Pickleball SPECIAL (It Ended Badly)

Yes, yes, I wish there was eye of the tiger playing like and rocky, but I will play it in my head. Viction up! Hello, Namaste. This is our episode on sports, movement, how to have fun doing this stuff. We just played pickleball as a family. You're not going to want to watch it or maybe you're going to want to watch all of it. It went all over the place. The next just won the NBA Championship. So, New York City is buzzing with the next fever, basketball fever, even I got into it, which was a surprise to me. And there's always something going on with cricket in India, football. What are we playing? Oh, yeah, sorry about that. World Cup, soccer, football, everything is going on. We're going to get into it right now with no time wasted. Who wants to talk about what first? I want to set up what happened with our pickleball game yesterday, because I think it's important before you guys get to see us as a family play pickleball. So, yesterday, Mom was supposed to do a Type 5 on the Tonight Show. And she has been preparing for her Type 5 for weeks. It's a very technical assessment. It's the SAT of comedy to do a Type 5 on the Tonight Show. And she's been a couch guest several times, but this was her new material, and she's been working hard on it. Last minute, because the next one, the championship game, all the late night shows have decided that they're not doing any guests of any kind, they're only doing next coverage, which makes sense. And so, she had an empty slot, which has really rarely ever happened, and we decided to spontaneously play pickleball. Now, I don't know who's idea it was to play pickleball in the first place. Who's idea was it? Oh, I know. I bought pickleball barrels and balls thinking that if we ever get time, we'll just take the barrels and the balls and go to some corner in the park and just hit the ball. When I bought the barrels and the ball, I wasn't thinking, will we get a court? Will there be a net? No, no, it's just as long as you're running around with the barrel and a ball, I didn't matter to me. My original plan was a simple plan, so let's take these barrels and balls a sunny day in New York, let's just go outside or go in the garage of this building has like a little bit of space, where we can run around and play with the barrel and the ball. Let's talk about how bad it is to play any type of sport in New York, because people often associate New York City with this tourist glamorous lifestyle, but in reality, there's so little space in New York that if you ever want to play sports, it's such a hassle. And the result of that is that if you ever want to play any sport that's fun with a group, you have to spend ridiculous amounts of money. I'm dropping the numbers because I think the fans deserve to know. We said $300 on a two-hour pickleball court, not including ubers there and back food and water, all of that is non-cluded, 260 directs. And the other alternative is going to a public park, which can be great, but simultaneously, it can be packed and there's so many other factors that come into play. There was no net also. Yeah, no net. So many cyber cases. It's not fun to play pickleball if you're just going to play in a garage type set. Half the fun in the game is to compete, you know, with each other. No, it does not. Go ahead, mom is saying forget the net. Let's just hit the ball back and forth to each other. Yes. But that's not fun. Like, how is that fun for you to do? It can be. I think it's fun. I think it's very different styles of play. Like, when I play with you dad or via a ditty, it's very competitive, and we're playing to win and to have a very competitive competition, which is very fun in its own way. When I play with mom, it's much more, let's have fun rallies. Let's make sure that we're being able to, like, hit the ball as much as we possibly can, which is a different type of fun. I mean, dual to death. Have you heard of that expression? Yeah, of course. So I'm just saying that if the mix is going to play the way the mix played, dual to death, how can we, as New Yorkers, play any other way? Wait, we're going to do a tangent because the mix have reinvigorated this city in a way I have not seen. I mean, we are all born and raised New York New Yorkers. But I just feel like because their win was such an underdog win, it's been so exciting to see how much New York City pride there is. And like, it's so in everything. It's in the coffee shops. It's in the parks. It's in just interactions. It's just everyone's so proud to actually be here and be from here. Now, it's beg the question of what defines a New Yorker, because now everyone's trying to claim New York. And like, everyone is trying to claim New York right up. I mean, I love Pickleball. I've played racket sport of some kind or the other all my life. And for the longest time, it was squash. But as I get older, my knees are not strong enough to keep up with the rigor of a squash court. And I don't want to hurt them. And at the same time, I never really got into tennis. And Pickleball has been a fantastic cousin, if you will, of both the sports. And at the same time, the way the courts are laid out, especially if you play two and two, you know, the rallies can go on. And I can play with my young and more athletic kids. I played one and one with all three of them. It was really a lot of fun. I don't really enjoy Pickleball. I don't even enjoy it. If it was just locking the ball around in a garage type setting with no way to really keep score. Or even if you can't keep score, no way to know if you correct, correct score or define the rules. It's just not the way. The ambience matters to you. A lot. Like a lot. A ambience like half the game. Okay, that's fair. I mean, I used to pick it. I used to love the gearing up and the pads and the, and you would never have like the scrappy feeling playing with your friends or just playing in the dirt with just a, I mean, maybe when I was 10 years old, yes, maybe when I was 10 years old, but not today, you know. I actually understand that because I, I was the one who spearheaded this incorrect, you know, move into us going to Central Park to play Pickleball. Whereas we could have played in a local court. We also could have gone to Long Island and played in an indoor facility. And I will take ownership over the fact that I was, I was pushing for the idea that we go to Central Park, which in hindsight was the incorrect move. Now, the reason I was pushing for that is because I feel like we live in New York City and we don't get to take advantage that often of what the city has to offer and playing Pickleball in like this iconic park with a bunch of other New York families. It feels, it feels exciting. It feels beautiful. I mean, I'll let you guys see for yourselves in the footage, whether or not it felt like when I'm there, I feel like I'm in a TV show. Yeah, but that's why it's not your neighborhood moment. Yeah, but I wanted was just to run around with my kids. I don't have whatever it is that his issue is off. It's not pretty. I don't know if the city would have been fine for me. I don't really care about the picturesque Central Park. I was trying to just have fun. I get so few hours off where I can just have fun. It's so rare. And I might add, it has been a recurring complaint that we don't have fun enough as a family. By the family members and by you guys are podcasts host. So it's like, all right, let's just go have fun. But having fun ended up being this huge among this project. Is it how are we going to have fun? Who's going to have fun? What are we going to wear when we have fun? Do we have a reservation? I don't understand how any of that is fun. I mean, I thought the dressing up for it was a lot of fun too because we got all these new sports clothes for all of us. Yes, we got a very nice package from Viori for men's clothing, which by the way, not a sponsored plug at all. I actually think that their men's stuff is fantastic and so the boys were wearing a lot of Viori yesterday. I mean, is this reading like fun to you guys? Is this somebody's idea of fun? But mom, can I ask you, yeah, when do you feel relaxed? Because I think one thing that was hard to know what to do with is you never have free time. But I did. I mean, bridge, did you not understand what I wanted? I feel like he understood exactly the vibe of what I was going for. I kind of want to book a court though to him. But he was following what we were planning. Like New York City Central Park, as pretty as it is, is not your neighborhood park. And not to mention that there was a major humongous country wide parade going through the park the same day. That had just finished at 6 p.m. and our court was at 7 p.m. Okay, enough talking about it. Let's let the viewer decide. Let's watch the