From time to time we take a look at Tiger's site (BTW -
thank you Tiger for your continued efforts), to see if anything
positive has been written, or if a correction is made when misinformation
is passed along as fact by someone with malice, who is clueless
and who sits anonymously and takes pot shots at the frontons,
their managers & owners.
There are very few retractions. Recently two amateur players showed-up
at the doors of Ft. Pierce Jai-Alai after reading on this site
that "tryouts were being held" at Ft. Pierce. This was
never true; it never came out of either Miami, or Ft. Pierce.
Whoever wrote this simply lied and I imagine got a good chuckle,
while those of us who are accused of not caring felt sorry for
those who had made the trip.
Previous comments about Miami Jai-Alai, re: "taking the insurance
money and running", also turned out to be completely wrong.
In fact (for anyone who knows anything about commercial INS.)
Miami began repairs with its own money and waited for a partial
reimbursement from ins. while the whole claim is being worked
out. Does this not represent some level of dedication on the part
of management / ownership? So were the estimates of the length
of time that the repairs would take. What was conservatively estimated
to take three months was accomplished in a little less than three
weeks. This was due entirely to the efforts of the management
and ownership of Miami. Was any credit given - no. Are there
still leaks on the court, yes. The idea was to get things up and
running as quickly as possible, so the roof repairs are ongoing
- when it rains, it leaks. A comment was made about Miami's
simulcast area & comparing it to the one at Ft. Pierce. Miami
jai-Alai can only take Dania Jai-Alai, Trotters and Thoroughbreds
after 6 pm & it runs live 6 days a week. Its simulcast
dollars are limited. Ft. Pierce on the other hand runs simulcast
year-round and can take every type of pari-mutuel event.
Now back to Ft. Pierce. There is a miss print in the article which
was reposted here. Ft. Pierce Jai-Alai will open on January 6th
for a 3 (THREE) MONTH SEASON. Comments regarding number of performances
needed to run simulcast are misleading in that this change in
law did not apply solely to Ocala, but to all pari-mutuels. Pari-mutuel
facilities can operate simulcast operations as long as they run
at least 40 live performances every other year.
As for operations at the fort - it is kind of like the Nixon
administration in terms of leaks. Should pari-mutuel facilities
make all of their operational plans part of an open forum? Simply
put - No. They are private businesses with either investors,
or sole owners who have extensive sums of money invested in the
operations. Is the restaurant at F.P. going to be closed? Yes
and no. The area will be open, but a different type of fair will
be served. Why? Annual losses over the past 10 years - that simple.
The information about the size of the roster, games played how
management intends to 'spin' the information will all
be discussed herein, some of which will be totally wrong. Look
at all of the frontons and their dates of live operation. Look
at the numbers of available players. Key word 'Players.'
People were screaming "Bad - evil management" for
not giving guys who shall remain nameless out of respect to them,
contracts. Three of them sued. They played. The results speak
for themselves. If (and it will be disclosed soon enough -
not soon enough for many of you who are just waiting to rip it
apart) the roster and format of games is not to the public's
liking, they have done the best they can with respect to available
players and litigation in mind. Management has done its best.
There is a national & international shortage of Backcourters.
There is a new fronton operating year-round. For many of you this
means that it is time for anyone who can catch and throw the pelota
to dawn a jersey, salute and play. Does anyone remember Garry
in 1988, who stepped off of the plastic ball court at North Miami
and into a contract at Palm Beach? The simple truth is that none
of us want this, even if it does mean radically changing our format.
Things like form, court positioning, and power, catching and ball
control still stand for something. Jai-Alai is one of the few
games where nearly everybody who can catch and throw at least
8 balls in a row - think that they are owed a contract. If
they don't get one, they sue and force management into even
more restrictive, 'by the book' hiring policies.
It is not a good time in American Jai-Alai. You don't have
to try out, we watch so we can see the real you - attitude,
arrogance, temper and all of the professional qualities mentioned
above. No one has all of the answers. But rest assured we are
doing the best that we can within our means. We are far from perfect.
Miami Jai-Alai turns 80 this year - that means it is an 80
year old building. Expensive as all hell to maintain. There is
no illuminati plotting the demise or raping of the sport. Some
of remain in the field only because of the sport itself. As for
the pot shots at the Colletts, Snyder & Soper - they
could have taken off a long time ago, but they have not.
While the 'slings and arrows' of poorly informed opinions
will still come as they always do, please try to keep one thing
in mind. From Jack Carr - Operations Manager at Ft. Pierce,
(W.B. Collett Jr. is still GM and Stu is still the Asst. G.M.)
all the way to ownership of each fronton. We all have a vested
interest in seeing things succeed. So thanks to you all for your
interest and support - even to those of you w/o anything
positive to say - at least you are saying something.
