September 15, 2025: If you Goggle “Tigers Jai alai”, one of the first things you will see is a story I wrote awhile back about how slow Tigers Chalk Talk site had been doing. “Tigers Site All but Dead” were some of the key words.
But now, it has picked up considerably in postings. Take the “Erik vs. “Aritz” debate which has had dozens of replies from fellow jai-alai fans – including Erik himself.
The reason for the uptick is that no passwords or registration are required. Tiger has done this in the past when things got slow, but someone always had to jump in and cross the line, as we can say.
So far , things have been under control from what I can see. In the past, one would check the site out multiple times a day. But lately, ,one could go days without even bothering to check on the site. By dropping the registration requirement a couple months ago, the postings have picked up dramatically.
Tigers site has been going strong for over 20 years now.
Let’s hope it can continue without any shenanigans out there messing it up!
Miami: September 11, 2025: Last Friday at the Magic City Casino, about 56 amateur and former players participated in the USNJAC event – United States National Jai Alai Championship. The event is open to any amateur player or former pros who have not played pro since January 1, 2021 and are 50 years old or more. Winners can walk home with some good chump change.
One of those regular winners over the past few years was James Langhams, the father of current Magic City star players Douglas and Benny. He also played pro himself for many years at Bridgeport and Milford and a couple more in Florida. It would be safe to say he would rank as a Top 3 seeded player. I’ve marveled his court savvy and intelligence on the cancha. His quick wrist can snap the ball as fast as anyone and clearly gave the genes to two of the best American players to come around here in a long time. I was fortunate enough to supply him with pelota’s when he contacted me several years ago in North Carlina. I had no idea it was for training his son Douglas, then an injured high school pitcher. I was wondering, who the hell plays jai-alai in North Carolina and where?
His paired opponent was “Magic Mike” aka Mike Berry. A lifetime jai-alai fan, Mike has been an amateur player for decades, playing at Tampa jai-alai and Orlando. He was also the computer consultant for Tampa Jai-alai and operates a computer repair shop in St. Petersburg and helps me on the posting on the Pelota Press. He’s been a pesky player – and anybody that has seen him knows it. He can rebote with the best of them, but rarely gets the ball past the 6 line, putting his team on the defense all the time. His soft throws have irritated players over the years especially the ones just reaching the wall. Former Tampa and Miami superstar player Daniel called him “Mickalenia” – a nod to the former player at Miami. Mike would certainly rank in the bottom 3 players (along with myself).
But when players entered the fronton at 9am to check the pairings for the first round in Singles, the image of “Douglas” vs. “Magic Mike” was the mismatch of the century. There was no way Magic Mike could win. Danny Sheriden had the odds at 2,000 to 1. Draft Kings wouldn’t take bets. Hard Rock pulled their banner down before the doors opened. We’ve seen Douglas walk out of fronton with 6-foot-long checks signed by Scott Savin before. We’ve also seen Mike riding back home in the back seat without two dimes to rub together. Some of our own players left for lunch as the event took place around 12 noon. Nobody wanted to bear the ass whipping it seemed. Sort of like me at a Yankees 1970s baseball game when Gene Michael would come to bat followed by the pitcher. A good time to get a hot dog.
Players around me gave the over/under of 1 point for Mike. Certainly not 2 points, or 3 for that matter.
For years, my good buddy Rick B has argued that “any player can beat any other player at any time”. I told him several times that he was full of shit….like I’m going out there on the court and beating a player with the caliber of an Anthony or Rastock with all the marbles on the line. Have another toke, Zoltar!
Boy, was I wrong. Mike went out there and built a 5-2 lead with some great catches and returns, before winning the event 6-5 on game point with a crafty long dejada from the 12 line that Douglas barely got to but it was stuck by the wall and could not make the return fully and hit the lower pad. The last time God created a miracle was in the movie “Oh God” when (played by George Burns) told a supermarket manager (played by John Denver) he created the 1969 New York Mets miracle World Championship. Well, he just created another one. A special thanks to James for taking this in stride. Even he admitted before the game he thought something like this could happen.
