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The Times podcast: The pickleball pickle

Two people play pickleball.
George Young and Maureen Fleming play pickleball in Huntington Beach in 2019.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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It’s pitting neighbors against neighbors in suburbs across the United States. Tempers are flaring. Tension is high. And nope, all the drama has nothing to do with politics or COVID or any of the usual suburban suspects. The culprit now: pickleball.

Today, we serve you the rapid rise of a sport whose popularity boomed during the pandemic and the intense backlash rising right alongside it. Read the full transcript here.

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Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times investigative and enterprise reporter Connor Sheets

More reading:

Pickleball noise is fueling neighborhood drama from coast to coast

Pickleball is a godsend for older players. L.A. needs to fund new courts

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Pickleball is a smash hit in SoCal. Now younger players are picking up the paddle

About The Times

“The Times” is made by columnist Gustavo Arellano, senior producers Denise Guerra, Shannon Lin and Kasia Broussalian and producers David Toledo, Ashlea Brown and Angel Carreras. Our engineers are Mario Diaz and Mark Nieto. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmín Aguilera and Shani O. Hilton. Our theme song was composed by Andrew Eapen.
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