Today we brought news of summer feasts, the similarities between public trains across the nation, and what people have been doing on the pickleball court that goes FAR beyond simply playing the game.

Show Transcript:

Summer Funtimes:

Ben & Kyle: Well, hello listeners, you're tuned into another edition of Off the Rails on the Airwaves right here on WUML LOL. We are coming to you live from the past today. That's right. It's summer. We're busy. We have plans. Yeah, it's again earlier on Saturday. So, same as last time. We're here. It's not even the morning anymore. We didn't we missed Wow. Yeah, we're we're really just a few hours before showtime. So think of this is like the the early edition not the early edition the The pre preview the first draft about that. Yeah We always bring you our rough draft. We never edit the show or do any sort of editorial. No, we always give you right off the cuff, raw radio. Yeah, and if you couldn't tell that, we're very surprised. Yeah, we always give you unpasteurized radio. Yeah, raw milk with all the listeria. bacteria included. Yes. Yeah. So, this week we have quite a show for you. We have a lot coming up. We have a lot of things to discuss. As everyone knows, it gets warm out, the bugs start to fly again, and suddenly it's summer things that everyone starts doing. Everyone goes outside for the first time since hibernation started. Bears wake up and they're hungry, right? It's like, it's all of the things. Yeah, they are. So this week is gonna be summer-themed. We're gonna talk about all the traditional summer activities. So, Ben, you want to start us off? Yeah, sure. I think a traditional summer activity... for bears is preparing for hibernation. So a mama bear that weighs say 350 pounds will eat 75 pounds of salmon every day. Every day? Yeah does that math work out? I'm sorry 90 pounds they eat a quarter of their body weight is the math on that. per day. Oh no. So they eat 90 pounds of salmon per day.

Vicki:Wait, how many

Ben & Kyle: ,

Vicki:How much does a salmon weigh? Like, how many salmons are they eating? Several fishes.

Ben & Kyle: Yeah, how much, how big is, that's a really good point because if 90 pounds of salmon could be a bunch of salmon or it could be like a couple salmon. I think it's a, I think it's a few. salmon. Okay. A

Vicki:Salmon can weigh 12 to 14 pounds Atlantic salmon.

Ben & Kyle: Yeah okay so that's like six.

Vicki:It's like yeah. Right? Let's say yeah.

Ben & Kyle: Or I mean 12 pounds that's that's a lot of salmon that's like That's like eight

Vicki:Salmon, seven salmon, something like that? Yeah, about, yeah.

Ben & Kyle: So it's a lot of fish, but they're about to not eat for many months.

Vicki:It's the bulk before the cut.

Ben & Kyle: Yes. Right, yeah, yeah. Every bear is crazy strong, can lift a lot, and it's because they do the bulk cut routine.

Vicki:I

Ben & Kyle: Talked

Vicki:to

Ben & Kyle: The bears personal trainer. They said 90 pounds of salmon a day is fine until the winter It's mostly protein anyway, right so long as they're not doing any cardio like it's not gonna be a problem No, they're still gonna retain that muscle mass

Vicki:No, well they go in the water the bears and they just it with their mouth yeah yeah

Ben & Kyle: i

Vicki:Guess so but

Ben & Kyle: it

Vicki:'s like swimming like i don't know well

Ben & Kyle: it's not strength training right they're only lifting 12 pounds yeah that's true that's true it's like it's calisthenics yeah it's it's body weight movement right they're doing jazzercise yeah it's more more of a zumba situation yeah that makes sense you have to dance with the fish and

Vicki:Then totally

Ben & Kyle: Totally yeah um 90 pounds of fish a day i mean that's almost as much as i eat a day um yeah and then they and then they do they do their winter cut i know i just don't stop no i just keep going you're ready yeah kyle is in a bulk it's it's but it's like a bulk burger While like how long have you been bulking now? It's been a bit. I'd say I've been bulking for the better part of 16 years. Yeah, just mm-hmm really going for it. Yeah Yeah, well the Bears are gonna be happy when is Fat bear week or fat bear month. Oh, yeah Yeah, it's gotta be soon. This is an important thing. It's like Earth Day, you know? I don't know when it is, but I am looking forward to it.

Vicki:Yeah, I think it usually happens in October. Does that sound about right?

