11 ms·

What Happened to Jai Alai? (2013)

109 points by ecliptik 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
flumignan 3y ago
I remember as a little kid, watching the Miami Vice television show introduction, seeing the Jai Alai players. It was exotic.
- dalke 3y ago
  As a little kid growing up in Miami, I had to learn that jai alai wasn't well-known elsewhere in the US. I remember watching the ads for it on TV, though (like dog racing) I was too young to go. For me, I thought the large school lockers I saw on TV were pretty exotic. Why were they large enough that someone could hide in them? Ours were about backpack sized. My Mom explained that's where people put their winter clothes, which also explained why the lockers were always inside enclosed hallways. I was used to having hallways with one side open, to allow a breeze. To show you what I mean, here's my elementary school, https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7538402,-80.2581714,3a,27.4y,8.95h,91.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sA1WHdjUVyrtgIDNeuhQK-A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7538402,-80.2581714,3a,27.4y... . They didn't install A/C until I was in 4th grade. The entire classroom wall facing the hallway was a bank of doors that could open up to allow a cross-breeze, with a wall of windows on the other side. For that matter, snow was pretty exotic too. ;) When I went up north to Tallahassee for college, us S. Florida people were so excited when the temperature got to freezing. We stayed up late to see if the water we left out would freeze.
  - mixmastamyk 3y ago
    On that note, I also remember TV shows as a kid, the parents always came out in full pajamas, fuzzy slippers, and a robe on. "Who dresses like that?" I thought. Didn't know a single person in SoCal that did, to this day even. In fact summers I'd live in swim trunks (only) for three solid months.
    - cafard 3y ago
      Even in Washington, DC, which isn't New England, I can get away with bumping around the house in shorts and tee shirt only until about the end of September. Of course, the TV shows were largely filmed around LA, so maybe the cast got hardship pay for the costumes.
    - detourdog 3y ago
      TV produces so many ideas per second. Young minds absorb them not realizing they come from a bunch of stressed out writers in a room. The ideas are really transient but that moment on TV makes it seem so important.
  - e40 3y ago
    Me, too! Remember the Serpentarium? And the king Cobra shows with nothing but grass between us and the snake?
    - detourdog 3y ago
      Grew up outside of Gainesville and always wondered about Jai Alai. The ads on TV made it very important but no adult I knew cared about it. Very confusing.
      - js2 3y ago
        I went to U.F. in the 90s (grew up in South Florida). Some college buddies and I went to a Jai Alai game in Ocala once. It felt like we'd stepped back in time a few decades. Here's photos of the Orlando fronton which has a similar vibe: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-jai-alai-31-photos-of-what-its-like-today/Slideshow/30946733/30904644 https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-jai-alai-31-ph... (Archived for posterity https://archive.ph/r2Yga https://archive.ph/r2Yga)
    - dalke 3y ago
      Never did, but going back to "exotic", when I moved to Illinois I encountered a lot of new vegetation. "What's this one?" I asked. My friends looked at me with an odd expression. "Maple." Me: "Oh! It does look like the Canadian flag!" To them, mango, avocado, and Key Lime trees - all which we had in our yard - were exotic. To say nothing of lizards and iguanas, nor having a flock of parakeets fly out of a tree.
  - jbaber 3y ago
    Thank you for this explanation of giant TV lockers for a SoCal raised guy.
    - dalke 3y ago
      I'll forward your thanks to my Mom!
- keiferski 3y ago
  There's a whole episode involving Jai Alai too (which those clips in the intro are from.) Spoilers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJ46LJlt0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJ46LJlt0M
- haunter 3y ago
  As a kid to me that was the "Odds and Evens" Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movie (they were extremely popular in certain parts of Europe) First time I saw jai alai was in that movie, and it was shot in the famous Miami arena. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymDte0gjqM&t=4670s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymDte0gjqM&t=4670s
- marshallward 3y ago
  I remember going to jai alai games in Miami as a kid. I was never very into sports, but it was fun to watch. As far as I could tell, the adults were there to bet on the games.
kjs3 3y ago
I went to Jai Alai periodically when I lived in Tampa in the 80s; I had Cuban friends who were into it. It's a really interesting sport...a little like racquetball, only the ball is hard like a softball and moves at ballistic speeds. Getting hit was a Bad Day. And it's loud. I played a number of sports, and there was not a single moment I said "I wanna try that". I guess I saw the beginning of the decline. It was as they report, mostly filled with well dressed Hispanic men obsessed with betting. But I never saw it more than 3/4 full. Shame it's on the out.
- TylerE 3y ago
  It always seemed to me to be a lot like a slightly less offensive version horse racing, with much the same profile - e.g. 90% of people watching it only care because it's something to gamble on. Edit: Also reminds me a bit of what I beleive is called royal or court tennis, an extremely rare (there's only something like 30 playing venues in the world) variant of tennis that is played on a special enclosed court with some of the walls and ceiling being in play, and also certain parts of the walls are angled in specfic ways so apparently all kinds of chaos occurs. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Jesmond-Dene-tennis-court.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Jesmond-...
