The NJAA meet with the City of St. Pete this morning to go over plans for the big renovation project about to take place. The meeting went very well. Here is what we can tell you now:
The first phase, updating the lighting system to LED lighting will take place any day now. This may close the park down for a day or two. This will greatly improve the lighting out there till the park closes nightly at 11pm.
The next phase, which includes the court expansion, will commence in about 5 weeks from now.
That would make the start date around April Fool’s Day. The court is expected to be closed for a period of 45 days for the work to be completed, and would put the reopening of the new court likely in late May or around June 1st. This is assuming all goes as planned. As you know, COVID-19, the weather, and normal construction delays could be an issue.
What will the players do in the meantime? Outside of going to North Miami or Matt’s, or even a visit to Cancun, there isn’t much you can do unless you find a racquet ball court or something to throw the ball around, and that sucks.
At the end, it will be well worth it. For full details, see my story in the archive section in News.
Due to the pandemic situation and restrictions , there has been some changes in the Cancun Tournament plans. The new amateur court that is finishing up the final touches on its court has changed the dates and plans of what is going on.
Instead of a celebration of the Salas’s father’s 80th birthday on April 16, other activities will be taking place on different dates.
The Gamarra’s, a group of Spaniards, are planning to come to Cancun for vacationing from the 2nd to 10 of April. They will be playing April 3-4 along with a “Merry Festival” atmosphere you can expect from the Salas’s. The idea of this event is to have fun and promote the sport.
The April 16th date was to coincide with their fathers 80th birthday and as of now, no plans for an event then have been set.
One of our avid readers is on a mission. No, it’s not going to Mars. That spacecraft already beat him. His mission is to visit as many pari-mutual places as he can before some of them go bye-bye. He’s on a bucket-list adventure and is willing to travel anywhere – at any time – to go visit any racino. When Kevin Cox read my story on the various frontons a couple weeks ago on when they are opening this year, he immediately inquired about Ocala Jai-alai. After I saw posting by Bennett on Tigers site, I told him that Ocala was actually running games as we speak for a two-week period. I get inquiries almost everyday from people. Private schools have contacted me about doing a jai-alai presentation and we did one in front of 165 students and faculty with Goitia and Julio Restina joining me (see story under NJAA link). Last week, the Clearwater Historical Society contacted me and want a presentation done on jai-alai history in America. But this latest request was unusual. Is this guy kidding me? After further discussions, I knew he wasn’t. He was serious.
Mr. Cox been to 64 racetracks, 9 dog tracks and 7 jai-alai frontons and that list is growing by the day. He wasn’t going to miss this once a year opportunity to add live jai-alai to his list.
Sure enough, he headed over to Ocala as soon as he could. It was last Monday and he caught live jai-alai action from for a couple of hours from 1pm-3pm. I asked him to get some photos and an update on what’s going on there. Sure enough, I got them. Upon his visit to the strangest site ever for a jai-alai fronton, he said everyone there was very friendly and accommodating. They even gave him a hat on his special visit there.
The players were stretching when got there and the players appeared to take it seriously. The place was dead quiet, but Kevin was there for two hours watching several games being played. While there, he heard stories of when George Steinbrenner used to be there all the time and the $1 million handles on the weekends. He even made a bet for good token. Even though he lost the bet, they refunded his money because he was the only one that had made a bet.
There were two players, played to 3 point games. The play was actually pretty good he said, not Dania like, but still decent action. They played 32 games that day. That would be the equivalent of 4 performances. There was 10 days of action with 4 performances a day. An old school bell rings at the start. There is no players salute. There was an occasional good play in which he applauded. Certainly a big change from 35 years ago when thousands of fans were there watching a pretty good roster that also played in Tampa.
The timing of this story is unique. Our regular contributor, Marty Fleishman, who was the first person to ever throw a ball on that court (a throw heard by goats and squirrels no less as there was no roof yet), has a story we just posted a couple days ago on the opening of Ocala. Be sure to check out his amazing story.