Ben & Kyle: Yeah, like right before. Before we go into hibernation. Yeah. Fat Bear Week in 2023 started on October 4th and ran until October 10th. Yeah, okay. Okay, yeah.

Vicki:October. Yeah, I know my fat bears, okay?

Ben & Kyle: They're not fat, they're just bulking, okay? I don't know that we need to use this kind of language. Yeah, yeah, Fat Bear Week, coming up in the fall. Get ready for that. I know all the bears right now are training. They're probably, it's like Jimmy Chestnut, right? They do their training binges and then they'll go and actually do it in the fall. But yeah. So, Bears, do we want to do music and then come back with more summer stuff? Sure, let's, uh, yeah, let's, this is some Bear-approved songs to eat to, coming right up here on 9.5 FM.

Trains and Mascots:

Ben & Kyle: Well, hey there, folks. We hope you enjoyed that Fat Bear playlist coming to you live from Off The Rails Radio. Yeah. We should just make our whole show Fat Bear themed for forever. Could we have a mascot? Have we ever had an Off The Rails mascot? I thought it was just a train.

Vicki:Oh, you're right. It is a train. Sorry.

Ben & Kyle: Yeah, have we ever named our train? ever named our train? I don

Vicki:'t think

Ben & Kyle: we

Vicki:'ve ever named our train. You

Ben & Kyle: do

Vicki:Raise

Ben & Kyle: a good

Vicki:Point.

Ben & Kyle: Do trains have names, like, generally? Ooh, that's a great question. Like, do you think-- so, like, when a train conductor gets to work, right, are they assigned a train for the day, or do they, like, have, like, a forever train that they're assigned? Right? Like, is there a specific engine that they-- drive. Sailors have like they go to the same boat day to day

Vicki:. Okay, okay, I'll stop

Ben & Kyle: . So

Vicki:Google AI

Ben & Kyle: ,

Vicki:First of all, trains can be named for a variety of reasons, including speed, animals, or fan speed trains with name like cannonball, hotshot, and blue streak. They suggest speed. If you name such as Man

Ben & Kyle: owar

Vicki:, Black Cat

Ben & Kyle: , and

Vicki:Bulldog, and then some

Ben & Kyle: Famous

Vicki:Trains include the Rocky Mountaineer, the Glacier Express, and the Venice Simplon Orient Express. The Orient Express was originally called the Express of the Orient, and then in fiction, there's Thomas. So, um, yeah. There's so many train names.

Ben & Kyle: Well

Vicki:, I mean, like, oh

Ben & Kyle: my

Vicki:Gosh

Ben & Kyle: ,

Vicki:There's a famous trains, most famous trains in the world. I'm sorry, I'm really diving in.

Ben & Kyle: Well, so like, what kind of train name would we name our train, right? Is it going to be something like Rip Jaw, right? Like that doesn't feel like it fits off the rest of the airwaves, right? I like the Orient Express, or the

Vicki:Rocky Mount

Ben & Kyle: Aineer type names, where it

Vicki:'s

Ben & Kyle: Kind of

Vicki:Descriptive about what the train does,

Ben & Kyle: and it's kitschy at the same time. Yeah, there's the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, and in Great Britain the most famous

Vicki:Train is called the Flying Scotsman. Oh yeah, that's a pretty great name, and after the success of luxury line

Ben & Kyle: Orient Express

Vicki:. They created another

Ben & Kyle: One that goes

Vicki:Across Europe

Ben & Kyle: Called the golden arrow

Vicki:Was the French name called

Ben & Kyle: ,

Vicki:I'm gonna mispronounce this love fletch do your

Ben & Kyle: .

Vicki:Translates to golden

Ben & Kyle: Arrow. Golden arrow. Uh

Vicki:Huh

Ben & Kyle: . Yeah, we could, I feel like there's room for a good frequency modulator. The, um, the. There's a Eurostar train that connects England and France, which makes some sense. Oh wait, it goes underground in the English

Vicki:Channel

Ben & Kyle: . Yeah, the Eurostar goes between England and France. There's, there's a, there's a water there. The

Vicki:Textile

Ben & Kyle: Express, or the, the like. Yeah, I like, I like the form of the blank, you know, descriptor. Right, right. The, the, um, the... last

Vicki:There's

Ben & Kyle: um

Vicki:The Hia

Ben & Kyle: w

Vicki:Atha which goes from Chicago to Minneapolis uh but I also really like the name the California Zephyr which goes from Chicago to Emeryville uh the Rock Island Rockets is an early diesel powered train um there's also the Orange Blossom special.

