Jai Alai
Jai Alai ( Basque : happy festival ; [ xaɪ ɑlaɪ ] in Basque) or Cesta-Punta (Spanish for pointed basket ) is a variant of the Basque pelota game .
Basque emigrants brought their national sport pelota with them to the USA , where the game is widespread in places. The principle of the game is based on throwing the ball against the wall, whereby the ball bouncing back may only touch the ground once before it is caught by the opposing player and played against the wall again. This way of playing can best be compared with squash, which is more popular in German-speaking countries . Instead of a bat, however, each player uses a narrow basket-shaped extension on his limb, which enables the ball to accelerate enormously.
history
The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought the ball game, which was originally a matter of life and death, to Spain in 1528 after his victory over the Aztecs . After changing the rules of the game, it became a more humane game under the name of pelota as a national sport . Over time, a game variant with a wooden bat, another with the bare hand and one with a pointed basket developed. The latter came to Cuba in 1898 through Basque immigrants. The game was given the Basque name for "Happy Feast" Jai Alai , as it was played against church walls mainly on Sundays and public holidays.
Venue
The oblong competition hall where Jai-Alai is played is called Frontón . The concrete playing field, La Cancha, is located on the long left side of the building in the direction of play . It extends over a length of at least 46 m according to the rules in Florida , the Frontón in Dania Beach is around 55 m (178 '8 "), and a width of about 10 m. The out is bordered on the right edge of the field -of-bounds area, even Contracancha in which the ball can be caught and thrown, but must not strike there. This is followed by the closing bleachers , which protects a steel net over any missed shots. in the early days of the game as it often was still held in the open air, there was often no ball protection for the spectators. They simply sat far enough away from the edge of the field. The three side walls, Frontis (the front wall) , Lateral (the side wall) and Rebote (the back wall), are included Because you always play directly on the front wall, it is not only made of concrete like the other two walls, but the surface is reinforced with granite blocks .
Play equipment
The play equipment is a tennis ball the size of a 130 g solid rubber ball (Spanish: pelota ; Basque: pilota ) wrapped in wool and later nylon and covered with goatskin . The leather is sewn like a baseball and looks very similar to it. The balls can only be made by hand and are therefore expensive (up to $ 200); they are only playable for 15 to 20 minutes before they need to be repaired due to the enormous speed with which these balls are thrown against the granite surface of the concrete wall. In the Guinness Book of Records , the top speed is stated as 188 mph (302.5 km / h). Jose Ramon Areitio set this record on August 3, 1979 in the Frontón in Newport, Rhode Island .
The players' personal equipment consists of long white trousers and white shoes. The jerseys are colored according to the order of the players and marked with the respective position number on the back. The colors are precisely defined in the rules so that bettors can more easily follow the game and better distinguish their favorites from the other players. In the early days of the sport, the shirts were also white and the opposing players wore different colored belly bands, mostly blue and red, to distinguish them. For safety reasons, the regulations stipulate the wearing of helmets , as serious accidents and even deaths have repeatedly occurred in the past. The most characteristic part of the equipment is the Cesta Punta (Spanish: pointed basket ). It only enables the rapid speeds of the balls through the extension of the arm. The gutter-shaped and curved basket runs out flat on one end and is attached to the player's right hand and forearm at the other end by a glove-like leather sheath and straps. For safety reasons, only the right hand is used so that the ball is not thrown directly towards the spectator. For the professional players, specialized craftsmen make the cestes from plaited reeds and the wood of Spanish chestnuts .
In Florida in particular, the professional Jai-Alai game also became the basis of a system of sports betting as an alternative to horse and dog race betting .
Use in popular culture
There is a long scene in the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill film “ Two cannot be stopped ” in which a Jai-Alai game is shown.
A scene was also incorporated into the 1982 Disney film Tron in which two people play a Jai-Alai-related game of life and death with their cestes .
Jai Alai is used in the Miami Vice episode "Blood Ties" (orig. "Killshot"), as well as in the opening credits of each episode. Jai Alai also appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City , which alludes to Miami Vice .
In the American television series Mad Men , which is set in the 1960s, Jai Alai is mentioned in several episodes: In "The Arrangements" the agency Sterling Cooper wins the contract to develop an advertising campaign for the sport. A game is not shown, but a Xistera is shown, and the dialogue refers to attempts (actually not very successful) to professionalize the sport in the USA. In “Public Relations”, the agency succeeds in selling a TV special to the television station ABC , but the customer, angry about the supposedly bad treatment, withdraws his order.
In the Seinfeld episode, The Shower Head , George tries to convince his parents to retire in Florida with the prospect of betting on results at Jai Alai .
In the Simpsons episode, The Japanese Horror Game Show, Homer bets online on Jai Alai in the Cayman Islands . In the Simpsons episode The video seal chair , the character "Lenny" lives behind a Jai-Alai arena.
In The Glades episode Did You Hear About Lori? the first professional female Jai Alai player in the USA is shot in the locker room and the killer is sought among the male colleagues. The investigation takes place on the playground and the whole episode revolves around sports.
In the series Archer , in episode 5 of the first season with the name Honeypot, the protagonist Sterling Archer plays a Jai-Alai match to get information from a Cuban ex-agent.
USA Today
If a lottery was not introduced in Florida in 1988, which gave the betting population a cheaper and easier method of gambling, then the game's popularity collapsed at the latest after the players went on a three-year strike that same year to get contracts and medical care Receive bonuses.
In the meantime there is at least talk of a "dying" sport. Where previously thousands of spectators enjoyed the games and made bets in the evenings, today you see fewer spectators in their seats than players on the field. For the operators of the halls, the Frontóns are now a calculated loss, especially since Florida's law for the license of the casinos stipulates not only gambling but also a betting sport. Since many Frontóns have now closed and the best of the athletes are now competing on a close front every day, some experts ironically assume that the Jai-Alai played today in Florida is the highest quality ever played in both technical and athletic terms is.
literature
- Paula E. Morton: Jai Alai: A Cultural History of the Fastest Game in the World. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 2019, ISBN 978-0-8263-5549-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Fear of being shot - DER SPIEGEL 13/1969
- ↑ Dania Jai Alai - American game site
- ^ National Jai Alai Association
- ↑ AMC: Mad Men Episode Guide ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ AMC: Mad Men Episode Guide ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ As sport declines, Orlando Jai-Alai adds movies, other events - ORLANDO SENTINEL 20 / Feb / 2013
- ↑ What happened to Jai Alai? - SB * NATION Feb / 2013
