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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
THIS ELEGANT SPORT IS SOMETHING OUT OF A HEMINGWAY NOVEL. THE CHARACTERS ONE FINDS AT A FRONTON ARE LARGER THAN LIFE!
Jai-alai is one of the world's fastest sports.
When Mexico decides to adopt another country’s sport, they tend to splurge and build the world’s biggest facility to showcase their new passion. They did it with the British game, soccer: the Stadio Azteca is up in the top two on the planet in the number of spectators it can accommodate, and was the largest for some years. (See footnote). After hundreds of years of supporting bullfighting, brought by the Spaniards, they built the mammoth Monumental Plaza de Toros, far bigger than any arena elsewhere in the world, seating around 100,000 screaming aficionados.Then it was the Basques turn, their favourite sports were held on the Fronton Court: Jai-alai, and the others, so the sumptuous Fronton palace was constructed on Mexico City’s Republic Square in 1929, where it began a series of ups and downs until finally failing and closing its doors in 1996.
Jai-alai, the forerunner of the games played on the Fronton, hails from Pais Vasco, the Basque Country, known in their singular and mysterious language as “Euskadi.” The game has won acceptance in most Hispanic countries, as well as the United States, after Americans crossed the border at Tijuana to the Fronton Palace there. (And “Tijuana” means “Auntie Joan” - Tia-Juana - in case anyone was waiting with bated breath for that piece of utterly useless trivia).Jai-alai (trivia booklets ready) means Happy Fiesta in the Basque tongue. The game can trace at least some of its roots back to the mysterious East; and the same roots can be traced back to the Chinese from the games played on a similar ball court by the Aztecs and other pre-Hispanic nations. The game has been modified over the years to the blurringly fast and furious game it is today. Unfortunately, in Mexico and the Americas, it has also acquired a cancer - betting - along the way, which has changed and strangled the sport. This, despite the fact that gaming was what made the sport popular in Mexico and helped to sustain it as various presidents tinkered and interfered, finally watching it fade in the public’s interest.
The modern ball court - the Fronton - is a three walled enclosure, with a floor to ceiling wire mesh net separating the action from the fans. This is because the hard ball, or pelota, travels well in excess of 140 miles per hour and can kill or maim. Despite argument, the three fastest moving balls in any sport, in order, are: golf ball, jai-alai ball and hockey puck, not a ball, but a struck projectile all the same. Number fourth fastest “balls” are on a tom cat with a 5 yard start on a vet aiming to castrate him! (I apologise for that).Games are contested as singles (one against one), or two pairs, much as in tennis. The ball is gathered by the right-handed player in his “cesta,” the curved, wickerwork throwing basket and hurled against the front wall, the “frontis.” (Sorry, PC’s, no lefties in jai-alai). In pair play, the front two men are the “delanteros” and the rear guards the “zaguaros.” The far, or right-hand wall, has a series of marks showing whether the rebound from the front wall is fair or not. The server, as in handball and squash, tries to make the ball return in a manner difficult for his opponent or opponents. Some of the better shots have cute names, like “chic-chac” or “chula.”Players leap like gazelles to trap the pelota in their cesta, using friction to scale the side wall and the wire in front of the fans.99.9 percent of the players of the game come straight from the Basque Country. Rather like bullfighting, which has seen few matadors worth their salt from anywhere outside Hispanic countries, jai-alai has rarely been mastered by non-Basques. When I reported on the game (and collaborated to write a special for the BBC in 1994), there were 20 team members at the Fronton Mexico - all Basques, who could make more money in the New World; I doubt if that is true in 2009.In the bowels of the building in Mexico’s capital, a small but busy cottage industry has grown making the equipment used by the “pelotaris” or players. They are using skills handed down for centuries. Each cesta, or basket, has to be tailor-made for the player. They are woven from tough and durable reeds which have to be imported from Brazil. As they cost $300 apiece back in about 1996, the pelotaris expected to get more than a year’s use from one.The balls are even more of a manufacturing challenge. Martin, who inherited the job from his father - and grandfather