Take Me Out to the 188 MPH Ballgame!

Off the top of my head, there are only two sports I would never try (and I could totally do competitive eating).

Look out Chestnut. via Diets in Review

The first would be some crazy Gaelic game called hurling. It's similar to 30 unprotected baseball players swinging bats at the ball all at once. No, wait--that's exactly what it is. As soon as I figure out something reasonable scientific about this game, I'll be sure to include it in an upcoming blog.

The second would be jai alai (pronounced like "hi lie"), which promotes standing around small rubber balls going 180 mph.

The conclusion is I'm terrified of sports where head injuries need their own stat category.

While I may never be up for taking a beating from a pelota (a jai alai ball), examining how jai alai players have been able to crank the velocity of a pelota to 188 mph will surely be as much fun.

The Pelota and Cesta

Having once earned the Guiness distinction as the world's fastest ball, the pelota is made of hard Brazilian rubber filled with pressurized gas. Pelotas are about 25% smaller than baseballs and are covered with goatskin to increase durability. The need to replace the goatskin every game means pelotas are handmade and expensive.

Una pelota. via Euskadi Bet

A unique glove is worn during jai alai, called a cesta. The cesta is essentially a padded glove with a long, curved basket attached. The ball is meant to be caught in the basket and a long, sweeping arm action whips the ball through the basket curvature and at the player's (called a pelotaris) target, always the front wall of a jai alai court (called a fronton or cancha). The cesta is always worn on the right hand due to a fronton only incorporating a front, left and rear wall.

Una cesta via Alex Waterhouse Hayward

The Gameplay

I don't anticipate going over every detail of jai alai here but hopefully this post piques your interest and motivates you to learn more about this waning Spanish-culture import.

The most important aspects of the game are as follows. A frontcourt player on the blue team serves the ball against the front wall. Behind him stands his teammate and two red players, and the served ball must bounce between a set of lines on the court before being fielded by the red team. The ball is then thrown against the wall by the red team, so the blue team has an opportunity to field. Points are awarded for poorly served pelotas, misplayed fielding opportunities, going out of bounds or for interfering with the other team. Several teams participate in the same game of jai alai, where after giving up a point, the team must await another turn to play.

via The Art of Manliness

The Science

Jai alai has been called the fastest of all ball sports due to the blistering nature at which the ball is played. (Side note: golf has now sufficiently earned that title, with drives capable of exceeding 200 mph.)

Like many sports, the velocity of the thrown pelota is determined by two major factors: the momentum delivered to the ball by the pelotaris, and the trajectory at which the ball is delivered.

Jai alai players are allowed to run or crow-hop with the pelota, provided they both field and deliver the pelota in a continuous motion. This initial potential energy is stored through the legs, where once the pelotaris plants his or her left foot (remember, jai alai is for righties only) the body weight's momentum is being transferred from the large-mass and weight-bearing legs, to the large-mass torso, to the low mass-arm. This is called the sequential summation of movement and by beginning with the largest, heaviest of the body parts, and summing that momentum with diminished-mass body parts, jai alai players are able to maintain maximum efficiency during their serve.

The unique cesta is also responsible for the high velocities obtainable during play. By elongating the pelotaris' right arm with the cesta, the angular momentum of the pelota is significantly higher. Consider spinning a rock tied to a string: the longer the string, the faster the rock spins as it also follows the same principle of angular momentum.

That is how the pelota reaches 188 mph. That is how 4 people have been killed by a pelota in the last 90 years.

So, what is there left to cover about jai alai?

I won't play it? Check. It's terrifyingly fast? Check.

It's played by the Most Interesting Man in the World? Check.

Oh right! The gambling. Jai alai was once very prevalent in Florida, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Similar to horse racing, spectators (i.e., old men drinking beer and smoking cigars) are allowed to bet on outcomes. As gaming restrictions in these states have relaxed in recent decades, jai alai frontons became locales for poker, dog racing and other table games. Only about a dozen frontons remain in America today. I feel I can say jai alai was the best thing to come out of Basque's Spain, perhaps second to only pintxos.

"OH MAN! You've never have pintxos!?" via Wikimedia

Resources:

The Art of Manliness - The Return of Jai Alai

Jai Alai Info