Goikoetxea is "The Boss"

I´ve been around the world of jai-alai since I was nine years old, that means 44 years since. I´ve seen many players playing, however, I must confess that no one has impressed me so much like Goiko today, just three hours ago. What a performance! I kneew that he is good, the best, but I did not know that he is so good. Today he won his seventh individuals crown, the "basque beret" not playing against a poor opponent; to the contrary, Lopez played his best jai-alai. They offered a great partido, an unbeliveable one. The final score 30 to 26 in favor of Goiko "The Boss".

In the seventies I remembered how Orbea I came to Tampa for a visit. It was a saturday night. Full house in the fronton. Bolivar played that night as usual, he played like angels suppose to play. He won couple of quinielas, he was outstanding, great. After the games Orbea was outside waiting to say hello to the players. When he saw Bolibar, Orbea asked him: "How can anybody can play as you did tonight?" To me that meant the highest recognition from one of the best players ever: Orbea, to another: Bolibar. While I was watching this afternoon the partido same thing came to my mind again and again. How can anybody can play as this guy does. I don´t want to get in nonsense comparisons. If Bolibar or Asis have been best singles players ever, or Txurruka. That´s useless. Goiko today was impressive, superb.

Goiko was the favorite for victory, by far. Even Lopez thought so: "he (Goiko) has to have a bad day and I must play my best jai-alai to win the match". Since the beginning of the game Goiko took the lead, showing his best repertoire. Serving well, throwing hard with his right hand, two carom shots, incredible catches. What a show! The ball got faster as points were scored and Goiko started scoring with his service, balls going high above Lopez´s reach. It seemed as Goiko´s game was form another planet, but little by little Lopez got use to such fast ball and he took advantage from it. Lopez started serving and scoring with the serve. Even during the point we could see that fast balls benefited Lopez. He was throwing so hard that Goiko was unable to reach them. Lopez had to play perfect to score, and he did it sometimes, but could not maintain such level of perfection and little by little Goiko showed why he is the best. Three to four points leading. Two wrong calls by the judges permitted Lopez to stay close. 28 to 26. It seemed that anything was possible. Unpertubable to the wrong calls Goiko kept doing his job and won the game.

It´s obvious that Goiko is a great athlete, he could been an outstanding football or baseball player, anything. Besides his phisycal qualities he showed that he is a technical player as well and that he´s an intelligent one. He knows when to seek the txik-txak, when to finish the point with a two carom shot or a dejada. "The Boss" dominates all kind of shots, he is an armed person. He has won his seventh individuals crown, I wonder how many more he will.
We kneew that today more than an one-man-show concert we were going to attend a duo concert. Right. Lopez too played a helluva of a game, an impressive one as well. To be capable of facing Goiko the way he did today, that means something. He is 23 years old and he can still improve, too bad that Goiko is around though.
The good neews too are that the front was packed, television cameras offering live from Hondarribia. A lot of former pros like Gorroño, Zumeta, Astiga, Lertxundi, Elola... Players from Florida vacationing, Luis (Miami), Korta and Manex (Dania). Lots of amateurs players, soccer players. It makes you happy to see that jai-alai has its great days, a tremendous partido and players like Goiko and Lopez capable of offering such a great spectacle.

Who is "The Boss"?

Last week San Sebastian was the world´s capital of jazz music. The city celebrated its annual Jazz Festival. Different bands from all over the planet inundated the streets with all that jazz. Piano players, guitars, trumpets and drums, the city´s heart beating with the sound that originated in New Orleans and then spread all over becoming a global phenomenom. James Taylor (You´ve Got a Friend) was around. Even Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen has chosen San Sebastian as headquarters, he played yesterday in the nearby city of Bilbao.

Jazz in the city is one week a year event. Good food is available all year round. Just before going home last saturday night, we went to "Bodegon Donostiarra", a place where you can taste best gildas in town (little thin green pepers, an anchovie and one olive, the trio assorted in a toothpick, just delicious. Gastronomy on the run you may say, right before heading home to watch on television the two partidos of the semifinals of the World´s Individuals Championship.