  - sincerely 3y ago
    >90% of people watching it only care because it's something to gamble on. This is now the raison d'etre of the vast majority of esports (especially the non-tier-1 events/leagues)
    - anthk 3y ago
      In Spain the Quiniela, a soccer based lottery where you bet on match results over a week.
      - kjs3 3y ago
        The US has caught up with you...we now have a similar sort of sports betting (tho not called a 'lottery'). "Fantasy Soccer" is now a thing as well, unfortunately[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_sport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_sport
xnx 3y ago
Jai alai peaked in Tron (1982): https://video.disney.com/watch/jai-alai-4be38642b8814a0e1266b068 https://video.disney.com/watch/jai-alai-4be38642b8814a0e1266...
- smcnally 3y ago
  All thanks to Ho-Ho’s vision for it in 1963: https://youtu.be/0HbGY6teMKU https://youtu.be/0HbGY6teMKU
  - sylens 3y ago
    One of my favorite minor arcs in that show
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  There's something like it in Star Trek, too.
  - xnx 3y ago
    Velocity in Star Trek Voyager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9D2Z93LnN8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9D2Z93LnN8
- tiahura 3y ago
  I think you meant Miami Vice.
icameron 3y ago
Pronounced like “Hi Lie” A Florida brewery, Cigar City, makes a 8% IPA called Jai Alai which I once ordered from a distributor, but had never heard it pronounced correctly. They came out with a keg and said “here’s your Jai Alai” which I heard as “here’s your High Life…” (light American lager) I was very confused.
- bbarn 3y ago
  Since OP didn't answer, it is actually a pretty great beer. True to style and super clean.
- Xenoamorphous 3y ago
  I’d say it’s more like “hi ah lie”.
- squeaky-clean 3y ago
  Great beer though. That and the Guayabera.
- MrMan 3y ago
  [dead]
hncommenter13 3y ago
There's a great book by CS professor Steven Skiena about the automated betting system he built (using early 90s-era technology!) to place bets on jai alai. The Book: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/jaialai/ https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/jaialai/ 2008 presentation: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/tmp/oreilly.pdf https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/tmp/oreilly.pdf Odd Lots Podcast: https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/computer-science-professor-steven-skiena-turns-a-profit-with-calculated-bets/ https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/computer-science-pr...
thomasjudge 3y ago
Pickleball
irrational 3y ago
My high school in south Florida had a Jai Alai arena next door. I always wanted to go to to a game, but never did since our house was so far away and I didn’t get my license till after we moved away.
rob74 3y ago
These sports which are popular in only one specific region (or several regions) are really fascinating. For instance, I had to visit Ireland first to learn about Gaelic football (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football), which seems to be a mix of soccer and rugby and is immensely popular in Ireland (the largest stadium in Dublin, which is also the third largest in Europe, is used primarily for it), but pretty much unknown anywhere else.
- emmelaich 3y ago
  There's a comp which is a combo of Gaelic Football and Australian Rules Football which are somewhat similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Rules_Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Rules_Series
  - EdwardDiego 3y ago
    I love that the Aussies and the Irish independently developed a game that overlapped enough that they could compete against each other
    - walthamstow 3y ago
      They didn't. Both games are dependent on one or more forms of football that were codified in England, just like American Football. Think of them as forks that have deviated little enough, or deviated in similar enough ways, from the upstream that they are still somewhat compatible.
      - stormdennis 3y ago
        Football was everywhere (e.g. calcio in Italy) The English codified rules for it but that doesn't mean Aussie rules or Gaelic Football are derivitives of the English game.
        walthamstow 3y ago
tecleandor 3y ago
Correction for a name in the article: it's Patxi (and not Paxti). Pronounced "Pachi" as in "Pachinko". It's the diminutive or familiar version for Frantzisko, Francisco or even François.
- brickers 3y ago
  Interesting - where in the world is this the case? Mexico? I had a Spanish friend called Francisco, known as Paco, but a Portuguese Francisco I know was utterly baffled that his name could be shortened that way.
  - edu 3y ago
    It's a basque nickname, so you'll find them basically in Spain and France.
  - eesmith 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paco says: > Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as pater communitatis (father of the community); hence "Paco" was supposedly obtained by taking the first syllable of each word. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco has the same description, and comments that it's similar to how José is "Pepe" through "P(ater) P(utativus)", the husband of Mary, the father of Jesus. It then adds "[cita requerida]" to that description. https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/17631/why-is-paco-the-equivalent-of-francisco https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/17631/why-is-pac... mentions that one, and adds another possibility; writing "Phranciscus (the latinised version of Francisco de Asís's nickname) as Ph.co in signs and inscriptions", thus becoming "Paco", "Pacho", and "Pancho". That cites http://www.alsurdelafrontera.es/2015/02/como-se-llega-de-francisco-a-paco/ http://www.alsurdelafrontera.es/2015/02/como-se-llega-de-fra... which cites Diccionario del origen de las palabras by Alberto Buitrago and J. Agustín Torijano.
