Hello everybody

Hello everybody, it’s Hov once again to check in with my observations……………………………………………

I’ll tell you what; I’m really impressed with the level of play that the Miami players are able to keep their games at with the number of vacancies currently on that roster. Every time I view Miami those guys are giving extreme effort and playing the game hard and that’s wonderful to see. That is why I am careful on how hard I am when I critique Miami. First off the place is legendary and for that reason alone it deserves tremendous respect. Just sitting in that fronton is amazing knowing all the wonderful jai alai that has been played on that cancha throughout the years. It really is the “Yankee Stadium” of Jai Alai. Secondly it’s hard for me to be hard on the place because the players almost always give tremendous effort; constant bickering about the place takes away from the performance on the court. Sometimes people talk so harshly about Miami (due to the fronton condition, the neighborhood, problems with stat keeping, ect.) you almost think they are wishing the place away. Look I want a clean fronton, I want accurate stats, to me the neighborhood is not all that bad – not nearly as bad as some people perceive it to be – but at the end I want to sent a positive message about the game and the remaining big two, especially to anyone new to the game.

Now on to the players –

Man, Alexander Rekalde is world class. The way he plays the game is phenomenal. His attacking style is great and he caught some insane cortada’s in today’s matinee, as well as winning three games, including the feature game singles. He has always been a pleasure to watch and when he is on his game he is near impossible to beat.

Ricky has been playing well and you can tell his confidence is way up playing against this current group of backcourters. He is still guilty of overthrowing the ball from time to time, but his placement is much improved than when he first entered Miami. He and Cisneros have great battles out there on the cancha. Speaking of Joey he had an awesome rebote save on a chic chac in game 9 today. He dove with his right side with the ball having chic chac action towards the wall, twisted his body to throw the right side rebote and got it off with POWER. The ball bounced at the 9 line and went straight over Zinki’s head. An awesome shot and one of the better digs of a chic chac I have seen in a very long time. High cesta Cisneros, you always give great effort and you are a favorite of the boys in the Tampa area!

It’s amazing to watch Patrick continue at the level that he plays at. He has had so many injuries, yet continues to come back and giving it his all. He can still climb that wall and scoop up balls on the short hop with the best of them.

Jon is often overlooked but he has tremendous heart. He never gives up on the pelota and always plays very energetic. Imagine if a player like Solozabal had Jon’s heart inside of him. Scary.

Meanwhile, SOLOZABAL 48 3 5 9. There are his stats from last week. With his ability that should never happen and it is sorta sad watching it take place. He just doesn’t care. I’m sure I’ll get some e-mail’s from some guys saying “he might be injured” or “you never been on the cancha” – but listen, I call it like I see it and when the effort is not there it’s obvious. He should be killing this roster, talent wise he is in the top four in the fronton. It’s amazing he gets away with effort like that.

Sierra II had a rough week. He plays his heart out every point and is a fan favorite. But let me ask this question – is he a true late game player? Does he have the skill set? His game reminds me of a dominate early player but it just doesn’t seem to translate into the later games.

When Cancio is on his game he is very exciting to watch. He attacks the pelota and can end a point quickly. However he has been struggling badly as of late. With him I believe it must be injury because effort has never been a question with him. He played better against the more talented group of early gamers from years past than he is against this current group. Sorta weird………………………..

Somebody I never met in my life approached me at Derby Lane to comment on my statement that Elizalde in the feature games was “laughable”. He told me that any back on the roster outside of Minte could compete in the lates right now in the backcourt. He said basically if you think about it Ulises, Chasio, Amigorena are all guys that have no business in the late games of the big two. They are good players he thought but not your classic stereotypical late game players. Point well taken, I ended up hanging with him for the night, high cesta Artie!

Urbieta has game. ‘Nuff said!

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the play! Bye bye from jai alai! ;)

Miami, Dania and Fronton

Hello jai alai fans around the world, thanks for reading another edition of New World Jai Alai.

The Fronton social network is now up to 544 members as of “press time” and it is a wonderful community. I had no idea that the sport still had so many passionate fans and it gives true hope for the sport. The thing I love about Christian’s creation is the many features – it is not just another jai alai forum. It is truly a social network and will be in the forefront of the rebuilding and refurbishing of this sport we all love so dearly. High cesta to the creator and all the members of Fronton, you guys are doing a wonderful job. It amazes me that it took a gentleman from Sweden to bring us all together, but thank god Christian created Fronton because it was something the jai alai community and the pelota community in general needed badly.

