Northern Starchive- April/May 06
An Almost Royal Visit to the Royal Boxes
In the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s Dania Jai-Alai earned the nickname “The Palace” because of the litany of celebrities and sports stars that were notable fronton patrons. Joe Namath, Buddy Hackett, Roger Maris and Larry King were just a few of the dynamic personalities of the day to grace the Dania crowd. In the past few years that title may have waned a bit, but the month of March saw “The Palace” regain a little of the old swagger.
British tourists have been a familiar winter sight at Dania Jai-Alai dating back to its opening in 1953. In fact, tourists from all across Europe have increased in the past few years because of the strong Euro. But even this British tourist was shocking to fronton officials, as Miss Cherie Blair made her first visit to see the World’s Fastest Ballgame.
For those of you who’ve been under a rock the last 9 years, Cherie is the wife of Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair. In town for a few speaking appearances, Miss Blair had an itch to do something new and exciting while she was in South Florida. The sport of Jai-Alai, featuring the 188 mile per hour pelota, fit the bill perfectly. That’s 303 kilometers per hour for Miss Blair.
Cherie Blair was accompanied by her son Nicky, who was an instant hit with the Dania players. Nicky spent his time chatting it up in the locker room, learning about the sport of Jai-Alai and gossiping about soccer. Most of the Dania players are huge soccer fans, and Assistant Player Manager Alberto Alberdi had a blast talking about the Manchester United team with the younger Blair.
Preparation for the visit was made by Dania Jai-Alai security, accompanied by members of the US State Department and Scotland Yard. They combed the building in the hours before the visit to make sure all was well for Britain’s first lady. Miss Blair finally arrived at the fronton at about 7:45pm, escorted in her stretch black limousine by a motorcade of law enforcement officials. Dania Beach Boulevard was abuzz with the flashing blue lights as they made their way to the fronton.
The Dania players got Nicky, now 20 years old, to try on the cesta and helmet. Manny Cancio and Alberdi tried in earnest to get Nicky to hit the court, but he turned down the offer. Who can blame him, after watching the Dania professionals whip the fastest ball in all of professional sports from close range. Needless to say, the Dania players had a new fan named Nicky before the evening was over.
The Blair’s visit to the friendly fronton lasted about two hours, with Miss Blair seated in the fronton’s Royal Box Seats and her son mingling with the Dania stars. So how did the first lady of England fit in with the Dania faithful? Dania employees say just like any other tourist this time of the year. She was cheering on her teams and was well into the matches after Marty Fleischman gave her a brief intro on the sport’s rules.
Completely friendly to all the Dania staff, Miss Blair ran into, most likely, her strangest question from Fleischman when she offered to sign a picture of the two if he mailed it to her.
“So I said, what’s your address? And she said ‘Well, it is 10 Downing Street,’ “ recalled Fleischman, Assistant General Manager for Dania Jai-Alai. “I guess that’s like asking the President of the United States where he lives.”
Unfortunately for Miss Blair, she didn’t catch the first timer’s luck with her wagers and wasn’t able to bring home a winner, but her counterparts from Scotland Yard are rumored to have done a little better. Both a Scotland Yard security personnel and an official from the US State Department were said to have cashed in on a winning ticket or two. The trip was wrapped up at about 9:30pm, when the British duo got back into their limousine and the motorcade of flashing lights slowly crept their way back down Dania Beach Blvd.
Cherie Blair’s visit has been a big PR boost for the Dania fronton. The Miami Herald ran with the story on Thursday, March 16th and it has been spreading like wildfire since then. British papers have been keeping the phones in the publicity department ringing. The story has even found it’s way into the blogoshpere, where at least a half dozen bloggers have commented on the “Royal Visit to the Royal Boxes”.