clip. This whole pickable event has been a complete mess. Bridges been crashing out. Dad was terrible even though he's been running around. I'm the best pickable player. Mom has not stepped out of the cabana. She is so upset with me because I came up with this plan and no one's playing well and she's irritated and I get it. And I actually apologized to her. I mean, she's actually fuming. I can literally see fumes coming out of her head and I don't even know where Viori went. I have my own racket. The quality and expense structure on gifts because of compliance has gone down a lot in Wall Street. It used to be the case. You would get US Open tickets and expensive dinners now come down to racket sports. But I don't mind it. Because I've always been into racket sports and I'm going to kick my kids with that special racket. My boys will not blow up because they're young, but I have to blow them up. See? I think you have to go lower. Burpees. All right. All right. Now let's play. That last one was a burpees. I don't know if you got that. Oh my god. Hit the ball. Hit the ball. You can do it. I promise. Oh my god. Oh my god. You suck. Bridge. Come on. Chill out. I wasn't supposed to believe pickleball today, but Bridge said the dad was so bad that I'm summing it. I'm summing it. I'm about to get in this pickleball game. I mean, I was the captain of my flag football team. You have to warm up before you play. You're too young to understand these things. The body is a very fragile temple, right? You remember your mother's joker on body being a temple? It's kind of like that. So you have to warm up so that all the, you know, everything is up and down and properly like losing up. I know it's not your thing because you're not that strong in your body, but try to keep up with the dad. After all, I'm older than you by 10 or 15 years. You should be able to keep up with me. OK. One, two, three, go. OK. One. Wait, I don't think you're going low enough. OK. Are you going low enough now? Yeah. How about now? Yeah. This is good. Four. Five. Six. Seven. On the toes. Let's go. Young recruit. Let's go. 11. 12. 30. 40. 50. Let's go. 50. 60. 70. 80. Why did he become a hawk? I wouldn't do it. No. And then a burpees. One, two, three. That burpees. Just so you guys know, this is five seconds after the last. Oh my god. Oh my god. No. No. That's a lie. Burpees. OK. We're here playing pickleball. It happened to be my half day of accidentally something I was scheduled to do. I was very excited that I would get to play with the kids. But of course, no plan with the family can be easy and it's never going to be easy on the mother because every plan I wanted to make got negotiated down to why can't we go to this other place and why can't we do it at this other time. And by the time we made the plan, I was so tired of negotiating. I was like, OK, whatever you guys want to do, wherever you want to go. Usually, I get accused of by my own family and by people who watch this podcast of being too serious, not doing anything fun. And so today, I decided since we have this last minute cancellation, let's do something fun. And the plan that they came up with was somehow to drag me through Manhattan on the day that there's a big massive parade walking all the way around all the enclosures through the dirt and filth that all the parade people have left behind. There's no facilities. Obviously, there's no food. There's no drink. There's nothing because everything is shut off because this parade was going to happen. I don't have the luxury of of melting down and crying and which everybody else in my family seems to have that when things don't go their way, they just start crying. And then it's my job to placate them. Today, my workout shoes were missing because I haven't worn them in a while. I hated the plan. And by the way, the decision to film this podcast was also not mine. My plan was to just have fun. The kids decided, oh, we should we should shoot the podcast because the audience will like it. But when I say it, it's all business and we don't have any fun. So now I'm just not going to say anything to give you some perspective because we are a very honest podcast. I think we got so overexcited by how much we could have fun today that instead of thinking practically and being like, we should go to a indoor facility for pickleball, hopefully not in the heartland of a huge parade in Central Park. We came up with this mishmosh of a plan and then we also dragged our producer to come and cover it because we thought, okay, this was the first time we're having fun in months. We should capture this moment for the podcast. This was a classic case of doing too many things all at the same time. The one thing I'm grateful for is that I somehow remembered a few water bottles. So that's a win. The more frustrating thing is that we somehow became the second generation of the men just put a t-shirt on, put their shoes on and wait and the women take forever to get ready forever because we're thinking, oh my god, what if there's no water? So we're packing water bottles. What if the sun is out? Now today I'm watching Zoya do it while the three guys are like, what, just put a sweatshirt on. Let's go. No one else will step in because in theory nobody needs anything. I'm the one who needs the water. I'm the one who needs the fruit. I'm the one who needs the sunscreen. Apparently nobody else needs anything but they just happily participate in it when I show up with lots of it. So I just saw my mom and sisters conventional about how the men weren't doing enough and how they had to do a lot more to create this really fun plan when they felt like they should just be able to enjoy it because it's their first day off in a long time. And first thing I want to say is I'm really sorry for not doing more. I definitely could have done more and do agree that we should have made it a more seamless transition excessively for my mom. That being said, I do think that they're being very, very exaggerated about a lot of the situation that actually occurred. First of all, when it came to actually booking the reservation, I not only booked it, but I spent my own money in order to get the reservation at Wilman Rink in Central Park. Second of all, when it came to getting the paddles for pickleball, I found all the paddles and make sure to bring it down so we can actually play this for it. They keep claiming that it's very thankless and I'm sure much of their life, especially mom's life raising us has been thankless. But recently, especially when it comes down to things like this, there has been many thank you. We have thanked her a time and time and time again for many different things. When it came to bringing stuff, we've thanked her. When it came to every achievement she's had in her career, we've thanked her. When it came to the guidance she's given us in our adult life, we've thanked her. It's starting to become that because for so long, she was without things, she's assuming for everything that she's without things and that's actually not true at all as we've got an older. Now, they're throwing away this entire event because they're so upset over that fact. When instead, they should be enjoying the pickleball that we at least came here to play at the very minimum. My producer said no more confessionals. There's in so much talking, but I just wanted to add one more thing. Just take it upon themselves to try to make sure everybody has a good time. I am literally sitting next to you, feeding him balls, making sure that dad has water, looking at bridge, hoping that he has a good time, constantly looking back at mom, looking back at mom, hoping that she'll join the game eventually, but she won't because she's irritated because I feel like it's my responsibility to make sure everyone has a good time. Whether or not I'm having a good time is like nowhere on the agenda. It's okay to be losing. It's okay to be a loser. Come on, let's go. All right, it's just an advantage, you have not vanyat. It's okay. Sometimes to motivate young kids, he's 14 years old. It's okay. Sometimes to motivate little kids, he's a little baby still. You have to do these kind of things. It's okay if you're doing it exactly. He's taking a victory lab, but I taught him because of all the other times that I played my natural game and won, not going to lie. I just came here to play. I think all the other four are doing a little bit too much, maybe not dad. I really don't think that all this fighting was necessary. I've already regulated my cortisol levels, so never an issue with me, but yeah, thank you guys. I feel like ever since Virgaardon to Stavisit, he's become so Hollywood and I have to put him in his place because I went to Bronx Science, which is his competitor. You need a lower score to get into Bronx Science and you do