Ben & Kyle: The steel watermill. Yeah like a mill, a mill themed thing. Something Lowell related. Yeah you know there's a lot of history in Lowell. They've got beat poets,

Vicki:They got textile industries. They have the Purple Eye. Crime

Ben & Kyle: . Boxing. Crime. Yeah. Wait, Vicky, what'd you say?

Vicki:The Purple Line. The Lowell Line. The best name, right?

Ben & Kyle: Uh, yeah. The Purple--oh, yeah, uh-huh. We'll stew on it. We'll--we'll-- Yeah, something will come up. We'll--yeah.

Vicki:I mean, if we could rename the Lowell Line, like the Purple Line, commuter rail. What would you guys call it that would really embody Lowell without explicitly calling it after the city?

Ben & Kyle: Oh, uh, it would have to be a river hawk something because river hawks are hilarious because it's a mythical animal. Right, yeah. Yeah, it would. The, yeah, the UMass Lowell River Hawk is a mythical animal. It does not exist. hawks that live by the river. Would it just

Vicki:be like the rail hawk

Ben & Kyle: ? Oh yeah that's that's pretty good. You have the river hawk and the rail hawk. One by sea, one by land, one by sea. One by, yeah, one by land, one by sea, one by rail, one by light rail. - Yeah, so what kind of train is it? Is it like a full-size commuter rail, you know, train? Or is it like a subway light rail type thing?

Vicki:- Oh, it's definitely like Snowpiercer.

Ben & Kyle: Like it kind of goes on forever. - Yeah. - It's huge. - I feel like it needs a gerund, like the soaring rail hawk, or like the swooping. The pooping railhawk. Yeah.

Vicki:Screeching. It could screech, and it has like one old-timey car like Harry Potter.

Ben & Kyle: Yeah.

Vicki:But just one.

Ben & Kyle: I like the screeching idea. Like the screeching brakes. Right, yeah. See, that just doesn't really instill confidence. I was never gonna pick one that did. - I was never, yeah,

Vicki:it's only

Ben & Kyle: --

Vicki:- Like if we were to rename the Green Line in Boston,

Ben & Kyle: Like that would definitely be the Screecher for sure.

Vicki:Like those trolley rails down the road, I don't know. - Yeah, and if you renamed it the Red Line,

Ben & Kyle: it would be something like the Toppling Mayhem, right?

Vicki:Or-- - Yeah.

Ben & Kyle: Inferno. Yeah. The toppling Inferno. The domino. The domino. Yeah. Yeah

Vicki:. Ben, you

Ben & Kyle: Live

Vicki:in New York. Is there like a subway in New York that

Ben & Kyle: You

Vicki:Would rename? Like that

Ben & Kyle: You

Vicki:Feel really

Ben & Kyle: Proud about? Well, my stepmom always calls the G-train the mythical G-train because you never actually see it. Oh. You've just heard, you've heard tales that it's a G-train. coming but you've never experienced it. Right. But the G actually got a lot better because they cut all the trains in half. They have twice as many trains now

Vicki:. That's funny

Ben & Kyle: . It was a really intelligent solution to just have twice as many trains that are half as long. Yeah I mean, and just do the math on that. Yeah I think that the the F train would be renamed the hurry up and wait because that's the train that gives me the most problems and it doesn't like no other trains go where the F train goes and as like in a in a major way so it's like you're always running to get it because if you miss it you're waiting for the next one. finally get on it, it does break for 20 minutes every time. Oh. I like the hurry up and wait. Yeah, the hurry up and wait's pretty good.

Vicki:Yeah, in Pittsburgh, coincidentally, our train system is also called the T. When I moved to town, I was like, "What?" It's the

Ben & Kyle: Exact

Vicki:Same like sign

Ben & Kyle: Age

Vicki:And everything. - It's all the same? - Yeah, yeah.