    - slim 3y ago
sam1r 3y ago
>> In just the last few years, the game of football has been party to a bounty scandal, performance-enhancing drug allegations, concussion-related suicides, rapes, murders, drunken driving deaths and at least one child-molestation scandal. The NBA has had a referee go to prison for betting on games he officiated. Baseball’s own Hall of Fame couldn’t find a single living player worthy of induction this year. And the NHL’s audiences and revenues have spiraled downward thanks to a number of labor disputes and games now appearing on cable channels nobody can find. Wow! There goes the little FOMO I have [or had] on watching sports.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  I read recently that the gameplay of baseball is highly corrupt and oriented toward putting on a good show. https://slate.com/culture/2021/06/ball-doctoring-mlb-pitching-scandal-spitball-history.html https://slate.com/culture/2021/06/ball-doctoring-mlb-pitchin...
  - fsckboy 3y ago
    pitchers ball doctoring all over the league still leaves a level playing field. fixing games is the only kind of cheating that would really ruin the game.
  - jrumbut 3y ago
    As a baseball fan, it's funny to see this article from a few cycles of the pitching/batting arms race ago. Corrupt is not quite how I would describe what's going on. Baseball has always had elements of deception, rule bending, innovation in equipment, the need for secretive methods of communication (and therefore codebreaking), and acts that are against the rules but within the spirit of the game (and acts that aren't against the rules but do violate the spirit of the game). Baseball has a very rich and complex culture surrounding it.
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      Perhaps it doesn't ruin the game, but it must have an effect of disillusionment. What do kids from Little League think? What do new recruits to the Major Leagues think? When do they find out? This doesn't seem to be discussed by color commentators. My father's a huge fan and doesn't seem to mention stuff like that from modern times. I had the impression it was a few crooked pitchers who would eventually get caught. Do any players try to play "honestly" without indulging in the rule breaking... sorry, bending, that "everybody else is doing"? How does that work out for them?
jnwatson 3y ago
Tevin/Shepard retired at the end of 2020, almost 30 years. That’s a long career in any job.
suction 3y ago
[dead]
EdwardDiego 3y ago
The fact that Jai Alai was designed for betting reminds me a whole lot of backgammon. In the places it's traditionally played, the betting is the whole point.
- onetokeoverthe 3y ago
  [dead]
carlsborg 3y ago
One for the Steven Skiena algorithms fans: In his other book "Calculated Bets" he devotes an entire chapter, entitled "what is jai alai", to explaining the intricacies of the game. His interest in probability and the math behind gambling was sparked by visits to these sporting events with his family.
ogou 3y ago
[flagged]
- jacquesm 3y ago
  You keep posting this same comment and variations on it, maybe read the guidelines for a bit? They're linked from the bottom of every page.
  - ogou 3y ago
    I post a wide variety of comments. I noticed a wave of general news and Reddit style topics. I made 3 comments questioning that. I am participating in my community by pushing back against a change in content and tone. Many others have agreed with me and were also voted down. There are so many places for this kind of topical discussion, but very few have qualitative online technology discussion. I hope HN continues to be a place for exploring tools and ideas related to tech. This current trend is degrading the quality of posts and comments.
gku 3y ago
Jai Alai Blues, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMddUtwmfMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMddUtwmfMI >Synopsis: A documentary narrating the incredible story of the Jai Alai through its most iconic characters. A great many similarities can be drawn between the biography of our characters and the actual history of the Jai Alai. Beginnings in humble surroundings, huge successes all over the world in pelota courts packed to the hilt with distinguish publics, losses of identity due to adapting a traditional game to societies with completely different values... * Complete documentary in original language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX_xn-x7mU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX_xn-x7mU
pif 3y ago
During the last decade, we drove three times through France to spend our summer holidays in Biarritz. One of the many selling points for us was the Gant d'Or tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GVwqcCzWyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GVwqcCzWyk
tibbydudeza 3y ago
It reminds me of American Football vs Rugby Union vs Rugby League - all similar with a similar shaped ball, demarcated field lines and H shaped goal posts at each end but very different.
edu 3y ago
Fun fact, jai alai means "cheerful/happy party" in basque. And it's quite alive in the basque country. If you want to watch some recent matches: https://www.eitb.eus/es/tag/cesta-punta/ https://www.eitb.eus/es/tag/cesta-punta/
stormdennis 3y ago
I'd like to know what happened to Squash. Up until the mid 90s or so it was really popular. Then it seemed like everyone stopped playing and courts closed left right and centre
- DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
  I wonder if it's because squash courts are a pain to keep clean - they're a magnet for scuff-marks from the balls (and racquets...).
- elijaht 3y ago
  I tried to get into it recently and found the cost prohibitively expensive to play casually. Contrast with Pickleball- for $100 I have a racket and balls and can play on courts, if I pay $300 I can play almost anywhere, and that is the lifetime cost