something? I have more Nobel laureates than you. I have a 70 higher point score than you. It's about the end game. It's not about where, it's just, I'm ready to take a test against him. We can take a test right now. We can start doing math problems on the score. I was born to do math. I'm playing pickleball because it's like all fun and games. You want to do some, you want to do some PEMDOS? What do you know about PEMDOS? He thinks he's playing the short game. Oh, Vir, that was so unnecessary. Do you see how he's gone so Hollywood? Dad, you did all that trash talking. You're not even going to play. But I'm just watching my two little kids trying to pick up the game, observing where I can teach them. I want to know where to start because it's so basic. What they're doing is so basic. It's embarrassing. I'm glad the rest of the courts are all empty because otherwise they would look at my kids and judge me for it. Mom, I just want to say, me and dad both really apologize for not putting a more effort to make this a much easier plan for you. Do not apologize to a woman. That's not what don't men do. He can't even apologize himself. He sent you? Don't man do not apologize. He sent you to do that. Say sorry to say sorry. Sorry dad, I just really want to apologize again. No, you see what I live with? No. I'm not here. No. You see what I live with? 29 years I live with this. Soon. Do you see this? No. You can not go away. You have to watch. Tell him. You're going to let him judge me like. Oh. I get it. What do you get? No. I want to know what you got. What did you get out of it? Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm completely sorry. It's about you and dad for everybody. No, what are you sorry to him for? I just. He did nothing. He did literally nothing. You're right. He did nothing. I apologize to you. Sorry mom. Yes. And then go and tell him if you have something to say to her, go directly yourself. Okay. I'll tell him. I'm not your messenger. Thank you. Say it. I don't think you've got the lesson you say you've got. Oh my god. Mom. Do you want to play? I have a racket ball. Everything. The court's open. Every time. Play, play, play. That's all you want to do. It's play all the time. What? You see what your dad has done. I was just asking if you wanted to play. Yeah. No. Did you see what's going on with me? Yes. I'm all day and all night. Just play all the time. You think about anything else in your life. All right. I guess we don't have to play then. Again. Play. Dad, I'm going to play. Can I borrow your racket? You can fight me for it. Yep. You're not playing right now. Just give me your racket. So fight me for it. Why would I have to fight you for it? Because it's a really important piece of equipment. You don't just get weapons in a war bridge. You have to learn how to use those weapons. This is a weapon. It's not a racket. Fight it. Fight for it. Fight it. Fight for it. Dude, mom is so sorry now. What do we do? No idea. Is there anything we can do? - You can buy her? - We can't afford anything. - What are you guys doing? What are you guys doing sitting here? Now we paid all this money to have fun and this is what's going on here. You can't have fun, you're spending all the money. Why aren't you all this smiling and laughing with your dad is jumping around over there? - But you told us we're not putting enough effort and we need to do other things. - But we can have this discussion at home, not here while we're paying for the fun. - I don't wanna have the discussion at home. - No, you go right now and have fun. Until eight o'clock you have to have fun and then we will talk about it. - I'm tired too. - No, why are you tired? How are you tired? You work out all day long, you're not tired. Why are you tired with this? I walked 20,000, 30,000 steps a day and I'm not tired. - You do not walk 20,000, 30,000 steps a day. - That's what you got from all of this. - Why would you see that right now? - What were you complaining about? - We were trying to figure out how to make you feel better. - Oh, okay, you can talk, you can talk. Sit down, you talk to each other. - Let me get some privacy while we talk. - I'm like, I'm literally in another city right now. What do you want from me? - I can see you right there. - No, I can't hear a single word of what you say. - Can you please look the other way? - Do you say that to everybody else? All these hot girls over here. Are you like look this way, look that way? Why you get to tell me where I have to look? - We're trying to make you feel better and you're staring at us. - Oh, okay. - Yes, yes, I wish there was eye of the tiger playing like in Rocky, but I would play it in my head. Witch it up. ♪ Ta da ta ta ♪ ♪ Ta da ta ta ta ♪ ♪ Ta da ta ta ta ta ♪ ♪ Ta da ta ta ♪ That's the eye of the tiger for young ones that don't know, watch Rocky. - My whole life, all I wanted to do was play a racket sport. I think it might be easier to give up the dream. - All right. - And just make it that my dream is to watch my kids play it. - You know who else had a dream? Martin Luther King had a dream. I have a dream. - Mom, do you want to play? - Is that a trick question? You're always talking us. - What's weird? - You're watching us. - What's wrong with watching us? There's a hundred people watching each other here. You know what? Of all the things right now, I identify with the pickleball ball itself. I feel like my whole life was getting shunted around between you guys. - What's your dad saying? - That's the best. - This is you. - There you go. Hit it harder. We're hit it harder. - We do it. - If this is you. - If this is you, this is me. - Learn from your dad. Good job. - Mom, I think we should just try and play. We have 45 minutes left. I think you and I can have a good time. Why don't we just try? - If I play, I'm gonna play with the boys. You can't keep up with me anyway, sir. I don't even, I'll just go and play with bridge. - Why do I even try to be the useful one? - Dad, I actually think that if you and mom play pickleball, it'll save your marriage. I think you guys need to do more activities together where you have fun and you don't communicate. - Because right now, whenever we talk. - Sir, there is literally the word fun. It does not exist in the word Zerna. Do you realize that the three letters are F, U and N? None is common with the word Zerna. Actually, there is an N. Is there an N? - There is, there is, yeah. - Actually, there's also a, no. But my point is that. - Spawn does not have the letter A, but like the spelling B champion in this family did not come from his side of the family. Let's just say. - I mean, I would have to bring my game down and play like a tenured. - It's actually much better than you would expect. Like, very, very good. I just played her and she beat me. I think you guys should play and not talk and just enjoy the game and see if it helps. - Why would you beg him to play me? That's like somebody begging Roger Federer to play like some county guy. - Do you even know how to spell Federer? - Oh, the guy who couldn't spell fun is gonna give me a spelling lesson. - All right, go, play. I'll go on that side. - You, you, you, you. - You're not being sure. - I will save you the run to go on the other side of the court and save you energy. - Oh, okay. Yeah, I see a lot of that energy at home and this work to be done, this is to be clean. Like, oh, we're overwhelmed with shallow barks energy. - It's okay. - Mom, oh my god. - What? Why, oh my god. - You're literally, oh my god, you have. - Yeah, but it's so fun. His mother's not here to watch. What are we even doing over here? Of course I beat him. - Okay, I'm done, but I can't do it anymore. I'm done. - You see, Mom, we're up such a good fight. You did so good. - I know, I don't know how she did it, but you know, when you only work out once and every two or three months, it's easier to do it. - Oh my god, that's really mean. - Mom, yes. - I have to tell you something. - What? - I'm seeing a new girl. - No, who is she? What does she study? - She study Marine, Marine Biology. - Marine Biology? - Yeah. - No, Marine Biology is a hard one. - That biology. - No, it's not, but it's a wrong kind of biology. What you're gonna do studying jellyfish? - On the hands, not on the knees, like this. - Okay, we're making a star. - Well, this is really sweet actually. - Eagles are howling. - Your knees down like this? - No, no, no. - No, I'm here. You can see it. - She'll be believing it. - Your word is good enough. - Well, Mom's looking really fantastic. - Yeah, you cheated like this. - How about cheated? - Did you go to like this? - Oh, sorry, I didn't go all the way, but I thought. - I was just a really great family experiment. - You know what I mean? - Hands are cuckooing. Three. - Oh, boopies. - Oh, no, you're okay. Nobody's