before him - listens intently to the “ping” the ball makes as it is carefully bounced on a special concrete slab. He checks the tone against that emitted from a crystal goblet tapped with a glass rod. He says the sound tells him whether the ball will fly and rebound true with the characteristics the players demand. The discards are relegated to a box marked “for practice.” Martin can only manage to complete 100 of the hardy, cork, rubber and leather balls per year. He shakes his head and sighs, “This means we have to import more balls from France that are just not as good and cost much more, about $100 each. I empathized, we had the same problem in the UK with Peugeots. (These comments applied to the last time the facility was open).What jai-alai is really about is gambling. This is considered by lovers of the game to be a great shame. In Mexico back then there was little studying of form. You just chose the player you liked the look of and signalled one of the bookies. They were part of the scene, smartly attired in red blazers and berets. They took your bet and immediately put it against one of the spectators who preferred the other team. If your chappie won, you collected from the window and a commission was charged, which is how the management made its cut.The author of this article is not aware of the current situation with the Fronton Palace in Mexico City, although everything on the Internet points to it still being closed and defunct. Back in the day. Miguel del Rio, a Tijuana businessman, was the entrepreneur who kept things alive. There is no doubt betting was fixed regularly and profits were skimmed off well before the tax man got a look at the profits. All this is common everywhere, but more so in Mexico where the “mordida,” or bite is the bribe that fixes everything.The Palace is (was then) a beautiful if fading, hall of entertainment which has played host to the who’s-who of the country for 100 years. (less those years it was closed on several occasions). Jai-alai is a wonderful spectator sport that has actually featured in several Olympics. The ball has hit several players in the head and killed them; it was once shown breaking a piece of bullet-proof glass (Fact!).I doubt if the Fronton Palace will open again. It would cost to much to refurbish all the expensive decorations on which money was not spared. And there is not the money to bet with the world-wide recession. A great shame, it was a marvellous night out with posh restaurants and bars and the “pock-pock” as the pelotas hit the frontis; the visitors all attired in suits and gowns…an era whose time has past, more’s the pity.
Footnote: Brazil's Maracana Stadium held the most people for some years (200,000) but this was reduced when more seats were added to much less. The largest now is Pyongyang's Rungnado May Day Stadium, holding 150,000 fans (it may have held soccer there). This leaves Mexico's Azteca Stadium firmly in second place with room for 126,260 screaming Chilangos (Capital dwellers).
Jai alai (pronounced /ˈhaɪ.əlaɪ/ in English and [ˈxai aˈlai] in Basque) is a variety of Basque Pelota (called Cesta Punta in Spanish). The term is loosely often also applied to the fronton (the open-walled playing area) where the sport is played.
The Basque Government promotes jai alai as "the fastest sport in the world" because of the balls' speed, although Badminton and Golf have actually seen faster speeds on average, and once held the record for world ball speed with a 125g–140g ball covered with goatskin that traveled at 302 km/h (188 mph), performed by José Ramón Areitio at the Newport Jai Alai, Rhode Island, until it was broken by Canadian long drive champion, Jason Zuback on an episode of Sports Science in July 2009 with a golf ball speed of 328 km/h (204 mph).[1]
Jai-alai is one of the world's fastest sports.
When Mexico decides to adopt another country’s sport, they tend to splurge and build the world’s biggest facility to showcase their new passion. They did it with the British game, soccer: the Stadio Azteca is up in the top two on the planet in the number of spectators it can accommodate, and was the largest for some years. (See footnote). After hundreds of years of supporting bullfighting, brought by the Spaniards, they built the mammoth Monumental Plaza de Toros, far bigger than any arena elsewhere in the world, seating around 100,000 screaming aficionados.Then it was the Basques turn, their favourite sports were held on the Fronton Court: Jai-alai, and the others, so the sumptuous Fronton palace was constructed on Mexico City’s Republic Square in 1929, where it began a series of ups and downs until finally failing and closing its doors in 1996.