We appreciate Kevin Cox for the details and photos. As I was reaching back out to him, he was heading to The Meadows racetrack. Yep, a man on a mission!
Matt DiDomizio of Connecticut Amateur Jai-alai has announced a new Partido tournament for April 9-11. Complete details of the format and fees are below. Contact Matt directly (his info is on his CAJA website) to sign up.
Matt has, hand down, the best amateur court in the country. This tournament is the weekend before the Salas’s Cancun Mexico grand opening event scheduled for April 16-18 as reported on this website previously.
CAJA PARTIDO TOURNAMENT
FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY APRIL 9th, 10th and 11th
PICK YOUR OWN PARTNER – PARTIDOS WITH PARTIDO RULES ( no carom serves)
$50.00 per player ($100.00 per team) covers all court time fees for Friday , Saturday and Sunday for singles and doubles. Thursday practice for $20.00 all you want.
Open to everyone – only requirement is:
YOU MUST BE PAID BY APRIL 1st – NO EXCEPTIONS
TOURNAMENT ALL GAMES WILL BE 9 PTS THROUGHOUT ENTIRE TOURNAMENT
PRELIMINARY ROUND:
DOUBLES
1) There will be 4 groups – the amount of teams for each group will be determined by the amount of entrants
2) Groups will be handicapped with top teams/players being separated in each group – In other words –
GROUP 1) 1 – 5 – 9 – 13 – 17 (ETC)
GROUP 2) 2 -6- 10 – 14 – 18 (ETC) and so on
3) Each team, in their respective group, will play each other team ONE time
4) WIN/LOSS records will determine which division you will advance to for the PLAYOFF ROUND
5) Every team will make the playoff round and be seeded according to their records in the preliminary round TIEBREAKERS WILL BE:
1) PTS FOR
2) PTS AGAINST
3) PT DIFFERENTIAL
4) A 7 PT GAME IF NEEDED TO DECIDE A DIVISION – A COIN FLIP IF NEEDED TO DECIDE A SEED
6) Top 2 teams from each group will advance to level 1 playoff bracket and seeded according to their records , etc.
Next 2 teams will advance to level 2 playoff bracket and seeded according to their records, etc.
Remaining teams will advance to level 3 playoff bracket and seeded according to their records, etc.
PLAYOFFS
BRACKET STYLE
1-8
SINGLE ELIMINATION
FIRST AND SECOND PLACE FINISHERS WILL RECEIVE AWARDS ===================================================
SINGLES
HANDICAPPED BY MANAGEMENT
BRACKET STYLE THROUGHOUT
SINGLE ELIMINATION
1ST AND 2ND PLACE FINISHERS WILL RECEIVE AWARDS
——————————————————————————————
FINALLY
THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO ARGUING OR MISCINDUCT OF ANY KIND EITHER ON OR OFF THE COURT AT ANY TIME —
ZERO TOLERANCE AND IMMEDIATE EJECTION FROM TOURNAMENT AND THE FACILITY
Despite year two of the worldwide pandemic taking place, Jai-alai action will return this week in Florida. Here is a brief rundown of what’s ahead in South Florida:
Dania Jai-alai
The season opens this Wednesday, February 3rd with a night performance. For some reason, jai-alai websites like Dania don’t seem to promote the sport well – there is no mention on the website of the days they will be open during the week and the times of the performances. It just mentions that it reopens that Wednesday. The season will run through May 30th.
But we can tell you it will be open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights with a double performance on Saturday’s and a Sunday performance at 4pm. The roster is a bit smaller to reduce their losses, but it is still an evenly balanced one with great jai-alai action. The pools are holding their own, making Dania jai-alai a great place to be or watch on your computer or mobile device. Limited seating is allowed with masks required.
