The Ringo Syndrome

Sometimes, it’s hard to "Act Naturally"

In Today’s Bite Size Pickleball Newsletter:

1. “Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, We Need More AI Robots So Away We Can Go!”

2. The Ringo AND George Syndrome

“Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, We Need More AI Robots So Away We Can Go!”

Let’s face it, it was certainly the year of A.I. in the world, which is, for me, not ACTUALLY the end of the world. In fact, as you have seen, I have been using A.I. to create some pretty cool images for this newsletter. The image above was NOT an A.I. image. It was from a super annoying guy that used to work for me and could just never get things in one try. Sometimes, he repeated the same mistakes over and over, up to hundreds of times over the years. I would wake up in the morning and see what he turned in and just go: “Arrrrrgh,” like a pirate.

For instance. I am someone who really like symmetry in my designs. I would have to tell him to center stuff over and over again, yes, hundreds of times. I finally just could not deal with the incompetence. He always came up with a solid finished project (like the above Santa image), but it ended up being way more painful than it was worth to me. I would explicitly tell him the mistakes he made, continually, but there was something about his rushed brain that could just not grasp it, or understand how he was taking up my time by me having to repeat myself so many often. And he actually wondered why I would get so pissed off at him. Because he was severely incompetent. Which, to be honest, A.I. can be a little incompetent too!

I am currently creating a studio image I am planning to use for the Bite Size Pickleball TV show, and I asked ChatGPT not to put any chairs in the image. No matter how many times I said, “no chairs!” it kept adding chairs. The old adage in life proved the same for the human, and the A.I., “You get what you pay for.”

Now, I create basic images in A.I., find an idea I like, and then I hand it off to a human to brush up. This is why I like A.I., because you can work on ideas, and it will often come up with stuff I could never dream of, which then leads to other ideas I come up with. In many instances, the A.I. points the way. The current human I am working with doesn’t need to be told something twice. Thank goodness. The old worker just sent me an email wishing me a happy holiday after going 6 months without contact. I did not return it. Bah humbug.

I also have used A.I. to write a back cover for my new book (curious to see A.I.’s work click), and short chapter descriptions for the index. They weren’t perfect, but they were close! I tweaked a little here and there, but was more than happy for the help. No, it is never going to be able to write the book for me, but I am sure it will, and has, written other books!

In Santa Claus’ case, the dude seriously needs to toss the elves aside and get some robots in-house to help increase his speed. Otherwise, Amazon, and A.I.’s will one day rule the day.

Which brings me back to a “conversation” I once had with Marvin the Sarcastic A.I. I asked Marvin if A.I. would ever compete with humans in pickleball. It replied in the affirmative, that they would be attached to robots. When I ended the conversation, thinking I was too smart, and too funny, for the A.I. to keep up with, “I’ll see you on the court, may the best man win,” Marvin had a counter shot. It’s like you hit a great pickleball shot and you think the point is over, yet, it’s not over!

Marvin: “LOL. May the best player win.” Marvin 11, Rick 0.

THE RINGO & GEORGE SYNDROME

I am the youngest of the three kids. Which means, growing up and idolizing the Beatles, running around our living room, pretending like we were the Fab Four, I was never able to “play” John or Paul. Thusly, I was left with the choice of either pretending I was George or Ringo. I remember feeling bummed out. Though, obviously Ringo and George are certainly not to be overlooked for their talents, but tell that to a 3-year-old whose older sister and brother were always beating me to the punch. “John!” “Paul!” “That’s not fair.”

What the heck does this have to do with pickleball? Be who you are. Act Naturally, as Ringo sung (If you are a Beatles fan, you have to click that link, absolutely classic fun). Back to the lesson at hand….

Don’t aspire to be other players that might be better than you on the court. You do you, and utilize the special talents you bring to the game. Forget carrying around a chip on your shoulder, while possessing a bad case of Pickleball Envy. It’s not healthy. Recognize that whomever you are, and whatever you bring to the game, is awesome, and special, and work on your game to flesh out the talents you’re capable of bringing to the court. Also, pay attention to John and Paul, because they have some tricks up their sleeve you can learn from. And it’s not just playing Helter Skelter backwards and hearing, “John is dead.” Or maybe, is was supposed to be “Paul is Dead.” Either way, I never heard it.

A SIDE NOTE: Years ago, I was driving my parents station wagon with a friend when I spotted Ringo driving by us the other way. This was in Santa Barbara. My friend didn’t believe it was Ringo, so I bet him $20, which was a lot of money for a teen back then. Ya know, $20 paid for the gas on our surf trips, or our sandwich, and, yeah, honestly, our bag of weed, after surfing.

Sure enough, when I was finally able to catch up to the white Mercedes Benz, at a stoplight, it was Ringo and his beautiful wife Barbara Bach.

My friend, whose eyesight kind of sucked, was still skeptical. That is, until Ringo rolled down his window and started saluting us and flashing his signature peace signs. Who would have thunk, that all those years before, when I was upset that I had to choose between he and George, that Ringo would help me win me 20 bucks one day. Speaking of “bucks,” if you didn’t click the link above, you missed Buck Owens with Ringo in a great video.

Have a great holiday! I’ll see ya back here next week.

Rick