Now on to some of the play from the frontons……………..

Let’s start with Miami, who switched to an 11 game format due to injuries and players playing in partidos. I will say this, the players have been playing in an extreme number of games lately and the play has not suffered, everyone is still playing at a very high level and that says a lot about the motivational factors that make Miami such an exciting place to watch jai alai. I thought the play would begin to suffer after a week or two of the extreme workload but it has not. High cesta to all the players for continuing to give your all! There is A LOT of nitpicking that goes on when it comes to Miami but they continue to bring us a wonderful product on the cancha.

Two players come to my mind as I sit to share my thoughts with you……Arrasate and Gallardo, both are playing great jai alai right now. Arrasate is probably the class of this roster right now outside of Rekalde. He just continues to get better and better. His left side has developed wonderfully over the last 2-3 years, turning a weakness into another strength. I said it before, outside of Goiko and Diego, he has the best right side rebote in the business. Gallardo is in wonderful form right now. He is using the side wall wonderfully and his placement on his shots has been wonderful.

Also Arriza, always a personal favorite, is playing nice right now. He is a very good defensive back. He’s very good at catching balls scrapping the wall and balls in the deep corner.

Jabi seems to be a different player when the young guns are overseas. You can’t tell based on emotion of course because Jabi always has the same carefree, expressionless attitude on the court. But he tries a lot more remates and plays more within his game facing this current group. One thing Jabi always does and that’s controls the point. He keeps the backcourter deep and can catch everything from the left side. Except for the occasional over serve, Jabi rarely makes any unforced errors. Hopefully he can continue it when the big boys return.

Just when we thought Xala was coming along, he has started to struggle. I like his game, he is fearless that’s for sure, so let’s hope the man turns it around. I think he can stick in the early games.

As far as Dania goes wow, Arriaga is playing brilliant. His cortada has been perfectly placed and uncatchable and the big forehand has made its return. High cesta to a true legend of the game.

Erik is a natural on the cancha, but do you guys think everybody went overboard on the projection that this pelotari is going to be the next GREAT player. We’ll see, so far he has looked good but I never see him reaching the level of the greats. He has a long feature game career ahead of him and is very, very skilled in all areas of the game. He will be a top 5 front at Dania for a long time……..but is he better than Angel? (That was a recent debate at Derby LaneJ).

Elizalde in the feature games? Really? He has played very well during his latest Dania stint but really, he does not belong in this group. It is a depleted group of backcourters, I understand that, but there are others I would take over him. That being said he has at least been putting in the effort and that’s wonderful to see.

Olate is another one of those Dania players who aren’t great in any certain area of the game, but very solid in everything and he plays within his game. I have always liked his toughness on the cancha and no matter where you put him on the roster he plays strong.

Solozobal must win all his games when I’m not watching. He must be a weekend player because I rarely get to watch on the weekends. J When I watch he puts in minimal effort and seems like he could care less. We have all been saying it for years now, what a waste of talent. Remember the fall down rebotes at the Citrus? Well I haven’t seen one from him since.

Urtaran is another pelotari who has brought his game along very nicely over the years. His catching from both sides has improved probably better than anyone’s over the last three years. BTW, I miss watching his brother Ochoa play, man what a crafty player he was.

Does anyone get more out of less than Sierra II? He plays the game very, very hard every point and has far less talent than many. His game is all effort and guts, very respectable.

Zulakia does a great job with his blog, what a wonderful asset to the jai alai community. He provides information that is very hard to come by in the states and has a wonderful writing style. He made some wonderful points in his last blog and I agree with everything he said about Christian. We could use another 100 Christian’s in the Pelota world. However, stateside the props have to go to Bill Swainfield(sp?). This gentleman has been around the sport covering it on the internet for a very long time now and is always open to wonderful conversation regarding the sport. He was doing what Ralph “tiger” did years ago and still maintains a wonderful website. You can visit him at jaialaiusa.net, a wealth of jai alai information or find him on Fronton. Always check the Fronton’s blogs and forum for great inside scoops and breaking news on the sport which you can’t find anywhere. Yes, jai alai needs salesman and Christian is a great asset as well as a great person. As for the other webmaster mentioned in that blog, well in my opinion, jai alai could use a lot less of that type of personality and mentality involved in the sport but for the time being I guess he serves his purpose.

Have a wonderful evening and hope everyone has a great evening. See you at Fronton and at the frontons;)!