Magic City Jai-alai
Magic City begins their 4th season (how does time fly by!) this Saturday with a new expanded season. Just like Dania jai-alai, their website also fails to give details on when the performances will take place. It just says that they are reopening in February! Nerve racking for the public to plan on something like this. But this season promises to be the most exciting yet with their ever increasing roster in terms of talent. Douglas’s 17-year old brother Benny is joining the roster after spending some time up in Connecticut practicing at Matt’s. Word is, he might be as good as his brother or maybe even better at some point. He’s a great listener and learner and jai-alai blood has been in the family. Spinner is leaving the Dania roster and will be playing there too. He’s familiar with the court after being a ref there for some time. Young Julen of Miami Jai-alai is also joining the roster and he should be the one to keep an eye on. He, too has some good jai-alai blood – and in his immediate family. On top of this all of their star players are returning including Douglas, Kubala, Ron Ron, Ikeda, and Carballo. We’ve also been impressed with the improved play of Bradley, Bueno and Ben and be sure to keep an eye on them, too. Magic City is fast paced and hopefully the betting pools will pick up with a more balanced roster
The extended season incorporates the Miami jai-alai season to the be played at Magic City using Magic City players for the next 2 ½ months. Action will only be three days a week – Saturday’s at 4pm, Sunday’s at 1pm and a doubleheader on Monday’s at 1pm and 4:30pm. This is a total bonus season and is keeping Magic City jai-alai to open 10 months this year!
The schedule is confusing, but for now – February 6th till April 12 will be the 3 performances a week format. Then in May it goes back to the 6 performances a week. Fans will not be allowed in the stands for the February 6-April 12th “season”.
The Jai-alai channel will carry both Magic City and Dania Jai-alai and the playing times appear to not conflict with one another.
Miami Jai-alai
The Miami season has just ended after running an all singles season in December and January with some of the world’s greatest players including Goiko, Lopez and Dania’s Erik. It was great to watch, but not having doubles action, nor any crowd in the stands to speak of, or betting pools, it was hard to get into like we would have decades ago. Plans remain to open up a Cirque du Soleil on the site but have been put on hold due to the virus. Donald Trump’s buddy in Vegas holds the cards of this one.
Calder Jai-alai
The Calder season will start May 1st with a roster of 30-32 players. Word is, those ridiculous player names they have been using may be out the door and a more traditional name – the name they have been using all their lives as a jai-alai player – may be coming back. This means Mr. White can go look for Mrs. White in the game of Clue, and Gitty-up needs to realize Calder is no longer a horse track. Kidding aside, the season plans to run for four months and Watch and Wager will offer betting action if all goes as planned.
Ft Pierce Jai-alai
They run their “season” in May but don’t waste your time with this place!
Pompano Jai-alai
The drawings for this new jai-alai fronton look amazing, but not much progress has been seen since the July 2019 announcement of the conversion of harness racing to jai-alai. This fronton will not be a glass court and will be one of a decent size and height – sort of a super-size Matt’s court. Right now, harness racing continues to run thru May 16th. The Pompano Racino is Florida’s most successful non-tribe slot machine operator. We will release a big story and fronton drawings when this becomes closer to a reality. The Pompano roster will incorporate many of the Calder players and management.
Edgewater Jai-alai
The folks at Magic City almost had another jai-alai fronton about to get built in downtown Miami when a wealthy auto dealer aroused the mayor and now recently getting a judge to put a holt to it. The facility was only going to hold jai-alai action and poker, but many in the area don’t believe it and want nothing to do with gambling downtown. This is going back to the city counsel for an appeal and then if that fails, its back to court where Magic City is confident they will prevail in the end. Who knows, this court may be built before mine is.
Ocala Jai-alai
The two-man sham remains where they play to two-point games behind a curtain with no betting.
Orlando Jai-alai
This place must be done with. The website is gone and I’ve been unable to find out if the building is still standing. Big plans were planned to really clean up the entire area and build a big residential area, but this has been going on since 2008.
