I have NEVER, EVER put down a player in the thousands of live games I have seen at a fronton other than a "you gotta catch that one, Mace!!" or something to that tone. In fact, in my years of watching live jai alai at Milford, attending week after week, thewy acknowledged me by name, having put the name with the messages I used to leave on the Milford Jai Alai message site. One day, I was sitting there in my accustomed seat "there weren't a whole lot of other live bodies there" and as the players paraded out to start a game, one of my favorite players, Mace, called out to me "How ya doing, Mark?" I was flabbergasted, not having previously met the man, but all the players knew me. I was later told by several of the Milford management team that all the players read the Milford message board, and were impressed by the positive comments I always left, even when a player had a bad night. They also liked the fact I never cursed them for a bad drop or error in judgment, and that I always applauded a good play or victory no matter who won, even, as so often happened, when I lost my wager. This habit of never denegrating a player continues to this day, perhaps because I attempted to learn how to play at a late age and realize the many factors going into a bad (or good) play and how difficult the game is to play at a consistantly high level. When Milford closed, the players presented me with a helmet especially made for me autographed by the entire roster of players, one of my most cherished pieces of memorabilia.
