Entries from this weekends “Matt” tournament are available.
The handwritten one is for Friday nights Spec 9 performance with 13 games scheduled to 9 points.
On Saturday, just 6 games are scheduled – but they are apparently 20-point games, a first that I can recall.
The event will be live on Matt’s Facebook page “CT Amateur Jai-alai”.
The Florida players will arrive Thursday evening for practice, and they include Belota, Ant, Thomas, Chip, Phatboy and Alex.
It appears to be a slightly smaller turnout as compared to other tournaments, but the action should be good. Some of the players include Gallo, DeCarlo, Joe P, Leo, Lander, Aramendi, San Juan, Gino, Edward, Terrence, JJ, and Johnny No-No.
(TO ENLARGE ANY PICTURE ON A WINDOWS COMPUTER – RIGHT CLICK AND OPEN IMAGE IN NEW TAB)
Drive by America’s only public jai-alai court in St. Petersburg, and it is likely there will be a pretty decent size group of players virtually everyday out there.
Puryear Park Jai-alai, which quietly celebrated its 16th anniversary earlier last week, is now in its 17th season. It’s amazing how time flies, but the court is bigger and better today than ever before. And yes, more crowded. So crowed, that 8-post teams are the norm on certain days. Maybe its time for Paul Kubala to lobby for another court to get built! From 1990 to 2007 the court was an undesignated jai-alai court, sandwiched in between two racquet ball courts with two 4×8’s acting as the backwall for rebotes and a huge 8 foot gap between the side wall and front wall.
Why the sudden boom in players? That’s a good question and will be dig into answers to that.
First, the expansion orchestrated by Kubala, Scott King, Eric Lanctot and others greatly enhanced the cancha experience since it opened in 2008 before its official opening day before hundreds of people and the entire St. Pete City Council. I had to spend two days replying to people on Tigers site on why the original construction of the court was so small – compared to other amateur rubber ball court size standards. We took what the city was offering us and the two votes before the city council were approved unanimously in late 2007. This information and videos can all be viewed on the Pelota Press website under the NJAA link. Remember, the great recession took place right at that time, and the court’s plans were finalized just hours before a Friday 5pm deadline in the summer of 2007 when private financing was completed to make the product happen– much to the surprise of city recreational leaders.
The larger court is a totally different game out there and certainly playing with the “Matt Ball” was a game changer vs. the old-fashioned lacrosse ball that had been used in amateur use everywhere in our area (Seminole Middle School Jai-alai; Largo Winn Dixie Jai-alai; Tampa Plaza Shopping Center Jai-alai) for decades.
A lot of players have been showing up over the past couple years and playing on a regular basis now, including several ex-pros – some of whom even played on the same roster with Bolivar in Bridgeport.
Virtually every day, the court has a large group of players.
Sunday mornings have been drawing a growing group. Led by Frederico, an original Puryear Park player from 1990, he is now a regular again along with his brother Gino, who had undergone two major surgeries and thought to be goner. Also coming out of the blue is another amateur, who has two brothers that are well known to the jai-alai world – Daniel and Butler. Daniel Love is considered one of the greatest backcourt players of all time and had a long career at Tampa, Mexico City and Miami. He also comes out and plays in the group when he’s not on duty with the sherif’s department locking up the bad guys. Mark Butner now plays on a regular basis whose brother played under the name “Butler” and was an excellent player in Tampa briefly and then Miami. Mark has excellent form and a major league canon for an arm. Paul Berglund is also back on a regular basis. Paul played pro in Ocala for two seasons.
Monday and Wednesday nights has a group called the “Sunshine City” Jai-alai with players like Paul Kubala, former Tampa pro’s Scott King and Corky, former pro Belota, former Dania pro Garby. Also joining them is Calder player and longtime Connecticut amateur champion Brodie. Another player includes Eric Lanctot who was the placekicker for Vanderbilt and now a contractor who aided in the remodeling of the cancha, as mentioned earlier in this story.