Magic City Tournament
This hugely successful event went off after a few postponements from its original April 25-26th plans on December 5-6 without anyone in attendance. All players were tested for COVID, allowing for a safe operation. This year’s event is now scheduled for late August or early September, meaning it will fall on the weekend of August 21-22, 29-29 or September 11-12 assuming they don’t play over Labor Day weekend. The poor way our vaccines are getting administered, allowing crowds indoors like this may be still on restricted even in the late summer. Having 500-600 friends and family in the crowd would add to the excitement this event has the potential for. Also, if the full allotment of people are allowed to sign up again and show up, the event would stage 12-hour plus days, and that is too long. Players would cramp up on top of it, especially if you have to sit for several hours, then get up and play again over and over. They might look at extending it on Friday and/or tinker the format. Perhaps holding it over Labor Day weekend might be an option if you wanted that 3 day event, but generally events stay away from holidays.
The Cancun amateur court, built by Arturo and Javier Salas, are finishing up on their dream “fronton” and will be holding a grand opening celebration in April. The Senor Frog and Fat Tuesdays’ purveyors Arturo & Javier Salas are holding a big grand opening event to coincide with their fathers 80th birthday party. Exact details are still to be announced, but the event should be a festive one. The big day is tentatively set for April 16th, a Friday, with plans for the entire weekend underway.
Tournaments will be played for fun, and will even include a kids tournament with future stars coming in from towns all over Mexico.
Watch here for more details as they develop. Jai-alai fans from all over the world are welcome. You can expect some big names in jai-alai to be there. Arturo and Javier are first class entertainers and do things right, so this is a going to be a great event that jai-alai fans won’t want to miss. And Cancun is a fun town to come and play – and not just jai-alai!
On Christmas Day, I got about two dozen texts. Most of them were from family and friends wishing me a “Merry Christmas”. But one of the text that came in was a little different than the other ones. It was from Carlo in Connecticut – Matt DiDomizio’s cousin. He helps out running the amateur court up in Berlin, Connecticut.
“I just booked a trip to Tampa!” the text read.
Then another text followed shortly. “See you around Valentine’s Day. I’ll be there with my wife and one kid on February 13-15. We’re visiting the University of Tampa, Florida Southern, and University of South Florida.”
I responded “I graduated from Florida Southern!” He responded in three quick texts – “Nice!!!”…. “We’re totally visiting that place”….”It looks super nice”.
I followed up with “Yes it is designed by a famous architect too”. He immediately responded “Yep, Frank Lloyd Wright”. Carlo had certainly done is homework. If I recall correctly, FSC has the world’s largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings.
Then I started thinking. Holy Shit!!! In February of 1974, I made a similar trip with my parents. I was looking for a college to attend and my final two choices were Florida Southern College (located in Lakeland) and the University of Tampa. Two of the same colleges that Carlo’s son is looking into. I grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, about an hour away from Carlos’s house, just 50 miles from New York City. So, here we have two trips from the same state with the same motive – looking for a similar college.
But it was this very trip I made with my parents that would make a huge influence on my life. While staying at a Holiday Inn on Dale Mabry I came across a brochure or rack card that that was sitting up on the lobby’s desk. Being a huge sports fan, this brochure certainly caught my eye. It was nestled between Busch Gardens brochures, Disney World and others. The words “Jai-alai” were there and images of a huge sporting palace. I kept calling it “ji – a – lie – a” and had no clue what the sport was. Remember, I was just a 17-year old from a sleepy town of Fairfield Connecticut checking out perspective colleges to go in the following fall of 1974.
I thought, how cool this looked. Never heard of it, but my parents did. They told me how it was pronounced. “Hi -Lie”. Said it was very fast, an ancient game and that you could gamble on it. Now, I knew what I wanted to do one of the nights we were there! My parents had made plans somewhere I don’t’ remember –likely Bern’s Steak House or the Columbia or to the Physis Diller show.