Miami, Dania, and thoughts on the greatest ever.

Hello to everyone around the world! If you ever care to comment on any of the blogs you can reach me at the fronton social network under the screen name HOV.

I want to share some thoughts on Miami. I have been a long supporter of Fla-Gaming and the old World Jai Alai product. I was raised on a combination of Miami, Milford, Ocala, and Tampa so that is probably why.

I love the play at Miami even with the depleted rosters and I have always thought that Arra and Soluan do a wonderful job getting everything out of the pelotaris. I think that the people in charge do a brilliant job of maintaining the roster at a high level, as well as releasing players that do not maintain a pro level of play (or sending them to the Fort for "fine tuning".)

I have always overlooked the cleanliness of the facility, the shoddy customer service, and the general lackluster attitude of the staff. In any other aspect of life or business, I would not partake in patronizing a business that does not care about the customer, but this is jai alai and I have always been so excited to watch the game at the highest level of quinella play that I overlooked everything. Well I got to say that it is slowly wearing on me. The cut of games is pathetic when they clearly could have added five players for three months until the rosters work its way out. The handles are continuing to decline and the general state of the fronton is depressing, from the condition itself to the customer service. The people that work at Miami just don't care. Meanwhile at Dania everything is looking up. They have added a kids program for ages 10-16, they have been trying innovative ideas, they have involved promotions with the sports card shows and the Radio, and they have promotional deals on food and drinks, ECT.

It’s clear the people in charge care a great deal and it really brings a lot of hope for the game in the states. Also the money that Dania handles is far greater at Dania, thus creating better payoffs on bets. Miami I am a loyal fan and I really like the efforts of your players and the players managers, but I can't ignore all the positive efforts of Dania, and the lackluster approach of Miami. For the time being my business goes to Dania.

Now to some of the play......................

Very, very rough start by the Cuban pelotari Anndy with only 7 wins in 203 quinellas. He has the skill to get involved in the game and score but does not have the catching ability to be involved in long volleys, which is necessary at Dania due to the high ceiling which allows longer rallies. Remember the rough start Medrano had so let’s be patient before submitting a final verdict on this frontcourt.

Arreita is one of my personal favorites; he is a very tough player - as well as a very good singles player due to his strong rebote. The thing about Arreita is he is very steady in all aspects of the game. He is not overly strong in any aspect but he doesn't really have a glaring weakness. It's been a pleasure watching him through the year’s progress into a very solid feature game player.

I wonder if anyone has any information on the decision to have Vega on the roster over Jaime..................

I agreed with the decision to move Urkidi out of the feature games. The veteran front has been an above average player for years now but his skill has declined. He has represented Dania in the past in tournaments and is a very prideful player. I gotta say that the games I have seen him play with the "early" players he has been impressive and has really kept that group on their toes with placing perfect rebote carom after rebote carom. High cesta!

Toto has no place on this roster. 'Nuff said. Oyarbide is a beast and a great player, clearly the best back on this roster outside of Enbil. He is just so fearse on the left side and just hammers it. You always get your monies worth with Jose; he plays with great effort and aggression on a day to day basis.

Elizalde has been very impressive so far since being signed to team Dania. I think he has the talent but many have questioned his effort level from time to time. I have always seen him play very hard while at either Miami or Dania, but very sloppy at Orlando. Whatever your opinion is about him he is an exciting player to watch, and a true jai alai journeyman.

Might be time to hang up the cesta Carvalho. We are starting to feel bad to watch you play in your current condition..........................

I was out of town on a short vacation with my family and missed the world cup final but have read many reports on the internet including a brilliant one here: http://txik-txak-zula.blogspot.com/ and looks as if I missed a classic:( I will tell you this about Goikoetxea he is the best ever! I only can go by what I have seen and I will defend Goiko as the best pelotari ever to play cesta. He has no true weakness and while I hate making generational comparisons, it would be hard for me to believe that any of the former greats could handle his combination of power, placement, and general court savvy. If you were to build the perfect human being for jai alai it would be Goikoetxea and he is still only 29, wow. Just imagine the battles that he is going to have throughout the years with Lopez. It’s going to be awesome! I also think that Eric Irastorza also is going to play into this rivalry. He is already in possession of lethal talent and watching these two compete must create a fire inside, a real burning desire to show these two that he belongs in the conversation of their greatness. It should be wonderful to watch it play out over the next 7-8 years.

Bye, bye from jai alai!