Friday, January 20, 2017

Pasaka--LPPB (Ligue Pelote Pays Basque) Premier Series Quarter-final.--Details of the match

This match was 1 of 4 quarter-final matches in the LPPB Premier Pasaka Competition, which began on November 13, 2016 and will end with a final on February 5, 2017. It was played on January 15, 2017.

Urrugne (1)(2) : Urrugne (Urrunarrak) (Ourquia-Ussaralde -- white) defeated Saint Pierre d'Irube (Hiriburuko Ainhara 2) (Lapergue-Latxague -- red) 13-9

Full match video (Urrunarrak Youtube)

Selections from the match are available at the bottom of this page.

I think the best way to learn a modality is to watch a match closely, and score it point by point. In amateur matches the video can be of excellent quality, but certain things that you would expect watching a sporting event may be missing. An excellent example is a scoreboard. Scoreboards, either photographed at the venue or used as a video aid, are the basic context of every sporting event. In amateur Basque Pelota matches, very often there is no scoreboard. But one of the traditions of BP is the calling out of the score. In some cases the singing out of part of it. In this match, the score is called out very clearly, point by point, in both Basque and French. However, another of the landmarks that help anyone follow a ball and court sport, the serve (who has it and when), and the order of the score, are something that fans simply take for granted as context aids.Without these landmarks as context aids, it is much more difficult to decipher what is going on. I was able to figure out Pasaka scoring by watching the match carefully. But it took a while.

Pasaka is a "direct" BP sport, that is to say, there is no front wall. Players or teams face each other across a net. In most "direct" sports one side serves until the game is over.

In Pasaka there is no serve to start a point. All points are started from one side of the court. The team that starts the point starts it by having one of its players (I have never seen a singles Pasaka match) toss the ball underhand so that it lands on roof of the side Trinquet dugout. The returner returns on the bounce or fly and the point is contested until one team fails to keep the point going. In Pasaka the teams switch sides in the middle of games. The way this worked for this match was that any time a team got to within a point of winning the game (4 points but you must win by 2, exactly as tennis is scored), the teams switch sides and the other team "serves." There is no "deuce" or "advantage." If a team is down 40-30 and scores to equalize, the score changes back to 30-30 (much like the Valentian Pelota sports of Raspall and Escalia e Corda). For long games, like the 20th game of this match, each time "deuce" became "advantage", the teams switched sides. This can become very confusing very quickly and has a tendency to lead to scoring errors, which is why I'm not going to give you complete point by point scoring.

Pasaka matches are basically played to 13 games. This was a very competitive match. Watch and enjoy.

Basic statistics.

Linescore

Key: Game score (winners of the match always listed first); Points of the game score; number of balls in play for the game. I am pretty certain about the first two, not quite as certain about the BIP numbers. But I print them to give you some idea of  how long and difficult the games were as the match progressed.

The Urrunarrak team never trailed in this match.

1-0 (4-1--26); 2-0 (6-4--54); 2-1 (1-4--14); 3-1 (4-1--35); 4-1 (4-1--35); 4-2 (2-4--24); 5-2 (4-1--21); 6-2 (4-1--22); 6-3 (0-4--27); 6-4 (1-4--23); 7-4 (4-2--32); 7-5 (1-4--27); 7-6 (2-4--54); 8-6 (4-2--39); 9-6 (4-1--38); 10-6 (4-2--49); 11-6 (4-1--28); 11-7 (2-4--31); 11-8 (0-4--27); 11-9 (8-10--92); 12-9 (4-2--27) 13-9 (4-2--22)  Total points score: Urrunarrak 71, SPI 63. For the match: 747 balls in play.

Balls in Play/Games
0-19--1
20-29--11
30-39--6
40-49--1
50-59--2
92--1

Scoring: Note that scoring is completely subjective. My cardinal rule is that a close scoring call will always be a winner (+) rather than an error (-). Calling a close one a winner makes two players happy. Calling it an error makes 2 players angry. I have never played Pasaka. I use my own judgement plus players' body language to help me. One team's winners plus their opponents' errors will always add to that team's final score. In this case the scores were 1 off the final total point score because in Game 18 the judge gave a point to the wrong team. It was a clear mistake that both teams recognized and questioned. It also got the team that was awarded the point to within one point of winning the game, which precipitated a side switch. The mistake stood. I gave no point for the mistake. It looked to me like the team that benefited from the mistake deliberately lost the next point. Such are the vagaries of amateur competitions. You can judge for yourself below.