- daltont 3y ago
  I played in racquetball leagues in the late '80s and early '90s. Same thing happened.
  - ilamont 3y ago
    We had a raquetball court in my college dorm, which had been converted from an old city hotel. A friend knew the rules and invited me to play, and I ended up getting a set of rackets and balls. It was a lot of fun, and a real workout. This was in 1990. I never saw a court or an opportunity to play again after I moved out of the area.
- borroka 3y ago
  Racquet sports and fitness trends come and go. When I was a kid, decades ago, squash was niche but well known, kids like me and my friends spent hours playing variations of table tennis, "pelota" was a cheap game with made-up rules ("tedesca" was another one, but on the soccer field, some of my older compatriots might remember), and "aerobics" was trendy in the few gyms that operated at the time. Tennis always had a hard core group of participants, and padel is nowadays, by far, the most popular racquet sports in latin or latin-adjacent countries.
Taikonerd 3y ago
"Tennis but you can bounce the ball off the walls" seems to be a popular idea. There's squash and racketball, of course, and more recently I heard about padel [0], a Mexican game that's trying to go international. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padel
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  More than trying, it's everywhere.
- grumblepeet 3y ago
  Yes, there is another game where you can do that, Real Tennis or Royal Tennis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis
JohnFen 3y ago
I don't follow sports at all, so am unaware of the larger sports world and what is or is not popular. But I'm a little surprised to hear Jai Alai described as "dying". It's still played in high school sports in my part of the US. Only at rich kid's schools, true, but that's been the case since approximately forever.
- Quinner 3y ago
  Are you thinking of lacrosse or squash? Searching for High School sports pages on this turns up very little.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    No, Jai Alai for certain. And I'm not anywhere near Florida. :)
js2 3y ago
It had a last gasp since 2013: > But jai alai, the world's fastest-moving ball sport, fell off in the 1990s and didn't get a boost until 2018, when Florida banned greyhound racing and casinos needed a parimutuel activity (in which all bets are pooled) to continue offering slots and table games. [May 19, 2021] https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/31449496/how-jai-alai-giving-former-miami-college-athletes-second-chance https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/314... Florida lawmakers then tried to really kill it: > State lawmakers recently eliminated a measure requiring casinos to host several pari-mutuel betting sports, including jai alai and harness racing. [Dec. 10, 2021] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/goodbye-jai-alai-players-fans-hope-sport-us-rcna8241 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/goodbye-jai-alai-players... But it lives on as Battle Court Jai Alai at Magic City Casino in Miami: https://www.usbets.com/jai-alai-battle-court-season-2-begins/ https://www.usbets.com/jai-alai-battle-court-season-2-begins... https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battle-court-spring-2023-season-kicks-off-feb-3-301734925.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battle-court-spring...
- andy800 3y ago
  It exists at Calder also, Florida regs require pari-mutuel activity to qualify for a slot machine license. They replaced the expenses of running a horse racing meet (and cleared up tons of land they could sell) with jai-alai and they pay a few locals to put on an exhibition. I say exhibition because, although it is bettable, most games get fewer than $20 and the attendance is typically less than a local gym's pickup basketball game.
  - js2 3y ago
    > Florida regs require pari-mutuel activity to qualify for a slot machine license I thought the 2021 NBC article I cited was indicating that regulation was eliminated. Edit: I don't understand what that article is claiming since "In Florida, slot machines are heavily regulated by FGCC and are legal only in the eight pari-mutuel facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and at certain Indian tribal facilities." https://flgaming.gov/faq/ https://flgaming.gov/faq/
- syntheweave 3y ago
wnscooke 3y ago
I spent a few years in Bayonne, France.... Pelote courts were all over the place, south towards Spain and inland into the low Basque Pyrenees, and often full of people of all skill levels playing variations of pelote and jai alai. If anyone wants to see it, wants to play it, go there! And equipment (for non-pros) is easily bought at local Decathlons (a sport store).
AlbertCory 3y ago
Speaking of regional sports: 16-inch softball! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch_softball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch_softball I actually played this once in Southern California, so it's not totally regional. But pretty much a Chicago thing.
- efsavage 3y ago
  My father discovered this on a trip to Chicago long ago, and brought a few home to Massachusetts. They were great for playing in our yard, where the fence was too close for a real softball, but these are much harder to hit >100ft so they let us use the whole yard. We always called them "Chicago softballs"
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    One of the few sports where a beer belly was actually an advantage!
- 98codes 3y ago
  This was a regular for springtime gym class in my NJ public high school -- easy to run with the only gear needed being a ball and a bat, basically softball but slower and softer.
justmaybexcv 3y ago
Baseball's roots are steeped in shepherds leisure. https://3seaseurope.com/oina-baseball-romania/ https://3seaseurope.com/oina-baseball-romania/

