Archive for category: Jeff ‘Laca’ Conway Blogs

Dania Jai-alai Opens for its 70^th Anniversary Season

Dannia Jai-alai opened this past weekend to celebrate its 70^th anniversary before a decent crowd of over 300 on Friday night.

The (mostly) young roster of 22 marched out on the court along with the dapper looking jai-alai operations manager Benny Beuno to begin the festivities.  This year’s event was lengthened a month to 3 months and is played in a tournament format to avoid the costly and time-consuming visa regulations.

Unfortunately, game 1 was did not go well at all.  There were lots of dropped balls, a whiffed ball, a serve that hit above the red padding on the front wall (I can’t recall ever seeing that before) and even a super long overserve that took off like an F-35.  I was expecting Nate “The Great” to come out (I miss that guy!) and do his shenanigans. 

Kidding aside, the play did get better in game 2 and for the rest of the night.  Heck, these guys had only been in America a day or two to practice on a new court and get use to an 8-team rotation vs. the standard Partido play their accustomed to in Spain.  Talk about being nervous too.  And one of the guys is just sixteen!  Yes 16!  Imagine that!  

There was a great turnout for opening night, nearly a full house.  And the court looked spectacular too – a freshly painted shiny bright blue look, the cracks patched up and lots of new padding in place.  I did miss all the jerseys that had lined above the side and back walls, and it looked kind of “naked” up there.  Perhaps because they had new jerseys on?  I personally didn’t care for a couple of them, especially the white shirt post 3.  But who cares, it’s only a uniform, I guess.

I received multiple texts Friday on the camera/video coverage of the event and not being able to see the ball.  When I got home Saturday evening, I watched a few games on my phone and IPAD and had no issues at all seeing the ball.  In fact, I thought the court looked great on a small screen.  I thought the ball was as visible as ever and have always liked the blue color over the green any day – not only on the jai-alai court, but on tennis courts as well.

Later this month, The Pelota Press is going to be celebrating Dania’s historical opening 70 years with lot of details and photographs, as the museum has a complete collection of newspaper articles and photos in a huge scrap book of Dania getting approved to build a jai-alai fronton.  There were a ton on delays and lawsuits against it.

That very court they are playing on now was once a quiet plot of land where tomatoes were grown.  Dania was to be the second fronton to open in America (counting only one for the two structures that went up in Miami).  Delays caused it to become the 3^rd one to open in the USA, with Tampa officially opening a few days before Dania did in 1953.

Miami jai-alai sued Dania stating that the state law said no fronton shall be issued a pari-mutual permit within 20 miles of one another.  The Miami fronton submitted a map which measured the distance as 18.5 miles “as the crow flies” between the Miami fronton and Dania’s.  Dania Jai-alai countered that the distance was over 20 miles by road travel over the shortest highway route.  The case went to the Florida Supreme Court who ruled that Jai-alai customers were not crows and could not fly and allowed the permit to be issued.     Dania opened their doors in late December before 4,127 fans on opening night. 

Several additions were added to the fronton over the years, including the massive Clubhouse Restaurant overlooking the court in 1979.  Crowds of over 10,000 a night on weekends were common.  Driving around on Saturday morning there, I am still amazed at the size the of the massive parking lots on the property, and the days when you were lucky to find a place to park there.  And then walking into a real palace – packed with people, a huge upper-level food court, bars, projector TVs, and gift shops everywhere.  Those certainly were the good old days.                    

Benny B. announces Dania Roster for Tournament

In case you missed it, Benny Bueno, head of Dania Jai-alai has released another YouTube video on what to look forward to at Dania, but this one has much more information.  All but one of the 22 players in this season’s tournament were announced, with the last player awaiting confirmation he can leave from work and across the pond for a 3-month stay.

It looks like a very young roster again, even one at the age of 16 participating.  Watch the video for complete details. 

The season opens on a Friday night, December 1^st, and we will be there covering the event.  Hope to see many of you out there. 

Matt Tournament Photos and Scores

The Pelota Press was unable to attend the event, but here are several photos and snap shots of the scoresheets from this past weekends event up in Berlin, Connecticut.  At least we were able to donate the jai-alai trophy figurines, which looked nice!

Photos and comments by Mr. and Mrs. Cachin 47.   

Matt’s October Merry festival

A few times a year in the Great Northeast, Matt DiDomizio, the creator, and owner of Berlin Connecticut’s Only indoor Jai-alai Fronton. Holds an invitational weekend long Jai-alai Tournament. This past weekend October 13-15th 2023, had players from all over the country travel by car or plane to compete, in this Special event.

Players such as Kevin Smith, flew in, from as far away as Nevada, and my wife and I ( Cachin47 ) who live on the West Coast of Florida also made the trip.

Most of the Pelotari’s are fortunate enough to either live locally or within a respectable driving time. They are truly the Lucky ones. For they’re able to play on this Magical court as often as their bodies allow them to. Laugh hahaha

This past weekend Event, had roughly 20 players, which is a little less than what previous tournaments had. But it didn’t effect the competition level, or the camaraderie amongst all that came. See, these tournaments are more than just the competition, that takes place out on the court. It’s a gathering of people who have this one thing in common. The Love of Our Sport, Jai-alai. Some even say, ” It Runs Through Their Veins” !