Ben & Kyle: It's like the same black T and the white circle. - Did they just copy it?

Vicki:- Well, I was wondering, is like the T

Ben & Kyle: Like it was private public transit company.

Vicki:Like I really had no idea that there could be more than one.

Ben & Kyle: The same company. Yeah,

Vicki:it blows my mind every time I see it, yeah

Ben & Kyle: . The

Vicki:Train cars are different

Ben & Kyle: , but like, yeah. Are you looking it up now, Ben? I'm looking it up now. It's hard to find any information because the search engine just thinks that I want to go from Boston to Pittsburgh. Well, so let's start with who owns... Who owns the tea in Boston

Vicki:? - Yeah.

Ben & Kyle: - Is it not public?

Vicki:- That's the thing. It's like, I think like Pittsburgh and Boston are very different,

Ben & Kyle: But Pittsburgh definitely gives off like Boston vibes

Vicki:in like very specific ways.

Ben & Kyle: One of them being the tea. - Yeah.

Vicki:- I feel like, I don't know.

Ben & Kyle: - The Boston tea is... It's probably much older, because Boston is much older as a city. The Pittsburgh Tee started in 1984. So that's actually quite recent.

Vicki:It's a newbie. But do you see what they mean? That it's got the same Tee logo and everything?

Ben & Kyle: Yes, it is. It does look very similar. Huh.

Vicki:Is it just like a T for train? Is this just like very... Right, if the T is for train, that's so silly.

Ben & Kyle: It's like actually so uncreative, like you have no idea.

Vicki:Yeah. Yeah, they need...

Ben & Kyle: You need your own name. Okay, so here's the deal. Okay. So, the MBTA was preceded by the MTA, which was fully publicly owned. Mm-hmm. Uh, the MBTA... So the MBTA was succeeded, this is what Wikipedia says, in 1964 by... by the MBTA with an expanded funding district to fund declining suburban commuter rail service. So it seems like the MBTA is publicly owned. Yeah, okay. So it's a division of Massachusetts Department of Transportation, but it is operated, so they, the MBTA operates rapid transit and most bus routes. Boston Harbor Cruises operates the ferries and Keolis operates the commuter rail. Interesting, and then various contractors operate five bus routes. Huh. So it's like mostly public. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I'm looking for like when the T, when they started calling it

Vicki:The T, but I haven't really found anything.

Ben & Kyle: Trains for a long time and streetcars for an even longer time. Wow. Yeah

Vicki:, well, um, I don't know really how to wrap up this train conversation. Do

Ben & Kyle: You guys have any final thoughts? Head to offtherailsradio.org and let us know what we should name our train.

Vicki:Yeah, that sounds great. Um,

Ben & Kyle: But

Vicki:I

Ben & Kyle: Think we

Vicki:'re gonna kick

Ben & Kyle: it back

Vicki:to some music. Up next, we have a very hot debate about America's new favorite sport, so keep it locked.

Ben & Kyle: You're in 91.5 WML lol.

What else are people doing on the pickleball court?

Well, hey there, listeners. You're back with us, off the rails, on the airwaves. We're not trapped on the radio with you. You're trapped on the radio with us. That's right. You definitely can't stop listening at any moment. No. You're stuck. I hacked your radio. Yeah.laughing So... So

Vicki:we're gonna, we're gonna talk

Ben & Kyle: About pickleball

Vicki:. We haven't really done a deep dive into this sport, but it does have the U.S. population in a chokehold in the past couple years. Yeah, so I don't know about you guys and your experience with pickleball. But my first

Ben & Kyle: Experience was

Vicki:Like gym

Ben & Kyle: Class circa

Vicki:The 2010s.

Ben & Kyle: Who's shockingly prescient that that happened to you? I didn't hear about it until I read some article on the internet about Germans being obsessed with it like 10 years ago. Yeah, I did not encounter pickleball until it became popular recently. Yeah.

Vicki:Under a rock pickleball is like tennis and ping

Ben & Kyle: Pong combined

Vicki:Yeah

Ben & Kyle: so

Vicki:You play with like i guess

Ben & Kyle: Like wooden or like carbon fiber paddles and like a large porous uh ping pong ball it's a it's a wiffle ball it's a wiffle ball yeah play with those large pumice Yeah. Yeah

Vicki:, and there's, there's been so much happening like pickleball tournaments have started all around the country. Retired people have started playing it. Every single tennis versus pickleball player has become a huge rivalry because they've been changing tennis

Ben & Kyle: Courts to pickleball courts because can fit more.

