Jai Alai: The Sport That America Forgot About 😲

For much of the 20th century, jai alai dominated the Miami sports scene, attracting crowds as large as 15,000. Today, the sport is barely hanging on in America. So what happened? Well, it’s a wild story, one involving gangs, organized crime and murder. We caught up with decorated jai alai athletes Benny Bueno and Leon Shepard to get the scoop on the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of America’s forgotten sport.

#jaialai #sports #americanhistory

Got a story idea for us? Shoot us an email at pitch [at] GreatBigStory [dot] com 📧

Get exclusive GBS items from our online store 🛒

NOTIFICATIONS: Make sure you enable the 🔔 to get notified about our latest video publishes.

[drewmalesky]

If you think FIFA is corrupt than you haven't heard of Jai-alai. Its so fixed

[aratyal]

Didn’t mention how the sport got into bed with the cartels and started match fixing. Maybe that’s why it went downhill 🤔

[julian]

I used to watch this on late night TV in the early 2000s, I actually did forget this ever existed.

[stanorange]

"From Spain, France": from the Basque Country, please and thank you.

[irvplotnik]

They featured this sport in the opening of the 80’s tv series Miami Vice

[sepg]

It has been relegated as a Casino game since at least the 80s in other countries. Not sure about when it happened in the US.

[TheCentripetalForceOnOurPlanet]

We played it in PE in middle school and highschool in the US. I remember the scoops.

[CLEANEDITS-wehv]

Yo this sport is super cool as a footballer and volleyball player not professionally just plays those two sports a lot jai alai seems super cool tho I kinda wanna play it but it is really really dangerous but ye

[livlinn]

At first glance I thought they're flinging a giant banana 🍌
And honestly still can't unsee it 🍌
Long live the JAI ALAI 🍌🫡

[grayonthewater]

I played in my elementary school in the early 2000s in Texas 😂 that’s the only reason I knew it existed but I never learned the name until now

[nopedothat]

150-170 mph seems like they’re over estimating the speed by quite a bit.

[duckszilla]

From what I’ve gathered the sport became very corrupt and many matches are fixed. I think that helped kill the sport sadly.

[ghostman]

50somethings saying...

Looks like Tron.

[Mikey_Joe]

Not a real fan but I think it’s a cool game. Not really a gambler but the boys will bet on anything, and if that helps keep it alive then why not.

[AntonioGomez-mr]

I thought it came from the middle east lol