saving you. - Oh my God, it's all right, you lied to me. You lied to me. You said you were gonna look together. - Look at how calm she is. - She's so bad. - Wow, Mom, you're killing it. - Ah. - This was like an episode of Squid Dems. - How are you still up? - Mom, okay, I'm the round of three. One, two, three. - What? - She lied to everyone. - Who is your mom now? - Yeah! - Yeah! Not today, not tomorrow, not in a year, it doesn't matter. - I know all you guys are tired of the drama, so I'm gonna stop that, give you a break for a second. I'm gonna show you my fit. I know all you guys wanna see it. I have the best fashion sense out of the whole family, so let me begin. Sure, I'm going calm today. This is from Uniqlo, just workout, usual athletic, casual clothes. These are mess shorts from Pakistan, super comfy. I have an undershirt. This is from Target, Goodfellow, tank top. Just in case I wanted it. If I got a little warm, Nike socks, these are from Nike, and I have some on clouds. Necklace from David Gureman, and then earrings are from Amazon. - So when I'm working out, I love the American leggings. I like the leggings for workout. Not for my everyday life, I wear cotton workout bootcut, but for workout, I like the spandex again. And the V-O-R goes all the way up. Look at this, it goes all the way up, but I hate workout tops in America. It's all so tight. Everything has to be squeezed. I hate the workout bras. I hate the workout shirts and sweatshirts. I don't like that, so I have my cotton kurtas that are light and airy. Then I put over a legging, and I have a pair of sneakers. I'm wearing a tennis skirt from Nike that I got a while ago and have spandex underneath it. Very important, we don't want anything showing. On sneakers, yoga socks, these are crisscross socks from Amazon, super cheap, but very functional. We're wearing a tank top from V-O-R-E, as well as a sweatshirt from V-O-R-E, so that we can feel comfortable, chic, and ready to dominate on the pickleball court. - Everybody in this family thinks of the most fashionable, especially Veer, but the truth is, I taught everybody in this family fashion. I taught Veer what baggy jeans look like. Oh, my sister, she wears half my sweatshirts and t-shirts. That's true, watch her podcast, she'll be wearing them. Additionally, what I'm wearing today, I got this beautiful, nice silky, vory t-shirt to help me play and stay cool while I'm moving around on the court. Also, got these nice, I want to say mesh shorts, but they look like shorts, and they're really comfortable and easy to play in. I got Calvin Klein underwear on, I can't show it for TV reasons, but Calvin Klein underwear on, gives me full movement abilities. I got Nike running shoes on to help me maximize my mobility and horizontal lateral quickness on the court. Everyone here is maximizing for how they look, I'm maximizing for how to win. Well, my viewers know that I'm one of the more better, well-dressed, 50-year-old men, general, but the better ones in the gut family for sure. This t-shirt, the shorts, are both from Vory. My underwear is from Hanro, but I can't show it to you. I have their winter and fall jacket as well. I think they compete very well with the other two brands, Alou and Lululemon. It's slightly more expensive, but I think it's worth the price. And all made in America, all the way, baby. Bridge, you know, of everybody here, you're the only person I want to play with. Everybody else is irritating me. Thank you. Nobody cares about me, even your sister, so much drama dealing with her attention constantly. And then we're his neediest. I can't even, every five minutes. We're not having enough fun, we're not having enough fun. And I'm not. I promise people that I will not trash talk your dad, but you bring me so much happiness. Thank you so much, Bridge. I like playing with you, too. Now if we could just add one more person in your life that you and I both live, it would be perfect. Like a dating partner? Yeah, then three of us will play for a long time together. But I feel like if I start dating someone, I'll just play with her. No, one otherwise you're just going to abandon your mother. Will I play with when you two are playing? Beer? No. Now back to the episode. Can I tell you something, Mom? I think you're a contributor. We're going to pause to let you all know about our sponsor for today's episode "ZockDock." 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For a limited time, try "One Skin" with 15% off using code "Zarna" at "OneSkin.co/Zarna". After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them, please support our show and tell them we the Zarna Garg family podcast sent you. I really only recently realized this, but I feel like when ideas are not yours, they get squashed really quickly and even if you're right, which you are right 99% of the time, it's not fun proposing ideas at all because now I get that. I can very much disagree with that. I feel like recently you've been so good at accepting so many of my crazy ideas. When it comes to doing different types of marketing promotions, you've been completely accepting of the ones random ideas or random things that we put out there in order to increase engagement and I feel like recently, maybe not in history, I kind of agree, but recently you've been really, really accepting. You're both right and I'll tell you why. In business, I take a lot of risk and it's well-documented. I do crazy things, so when you're proposing something crazy, I immediately assess the risk benefit and I'm like, "Go for it." Once Zoe was proposing, came with the risk of physical harm and in that space, I'm extremely guarded and I've been made no bones about it. You guys are allowed to ride a city bike which the whole city drive rides around and the role of defensive planning, the role of being a core and core general council of the family, is an endless one because if you keep people safe, nobody sees what you did and when something bad happens, it usually goes from zero to 100 escalates so quickly that by that point it's too late. I try to, first of all, as much as I love Central Park and I'm there almost every day, I hate going to the center of Central Park in the evening. It is not safe. It is a big urban city park that's miles and miles of Parkland. Once the sun starts setting, even to get out, it's like a good 20, 30, 40 minutes, easy. You don't know who's in there, so yes, you're right. Was I being a control freak about it? You're right. Maybe I should have been like, it's fine. We'll just go on. No, but I just, I feel like I'm not to mention that I had you with me, a young girl, then I had a producer. No, I admitted it wasn't a good planet. I didn't even feel like, okay, I mean, I feel like I'm taking so much accountability here. I don't even feel like it was fully my plan. I felt like I was still the only person that was like mom's upset and we need to do something and like, whatever, it's fine. But the game of pickleball, if you can come back to that, which is a point of this podcast, itself was a lot of fun for everyone. Yeah, it was. It was if there was a way to have played that in Long Island City or elsewhere, where it was. Yeah, just so people know, I offered the VIP version of it. I said, I will have a nice car pick us up at the door, take us to a club where everything is air conditioned, everything is managed and controlled. And we should do that. Instead, we decided to go for this iconic moment, which is going to look great on camera. So you guys are all going to be like, yeah, you're right. Your mom is a control freak. If you're one, most of the games are pickleball. Let's give him his flowers. Not only is he, you know, too Hollywood and doing stivocent, he's too Hollywood and so important. Oh, my God. If you see this one, we're kind of putting this podcast. It's so annoying to hear. I'm being serious right now. Okay. I'm not. This isn't a joke for the podcast. Please stop saying that. Okay. I will stop. Can I ask what this means to Hollywood? Like, I'm calling too cool for school, basically, like, she's trying to say. Okay. Okay. I didn't mean to irritate you. I didn't like to irritate you. You're hearing that? It's not about hearing. Hearing it once is fine. But there's a hundred times. Three times in the real life. It's okay. No, I say it often. I'm going to stop saying it. I didn't stop saying it. But it's not doing Hollywood. Honestly, my whole family is too Hollywood. Wait. No. I didn't think I'd get into this. You heard him go on about how he played bracket sports his whole life. These three kids are athletes and have been their whole life. Since they were two, three, multiple sports, not once, multiple sports. And if you're a parent in America, you know what's involved in teaching your kids sports and taking them to