Nelly says he is turning his attention to another sport where minorities have been conspicuous by their absence--platform tennis, often referred to as simply "paddle."
Paddle has been called the ultimate WASP sport, and is played primarily at private clubs where blacks were historically excluded, and are now underrepresented if they are admitted. The game is played on an outdoor surface one-fourth the size of a regulation tennis court, with 12' wire fencing surrounding the court that enables players to hit balls off these walls, as in squash or racquetball.
Players use wimpy-looking 18" wooden rackets to hit a spongy rubber ball, with scoring as in regulation tennis. Doubles play generally involves two cute couples with names like "Brad" and "Cindy" on one side and "Chip" and "Becca" on the other. After one team wins a match, the couples retire for an evening of drinks and wife-swapping.
"I'm gonna bust up the whole paddle racket," said Nelly, adding that he intended no pun. "We need to get a couple 'LaToya's' out there with a couple 'Jamaal's' if you know what I mean."