Vicki:The tennis community is shaking in their boots right

Ben & Kyle: Now.

Vicki:But yeah, so there's a couple of things that have spreaded out of pickleball that I wanted to talk about, and I think we're going to start with a low before we get to these highs. But

Ben & Kyle: The

Vicki:First is that

Ben & Kyle: Pickleball

Vicki:-

Ben & Kyle: Related

Vicki:Injuries and

Ben & Kyle: Fractures have increased

Vicki:253

Ben & Kyle: %

Vicki:Since 2017

Ben & Kyle: .

Vicki:And this is partially because anyone can play it, but they just don't... over 65. Like

Ben & Kyle: a lot

Vicki:of

Ben & Kyle: Retired

Vicki:People are playing it and so they don't know their limitations because it's like an easy sport but then you you try a little bit too hard and you just absolutely like

Ben & Kyle: Fracture your ankle or whatever. Yeah it can be tough on the retirees for sure. Yeah or just a

Vicki:Regular person. I think the thing is it's like pickleball is kind of seen as like

Ben & Kyle: a

Vicki:Goofy sport, but it's

Ben & Kyle: Dangerous

Vicki:And there is a

Ben & Kyle: Thrill

Vicki:to it. You have to take it seriously,

Ben & Kyle: and you need to attire appropriately, you know?

Vicki:Right. You have to train for it.

Ben & Kyle: You can't just hop in there and go for it. You have to make sure you're limber and strong enough. Yeah, you can, but you might get hurt. Like, that's a risk. Well, it's also 200 and whatever percent increase. Like, if there was one dude that got injured in 2015, right, like, like, like, like, Pickleball has a pretty good success rate, still, even if it is a 230% increase. Yeah, but, um, the main reason I wanted to bring it up was for two specific ones. So the first one is that there was an article that came out.

Vicki:Almost a year ago, or like earlier

Ben & Kyle: This

Vicki:Year, about how instead of dating apps in NYC and other cities around the country, pickleball courts are now like the hot new single scene, and so a lot of people have been meeting their partners while playing pickleball.

Ben & Kyle: - Yeah. Yeah, it is, you know, it's not a new idea It's just that's something that we haven't done in a while like the idea of like couples act or not couples But like two-person activities being how you meet people, you know, like people used to go to contradicts or other dances or you know, like like things where it was like a partnered activity and you would go and meet people. Right. Right, and it's like a public thing, right? Like there's the low barrier to entry. Anyone can show up. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Interesting. So it's, I think it's the same idea as like, it's a, it's a doubles activity. It's a double sport. Right, and, uh, it's not that hard. So you can pick it up and like it's fun so even if like you don't meet someone that you hit it off with like you still he's got to play a game right right I mean that's the same reason I go to fight club on Thursdays yeah right it's like it's low barrier to entry anyone can show up yeah it's fun mm-hmm and if you fight someone that might be the love of your life yeah yeah and then it asserts the power dynamic in the relationship the first time you meet. Oh yeah, she can beat me to a pulp. Like, now I know that I'm just gonna take the trash out without being asked, right? Like, I don't... - It's good to establish these things early. Like, it's healthier to know, rather than let it fester for five or ten years. years, and then end up in a brawl. - Right, you spend five years both thinking, "I wonder if I could take them in a fight. I would want to, but could I?" - Yeah, you can just establish that ahead of time, and Pickleball is good too, and as is Fight Club, because you see what people are really like. - Right. If you're getting coffee with someone, it's very easy to be pleasant and make polite conversation while getting coffee. But like, if you're just getting absolutely stomped on by some former tennis pros, like pickleball court, like your your true colors are going to show, right? If the person you're interested in, if you watch them snap a carbon fiber pickleball racket in half, because they lost like that gives you some pretty crucial information about who that person is. - Yeah.

Vicki:Oh yeah, for sure.

Ben & Kyle: That sounds terrifying, I don't know. (laughing) - I mean, it's proven. It's proven though that the pickleball thing works. I mean, we have evidence of that here.