Jai-alai, the forerunner of the games played on the Fronton, hails from Pais Vasco, the Basque Country, known in their singular and mysterious language as “Euskadi.” The game has won acceptance in most Hispanic countries, as well as the United States, after Americans crossed the border at Tijuana to the Fronton Palace there. (And “Tijuana” means “Auntie Joan” - Tia-Juana - in case anyone was waiting with bated breath for that piece of utterly useless trivia).Jai-alai (trivia booklets ready) means Happy Fiesta in the Basque tongue. The game can trace at least some of its roots back to the mysterious East; and the same roots can be traced back to the Chinese from the games played on a similar ball court by the Aztecs and other pre-Hispanic nations. The game has been modified over the years to the blurringly fast and furious game it is today. Unfortunately, in Mexico and the Americas, it has also acquired a cancer - betting - along the way, which has changed and strangled the sport. This, despite the fact that gaming was what made the sport popular in Mexico and helped to sustain it as various presidents tinkered and interfered, finally watching it fade in the public’s interest.
The modern ball court - the Fronton - is a three walled enclosure, with a floor to ceiling wire mesh net separating the action from the fans. This is because the hard ball, or pelota, travels well in excess of 140 miles per hour and can kill or maim. Despite argument, the three fastest moving balls in any sport, in order, are: golf ball, jai-alai ball and hockey puck, not a ball, but a struck projectile all the same. Number fourth fastest “balls” are on a tom cat with a 5 yard start on a vet aiming to castrate him! (I apologise for that).Games are contested as singles (one against one), or two pairs, much as in tennis. The ball is gathered by the right-handed player in his “cesta,” the curved, wickerwork throwing basket and hurled against the front wall, the “frontis.” (Sorry, PC’s, no lefties in jai-alai). In pair play, the front two men are the “delanteros” and the rear guards the “zaguaros.” The far, or right-hand wall, has a series of marks showing whether the rebound from the front wall is fair or not. The server, as in handball and squash, tries to make the ball return in a manner difficult for his opponent or opponents. Some of the better shots have cute names, like “chic-chac” or “chula.”Players leap like gazelles to trap the pelota in their cesta, using friction to scale the side wall and the wire in front of the fans.99.9 percent of the players of the game come straight from the Basque Country. Rather like bullfighting, which has seen few matadors worth their salt from anywhere outside Hispanic countries, jai-alai has rarely been mastered by non-Basques. When I reported on the game (and collaborated to write a special for the BBC in 1994), there were 20 team members at the Fronton Mexico - all Basques, who could make more money in the New World; I doubt if that is true in 2009.In the bowels of the building in Mexico’s capital, a small but busy cottage industry has grown making the equipment used by the “pelotaris” or players. They are using skills handed down for centuries. Each cesta, or basket, has to be tailor-made for the player. They are woven from tough and durable reeds which have to be imported from Brazil. As they cost $300 apiece back in about 1996, the pelotaris expected to get more than a year’s use from one.The balls are even more of a manufacturing challenge. Martin, who inherited the job from his father - and grandfather before him - listens intently to the “ping” the ball makes as it is carefully bounced on a special concrete slab. He checks the tone against that emitted from a crystal goblet tapped with a glass rod. He says the sound tells him whether the ball will fly and rebound true with the characteristics the players demand. The discards are relegated to a box marked “for practice.” Martin can only manage to complete 100 of the hardy, cork, rubber and leather balls per year. He shakes his head and sighs, “This means we have to import more balls from France that are just not as good and cost much more, about $100 each. I empathized, we had the same problem in the UK with Peugeots. (These comments applied to the last time the facility was open).What jai-alai is really about is gambling. This is considered by lovers of the game to be a great shame. In Mexico back then there was little studying of form. You just chose the player you liked the look of and signalled one of the bookies. They were part of the scene, smartly attired in red blazers and berets. They took your bet and immediately put it against one of the spectators who preferred the other team. If your chappie won, you collected from the window and a commission was charged, which is how the management made its cut.The author of this article is not aware of the current situation with the Fronton Palace in Mexico City, although everything on the Internet points to it still being closed and defunct. Back in the day. Miguel del Rio, a Tijuana businessman, was the entrepreneur who kept things alive. There is no doubt betting was fixed regularly and profits were skimmed off well before the tax man got a look at the profits. All this is common everywhere, but more so in Mexico where the “mordida,” or bite is the bribe that fixes everything.The Palace is (was then) a beautiful if fading, hall of entertainment which has played host to the who’s-who of the country for 100 years. (less those years it was closed on several occasions). Jai-alai is a wonderful spectator sport that has actually featured in several Olympics. The ball has hit several players in the head and killed them; it was once shown breaking a piece of bullet-proof glass (Fact!).I doubt if the Fronton Palace will open again. It would cost to much to refurbish all the expensive decorations on which money was not spared. And there is not the money to bet with the world-wide recession. A great shame, it was a marvellous night out with posh restaurants and bars and the “pock-pock” as the pelotas hit the frontis; the visitors all attired in suits and gowns…an era whose time has past, more’s the pity.
