Saturday, July 08, 2006
Jewish Major Leaguers
Ficticious sports teams are cool. Let me explain, I mean all-star types of teams that nobody would ever think to put together. I heard of people playing a statistical replay baseball board game that pitted the best Bobs against the best Daves. OK, so somebody obviously though of that, but you get what I mean. I actually tried to do Bobs vs. Daves with a friend, but then we got into an arguement over whether Roberto Alomar should be considered a Bob. I had the Bobs, so, obviously I thought Roberto was close enough to Bob to allow him to be added to my team.
In college, while taking a Greek Mythology course, I made up my All-Greek Mythology Football team. You'd think Zeus would be a shoe-in to be quarterback, but I alwas thought Zeus had a bit of a mean streak and decided he should be my middle linebacker, flanked by his brothers Hades and Poseidon. My QB was Odysseyus, who, though a mortal, showed good leadership skills in the Trojan War and was good with a bow and arrow, I figured that skill would translate well to passing.
A friend at USSB, Bob McSherry, came up with his All-Cancer Baseball Team. Not people who were born between June 22nd and July 22nd, he meant major leaguers who had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. We had a bit of a controversy when Jon Kruk - 1B - SD-Phi-CHW - Testicular Cancer was put into the starting slot for 3rd base. I guess there wasn't a good candidate at third with cancer so Kruk was pressed into duty.
I thought this shit was really funny, but I felt bad for laughing about it. Kruk always had a great attitude about his condition ("I'm taking my ball and going home....") so I didn't too terribly remorseful about it. Still, it's just somehow wrong to laugh at a condition about that.
I thought about playing blacks vs. whites vs. hispanics in Status Pro Baseball, but I just felt dirty when I even considered the idea. A great baseball player is a great baseball player. I shouldn't give a damn about his race or even where he came from. There are lots of great athletes from every walk of life, from every country and every ethnicity. As the major american sports become more popular around the world I think it's great that a freakishly tall guy like Yao Ming can excell in the NBA, that Ichiro is arguably the best player in baseball.
Then I found this:
It was at a Web Site called Jewish Major Leaguers. It's an intersting site. I never knew Brad Ausmus of the Houston Astros was Jewish. I never really cared either, he's a pretty good catcher and by all accounts, a great teammate. You can order a baseball card set of great Jewish major leaguers through the history of baseball, each card featuring a Star of David. I'm not sure if the back of the cards indicate whether each player observes Shabbos or not.
I'm assuming that the card set is celebrating ethnically Jewish baseball players as opposed to those who are/were religiously Jewish. I didn't see Rod Carew, who converted after marrying a Jewish woman in the card set.
I have never seen another card set of this type. I don't really care one way or the other, it just seems really odd to me. You couldn't get away with making a Negro Major Leaguers baseball card set, or a Voodoo Practicioners Major Leaguers set. And you probably shouldn't.
Oh, I don't know what I'm trying to say here.....
BOJ
In college, while taking a Greek Mythology course, I made up my All-Greek Mythology Football team. You'd think Zeus would be a shoe-in to be quarterback, but I alwas thought Zeus had a bit of a mean streak and decided he should be my middle linebacker, flanked by his brothers Hades and Poseidon. My QB was Odysseyus, who, though a mortal, showed good leadership skills in the Trojan War and was good with a bow and arrow, I figured that skill would translate well to passing.
A friend at USSB, Bob McSherry, came up with his All-Cancer Baseball Team. Not people who were born between June 22nd and July 22nd, he meant major leaguers who had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. We had a bit of a controversy when Jon Kruk - 1B - SD-Phi-CHW - Testicular Cancer was put into the starting slot for 3rd base. I guess there wasn't a good candidate at third with cancer so Kruk was pressed into duty.
I thought this shit was really funny, but I felt bad for laughing about it. Kruk always had a great attitude about his condition ("I'm taking my ball and going home....") so I didn't too terribly remorseful about it. Still, it's just somehow wrong to laugh at a condition about that.
I thought about playing blacks vs. whites vs. hispanics in Status Pro Baseball, but I just felt dirty when I even considered the idea. A great baseball player is a great baseball player. I shouldn't give a damn about his race or even where he came from. There are lots of great athletes from every walk of life, from every country and every ethnicity. As the major american sports become more popular around the world I think it's great that a freakishly tall guy like Yao Ming can excell in the NBA, that Ichiro is arguably the best player in baseball.
Then I found this:
It was at a Web Site called Jewish Major Leaguers. It's an intersting site. I never knew Brad Ausmus of the Houston Astros was Jewish. I never really cared either, he's a pretty good catcher and by all accounts, a great teammate. You can order a baseball card set of great Jewish major leaguers through the history of baseball, each card featuring a Star of David. I'm not sure if the back of the cards indicate whether each player observes Shabbos or not.
I'm assuming that the card set is celebrating ethnically Jewish baseball players as opposed to those who are/were religiously Jewish. I didn't see Rod Carew, who converted after marrying a Jewish woman in the card set.
I have never seen another card set of this type. I don't really care one way or the other, it just seems really odd to me. You couldn't get away with making a Negro Major Leaguers baseball card set, or a Voodoo Practicioners Major Leaguers set. And you probably shouldn't.
Oh, I don't know what I'm trying to say here.....
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 2:14 PM 