Vicki:- We do, we do. - We do, yes. But the other thing is like, it's not just romantic relationships, actually, it

Ben & Kyle: 's

Vicki:Also business relationships

Ben & Kyle: That

Vicki:Are being developed

Ben & Kyle: on

Vicki:The court as

Ben & Kyle: Well. So

Vicki:Apparently, according to

Ben & Kyle: Another

Vicki:Article that came out kind of recently, is that pickleball has sort of replaced golf in like the business sport of choice. instead of going

Ben & Kyle: Out

Vicki:And playing nine or

Ben & Kyle: 18

Vicki:Holes

Ben & Kyle: And spending four hours out in the sweltering sun

Vicki:Trying to make a business deal, you just take the guys to the pickleball court

Ben & Kyle: And it's fast paced, energetic, fun. You make the deal quicker. It's cheaper.

Vicki:So, you know, and then also,

Ben & Kyle: Easier

Vicki:to play than golf, you

Ben & Kyle: Know

Vicki:? It

Ben & Kyle: 's low

Vicki:Barrier

Ben & Kyle: . - It definitely is. It's not like, you know, you're not going to be good immediately, but like you can play immediately. - Right, right. - Like if you take someone who has never played golf before to the golf course, like, they're probably not going to have fun. - Right. 'Cause yeah, if you have to, if you have 18 holes you're trying to do and they're long. - Yeah. - I mean, when's the, is the first? time you ever hit a golf ball with a driver going to be the like on the course with a business person, right? Like that seems like a bad idea, and like pickleball, there's things that are related to it that you write, like maybe someone hasn't played pickleball, but maybe they played ping pong, maybe they played tennis, maybe they played badminton. Like there are other related activities that kind of have some transferable skills. I don't know if that's true with golf other than mini golf right golf is very idiosyncratic in that way

Vicki:Yeah interesting and like like besides relationships in business like romantic relationships in business what other deals do you think that you guys can make on the court

Ben & Kyle: Oh, um, this is sort of not what what your question was, but uh education. I think you could teach kids About subject matter on a pickleball court much more effectively than you could in a classroom Right, that's like kinetic or kinesthetic learning whatever it's called Yeah, exactly. Like if you're teaching them shakespeare, right play it out on the court, right like give them their motivation, read them the Shakespeare, and then have them play as the character on the court and you can connect with those emotions and much more closely than you could just reading it off of page. That would be really good. Yeah, Capulets versus Montagues, like right off the bat. Exactly, like you've heard of Shakespeare in the park, but now it's Shakespeare on the court, right? Yeah, yeah. That's so good. Wait, so on the education note, do you think

Vicki:College admissions could switch to pitbull ball matches

Ben & Kyle: Easily yeah yeah

Vicki:You get off

Ben & Kyle: The waitlist tournament style we our society is slowly moving towards the Hunger Games anyway right so we might as well do it in a nonviolent setting yeah you learn a lot like we talked about with the relationship sex you know section you learn a lot about a person just by seeing them on the court yeah

Vicki:But

Ben & Kyle: Circ

Vicki:Ling back to Shakespeare,

Ben & Kyle: That

Vicki:'s

Ben & Kyle: Like

Vicki:an interesting,

Ben & Kyle: Like

Vicki:, do you think that

Ben & Kyle: we need to create like pickleball arenas, like, you know, those round stages that are yeah,

Vicki:Shakespeare and other plays, it could be really fun, but we need you could have like a halftime

Ben & Kyle: Performance as well.

Vicki:Right?

Ben & Kyle: Yeah, you've already got the amphitheater. Yeah, like you could play a match and then have a soliloquy and then play another match. Do you think they'll put a pickleball court on the stage in Little Island, maybe? Yeah, that would be very fun. That'd be very popular. The thing about pickleball, which is similar to Shakespeare too, is... does not require amplification because the the ball hitting the paddle is very loud. So like listening to that in an amphitheater I feel like would actually be like really cacophonous and annoying. Right, right. Because it's already a very loud sound and you have it in like a natural amplification structure, and it would echo in weird ways. Yeah. Yeah, what about you guys? What are the other applications for Pickleball? Oh, well, I already use it. Similar to the business deals is job hunting. Because you're playing with retirees or people who are about to retire. So, their position is about to become available. Right. someone who's hiring. They have connections. You know, because that's the thing about finding a job is like, even if you find a place that you want to work, there may not be a job available. But if you're meeting a retired person, someone who's recently retired, their position may not have been filled yet, and you have a connection to the company. Yeah, so I definitely, I've been bringing my resume. I've actually printed out my resume and put it on my pickleball paddle. - I was about to say, yeah. - I printed it on, so you can just.

