Magic City vs Dania Posted on December 7, 2025 at 11:31:25 AM by Don't hate me
We all had the chance to watch Magic City and Dania on the same day this past Friday. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed MC more. I'll try to express the reasons below.
For context, yes I am a 40 year watcher of traditional Jai Alai attending many of the top frontons and events in person (NAJF & Citrus).
The shorter court allows the players the OPPORTUNITY to show off their incredible skills more than the larger court. Let's take Manu (Laduche) for example. On any given MC 6 point set, he will usually have a dozen or more balls that he will "pick off the numbers" as Andrew likes to say, sometimes 2-3 consecutive catches that are scraping along the side wall. On the big court this type of catch might only have the chance of occurring 2-3 times the entire game. The receipt of serve catch at MC in #1 division doubles, where you have Urrutia firing bullets that cross the side wall at the 13 line is one of the most difficult catches in the sport. Please don't misinterpret my take. A similar catch like this on the long court would be slightly more difficult and dangerous, but this rarely occurs. I'm saying that this catch would be spectacular on the long court, but the opportunity for successful completion (and thus appreciation) doesn't present itself as much as it does on the small court.
Shot making and selection. I enjoy the strategy of when to throw a shot and what shot to throw. On long courts, the opportunity to throw a shot that would likely be successful does not come around as often as it does on the short court in my opinion. The chance to throw a remate, dejada, felo outside, split placement, or hard/high back down the inside wall is exciting when it could be attempted on most backhand catches on the short court. Again, this is not better or worse court vs court, it is that the situation/choice occurs more often in the short court and I enjoy that. Weighing out the possible success rate and consequences if your opponent catches is fantastic theater to me. I love to watch shooters like Zulaika and Inaki work the defense and reach into the tool bag for some jai alai artistry. They are able to express their creativity more frequently at MC than they did at Dania.
Wagering and game format. I place many bets on both venues and what struck me Friday night at Dania was that I was somewhat disinterested in the points where my team wasn't competing. Yes, I bet perfectas and trifectas, but there are some points, especially early, that have no bearing on the outcome of my wager and I found myself not being totally invested in every point. At MC I have "action" on every point and I like that adrenaline rush. I'm old, but am admitting honestly to the younger mentality. I want to clarify that my love of jai alai is greater than the love of betting action, but if I can have both on every point then that is my preference, and MC gives me more than Dania.
I do consider myself a jai alai traditionalist, but wanted to try and quantify and express the reasons for my lean towards the new MC version. I would take 70's and 80's Miami over MC as well as any Friday night at an Aramayo/Laca led Tampa fronton. Unfortunately we can't go back to the glory days, so we just have to compare the 2 current options. I would also like to clarify, this MC > Dania opinion only applies to the division 1 & 2 doubles matches. Once you get to 4,5,6 ranked teams then it's Dania all day for me as the technical ability declines and the scales of enjoyment tip back in favor of traditional long court jai alai.
In summation, the things that I appreciate and enjoy about jai alai just happen more often in the top ranked matches at MC. It's not a long vs short court argument if that makes sense. Thanks for reading. Replies:
Tiger's Jai-Alai Chalk Talk
