Major League Pickleball (MLP) 2023 Mesa Season 1 – 6 Takeaways – Julian Arnold the MVP

📸 @maddropspc

It was another rip-roaring weekend at Major League Pickleball (MLP) this weekend in Mesa, Arizona. At this point, there is little doubt that MLP is the most exciting event in pickleball. It really makes you wonder whether the energy that comes from having a handful of events per year can be sustained in a year-round type of format similar to other pro sports leagues. We still have questions as to how it would translate beyond a handful of events, but the MLP weekends are by far the most anticipated events for us to watch. It was also encouraging to see the live stream numbers up significantly from last year as they indicate the hype that was built over the past few months has translated to greater interest by the public. There’s so much we could get into, but we can only cover so much in another installment of our post-MLP takeaways. 

1. Julian Arnold the MVP (Gritty) – We gave the Mad Drops a B- draft grade following the Premier division draft. We liked the solid nature of their team but were concerned with the female foundation of their roster along with the potentially awkward fit of Julian Arnold and Thomas Wilson. Those concerns proved to be unfounded in Mesa as the Mad Drops only dropped one single game throughout their entire Championship run. It was about as impressive a performance as it could get from the entire team, but the biggest player who answered the bell was Julian Arnold. 

We have had questions about Julian previously. We have wondered if his place in the game as a higher end left-side player, particularly in mixed, has been more theoretical than actual. Arnold had a fantastic run with Jessie Irvine in North Carolina about 8 months ago but, beyond that, the results have been a potpourri of good wins and not so great losses. He can go out and beat Ben Johns and Catherine Parenteau with Mary Brascia, but the consistency hasn’t always been there for Arnold.  

At the first MLP event of the year, Arnold proved to be more than worth his 3rd round draft slot as a #1 male for his team. He played with Catherine Parenteau and Thomas Wilson and was an aggressive madman overpowering opponents to victory. Arnold can have a propensity to overextend himself at times, but he played really well being able to keep things under control enough to alpha his team to wins. Parenteau’s steadiness along with Wilson’s flexibility to fit into the secondary role with Arnold ended up being an ideal fit. It meant that Thomas Wilson and Irina Tereschenko’s only played one mixed together because they were up 3-0 in every other matchup. 

I would be remiss to avoid mentioning the fiery energy Arnold brings to the table. It’s an obvious point but it’s part of the equation. The importance of energy and fire is still an open question for me even if it may not be for many others. I’m not convinced it is required to win at MLP. However, there has been an undeniable pattern across the last 4 MLP events. The fact is that Arnold brings as much fire to the equation as any of the 96 players drafted in MLP and fire is absolutely a plus quality at MLP. 

It is never easy to repeat as champions and to duplicate this effort a second time in Daytona, Florida cannot be expected from the Mad Drops with the amount of talent that is out there on other teams. The Mad Drops benefitted from a softer group draw with the Riley-less Hard Eights and Frisco Clean Cause. The only team they played with a winning record out of the group stage was the Florida Smash but the best part of the Smash team, their women, were beaten twice by Catherine and Irina. They took care of the business in front of them and that is what matters. 

Everything is coming together for Julian Arnold at the right time and his ability to play the role of a true #1 male was the difference at this MLP event. Thomas Wilson didn’t have to play like the steal of the draft because of the way Arnold handled himself. Also, if things don’t go quite as planned for the Mad Drops in Daytona, they always have that Dreambreaker to fall back on. 

2. Challenger Breakouts (Slim) – There was no question going into the weekend that there would be Challenger players that would separate themselves from the pack and that is what played out in Mesa. A few player performances stood out in the Challenger Division, and they will be players to watch for when the second draft comes around halfway through the year. 

Stefan Auvergne got called up to the SoCal Hard Eights and looked every bit the part of Premier League Player. While the Hard Eight’s only went 1-2 this weekend, Stefan looked very solid for them, and certainly did not look out of place. As a lefty who can play on that right side, while still being a strong mixed player, he should figure to be an intriguing player for teams in the later rounds of the next Premier Division draft.

The Challenger Division champions, the Breakers also had a pair of intriguing players, who delivered results in Pablo Tellez and Ewa Radzikowska. Pablo Tellez was a fairly well-known entity heading into this MLP season, having been a late pick up in the first MLP event last season, and then having played the remaining MLP events. We felt as though his results had been a little inconsistent last year, but at this MLP event he looked very deserving of the early first round Challenger draft selection. As another lefty who can play the right side, while having some prowess in mixed, he will certainly be in consideration for the Premier League draft next season.

📸 @majorleaguepb

Ewa Radzikowska, probably had as little pro experience as any player outside of Sam Querrey heading into this event, but her results had been very promising. We were high on Radzikowska going into the draft, but did not expect anyone to pluck her as high as the Breakers did, which proved to be a savvy decision. Radzikowska played above her second round billing as she simply looked dominant at the Challenger level. Despite being one of the older players at 43 years old, her length and athleticism allows her to cover a lot more court than most of the women at the Challenger level and the power she can generate, particularly with her two-hand backhand, affords her the ability to power her way through most of the competition.

There is a big difference between being able to power through Challenger and Premier players. She certainly has the raw tools to play the Premier level and has to have caught the eyes of the other Challenger decision-makers who will be in the market to draft her in Premier in season 2 of 2023. However, it seems like her game will likely need some more refinement to truly compete at that level. With her singles prowess, she will probably be a very high Challenger selection if she is bypassed by the Premier teams.

