71-Year-Old Pickleball Player Facing Felony Charge
I’m a big sports fan and watch a lot of sports-related content. Sometimes I need a break, though, especially when SportsCenter looks more like Court TV. Name a sport and you’ll find crime. Even in pickleball.
For the uninitiated, pickleball (see video below) is like tennis with hard paddles and less running. It’s played on a badminton-sized court, which is smaller than a tennis court. The ball is similar to a plastic wiffle ball, so it doesn’t travel as far. Pickleball was invented as a children’s backyard game but has become very popular with the senior set. However, some of them take it a little too seriously.
According to KDVR-TV, a 71-year-old Colorado man has been released from jail after being arrested for using a permanent marker on a basketball court at Central Park Rec Center in Denver to mark the boundaries used for pickleball. Arslan Guney is facing a felony charge of criminal mischief for causing $10,000 in damage to the court. He’s now suspended from all Denver Rec Centers indefinitely and could get anywhere from one to three years in jail for criminal mischief.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Pickleball players are territorial and emotions can run high on the court. I recently watched four retirees playing doubles pickleball at a YMCA in Pennsylvania. The trash talking among them would have made even the NHL’s most penalized players blush.
