enough that no one thought anything was wrong with it. I’ve been told, on good authority by men who were on the Huntington High School swim team, that the coach was a perv who had them swim nude in the ’60s and ’70s and had relations with some of them. (And those aren’t the only teacher-on-student trysts I’ve heard about at that school over my lifetime. I expect I’ll probably hear more.)
I’m mourning for my alma mater under the reign of our current governor, who has fucked the place over and is now fucking our whole state over and is a shameless racist who says Loving v. Virginia was wrongly decided.
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Jeff Gill said on December 10, 2025 at 8:00 am
Purdue, August 1978, registration & ID production for new students was in the Armory. It like Cary Quadrangle, 1,606 men in two blocks of Depression-era mock Tudor brick buildings, was devoid of anything like air conditioning. Much of the discussion in line was about which buildings had it, and which did not (generally, engineering related buildings did, ag related did not), along with the dreaded 7:30 am classes. If there was nudity anywhere on campus at the time, I was not invited, but I hung out mostly with computer science nerds, so…
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basset said on December 10, 2025 at 8:01 am
The Field House way out by Assembly Hall? Or do you mean the basketball and indoor track area on the east side of HPER? which is how I remember it and I was there 73-77 and spring semester of 80 . About midway through that period my girlfriend was a typist at registration and issued me an ID which showed me a little older than I was, best fake ID around and it never failed me.
Don’t know anything about the sixth floor of the Union but I spent a lot of time on the third doing student radio as WQAX was getting started.
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