Vicki:- Nice. - Hey, you give your racket over to someone. - You stuff your business cards inside the pickleball. (laughing) - They're flying out as you hit it, yeah, all over the court. - It's like little scrolls. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, something that comes to mind is like, religion,

Ben & Kyle: Like,

Vicki:Could we bring that in? Like, is this political? What is the limitations with pickleball?

Ben & Kyle: Yeah, you do a sermon. You have to do one-on-one sermons, though. So it's just a lot more effort for the priest.

Vicki:- Is this like debate team? Like everyone like model UN style, like every country, and you're just debating like real issues like bike lanes or whatever. Oh my God, wait, no. City council meetings.

Ben & Kyle: We need city council meetings in the amphitheater

Vicki:Wait,

Ben & Kyle: This is so

Vicki:Good because it's all

Ben & Kyle: ,

Vicki:it's like six people that are from the wealthy part of town, so they clearly know how to play pickleball because that's what they do. But I think they're probably retired and like city council, it's like, you know, they're ready to give back, and like people sit there and they watch these city council meetings, they're super boring, people just vote and then like walk out of the room. could be done during a pickle

Ben & Kyle: Ball

Vicki:Game

Ben & Kyle: . That would be amazing. Yeah, like if it's your turn to serve, you get to support your argument.

Vicki:Right? Yeah, it's like, like, I want to see like them talk about like, like zoning on the pickleball court.

Ben & Kyle: Like, and like if you win or lose the game, like it's not it's not legally tied to who gets their way, but there's sort of a strong bias that whichever team wins is most likely going to have the votes. Yeah, and then when they bring out someone to like speak, you know, because you can be a concerned citizen at the podium, that's your turn in the ring, like that is your match. Uh-huh. You know. Yeah, you swap in to play a couple. points. Wow, that's so great. I love it. I think that makes a lot of sense, right? Like, you're volleying back and forth, you're volleying arguments back and forth at the same time, right? The analogy is crystal clear. Yeah.

Vicki:Yeah. I think this is it. I think it's got to be local city government. I think that is

Ben & Kyle: The next step for Pickleball to evolve into. Yeah. I mean, election season's coming up, do you think this could scale to the federal level? Are we going to watch Trump and President Biden?

Vicki:The presidential debate was done on the pickleball court. Like everyone wants that, actually. No single person would be like, "No, let's not."

Ben & Kyle: There would also be, if there's any questions about fitness. Right, right. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah.

Vicki:Oh my gosh. Um, yeah.

Ben & Kyle: I also want to see like the VP matchup, because that's like... Oh yeah. It'd be a lot more energetic. Yeah, that's where the real like athleticism happens. Right.

Vicki:Yeah.

Ben & Kyle: Wait, this is such a...

Vicki:a good idea. Okay,

Ben & Kyle: I'm

Vicki:Gonna call my people

Ben & Kyle: . Yeah, right to your your local representative, right, right to your local pickleball organizer and have them get in contact with

Vicki:Talks about like boxing matches or whatever. But I think I think people need to realize

Ben & Kyle: Pickleball is kind of where it's at. You know, yeah, yeah, we have a society we can't just beat each other up

Vicki:Yeah no

Ben & Kyle: There needs to be a small plastic yes ball with holes cut in it yeah i'm still stuck on vicky that you said carbon fiber a carbon fiber pickleball racket that seems insane right isn't it like don't they make them super light they make them super light but i don't know about carbon fiber i think I think it's like... - 'Cause wouldn't that be really expensive? - Balsa wood.

Vicki:I don't know. - Oh, they do though.

