Archive for category: Jeff ‘Laca’ Conway Blogs

By Jeff “Laca” Conway

The house that jai-alai built.  That’s how Tampa Bay tabloid Creative Loafing reported it.  

And now it’s for sale.

Cigar City Brewing founder Joey Redner has put his South Tampa waterfront mansion up for sale.  The 7,379 square-foot home was built in 1925 and has 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms along with a detached guesthouse.  The house features 170 feet of waterfront, a pool & spa, an outdoor kitchen, a treehouse and more. 

Joey Redner, son of Joe Redner (owner of the most famous strip club in the world – Mons Venus) was a Tampa jai-alai fan and named one of his beers after the sport in what has become one of the top craft beers in America.  He founded Cigar City Brewing in 2007 after holding a sales position with Florida’s oldest microbrewery – Dunedin brewery.  He hired Wayne Wambles as his brewmaster in 2008 and the pair brewed the first batch of Cigar City Beer.  Shortly afterwards, Jai-alai IPA was released and was an immediate hit with craft beer critics.  Today, the brewery produces over 170,000 barrels annually with distribution in 39 states.

Redner sold a controlling stake of the company to Colorado-based Oskar Blues for about $60 million in March of 2016, where is remains an active partner with. 

His house is on the market for $7,495,000.  He paid $6.4 million for it in July of 2016.            

By Jeff “Laca” Conway

It appears the highly anticipated father-son team of Benny and Chris Bueno are out of the USNJAC tournament which is now set for December 5-6^th at Magic City.  The event, expected to garner a huge national “jai-alai” audience – not only in attendance but on YouTube’s Jai-alai Channel has been rescheduled with its 4^th date now set in stone unless county officials stop it due to increased COVID-19 cases.  Dania player manager and former Miami star player Benny was originally scheduled to appear with his son Chris, whose been making amazing progress in his second season at Magic City.  Chris is now scheduled to play with Magic City’s top player “Douglas” in the tournament.  Douglas was originally scheduled to play with another sophomore player – Kubala – who will now in turn play with his father Paul Kubala.  Paul was the main force in getting the first public jai-alai court ever built in the United States back in 2007.  His son Kyle practically grew up with a jai-alai basket in his hand at the public jai-alai court two blocks from their home.  But he pursued golf since his high school days and was on the golf team in college, before Magic City caught his interest with a very respectable salary and bonus structure. 

We will keep you posted with details on this event which is rapidly approaching us.         

The highly anticipated Magic City tournament is still trying to pull off their national event which would feature 60 players – both amateurs and professionals – with a walloping $20,000 in prize money up for grabs.

With COVID-19 causing problems more than Donald Trump could imagine, the event, originally scheduled for April 25-26 was been postponed three times already.  The event was then rescheduled to June 27-28, then pushed back to July 25-26 when it was postponed again.  Now organizers are trying to hold it during the weekend of December 5-6^th.  This new date is also during the time when Dania will be in the last couple weeks of their season, and during the first week of the Miami Jai-alai season (see related story on Pelotapress.com). A few of their players were registered to play in this event, but promoters will try to work around the conflict of this event and their regular jobs as players.   

Who could have registered?

The USNJAC was open to any amateur and professional jai-alai that is a US Citizen, 18 years of age or older.  The players have until Wednesday, October 7, 2020 to inform MC if they are still interested in participating.  If they get enough positive responses, the event will go on – with some restrictions. 

The original scoring format

This is a double elimination, head-to-head format.
First to 6 points in First Round
First to 5 points in Double Elimination Round
First to 7 points in Second Round through Semi-Finals
First to 9 points in Finals

Singles Play

Limited to 60 entries in Singles. The 30 players eliminated in the First Round will have a second chance Double Elimination Round with 2 players advancing back into the competition.

Doubles Play

Limited to 28 teams in Doubles. 14 teams eliminated in the First Round will have a second chance Double Elimination Round with 2 players advancing back into the competition.

Prize Money

$20,000 in prize money will be awarded throughout the Championship.

Singles 1st Place $7,500
Singles 2nd Place $2,500
Doubles 1st Place $7,500
Doubles 2nd Place $2,500

Rules and Requirements

You must be a USA citizen and a photocopy of passport or birth certificate is required with Entry Form.
Players must be at least 18 years old.
Video required of you playing if not known to the Selection Committee.
Selection Committee has final determination of entrants should the entry field exceed the available playing slots.
You must wear an approved helmet.

The Venue

Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida. Glass walls at the front and back walls.
The court is 120 foot long by 40 foot width. The ceiling is low and makes this a difficult court to play on compared to others.

Other original worthy notes

There will be a 1-minute warm-up before each match.
Practice time will be available on the Friday before the event which is held on a Saturday and Sunday.

The latest restrictions

At this time, it is unknown if spectators will be allowed in the fronton.  If they aren’t, they will have to watch the event on a large screen TV in the Sports Club at Magic City.  If there is a limited number of spectators allowed, guests of the players will have priority over the general public.  A large capacity crowd was likely to have happened when it was first scheduled.  No news on the Friday night party which would have featured the players and their guests.

By Jeff “Laca” Conway

Dania jai-alai will reopen on Thursday, October 1^st with reduced seating capacity and a 10-game performance.  The fronton, which has been open for over 60 years, was forced to shut down in mid-March because of the Corona virus.  As we posted in a an earlier photo, you can see two rows of seats completely covered, with additional seats removed from the back row.  The seating capacity will now be 75 people in the 400 seat fronton.  Additional self-betting terminals have been set up to further maintain the 6 foot social distancing rules.   

There will be 10-game performances  – with 4 singles and 6 doubles. 

As of now, about 10 players with visa’s are all waiting for their passports and flights.  A few of the players will likely make it for opening day, while others will be arriving the following week.

All practicing players are ready to go.  Those include stars like Erik, Zulaica, Arrieta, Ibon, Amigorena and others.

Lets all support Dania and keep jai-alai alive!

Dania Jai-alai getting ready for new season

By Jeff “Laca” Conway

Dania Jai-alai is getting ready to reopen for the first time since the pandemic became a global issue in March. 

As you can see from the photo, social separation is underway, with two rows of seating getting covered in the 500 seat fronton.  Dania intends on having live audiences when the reopen in the next couple of weeks or so.  It also appears to be undergoing some “major” floor repairs on the out of bounds area on the cancha.