April 16th 1988 a day that will live in infamy. There is no doubt
in my mind that jai-alai would be much less moribund today if
the strike would have never happened. In 1987 the 3 Conn. frontons
had experieced 6 straight years of increasing handle, culminating
with a record $255,111,881.00 for that year (and I'm sure it was
similar in the Florida frontons), So I would tend to think the
strike might have negatively impacted jai-alai. I've said this
before but I think it bears repeating. In my opinion the 2 most
important things are the sport and the fans. The three principals
involved either didn't know that or didn't care. The owners, the
striking players and the so called 'replacement' players
are all in varying degrees to blame. In retrospect the owners
might realize that you don't put an inferior product on the court
(it's a disrepecting the game and the fans) the striking players
might realize that they really didn't have it that bad and insulting
the very people who provide your livelyhood and you want on your
side is not only disrespectful but suicidal. I think the majority
of the replacement players
probably realize but don't care (because wherever there are people
that don't know any better they can say they played pro jai-alai
like if it means something special) that instead of improving
or at least maintaining the status quo of a game they supposedly
loved, they made a mockery of it (once again the sport and fans
get disrespected). Oddly enough it was the non striking players
who had the biggest pelotas and they must have suffered the indignity
of having to play under those circumstances (there were ex pros
myself included that didn't play for that very reason). In conclusion
nobody blinked and nobody won, praise the lord and pass the ammunition!!!