Finally, Hunter Johnson had a strong showing for the Atlanta Bouncers, only dropping one mixed match playing with Christine ‘don’t call me McGrath’ Trifunovic enroute to a semi-final finish. We knew Hunter was an elite singles players but had plenty of questions about his doubles game heading into this MLP season. So far he seems to be showing that he can be a dangerous mixed player, while at the very least holding up in men’s doubles. At that Challenger level, he was truly dominant in singles, carrying the Bouncers to 4 Dreambreaker wins. He will definitely be on the draft lists for some teams in the Premier Division for the next go around.

3. More Money, More Problems. Kind of. (Gritty) – As positive as the weekend was for MLP, there were some low lights with some questionable at best behavior from some of the pros. Increased prize money means increased stakes for the players and, in a professional sport that still relies on the honor system to a significant degree, that can be a recipe for major controversy. 

Similarly to college tennis, line calls in professional pickleball are a real problem, especially when it comes to the side courts that are not streamed or televised. With players making their own out calls, there are bad calls made, both intentionally and unintentionally, that occur at very key moments in  matches. Without line judges, the utilization of the challenge system with cameras on the lines, at least when Boxcar Productions is on the scene, solves some of the issues but problems remain.  While these were not the only examples, I’m going to highlight two of the more troubling examples from this past weekend. 

The first one that I’m highlighting occurred in the quarter-final Challenger division matchup between the Utah Black Diamonds and the Brooklyn Aces. After splitting the gender matchups, Rob Cassidy/Olivia McMillan of Utah were playing Greg Dow/Cierra Gaytan-Leach of Brooklyn and had a game point on them at 20-17.* Greg Dow slightly overcooked an overhead with Cassidy and McMIllan behind the baseline that led Cassidy to call the ball out. The Brooklyn team immediately made it known they thought the ball was in and Cassidy told them he would challenge his own call as Brooklyn had used their challenge unsuccessfully earlier in the game to challenge one of their own calls. In spite of Cassidy’s insistence on wanting to challenge his own call, he was overruled by his team captain, Michelle Esquivel, and team owner and PPA Commissioner, Connor Pardoe. It should be mentioned that the ball appeared to be in on video replay. Utah took the game and ended up taking the match 3-1. 

The point in itself may not have made any difference on the outcome of the match. Some people might also say that Utah acted fairly and fully within the letter of the law as Brooklyn didn’t have a challenge left, which is also true. Too bad, so sad. That’s not how I see it though. I don’t care what is on the line for these players. I don’t care what goes on in other sports. You have a challenge system in place to get the call right with players calling their own lines. It’s also important that the referees are not the ones making the calls as it the case in every other professional sport. These situations involve the conflicted player making a split second decision in a high pressure moment that can literally change the outcome of a game. Yes, I know we don’t expect the Philadelphia Eagles coach to challenge his own call when Devonta Smith knows he questionably caught the ball. Still, in my opinion, it is dirty to take a win when the player is unconvinced of their own line call and the team decides not to challenge the call when that option is available.    

This situation is really a crazy and ridiculous scenario. You literally have the commissioner of the allied professional league that owns a team actively overruling his own player trying to do an objectively good thing, which is trying to get the call right, especially when the only reason the other team doesn’t have a challenge is because they lost it challenging their own call earlier in the same game. When the good and decent thing to do is staring you in the face, and you turn a blind eye to it for the sake of winning a Challenger division quarter-final, I think to myself how on brand that decision is from Connor Pardoe. It is completely unsurprising that the decision was made to overrule Cassidy, and that might be the saddest part to all of it. But hey, we have to realize what really matters in life, which is Connor being able to brag about his final’s prediction for his team on social media:

Update (Tuesday, February 1, 11:40 am EST): You can look through the comments to get the whole gist. It sounds like Connor Pardoe says “we’re challenging” very shortly after the out call is made by Cassidy. I have provided a lot of extra thoughts in the comments. Courtney Johnson, one of the referees during the match, has said below that is Connor’s voice. My question still remains what happened in all that time where about 2 minutes later Cassidy says he is being overruled by his captain and team owner. Moreover, how is Connor Pardoe, the PPA Commissioner and Team Owner, getting overruled by his own player, assuming that is what happened? I still contend that more should have been done in the moment and more could have been done, and now we’re pointing the finger at the team captain because the rules give the final say to the team captain. This update is here though as some of you may very well disagree with me.

The second thing I want to highlight is from the group stage Premier division matchup between the Milwaukee Mashers and the New Jersey 5’s. In this matchup, there were ironically 5 calls made by the 5’s that were challenged by the Mashers over the course of the 4 games and the Dreambreaker. The first of these 4 calls were overturned on review, including the most prominent one by Anna Leigh Waters during the Dreambreaker:

I will note that, after Anna Leigh made that horrendous call in the Dreambreaker, James Ignatowich called a ball out-ish then maybe in. After looking to his team for direction, Ignatowich called the ball out and this call was not overturned on what I would generously call an inconclusive video review.

Naturally, the commentators in this match were deferential to the players making the calls and did their best to absolve them of any wrongdoing. I’m not saying the commentators should be out there calling players out for intentionally bad calls because that’s really hard to do if they want to keep their jobs. However, the one thing I will say is that we have learned over time that the Waters duo have a reputation as being bad line callers in the sport amongst pros. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 76-ish times, shame on me. 

The problem with these two instances I have highlighted above is that there are no consequences in pickleball for being a bad line caller. As we discussed with the recent Paddle-Gate and serving legality issuesthere are going to be players that take advantage of the rules. That’s how it works in every sport. In pickleball, where there are limited occasions of a challenge system being in place, there is almost no way to stop bad calls. 

