
We just got some new video from Arturo Salas of action at their new amateur court in Cancun, Mexico.
Ekhi and Daniel Inclan are out there along with some of their regulars. Arturo can’t wait for things to return to normal and get tournaments going.
We just got some new video from Arturo Salas of action at their new amateur court in Cancun, Mexico.
Ekhi and Daniel Inclan are out there along with some of their regulars. Arturo can’t wait for things to return to normal and get tournaments going.
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
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.
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
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.
Winner of Singles – Jairo —– Winner of Doubles – Arrieta and Goitia
(MagicMike updated the brackets to include the playback games)
Click this link to see the breakdown of every game and score for both days: https://basquepelotaupdates.blogspot.com/2020/12/jai-alaicesta-punta-first-national.html
Below is video of Sunday games:
Here are the standings so far and a link to the Youtube Video from Magic City Day 1 (Saturday 12-05-20). Day 2 will be Sunday 12-06-2020.
Matches feature some of our NJAA roster (RickB as Bernard II)(Anthony as ANT)(Scott King as King)(Brodie as Barracuda)(Paul Kubala w/Kyle as Paul&Kubala)(Cachin as Cachin47)(Belota as Belota) and also some Connecticut Stars including Matt, Monte, Beach and more.
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
Another short, two-month season is in store for Miami Jai-alai – but this one has a twist. Former star players Goiko and Lopez return to the “Yankee Stadium” of jai-alai, but joining them are six players from the Dania fronton including Erik, Ladutxe, Amigorena and Foronda. Those players likely will join the roster in mid- December, when the Dania season goes on break. The season opens Wednesday, December 2nd.
There will be 3 performances a day with new hours – 11am, 1:30pm and 4:30pm. There will be 8 games scheduled for each performance and all games are singles – at this point. There will be 8 post positions (again at this point) and betting should be available on Watch & Wager.
Being able to watch Goiko (recognized as the best player in the world) vs. Erik (Dania’s top player for years) should bring some excitement back to the sport. All games will offer quinella, perfecta and trifecta wagering with a superfecta in game 4. The Pelota Press will be there covering the event and be sure to look for updates on Friday.
Here is the complete Miami roster:
– 15,Frank,front court. height 6’1, weight 190. born August 12, 1977. Nationality Mexico
– 16,Julen,front court. height 5″8, weight 160. born October 16, 1995. Nationality AMERICAN
– 17,Carlos,back court. height 6’1″, weight 185. born February 16, 1981. Nationality USA
– 18,Foronda,front court. height 6’00, weight 168. born May 15, 1981. Nationality SPAIN
– 19,Cisneros,back court. height 5″10, weight 183. born January 26, 1979. Nationality MEXICO
– 20,Crizz,back court. height 6″3, weight 265. born December 3, 1995. Nationality USA
– 22,Aratz,back court. height 5’7, weight 180. born February 25, 1989. Nationality USA
– 23,Anndy,front court. height 5″10, weight 170. born October 4, 1983. Nationality Cuba
– 24,Sierra I,front court. height 5’6, weight 170. born December 21, 1981. Nationality Mexican
– 25,Lopez,back court. height 6.4, weight 220. born March 4, 2001. Nationality Spain
– 27,Alex,front court. height 5″10, weight 180. born November 28, 1993. Nationality USA
– 36,Aritz,front court. height 6’0″, weight 184. born June 9, 1987. Nationality Spanish Basque
– 41,Alejandro,back court. height 5″9, weight 200. born September 20, 1969. Nationality Mexico
– 42,Toto,front court. height 5’6, weight 180. born July 1, 1976. Nationality Mexican
– 43,Goiko,front court. height 6″4, weight 250. born March 4, 1981. Nationality Zumaya, Spain
– 48,Erik,front court. height 5″11, weight 180 . Nationality Spain
– 56,Ladutxe,back court. height 6′, weight 200. born September 19, 1987. Nationality France
– 57,Amigorena,back court. height 6′, weight 190. born September 1, 1961. Nationality Spain
– 59,Gallo,back court. height 6′, weight 199. born August 28, 1982. Nationality American
– 60,Manuel,back court. height 5’10”, weight 180. born March 2, 1980. Nationality Mexican
– 62,Vega,back court. height 5″7, weight 175. born January 12, 1989. Nationality Cuba
– 63,Troy,front court. height 5’6, weight 185. born January 27, 1975. Nationality American
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
The big tournament coming up at the Magic City jai-alai fronton is heating up and so are the lineups.
