Howdy. This is The Erne. It might be St. Patrick’s Day weekend, but instead of drinking green beer and having fun with our friends, we are in the lab, concocting some more bomb Pickleball content. You’re welcome.

Here’s what we've got today:

• Are Pickleball pros on the juice?

• Pickleball team names

• Paddle drama heats up

ARE PICKLEBALL PROS ON THE JUICE?

Some spicy 🌶️ drama on Pickleball twitter this week, with multiple implications made that Pickleball pros are using performance enhancing drugs.

With growing popularity and money flowing into the sport, it seems inevitable that PED testing is coming. And let’s be honest, a lot of these pros are on the juice.

I mean…if this physique doesn’t scream PED’s, we don’t know what does

PICKLEBALL TEAM NAMES

The team here at the Erne is joining a league, and we need a new team name. So we thought to ourselves, why not steal good ideas from other people?

There are some absolute gems from these Reddit threads. Our top contenders:

• The Pickle Ticklers

• Deez Nets (obligatory)

• Dink-182

• Bert and Erne (obviously our favorite)

PADDLE DRAMA REACHES DEFCON 5

Before we get into the deets, let’s start by defining what “delamination” means. Basically, it’s when the face of the paddle detaches from the paddle itself, while the edges remain attached.

Apparently, this creates a bit of a trampoline effect giving the player using the paddle an extra power advantage.

Ben Johns, the pro we featured above, had some strong words about the situation

Now the real questions is: what’s a bigger advantage, taking PEDs or using a delaminated paddle 🤔 

WHAT’S COOKING IN THE KITCHEN

• Med school student and former D1 tennis player Colin Shick makes it to the finals in his first ever pro Pickleball event

• We were trying to figure out how to rate ourselves, and we found this nifty guide

• Top ranked tennis pro, Jack Sock, takes to the Pickleball court - check it out

THE PICKLE JAR

(yes we are part of the problem)