The 5’s had 4 calls that were overturned because the Mashers challenged and won. What happened to the 5’s for making incorrect calls? Nothing. They moved on after the right call was made. We really have only three ways of dealing with players making bad line calls. One, creating a system where players are penalized for multiple bad calls in a match when a challenge system is in place. Two, consistently having line judges as they do in pro tennis. Three, calling out the poor form in public forums or pros banding together in some fashion to blackball the more egregious line callers.  

Ideally, we wouldn’t have to publicly shame people. It does work, to a small degree sometimes. We saw Anna Leigh Waters overturn her own out call before it could be challenged in her very first match the following day. We have seen Salome Devidze clean up her act to a degree after players started demanding line judges in matches against her. 

It seems as though players prefer getting hooked before having the outcome of a match determined by sub-par line judging. Taking the line judge option out of the equation, is there a system we can put in place that penalizes players for multiple overturned calls in a match? Having a penalty system could have some brutal consequences for unintentionally poor line calls, but it may be worth it to clamp down to some extent on this black mark for the sport. 

We should not accept that players can take advantage of the line call system without fear of consequence. There are additional measures the sport can take. Maybe there is something more creative beyond penalizing players for overturned calls, challenge systems or line judges. Either way, I sure hope it stops soon, even if I think that is unlikely to happen. 

4. Irina, Still the MLP GOAT (Slim) – We called Irina the MLP GOAT after the last finals of last year, which gave her three titles in four tries. She has now only added to that legacy, picking up yet another title to start this season. And unlike the GOAT owner, Ritchie Tuazon, who has adopted the more teams equals more chances for titles approach, there is only one Irina so her four MLP championships in five attempts, with a finals appearance in the other event is even more impressive.

At this time, it is hard to deny that Irina just seems to be an MLP player. She has definitely benefited from landing in some advantageous situations with MLP, from landing on Ben Johns’ team in the first event, to having Parris Todd fall to her team in the second event, and having Thomas Wilson drop all the way to the 44th pick. At a certain point, the reality is she seems to play better at the MLP events then she does in regular tournaments, which also helps her team. 

This was evident again this weekend, as she and Catherine Parenteau only lost once in women’s doubles to Schneemann/Bright of the Hustlers.* Irina’s run included beating Jessie Irvine and Jorja Johnson twice. In a regular tournament, I am favoring Jessie and Jorja in that matchup every time, and they were very close to out those matches against Catherine and Irina, in particular the semi-final. For whatever reason though, Irina just seems to elevate her play in these events.

5. Dreambreaker Madness (Gritty) – Dreambreakers are an inevitability that is perfect for the fans. It feels like rooting for a shootout in a major soccer tournament. There were a lot of fun nuances to the Dreambreakers this weekend and there is still a lot to learn from these events.

The Atlanta Bouncers of the Challenger Division won 4 straight Dreambreakers before losing their 5th Dreambreaker in the semi-finals. The New Jersey 5’s won their first 3 Dreambreakers before losing their 4th in the quarterfinals to the NYC Hustlers. The Hustlers lost their first Dreambreaker before breaking dreams in the quarters and semis for a trip to the finals.

The Seattle Pioneers were one of the favorites going into this event. Ben Johns went 8-0 in his games and worked over Tyson McGuffin pretty well in their lone Dreambreaker, but his team was overmatched after busting out to a 15-9 lead in the Dreambreaker.

It appears that in the Premier division it is going to become more and more of a problem if you have one player that cannot really play singles. With the boom of talent coming into the sport, there are more teams that are going to throw out 4 good singles players, who can also play doubles. That’s not to say you necessarily have to build an elite Dreambreaker team, but to have a legitimate liability in one of those 4 spots is going to be more of a glaring issue as we move forward with MLP. There was a question of how the Pioneers would fare in a Dreambreaker with two players with no singles experience in Dizon and Etta Wright. Although Etta Wright showed she is a competent enough singles player, Lacy Schneemann was too much for Dizon. It may not be every Dreambreaker that Schneemann will dominate Dizon that badly, but there was nowhere to hide for Dizon in that matchup against the Hustlers.  

It is evident there is still a good amount of volatility to these Dreambreakers. The “better” Dreambreaker teams generally prevailed but the 5’s were pushed to the brink by questionable Mashers and Shock singles teams, and lost to an equally strong NYC team. NYC lost to a balanced, but not elite, Las Vegas team in a Dreambreaker in their first match of the event. 

Certain teams were also savvy about matchups to get to a Dreambreaker. Schneemann holding up for NYC and then some afforded her team the ability to stack their mixed matchups to play for a 2-2 tie. They banked on their ability to beat a lesser Pioneers team in the Dreambreaker and, although they went down 15-9, NYC was able to hold it together to make a comeback. That won’t always happen, but it is apparent that high level Dreambreaker capability can mask some flawed roster construction in the right circumstances. NYC went 1-2, only getting by on point differential, but that slow start gave them the opportunity to make it to Dreambreakers against what had to be considered better doubles teams on paper. 

The Challenger division is a different beast because of the level of talent available but there is some similar theory that can be applied to team building there. Hunter Johnson carried Atlanta to 4 straight Dreambreaker wins despite not having a plus singles player anywhere else on the roster. However, in Challenger, Johnson’s elite singles ability combined with the right around average for Challenger singles capabilites of Brooke Buckner and Ben Newell left the Bouncers with only one real liability on their roster. 