HERE IS AN AI CELEBRATION (JUST PRESS PLAY BELOW):
Savin Confirms Move to Casino Miami/ 35 States offer Betting
September 10, 2025: The world’s biggest jai-alai secret is out. On Friday morning, World Jai-alai League’s COO Scott Savin announced for the first time publicly that they are indeed moving to the Casino Miami. Known as the “Yankee Stadium” of Jai-alai, or as Savin said the “Fenway Park” of Jai-alai “being a Red Sox fan!”, it is the oldest jai-alai fronton in America will once again have live jai-alai.
The Casino Miami and Jai-alai is about 3 miles north of Magic City – located on the northeast corner of the Miami Airport. The Magic City Casino is located on the southeast corner of the airport. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the opening of Miami Jai alai as it opened in 1926. The original fronton, which was located on the Hialeah Racetrack property was built in 1924 and destroyed by a major hurricane shortly afterwards. Magic City was sold a couple years ago and their lease to “rent” the fronton expires at the end of the year.
Speculation grew over the past year as to where the new Magic City Jai-alai will be located to. There were serious inquiries as far away as Las Vegas and Newport, but in reality, the old Miami jai-alai court made the most sense.
A lot of you are wondering – “that’s a real court” with a thick granite front wall, and how are they going to do this with their glass walled court?
They will be using the original side wall and front walls but will be installing a new glass back wall. This wall will be installed at the 10 line, giving them about 40 feet or so of space for the announcers and camera crew to set up. In the photos shown with this story shows containers of the brackets that will be used to install the new glass wall, which is expected to arrive from Spain in October. The new location should be able to open on schedule in February, 2026.
No new name has been chosen yet for the new enterprise. Nor was there any known length contract, but investors will need to see a profit within a reasonable time to keep the jai-alai league going.
They are still looking for the right ball to use, but until the glass wall is up and installed for jai-alai to be played, the ball to be used is another project to work on along with the name. The pelota is everything and they really want that jai-alai ball sound back. The “North Miami” ball, used at the amateur facility, will not work. It won’t at the St. Pete cancha and certainly won’t work on the real McCoy. The Matt ball is deemed too heavy and might crack the back glass wall.
I think this is great news – the critics of goat skin jai alai will have an entirely different game that has been played at Magic City for years and maintaining the cool angle views from behind. However, the cool views in the front will be gone, but they never installed bleachers or seats there for some reason and that great perspective is gone.
Savin also announced that 55,000 bets had been made on jai-alai in Battle Court as the Fall 2025 got under way this week. Indiana was recently added, giving them about 35 states that allow sprot betting on the World Jai-alai League. It certainly is exciting to watch and bet on.
August 26, 2025: The final USNJAC event to be held at Magic City will be next week. The event will likely be held at another soon to be announced location. The existing court is not transportable and likely will be removed in December.
Based on the email received, it appears 58 “amateurs: and “ex pros” are participating on Friday, September 5th, with the current pros playing on Saturday and Sunday – September 6-7th. The winners of Friday’s event will also play on Sunday in the finals. Post time is 10am on Friday and Saturday, and 12 noon start time on Sunday.
Everyone gets to practice on Thursday:
From 11:30am to 3pm – Miami-Dade and Broward Counties
From 3:00pm to 5:30pm – St. Pete. Orlando and Ocala
From 5:30pm to 7:30pm – Connecticut
The World Super Court teams will then practice from 7:30-10:30pm.
FROM MAGIC CITY WEBSITE BELOW:
2025 U.S. NATIONAL JAI-ALAI CHAMPIONSHIP
September 5th and September 7th
Friday – Play Begins at 10am Sunday – Play Begins at 12pm (Semi-Finals & Finals)
Last Year The Magic City Fronton hosted a thrilling weekend of jai-alai, the world’s fastest ball sport. The World Jai-Alai League (WJAL), the leading professional jai-alai league in the United States, presented the fifth annual United States National Jai-Alai Championship (USNJAC).
U.S. National Jai-Alai Championship featured jai-alai athletes from around the U.S. competing in singles and doubles play. The Tournament featured top American athletes competing for the national title. Fans of all ages were invited to witness the electrifying live matches at the Magic City Fronton with free admission.
In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a couple of updates to the Pelota Press Website.
Even though the museum was flooded last September and is closed for good, the JLaca Museum section of this website has been totally updated with lots of pictures of the artifacts and visitors to the place. Be sure to check it out.
A new section, Cancha Pics, is a sampling of photos over the past 25 years or so. Be sure to check them out, too!