Footnote: Brazil's Maracana Stadium held the most people for some years (200,000) but this was reduced when more seats were added to much less. The largest now is Pyongyang's Rungnado May Day Stadium, holding 150,000 fans (it may have held soccer there). This leaves Mexico's Azteca Stadium firmly in second place with room for 126,260 screaming Chilangos (Capital dwellers).
Jai alai (pronounced /ˈhaɪ.əlaɪ/ in English and [ˈxai aˈlai] in Basque) is a variety of Basque Pelota (called Cesta Punta in Spanish). The term is loosely often also applied to the fronton (the open-walled playing area) where the sport is played.
The Basque Government promotes jai alai as "the fastest sport in the world" because of the balls' speed, although Badminton and Golf have actually seen faster speeds on average, and once held the record for world ball speed with a 125g–140g ball covered with goatskin that traveled at 302 km/h (188 mph), performed by José Ramón Areitio at the Newport Jai Alai, Rhode Island, until it was broken by Canadian long drive champion, Jason Zuback on an episode of Sports Science in July 2009 with a golf ball speed of 328 km/h (204 mph).[1]
The court (or cancha) for jai alai consists of 3 walls (front, back, and left), and the floor between them in play. If the ball (called a "pelota") touches the floor outside these walls, it is considered out of bounds. Similarly, there is also a border on the lower 3 ft (about 1 m) of the front wall that is also out of bounds. The ceiling on the court is usually very high, so the ball has a more predictable path. The court is divided by 14 parallel lines going horizontally across the court, with line 1 closest to the front wall and line 14 the back wall. In doubles, each team consists of a frontcourt player and a backcourt player. The game begins when the frontcourt player of the first team serves the ball to the second team. The winner of each point stays on the court to meet the next team in rotation. Losers go to the end of the line to await another turn on the court. The first team to score 7 points (or 9 in Superfecta games) wins. The next highest scores are awarded "place" (second) and "show" (third) positions, respectively. Playoffs decide tied scores.
A jai alai game is played in round robin format, usually between eight teams of two players each or eight single players. The first team to score 7 or 9 points wins the game. Two of the eight teams are in the court for each point. The server on one team must bounce the ball behind the serving line, then with the cesta "basket" hurl it towards the front wall so it bounces from there to between lines 4 and 7 on the floor. The ball is then in play. The ball used in Jai Alai consists of metal strands tightly wound together and then wrapped in goat skin.
Teams alternate catching the ball in their cesta and throwing it "in one fluid motion" without holding or juggling it. The ball must be caught either on the fly or after bouncing once on the floor. A team scores a point if an opposing player:
fails to serve so the ball bounces between lines 4 and 7 on the floor
fails to catch the ball on the fly or after one bounce
holds or juggles the ball
hurls the ball out of bounds
interferes with a player attempting to catch and hurl the ball
The team scoring a point remains in the court and the opposing team rotates off the court to the end of the list of opponents. Points usually double after the first round of play, once each team has played at least one point.
The players frequently attempt a "chula" shot, where the ball is played off the front wall very high, then reaches the bottom of the back wall by the end of its arc. The bounce off the bottom of the back wall can be very low, and the ball is very difficult to return in this situation.
Since there is no wall on the right side, all jai alai players must play right-handed (wear the cesta on their right hand).[2]
A jai alai game is played in round robin format, usually between eight teams of two players each or eight single players. The first team to score 7 or 9 points wins the game. Two of the eight teams are in the court for each point. The server on one team must bounce the ball behind the serving line, then with the cesta "basket" hurl it towards the front wall so it bounces from there to between lines 4 and 7 on the floor. The ball is then in play. The ball used in Jai Alai consists of metal strands tightly wound together and then wrapped in goat skin.
Teams alternate catching the ball in their cesta and throwing it "in one fluid motion" without holding or juggling it. The ball must be caught either on the fly or after bouncing once on the floor. A team scores a point if an opposing player:
fails to serve so the ball bounces between lines 4 and 7 on the floor
fails to catch the ball on the fly or after one bounce
holds or juggles the ball
hurls the ball out of bounds
interferes with a player attempting to catch and hurl the ball
The team scoring a point remains in the court and the opposing team rotates off the court to the end of the list of opponents. Points usually double after the first round of play, once each team has played at least one point.
The players frequently attempt a "chula" shot, where the ball is played off the front wall very high, then reaches the bottom of the back wall by the end of its arc. The bounce off the bottom of the back wall can be very low, and the ball is very difficult to return in this situation.
Since there is no wall on the right side, all jai alai players must play right-handed (wear the cesta on their right hand).[2]
In the United States, jai alai enjoyed some popularity as a gambling alternative to horse racing, greyhound racing, and harness racing, and remains popular in Florida, where the game is used as a basis for parimutuel gambling at five frontons throughout the state: Dania Beach, Miami, Ocala, Fort Pierce, and Hamilton County. A fronton in Orlando no longer offers live jai alai and is scheduled to close in late 2009. The first jai alai fronton in the United States was located at the site of Hialeah Race Course near Miami (1924). The fronton was relocated to its present site in Miami near Miami International Airport. Year round jai alai operations include Miami Jai Alai (the biggest in the world with a record audience of 15,502 people in 27 December 1975) and Dania Jai Alai. Seasonal facilities are: Fort Pierce Jai Alai, Ocala Jai Alai and Hamilton Jai Alai. The Tampa Jai Alai operated for many years before closing in the late 1990s. Inactive jai alai permits are located: Tampa, Daytona Beach, West Palm Beach, and Quincy. One Florida fronton was converted from jai alai to greyhound racing in Melbourne.
By contrast, jai alai's popularity in the north-eastern and western United States waned as other gambling options became available. Frontons in the Connecticut towns of Hartford and Milford permanently closed, while the fronton in Bridgeport was converted to a greyhound race track. A fronton in Newport, Rhode Island has been converted to a video lottery terminal facility. Jai alai enjoyed a brief and popular stint in Las Vegas, Nevada with the opening of a fronton at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino; however, by the early 1980s the fronton was losing money and was closed by MGM Grand owner Kirk Kerkorian. The MGM Grand in Reno also showcased jai alai for a very short period (1978–1980).
In an effort to prevent the closure of frontons in Florida, the Florida State Legislature passed HB 1059, a bill that changed the rules regarding the operation and wagering of poker in a Pari-Mutuel facility such as a jai alai fronton and a greyhound and horseracing track. The bill became law on August 6, 2003.
The International Jai Alai Player Association-UAW Local 8868 is the recognized bargaining agent for jai alai players in most Florida frontons. The union had also represented jai alai players and fronton employees in Connecticut until its three frontons permanently closed, and in Rhode Island where at the behest of the gaming regulators, the Rhode Island Legislature abolished the playing of live jai alai in favor of video lottery terminals. It is a very popular sport within the Latin American countries, and the Philippine Islands due to its hispanic influence, although it has been banned due to illegal gambling.
Although the sport is in decline in America, the first public amateur jai-alai facility was built in the United States in 2008, in St. Petersburg, Florida, with the assistance of the city of St. Petersburg.
There is a plan in the works to bring another Jai Alai fronton back to the city of Hartford, Connecticut in the year 2012.
In addition to the amateur court in St. Petersburg, The American Jai-Alai Foundation whose president Victor Valcarce was a pelotari at Dania Jai-Alai (MAGO #86) and was considered the best "pelota de goma" player in the world, sponsors (in North Miami Beach, Florida) the only indoor air conditioned cancha, (once owned by World Jai-Alai as a school which produced the greatest American pelotari "JOEY" #37) that is still open with free lessons from some of the sport's best.
By contrast, jai alai's popularity in the north-eastern and western United States waned as other gambling options became available. Frontons in the Connecticut towns of Hartford and Milford permanently closed, while the fronton in Bridgeport was converted to a greyhound race track. A fronton in Newport, Rhode Island has been converted to a video lottery terminal facility. Jai alai enjoyed a brief and popular stint in Las Vegas, Nevada with the opening of a fronton at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino; however, by the early 1980s the fronton was losing money and was closed by MGM Grand owner Kirk Kerkorian. The MGM Grand in Reno also showcased jai alai for a very short period (1978–1980).
In an effort to prevent the closure of frontons in Florida, the Florida State Legislature passed HB 1059, a bill that changed the rules regarding the operation and wagering of poker in a Pari-Mutuel facility such as a jai alai fronton and a greyhound and horseracing track. The bill became law on August 6, 2003.
The International Jai Alai Player Association-UAW Local 8868 is the recognized bargaining agent for jai alai players in most Florida frontons. The union had also represented jai alai players and fronton employees in Connecticut until its three frontons permanently closed, and in Rhode Island where at the behest of the gaming regulators, the Rhode Island Legislature abolished the playing of live jai alai in favor of video lottery terminals. It is a very popular sport within the Latin American countries, and the Philippine Islands due to its hispanic influence, although it has been banned due to illegal gambling.
Although the sport is in decline in America, the first public amateur jai-alai facility was built in the United States in 2008, in St. Petersburg, Florida, with the assistance of the city of St. Petersburg.
There is a plan in the works to bring another Jai Alai fronton back to the city of Hartford, Connecticut in the year 2012.
In addition to the amateur court in St. Petersburg, The American Jai-Alai Foundation whose president Victor Valcarce was a pelotari at Dania Jai-Alai (MAGO #86) and was considered the best "pelota de goma" player in the world, sponsors (in North Miami Beach, Florida) the only indoor air conditioned cancha, (once owned by World Jai-Alai as a school which produced the greatest American pelotari "JOEY" #37) that is still open with free lessons from some of the sport's best.
The sport can be dangerous, as the ball travels at high velocities. It has lead to injuries that caused players to retire and some cases death.
Dania Jai Alai, Poker, Ponies & Jai Alai, Dania Beach, Florida
Fort Pierce Jai Alai, Fort Pierce, Florida
Hamilton Jai Alai and Poker, Jasper, Florida
Miami Jai Alai, Miami, Florida
Ocala Poker & Jai Alai, Orange Lake, Florida
Orlando Jai Alai, Fern Park, Florida
"The History of basque Pelota in the Americas" by Carmelo Urza
(http://www.jaialai.info/)
Fort Pierce Jai Alai, Fort Pierce, Florida
Hamilton Jai Alai and Poker, Jasper, Florida
Miami Jai Alai, Miami, Florida
Ocala Poker & Jai Alai, Orange Lake, Florida
Orlando Jai Alai, Fern Park, Florida
"The History of basque Pelota in the Americas" by Carmelo Urza
(http://www.jaialai.info/)
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