The Event open on Friday night with the playing of the national anthem.

Everyone that was in attendance stop what they were doing, the men remove their hats, and put their right hand over their heart, some could be heard singing along. At the end everyone applauded.

Matt, gathered the players around, and made an announcement of how the nights scheduled would go. It was to be mostly made up of quinella style singles games. Singles is a tough way to start a Jai-alai performance. It’s one on one, and more court to cover, and in quinella style it’s hard to get a rhythm going, like one does in doubles Partido play. Nevertheless everyone was happy to be there. Adam, an Ex Connecticut pro player, unfortunately was injured, during warm-ups, when the ball struck him under the right eye. Sidelining him for the entire weekend. Reports indicate Adam received 6 stitches. We all wish him well.

The night finished with, I believe Kevin from Nevada having the most points in the few Singles games to receive one of the homemade trophies.

Saturday morning came early. I’m sure many of us were reaching for our bottle of ibuprofen or Aleve to start the long day ahead. Saturday’s schedule was the beginning of the traditional Partido matchups. We all thoroughly enjoy this style of playing much more. The day brought in such top players as Gino, Leo, Valente, Mickey Mo, Cachin, Jacque, Jesus, and Belota. With the returning Champions, Fred, DeCarlo, and of course Makina aka Ulysses. On a side note: I have to say getting play against Makina is an honor and a joy. He’s such a Great player and person.

In the opening games, on a personal note, I, Cachin47 played as a Delantero ( front courter) for a few of the matches. Which I enjoyed the different perspective.

The format had a change from the last event. Instead of straight up Partidos, there were 3 to 4 teams competing for total points, Instead of bracketing. The consensus amongst the players involved was this format would be better on this day.

As the competition heated up throughout the day, as you can see on the many Facebook videos, some of the same names and faces, moved ahead.

After the final game on Saturday, many of us enjoy the pizza, and other food and drink, that people brought in to share. Like I said, these are Magical Events, and bring out the Best in everyone who is involved.

The last day… Sunday Morning for us, my wife and I, started off with hot coffee from Dunkin’s again, and the drive over to Matt’s for the final day of the Tournament. Matt, paired me up with a very good front court player named Dino, Yes, just like Dean Martin’s nickname. We played together, in 3 different partido matches. One match was harder than the next. Going against players like Matt himself, Mickey Mo, Darren, Tony, Jacquc was both fun and challenging. For Dino, and I won all three matches , and what we’d call the under card. But the day still had more excitement to give with the Finals coming up. There would be four front Courters, Gorman, Valenti, Gino, and returning Champion Fred. The Backs were DeCarlo, Jesus, Belota, and The Champion Makina. Again instead of bracketing the play, the format was 4 games, changing partners each game. Totally points accrued Wins. Remember you can go to the Connecticut amateur Jai-alai Facebook page and watch all the action there. There was some Awesome points played by all. The ball was moving at a high velocity, the fans, and fellow players all were watching intensely. As the matches moved forward. In the end, it would be Freddy Winning the front court Championship and Makina taking the Backcourt Championship as expected. Congratulations to the both of them. They played hard and deserved it.

I’d like to say a Big Thank you, to all those who helped run this event. The score keepers, the announcers, Todd & Edward, Dave Gallo, and everyone else who was there. Just beginning there at this Special Event helped make it happen, Because, without all of you, and all of the players, the Sport will all share could be gone.

Special Thanks to Matt for fulfilling his dream and making ours come true.

A One in a Billion Find

Over the years, there has been talk about America’s first amateur jai-alai court, Orbea’s Amateur Fronton in Miami, Florida – which opened in the 1970s.  It seems like nobody has any photos, videos or “mementos” of the place that was packed with four playing courts and lots of people smoking cigars having a good old time.

That is not the case anymore.

One of our amateur players at the St. Pete cancha, “Chip” Sutton, has changed that statement dramatically.  The infamous “Chip”, brother of national champion “Ant” Anthony Sutton, has stumbled into a one-in-billion find.

He and his wife Angela had just bought a house in Tampa, just off Lois Avenue.  The house had the single owner since it was built well over 60 years ago and was moving out.  Out in the back yard was a large pool shed that was full of junk.  Chips daughter was out there going through it all and came across some unique items.  One was a 1999 Spring Training Program for the New York Yankees, who train in Tampa – just up the road from the house.  Right under that was a thick 27-page booklet.

It was a copy of the original blueprint drawings of Orbea’s Amateur Fronton.  Unbelievable.  What are the odds of that?  On top of it, that house is about 280 miles from where the court was built, too! 

The rare find was on display for visitor’s last Saturday at the party honoring Chips brother and Rastock for their wins at Magic City, not far away from where the amateur court was located.

How many amateur courts have been built since then?  Not many.

Milford.  N. Miami.  St. Pete.  Matt’s. 

Am I missing any?