109 points by ecliptik 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

I remember as a little kid, watching the Miami Vice television show introduction, seeing the Jai Alai players. It was exotic.

dalke 3y ago
As a little kid growing up in Miami, I had to learn that jai alai wasn't well-known elsewhere in the US. I remember watching the ads for it on TV, though (like dog racing) I was too young to go. For me, I thought the large school lockers I saw on TV were pretty exotic. Why were they large enough that someone could hide in them? Ours were about backpack sized. My Mom explained that's where people put their winter clothes, which also explained why the lockers were always inside enclosed hallways. I was used to having hallways with one side open, to allow a breeze. To show you what I mean, here's my elementary school, https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7538402,-80.2581714,3a,27.4y,8.95h,91.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sA1WHdjUVyrtgIDNeuhQK-A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7538402,-80.2581714,3a,27.4y... . They didn't install A/C until I was in 4th grade. The entire classroom wall facing the hallway was a bank of doors that could open up to allow a cross-breeze, with a wall of windows on the other side. For that matter, snow was pretty exotic too. ;) When I went up north to Tallahassee for college, us S. Florida people were so excited when the temperature got to freezing. We stayed up late to see if the water we left out would freeze.
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  On that note, I also remember TV shows as a kid, the parents always came out in full pajamas, fuzzy slippers, and a robe on. "Who dresses like that?" I thought. Didn't know a single person in SoCal that did, to this day even. In fact summers I'd live in swim trunks (only) for three solid months.
  - cafard 3y ago
    Even in Washington, DC, which isn't New England, I can get away with bumping around the house in shorts and tee shirt only until about the end of September. Of course, the TV shows were largely filmed around LA, so maybe the cast got hardship pay for the costumes.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    TV produces so many ideas per second. Young minds absorb them not realizing they come from a bunch of stressed out writers in a room. The ideas are really transient but that moment on TV makes it seem so important.
- e40 3y ago
  Me, too! Remember the Serpentarium? And the king Cobra shows with nothing but grass between us and the snake?
  - detourdog 3y ago
    Grew up outside of Gainesville and always wondered about Jai Alai. The ads on TV made it very important but no adult I knew cared about it. Very confusing.
    - js2 3y ago
      I went to U.F. in the 90s (grew up in South Florida). Some college buddies and I went to a Jai Alai game in Ocala once. It felt like we'd stepped back in time a few decades. Here's photos of the Orlando fronton which has a similar vibe: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-jai-alai-31-photos-of-what-its-like-today/Slideshow/30946733/30904644 https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-jai-alai-31-ph... (Archived for posterity https://archive.ph/r2Yga https://archive.ph/r2Yga)
  - dalke 3y ago
    Never did, but going back to "exotic", when I moved to Illinois I encountered a lot of new vegetation. "What's this one?" I asked. My friends looked at me with an odd expression. "Maple." Me: "Oh! It does look like the Canadian flag!" To them, mango, avocado, and Key Lime trees - all which we had in our yard - were exotic. To say nothing of lizards and iguanas, nor having a flock of parakeets fly out of a tree.
- jbaber 3y ago
  Thank you for this explanation of giant TV lockers for a SoCal raised guy.
  - dalke 3y ago
    I'll forward your thanks to my Mom!
keiferski 3y ago
There's a whole episode involving Jai Alai too (which those clips in the intro are from.) Spoilers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJ46LJlt0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJ46LJlt0M
haunter 3y ago
As a kid to me that was the "Odds and Evens" Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movie (they were extremely popular in certain parts of Europe) First time I saw jai alai was in that movie, and it was shot in the famous Miami arena. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymDte0gjqM&t=4670s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymDte0gjqM&t=4670s
marshallward 3y ago
I remember going to jai alai games in Miami as a kid. I was never very into sports, but it was fun to watch. As far as I could tell, the adults were there to bet on the games.

kjs3 3y ago

I went to Jai Alai periodically when I lived in Tampa in the 80s; I had Cuban friends who were into it. It's a really interesting sport...a little like racquetball, only the ball is hard like a softball and moves at ballistic speeds. Getting hit was a Bad Day. And it's loud. I played a number of sports, and there was not a single moment I said "I wanna try that". I guess I saw the beginning of the decline. It was as they report, mostly filled with well dressed Hispanic men obsessed with betting. But I never saw it more than 3/4 full. Shame it's on the out.

