Story I wrote in 1988:
Now Hear This: Jai-alai Is Fast
December 2, 1988|By Jerry Greene of The Sentinel Staff
Faster than a speeding pelota? More powerful than a pelotari?
Able to leap frontons in a single bound?
Sounds strange indeed. And because there were no jai-alai frontons
in Metropolis, Superman never knew that the fastest ballgame in
the world is jai- alai.
But the sport is played in Orlando (along with Daytona Beach,
Melbourne and Ocala), and it is becoming more Americanized every
year. The Orlando Sentinel recently used a speed gun, provided
by Boardwalk & Baseball, to measure the speed of 23 players on
the roster at Orlando-Seminole Jai-Alai.
The top three hurlers have two things in common -- they all played
in the backcourt, and they all are American.
Farah (whose full name is Jorge Farah) threw a ball that was clocked
at 126 miles per hour. Tim (Tim Graf) was right behind at 125,
and Bob (Tracy Moore) was a close third at 123.
Compare those speeds to Nolan Ryan's fastest accredited clocking
with a baseball -- 101. It's easy to see why jai-alai has boasted
being the world's fastest game.
Not everyone throws with the same velocity, however. Liam (Bill
McConachie) is the leading winner on Orlando's roster and was
clocked at a modest 96 miles per hour.
''My car goes faster than that,'' he said in mock disgust after
being timed.
Like any sport, power is not everything in jai-alai, but it is
impressive. And the power players receive a certain satisfaction
in ''blowing out'' the opposition.
''Power allows you to be aggressive,'' Farah says. ''If you have
power and control, you're truly dangerous.''
Says Tim: ''Power is my game. It is my strength.''
Says Bob: ''You can always learn how to catch the ball, but you
cannot learn power.''
Where does the power come from? Orlando's three hardest throwers
are remarkably different in size, and thus each has a different
theory.
Farah stands 5 feet 10 and weighs 180 pounds. He says, ''Power
is posture. I try to put my entire body into each shot.''
Tim is jai-alai's version of an offensive lineman, at 6-1 and
270. He says, ''My power does not come from my weight but from
the top of my legs. The quadricep muscles are the key to power.''
And Bob is the sports' power forward, at 6-6 and 210. He says,
''My power is a combination of my height and style. But Tim is
brute strength. The first time I saw him throw, I said, 'What
was that?' ''
Until recently jai-alai was dominated by Basque players. But the
emergence of Americans has increased dramatically because of the
players strike, which began in April and still continues. Most
of the Basque players in America are on strike. They have been
replaced by young Americans.
Farah, Tim and Bob are not replacement players. They were proven
professionals long before the strike. But it does appear that
jai-alai is becoming a predominantly American sport in this country
-- and don't you think Americans like to play ''hardball,'' no
matter what the sport?
Is the game faster now? Maybe, maybe not. On the average, American
players may be bigger and physically stronger than their Basque
counterparts, but they also may not have been taught as well or
for as long. Proper form is as important in jai-alai as it is
in golf.
''Americans may rely on power too much because we don't practice
the finesse of the game,'' Bob says.
''American or Basque, it doesn't matter,'' Farah says. ''What
matters is being taught the correct way to play.''
Measuring the speed of a shot in jai-alai hardly is a proven science.
In 1976 the record was claimed by Calzacorta, a former player
in Orlando whose throw was clocked at 131.68 mph by a machine
that generally measures the speed of a bullet. That device required
Calzacorta to throw the ball through one hole and out another.
But in 1979 at Newport, R.I., Jose Ramon Aretio's throw was clocked
by a speed gun at 188 miles per hour. The Guinness Book of World
Records recognizes Areitio's clocking and, based on the record,
calls jai-alai the world's fastest game.
Could Areitio have thrown the ball that much faster than the clockings
here? Nobody is sure, but it is safe to say that jai-alai is the
world's fastest game. Wonder what Nolan Ryan could do with a cesta
strapped to his hand?
