Word: joey
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Joey Cornblit is a nice Jewish boy from Miami, and his mother has a complaint. Her son the jai-alai player is the hottest betting commodity in town. Not only is he the first American to equal the Basque masters of the sport, he is, at 22, a reigning champion. Since around $350,000 is wagered each performance in the fronton where Joey holds sway, Mrs. Cornblit, a metalworker's wife, has been besieged by telephone calls: "Did Joey eat his breakfast?" "Did he sleep well...
...answers are reassuring, but the emphatic reply comes on court. Last year Cornblit was the overall winner at Miami's World Jai-Alai, the premier palace of the game. In the second month of a season against 46 of the top professional players in the world, Joey again leads in overall wins (32) and front-court doubles championships (8) and has a shot at the singles title as well. No player has ever won the triple crown of jai-alai in Miami, but observers-and rabid bettors-believe Joey has a chance. Says Betting Clerk Emilio Posada: "There...
...does not bother Joey. "Like it or not," he says, "I'm here." And here with a passion: "Out there, everyone is an enemy. It's fierce competition and I'm out for blood. You've got to want to eat the ball. I'm out to kill every point. Everybody wants to win, but I want it a little more...
Cornblit's playing style perfectly complements the short (7 points, v. 30-35 points in Spain) matches played for American bettors. With the emphasis on the killing shot in these truncated contests, Joey's fierce approach to the game is now imitated by younger players, Basque as well as American. He keeps in shape with a daily exercise regimen to relieve the strain of an old back injury and settles down twice a day for soothing sessions of Transcendental Meditation. The combination, he believes, should keep him at the top for another decade. To the dismay of opponents...
...high quality of the script is matched by every aspect of the production. Despite his limited budget, Director Ronald F. Maxwell has not stinted on important details: he shot the war scenes on location in Europe and enlisted Broadway Choreographer Donald Saddler and Burlesque Comic Joey Faye to help create the vaudeville numbers. Maxwell's casting is precise. Spacek, playing a spiritual sister of the lost souls she acted in Badlands and 3 Women, is diaphanously vulnerable, but also makes a fine clown in her off-pitch songs. William Hurt, her awkward military suitor, is sensitive and attractive...