A lot of Pelota Press readers have been asking “Where’s Marty?”, “We miss his stories!”.
Marty Fleishman spent 40 glorious years in jai-alai and now the past 26 months supplying great stories on his career here at the Pelota Press and they will resume in another month.
On September 13th, he drove to upstate New York for his wife Sue’s reunion and continued to Nova Scotia where he encountered something he was used to while living Kendall, Florida. Yes, that dreaded “H” word – a hurricane. He was greeted by Hurricane Fiona. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
He is now in Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec and up next is Quebec City in a few days then Finger Lakes of NY.
Marty was hoping to be able to write stories on the trip but found it too difficult.
His blogs will resume in the first week of November. As the stories have progressed, he had just started to work at Dania jai-alai, so we still got a lot more stories to come.
For the second time in 5 years and the third time in in the past 18 years, a devastating hurricane destined for the Tampa Bay area changed course at the last minute and did significant damage elsewhere. This one walloped the Sanibel-Ft. Myers Beach area directly with 150 mile plus winds and a massive tidal surge causing hundreds of billions in damage and lost live of people that may reach 100 or more. Eighteen (18) years ago, a similar hurricane name Charlie took the same path, but the massive size of the storm – covering over 560 miles long and an eye 40 miles wide will likely end up the most damaging in Florida history.
The huge storm remained a hurricane that took it past Orlando and up to the Daytona Beach area as a tropical storm where it eventually reformed again in the Atlantic and struck South Carolina as a Hurricane again.
Our prayers are out for everyone that has suffered from this hurricane, especially those in the Sanibel/Captiva Ft. Myers area. The Sanibel causeway was destroyed, leaving no way to get on the islands by vehicle. The entire area was under 10 feet of water and mostly destroyed.
Here in the Tampa Bay area, we were spared of any damage. The JLaca Museum was dismantled again for the second time in five years and moved to the upper floors to protect the thousand artifacts from getting destroyed by 8-12 feet surges that were predicted – if the hurricane had stayed on track. Instead, the opposite happened, with 5-6 feet reverse as the water was pulled out of the intercoastal. The Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater area has now gone 101 years without a direct hurricane hit and one must wonder how much longer that will last.
The one thing that is scary is these storms are now frequently hitting 150 miles per hour in wind speed, something virtually unthinkable 40 years ago. The damage from storms in the Cat 4 or Cat 5 is catastrophic. Ian was just two mph short of getting classified as at Cat 5 with winds at 155 mph.
The St. Pete Cancha was also spared of any damage – just one of the upper panels above the front wall came loose.
Berlin Connecticut will be the “jai-alai capital of the world” once again as Matt DiDomizio is staging another tournament open to all players.
A pick your player tournament will be staged on the weekend of November 5-6th.
On Friday night of that weekend, the popular Spectacular 9 event will take place, where various players are paired with others.
All games are played to 9 points for both events.
The cost to play in the tournament is $50 ($100 per team) which includes Friday night. Players are not required to play on Friday if signing up for the PYP Tournament being held Saturday and Sunday. Players do have the option of playing just on Friday night for $10.
The deadline to sign up in on Halloween.
Contact Matt at Connecticut Amateur Jai-alai to sign up. Things still are not the same up there with the death of their beloved cat, and hopefully a tournament like this will help relieve their loss.
There’s not a dry eye in Berlin Connecticut today. The beloved “Jai-alai Cat” at Matt’s Court, who has “more court time than anybody”, has passed away.
A fixture of Matt’s amateur jai-alai court, the cat had about 15-20 names over the years.
“Our place will never be the same without him”, Matt’s cousin Carlo remarked. “Many great memories from him”. I’m sure the hundreds of players that have played there over the years will concur.
The cat was given to Matt in 2010 when he opened the jai-alai facility, and it had a great home for over 12 years.
Two other cats still reside at the complex, but they too, have lost a close friend.
Dania Jai-alai is gearing up for its “comeback” season that opens on Thursday evening, December 1st and concludes on January 29, 2023.
The roster, expected to be around 22-24 players, will be announced by the end of this month. While we can’t divulge on who’s playing right now, we can tell you there will be some “major surprises” to the naysayers who question how strong of a roster that could be put together.
The comeback season caught many off guard, who thought Dania had closed shop on the sport that was the main attraction for over 60 years till the slot machines came rolling in.
Are they holding the season because they “have” to or because they “want” to? As you know, a judge struck down an agreement the State of Florida had made with the Seminole Indians involving among other things, sports betting online. The decoupling of jai-alai was part of the package. No one seems to know for sure where the other parimutuels stand as far a running live jai-alai and keeping their slots rolling. We do know for a fact that Orlando Jai-alai recently applied for a jai-alai permit to conduct a “live” season and there has been plenty of talk about Calder reopening.
Dania will be staging live prime time 7pm jai-alai with parimutuel wagering Wednesday thru Saturday nights and matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, a good old-fashioned twin-bill on Saturdays!