Tennis Champion makes his Dania Jai-Alai Debut
It was an action packed month at the fronton as Cherie Blair’s sojourn was followed by a visit by Argentinian tennis phenom David Nalbandian. Only Nalbandian, currently ranked the #3 player in the world, wasn’t coming to sit in the cheap seats. He was making his trek to Dania Jai-Alai to strap on the cesta and try out the World’s Fastest Ballgame firsthand.
Nalbandian, who’s in town to compete in the NASDAQ 100, has found a good friend and Jai-Alai mentor in Dania frontcourter Arrieta. Incredibly friendly in person, I was also struck quickly by the stoic eyes on the tennis star. While physically smaller than me at 5′9” and 175 pounds, David carried an air of confidence and focus with him that made an immediate presence in the players’ cage when he firmly shook my hand.
“I was in town last year for the NASDAQ and I have a friend down here that’s always telling me about Jai-Alai,” recalled Nalbandian with sweat already dripping from his brow. “So I came and watched the game last year and it was really impressive. My friend introduced me to Arrieta and we clicked. We ended up going fishing together before I had to leave town. I really wanted to play last year, but just didn’t have the time.”
The private afternoon practice session was filled with laughs and giggles as an increasingly frustrated Nalbandian plodded and plundered his way across the court. While impressive for a first time Jai-Alai player, especially on the forehand side, the 4 time Singles winner on the ATP tour was not spared a whole lot of teasing from Arrieta and Dania front Olate, who quickly scurried onto the court when he realized who the esteemed rookie was.
By the end of his half hour playing session, David Nalbandian was starting to catch a few balls and return some right sides pretty deep to the backcourt. The backhand had him quite perplexed, but that is totally expected for a newcomer to the sport. It wasn’t hard for this layman to see the innate athletic talent David possesses. He was really getting some heat on the right side and his concentration, as he closed in for a catch attempt, was simply splendid.
If it’s true that he who laughs last laughs loudest, then Nalbandian had to have a big smile on his face at the end of his first practice session. A Dania publicity employee had an idea on how to turn the tables on the Jai-Alai stars and grabbed Nalbandian’s coach with a slick idea. The coach quickly returned with a couple of tennis rackets and it was Arrieta’s turn to experience a new sport at a world class level.
If Nalbandian plodded and plundered, then I don’t even know how to describe the comical attempts Arrieta, Olate, and Arriaga made at returning a tennis serve. With the 7 line serving as an imaginary net, the celebrated tennis pro flexed his muscles as the Jai-Alai stars quaked at the 4 line. They might as well as had a blindfold on and been swinging at a pinata as the tennis balls whizzed by them at a 125 miles per hour.
As they exited the court, Arrieta asked David in Spanish why the tennis serve was so hard to hit back. David said the surfaces the sports are played on are completely different. While a tennis ball tends to skid on the ground when it hits a tennis surface, the extremely hard Dania floor really brought out the speed in the ball. The tennis ball wasn’t skidding, and therefore was exploding off the floor on its way by the Dania stars.
“This was my first time playing, I had a whole lot of fun out there with Kakatza. I enjoyed myself, this sport is very different,” said Nalbandian as he exited the cancha. Kakatza is the nickname Arrieta is known by to the players.
David talked about the games and mentioned how he was taken by the speed of the pelota. His counterpart, Arrieta, was equally impressed by the tennis ball. Nalbandian talked about how he has friends in the area and loves to go fishing when in South Florida. He talked about traveling to different cities and finding different things to do to pass his time. David said last week in Indian Wells the hotel had a great golf course so he didn’t have to go far.
“Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Safin, Hewitt, they’re all real tough,” replied Nalbandian when asked about his most difficult opponent in tennis. “Every time out there these guys present you with so many things, you never know what will happen in a match against them. You just have to be prepared when you go out there and see how it goes.”
“Right now my body is fit and I’m feeling pretty good,” said David, a semifinalist in the Australian Open earlier this year. “One thing I’ve noticed is it’s really hot out there.”
Let’s hope Arrieta didn’t take too much out of Nalbandian, and he still has enough to send some guys packing in this year’s NASDAQ 100.