This is not to say I think teams should be prioritizing the Dreambreaker at all costs, but it is clear there has to be some mind put to avoiding outright liabilities that can be exploited. Interestingly, the LA Mad Drops, a well constructed Dreambreaker team, made it 4 straight events where the MLP champion did not play a Dreambreaker on their way to a victory. It makes me still think that banking on the Dreambreakers is not the way to go but, at the same time, it is very difficult to build a successful team that can avoid the Dreambreakers altogether. 

6. Sideline Antics Gone Wild (Slim) – The energy and enthusiasm of the players and coaches at MLP is great and part of what makes the competition overall so entertaining, but I think MLP is going to have to do something to reign in the players and coaches being all over the court after literally every point in some matches. I especially could do without owner/coaches like Ryan Harwood being on the court for half the match.

I think it is great that coaching is allowed during MLP matches, but I think outside of timeouts that coaching should have to be just verbal. You should not have Leigh Waters, for example, walking to the other side of the court between literally every point to talk her players during a Dreambreaker. 

I also think you can keep most of that player energy intact with a players and coach type area that they have to remain in during play and between points. 

The players running onto the court between points and some teams even huddling after almost every point during Dreambreakers is just a little too much, and will only get worse if some type of constraints aren’t put in. Further, players and coaches having the ability to pretty much surround refs to apply pressure on them, is probably also not great and may continue to get worse if it goes unchecked. 

On a related note, there is lots of genuine enthusiasm, celebration and passion among MLP players, but I can’t help but notice that there also at least a few players, who seem to have been really trying to play it up for the cameras, in an apparent attempt to “grow their brand”. Genuine trash talking and celebration is such an amazing part of this event, but hopefully this over the top mugging for the camera does not become the norm. I don’t think a player would be literally barking on the first point returning serve during a Dreambreaker if the cameras weren’t on.  

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook too!

*this article has been edited to correct that Irina Tereschenko and Catherine Parenteau did not go undefeated in women’s doubles. They lost to Schneemann/Bright in the finals.

*this article has been further edited to correct that Greg Down was playing with Cierra Gaytan-Leach in the quarter-finals, not Corrine Carr.

58 thoughts on “Major League Pickleball (MLP) 2023 Mesa Season 1 – 6 Takeaways – Julian Arnold the MVP

  • January 31, 2023 at 2:41 am
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    Only 6! I was expecting at least 10. Julian played lights out. But I couldn’t help but wonder how much the MLP format and rally scoring helped his aggressive playing. Staying on the left the entire game kept him zoned in. Even with stacking and keeping the aggressor on the left in a regular game format doesn’t keep you as dialed in as staying on one side all the time. Thomas did great in his supporting role and helped Julian go crazy on the court knowing he had such a rock steady partner to back him up with his aggressive shot-making.

    I didn’t see any of the bad line calls. You singled out some incidents. Most players are all doing the same thing – making bad calls. The exceptions are Jorja, JW, and Dylan Frazier. But if all others are doing it then it must be acceptable by the pros. And coming from Pardoe’s own action, he must not care about line calls either so why should his players. A big no on line judges. A faster review system – almost automatic – would help a lot. But that won’t be available on all courts so bad calls won’t go away no matter what gets put in place for championship matches. In an ideal world, the “commissioner” of the sport would lay down the law. “Do better folks”.

    I was expecting to see an over-sized check handed out at the finals award. Isn’t that a big deal at most sports championships? It was last year at MLP. I didn’t realize each player has their own separate contract on how much they would get – and thus it’s not a team award. Do other “team” sports do that? I know there are contracts for “bonuses” with other pro players in other sports. It just looked odd but maybe that’s because of last year.

    Do you have a typo in the 5’s dream-breaker losses? You said semi’s.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:42 am
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      We cannot capture everything haha! Things we missed included Rafa, Lacy, Rachel Summers and there has to be others not coming off the top of the head right now. It’s interesting on Julian because there is a school of thought that aggression can be harmful because you don’t want to be giving away points on the other team’s serve. In contrast, getting points on your own serve by being aggressive can be very beneficial and shift momentum.