With the season open only for the two months – December and January, Dania will be able to capitalize on two busy tourist season months, no direct competition from Magic City who are closed those two months. Additionally, they will be open during the final two weeks of the year, capitalizing on what was a very busy time for jai-alai in the golden years.
Ever wonder how many calories you burn while playing jai-alai? And do you ever wonder how it compares to other sports or activities?
Well, the website Gigacalculator.com recently came out of a listing on the best ways to drop calories while exercising or playing sports. And yes, jai-alai is near the top.
A 190-pounder will drop 1,035 calories in one hour of playing jai-alai, according to a study released by the Wisconsin Department of Health. Only 4 other activities were noted to be ahead of that.
Uphill cross-county skiing is tops at 1,423 calories getting burned in just one hour of time. Coming in second was Competitive Speed Skating and Running upstairs – tied at 1,294 calories getting burned for a 190-pounder. Stationary Bicycling was next at 1,078.
Jai-alai was tied with sports like Team Handball, Boxing, Squash, and a few other activities at 1,035.
Here is how jai-alai breakdowns in various weights in burning calories:
190 pounds 1,035
155 pounds 844
130 pounds 708
Here is the backdown of all activities listed by the Wisconsin Department of Health (calories lost per hour, 190 pounder):
Uphill Cross-country Skiing 1,423
Running up Stairs 1,294
Competitive Speed skating 1,294
Stationary Bicycling 1,078
Jai-alai 1,035
Team Handball 1,035
Boxing 1,035
Jumping Rope 1,035
Squash 1,035
Competitive Canoeing/Crewing 1,035
We’re not sure how the WDH tested for the jai-alai number out in Wisconsin, but I’m sure its pretty accurate. I also wonder if those numbers change if you’re playing in an air-conditioned building or outside at Puryear Park in St. Petersburg in 105-feel like heat.
I was surprised no other sport was listed on this article – like soccer, basketball, hockey, or swimming. One would think the calories would rack in in those activities.
Check out Gigacalculator’s website for all kinds of calculations like interest, loan, fuel cost, age, percent off, discount, tips, various measurements, and how many calories are lost needed to lose weight vs what you eat and drink.
The third annual USNJAC event was held this past weekend at Magic City Jai-alai in Miami with tens of thousands of dollars at stake. The 3-day event attracted players from all over the country with the majority coming from the hotbeds where jai-alai lives on – the Miami area, Tampa Bay area and Connecticut NE area.
The Masters Division composed of all amateur and former professional players who have not played professionally since December 31, 2016 and professionals who are age 50 and over. Once again, Matt Domizio took the singles title, with a 7-4 win over James Langhans (the father of current Magic City star players Douglas and Benny). Langhans, a former pro himself, played like Felix the Cat, reaching into his “bag of tricks” with an arsenal of kill shots, but 3 of those shots went off the court or hit the pad. Matt, playing under the name of “Goya” once again, was his usual catching machine, hardly dropping a ball all weekend. Last year, Matt won the singles, again beating Langhans, who played under the name of Douglas I, by the score of 7-6.
In doubles, the Connecticut team of DeCarlo and Lasa defeated the team of Rastock and Conrado 7-6. Rastock, another catching machine-like Matt, got burnt a few times throwing some soft ones but Lasa was able to run them down and score. The final point ended when Rastock just nipped the top of the front pad on game point for both teams.
The Friday action started promptly at 10:01am and lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes but was never boring with non-stop action. Saturday featured the professional division, with finals for both the Master and Pro divisions on Sunday.
When the event ended, about 10 of the players from Connecticut and Tampa Bay made the four-hour drive to get some action in on the St. Pete Court. That Joe P guy (Petro) can catch!
Ft. Pierce Jai-alai is officially gone. The wrecking balls were out there in late July, and the beloved fronton which hosted thousands of games over the years, is nothing but dust.
Special thanks to Jacob Walden, President of the Professional Jai-alai Association sent us these pictures and is getting the museum (along with a few others), a hunk of the front wall to go on display.
Looking closely at these photos, you can get a rare view of the thickness of the front wall made out a granite with the green paint in front of it.
There was a big turnout this past weekend as several players from Miami Amateur Jai-alai made the trip up to play on the other Florida amateur court for the first time.
The fundraiser event to raise money to enhance the already “greatly improved and expanded” public court in St. Petersburg, netted over $1200 in donations to go towards it.
Over 25 players participated as a crowd of about 50 attended the performances.
On Saturday night, about 45 people attended a special party held at the J Laca Museum which included the entire roster from the N. Miami cancha.
The winners of the event were Tampa Bay star players Anthony Sutton and Scott King. Coming in second was Brodie and Corky (also of Tampa Bay) and coming in third was Jeraga and Angula of Miami.
There will be a rematch held at the N. Miami facility at a date to be announced.
