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.
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