My mother made reservations for me and my step sister who was on the trip also. My step father gave me a $20 dollar bill and “good luck”. I was a Friday night and I remember taking a cab ride to the fronton. I remember asking the driver if he knew where “Ji – a – lie was”. He laughed and said “yes”. I remember going down the bumpy road of Dale Mabry, looking at all the neon lights, strip clubs and everything else. Fairfield Connecticut’s Post Road US 1 was nothing like this! The short 10-15 minute trip then ended by pulling up into this huge parking lot and there is this huge building with traffic and people everywhere. I was thinking “Wow, this is amazing!”.
We made our way into the fronton after picking up our tickets at the “Will Call” booth. I remember they costed $2 each and I can still recall exactly where I sat that night in the fronton. By the time we’re seated, it was about 6:45pm and the place was filling up quickly. I’m looking out at this huge long 176-foot long court with very high ceilings and a massive crowd filling in. Then players were coming out onto the court with these weird looking baskets in their hands, firing a ball off a huge wall. The sound it made was awesome. The speed it went was something else. And I really thought that cool looking program I had in my hand was neat. That logo drawing of a jai-alai player on the cover in full color was the best. I use it on this website’s home page.
I recall watching the first game or two to understand what it was all about before making a bet. After watching a couple of games, I had a good idea about it. Here I am, February 8th, 1974 sitting in huge place in Tampa Florida watching something I had never heard of hours before. Out there were stars like Bolivar, Gorrono and Almorza which, at the time, meant nothing to me.
I made a $2 Win bet the last 10 games of the performance, losing every game. I remember the disappointed look in my stepfather’s face when I told him I had lost all $20 of that money that he given me earlier.
While in college, my friends and I would head to Tampa jai-alai quite often, which was only about a half hour away from Lakeland. I would go back home to Fairfield in the spring/summer months when school was out. However when I came back home in the spring of 1976, it was different. I had good news for my buddies in Connecticut. Jai-alai is coming to Connecticut!! They all said “what the hell is that?” If you go to the “Chronology” link on this website and go to 1976 you can watch the video of us entering Bridgeport Jai-alai on its first day. That’s me making a bet at the betting window – with no one else in site. I honestly thought I was the only guy sitting there that knew what jai-alai was all about! What incredible luck. I had jai-alai in both backyards – in Florida and Connecticut!!!
Then in 1978, my roommate in college came in with a cesta. I said “where the hell did you get that?” He said at the Tampa Jai-alai gift shop for $40. Sure enough, they had several cesta’s sitting on a shelf in a room behind the gift shop. I bought one and have never put one down since. We started playing off a wall at Seminole Middle School using a tennis ball. It soon evolved to a lacrosse ball, and soon by the mid-1980s, there were about 30-40 of us out there that would come out and play there. Guys like Tedrick, Paul Berglund and Chris eventually went pro. I would never imagine I would be playing 42 years later with a jai-alai museum, a couple of jai-alai websites and donating the money for America’s first public court (credit Paul Kubala and Tom DeMint for getting this pulled off) all under the belt with more to come.
As post 4 “Bug Brush” came dashing across the finish line in West Palm Beach seconds before the midnight deadline on New Year’s Eve as the winner of the race, greyhound racing in the state of Florida officially came to an abrupt end after a 95-year history. As a pari-mutual wagering event (such as jai-alai and horse racing), the industry was forced to shut down from a 2018 constitutional amendment that has now outlawed it. Thousands of people were in attendance enjoying the mild weather, enjoying the midnight fireworks and celebrating the New Year’s arrival, they knew that this was it. No more greyhound racing in the state of Florida.