Here is a partial listing of some of the team playing I the first round in both singles and doubles that involve current Dania and Miami jai-alai players.
(Subject to change given the circumstances of travel plans of players due to COVID-19)
As you can see, there are some interesting singles games and teams featuring star players from Dania jai-alai, Miami jai-alai, Magic City, Connecticut Amateur Jai-alai, N Miami and Tampa Bay amateur courts. For example, Connecticut Amateur cancha owner “Matt” DiDomizio is scheduled to play “Minte” from Danai jai-alai in the first round of singles. NJAA’s top amateur player “Anthony” Sutton is teaming up with Belota (Orlando, Ft. Pierce, Calder, NJAA) to play Angel and Ikeda in the first round of doubles.
We will keep you posted with much more information over the next week.
SINGLES | DOUBLES |
Angel vs Geno | Chris & Gitty Up vs Frank & Gallo |
Gallo vs Bradley | Chuch & Super Jules vs Gorka & Johan |
Frank vs Rey | Casio & Petro vs Ben & Carballo |
Casio vs Arrieta | Angel & Ikeda vs Barracuda & King |
Matt vs Minte | DeCarlo & James vs Guillermo & Spinner |
Gitty Up vs Gioxerri | Anthony & Belota vs Jairo & Larrea |
Tevin vs Super Jules | |
Bernard II vs Spinner | |
Goitia vs Cachin47 | |
Ari vs Gorka | |
Larrea vs Ant |
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
Jai-alai aficionado Jesus Olivera and his wife became the first to attend the remodeled the JLaca Museum earlier this month. The museum added most of the artifacts from the Mark K collection in late March to greatly enhance the overall jai-alai experience, but the Corona virus has kept the doors locked to the public since.
Completing the jai-alai weekend, Jesus made his third appearance at America’s first and only public court in St. Pete, competing against several former pros in an action-packed 2 ½ hour performance.
Jesus was actually introduced to jai-alai by his wife, who in 1982 purchased a cesta at a flea market for him, and he’s never put it down since!
You can view the J Laca collection on this website by clicking on the link. The museum and their popular gambling parties will likely resume later this spring as the vaccines make it safer.
By Jeff “Laca” Conway
The USNJAC – better known as Magic City’s national jai-alai tournament – is still on and scheduled for the weekend of December 5-6th . This is the 4th date the highly anticipated event has been scheduled because of issues arising from the Corona virus. The event will go on unless closures are re-implemented in Miami-Dade County. With cases skyrocketing across the country – anything could happen – but with Donald Trump still residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Ron DeSantis still the governor of Florida, don’t expect any drastic changes until at least January 20th when “Sleepy Joe” takes over.
The revised tournament now has less than half the amount of players as compared to the original date set in April due to scheduling and virus issues. When players show up, they will be required to submit to an on-site rapid test and must test negative. This is the same test required for all Magic City employees. The casino claims the reliability has been good, but many on-site testing facilities have been “shaky” at best. False “positives” at on-site testing facilities have been questionable with further, more reliable testing coming back “negative”. Players showing up to play risk this happening and will be have to leave.
Once a “negative” test has been established, players will enter the fronton and will be assigned to socially-distanced changing station – the same procedure required by the current roster. Players are required to wear a mask at all times except when playing.
No spectators are allowed into the fronton to watch the event live and only 4 guests/family members of the players will be permitted to view the event on YouTube in the sports club.
The huge jackpots for the winners reman in place and the event should be exciting to watch. Just wished there were better circumstances surrounding it. Magic City management is doing the best job possible given the cards dealt to them.