I smashed my own head with a pickleball paddle and it turns out I'm not the only one

OK, so. Yeah.

I wish I was making this up. But I cannot, and I want to take this opportunity to warn you all so that it doesn’t happen to you.

I missed work at For The Win on Thursday because I suffered an injury. Said injury came from playing pickleball, the racket sport sweeping the nation with its small courts, plastic Wiffle-like balls and quirky rules.

But it wasn’t a pulled hamstring or heel bruising, listed among the common injuries one might get playing the sport.

No. I hit myself in the head with my paddle. And hours later, an inch-long gash on my forehead covering a fairly angry-looking bruise was glued together at an urgent care in Manhattan.

This is my cautionary tale: