Archives» Tiger Boards Archive». Who else would welcome a I was thinking Jai Alai would be entertaining! Archives» Tiger Boards Archive». add_circle New. Share your videos with friends, family, and the world. Carl, Mark, Hov, Mike, Tom, Dan, Jose, Tiger, Christian. J. I. Zulaika en PM No comments: Thursday, October 29, Confusion. You talk to jai. I want to thank the Magic City Jai Alai "Cyclones" tiger jai alai their efforts this season to raise money for the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment. For.
The best times wont come back, however, I think that it would be possible to play the whole year in the Basque. I would love it. I'm pleased. To win the Individuals that's the only lack, however, if you want to beat Goikoetxea, you have to play perfect, and wait for his bad day. Even so, my goal is the doubles.
I feel proud being a back-courter and being able to score 26 points against Goiko. Yes, I'm doing fine. Last year Goiko won the most wins, singles and doubles. I did second in the first two, and I was the best back-courter. I wanted more and this year I got the most wins title, and the best back-courte in doubles.
I get up at nine and go to the beach for a walk. I do some shopping, lunch after that, and at I have to saty at the fronton. I leave at Get the car and back home. I go to the gimnasium as well. Dinner after that, and get together with friends Arrasate is my roommate.
Do you know that the players' age average in the past Jai-Alai World Championship was 32 years old. Top jai-alai players are within the best age for the practice of jai-alai. If there is not a future substitution in the near future, players will be "too old" for the health of the sport.
The two best players, Goiko and Lopez, are the youngest of all. Tiger jai alai Considering that only Dania and Miami frontons remain open, and that the quantity of professional players has drastically decreased in the last years, which top players will substitute in ten years from now the actual ones. Which players from Dania and Miami would you include for the next years World Championship, considering that some of the players that took part in the last tournament should not been participating?
Would it be appropiate for the health of the sport to organize a future World Championship at Dania or Miami. If so, in what format, quinielas or partidos. Last Friday night was a night to enjoy although the celebration was not complete. Foronda and Lopez set the record straight. For most people, they were the favorites to proclaim themselves World Champions and they met expectations battling Egiguren II and Felix without mercy.
The Jai-Alive pelotari made it clear who is number one in today's back-court scene. At 25 years old of age, he dominates in a way only put into question by another great player, Irastorza. The court at Markina University is not fast, it's slow by today's standards. The ball that in other courts might seem excessively fast, are very adaptable within the walls of this forum.
Also, Foronda and Lopez, began with the advantage brought by wintry cold temperatures; which create a dry environment that makes the balls less lively. Even so, Foronda and Lopez always sought out slower balls. They knew where to inflict pain, they brought with them prior lessons learned. From the beginning of the match, Lopez put on his Super Lopez uniform and set the wearing pace of the game.
Those back handed lines, authentic missiles, beat down the opposing back court, again and again. Those right handed shots that constantly avoided the opposing front court. The awsome confidence transmitted by the sensation that there would be no difficult balls for him. His placement on the court was admirable.
The correcting gesture when the ball descended upon him and he let it go by only to pick it up on the rebote, with total ease. He reminded me of the grest Patxi Txurruka. It's a pleasure watch Lopez, Super Lopez , play. Another virtue of the pelotari from Zumaia is that he makes his front court look good. Foronda played a flawless partido, hardly making any mistakes; other than that, he did what he should have done.
He took of advantage of his back court's dominance and killed the points. With all due respect to a professional role model like Foronda --few take the profession as seriously as he does-- this Championship would have been won by Lopez with any front court partner. That is a merit of great Champions.
On the other hand, the evening seemed to foster the epic achievement. Felix, a jai-alai star, at 47 years of age was disputing the World Championship finals. Part of the audience trusted they would see their idol win and they expressed it by cheering after every point made by Rocky Felix.
On the other hand, even the most loyal and unconditional of his followers realized that everything they hoped was wishful thinking, an emotional reaction more out of a fictional account than reality. Lopez, Super Star Lopez, with his pelotazos managed to shread the dreams of those who dreamt right up to the start of the partido. Felix, the powerful right handed back court who until not too long ago did a lot of damage with his right, was trapped throughout the partido in the farthest recesses of the back court; that infernal place where nothing is possible except for the most heroic defense.
As Felix was being chastised against the ropes he was reminiscent of Stallione's Rocky Balboa. He did what he could and he did it wonderfully, covering the Chula and and firing some strong back hand shots. His right hand continues to be a thing of beauty, texbook jai-alai. His power, on the other hand, is not damaging to his opponent. He is not longer the knockout puncher of yester year, who would drag his opponents down misery street with a chain of right hand shots.
Last Friday night Foronda was grateful for that. A few days before the partido, Egiguren II his front court, promised to play aggressively by attacking Foronda. Declarations that fed the hopes of those that dreamt with seeing Felix transformed into Stallione's Rocky Balboa ; a winner, a dream. It all ended up being a statement of intentions. The former Dania player did what he could and he did it well when he was in his own territory; he put his stamp on a series of costado remates amd some rebote shots that only the very best can make.
He could do little more than that. After the game, I was overcome by a feeling that we often demand that pelotaris play in a manner in which they are incapable. The desire to witness a great match where epic and surprise are both possible, is not enough.
Foronda and Lopez went out to win and they did it in a big way. Furthermore, I am convinced that they would have won with any type of ball. Last Friday Night, it became clear that it is practically impossible to beat Super Lopez, Super Star , unless he faces Goikoetxea or Irastorza, whichever combination player managers may deem appropiate.
Monday, October 19, Superlopez. I bet you could suck a golf ball La noche del viernes pasado fue una noche para disfrutar aunque la fiesta no resultara completa. Foronda y Lopez se encargaron de poner las cosas en su sitio. La noche del viernes pasado en Markina fue, sobre todo, la noche de Imanol Lopez, Superlopez. Las pelotas que en otra cancha pueden parecer excesivas se adaptan bien a las paredes del recinto.
Desde el inicio de la contienda Lopez se puso el uniforme de Superlopez e impuso un ritmo de juego demoledor. Me recordaba al gran Patxi Txurruka. Es un placer ver jugar a Lopez, Superlopez. Otra virtud del pelotari de Zumaia es que hace lucir a su delantero.
Su derecha sigue siendo una hermosura, de libro de texto del jai-alai. Foronda y Lopez salieron a ganar y lo hicieron de forma contundente. Wednesday, October 14, Average Play. Someone wrote about sports that when the game is played well, with pace and skill, the spectacle is both wrenchingly gladiatorial and pleasing to the eye. If the game is a close contest, even better, for then art and theater combine.
Lander and Alliez was not a gladiatorial neither pleasing to the eye. It was a close contest because Egi and Felix won by three points. That was all. Besides that let me talk about average play played by late game quiniela players that would not qualified for a World Championship in another time or another context. No the way they played Tuesday, at least.
Egiguren II and Felix were the clear favorites to win the partido, so far in this Championship they had won all of their games. I wanted to see Egi playing aggressive, eager to show that after Goikoetxea he is the man, the second seeded frontcourter. A combination of a mature player and a carefree champion.
Capable to command the game and make a present to the 47 years old veteran leading him into the Final coming Friday. What I saw was another kind of play. A succession of mistakes by both teams were predominant along the whole partido. Art missing drama seemed to menace the favorites Egi and eternal Felix. Tiger jai alai The overall low quality of the game gave breath to Egi and Felix allowing us to see a close contest that maintained at least the curiosity to find out the final score.
Lander and Alliez even though did not performed outstandingly, their late-games-quiniela style play was good enough to keep the suspense. When the final victory appeared in jeopardize for the favorites. When Egi, chocking down incapable to command the partido, the old veteran, the shadow of once a great superstar, said enough and appeared on scene.
Three or four right-hand of once simulacra punches thrown by Felix were good enough to score in the crucial moments and guaranty their pass to the Final partido coming Friday. The veteran "boxer" still shining to win the game. What a paradox. His job was suppose to be covering the chula for Egiguren and wait and see how, the only remaining frontcourter star on competition, the one who was supposed to breathe new life to the Championship, who took care of Lander And Alliez, the two late games quiniela players facing him, and knocked them out Sorry to say the old "boxer" did the job for him.
Both teams tied at 30 on the scoreboard and not a clear sign of victory for neither team, finally, fortune allied with the favorite team and took away the game by three points. Lopez is too much Lopez, a truly superstar. To beat them it takes more than a late-games-quiniela kind of play.
It takes a lot more than three or four right-hand punches and two or three costados to the back wall. It takes guts. Anyways, I do not lose the hope to see Egiguren playing the way he is suppose to play, the way he should play. Aggressive, valiant, eager to demonstrate that he is above average play, after Goiko the player to beat.
A duel with Lopez. The city of Barcelona Spain back in the 's was a temporary station for young and veteran jai-alai players waiting for a contract to play somewhere else; usually, the destination was Florida. The fronton, the Principal Palacio, was located in Las Ramblas , the heart of the city, the epicenter of our limited universe.
Even our pension was in a nearby alley. We spent most of the day walking up and down by the the Ramblas and playing pool and, for the rest of the day, watching partidos in the fronton. It was the cheapest choice of spending so many free hours because our income was so low that we were always broke, especially by the second week of the month.
Salaries for a teenager like me were about pesetas for each partido, around seven or eight dollars. However, Barcelona was the best university to learn the skills of jai-alai because everybody played an average of twelve partidos per month. Each evening daily four games were scheduled which gave us the chance of watching play a lot of players.
Orbea I used to say that you always can learn some skill fron any player, even from the weakest, because everybody has some special ability. Therefore, the Principal Palacio was the right spot, plenty of partidos to watch, all kind of players to observe. Before the winter season some players would leave the city heading Florida.
Others would come back from the Basque Country, these were the aces, the stars, the ones that could not go back to Florida because they were included in a blacklist as a result of the jai-alai strike. We were delighted to see them playing. Sometimes even the intendente , the matchmaker, would include some of us in a mixed combination.
I was sixteen years old and for me it was like a dream. The night before I did not sleep at all though, but it was worth. We saw so many partidos that, sometimes, we used to be waiting for the next day schedule to see if there was any "bargains" in it. A real chance of making some extra pesetas from betting, like fishermen waiting on a fishing pier awaiting for an exceptional catch.
An unbalanced combination, one that made you think that there was a mistake. How can the intendente can make such a combination. We would comment unable to find a reasonable explanation. It is a real bargain". Next day just before the beginning of the chosen partido we would go to the empty upper part of the fronton where nobody could see you ready to commit the "sin".
The temptation of making some extra money even though, the players, had forbidden to bet, was irresistible. Down there close to the cancha facing the audience was the line of corredores , the bookies. One of them, a chunky red cheeked former player named Lekeitxo , was our contact. Betting on jai-alai partidos has its own body language.
Touching your forehead with one hand means you are for the red team; touching one arm with the opposite hand means you favor the blue. Even though the opportunity of making extra money was formidable our economy did not allow us to bet more than about pesetas , six or seven dollars. Nevertheless to say that I hardly made any money out of those "bargains". Something unexpected always happened.
My favorite pair would play their years' worst game; someone would break his cesta; the other team would perform in a way they never did it before The intendente would put in play some kind of pelotas that truncated my previous calculus. It was frustrating to see that according to us "bargains" never succeeded, even though we thought we had controlled all kind of factors.
It was our destiny at that time to spend the month with little or no money at all. There is a saying in Spanish: "partido robado partido al otro lado". Do not expect any "bargains" in jai-alai. I am telling you. Tuesday, October 6, "Come On Mark Thornton, for 40 years an aficionado player from Bradenton Fla.
So was Goiko too on the court transmiting signs of desperation. Egiguren and Felix were playing perfectly with the help of a fast ball. For Goiko and Alberdi III losing the game would suppose their secon defeat in three days; the worst of it, too many chances to miss the semifinals. On the other hand, winning the match would suppose for Egi and Felix their second victory in a row, showing their candidacy for the Championship.
Although Alberdi III is not Enbil, no question about it, you could not blame him for the presumable defeat that they were heading to. Goiko is the number One, comparable with the greatest players of all times. Not the way he was playing though. Last Friday in Markina they lost against Foronda and Lopez with slow balls; Sunday they lost as well with a fast ball this time.
Something is not working well for "The Boss". Etxaburu, the former Miami player, is right when he remarks "when I first got to Miami, you really had to battle out the point to win it being with the nice balls they had and the low roof. But just years before I retired, the balls were so fast, that it really had to make you change your whole strategy" Goiko is used to playing quinielas in Miami playing with bullets balls all the time.
He is so powerful that usually smashes his opponents. In the Basque Country both styles of play have a place. The game still may be played in two speeds, sometimes with slow balls, other times with faster balls. It is up to the players. Goiko does not feel confortable playing with "potatoes". He is used to make points fast. Despite Magic City going full force, there are no postings worth noting on the current state of jai alai.
Literally hundreds of regulars have showy disappeared over the years. But now, its down to literally nothing. Are people giving up on jai-alai. Or Is there nothing to talk about. Are people mad at Tiger. Or are they mad at some of the people that post on there and tired of getting into arguments or be criticized?
To me, Tigers site was the best thing that happened. This was before or about as they were forming Facebook and other social media avenues were around.