Somer may remember a former regular here,NicholasW, a linguist at University College London. in his article on Basque for everything2.com, the online collaborative knowledgebase, he says of this game: "The Basque national game is pilota, a high-speed form of squash. It is never called jai alai (literally 'happy festival'), the name by which it's commonly known outside the Basque country."

Here's a link to his article, for any who are interested:
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Basque



The everything2.com article on jai alai adds this:

"Jai Alai is one of the few sports where left-handed people can't play, at least not with their left hand. The rules and traditions specifically forbid it. The reason is that the court has only 3 walls, and spectators watch behind a chain-link fence. The side wall on the left is where the ball can be rebounded. Because of that, it would be dangerous and really difficult to throw and catch with their left hands. Well, if both players were left-handed, they could just use the other wall, but currently lefties are banned from playing."

noho ora mai
http://maxqnzs.com/References.html