      Not sure what happened to the big cheques! But there is prize money that is the same for everyone and then each player that is signed PPA or JW and Dylan likely have their own separate appearance fee for MLP on top of that. PPA players also get double prize money from MLP. And yes that was a semi-final typo. It has been amended to quarterfinals.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 4:02 am
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    Great stuff guys. I loved every minute of the MLP and can’t wait for the next one in FL. While a little trash talking is fun I do think they need to do something about the taunting. Celebrating with your teammates is great but directing it at your opponent won’t end well in some cases. As amateurs watch the behavior of the Pros, from finger wagging to chest pounding while glaring at the opponent, they will begin to do the same thing on the neighborhood courts. That could lead to some really bad stuff in amateur matches. There is a reason most professional sports have taunting rules.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:43 am
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      Yeah, not sure we’re in total agreement here. The taunting is fun and we don’t quite understand why it isn’t allowed in pro sports. We have pro athletes and the argument may be that people do this in amateur events or kids see this and emulate it. Monkey see, monkey do is only really applicable to kids as adults should be able to make their own decisions.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 5:19 am
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    I think the taunting and antics (not the bad line calls) are so much fun and bring the drama and entertainment. It feels like a pickleball street brawl. Just so much fun to watch. I’ve never gotten more excited watching a sport in my life. Literally standing up and cheering out loud and even got emotional a few times. I think the refs need some protection though. Their were some horrible calls (Iggy’s too aggressive split step) but getting in the refs faces like that seemed like harassment to me. I could do without seeing Leigh run on the court constantly too. Conner being shady isn’t surprising. He seems like a ruthless win at any costs business man and now he has personally put that on display for everyone to see.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:44 am
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      Agreed on both of these. The ref harassment is too much. It’s worse than an NBA game.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:01 am
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    Couldn’t agree more about the sideline stuff. I absolutely love the passion and fire of MLP, but the fact that there seems to be very little boundaries, restrictions or limitations on sideline behavior is one of those things that doesn’t help pickleball justify its legitimacy as a sport. At times, it feels like there is almost no adult in the room in this sport. I’m sure Dundon and crew have helped to some extent, but the lack of strong operational leadership in the sport is glaring.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:44 am
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      Maybe they will reign this in sooner rather than later to some degree.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:12 am
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    It was a great weekend of play to watch! Totally agree with you. And AL’s line calling is circumspect at best.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:18 am
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    This goes beyond bias. I do love reading your write-ups, but you got this one totally, totally, totally, wrong. You need to check your sources and be more credible guys/gals. One of the officials IN THAT MATCH confirmed that CP DID in fact want the challenge to happen. Per the rules, team captains make the FINAL decision. In this case the team captain decided to not let the challenge go forward. Completely by the rules. Team owners have no official say whatsoever. This is sad. But just like spreading feathers in in a tornado, even if you print a retraction, the damage has been done. Completely irresponsible, tabloid reporting at it’s worst. Don Stanley, Director of Officiating, PPA Tour.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 7:29 am
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      So what your saying is the team owner and commissioner of the PPA was overruled by Michelle Esquivel. That she pointed to the rule book and said this is my decision . . .

      This would be like the CEO of a food company pointing to the QA/QC chief and saying, “the decision to ship that tainted product technically isn’t my responsibility”.

      It’s Connor’s team and he is knee deep in this sport, so it’s not like it’s disengaged uniformed owner.

      I am sorry to disagree with you Dona’s you are a pillar of the ref community and I highly respect your leadership, but in this instance to say that a ref at the match heard Connor say something like “I would do X but it’s your decision”. . .doesn’t in any shape or form relieve him of his innate responsibilities as owner and also commissioner of the PPA tour.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 7:32 am
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        *Don. . . not Dona. Sorry about that autocorrect. Certainly I didn’t mean to get your name wrong while typing my respect for your role in the sport.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 8:32 am
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        I alluded to your comment in my response. Very much agree with this, if we’re getting the exact version of events, which I’m not sure we are. Where was he when Cassidy was saying my team owner and captain don’t want to? If that were me and my player was saying that, I’d be dealing with that right away.

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        • January 31, 2023 at 9:34 am
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          Thanks Gritty. You were pretty composed in your response given the digs of bias, tabloid reporting etc etc at your take on the events of the weekend.

          Though he speaks of bias . . . he works for Connor and he wrote the sentences below which is so biased and down right cringy. You are right to feel even worse after reading this. It’s like that Shaggy song. . . “It wasn’t me”.

          “ Per the rules, team captains make the FINAL decision. In this case the team captain decided to not let the challenge go forward. Completely by the rules. Team owners have no official say whatsoever.”

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          • January 31, 2023 at 9:05 pm
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            That’s great that team owners don’t have final say. I have now watched the video back closely and it does not appear any steps were taken early on. Although I see one of the refs have commented above so I will ask there when she is saying Connor said he would challenge it. It’s just hard to believe that the PPA Commissioner and team owner couldn’t have overruled his own player if he really wanted to.

    • January 31, 2023 at 7:45 am
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      Thanks for commenting and bringing your insight Don

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:02 am
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      How do you explain then that Rob Cassidy can clearly be heard saying “I’m being overruled by my captain and my owner” on the livestream during this situation. He may not have had the authority to over rule Michelle’s call, but it seems he was in agreement with her, giving her the confidence to stick to her horrible call.

      Lets not trash the only real source of pickleball “news” we have. No one, and I mean no one else is covering pro pickleball. Citizen journalism is all we have. Sure, call them out if they get something wrong, but there is no need for calling it “tabloid reporting” or “sad”.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 8:36 am
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        This is correct that Rob says that on the live stream. If Connor truly wanted to challenge his team’s own call from the beginning, he would not be okay with Cassidy saying that and would have been talking with his captain on the court as this discussion is being made. I watched the video and, as I said, the version where Connor apparently disagreed with the decision, if true, does not change my mind in the slightest. In fact, it may have me viewing the situation even more negatively by placing 100% blame on your own player when you are on the sideline the entire time to rectify the situation. Would any team captain push back against their team owner and PPA Commissioner definitively said we are challenging the call?