Tuesday and Thursday nights have also been busy, averaging about 10 players a performance. There is variety of about 20-25 different players who come out those nights and is nicknamed the “The Chopped Liver League”.
Fridays are the slow day, with an occasional small group playing with “Businessman’s Luncheon” performance or an occasional Friday evening performance.
Saturdays continue to be the big day – usually drawing about 15-16 players in the morning/early afternoon for a long 4–5-hour performance. Let by Anthony Sutton, last year’s National Singles Masters Champion aka “Ant”, the people come out when invited in droves.
When E.F. Hutton calls, people listen.
When A.M. Sutton texts, people come out to play.
Several people make long trips – such as Adam who comes a couple times a month from Daytona. Adam was a veteran player who was one of Bolivar’s favorite backcourters at Bridgeport Jai-alai. Rastock is a regular at Puryear Park, making multiple visits every month and seems to never lose a game. Also playing with Bolivar in Bridgeport, Rastock was a National Champion (Masters – Doubles) last year at the Magic City tournament, and he continues to defy father time and is one of the top players around. Ty Wilson is a former Newport RI player who is also a regular and makes the trip over with Rastock along with amateur player Eric Auman. It is also not unusual to see Elorri make the trip – also from Orlando. He was the former player manager at Orlando Jai-alai and an original player on the roster.
Another player who has become a regular is Phatboy, whose real name is Brent. A longtime Orlando amateur, you might recall him competing in the Magic City event the past couple years. He too, has good form and a major league arm. A couple of weeks ago he had former Orlando pro and close friend “Jericho”. He played very well, considering he had not played since Orlando closed its doors years ago and is now a church.
The only drawback is that we have not had any young players come out in years. The problem is that there have been no professional jai-alai here since 1998 when Tampa Jai-alai closed. It became a Sam’s and Home Depot on its massive property near the McDill Air Force base at that time. Jai-alai cestas are not hanging in the racks of Dick’s Sporting Goods, further complicating things. In fact, when you mention the word jai-alai to anybody under 45, they say “Oh, you mean the beer?”. That of course, is the Jai-alai Beer that we all know about and is brewed in Tampa.
Coming next – What could save Jai-alai? We have the answer. And no, it’s not Spanky winning a Billion $$ Lottery and opening a fronton!
This past Tuesday night, Morgan Kathan, the daughter of the original Puryear Park co-founder Greg (aka Echeva), was back at it -competing against 9 other men on the St. Pete Cancha.
Morgan is back in town for a week after recently moving to Vermont to be with her new husband and her new job. For years, she spent hundreds of hours practicing on the jai-alai court and has gotten pretty good. She has played with the boy’s numerous times and competing just fine. She’s a good catcher on both sides (except for the fast ones where she gets out of the way!) and has a strong forehead and serve.
Her father got her going on jai-alai a few years ago. Greg was the one that brought out the old 4×8 panels of plywood in 1990 as a makeshift rebote ball when the court was nothing but a tennis practice wall and a side wall for a racquetball court.
Excelling in sports, Morgan had an outstanding soccer career in High School by scoring 97 goals and led High School Championship teams in not only soccer but snowboarding and golf. At Keene State College in New Hampshire, she studied to become a Physical Education and Heath Teacher and continued to excel at soccer by scoring many important game winning goals.
Morgan then moved to St. Pete after college to take over her Dad’s house and started throwing the pelota at Puryear Park. Her teaching job in Trinity cut down on time available to play jai-alai, but she never lost interest.
She recently took a teaching job in Burlington Vermont so she and new husband could enjoy snowboarding and biking. She was recently named the Head Coach of Vergennes High School Varsity Girls soccer for next season.
Morgan really enjoys joining her father at the court because the regular players are very helpful and patient with her. She didn’t get any wins Tuesday night, but she has a few wins under her belt over the past few years and has aced quite a few points on serves off the boys.
Several months ago, we had a group out there and Corky (the ex-Tampa Jai-alai pro who is a regular there now) showed up and was impressed. “Great form! I like it” he said.
