Beach Tennis

Beach Tennis? But, of course. Kinda like beach volleyball, because it's played on beach volleyball court. Even more like badminton, except you play it with tennis racquets and ball. Apparently, Beach Tennis started in Latin America and vicinity. Like on the lovely but, currently unfortunate island of questioned-repute, Aruba.

If you're over 16 (apparently, something untoward happens when you reach level 5 that makes it inappropriate for the younger set), you can even play it online (uses arrow keys and space bar).

One visit to the Beach Tennis websites, especially the highly polished Beach Tennis USA site, makes you realize how seriously some people are taking this patently junkyardly sport - serious enough to do what is necessary to earn a write-up in USA Today.

Which leaves us with this question: what makes a junkyard-like sport get transformed into a "serious" one? Clearly, Beach Tennis was born out of a spirit of playfulness - the same kind of rule transforming playfulness that gave birth to Baggyball. What makes Beach Tennis a "real" sport, and Baggyball remain Junkyard?

My guess: it's all about how much it gets played. Which is all about how much fun it is for how many people. Until, finally, it gets to be all about money. And that's about all.