        I should point out. My question is at what point in this whole ordeal did Connor say we are challenging our own call? Rob’s comment you quoted Denise was said after some discussion.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:21 am
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      STFU Don. I can just picture the scene when Connor yanked your leash and told you to go write this which you happily did. The damage has been done??? The second he stepped in this world he’s been doing shit that makes it worse for everyone, especially players but we got it he owns you. Nothing like diving in front of that bullet while implying Michelle overruled him. You are next level man. Go back to sitting in his lap like a good boy.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:29 am
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      Hi Don, I’ll respond directly to be clear who this is (it’s Chris aka Gritty) since this was my takeaway. As always appreciate you providing your perspective. Assuming this is the correct version of events, I’ll echo what John Sanders has commented to you and ask whether you are saying that Connor did not have the ability to step up to tell his player and say no we are challenging? In the video, Cassidy can clearly be heard on the court saying both team owner and captain. Their captain is warming up on the court and saying actively they are not challenging. Where is Connor in all of that? If it was me and I wanted to challenge that as an owner, I would be on the court and talking to my player to explain why this needs to be challenged. If he really wanted to challenge it, he would have done more. This is watching the video for what it is. In my view, if this is the version that Connor agrees with, it is an even worse look for him. It is now not just a matter of doing the right thing, it is now also throwing your own player under the bus instead of taking responsibility to say he could have done more to have his voice heard. This is not tabloid reporting. This is watching the video for what it is. Happy for there to be disagreement with my opinion but this really changes nothing for me.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 4:38 pm
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      Don, you are the joke of the refereeing community and your peers do not respect you. Keep collecting your paycheck. Your integrity decreases each day.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:33 pm
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      You don’t think CP has a good reputation? OMG. He has one of the worst reps in pickleball.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 9:49 pm
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        PS. Sorry, Mr. Stanley, your credibility went out the door when PPA bought you. The PPA could care less about the players or the sport. I’ve been told by someone credible that a lot of certified refs will not work at PPA tournaments anymore because of how the PPA runs them. Pickleball really is going to crap and the PPA is leading the way. But I guess they offered you enough money to buy your vote. It really is sad. But of course, it’s JMO.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 11:34 pm
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      You are basically saying, “ Listen to me! I work for Pardoe and am total unbiased with what I am about to say.” “I wasn’t there but I am right and you are wrong.” Bro pays your bills and ofc you are going to back him up. Seems like you should spend more time w your new gf and less time protecting a fragile dainty bunny

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    • February 10, 2023 at 2:01 pm
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      Don, as Director of Officiating, your comments automatically have weight — on issues where you’re separated at arm’s length.

      On the other hand, with your livelihood based on direct deposits from some Connor Pardoe-owned entity, writing a laughably over-the-top defense — “even if you print a retraction, the damage has been done. Completely irresponsible, tabloid reporting at it’s worst” — of the man who pays you automatically makes one question your integrity; and not just as a PPA officiator.

      You are either unable to see the glaringly obvious conflict-of-interest here, or were directed to take a bullet for Connor. Neither speak well of your judgment, the adept possession of which is literally your job.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:39 am
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    One thing you kind of alluded to is that it seems like the team was calling balls out instead of the player on the court. I can’t remember the scenario but I know Anna Bright was on the court. She played a ball and play got stopped because it was out. But she never called it out. I think she would have won the point anyway but a case could be made for distraction and I’m surprised it wasn’t. Anna plays the ball and the team calls it out I’m appealing to the ref for a distraction.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 7:00 am
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      Kris: Wasn’t that per the rules? Lea was kneeling at the sideline during one of the 5’s games. I thought she did that to assist her team to watch for out balls and foot faults.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 8:31 am
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        I don’t think it is per the rules that players on the sideline can make calls. Players can look to their sideline after the call for confirmation but not the sideline players making the calls.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:30 am
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      This is something we could have mentioned. Rafa called one out for Anna in the match and it was an out ball, but she did not make the call. This can’t be happening during the run of play if we have players making their own calls.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 12:51 pm
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      I believe Rafa called that ball out, yelling it (I was 5 feet away). And I agree, it was a distraction for sure. This is where MLP has to control the sideline. I think AB was actually confused. IMO, only players on the court can call out. I’m not surprised it wasn’t a distraction. Almost the entire weekend, players were making distracting comments, running around on the court, etc. Nothing was done. But maybe at the next MLP, they will consider better control of players/owners.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 5:59 pm
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      Yeah to me this was a MUCH bigger issue than the taunting…. I saw 2 separate instances where Rafa called it out from the sideline, causing lots of confusion.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:54 am
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    I didn’t watch all the teams – did anyone? But some of the new women partnerships went well. Obviously Lacy and AB were like peanut butter and jelly. Jorja and Jessie stayed positive throughout. Most surprising to me was how supportive Anna Leigh and Lea were of each other, being fierce single competitors. You especially saw it at clutch in the dreambreakers.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 8:31 am
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      They both want to win at the end of the day. Going to put those differences aside.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 9:30 am
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    I started watching pickleball early last year (I don’t play), mostly PPA streams. I had not seen any MLP events and I wasn’t sure about the team format. I ended up watching several hours of MLP every day from Thursday to Sunday. I loved it. The atmosphere was great and the games were great. I enjoyed seeing tons of new names and faces. I can’t wait til the next one in late March.

    Regarding the antics (barking, stare-downs, jawing, etc), I was pretty entertained. As long as it doesn’t go overboard, I’m good with it. The finger-wagging is rather silly.

    I generally agree with the criticism of non-players running onto the court during the games. It was a bit excessive.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:36 pm
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      This is so cool to hear that there are people out there who watch pickleball but don’t play. You sir, are a unique breed at this point in pickleball’s infancy. MLP is the best event undoubtedly and it’s awesome to see that come through to non-players of the sport.

      Agreed on the antics. We are happy with them to stay, but just reigning it in a little bit more as you note.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 10:03 am
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    Not sure if you guys had touched on this previously or have any insight, but there was a point during the match between the 5’s and the Shock where Simone reacted very strongly to something the 5’s owner said, I think during the Dreambreaker, maybe during the point where AL lost her sunglasses. Did you guys pick up on that at all?

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:05 pm
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      We did not see this one. We know the play you’re talking about but didn’t see Simone’s reaction.