When I got home the second game, life from Durango, was about start. On the screen two gladiators, Lopez and Irastorza, ready to die saluting the audience, cestas high pointing the heavens. Few mintues before this match, Goikoetxea and Egiguren had just finished, so far no news about the outcome.
Since the beginning Lopez got away from Storza, five to six points ahead. Lopez wanted to make clear who run the show, in other words, that he was the leader of the band. So far we were attending to a one-man-show exhibition. Irastorza appeared lost. His powerful right-hand unable to find the txik-txak area. His rebote was even worse. Balls came from the back wall without answer, overpassing him again and again. Lopez played the fiddle and Irastorza danced. A clumsy country music dancer at a midnight hour in a lost cantina of a town called Durango.( Just then the speaker informed that Goiko had beaten Egi 30 to 16).
Before the end of the partido between Lopez and Storza anybody could foresee that the Championship final was going to be decided between two boys from the same hometown: Goiko and Lopez. Both playing in the U.S.A., born in Zumaia.
Irastorza made 23 points at the end, more due to Lopez´s relaxation than anything else.
Friday the 31st the two best players of the moment will meet in Hondarribia. Two years ago they played the final in Durango. 30 to 27. Goiko the winner in a memorable partido. No doubt that the next is going to be a helluva of a game. No place, don´nt expect a one man show concert, more than likely some sort of a jam session. Each player eager to demonstrate who is "The Boss" of jai-alai. Music is over falks.

Wild wild ball!

So far so good for the favorites in this World Individuals Championship. All of them: Goikoetxea, Lopez and Irastorza won their partidos in the quarter finals. Last night in Hondarribia Egiguren had to fulfill what everybody expected and beat Enbil. Egi won the match easily, too easy perhaps.30-17 the final score. 16 points scored just with the serve. Ten for Egi; five for Enbil. "Whaaaat.... what happened". Wild wild balls, the ball went just wild.

I went to the fronton, and, so I guess the rest of the about 500 people audience did, with the hope of watching a disputated match at least, one where the underdog, Enbil, would fight as a gladiator he is, or was suppose to be. No way. Everybody except Egi, his relatives and friends left the place disappointed. We had witnessed a simulacrus of what singles is suppose to be, keeping in mind that we are talking about a Worl Championship competition and not a local club tournament.

Two reasons for such a debacle. First of all, it is not an easy task to play singles, in a high level. You are in there alone, no teammate to assist, a hell of a 54 meters to cover, all by yourself. I f you do not know the basics or do not know how to put them in practice, individuals become a torture, better go back to doubles and forget all that staff about lonely singles. Enbil knows about it, he had had a hard time last night, kind of nightmare if we add a kind of ball that they play with.

The task becomes extremely difficult when the ball goes wild and travels at the speed of electricity. 16 points scored just with the serve, something worong there when we are talking about a slow cancha like the one of Hondarribia, one where the bounce of the ball is usually low. No one to blame though for such a wild ball but the weather. The temperatur inside the fronton was above 30º C. Balls are sensitive because of temperature, the hotter the faster balls move.

Egi, four times singles champion in Dania, is an expert playing singles. Enbil is not, he is good in doubles, five times world champion (with Goiko). What type of ball they play with is irrelevant. This saturday though we will be talking about a different issue. Egiguren faces Goiko, the "king" in doubles and singles, in semifinals. This saturdayEgi will need the help of the weather, the use of his best jai-alai game ever, and above all, pray and pray a lot.

Singles Jai-Alai Championship

This Friday begins the 2009 Singles Jai-Alai Championship here in the Basque Country, organized by the Pelota´s World Council. Unlike last year pelotaris of both companies, Master Jai and Jai Alive, will face each other, eight top players, four frontcourt and four backcourt competing for one destiny: the "basque beret", the crown.
Nowadays best player in the world Goikoetxea will play against Hernandez this Friday on the opening night, in Berriatua (Bizkaia). By the way, I hate to see this kind of official matches been played in courts like the one in Berriatua, a 47 meter long cancha. It is like watching a World Series baseball game in a High School playground. No comment. Goiko should not have any trouble sending home the former Dania player. Usually frontcourters have an advantage comparing with backcourters. Serving and the rebote are the basics if you want to play singles decently. Goiko knows how to serve, and rebote... I haven´t seen anybody with such a right hand rebote like Goiko´s (and I doubt Tiger has either). Guess what, friday´s should be a training session for Robocop Goiko against a qualified sparring: Hernandez.

