Pickleball Magazine 5-2 WD | Page 30

scene on the court By Craig Laughlin Occasional Observations from a Pickleball Curmudgeon Side Out vs. Rally Scoring I ’ve heard rumors that pickleball may be going to rally scoring (meaning every rally results in a point, regardless of who served). What a horrible idea! Pickleball is a game of momentum swings, and rally scoring eliminates the possibility of a big comeback that keeps hope alive until the last point is scored. I’ve played tournament volleyball for over 40 years, and I played in the USAV Open Nationals the year volleyball changed from side out to rally scoring. While there, I ran into a good friend (our former regional commissioner who had gone to work for USAV) and said, “Margie, why?” She replied, “First and foremost, to make the length of the matches more predictable for TV. Second, tournament directors love it because they don’t go overtime at their venues, and, finally, the JO (Junior Olympics) parents love it because they know their kids won’t be playing in the finals at midnight.” I asked, “What about the players?” and she said, “Well, the players don’t like it much,” which was an understatement. Every player I knew hated it! Rally scoring eliminated the exhilaration of the big comeback in volleyball. Back in the day of 15-point 26 TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 888.308.3720 OR GO TO THEPICKLEBALLMAG.COM games, I was on both sides of 14-1 comebacks in tournament play. Yes, it was rare, but it could have never happened with rally scoring. More to the point, it was not unusual for a team trailing 7-13 to come back and win. That would be equivalent to a team being down 14- 23 today, a deficit that results in a loss 99 percent of the time under the “improved” rules, as the chance of a team that far behind not being sided-out twice before it can catch up is approaching zero. To equate that to pickleball, let’s say we go to rally scoring and 21-point games. Under the current rules, teams come back from 9-4 deficits all the time. Under rally scoring, a team trailing by an equivalent margin of 19-9 would have virtually no chance of winning. My wife and her teammate’s come-from-behind 17-15 Losers Bracket victory (they were down 12-2) would have been impossible under rally scoring. Pickleball would still be a good game with rally scoring (better for TV; less fun for the players), but would it be the same game? If the scoring system changes the potential winner, I say no, but hey, I’m just a player. •