Note that I am assuming player positions are given back court player first (the only BP modality that lists them in this order) based on the player positions given for the only other Pasaka match I've seen, which is linked to in the main article. My apologies to all players if that is incorrect.

Urrunarrak: Ourquia (back court) +28 -8; Ussaralde (front court and "server") +33 (of which 25 were volleyball style blocks, one of the signature plays in this sport) -2 (71)

Saint Pierre d'Irube: Lapergue (bc) +29 -9; Latxague (fcs) +23 (11b) -1 (62)

In this match, Urrunarrak jumped off to a lead that got as big as 6-2 before SPI began their first comeback. Both times they got close (7-6 and 11-9), Urrunarrak pulled away. There were perhaps 2 turning points in this match. The first came in Game 2 when SPI couldn't hold a 40-15 lead. Urrunarrak won 5 of the next 6 points to turn a likely 1-1 match score into 2-0. That game was pulled back by a great block shot by Ussaralde, a large man who doesn't look like an athlete but is an excellent one, in the manner of Mickey Lolich or Bartolo Colon in American baseball. When Ussaralde blocks, he blocks hard. At times I expected the ball to disintegrate. It didn't but such power surely impressed his opponents. For the game he had 5 winners, 4 of which were blocks. It set a tone for the match. The second turning point came after the mammoth 20th game, finally won 10-8  by SPI (their 3rd straight game), cutting their match deficit to 11-9. Another team might have wilted. SPI went ahead in Game 21 15-0. Then came Ussaralde. He made the block of the match to tie the score and then two more to win the game. Two more blocks in Game 22 sent his team into the semi-finals of this competition.

Just for fun, and to illustrate how difficult a point by point accounting for this sport is, here is Game 20, to the best of my ability.

Key: Server (U or SPI); Number of balls in play ("serves" are counted); score (Team ahead); Player: O=Ourquia; U=Ussaralde; Lap=Lapergue; Lat=Latxague +=winner, -=error, +b=winner via block

SPI......4..........0-15(U).........U+b
SPI......7..........15-15(=)........Lap+
SPI.....13.........30-15(S)........Lap+
SPI......1..........40-15(S)........O-
U.........3..........40-30(S).......U+b
U.........3..........30-30(=)........O+
U.........4..........30-40(S)....... O-
SPI......4..........30-30(=)........U+b
SPI......3..........40-30(S)........Lap+
U.........1..........30-30(=)........Lap-
U.........3..........40-30(U).......Lap-
SPI......3..........30-30(=)........Lap+
SPI......5..........40-30(S)..........O-
U........17.........30-30(=)..........O+
U.........3..........40-30(U)........Lat-
SPI......9..........30-30(=).........Lap+
SPI......3..........40-30(S).........Lap+
U.........6...........Jokua(S)........Lap+....SPI wins the game

 92 balls in play. SPI won on their 6th game point. U had 2 game points they failed to convert on. Lapergue scored almost 1/4 of his match points in this game. Ussaralde blocks saved the game twice, foreshadowing what was to come.

Selected video.

Game 2 (Note: you will hear the word "artua", which, according to Google Translate means "taken". In Pasaka you cannot hold the ball or try to catch it. The ball must be struck cleanly by the cesta. In this context, "artua" most likely means juggled or held). (2:55--7:55 on the video if the Youtube selection doesn't work on your device).

Game 18 (Judge gives point to incorrect team and following point, where the team that got the benefit purposefully gave the point back) (49:55--51:12)

Game 20 (53:45--63:45)

Game 21--first two points (63:48--64:23)

Games 21 and 22 (63:48--69:00)

Back to the update

Monday, January 9, 2017

Remonte--Enhanced linescore E IV-EIII v S-I

January 7, 2017. Match 3.

Etxeberria IV-Etxeberria III defeated Segurola-Ion 40-26

Full match video (EITB) (match begins at 1 hour, 13 minutes on the video)

Key: Server (E=Etxeberria III, I=Ion); number of balls in play; score (E IV-E III led from beginning to end); player E IV=Etxeberria IV, E III=Etxeberria III, S=Segurola, I=Ion; +=Winner, - =Error, +a=Service ace, 2w=2 wall winner. Note Player listed first on the team is the front court player. Back court players always serve in doubles Remonte.

