Your badminton is probably suitable for the suburbs: You and a buddy running around with a beer in one hand and a flimsy racquet in the other until the plastic shuttlecock gets stuck in a tree. In Asia, especially China, badminton is serious business, and you can see it in the Olympic competition. Even Bill Gates has been watching the action in Beijing. The birdie (or shuttlecock) can travel 200 mph, and pros can cover 4 miles at high speeds in a single game. If you want to try some serious badminton, start with serious equipment.  Yonex is the premiere manufacturer of pro badminton goods, and Badminton Alley is a good place to start. At the top of the heap is the Yonex Arc-Saber 10 racquet for $230 (on sale!) which weighs about 85 grams and is made of graphite, carbon and has custom strings. At a lower price point is the Muscle Power 99 racquet for $175, used by lots of pros and several world champions. Ditch the plastic and get a real goose-feather shuttlecock (16 feathers glued to a cork base), such as the Yonex AS Professional for $26. A less expensive but still fancy Black Knight 6600 yellow shuttlecock is $17 (it should be humidified before use - don’t ask us why). You can pay around $180 for carbon nano-fiber strings and a professional-level net will run $65. Perhaps you didn’t know there are badminton shoes that look like lightweight flat running shoes with curved toes, as well as grip tape for $3.50 and grip powder spray. To really bring the heat to the back yard, put it all in a pro bag for $65. And, yes, you can buy a whole badminton set at lower prices if you must. Now, just toss in some badminton lingo, like “flick,” “push shot” and “kill” and you’re ready to roll.