One of the most colorful characters to emerge from the troubled first season of the Israel Baseball League was Leon Feingold, a pitcher for the Netanya Tigers-- and in the offseason, a real-life professional competitive eater. Leon's never been a fan of our coverage, but we've always been a fan of his, and we're happy to find that he took a break from shoving hard-boiled eggs and (we hope kosher) weiners into his gaping maw to give us the first IBL player review of the acclaimed (Variety: "Socko!") IBL documentary film, Holy Land Hardball. Unfortunately, he uses the occasion to take an unnecessary cheap shot at Our Man Elli in Israel and the Tabloid Baby staff, completely misunderstanding the role and obligations of a hard-hitting journalist, which is not to sniff the jocks of nudniks like Leon, but to ask the tough questions that if others had followed suit, may have resulted in a happier sequel to the inaugural IBL season than a four-team, 20-game, three-week "momentum-keeping" miniseason. In fact, Leon should be wiping the yolk from his lips and thanking us not only for finding his review tucked away all by itself on our archive site, but for providing him and his fellow IBL vets and fans with the only one-stop shopping site for all the news and comments, not to mention the forum for him to air his views... and to print this latest rave for Holy Land Hardball!Take it, Leon...
"The IBL documentary 'Holy Land Hardball' made its world premiere in the prestigious Silverdocs festival in Washington DC this past weekend; the movie itself was great, and *extremely* well received by both audiences - it was universally hailed as one of the top films of the festival."It was also an evenhanded picture of the plusses and minuses of the events leading up to last season - and many of the players in the audience were able to enjoy the view from management's perspective as well as be reminded of some of the events which made last year so special. This was a completely independent documentary done by Eric Kesten and Brett Rapkin, beholden to no one other than the audience - and they did an exemplary job putting together the kind of newsworthy piece Elli only imagines in his wettest of dreams.
"Speaking of whom, it was brilliant watching Elli try to trash the league from BEFORE day one - so much for his claims to legitimate journalism. What a tool!!!
"Oh, and now that the league is back, it will be nice to have the rest of the world to turn to for news on the IBL rather than TabloidBaby. For nothing else, they've been good for keeping alive some degree of buzz about the league and baseball in Israel. So... thanks! I guess there really is something to the saying that even bad publicity is good publicity.
"I'll be back this year, and the arm feels great - looking forward to seeing who else will be."
Leon Feingold, Netanya Tigers
4 comments:
Leon: What news is there on the IBL website? Rosters? Fields? New merchandise?
Did you get paid in full?
Did all the other players get paid?
Leon: I'm sorry I badmouthed you in my earlier post, and that I'm too weak of an individual to post my name, and defend my words like a man such as you do. I know that you are working on issues that I brought up, and are striving to make this a win-win situation for everyone. I apologize again for being a coward and uninformed, and openly badmouthing everyone possible in an attempt to drag others into the misery that is my life.
Sincerely,
anonymous
Dear Mr Anonymous,
I posted that earlier post. Very clever to pretend that you are apologizing for something that you did not write. When all these dimwit players realize what is going on ,we will then have real baseball in the Holyland.
Nice try Larry!
Hey Dan , write something on the IBL website! Aren't you the new president. We all would love to hear your new ideas.
anonymous,
I don't know who you are, because you like myself am too cowardly and timid to actually let anyone know our real names, but I wrote the original message, and have had a change of heart.
I feel sad in my heart of hearts for badmouthing people on a consistent basis, with the majority of it unfounded, so maybe you, like me, should do a 180* and try to focus more on the lighter side of these things.
We are all upset that there are issues, but you know what? Our complaining on a blog comment section may not be the best way to work through the problems. I realize that baseball won't be successful in Israel, with honest leadership or otherwise, unless we band together.
Hopefully my efforts will be directed in a much more positive manner, and I pray for you as well as the rest of the nay-sayers on Tabloid Baby. Even the tabloidbaby staff has begun to reach out to both sides, with the posts from Leon, and the pursuit of public opinion regarding the placement of Dan Rootenberg.
I am excited to take a new stance on the league, and will continue to argue for reform, but now in a much more respective manner.
Please don't attempt to claim my posts as your own, now or in the future!
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