Note: all scoring is my own judgement. EITB provided no visual scoring in this match. My bias is for winners Calling a close one a winner makes two players happy. Calling a close one an error makes two players angry. I use my experience, such as it is, along with player body language to help me. All points that end with the serve are considered service aces, whether or not I think the receiver should have been able to return it.

E IV--E III won the coin toss and served.

E....7.....1-0........E IV+2w
E....3.....2-0........E III+2w
E....3.....3-0........E IV+2w
E....2.....3-1........S+
I.....6.....4-1........E IV+
E....6.....4-2.........I+
I.....6.....5-2.........E IV+
E..17.....6-2.........E IV+
E....6.....6-3..........I+
I.....4.....7-3..........S-

E.....3.....8-3.........E IV+2w
E....11....9-3.........E III+
E......1...10-3........E III+a
E......7...11-3........E IV+
E......2...11-4.........S+
I.......2...12-4.........S-
E......4...12-5.........S+
I.......9...12-6.........S+2w
I.......2...13-6.........S-
E......7...14-6.........E IV+

E......9...15-6.........E IV+
E......5...16-6.........E IV+
E......3...17-6.........E IV+
E......1...18-6.........E III+a
E......1....19-6........E III+a
E.....18...19-7........S+
I......12...20-7.........E IV+2w
E......3....21-7.........E III+2w
E......2....21-8.........S+
I.......2....22-8.........E III+

E.....4.....22-9.........S+2w
I......6.....23-9.........E IV+
E.....3.....24-9........,S-
E....10....24-10.......E IV-
I.......7....24-11.......S+
I.....13....24-12.......S+
I (pasa)
I.....1......24-13........I+a
I.....3......24-14........I+
I.....4......25-14........E IV+2w
E....2......25-15........I+2w

I.....2......26-15........E IV+
E....9......27-15........E IV+
E...13.....28-15........E IV+
E.....2.....28-16........I+2w
I......8.....29-16........S-
E....5......30-16........E IV+
E....8......30-17........S+2w
I.....2.......31-17.......I-
E....9.......32-17.......E IV+2w
E....4.......32-18.......S+2w

I.....2.......33-18.......E IV+
E....2.......33-19.......S+
I.....5.......33-20.......S+
I.....1.......33-21.......I+a
I.....2.......34-21.......S-
E....8.......34-22.......I+ (1:52:23--1:53:04 on the video. E III behind the back rebote).

I.....7.......34-23.......I+2w
I.....6.......35-23.......E IV+ (E IV ends up in back court during point and wins point from there)

E....5.......36-23.......E IV+2w
E....4.......36-24........I+

I.....1.......36-25.........I+a
I.....6.......37-25.........E IV+2w
E....9.......38-25.........E IV+ (1:57:17-1:57:45 on the video. Another E III behind the back rebote).

E....3........39-25........E IV+2w
E....2........39-26........S+2w
E....3........40-26........E IV+2w

40-26

Number of balls in play: 346

Balls in play/points
0-4=35
5-9=24
10-14=5
15-19=2

Longest point: 18 (19-6 to 19-7)

Scoring:

Etxeberria IV +26 (11 10 2w) -1; Etxeberria III +7 (including 3 service aces, 2 2w) -0 (error corrected January 16, 2017)
Segurola +14 (4 2w) -6; Ion +11 (including 3 service aces, 3 2w) -1

Back to the update

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Miami Fall 2016 final standings: Wins and Wins by Playing Position.

Miami Jai Alai provides its final standings sorted by the number worn by the player. It might be interesting to look at this in a couple of other ways. Below are two sorts that I did that might be more entertaining (and maybe a little more enlightening). The first is a simple win sort. The second is a win sort by player position (front or back court).

(January 2, 2017), Added player Erkiaga, who played a partial season at Miami Jai Alai. Many thanks to Tiger for the addition.

