March 2, 1997

After nearly 18 months in Orlando, I decided it was time to satisfy my curiosity and, at the same time, shuck another layer from my recently transplanted midwesterner status. I coerced two friends into accompanying me, and we headed off to Orlando's fronton to watch what I anticipated would be a bunch of beefy men hurling cue balls at cement walls and each other hoping to make a few bucks. Instead, I found myself quickly drawn into an intense, complex game similar to racquetball, minus a side wall. The object of Jai Alai is to heave the pelota - a rubber ball covered with hardened, hand-sewn goat skin - against the 180-foot-long, concrete court's front wall with enough speed and spin to prevent an opponent from catching and returning it with the cesta, a heavy-duty glove melded to a wicker basket. Since the pelota is the most lethal ball in any sport - it's about 3/4 the size of a baseball, harder than a golfball, and has been clocked at speeds upwards of 180 mph - players wear an acrylic protective helmet. Each basic game begins with player #1 competing with player #2. The winner of the point then faces player #3. This rotation continues through eight players until one of them scores seven points. Ties are resolved by playoffs. See how AnnaMarie fared in her own gambling experiment.

Anna Sheldon I'm a transplanted Detroiter who's slowly (and, I admit, a bit reluctantly) growing fond of Central Florida. I miss the Great Lakes, apple orchards, snow and six months of bug-free living, but I'm really getting used to the daily (almost) sunshine, the lack of slush and salt, pothole-free tourist-funded roads and not paying any state income tax. The thing that makes me feel most like a Central Florida native: In the two years I've lived here, despite the outrageous number of "visitors" I've had, I've managed to avoid going to the Magic Kingdom. Other Articles I've Written