Unpacking Collin Johns' Leaked Statement About MLP

Adam Forziati

Team The Kitchen

Last Edited

Aug 02 2024

"1. A top player like Ben is handicapped for being the best by having bottom tier players on his team."

If I'm Jessie Irvine or Brooke Buckner, I'm saying to myself, "Ouch, Collin." Or maybe something less appropriate. That can't be good for team morale.

And while Collin's point is simply that MLP player draft investments can become unbalanced when a team shoots for the highest-of-the-high players first, we simply can't abide by his use of the phrase "bottom-tier."

Look at their doubles DUPR scores. They're obviously not as high as top MLP draft picks, but Collin & Ben's scores are also greatly impacted by their performance on the PPA Tour, which is a very different type of event.

Meanwhile, there's over half a point of difference between Collin's score and Ben's score.

I'm sure Collin wouldn't want me to mention his singles DUPR score. He doesn't even crack the top 50 in Men's Singles.

That's ok, no judgement, he's still an incredible player...but both Jessie Irvine and Brooke Buckner managed to land in the Women's Singles top 50.

Either way, this should have been a completely "inside thought," or not even a thought at all.

He goes even harder into this point in number 3, though, saying, "In theory, Ben and I could've won every single one of our matches but with our women going 0 and NINE to start the season, we have no ability to do more than offset that."

I get that professional players are going to be disappointed when their teammates don't place the team in a great position, but that was one event.

A smart teammate would put effort into training and strategizing with, not raging against, the lower-performing members of their team.

He wants to blame everyone but himself while attempting to acknowledge that his contract mandates "team" events. Again: good teammates train and lift each other up.

"2. The scoring system is designed to allow inferior players to keep the scoreline close and steal matches they don't deserve to win."

While the Rally Scoring format might not be advantageous for the more talented team, the closer scorelines keep the opportunity for excitement high (and likewise, the ratings/views).

It seems like Collin is trying to address one problem while ignoring a bigger one: we need more eyes on pro pickleball, and the MLP way of scoring keeps the pace up and the tensions high.

It's ok if Collin doesn't prefer Rally Scoring or the Freeze, thing, but to call them "extremely dumb" is overkill.

The glorious thing about MLP's "anything can happen" format is just that. Unexpected results can and do occur.

It keeps every event from resulting in the same winners each time...though, again, I'm sure Collin wouldn't love it if I reminded everyone that he and Ben are actually not doing as well on the PPA Tour this year, either.

"5. Players, owners, GMs, and fans are permitted to behave in the worst ways at MLP. It's part of the culture."

Taken at face value, this idea seems laughable at first; like the conceited ramblings of someone entirely too uptight for pickleball.

"You can scream, stare down, finger wag, taunt, cheat, and use pretty much any bush league tactics you want with very little risk of repercussions," Collin says.

Screaming, staring, finger wagging...oh my! Where are my pearls?!

Obviously, I'm fully supportive of his idea that cheating is disgraceful. But somehow, he doesn't manage to provide any specific examples of it in this overlong essay.

Instead, he calls out Anna Leigh Waters: "AL's on court behavior was shameful against us."

This is the "shameful behavior" he's talking about:

What is that, some loud "Yeah!"'s? Maybe a little gesturing? If I missed something, Collin, I'm sorry. But those curious can watch the match above and decide for themselves.

If a player uses gross, unnecessarily personal, or otherwise obviously inappropriate language or gestures, that should be punished and has no place in any setting.

But this is pickleball. Do we need to mince words if they are accompanied by a little finger-wagging and, perish the thought, screaming?

6. The venue selection is grossly unprofessional.

Here's where I side with Collin, to some extent.

Though he seems like he expects The Ritz when it comes to pro player accommodations: "[the Salt Lake City venue] was in a remote area..." - his points about inadequate spacing and poor lighting make sense.

I'm not sure every pro player is as uppity about lighting and vision as he and Ben are, but visibility conditions need to be accounted for at such a high level of play, where seemingly-small factors do in fact make a difference. Careers are on the line and that needs to be respected.

What are your thoughts?

Any time one of the world's top players has so much to say about anything in pickleball, I think it's worth at least reading/listening.

We're witnessing the sport evolve in real time, so it makes sense to know what the players think about how it is doing that.

Then again, there are some aspects of Collin's alleged arguments that made me raise my eyebrow, regardless of whether I was supposed to see them in the first place.

I am not a pro player. I am not capable of empathizing with him, nor do I understand the pressures of making one's living playing this game. But I'd like to believe I have at least a little common sense.

UPDATE 8/2/2024:

Less than 48 hours after the initial leaked communication was posted online, Collin Johns has posted on an Instagram story providing an explanation for part of the situation: