Remote Viewing

Step aside, puny Olympics: It's time for Shark Week!

This week, The Discovery Channel celebrates a momentous and toothy anniversary.

Shark Week, that glorious 7-day celebration of Mother Nature's most terrifying beasts from below, turns 25 years young. That's eight years older than Olympic gold medalist (and tasty shark bait) Missy Franklin, for anyone who's counting.

If you're an easy target like me, you look forward to Shark Week with a similar enthusiasm to that which you show towards the Olympics every two years and the first episode of Mad Men each season.

These examples are amazingly accurate comparisons, too, with their depictions of nature's finest specimens cruelly yet necessarily hunting and destroying their weaker prey. Sharks are just as ruthless as Michael Phelps and Don Draper, and they're waaaaaaaaaay better swimmers than both of them.

Started back in 1988 as an experimental (possibly inebriated) programming decision by Discovery Channel executives after work, Shark Week became an instant pop culture classic.

Luckily, herbally-enhanced college students across the country latched on to the phenomenon early, skipping classes to gain their aquatic education from the boob tube instead.

The very first show to kick off that inaugural Shark Week was called, appropriately, Caged in Fear, and showed fearless marine scientists gathering information about their unfriendly marine specimens whilst in motorized cages — to mixed, sometimes bloody, results.

Without explanation, the Discovery Channel's ratings spiked during this documentary and remained through the roof with each of their subsequent shark attack shows.

As Shark Week's lucky star climbed into the stratosphere, celebrities began acting as hosts during the annual shark celebration, and some of the less-important celebrities even began to risk their own lives getting in their own cages of fear to meet these non-discerning sharks fin-to-face.

This year, the producers of Shark Week have upped the ante by providing new footage taken by the Phantom, a video camera that can capture 1,000 frames per second.

Remember when Planet Earth showed us that exquisitely terrifying image of that great white leaping out of the water to catch a leaping fur seal? That's now happening all of the time on regular Shark Week shows.

For me, Shark Week has reached that perfect pinnacle of pop culture that makes it entirely hive five-worthy with your bros but also acceptable water cooler talk as an annual celebration of man's brave triumph over our worst fears: drowning, being eaten alive and SHARKS.

So hold on to your butts, true believers, because these waters are getting pretty choppy. And there's blood in the water. Again.

High Score

Austin named the nation's pickleball capital in industry report

Other Racquet Social Club

Photo by Henry Selis Photo

Other Racquet Social Club is back after city woes.

It's no secret that Austinites love pickleball. A new study proves just how much by ranking Austin the No. 1 city for pickleball in the whole country. Dallas and Houston also made the top 10 at Nos. 3 and 8, respectively.

The report was published by TeachMe.To, an online marketplace for learning sports (and sometimes music) from private instructors. It used data from its own platform, USA Pickleball, Places2Play, local pickleball associations, and more. It also referred to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), which named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America, with a growth rate of 223.5 percent over three years.

Similarly, TeachMe.To ranked Austin as the fastest-growing city for pickleball, and citing this as the main reason for the overall title of "the nation's pickleball capital."

It name-checked the Austin Metro Pickleball Association (AMPA) — with approximately 3,000-3,500 members — and the Austin Pickleball League (APL), estimating that overall, "15,000-20,000 people play pickleball at least occasionally in the greater Austin area." About half of those players — about 8,000-10,000 people — play at least twice a month.

The report did not include gender data on Austin, specifically, but it did note that not only are two-thirds of pickleball players female; women's involvement in the sport is also growing 50 percent faster than men's.

New courts everywhere
This probably isn't a surprise to people who have noticed the number of courts opened around Austin in recent years. By 2024, TeachMe.To's data shows 32 dedicated courts in Austin, and thanks to with a utility rate of 92 percent it doesn't look like that'll be slowing down.

In the summer of 2023, the online booking platform Swimply noticed how many pickleball courts there were in Austin compared to such great demand, and added courts to its service. In fall 2023 and summer 2024, at least two important developments expanded that availability: Other Racquet Social Club opened as a friendly, country club-like neighborhood option, and national chain The Picklr announced it's bringing five locations to Austin and Round Rock.

Perhaps because Austin is such a food-obsessed city, there seems to be some growing opportunity for food and beverage hospitality around pickleball, too. Other Racquet recently started hosting the Bill's Dips food truck, a spinoff of the popular downtown restaurant Bill's Oyster; and a pair of bars with pickleball courts, Drifters Social Coffee & Cocktails and The Pickle Pub, also opened in South Austin this year, with strong online ratings already.

The trend has even reached into real estate (see this cute house with its own pickleball court) and inspired athletes to introduce similar sports to the local market, as in the case of the padel club Paddle39. TeachMe.To's report also mentioned tech companies adding pickleball to their campuses.

Aside from growth, the study also considered lesson activity (including information about teacher availability and diversity of clinic offerings), infrastructure, community vitality, the tournament scene.

Austin had the highest concentration of all the cities of players under 40 (65 percent), as well as the highest share of national lesson bookings. At 16.90 percent, that means about one in six of the pickleball lessons contracted through this platform were in Austin. Lesson demand, the report says, is growing 125 percent year-over-year.

Elsewhere in Texas
Dallas was No. 3 thanks in part to its "central location" according to the report.

"The city's 45 dedicated courts and 85 [percent] public accessibility rate have fostered one of the most active competitive scenes in the country, with 8,500 registered league players," it says. "The combination of strong tournament presence, extensive infrastructure, and a 112% growth in lesson bookings solidifies Dallas as a powerhouse in the national pickleball landscape."

Houston made No. 8 with an emphasis on integrating pickleball with other sports.

"The city's 22 dedicated courts have seen a 92% increase in lesson bookings, driven by innovative programming that includes the nation's first corporate league system," it says. "Houston's success in integrating pickleball into existing sports infrastructure while maintaining 72% year-round utilization demonstrates a sustainable model for rapid growth."

Overall predictions
After laying out data about the top cities in pickleball, the report made some predictions. As the Austin newcomer mentioned above believes, the report also thinks padel is the next big thing. It also guesses more cities will act like Houston by focusing on hybrid facilities.

It also expects to see an expanded professional circuit and mainstream coverage, more technology used on the court, a rise in the prevalence of young players, and more opportunities in corporate wellness and real estate. "Dedicated pickleball facilities will become as common as swimming pools in luxury developments," it says. Texans will be the judge of that one.

pickleball lists

Loading...