Kings and Queens of the World: THE United States of America Pickleball Team Dominates The Rest Of The Planet, Wins The MLP Nations Cup
Great moments are born from great opportunity. That's what Team USA Pickleball had here today, boys. That's what Team USA Pickleball EARNED here today.
A chance to be crowned the greatest pickleball playing nation on the planet. A chance to represent your country on the game's biggest stage. This was more than 4 people on a miniature looking tennis court smacking a wiffle ball back and forth over the net. This was a group of 6 individuals all coming together to play for the player to the right of them, and the player to the left. Playing for the Greta and Gertrude at your local park. Playing for the 13-year-old girl at open play who is dominating all the middle-aged competition. For the doctor heading in to perform surgery later this morning. Playing for your wife's boyfriend. For each and every single American out there who is looking to grab ahold of some good ol' fashioned Grade A Premium Diesel Patriotism. Pride in your country, and the sense of dominance over the rest of the globe.
This was for all of them.
In case you have absolutely no idea what is going on here--which I'm assuming is 99.3% of you--this was the MLP Nations Cup. There were 8 countries/regions all competing to become the best in the world. USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe East, Europe West, Asia Domestic, and Asia International. Pretty much the first step towards seeing if pickleball can eventually become an Olympic sport.
It's a team pickleball format, so you have teams playing 4 games against each other. 1 game of women's doubles, 1 game of men's doubles, and 2 games of mixed doubles. USA went into the medal round today as the #1 seed, and only had one little hiccup on the day when they choked away a 10-4 lead in one of their mixed doubles games in the semifinal against Europe East. Other than that, it was total domination.
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They took on Team Latin America in the final. A very strong team that has 2 of the top men in the world. But USA rolled into this competition with Ben Johns, CJ Klinger, and Will Howells. That is the #1, #9, and #45 ranked men's players in the world respectively. Then they were loaded with the ladies with Anna Bright, Tyra Black, and Kate Fahey. That is #2, #3, and #9 in the world. That, my friends, is what we call a wagooooon.
Team of destiny. Now we just need to know exactly how many beers can fit inside the Nations Cup. USA! USA! USA!