DC ExtraTime: Tyson's Wide World of Pickleball

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

     ESTIMATED READING TIME: 15 MINS.

Tyson's Pickleball Pics Courtesy
Facebook & IG @TysonApostol

As we enter the home stretch of this inaugural season of The Challenge's very first foray into the world of network television after years on MTV and now on Paramount+, it's very much clear that there's one CBS reality alum who's in line to perhaps add more to his legend. It's a story that traces its starting point to when he began as a former cyclist and triathlete just trying to see what it's like to endure an ultimate marathon of stamina in a totally different setting being marooned on a desert island.

This summer on The Challenge: USA, Tyson Apostol has been enjoying a reality TV renaissance in beasting several of the daily challenges to the point that he is the favorite (if not, one of the favorites) to win it all once we get into the serious business of approaching the start line of the final & the big money that awaits just a few weeks from now. For a guy from Utah who spent the early years of his adult life competing in endurance sports before making his national TV debut, Tyson had already proven his competitive worth before going on that boat ride to the first of his four Survivor seasons back in 2009. And it is as if he was made for The Challenge: him getting the attention of the fandom and the establishment including a 7-time champ has made it almost an inevitable prospect that he may be well on his way to joining the MTV show itself.

This has been quite the summer for Tyson, which in addition to what we've seen so far from him on the show has also seen him represent this latest spinoff in throwing out the first pitch on a Major League Baseball diamond. But outside this game, you'll likely find Tyson in a most unlikely place but one that's now become a popular hotspot in 2020's America: a recreational sport that was one that I got to play a bit in his high school days back then, and where he has embraced it to the point that now it has gotten the attention of this sports nation used to having the same old same old, and now is looking to diversify that diet in a simple little game known as pickleball.