TylerE 3y ago
It always seemed to me to be a lot like a slightly less offensive version horse racing, with much the same profile - e.g. 90% of people watching it only care because it's something to gamble on. Edit: Also reminds me a bit of what I beleive is called royal or court tennis, an extremely rare (there's only something like 30 playing venues in the world) variant of tennis that is played on a special enclosed court with some of the walls and ceiling being in play, and also certain parts of the walls are angled in specfic ways so apparently all kinds of chaos occurs. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Jesmond-Dene-tennis-court.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Jesmond-...
- sincerely 3y ago
  >90% of people watching it only care because it's something to gamble on. This is now the raison d'etre of the vast majority of esports (especially the non-tier-1 events/leagues)
  - anthk 3y ago
    In Spain the Quiniela, a soccer based lottery where you bet on match results over a week.
    - kjs3 3y ago
      The US has caught up with you...we now have a similar sort of sports betting (tho not called a 'lottery'). "Fantasy Soccer" is now a thing as well, unfortunately[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_sport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_sport

xnx 3y ago

Jai alai peaked in Tron (1982): https://video.disney.com/watch/jai-alai-4be38642b8814a0e1266b068 https://video.disney.com/watch/jai-alai-4be38642b8814a0e1266...

smcnally 3y ago
All thanks to Ho-Ho’s vision for it in 1963: https://youtu.be/0HbGY6teMKU https://youtu.be/0HbGY6teMKU
- sylens 3y ago
  One of my favorite minor arcs in that show
actionfromafar 3y ago
There's something like it in Star Trek, too.
- xnx 3y ago
  Velocity in Star Trek Voyager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9D2Z93LnN8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9D2Z93LnN8
tiahura 3y ago
I think you meant Miami Vice.

icameron 3y ago

Pronounced like “Hi Lie” A Florida brewery, Cigar City, makes a 8% IPA called Jai Alai which I once ordered from a distributor, but had never heard it pronounced correctly. They came out with a keg and said “here’s your Jai Alai” which I heard as “here’s your High Life…” (light American lager) I was very confused.

bbarn 3y ago
Since OP didn't answer, it is actually a pretty great beer. True to style and super clean.
Xenoamorphous 3y ago
I’d say it’s more like “hi ah lie”.
squeaky-clean 3y ago
Great beer though. That and the Guayabera.
MrMan 3y ago
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hncommenter13 3y ago

There's a great book by CS professor Steven Skiena about the automated betting system he built (using early 90s-era technology!) to place bets on jai alai. The Book: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/jaialai/ https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/jaialai/ 2008 presentation: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/tmp/oreilly.pdf https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/tmp/oreilly.pdf Odd Lots Podcast: https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/computer-science-professor-steven-skiena-turns-a-profit-with-calculated-bets/ https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/computer-science-pr...

thomasjudge 3y ago

Pickleball

irrational 3y ago

My high school in south Florida had a Jai Alai arena next door. I always wanted to go to to a game, but never did since our house was so far away and I didn’t get my license till after we moved away.

rob74 3y ago

These sports which are popular in only one specific region (or several regions) are really fascinating. For instance, I had to visit Ireland first to learn about Gaelic football (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football), which seems to be a mix of soccer and rugby and is immensely popular in Ireland (the largest stadium in Dublin, which is also the third largest in Europe, is used primarily for it), but pretty much unknown anywhere else.

emmelaich 3y ago
There's a comp which is a combo of Gaelic Football and Australian Rules Football which are somewhat similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Rules_Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Rules_Series
- EdwardDiego 3y ago
  I love that the Aussies and the Irish independently developed a game that overlapped enough that they could compete against each other
  - walthamstow 3y ago
    They didn't. Both games are dependent on one or more forms of football that were codified in England, just like American Football. Think of them as forks that have deviated little enough, or deviated in similar enough ways, from the upstream that they are still somewhat compatible.
    - stormdennis 3y ago
      Football was everywhere (e.g. calcio in Italy) The English codified rules for it but that doesn't mean Aussie rules or Gaelic Football are derivitives of the English game.
      - walthamstow 3y ago

tecleandor 3y ago

Correction for a name in the article: it's Patxi (and not Paxti). Pronounced "Pachi" as in "Pachinko". It's the diminutive or familiar version for Frantzisko, Francisco or even François.

brickers 3y ago
Interesting - where in the world is this the case? Mexico? I had a Spanish friend called Francisco, known as Paco, but a Portuguese Francisco I know was utterly baffled that his name could be shortened that way.
- edu 3y ago
  It's a basque nickname, so you'll find them basically in Spain and France.
- eesmith 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paco says: > Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as pater communitatis (father of the community); hence "Paco" was supposedly obtained by taking the first syllable of each word. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco has the same description, and comments that it's similar to how José is "Pepe" through "P(ater) P(utativus)", the husband of Mary, the father of Jesus. It then adds "[cita requerida]" to that description. https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/17631/why-is-paco-the-equivalent-of-francisco https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/17631/why-is-pac... mentions that one, and adds another possibility; writing "Phranciscus (the latinised version of Francisco de Asís's nickname) as Ph.co in signs and inscriptions", thus becoming "Paco", "Pacho", and "Pancho". That cites http://www.alsurdelafrontera.es/2015/02/como-se-llega-de-francisco-a-paco/ http://www.alsurdelafrontera.es/2015/02/como-se-llega-de-fra... which cites Diccionario del origen de las palabras by Alberto Buitrago and J. Agustín Torijano.
  - slim 3y ago