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      • February 1, 2023 at 8:59 am
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        I was looking for the VOD to see if I could find it but looks like the MLP didn’t upload Championship Court day 3. In the shouting match that happened after the point, Simone clearly said something to the effect of, “Real classy Ryan” in Harwood’s direction and was talking about it with someone on the bench after the match as well.

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        • February 1, 2023 at 12:55 pm
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          This may have been taken down due to copyright issues. Interesting but too bad we can’t go back to watch.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 12:15 pm
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    Thank you very much for posting and for this great info. I was there all four days. I’ve been to a few PPA events and a few APP events. MLP not only puts in the best quality in video, cameras, sound, etc., but they far surpass any other tour group (thank you BoxCar Production & money). Cameras on every line, four feeds, I saw 11 cameras working on one court once and most of the time there were at least 7 cameras for each court. PPA, APP, and Nationals don’t come close. Hell, all of them pretty much can’t even bother to put four/six cameras for calling/reviewing line calls. IMO, the three others really do it as cheaply as they can. Thank you MLP.

    What also made this event great, IMO, was everyone had great-looking uniforms on, with their names, and team names, and also most had their sponsors. It just looked so professional, the way I wish, pickleball would go, but don’t think it will with owners like Connor Pardoe.

    So, Arnold. He does bring a lot of energy to the game, but it is all negative, derogatory, and demeaning energy. Some people like that, I know the announcers do, but IMO, it’s a bad look to younger players. I actually thought that Wilson brought the wins. Arnold could not outhit Irvine, Johns, or Waters. It was Wilson, IMO, that really upped his game.

    I am so glad you mentioned Michelle Esquivel’s disgraceful sportsmanship. But first, thank you very much Rob Cassidy for trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, your team leadership is without dought, some of the worst sports in pickleball. Connor Pardoe could care less about the sport or players, just fame and money. And I was bashed on Fb for mentioning this situation. So, thank you again.

    Line calls? Players band together to banish fellow players (sorry PPA, ALW can’t play in this upcoming tourney). USAPA doing ANYTHING about this. You can pretty much forget it. Players can’t even get a player’s union together which would only help them. Look at how Catherine Parenteau treats other players. Nothing happened. Tournaments would rather have poor sportsmanship, and backstabbing players, than not let a prominent player not play. USAPA is a pretty gutless entity.

    Totally agree with you on players all over the court. As you mentioned, there should be an area where they have to be. Agree, Leight Waters was all over the place, don’t even think she was part of the team. Also, I’m not a fan of coaching during play and never have been. As far as getting too close to refs, that will be up to the refs to make that a policy. But I agree, if someone is harassing a ref, that team should be warned than lose a point.

    So, thank you again for your time.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 12:45 pm
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      Agree on the taunting front. Just because some audiences love it doesn’t mean that it is right. Audiences loved gladiators but that didn’t make it right.

      MLP is pushing the boundaries of the rules, sportsmanship and etiquette of pickeball. It is new and I think we should give it some time to figure it out. I think with just a few modifications MLP can have its cake and eat it too. The overflowing sidelines, the taunting, the general lack of respect that seems to creep in isn’t necessary for MLP to be successful. NML has some good suggestions. I would like to see a tournament experiment with limiting taunting. Get fired up, but nothing directed across the net. This is the protocol of Tyson and many other electric players in the game. They get fired up but they don’t bark AT their opponents. The main culprits of taunting are Arnold and Wright. . . though there are others.

      If people respond to this with . . . don’t make it like tennis or golf type stuff. I say, if the taunting is what keeps you entertained then you are not much of a fan of the sport.

      As far as hindrances and distractions. . . it’s a judgment call of the ref. If there is consistent noise then no need to make a call. If it’s unusual (quiet for the whole match and then someone yells randomly) and in the eye of the ref affected the shot it is fine to make the call. I think there isn’t a need to change that aspect of MLP, but I think they should definitely rein in the players/coaches on the sidelines. They certainly shouldn’t be making out calls for their players etc.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 1:00 pm
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        Great overview John. Thank you.

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      • January 31, 2023 at 9:14 pm
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        We tend to think we want these people to be humans. We don’t need people to be robots. We always want more personality in other sports because they get a lot of crap from fans when they stray outside of the company line. Some people don’t like this and are not going to be this way, but there are definitely some people who play recreational pickleball with friends and want to talk trash, taunt – all in good fun. This is always one where there is not consensus and may be one where not everyone will be happy.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:12 pm
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      As always, thanks for reading and your detailed comments. The production has been top notch at the past two MLP events for sure.

      We have to disagree on Arnold. We really like the genuine energy he brings. He’s his most authentic self and that’s all you can ask from these players.

