Le Batard Show anoints producer Chris Cote to help Miami save the sport of jai-alai from extinction
Miami is the last best hope to save jai-alai from extinction, and Magic City Casino – now the only place in North America where the game is still played professionally – thinks it has found a new savior to rescue the dying sport.
And that savior is … Chris Cote from the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz!?
“We’re trying to save a sport here,” as Magic City Casino CEO Scott Savin explained. “And they get it.”
Said Cote, 34: “While working in sports media is fulfilling, it doesn’t give me the chance to achieve my greatest goal — to be a champion. Taking over the Cesta Cyclones will give me that chance. This group we’ve assembled will be the meanest, toughest, most disciplined, best conditioned team in pro jai-alai.”
Chris is my son, if you didn’t know. As a father, I’m not sure whether to be proud or simply perplexed. Who own a jai-alai team? And why?
“A quote that I live by and share with the team often is, Victoria ad pinguis,” said Chris.
Savin has not given up on trying to make jai-alai matter again.
“I see cornhole on TV and steam comes out of my ears,” he said, and thinks, while jai-alai withers, “They have this crap on!?”
Four years ago Savin’s brainstorm to bring new attention to jai-alai was to enlist former Miami Hurricanes athletes to learn and play the sport. Ten did, six of them former Canes football players including 1998-2000 quarterback Kenny Kelly.
The latest brainstorm: a four-team league of six players each with tennis-like matches featuring singles and doubles play.
“We felt jai-alai, with rebranding and repackaging, could be saved,” Savin said. “Fans like to root for teams.”
The nine-week “Battle Court” season is now underway, with games played Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays at 5 p.m., but with only Sunday‘s games including spectators. The other three teams are the Chula Chargers, Rebote Renegades and Wall Warriors.
Magic City Jai-Alai was pleased to welcome the involvement of Cote and the Le Batard Show.
“We thought let’s see if we can get some media involvement,” Savin said. “And what would be the greatest media thing in the Miami market? Dan’s show.”
Cote’s first game as a jai-alai owner is set for Sunday March 20 at the fronton within the casino at 450 NW 37th Ave. Mark your calendar, because a major on-air promotion will invite Le Batard Show fans to come out and join the show’s cast in cheering on the Cesta Cyclones in Cote’s debut as owner.
“Let’s get to work, Cyclones fans!” said Cote.
The 24 players in the league are a mix of longtime professionals including seven players signed from Dania Jai-Alai after that fronton closed late last year after 69 years, as well as former athletes who trained to become players, such a Tanard Davis, a Canes track star and cornerback in the early 2000s.
Davis plays by the name “Jeden” (all go by singular monikers) and is a member of Cote’s Cyclones team.
“Jai-alai” (pronounced high-lie or hi-li) means merry festival in the Basque region of Spain where the sport was born. It peaked in popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s and ‘80s.
The idea of the Le Batard Show trying to save a now-obscure sport still alive only in Miami is on brand for the quirky show.
Le Batard has a history of big swings at promotional home runs.
They have done a live road show in New York City. A series of Mas Miami fan events. A 24-hour marathon show. Played in a golf pro-am in Lake Tahoe. Had the cast sing in a musical, out this week. There also will be live shows March 13-14 as part of South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, an annual assembly of film, music, interactive media and conferences.
Surprising the audience has been partly why the show is a nationally top-ranked podcast since leaning ESPN.
Now: Saving jai-alai.
Said Chris Cote: “Anything less than a title and helping this become the biggest sport in the world will be a complete failure by me.”
Jugar a la pelota!
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