sam1r 3y ago

>> In just the last few years, the game of football has been party to a bounty scandal, performance-enhancing drug allegations, concussion-related suicides, rapes, murders, drunken driving deaths and at least one child-molestation scandal. The NBA has had a referee go to prison for betting on games he officiated. Baseball’s own Hall of Fame couldn’t find a single living player worthy of induction this year. And the NHL’s audiences and revenues have spiraled downward thanks to a number of labor disputes and games now appearing on cable channels nobody can find. Wow! There goes the little FOMO I have [or had] on watching sports.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I read recently that the gameplay of baseball is highly corrupt and oriented toward putting on a good show. https://slate.com/culture/2021/06/ball-doctoring-mlb-pitching-scandal-spitball-history.html https://slate.com/culture/2021/06/ball-doctoring-mlb-pitchin...
- fsckboy 3y ago
  pitchers ball doctoring all over the league still leaves a level playing field. fixing games is the only kind of cheating that would really ruin the game.
- jrumbut 3y ago
  As a baseball fan, it's funny to see this article from a few cycles of the pitching/batting arms race ago. Corrupt is not quite how I would describe what's going on. Baseball has always had elements of deception, rule bending, innovation in equipment, the need for secretive methods of communication (and therefore codebreaking), and acts that are against the rules but within the spirit of the game (and acts that aren't against the rules but do violate the spirit of the game). Baseball has a very rich and complex culture surrounding it.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    Perhaps it doesn't ruin the game, but it must have an effect of disillusionment. What do kids from Little League think? What do new recruits to the Major Leagues think? When do they find out? This doesn't seem to be discussed by color commentators. My father's a huge fan and doesn't seem to mention stuff like that from modern times. I had the impression it was a few crooked pitchers who would eventually get caught. Do any players try to play "honestly" without indulging in the rule breaking... sorry, bending, that "everybody else is doing"? How does that work out for them?

jnwatson 3y ago

Tevin/Shepard retired at the end of 2020, almost 30 years. That’s a long career in any job.

suction 3y ago

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EdwardDiego 3y ago

The fact that Jai Alai was designed for betting reminds me a whole lot of backgammon. In the places it's traditionally played, the betting is the whole point.

onetokeoverthe 3y ago
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carlsborg 3y ago

One for the Steven Skiena algorithms fans: In his other book "Calculated Bets" he devotes an entire chapter, entitled "what is jai alai", to explaining the intricacies of the game. His interest in probability and the math behind gambling was sparked by visits to these sporting events with his family.

ogou 3y ago

[flagged]

jacquesm 3y ago
You keep posting this same comment and variations on it, maybe read the guidelines for a bit? They're linked from the bottom of every page.
- ogou 3y ago
  I post a wide variety of comments. I noticed a wave of general news and Reddit style topics. I made 3 comments questioning that. I am participating in my community by pushing back against a change in content and tone. Many others have agreed with me and were also voted down. There are so many places for this kind of topical discussion, but very few have qualitative online technology discussion. I hope HN continues to be a place for exploring tools and ideas related to tech. This current trend is degrading the quality of posts and comments.

gku 3y ago

Jai Alai Blues, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMddUtwmfMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMddUtwmfMI >Synopsis: A documentary narrating the incredible story of the Jai Alai through its most iconic characters. A great many similarities can be drawn between the biography of our characters and the actual history of the Jai Alai. Beginnings in humble surroundings, huge successes all over the world in pelota courts packed to the hilt with distinguish publics, losses of identity due to adapting a traditional game to societies with completely different values... * Complete documentary in original language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX_xn-x7mU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX_xn-x7mU

pif 3y ago

During the last decade, we drove three times through France to spend our summer holidays in Biarritz. One of the many selling points for us was the Gant d'Or tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GVwqcCzWyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GVwqcCzWyk

tibbydudeza 3y ago

It reminds me of American Football vs Rugby Union vs Rugby League - all similar with a similar shaped ball, demarcated field lines and H shaped goal posts at each end but very different.

edu 3y ago

Fun fact, jai alai means "cheerful/happy party" in basque. And it's quite alive in the basque country. If you want to watch some recent matches: https://www.eitb.eus/es/tag/cesta-punta/ https://www.eitb.eus/es/tag/cesta-punta/

stormdennis 3y ago

I'd like to know what happened to Squash. Up until the mid 90s or so it was really popular. Then it seemed like everyone stopped playing and courts closed left right and centre

DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
I wonder if it's because squash courts are a pain to keep clean - they're a magnet for scuff-marks from the balls (and racquets...).
elijaht 3y ago
I tried to get into it recently and found the cost prohibitively expensive to play casually. Contrast with Pickleball- for $100 I have a racket and balls and can play on courts, if I pay $300 I can play almost anywhere, and that is the lifetime cost
daltont 3y ago
I played in racquetball leagues in the late '80s and early '90s. Same thing happened.
- ilamont 3y ago
  We had a raquetball court in my college dorm, which had been converted from an old city hotel. A friend knew the rules and invited me to play, and I ended up getting a set of rackets and balls. It was a lot of fun, and a real workout. This was in 1990. I never saw a court or an opportunity to play again after I moved out of the area.
borroka 3y ago
Racquet sports and fitness trends come and go. When I was a kid, decades ago, squash was niche but well known, kids like me and my friends spent hours playing variations of table tennis, "pelota" was a cheap game with made-up rules ("tedesca" was another one, but on the soccer field, some of my older compatriots might remember), and "aerobics" was trendy in the few gyms that operated at the time. Tennis always had a hard core group of participants, and padel is nowadays, by far, the most popular racquet sports in latin or latin-adjacent countries.

Taikonerd 3y ago

"Tennis but you can bounce the ball off the walls" seems to be a popular idea. There's squash and racketball, of course, and more recently I heard about padel [0], a Mexican game that's trying to go international. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padel

actionfromafar 3y ago
More than trying, it's everywhere.
grumblepeet 3y ago
Yes, there is another game where you can do that, Real Tennis or Royal Tennis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis

JohnFen 3y ago

I don't follow sports at all, so am unaware of the larger sports world and what is or is not popular. But I'm a little surprised to hear Jai Alai described as "dying". It's still played in high school sports in my part of the US. Only at rich kid's schools, true, but that's been the case since approximately forever.

Quinner 3y ago
Are you thinking of lacrosse or squash? Searching for High School sports pages on this turns up very little.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  No, Jai Alai for certain. And I'm not anywhere near Florida. :)

js2 3y ago

It had a last gasp since 2013: > But jai alai, the world's fastest-moving ball sport, fell off in the 1990s and didn't get a boost until 2018, when Florida banned greyhound racing and casinos needed a parimutuel activity (in which all bets are pooled) to continue offering slots and table games. [May 19, 2021] https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/31449496/how-jai-alai-giving-former-miami-college-athletes-second-chance https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/314... Florida lawmakers then tried to really kill it: > State lawmakers recently eliminated a measure requiring casinos to host several pari-mutuel betting sports, including jai alai and harness racing. [Dec. 10, 2021] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/goodbye-jai-alai-players-fans-hope-sport-us-rcna8241 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/goodbye-jai-alai-players... But it lives on as Battle Court Jai Alai at Magic City Casino in Miami: https://www.usbets.com/jai-alai-battle-court-season-2-begins/ https://www.usbets.com/jai-alai-battle-court-season-2-begins... https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battle-court-spring-2023-season-kicks-off-feb-3-301734925.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battle-court-spring...

andy800 3y ago
It exists at Calder also, Florida regs require pari-mutuel activity to qualify for a slot machine license. They replaced the expenses of running a horse racing meet (and cleared up tons of land they could sell) with jai-alai and they pay a few locals to put on an exhibition. I say exhibition because, although it is bettable, most games get fewer than $20 and the attendance is typically less than a local gym's pickup basketball game.
- js2 3y ago
  > Florida regs require pari-mutuel activity to qualify for a slot machine license I thought the 2021 NBC article I cited was indicating that regulation was eliminated. Edit: I don't understand what that article is claiming since "In Florida, slot machines are heavily regulated by FGCC and are legal only in the eight pari-mutuel facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and at certain Indian tribal facilities." https://flgaming.gov/faq/ https://flgaming.gov/faq/
syntheweave 3y ago

wnscooke 3y ago

I spent a few years in Bayonne, France.... Pelote courts were all over the place, south towards Spain and inland into the low Basque Pyrenees, and often full of people of all skill levels playing variations of pelote and jai alai. If anyone wants to see it, wants to play it, go there! And equipment (for non-pros) is easily bought at local Decathlons (a sport store).

AlbertCory 3y ago

Speaking of regional sports: 16-inch softball! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch_softball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch_softball I actually played this once in Southern California, so it's not totally regional. But pretty much a Chicago thing.

efsavage 3y ago
My father discovered this on a trip to Chicago long ago, and brought a few home to Massachusetts. They were great for playing in our yard, where the fence was too close for a real softball, but these are much harder to hit >100ft so they let us use the whole yard. We always called them "Chicago softballs"
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  One of the few sports where a beer belly was actually an advantage!
98codes 3y ago
This was a regular for springtime gym class in my NJ public high school -- easy to run with the only gear needed being a ball and a bat, basically softball but slower and softer.

justmaybexcv 3y ago

Baseball's roots are steeped in shepherds leisure. https://3seaseurope.com/oina-baseball-romania/ https://3seaseurope.com/oina-baseball-romania/