Word: alai
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...Cuba and Miami, the game is known as jai alai (pronounced high lie). In the Basque country of France and Spain, where it became a national pastime some five centuries ago when local townfolk used to bat a ball against church walls, it is known as pelota (the ball). By whatever name, it is a lightning-fast combination of handball, tennis and lacrosse, played on a concrete court varying in length from 100 ft. to the size of a football field...
...mass entertainment and most likely never will be." His credo: "You can't rationalize the public's taste. It isn't a question of intellectuality. It's the same thing as the public liking football and baseball and not liking polo and jai alai. It's just that we're attuned to that sort of thinking-we realize our audiences' tastes...
Fradd Ball is described by its creator as "a mutation of volley ball." Played in a low-ceiling court on the third floor of the Indoor Athletic Building, the game often takes on elements of football, basketball, and jai alai. Fradd Ball's basic rule is that every surface in the room is playable, and that the ball (a volley ball) becomes dead if it touches the floor more than once on each play...
...American with "muchas pesetas" (exchange rates were favorable)--regional dishes like roast suckling pig, and eggs "al flamenca" with typical sauces and spices were cheap and delicious. Few visitors missed keen Jai-alai games (a Basque invention, Jai-alai and pelota, which resemble squash, are two of the world's swiftest, most exhausting sports). The sparkling wit of the decadent Spanish theater commences evenings at 11 as do most films. The most spectacular events, however, beside peasant flestas, were the colorful bullfights put on in large arenas every Sunday...
While not slighting the legal National Lottery (government percentage: 19%) and the well-taxed (15%) wagers on the jai alai games at the vast downtown Frontón, citizens of Mexico City not tony enough for brincos find plenty of ways to risk their money. Some go to the cockfights at the Posada de los Cuatro Caminos, just outside the Federal District limits, where pesos change hands with every spur-thrust. Thousands play la bolita, an illegal policy game paying off 80 t01 on the last two numbers of the regular winning National Lottery ticket. In the bullfight fans...