Off The Screen: Season 2
Here's what's coming for the 2025-26 season
Well, July 4 has passed so that means summer is over, right?
Just kidding. My kids haven’t even left for camp yet and I never got around to scheduling a vacation with my wife while they’re gone. (I’ll take any suggestions for an impromptu getaway.)
But August will be here before you know it and I’ll be sweating through my polo shirts covering Bears training camp. Actually, training camp starts in July now, which should be illegal. (Watching football practice is not as fun as it sounds, but at least it’s in Lake Forest now and not Bourbonnais.)
Really, fall means a rebirth. The kids are back in school, work becomes more important and of course, the paddle season begins.
I started this newsletter last summer and while I had high hopes of a steady output of coverage, I dropped the ball for much of the season — mostly out of anxiety, a common issue with writers — but that won’t happen this year. I’ve decided I’m going to produce more short, concise newsletters. And after some thought, newsletters will go out every Friday afternoon. That works best with my schedule and it allows me to get results in while they’re fresh.
But before we get into the season, I want to know what you want to read about and I also want to know more about you.
Regarding the latter, I created a survey last year but it got a paucity of responses, not enough to even publish. (One of my journalism pet peeves is a meaningless survey that turns into a news cycle.) So I updated it a bit and you can access it here.
I’ve also created a second survey just to get an idea about what you’d like to read about this season and in the future.
Please pass around both the newsletter and the surveys. Once new teams are set, I’m going to send out mass emails to every series.
Here is the last post from the 2024-25 season, which includes the final standings. It’s a good one to share.
Anyway, thanks for reading and supporting this endeavor.
Fun fact of the week: There are a lot of former college athletes playing paddle in Chicago and even some pro ones like former White Sox outfielder Charlie Tilson and current White Sox GM Chris Getz. But in terms of intimidating net presence, few could match former Bulls center Bill Wennington, who used to play paddle tennis for Lake Forest. He last played in 2022, going 1-2. Obviously, at his age, moving around wasn’t his strong suit. But I’m guessing you don’t want to test the 7-footer at the net.