every meet and every competition and making sure the uniform. I can't even get into, I'm so traumatized by it, that there's an entire chapter about this in my book if you read it. And moms all over America have reached out to me about this chapter. All these guys have played sport. I have been dying to play a racket sport my whole life. My whole life, I never had the opportunity. I never had the life that would, that anybody would take me anywhere to do anything I wanted to do. I used to be amazing at Badminton only because my brother used to take me once in a while with him and his friends and even that got washed. It's a whole long story. Now college, I didn't have the opportunity. So all I did was buy these cheap paddle balls and rackets thinking, when the time presents itself, I will take these paddle balls and rackets and we'll just go anywhere nearby and we'll just hit balls. And for that, I get mercilessly mocked. You guys don't know. He used to tease me the early years of our marriage. You're not comparative. You don't like people don't realize what a luxury it is to be an athlete and to play a sport is all I'm going to say right now. And I was actually the first one to offer to just go play with you. I don't say I'll take, I mean I'm not an athlete just to be clear, my three kids are. But I'm like a friend. No, but you ran track in school, you played school in college. I'm in good health and I can keep up. But you played your whole life, like even as a child, like those are also things that children of someone level-headed balance families get. I never had that. I'm just saying that for me, all of this is a luxury. The thought of what I'll wear is the last thing on my mind. I'm just so excited to run around with the ball. Veer, what is the sport you're most excited for in high school? And also, remember, it's Thai. So it's not a high school that's known for its athletes or athleticism. Actually, not true. What do you mean? It is absolutely true. They have a lot of successful sports teams and not only that, but they have a lot of fun games. What? No, they actually do have like really, really good sports teams, better than these high schools. They rule sports, academics, and- Okay, the rule a lot of people don't know is that this goes for even in like a lot of major cities, you don't have, if your school does not offer a sport that you play, so say that my high school doesn't offer football, you can play football for another school in your district. No, you have no idea. No. Yes, he's correct. You can do that. No child will ever do that, though, because it's the worst thing ever. That's not true at all. At Stuyveson, I met the football coach. He said most of the team is not made up of Stuyveson's kid. That's most of the football team. That doesn't mean most of the student population that can play for other sports. But okay, what I want to say about that, though, because a lot of people brought that up, I went to a school with very, very limited sports. Like, we didn't have male volleyball, we didn't have male football, we had barely any sports, we didn't have the funding for pretty much anything outside of basketball. And like soccer and track, because those don't require that much funding. And what happens is, is that playing for your school team is amazing, because one, practices are always in a convenient and right there spot. They're going to be near your school, because they want you to have easy access towards those fields to be able to have the equipment, two, you're playing for your school, which has a very high likelihood of like patriotism. You feel like you're defending your school, you feel like you're working with your classmates to win at a sport. So when it comes to evaluating other sports, like even if it's not playing for another school, but just playing for a league, it perils in comparison to playing for your school. Because playing for your school is easier, and it's just more fun and brings you together more. So most students are going to have to go to school. are gonna wanna play for their school and they're not even gonna consider playing for other schools because it just doesn't seem even like realistic. - That makes sense, that makes sense. - But what is that known for? - What does the sports that it is? - I mean, it's obviously not known for sports in any way. - No, Taco football is very good. - It's known for, I don't think, I wouldn't say that. I mean, it's a good, it's not even a great to Taco football team. - No, actually, when I was in high school, I was very good. - Me? Nothing that I enjoy 'cause, I mean, we're like farming college applications now. - Whatever's the most miserable? - You farming college applications, what do you mean? - Whatever would go on a college application is what I will play. - I mean, that's really sad. - Yeah, that's good. - It's very sad. - You can either be happy or get into a good college. You can't have both. - So you're gonna start prepping for college apps from ninth grade? - He already is. - But I couldn't, kids didn't even do that. - Yeah, they did. - Not ninth grade. - Yeah, they did. - Are you out there when I was. - You took a year to transition in, you took a lot for you to get one. - Oh my god. - That is. - I was a machine from like 30 days before. - I was a kid. - Like I haven't met all the teachers before the school had started. Because mom was like, we should go introduce ourselves. - That I didn't do. But I also wasn't able to play any of the sports I wanted to. - No. - At all. - No, you're not playing football, you're not playing basketball. - I am the only one I'm gonna play as basketball is what I've decided. - No. - I have to play that one. I'm not gonna list it anywhere. 'Cause like, it's just worth the connections I'm gonna make. But I'm only gonna do it for one year and then I'm gonna stop playing. - Okay, so coming back to sports guys, so we did play football, how was it? How's the actual gameplay? - Me and you had a crazy rally. Like, we went for like maybe like 80 shots back. I'm not even joking, like, we just kept, it was like the smoothest rally I think I've ever had in my life. Like not even left dead ball living ball. Like it was just like, one down. - Don't get people about dead ball living ball. - Okay, if you don't know what dead ball living ball is by now, it's the idea that if you're playing a racket sport, you can let the ball bounce as many times as it possibly can before it's flat on the ground and stopped. So until that very moment, you could hit the ball back and forth. - That's ridiculous. - I created that idea. - I created a rule, is that? - I created a dead ball living ball. - Like we used to play it in Tarnet. - Yes, we used to play it everywhere because I couldn't keep track of the scores and all that. So I would just be like, keep hitting it until you can't, and when it's you can. - That's why squash it dies literally on the first bounce if you don't lift it. (laughing) - I'm kind of a dad in the sense that I can't enjoy a game unless it's competitive. - You are just playing rallying with me. What are you talking about? - I enjoy it, but I couldn't see myself doing it like for 45 minutes. - You don't see the merits in just hitting a ball and running around. - I mean, the game that Reed and I played one-on-one was probably the most, like I enjoy that a lot. Like I lost by like two points, I think at the end. - You didn't enjoy a rally with me a lot. - Well, we didn't really rally it. - I lost 12-10 after a juice. I lost 12-10 and it was literally the most. - Well, I just wanted you to know that Bridget and I had the most fun at the pickleball. - Actually, Zoya and my one-on-one was really awesome too. I thought it was really fun game. - I felt like I was so distracted the whole time yesterday. - Yeah, because I was upset and really finding it. - I was like, I feel like it's like, like, you know, there's this song coming out from Gracie Abrams that's called Daughter from Hell. And I literally cannot wait to listen to it because sometimes I feel like I'm the Daughter from Hell. Like I literally, the song is about how all this Daughters literally can never do anything right. Like if they show up for the mom, then they're like obsessed with the mom and then they're doing too much. If they don't show up for the mom and then they're, you know, romantic relationship, they're probably like centering their life around the guy. Like there's, or if they're putting their work first, their workaholic, like it feels like, and I feel like this applies to all Daughters. And I'm not like any Daughter that's hyper-involved in the family, there's just no right path. And like, she's talking about how much money she had with Bridge. She's having fun with Beer. Dad is having fun with Beer. I'm like, was I there? I actually