August 22, 2025: Former Pro player Freddie Santana had just recently moved from the Miami area to Seffner Florida, a Tampa suburb. The “high cost of breathing air in Miami” was his clever reply when asked by the Pelota Press on why he moved to the area. He was making his debut last night at Puryear Park in St. Pete – America’s first and only public jai-alai cancha. The last time he had strapped on a cesta was as a player at Calder the two seasons there over 4 years ago.
Thirty-five years ago, he had started playing pro at the Tampa, Ocala, Ft. Pierce, and Miami frontons. Recently he was a referee at Dania Jai-alai.
“Cool Hand” had immediately stepped on to the court and was doing excellent, winning his first game with Rastock and was in his second game when a “pop” went off. He had just severely strained or torn his bicep. I guess he was going at it too hard on his first appearance on the court with 9 other players. It a tough break for a guy who was enjoying the court , the Matt Ball being used and everything else.
Let’s wish him well and we will keep you updated with any updates. Likely timeframe would be around 4-6 months, if serious enough. He just needs to wait to see what the X-rays show. A large icebag was applied immediately after the injury, but you can tell he was in pain. Many will recall that former Pro “Don” experienced the same injury last year on the St. Pete cancha in a big tournament. Many will also recall when “Coya” made his debut out there several years ago. While attempting to catch the first serve of his inaugural game as a backcourter, he pulled a muscle in his leg and went down. He has never returned.
UPDATE: Bicep seems to be healing and may return to action soon.
It looks like Orlando Jai-alai is holding its “season” this week. Yep, for some reason they are still holding the once required motion to hold a certain about of jai-alai performances to maintain other gambling options such as parimutuel wagering on horse tracks and poker playing.
They have done this 2-man sham thing every year as a precaution to keep their hopes alive to eventually reopen the gambling room somewhere in the area.
Getting the politicians to agree on that has not been so lucky. Even a huge $500 million dollar investment on the 50-acre lot Birdoff owns was turned down because they wanted a small poker room as part of the plans.
The building is currently a church the last time I heard, and somehow they must get out there on the court a hold their 7 performances a day for the week.
We have the latest updates on the upcoming Dania Jai-alai season. There really isn’t much earth-shattering news to report on and may reflect the lack of any updates from management.
Benny is working on the roster as we speak but is in the process of waiting for players to confirm or decline returning. It’s a hard commitment on the players end – they all come from the Basque/Spain/France region – and the season is only three months long. I’m sure the deadline will be sooner than later.
Depending on how many players decline to return this season, Benny might be making a scouting trip to area where it all started in September. It’s unconfirmed at the moment if he is going but I think he will know withing the next 3 weeks or so.
The season runs December 2nd to February 28th.
There has been a change in the weekly schedule. They will be playing a double on Tuesday’s with a matinee and evening performance. The fronton will be dark on Monday and Wednesday’s. Not sure why they are closing on the Wednesday nights, when that hump day usually signals the beginning of the week of playing. Play will also be held on Thursday and Friday nights, a double performance on Saturday followed by a Sunday matinee.
We will keep you posted on the latest news as it happens.
On a sad note, I see my favorite pizza and Italian restaurant in Miami has closed their doors. “Crust” had national acclaim and was located near the Miami river. The best pizza and chicken parm you can cut with a fork. The reviews on Trip Adviser back then were among the highest of any restaurant in America. New owners took over two years ago and ran it into the ground. Bring it back Anita!
I’m sure you have heard the rumors. Magic City will be moving to Miami Casino Jai-alai. The 99-year-old building and “birthplace” of jai-alai in the United States is one of the top locations to continue the World Jai-alai League as their lease runs out at the Magic City Casino this year. However, as of now, it is just a rumor, and nothing has been formally announced.
Since my last story on this matter, I’ve had a lot of people ask me how this glass only back wall format would work. I had reported that this glass back wall concept was one of the plans being kicked around if their new headquarters would go to one of the two existing jai-alai cancha’s – in Dania and Miami.
The existing front and side walls would be used with a newly constructed all glass back wall getting installed along the10 line. This unique concept would bring back a truer jai-alai format that had existed before. Of course, the pelota, now two layers of goat skin would have to be formulated to adjust to a shorter court. The front walls are about 18” thick of granite. The back wall, being glass, would likely withstand any cracking since there is not a direct throw coming at it.
