A simple rule to live by ...

That they'll never teach you in journalism school (or anywhere else), but they should ...

If someone calls and says, do you want to fly to New Jersey, spend a day getting trained to play pickleball by a pickleball pro, enter a huge tournament the next day, and write about it?

I say yes, 100 percent of the time, even though I’ve never so much as held a pickleball racket. (Racket? Paddle? Whatever it is you hit the ball with.)

So in a few weeks I’m going to fly to Atlantic City, learn to play, and enter a doubles tournament the next day.

What could go wrong?

I feel bad for the poor sap they pair me up with.