don't know. I really am like, I don't think I was there. And so I'm like, I don't know. I just feel like, yeah. I'm like, I need to go. - But you know, I played a one-of-one game. It was fun. Did you not think it was fun? - I thought your victory lap was very fun. That was iconic, but did you actually do victory lap? - Did you see the victory lap? - Yes, yes! I wish there was I of the Tiger playing like in Rocky, but I would play it in my head. Viction up! (singing) That's the I of the Tiger for young ones that don't know. Watch Rocky! - He did do them before we even started to repeat. - No, I know, but did you do them in the Rocky stuff? - Like, Jada's been doing these victory laps since through a little. One of my favorite memories with you, Dad, is us playing Mario, the Mario games on the Wii. And me, Bridge and Dad played every level of the Wii together until we beat Bowser at least once. And Dad did these victory laps. So this is like an archaic tradition that you guys are going to witness. And did you do that when you were growing up? - No, it's just something I picked up, you know. I mean, I've not done that many dad things, but that was a real fun moment. (laughing) The victory laps and playing the Wii as well. And other things like that. - But you were so spirited yesterday. - When I'm, you know, and your mother would be quick to point out that when your dad likes something, he's into it, if he's not, he's not going to move an inch. And that's kind of true, you know, because it's a game I really like as I did with the Bowser as well with the Super Mario. So if it's something I would do on my own, when nobody involved, I guess that is what I would like to say to every parent too, that try to inspire your kids to play with you what you like. Because that will mean that you will naturally spend a lot more time with your kids without it feeling like work. So for example, when I played poker with them, when I played Wii with them, when I played pickleball with them, when I played squash in the middle, when Bridge was in middle school, and so I was in high, or not yet in high school. It never felt like work and it felt actually a lot of fun, 'cause I myself enjoyed those things a lot. But if I sit down and play Katan with them, or something that I don't really enjoy, within a few minutes, I'd feel like work. As a parent, I would say that manipulate your children to play what you like. - I think overall, the sport scene for kids is destroyed. And on the topic of sports is actually so convenient. Today I had a sport event for my middle school. It's like a send-off, so it was a bunch of awards. For every single team, every single kid got an award. There was one MVP and then every other kid on the team would get either a certificate of recognition, most improved player. There was literally coaches award. They were making a lot of things. 'Cause you have to experience failure at some point. If there's no fit, if everybody is a winner, there is no winner. - If they have their whole entire life, do we? Life is good. - Oh yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. But if everyone is getting an award, the person who wins MVP, what does that even mean to them? - He's saying participation trophy culture has gone out of control. - Like somebody has to be, like it should be an actual award. It's an award ceremony. Not a recognition ceremony, okay. I understand. And in ethnic communities, Chinese, Indian, it would be the other extreme where they would not give an award to literally anyone except for the winner or the winner and the runner's up. So maybe that's another thing. - No, there's no runner-up in English. It's like your second, you're lost. That's what you say to yourself. - So that's probably the other extreme. But I get what you're saying. - But can I just speak for a minute on his moral log about doing things that are fun? Playing the sport is fun. No matter who's doing it and when they're doing it and why they're doing it. It's the preparing the kids to get there. It's the having a plan when you come back after playing for two, three hours and everybody is hungry. And all the clothes are gonna be thrown all over the place and the shoes are gonna be all over the place. It's the, I mean, do you remember when we used to take the kids' ice skating? - I remember. - It's just a side track while you complete your point or if I can do it later. - Yeah, no finishes. This is an interruption to the episode for something that is very important and very urgent. 52% of you who watch @Zernagar YouTube channel have not subscribed to our channel. It's totally free to do. All you have to do is hit the subscribe button right below this episode. As many of you know, we are the modern family business where I am in charge of the podcast, Bridges and for Charge of ZernaBot. Veer is in charge of everything and anything that we can't do. And he's also, by the way, the funniest character in the skits, it's confirmed by virality. But we all are trying to build together and bring more of this amazing content to your world. - We've been through almost 200 episodes not asking people to subscribe 'cause we didn't even wanna make that ask. We were like, who comes, comes? But we learn now that if we don't grow our subscriber base, we cannot grow our podcast. We cannot bring you the features that we wanna bring you. We cannot bring you all the exciting new programming we have designed for you. That is totally free. All you have to do is hit subscribe. It helps us so much. If you've ever enjoyed, laughed out loud with us. If you've ever thought, I wish I could do something for them. This is your opportunity. Hit that subscribe button. - Now back to the episode. - I never thought I would enjoy ice skating as much. It was a sport that I really, really enjoyed. Both with Zoya and-- - And you did. You did lessons with them. - And then my own. - And then on your own to learn with them. But the process of getting these two kids ready for ice skating, the helmet, the jacket, the gloves, the bags, the gear, everything. By the time we reached the ice skating rink, I thought two, three trains had run over me. - I mean, sir. - And then he became the father of the year because I've made everybody's gears. And then the whole time I was there, sitting, and waiting, and watching while these guys. I was like, as soon as we get home, everybody's gonna be starving, what is everybody gonna eat? - Even the fifth billion human and animal in this world today knows that I'm father of nowhere, let alone father of the earth, right? - No, you, with the kids, yeah, but at that time. - But I'm also point out that there was a few times, maybe two times or three times, where just we and I went ice skating to Chelsea Pierce. Just here and I, there was nobody there, you were not involved, did he was not involved, bridge wasn't involved? We literally took a bus down to, or we took a train down to 28th Street, and then a bus that took us across town, we took a bag of, I don't know if you remember. I know what you're talking about, yeah. - And we took two bags of, we just skated, and we just skated and we came back. And that's it, that was the end of it. There was, and yes, it was not three kids, it was only one kid, and it was just me and him, but it can, it's also a function of the person, somewhat. - Okay, no, I understand what you're saying. So if you're saying, you can look me in the eye and say, I would have done that over and over every Saturday Sunday, if I had to, to teach my kid how to ice skate, then I would be like, you're right, you're right, I am a control freak. The reason that was variable, because it was a once in a blue moon event, to teach a kid how to play a sport, you have to go every day, every weekend, four times a week. Do you think that's sustainable? You tell me, is that journey sustainable? - No, that's not the intent, that was, the intent was not for him to learn ice skating at that point. - But somebody taught him so that when you got there, he could actually skate, right? - Yes, and that ice skating learning, of course, was a lot more involved process. I couldn't have done that. So there was a teacher that taught him that. - But that's what I'm saying. Mom's watching are gonna lose their minds. Everybody's cortisol level is piking right now, bridge. I can see it as a mother. Everything you're saying is not wrong. But to get him to a stage where you can just hold his hand and cross and go and the ice and skate and come back, has involved years of somebody else taking him three, four, five times a week with his gear and sitting there and making sure the coach showed up and making sure the uniform was there. Like, if I had to do it once in a while, I would walk to Chelsea Pierce. Our absolutely, let's go. It's 70 degrees, that's for walk. I'm