Even pickleball has its fair share of hotheads.
A video of a doubles pickleball match recently went viral on X due to an altercation while the two sides exchanged handshakes.
A player wearing a green shirt scored the game-winning point and let out a triumphant scream. As he went to the net to show respect to his rivals, the man seemed to accidentally slap the paddle out of his opponent’s hand in his excitement.
The man in the pink shorts, who had his paddle slapped from him, did not take the incident lightly. As the green shirt guy reached down to grab the paddle, the pink shorts guy kicked him squarely in the face.
Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. But maybe we should shrink the game a little if we have people kicking each other in the goddamn face over a loss. @stoolpickleball pic.twitter.com/xAuJSsrrTe
— Jordie (@jordiebarstool) November 17, 2024
The foot-to-face contact was so clean it would have made Anderson Silva proud. The green shirt guy got absolutely rocked and stayed on the ground for several seconds as others attended to him. Green shirt’s partner confronted the aggressor until the latter left the playing area.
It’s not clear how the entirety of the match had gone before that final point. The green shirt guy could have very well been obnoxious throughout and gotten on his opponent’s nerves. But regardless of whatever trash talk was dished out, there’s simply no excuse for taking a cheap shot at your opponent with his guard completely down.