Ben & Kyle: Like they make like two, $300 pickleball paddles. - Yeah, they do. - Really? - They make expensive pickleball paddles, but I didn't think that they were that good. The, yeah. - Okay. - The, let's find, Oh, yeah, here we go. $250. Let's look at the features here. Wow, carbon fiber

Vicki:!

Ben & Kyle: It

Vicki:'s so right! But is it actually carbon fiber or does it just say carbon fiber on it? That's

Ben & Kyle: my question. It has an aerodynamic throat. It has a honeycomb core. Oh yeah,

Vicki:Micr

Ben & Kyle: Otexture. Oh yeah. DuraEdge. Ed

Vicki:g

Ben & Kyle: Eless technology. Wow. Edgeless technology

Vicki:. Okay, so the reason I know this is because through my work, I get discounts on really like random things, and one of them was luxurious pickleball paddles,

Ben & Kyle: and I was like, "Do I need to buy?"

Vicki:Discounted $

Ben & Kyle: 200

Vicki:Pickle

Ben & Kyle: Ball

Vicki:Paddle

Ben & Kyle: . Well yes you do.

Vicki:If

Ben & Kyle: You if you want to get your house zoned properly then yes. Yeah how much is the um how much is the discount? It's probably like 20% it's

Vicki:Probably like nothing but um it's just like the the principle of it all you know. Right yeah just

Ben & Kyle: Means you should

Vicki:Yeah

Ben & Kyle: I am I am looking for the most expensive this one's at all right now yeah the the tagline on this one says for the most advanced players yeah I think that this is this one is the most yeah 250 carbon fiber fully encased in carbon fiber Wow encased it's not made up like what's the inner material inner material is probably some sort of like light structure because that it's like Two flats and then you need something to support all of all the like individuals like square inches on the path on the paddle Right for it to like bounce off Wait, wait scroll up just a little bit Ben Johns world's number one ranked player. In what? Well, what's the- I mean, obviously Pickleball, but what's the- Yeah, there's- they have competitions. They have competitions, but not- I don't think they have professional- Professional Pickleball Association. Like, I don't know how much money he actually makes, you know what I'm saying? Right, and it's also interesting because, uh... normal people play doubles but I think the pro scene is all singles or not all but predominantly singles. When you play doubles do you have someone forward and someone back or someone left and someone right? You usually have someone left and someone right but I think that it kind of there are different strategies depending. Yeah, Ben Johns is uh, he's pretty good at pickleball. Well, if um, oh Yeah, he does play doubles. That's nice Yeah, 36 single titles 41 double title, oh he plays with his brother his brother Colin. Oh, that's nice Cutie cool I think we nailed it. Yeah, if there's anything that you want to do on the Pickleball Court, just write to us off the rails radio org. Let us know what you're doing on the Pickleball Court if you think it's a good idea or a bad idea. There's a lot of unexplored territory here, but I think we came up with some really good ones. Shakespeare on the Court,

Vicki:City Council

Ben & Kyle: Meetings on the Court, all marvelous ideas and we can't wait to implement these in cities around the globe. Yeah, it's gonna be good. Yeah, and Ben's gonna find his job, his next job on the Court. Yes, I'm gonna get hired also, that's most importantly. have any jobs that you want to offer me. I do play pickleball on Wednesdays usually, Wednesday mornings. Yeah, you find them out on the court early. Rise and grind.

Vicki:Yeah, but that's our show. Thanks, folks, for tuning in. Okay, get back to some

Ben & Kyle: Tunage. Stay locked in here on WML for more great stuff. Factory 303 is next. the rest of the weekend. Excellent programming from our community. Yeah, and we'll catch you next time. Yeah, it's a good time here on the... the radio choo-choo. On the... on the screeching rail hawk. The rail hawk. The hawk... the rail... hawk rail line. The Hawking Radiation Line. The River Rail. The River Rail.

Vicki:The River Rail. The... Yeah, Railhawk. Yeah.

Ben & Kyle: The Mill Rail. The... The... The... The... The... No. I got nothing. How about the Caboose? caboose the river caboose the river

Vicki:Cabo

Ben & Kyle: Ose the hawks caboose oh no okay definitely not that all right we're gonna leave now all right bye everyone we'll see you next week prop mate probably yeah most likely stay locked This is 91.5 FM, W-U-M-L, LOL.