      It seems like they may do these things about the line calls and players being all over the court. There is quite a bit of consensus on this.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 11:24 pm
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      Could not disagree more about Arnold’s energy. Watching him in person he’s constantly positive. Derogatory? Demeaning? It’s a lot but you are way off on that analysis.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 6:20 pm
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    I’ll zag – I liked the energy of seeing the rest of the team on the court, the chest bumps and firing the player up in general. Unique and emphasized the team aspect. Don’t hate the real time coaching either. Just got to make sure it doesn’t make the game drag, but I didn’t feel like it did.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:16 pm
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      We love the energy too but not to the point where it’s impacting the pace of play every point. It’d be like if you allowed football teams to celebrate after every first down and run on the field to celebrate. Pickleball is fortunate there is a short time between points and it may be important to keep that going from a TV perspective. There’s too much down time in a lot of sports and it makes it harder in this day and age for people to sit and watch an entire match.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 8:47 pm
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    Great article covering our MLP event this past weekend! I would like to address #3 on your list regarding the Utah Black Diamonds and Brooklyn Aces match. In the mixed game between Rob Cassidy/Olivia McMillan of Utah and Greg Dow/Cierra Gaytan-Leach (not Corrine Carr) of Brooklyn there was a line call issue at 20-17 for the game winning point. Rob Cassidy called the ball out and Greg Dow wanted to challenge but they did not have a video challenge remaining in that game.
    Here is an important MLP Rule to know:
    1. The Team Captain has the the final authority on decisions and communications to MLP officials.
    This rule gives the Lead Referee ONE point of contact for each team. There could be multiple players and owners trying to speak to the ref, but it’s only the Captain that has the final say. If you watched the livestream, you can see how important this rule is for the Lead Referee because you can have multiple people around you talking and it’s overwhelming at times.
    The Team Captain for the Utah Black Diamonds declined to challenge. The team owner, Connor Pardoe, walked on court at one point to request a video challenge (you can actually hear him say multiple times “we’ll challenge it” in the audio). I was the Video Referee for this match and I informed him that his Team Captain has the final say and he would need to talk to her. The Captain had very valid reasons for not challenging and ultimately we moved on to the next mixed doubles game after a lengthy warm up.

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    • January 31, 2023 at 9:28 pm
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      Thanks for sharing your first-hand perspective, Courtney. We are aware that Team Captains have the final say. I had watched the live stream closely before writing but I have watched it extra closely again today with all the comments we have been getting about this.

      The timeline I can see on the video is that at about the 3:23:12, Cassidy makes the out call. 3 minutes later, at 3:26:30, you can clearly hear Cassidy saying he is being overruled by both his captain and owner on the stream. There is no doubt he refers to both the owner and captain. At about the 3:28:00 mark of the video, Connor steps onto the court for the first time and Michelle points to him to have a team huddle. You can hear what appears to be Greg Dow saying to Connor that it’s going to be a bad look. They have a team huddle partially on and off camera for about 45 to 50 seconds. Connor then walks back to that area between the bleachers and the camera eventually changes to show the match.

      What I am most curious about in this is what point in this sequence of events Connor says “we’ll challenge it”. I didn’t hear it but I don’t doubt you that he said it. The timing to me is very important because there is a 3 minute gap between the call being made and Cassidy saying what he did about being overruled by both parties.

      The other part of the story which is just my subjective opinion is that there is no way I can be convinced the team owner and PPA Commissioner could not have gotten Michelle on board with challenging their own call if he really wanted to. From what I see in the video, those are not actions of someone who wanted to challenge his own call. The likely delay in his response indicates someone who was reticent about what I would deem to be doing the right thing and realized it was going to be a bad look, as he was being told when he stepped onto the court.

      Furthermore, we have had two separate PPA employees push this narrative forward to us. It’s quite the thing that the narrative being put forth puts all the blame for a bad situation on the player rather than taking on responsibility for not doing more in the situation as someone who is in the role as a pillar for the growth of this sport. This is not on Connor solely but my view of the situation is he could have rectified the situation, and chose not to. However, that is 100% outside the control of any referees who were on the scene, including yourself.

      This turned into a far lengthier response than I intended but I am still curious about when you’re saying in the video he says we’ll challenge it. Thanks for the correction on Carr vs. Gaytan-Leach too.

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      • February 1, 2023 at 8:18 am
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        At 3:23:49 you can clearly hear Connor Pardoe say “we’re challenging”. He is on court when he’s saying this, but you can’t see him on the YouTube stream because they are replaying the line call.

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        • February 1, 2023 at 8:33 am
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          Thanks for this. I will edit the post to include that. This still does not explain Cassidy’s comments nor does it explain what happens in between that time.

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  • January 31, 2023 at 11:21 pm
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    Pardoe stinks and relies on daddy’s money to run his tour. Bro overturns challenges to make his little minor league team win and posts who he thinks will win the tournament when he is associated w it. Prob can count on my hand the amount of ppl that like him. He’s like one of those nerdy frat guys that acts all tough but is a fragile dainty bunny inside who not many people like. Dundon losing too much money on Carvana and PPA itself. Wouldn’t be supposed if he XLF’d the tour and said adios towards the end of the year. Thought MLP was stupid and just a team tennis (exhibition pickleball) kind of feeling before the tournament but had a lot of fun watching. MLP is special and will be the best of the three. We just need APP to get a sugar Daddy then it’s gameover. #fragiledaintybunny

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  • February 9, 2023 at 12:23 pm
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    Does anyone know if the live stream has a time delay? Watching the Utah Black Diamonds and Brooklyn Aces match with the “non-initiated challenge.” One of the things that struck me as I was watching was how quickly the live stream showed the replay showing the ball being in. They still keep discussing whether or not the challenge is going to be initiated for several minutes. This would obviously be information that could advantage the decision by the Black Diamonds. For competitive fairness, it seems like this rule should be modified to remove the amount of deliberation that occurred here.

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    • February 9, 2023 at 1:24 pm
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      There is no time delay. It is quite ridiculous that there was a discussion for this long. There has been discussion that it should not be left with the captain and player on the court can make the decision. This is a disagree for me on this one. You only get one challenge so you don’t want to waste the challenge. It shouldn’t be left to just the player on the court as they may not act rationally. Now, it worked out poorly in this situation but only because Michelle was unreasonable about it. There is a designated person to initiate the challenge in other sports, although those sports have coaches.

      Reply

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