gonna give a mid episode, "Agrated Dad." - Not on this topic because I think what you're saying is going to resonate so much with Mom's. And because what you're saying is incredibly valid. But I feel like your energy yesterday kept me alive. Like actually, and kept me excited to play the game. And your our pickleball game was the only game that I got to play. And so I am not saying that because you just finished this point, but I feel like he's accepting what you're saying because he knows it's true. And I also wanna honor the fact that you were very helpful to me yesterday when we were playing. - All right, glad to hear that. But let's say the rules were switched. It is also true that if the game was switched from pickleball to watching something in a game that I don't really care about, no matter what that game is. I would be switching off to falling asleep, going on my phone, not being any attention, taking videos that don't make any sense of people that are not even playing, you know? So that part is true as well. It happened that way because I was excited about pickleball. So hence the truth is somewhere in between. That's my only point. - There's a lot of really good points, man, on both sides. Like, I mean, I think Mom has the winning idea and thought process that like the years and the stuff that happens before and after is what makes it everything. I mean, in track, you've seen Bolt, you watch him run for eight seconds, but it's 27 years of training for those eight seconds that is like the part that nobody sees, and I think it's like a really similar comparison there. - Parenting? - Parenting, yeah. Where it's like, you see the moment where viewers on stage saying a word to Wendman Haddon's spelling bee champion, but you don't see the moment of like the 27 years of teaching him literacy and grammar, right? So it's like, you see. - That part is absolutely true. - Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. And I think like, 'cause I'm going to copy the idea to get my made great episode, I'm obviously going to give it to Mom because I didn't agree with him. - Mid episode A grades are great ideas. - Thank you. - It's a good episode for you, certainly. So it's only worthy, if it's worthy though. - Yeah, and I think, I think for sure, she made some great points. I know definitely, I mean, I've heard most of them already because she's been making it for a while, and I think that that should, we should give her more validation because clearly like, she doesn't feel like she's being heard enough about it, and I definitely think that saying to you, like I completely, I want you to know, I've already told you this, but I want you to know again, like I completely understand and appreciate all the efforts you made to make sure that our family is as great as I believe it is. And I think that this is a small moment, this pickleball moment of like, the hundreds of millions of things you've done in order to make it so that we're in this shape. And I think also, I mean, I made my points clear during the pickleball episode, and if you watch that clip, you will see that like, I do disagree a lot with like what she said specifically yesterday about the event, and how like, I believe certain things were over-exaggerated and we really lost the plot a lot of the long the way, but that being said, there's no question that there's extreme validity. I should have definitely done more, and that incident, even if I met that one was over-exaggerated, that doesn't take away from the millions of other ones that are under-exaggerated. - I mean, if you're giving mid-episode A grades, I think that the athleticism of the three kids, of course, maybe a function of a lot of effort at the parent on a side particularly, but you know, you can give a loose ball to a player, he still has to put it away. The kids kept up with the challenge and worked hard to become what they are. It's not very, you know, Indian kids are not known for, on average, I don't want to generalize too much, there's Indian kids of all kinds. But in general, Indian kids are not athletes, right? They're generally much better in math and science and things of that nature. So the fact that these three kids are athletic, that's what is fantastic. - I can't stop looking at this, I have to eat it. It's like the most appetizing looking guava ever. - It's tough, but are you gonna be, yeah. - I don't know. I wonder what other people feel about this episode so far. I feel like, I feel like Mom, you have so much resentment about so many things growing up and it makes me so sad. Like, 'cause you sacrifice so much in the three of us, like so much between the figure skating and the tutoring and like your health and your sanity and the years you could have been working. And I also feel really powerless because I can't do anything to reverse any of that time. And I, you know, I think-- - That wasn't the choice you made. - No, I know, but I understand, like, I hear her pain in her voice over like 20 years of just relentless sacrifice. And I, just, there's nothing that I can do right now. - But also, it's like, I'm also confused and I've been wondering, it's like, what are you looking for? Like, are you-- - No, I get it. Listen, this podcast is making me aware how resentful I am. - Oh, okay. - Like, I was literally not thinking I'm gonna get triggered. But he goes on about like, well, but on the other hand, I just took a bus and took a train. Like, can you do that? Can you repeat that format four times a week for five years? Then talk to me. Because that's not an option. Then I wasn't planning on getting triggered. But when I said father of the year, I wasn't talking about all your parenting. But even that moment when you're like, well, when I did it, it was simple. It's because you only did it once. - That was exciting. - That is literally not even a secondary repeatability to that plan. If you had to do it two days in a row, you would fall about. - All right. - Would you say, I'm asking you, or am I crazy? Am I that crazy? If you say to me, Zana, I'm telling you, if I had to do it three times a day, I love ice-caring so much. And I care so deeply about my son knowing how to ice-care that I would have done whatever it took. The train, the bus, the walking, all of it. Tell me, if I'm wrong, tell me. - I have no idea. - All right. I think that's our episode about sports in New York City. - Well, it is true that New York City is the hardest place to play sports. Which is like, I don't know. I must be definitely a sadistic person because I also chose to live in New York, knowing that I wanted my kids to be athletes. It would be so much easier. Any other small town in America where there's a free tennis court, where there's a free pickleball court, we could have gone in there. We know, we chose. - I guess, I question, what is, I don't want to say this. I question like, what is so great about New York City? The transportation is awesome. Like, the culture is awesome. Everything is dirty. Everything is expensive. There's no space. Like, there's a lot. It's just, I don't know. - It's a thought. - What is it? It's the greatest city on earth. That's a thought. - But why? Can you actually live in New York City? That's the bottom of it. - First of all, it's not boring. - It's the most suburban life. - That's the most important thing. Like, every other lifestyle and for some purposes. - Any other, I talk to kids. - I talk to kids from Cornell and my college all the time who grew up in many different environments. Like, how do they like growing up there? It'd be Ohio, it'd be Long Island. It'd be all these suburban places. And all of them said they hated it. They were bored all the time. They didn't have anything to do. They had to either stay home or play in their backyard. They couldn't see their friends as often. Versus in the city, you will literally never be bored. Like, growing up, you will not be bored child. You'll be super excited and have fun. The entire 18 years growing up until you go to college and you'll continue at that fun. - And also sports for kids. You have access to your school too, right? - Not at all. - I also like-- - Or is it not the point? - You were talking about sports, like I played every sport I wanted to growing up, easily. Like I played basketball. - You could do access to indoor basketball facilities. - But why do you need indoor basketball slips? - I like playing winter. - The winter is the one part that's a struggle to play basketball. And back then, even then, I would play football. And we'd play snow football, tackle football in the snow, and it was fun. Like, there's ways to get around it. The more important part is like the, actually that points to something that's the best part about the city, which is the grittiness it gives people. [BLANK_AUDIO] Because