We wish her the best and look forward to her next appearance, but it won’t be as frequent unfortunately.
US National Jai-alai Championship August 30 and September 1st
Magic City jai-alai is hosting its annual US National Jai-alai Championship on August 30th and September 1st at its fronton located at the Magic City Casino in Miami. This is the Masters Event only.
Held over Labor Day weekend, the event will feature amateur singles and doubles prize money of $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place.
There are 32 entries open for singles play and 14 doubles teams. All matches are played to 6 points and finals played to 7 points. There will be a playback backet in Doubles only.
Entries must be received by May 24 and players will be notified if their entry has been approved by June 24th.
The pro tournament, called the World Super Court , will be held August 30th and September 1st.
We do know of a few of the teams that have entered that play at Puryear Park and those teams include:
Anthony (Ant) & Brody
Corky & Scott King
Rastock and Joe P
Adam & Douglas’s dad
Alex & Magic Mike
Chip & Matt
Last years winners included singles champion Anthony Sutton and doubles champion Rastock & Conrado.
In the professional singles, Goixerri won it and in doubles Goixerri again was a winner along with Aratz.
This year’s Super Court event looks even more promising
America’s best amateur court is gearing up for another big tournament next weekend – May 3-4th, with a possible date of Sunday May 5th if time runs out to complete everything by Saturday.
Another large turnout is expected, with several players from Florida also making the trip. The long-range weather forecast looks good – partly sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. It’s a nice time of the year – the dogwoods are blooming that week, and it should be nice up there.
May 1st will be their 14th anniversary, which is an amazing feat. Super congrats to Matt DiDomizio who put up everything he had to get the place open and it’s still going strong today.
Here are all the details you will want to know:
Players are welcome to play Thursday evening to practice.
Friday night is Singles play and will be set up like the Spectacular 9 Events in the past. There will be 12-14 games total, with 3 of them being championship games. The event starts at 6:30pm that night.
On Saturday, play starts at 9am. There is basically one division in the doubles and after first round play it will determine what division they end up in and there will be 5 or 6 rounds till the playoffs.
The cost is $20 to play on Friday and Saturday $40 as separate events, or $50 to play in both.
The event will be broadcast live on his Facebook page. There is no longer a website.
As of post time, only a portion of the teams had been set.
Jai-Alai Rated 7th Most Expensive Sport in the World
In an article recently published by Sports Brief, Jai-alai was rated the 7th most expensive sport in the world.
Yes, we know jai-alai is expensive. A “real” cesta can run over $500. A pelota cost must be well over $150 now to build, and needs recovering all the time. Helmets aren’t cheap either. And the cost to build a cancha alone, not counting the entire fronton, would easily cost well over $2 million now with an 8” thick front wall made from granite. Of course, we are not talking about Magic City jai-alai, but their court is not cheap either. Maintaining a roster of 20-30 players with salary, bonus money and health insurance can run hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
According to the article “Some sports and games are deemed dangerous or delicate; hence the required equipment, training fees, and ticket prices are very costly. To some extent, society perceives the few who can afford these games as well-off or affluent. Discover below the most expensive sprots in the world, which often, only the rich play or attend.”
Big-game hunting
Equestrian
Golf
Hot Air ballon racing
Bobsledding
Formula One racing
Jai-alai
Polo
Ski jumping
Sailing
Lacrosse
Ice hockey
American Football
Fencing
Tennis
Water skiing
Jet skiing
Skydiving
Scuba diving
Baccarat
Under jai-alai, the story mentioned that jai-alai is played in Spain, France, the USA, Florida, and various Latin American countries. It also said the salaries for jai-alai players in the US range between $31k to $262k.
I’m not sure where they got that $262k from? I don’t believe it’s anyone’s business what others make, but I find it hard to believe any player is making anywhere close to that number. Unless they are counting the $100 in Monopoly money that Rastock makes winning every game he plays at Puryear Park nowadays. Or the money Douglas made his first season at Magic City, which was decent, but not that much!