Here are the full standings, sorted by wins

Key:

Player--------------G-----W--P-S--W%--ITM--ITM%--Playing Position

Aritz 723 214 112 104 0.296 0.595 F

Irastorza         629 161 101 101 0.256 0.577 B

Cisneros         734 158 116 100 0.215 0.51   B

Bereikua         782 131 122 102 0.168 0.454 F

Ladutxe 741 129 99 111 0.174 0.457   B

======================================

Ricky 752 118 113 97 0.157 0.436 B

Jabi                685 112 83 89 0.164 0.415 F

Angel 740 110 115 91 0.149 0.427 F

Aldazabal        847 109 102 105 0.129 0.373 B

Rekalde 661 104 68 77 0.157 0.377 F

======================================


Jon                919 97 111 124 0.106 0.361 F

Aizpitarte 873 96 112 134 0.11  0.392 B

Tico              709 92 109 95 0.13    0.417 F

Luis              679 89 78 88 0.131 0.376 F

Garro 875 84 111 108 0.096 0.346 B

======================================


Tevin 733 83 97 79 0.113 0.353 F

Benat 623 78 83 70 0.125 0.371 F

Alejandro 768 77 86 90 0.100 0.329 B

Arriza 785 76 86 83 0.097 0.312 B

Enrique 795 75 87 75 0.094 0.298 F

======================================

Carlos 714 75 100 87 0.105 0.367 B

Santiso 692 74 80 76 0.107 0.332 B

Sierra II         797 72 77 100 0.09  0.312 B

Sierra 853 68 87 140 0.08   0.346 F

Areitio 526 66 69 69 0.125 0.388   F

======================================

Manuel 621 63 84 88 0.101 0.378 B

Zinkunegi 508 62 70 63 0.122 0.384F

Aitzol 527 59 57 56 0.112 0.326 F

Arrasate         470 52 66 55 0.111 0.368 F

Spinner 603 49 50 71 0.081 0.282 B

======================================


Chauderon 554 45 61 55 0.081 0.291 B

Duke 285 41 29 31 0.144 0.354 B

Guisasola 670 39 50 69 0.058 0.236 B

Goenaga 653 29 65 60 0.044 0.236 F

Aizarna 409 25 42 54 0.061 0.296 F

======================================

Ubilla              332 21 51 36 0.063 0.325 B

Erkiaga          53 7 11 7  0.132 0.472 B

====================================
====================================

Here are the full standings, sorted by wins by position

Key:

Player--------------G-----W--P-S--W%--ITM--ITM%--Playing Position

Front Court

Aritz 723 214 112 104 0.296 0.595 F

Bereikua         782 131 122 102 0.168 0.454 F

Jabi                685 112 83 89 0.164 0.415 F

Angel 740 110 115 91 0.149 0.427 F

Rekalde 661 104 68 77 0.157 0.377 F

======================================

Jon                919 97 111 124 0.106 0.361 F

Tico              709 92 109 95 0.13    0.417 F

Luis              679 89 78 88 0.131 0.376 F

Tevin 733 83 97 79 0.113 0.353 F

Benat 623 78 83 70 0.125 0.371 F

======================================

Enrique 795 75 87 75 0.094 0.298 F

Sierra 853 68 87 140 0.08   0.346 F

Areitio 526 66 69 69 0.125 0.388   F

Zinkunegi 508 62 70 63 0.122 0.384 F

Aitzol 527 59 57 56 0.112 0.326 F

======================================

Arrasate         470 52 66 55 0.111 0.368 F

Goenaga 653 29 65 60 0.044 0.236 F

Aizarna 409 25 42 54 0.061 0.296 F

-------------------------------------------------------------

Back Court

Irastorza         629 161 101 101 0.256 0.577 B

Cisneros          734 158 116 100 0.215 0.51    B

Ladutxe 741 129 99 111 0.174 0.457     B

Ricky 752 118 113 97 0.157 0.436 B

Aldazabal        847 109 102 105 0.129 0.373 B

======================================

Aizpitarte 873 96 112 134 0.11  0.392 B

Garro 875 84 111 108 0.096 0.346 B

Alejandro 768 77 86 90 0.100 0.329 B

Arriza 785 76 86 83 0.097 0.312 B

Carlos 714 75 100 87 0.105 0.367 B

======================================

Santiso 692 74 80 76 0.107 0.332 B

Sierra II          797 72 77 100 0.09  0.312 B

Manuel 621 63 84 88 0.101 0.378 B

Spinner 603 49 50 71 0.081 0.282 B

Chauderon 554 45 61 55 0.081 0.291 B

======================================

Duke 285 41 29 31 0.144 0.354 B

Guisasola 670 39 50 69 0.058 0.236    B

Ubilla              332 21 51 36 0.063 0.325   B

Erkiaga           53  7   11  7   0.132 0.472   B

Back to the update