even when it's freezing cold, there's no ability to play basketball or even see people, what are you gonna do that? And somehow, New York City kids will make it work and still have fun. And I know even you will admit that you have fun with your friends regardless of the season or what's happening. It's an extreme level of greatness that New York City offers you, which makes it the best city on earth. - And an extreme level of independence as kids. At your age right now, you would have to wait for one of us to drive you anywhere. - Yeah. - You have invaded for anybody like, I don't think in New York, 'cause you just walk pretty much everywhere or you take a bus, so you take a subway. Like there isn't, but this is not to say, there are plenty of pros to smaller towns and I love all the small towns, especially in America. I'm a fan, every time we go to a small town. - Because you're from Akron. - Yeah, I am from Akron and I loved it. And Akron kids, you know, Ohio is a big hub for you. - But you would have rather raised us here than Akron. I also must be sadistic, like there must be, because every time we could choose, we chose to stay here, right? Because it always came down to do sacrifice your ambition so you can have that easier life. I have friends. - How would we move? I don't understand. - I mean, most of their growing up, my job was here and you stay at home. - Yeah, yeah. So which is-- - It was like an option to just leave and move somewhere. - Yeah, but I have, for example, friends who live in Connecticut and commute, right? - Yes, that option was there that I could commute in our hour and a half each way, both ways. But nobody who was successful was doing that because this is seems to be so much energy out of view when commute is your everyday. But it's not about the practicality. It's more about like-- - I have to say though, commute is something that people don't talk about enough. I'm so grateful that at one point in my work life experience, I got to understand what a crazy commute was. Like I remember I was working at a company once and I lived in San Francisco and my offices were in the outskirts of California and that was very common. And that is very common. And the amount of discipline you have to have to sit in a bus for an hour and a half, like hour 45. Most of the time, two hours, like back and forth after a work day, I just have a lot of admiration. I would say towards anyone that works that way because it is discipline like no other, especially I can't even imagine having kids, having a spouse. I mean, it is really discipline like no other to be able to handle that life. - And I've spoken to my friends who live very comfortable lives in the suburbs of New York. And a lot of their kids are now grown up. They've gone, they're empty nesters or whatever. Whatever the situation is, the kids are not responsible anymore. They look at-- I remember 20 years looking at their life and being so envious thinking. Their houses paid off. They have all this money sitting in the bank because they don't have to worry about school. They don't have to worry about sports. And they today, at 50, look at me and say, but you know, you kept fighting until you found your thing. And we feel like we'll never find it. And I guess what kept us in New York in addition to your job, because there were times when you asked me, do you want to move, right? And I was like, every time the decision time came, we voted against it. Because I was-- I was with the kids. Because I at least was desperate to find my next act. I was like, but if I leave New York, I might never find it. I was so afraid that comfort would make me so comfortable that then there would just be no reason to fight and no reason to keep digging. Because the years that it took to figure out what I should do next were real. And what kept me going to answer your question, why is it the greatest? Watching people try and fail is an everyday event in New York. It's like people are trying something new and failing all the time, even successful people. I mean, you're talking about not successful people. So it kind of normalizes that persistence and perseverance and like failing doesn't feel like the big mega event. Like in a small town, if you're like the biggest house and the biggest car, then you work so hard to protect that. You are the Joneses. So other people are keeping up with you. No one is the Joneses here in New York. It's like everybody is poor and broke. You're going to see billionaires in the subway, the same way you're going to see a homeless person. And so there is a neutralizing effect that this city has in a way that like, yeah, you might be able to wear a bag to a lunch and show that off. To me, that's what kept me here is my long answer to this. And I'm realizing, literally as I'm listening to this episode, I also made my life infinitely harder by not being able to choose. I wanted it all and it was not easy. And I did it to myself. I cannot blame him for this. I wonder I'm trying. But these are decisions that families all over the world are making. They're families in Mumbai who are making these same decisions. They're kids, all my friends, kids in India are playing organized sports. And now for the first time, they're like, you know, they let me. They're like, you guys in America started all this sports madness. You guys created this whole travel league and blah, blah. And now we have to get up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday and take our kids. So it's a thing. But net net, I will say this. I want to apologize to my whole family on this podcast that I had a really terrible attitude at Pickleball. And Zoya, especially, went out of her way to create that moment. Her intentions were amazing. And in the end, everything worked out fine. So I'm really sorry to all of you guys. And we had fun. And we worked out. And we were out in the open air. And we even recorded the whole thing. So we can show you guys how it went down in real time. And we hope you find it interesting. I mean, we fought during the filming of it. We won't get into it. But I apologize to the family for my terrible attitude, and I'm sorry. We accept. I don't think you really needed to apologize, but we accept. I also apologize for making a terrible plan. No, I'm saying the plan was fun. No, it was a terrible plan. No, but now I said the plan is fine. Now you're saying it's terrible. What are we doing? Apology worse, going on. All right, this is our episode about movement and fitness and playing and ball sports and rackets. But if you're a pickleball enthusiast and you live anywhere in the New York City area, tell us where you play. Maybe we can check it out. If you're watching us from somewhere else, have you tried pickleball or paddleball? We would love to hear about that. And as we end every episode with a round of good grades with guards, so too, we will end this episode with a round of good grades with guards. But the eight grades have already been issued. So we're kind of in a limbo right now. So just quickly give an eight grade for the whole episode. Just quickly do it without much explanation. Let's go. Aida Veer for his participation trophy observation. OK, good. Eight to Zoya for constantly making these plans that lead to this football game. So you shifted your grade from dad to me? No, my Aida grade to dad still stands. It was just a mid-episode Aida. OK, all right. Aida grade to DD for being very cohesive as a glue yesterday. Yes. Aida grade to mom for a smooth apology. Thank you. And my Aida grade to bridge for giving me that rally moment with pickleball that I so desperately create my whole life and almost never get. It was a legendary rally. It was. Did you record that? No. I don't know. I personally don't have that recorded enough. But we have mom playing pickleball. And she is a fan of pickleball. But I want to hear more from all of your parents who deal with sports, who deal with kids' sports. Feel free to tell me that I sound better and resentful and all of that. I accept-- you don't even have to say it. I already see it in myself. But I'm learning. I'm trying to get better. And hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode with all the ups and downs and twists and turns it took. Please bring your families to this episode. Like, share, subscribe, comment. Anything you give us, we are watching on Spotify, on Apple, on YouTube. Everything that you say and do in the comment section actually is not only watched by us, but is watched by the industry. These are the things that help them decide whether our podcast is meaningful or not. If you're sitting on the fence and thinking, should I write? Am I smart enough to write? Please get involved. It's social media for a reason. Let's be social. And until we meet again, everybody say bye.