The article also mentioned that the cesta did cost around $500 each, which is accurate.
I was at the Yankees spring training game a couple days ago with Marty Fleischman, his wife Sue. Joe Cannella and I brought up a TV commercial I had recalled about a battlefield and if Marty was involved in that. He was, and the cost was over $100,000 to produce – which is about $282k today.
Joe found this on YouTube and thought it would bring back some out memories.
50th Anniversary of the Day that Changed Everything – Part 1 of 2
Today is the 50th anniversary of the day that would eventually change everything in my lifestyle.
On Friday, February 15, 1974, I went to see jai-alai for the first time in my life. Today, 50 years later, I would never have imagined what would take place after that.
Here are the details as I can remember:
I was a senor at Roger Ludlowe High School in Fairfield Connecticut and had narrowed my list of colleges that I wanted to attend down to two. One was in Tampa at the University of Tampa, and the other in Lakeland at Florida Southern College. About 35 miles apart from one another.
I flew down with my parents from JFK to Tampa International. Upon stepping off that plane in Tampa, I was impressed. Wow. Look at this airport. It was gorgeous. The NY airports and Dallas were the only ones I had been in before. And the airport was only a few months old on top of it. And then stepping outside, wow! 72 degrees and sunny – in the middle of the winter. So far, so good I thought.
We checked into the Holiday Inn on Dale Mabry, and in the lobby at the counter was a rack card of a bunch of things to do in Tampa Bay. Busch Gardens, Sunken Gardens, the Reds spring training, and so on. But one caught my eye. It had to do with sports. It was about jai-alai. I said “what the heck this – not pronouncing it as “hi-li” but with a “J”. Just like in the Magic City promo by one of the players. The guy behind the counter and my parents all pronounced the name properly and tried to explain the game. And they added you bet on it. I didn’t really care about the betting aspect. I loved sports and especially baseball. It was the reason I picked those two colleges to scope out in the first place.
I was mesmerized by the drawing of the court and how big it was. Wow! I never had heard of it before. I found out it was only in Florida and in big cities like Miami, Dania/Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, etc. Interesting.
So, we made reservations to go that Friday night. I was with my stepsister and my parents had reservations already at Berns Steak House. We were flying back to JFK Saturday morning.
I remember getting into the taxicab and telling the driver where we were going. Again, I misspelled the word jai-alai. I asked him “You know how to get there?”. He laughed and said, “Of course I do!”. Today, you ask someone about jai-alai and they tell you “Oh you mean the beer?”.
I also remember the 10–15-minute drive there like yesterday. Lots of traffic. The click-clicky sound on Dale Mabry Highway. All the bright lights, nude clubs. Nothing like the Post Road in Fairfield!
Then we make the right into the Jai-alai Fronton. Wow! Look at this! A huge building, lots of cars coming in. We get out and talk up the Will Call window, where we get our tickets. I think they were $2 each and were about ½ of the way back on about the 4 line. We got there about 6:45pm and the place was filling up. Thousands of people. Players were practicing. I am thinking, this is “really cool”. The distinct sound of the ball hitting the wall was awesome. The worlds “fastest game” game in front on me!
My parents gave me $20 to bet for the night and I remember making my bets off the way the players practiced before the game. My first mistake.
I quickly picked up the game, but my stepsister was confused the whole night. The roar of the crowd is what made it. The athleticism. The huge court. The ball hitting the ball. Seven thousand people with many around bars and watching on TV sets. Unbelievable excitement. There were more people here than were going to Yankee games in the Bronx back then in the last year at the original stadium. On the court were greats like Bolivar, Almorza, Laca and many more. I lost every game I as there from 1-10. When we got back to the hotel, our parents asked how we did, and I told them the money was all gone. Oh well, wasn’t the only time that was going to happen.
I ended up choosing Florida Southern College in Lakeland, and one of the first things my friends and I would do is head over to watch and bet jai-alai. There was nothing to do in Lakeland back then.
Now, 50 years later I would never imagine how jai-alai has changed my lifestyle.
