Bridgeport Jai Alai - Thursday night late in January, 1977.
A college friend and I went over and I planned to play my usual
5-8 quiniela and 8-5 perfecta. I did that then we were looking
at the entries for the first game. I had a flash of something
- I saw the 8 was Chirtu and Yogi and the 7 was Ibarlucea and
Ibarra. For some reason, I thought I recalled those teams leading
an 8-7-1 trifecta some time before. Without thinking too much
and having a few extra dollars from my part time job, I went back
and played the 7-8 quiniela and an 8-7 perfecta. Thought about
going whole hog and playing the 8-7-1 tri (I don't recall who
the 1 post was, but it seemed that the 1 went nicely with the
8 and 7), but was too scared. Well, I should have. Everyone got
one point then the 8 ran out the game leading to multiple playoffs
with the 7 placing and 1 showing. Talk about nerve wracking...
So while I was a bit annoyed at myself for not taking the chance,
I was grateful since the quiniela paid around $140 and the perfecta
paid around $275. the tri paid $2,200. So my take for that game
was over $400. That was still a lot of dough to a college kid
in 1977. Then later on 8-5 came out twice so my total for the
night was over $700.
What I recall most was that even on a bitter (it was really awful
that winter) January Thursday night, the place was packed and
the crowd wild - the games were particularly exciting that night!!