On July 19th Lopez faces Lander in Markina. David against Goliath. This time though I doubt that David will be able to beat Lopez. Lander has just escaped from injury recently, he has not play singles in months and, most likely, he wont play singles again for months. Lopez is the number one backcourt player in the world, or so the y say. This season he is got the opportunity to show it, we will be watching.

Irastorza, whom may not liked what I just wrote about Lopez, plays against Foronda in Gernika, on July the 20th. Irastorza is my favorite in this match. Althoug I did not like how the Miami player played last year in Durango against Enbil, he lost; that day he seemed a woodcutter from Alaska working from nine to five in a Manhattan office. Irastorza went crazy. Unable to score a point on short cancha like the one of Durango, 52 meters long. Anyways, Gernika is not Durango and Foronda is not Enbil. Foronda is a kind of player that you see him playing and you get inpressed, he does everything right but still there are more than 15 players like him all over.

July the 23th, in the fishing village of Hondarribia (Gipuzkoa) a serious candidate for the crown, Egiguren, faces Enbil, a gladiator on the jai-alai arenas. Egi, the former Dania star shoul be able to beat tough Enbil. Egi is 31 years old, a lot of experience on his back after more than a decade in Florida, he is got the konowledge to play singles. He is done a lot of phisical training all winter long, and more important, he is got the will to do something big this summer, maybe this year´s doubles championship? (with Goiko´s permission). On the other side, I don´t see Enbil like an outstanding singles player. He is powerful, he is a fighter, he is a serious opponent, but beating Egi takes more than that. It takes what Goiko and Lopez have and know: how to play singles.

Tximela: the most spectacular jai-alai player

I have seen lots of jai-alai players playing since the 60´s. Great superstars some of them; tremendous athletes, others. I´ve seen all kind of players. Nobody like Tximela, I assure you. He was the most spectacular jai-alai player I have seen on a Jai-Alai fronton.

How can one explain such force of nature capable of making a fast and violent sport in something so spectacular? It is not an easy task. First thing comes to the mind of the lucky ones that saw him playing is the way Tximela used to jump upon the wall. Tximela would jump two steps up the wall till the pelota and the pelotari meets at the right time in the wright place, feet above the head of the opposite player. At that moment, the ball would come out off the cesta with such elegance that the picture seemed more related to the finest dance coreography than with vulgar phisical talent.

Tximela made his debut in Miami Jai-Alai in the sixtees, along with stars like Orbea I, Larrañaga, Txurruka, Ondarres, Bengoa... He was not the best backcourt player, not at all. He was at that time something more of a wild crazy young purebred horse. Even though he was the most spectacular player steping on the court of the Miami area fronton, and anywhere else in the world as well.

A player that at that time played in Palm Beach and used to go to Miami whenever he could told me once that even from the parking lot he could tell when Tximela was playing because of the sudden roar from the audience audible from the outside meaning that Tximela had caught an unbeliveable high bounce catch.

Tximela took advantage of his natural ability. Once playing a partido in a basque-french fronton a famous champagne maker promised him a bottle of champagne for every jump. Tximela told the opposite player to through high bounce balls. Tximela that night seemed a reencarnation of an australian kangaroo more than a jai-lai player. By the 25th jump -25 bottles of champagne-- the wine maker said: "That´s enough for today"!! (afraid probably of ruining his business).

What I liked most of his skills was the way he would try to catch the ball with the reverse- left hand. Tximela did not await the ball semistatic, like most players do. He looked for the ball like the bull looks for the bullfighter. Biomechanically perfect would made the ball come off the cesta hitting the frontis wall two meters above the floor and then the pelota would trace a line seeking the chula at the speed of a balistical missile.

In the seventies Tximela suffered a tremendous car accident. For any average human being would it be probably the end of a sport career. After a year or so Tximela made his comeback to the courts. No question about that he was not the same player. Phisically far from the cautivating acrobat that he once was. Even so, he improved so much technically that he still became again one of top players. Outstanding position on the court, great rebote and a great catcher made him again one of the best. Incredible.

I did not see Erdoza Menor playing; I did not see Guillermo playing either. But I was lucky enough to see and play with Tximela and, boy, he was the most spectacular athlete on a jai-alai court.