Greyhound racing has a history dating back nearly 150 years ago. The first recorded attempt at racing greyhounds was made beside the Welsh Harp reservoir in Hendon England in 1876. The track was straight and the “experiment” was a failure. The industry then emerged in the recognizable modern form by featuring circular or oval tracks with the invention of a mechanical rabbit or hare. Developed by Owen Patrick Smith in 1912, races were staged using a mechanical lure. In 1919, O.P. Smith opened the first professional dog racing track – complete with stands in Emeryville, California (near Oakland). The Emeryville arena was torn down in February of 1920 to make way for the construction of the first greyhound racing track with the first race held on May 29, 1920. Smith was against the killing of jack rabbits and thus came up with the mechanical ones and envisioned “greyhound racing as the way we see horse racing”. A certificate system of betting led the way to parimutuel betting in the United States in the 1930s.
On last Sunday, St. Petersburg’s legendary Derby Lane ran its last races before a near-packed house of an estimated 8,000 spectators. A brass band entertained the crowd who were also given two free specialty craft beers made by a local brewery. Betting lines and food and drink concessions were long, likely dampening what could have been a huge final performance as far a handle goes. St. Pete and West Palm Beach were the last two remaining tracks to operate till the laws took over and shut it all down.
What’s in store for greyhound racing in the future? In 2021, only four tracks will remain open in three states – Arkansas, Iowa and West Virginia. Eventually, West Virginia will be the last state to offer dog racing as the other two states are eventually phasing out by the end of 2022. There are two tracks in WV that will remain open. Like, jai-alai, betting at the dog tracks have plummeted. At its peak in 1991, over $3.5 billion dollars were wagered across 19 states. By 2018, that number was well below $500 million. Greyhound racing is now illegal in over 40 states and one will have to wonder how that last state will survive with the dwindling number of greyhounds getting breed.
When Florida voters overwhelming approved the banning of dog racing by a 69-31% vote in a 2018 constitutional amendment, the 11 surviving dog tracks had to make plans to phase out their business that had been going on for nearly 100 years.
It appears only two tracks remain open as the final deadline to run live races is December 31st, 2020 – St. Pete’s Derby Lane and West Palm Beach’s Palm Beach Kennel Club.
But only the PBKC is going out with New Years Eve in a blast. The kennel club will be racing up until the final seconds till the amendment takes effect. That’s right, this New Year’s Eve, the famed dog track, in their 88th and final season, will have live racing for 12 hours. The first face will take off at 12 noon and the last race will end all dog racing in the state of Florida at 11:59pm, finishing up just 25 seconds or so till the amendment takes place.
The celebration will include live entertainment all day long with bands, Lake Worth High School ROTC, Irish dancers, and even a traveling polka band. The first 1,000 guest will get a PBKC wallet and a midnight toast of complimentary champagne for all guests 21 and over. The last race will feature The Long Run 1932-2020 Championship and the Twin-Tri and Tri-super jackpots will be forced out.
Meanwhile, St. Pete’s world famous Derby Lane will be wrapping up their racing season next weekend. They will be giving away hats to the first 2,000 fans over the weekend and their live brass band will be playing in attendance. Beer drinkers will like the special on their final racing day Sunday. Guests 21 and over will receive two complimentary Fast Dog Blonde Ale with a local craft beer festival going one. A Grand Finale Stakes race will then take place to close out live racing. I had made New Years Eve plans set over two year ago for December 31st to head to Derby Lane for its last race, but unfortunately it will be 4 days earlier.
The St. Pete Kennel Club opened on January 3, 1925 and regulars included the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Don Zimmer. I remember being there when the most famous racing dog in the country, Keefer, raced before a record 12,770 fans in 1986 in a stakes race. For decades, men had to wear a sports jacket to enter their famous restaurant. A tuxedo dressed band would perform before each race before crowds that were usually over 10,000 a performance on the weekends. There were multiple floors to wager any pari-mutual race with multiple restaurants and a huge gift shop.
It’s hard to believe the government can shut down a business that had been around nearly 100 years and hadn’t changed or done anything illegally. Kind of like what’s going on in NYC and California, I guess.