The length of the court would be close to the existing court at Magic City with this glass addition. A great feature of the glass back wall maintains the fantastic view that everybody can enjoy. Of course, Arra, Stu, and Andrew won’t lose the seats Bob Uecker would crave. Anything that can bring back that distinct sound of the pelota hitting the front wall would be an additional bonus. The camera angles from the back of the court would remain too.
The width of the court being proposed would be to keep it the same as it is now – about 45 feet – for a few reasons. This would create more kill shots, which management realizes needs to happen to speed the game up. Some of the top A players can play catch for several minutes at a time before a kill shot even develops. This would give players a wide area to retrieve a carom instead of running into a net that they are not allowed to touch and resume play. Another reason is to go back to the sound of the ball hitting the wood as it goes out of bounds. Currently the judges make the difficult call with no sound to go by. Instant replay has been used a few times on questionable calls.
The height of the wall would likely be cut down somewhat. Not sure how much it would be lowered, but if the width is to remain the same as it was with goat skin jai-alai, it would be unproportional. Generally, the height and width of the walls are about the same, with the length about 4 times that. Talk of adding a new overhead screen that is lower than the existing would to compensate the shorter dimensions.
To me, there is a lot of work to do, but certainly the most cost economical one vs building an entire new place that would take a year or two to complete with permitting, etc. An entire new name and marketing plan would have to be implemented too.
How long would this take? I’m not a contractor but I would assume at least 6 months. That would put them on a time frame to keep on schedule for 2026. The players all receive a salary year-round, so any delay hurts not only them from not receiving bonus money but ownership too from not being open at all.
Again, this is all part of the planning that goes on when making a difficult and important decisions as to where your future is heading. Nothing has been finalized till officially announced by Magic City Jai-alai.
June 14, 2025: St. Petersburg: The big Fundraiser Event to benefit the League of Nations International Tournament that was just held at Puryear Park in St. Petersburg was a big blast for all those involved.
The event was broadcast on YouTube live and can be viewed on Tampa Jai-alai. A full sound system with the Jack Patterson Talking Scoreboard was up and running and featured a large monitor for players to check the scores and rotation.
Playing before a crowd of 56 people on a hot Saturday at America’s first and only public court, some great action was witnessed during the 3 hour and 25-minute affair.
With a unique mix of 4 current pros from the Magic City roster, 7 ex-pros and 12 amateurs, 16 action packed, predetermined games were played in a Spectacular 9 fashioned where points doubled in the second round. Note- Cabrera, a current player on the Magic City roster is named El Nino in the scorebooks. The catching machine did not have his cesta with him as he was a late sub for some players that were dropping out from the heat.
The event started with a very special guest to throw out the first pelota – Candice – the mother of Douglas and Benny – promptly at 10:30am. She nailed the front wall on her second attempt – to the applause to an anxiously watching crowd in attendance. Obviously, there is some good blood in the family.
The highlight of the event was the Family Doubles Event in game 9 to 7 straight points. It featured the all-brother team of Douglas and Beny in Post 1, Kyle Kubala and his father Paul (aka Castanos) in Post 2 and Chris Bueno playing his father Benny B. Douglas and Benny took the match 7-2-2. It was likely the first time that something like this had ever happened before where sons and fathers got together to player a championship team of brothers. Paul Kubala, who was instrumental in getting the Puryear Park built nearly 18 years ago, and his son (at the age of 12) can be seen in original photos of Puryear Park in the program page 6 -that was handled out to all in attendance.
Among those in attendance was Elorri, the Orlando Jai-alai Ambassador who got his photo taken with the Langham brothers and has requested photos of it for his personal collections. Also in attendance was George Quinn, the Jai-alai Instagram Ambassador.
Here are the win leaders but note this was not a tournament but just an exhibition for a great cause – raising funds to support the team of Douglas and Benny Langhans in Gernika, Spain.
Win Leaders:
Benny L 4 —– Rastock 4
Belota 3 —– Rule 3
Anthony 2 — Cachin 2 — Douglas 2 — Kyle 2 — RG3 2
Adam 1 — Alex 1 — Benny B 1 — Chip 1 — El Nino 1 — Mike 1 — Scott K 1 — Ty 1
