For all the demise of jai-alai...due to poor management, poor
economy, gambling competition, lack of updates and now lack of
upkeep...I just want to remind everybody that leaky roofs and
ball boys, refs, and players wiping water and drying courts has
been around for all the years I played at all the courts I played
on. It's not necessarilly a sign of our times now.
When I played in Miami...rainy nights was sure to create water
drips in several places on the court. In Ft. Pierce not only did
we have water on the court but lightning would knock the power
out. Same thing in Tampa with sporadic drips all over the court
and power outages...but Ocala was the worst! I remember seeing
the water streaming down the side wall by the back corner like
a waterfall and gushing onto the court. Several times after long
delays...when play could not be resumed, the remainder of the
performance was cancelled with a makeup date scheduled at the
end of the season. On another occasion the court was so wet after
several rainy days that not only was the performance stopped before
the first game started, but it was cancelled the next night as
well when we arrived. We played like an extra 4-5 perfomances
at the end of that season.
Another big problem at all the courts was the lights going out
during power outages...even if power resumed immediately...there
would a 20 minute delay before play could be resumed while waiting
for the lights to come back on. One night in Tampa power did't
come back on for so long that they cancelled the performance.
In Acapulco they had water buckets of all sizes placed strategically
all over the top of the screen overhanging the court...some were
so big you could sit inside and bathe..but they couldn't put enough
buckets up there to capture all the leaks...lol.
