The show will go on!
Our Man Elli in Israel reports tonight that the Dominican Republic of The Middle East’s one-week baseball “show” festival, will indeed begin on Thursday, August 14th, replacing the Israel Baseball League’s once-announced four-team, 20-game, three week “mini-season.”
Well, maybe. You know how it goes with these guys. It's only Sunday, so things could collapse before Thursday.
At last word, “In-coming” El Presidente David Solomont will be arriving with twelve players for his "All-Star" team. But Our Man Elli has learned that not all of the athletes can really be considered "All-Stars" of the Shoeless Leon Feingold stature. As it now stands, some of the "IBL All Star" team have never played in the IBL.
One, we hear is the brother of an IBL player who has not heeded the call. Others, for all we know, could be Leon's colleagues from the International Federation of Competetive Eating.
Elli has learned that despite the furor of the past weeks, two more IBL veterans-- Bryan Pinchuk and Josh Doane-- have decided to join Leon, Willis Bumphus, David Kramer, Mike Lyons and Ray Rodriguez, heading to Israel to face Israeli players on the field. Other names will follow.
The festival, known un-affectionately among other IBL vets as “Festivus,” will be played at Baptist Village. The players will be sleeping in cottages at Baptist Village.
The baseball show has so far not been advertised among Israelis.
The Israel Association of Baseball has not sanctioned or authorized the group to play in Israel. The IAB has scheduled an executive board meeting for Wednesday.
Elli quotes a source: "Whether a team comes or not won't affect the longer term decision on whether they'll ever be able to operate a league."
Details to follow.
"This is going to be the Dominican Republic of the Middle East... Our players are going over to put on a show!"--"In-coming" El Presidente Solomonte
29 comments:
Jason Benson has backed out.
Have these IBL players asked themselves, or Solomont, how this Festival can go on and he can pay their airfare after he bounced checks to so many of their friends from last summer within the last month and a half? Are they at all concerned that Shaun Smith and the Australian contingency are still owed thousands of dollars and Solomont, Berger and Baran haven't even reached out to them while they are planning this Festival? One can only hope that if and when they go to Israel for this mickey mouse version of a tournament, they at least ask all of these men some tough questions. It is not enough that Solomont has promised to pay off debts when he has failed to make a real dent in the debt by now.
And to you fans in Israel, who we all miss a whole lot...why don't you guys introduce yourself to this guy Solomont and ask him how he can continue to bounce checks to the guys you enjoyed rooting for so much last year. It's not all about a pick-up game of baseball for a week. It's about getting some real folks in there to grow baseball into what you remember from the States. And this is not the way to do it.
And to all my amazing colleagues from last summer, it would be great if you guys who feel the same way would step up and voice your opinions. And, if you feel differently, let's hear why, too.
sorry boys cant be there have to stay for the playoffs in my on going contract we have a legit shot to win the evon gervais cup in canada this year!! Hope the best for all the boys going over god bless and rep the IBL well boys!!!!!!!!!!
i think you all are forgetting something,
what about the israeli players who won't play until they get paid,
there are at least 3 israeli players out of the country (israel).
how about an all expense paid One-Way ticket from Solomont to these poor guys, who have nowhere to sleep,eat or play. These poor kids have no idea what they are in for, and Solomont will never do the right thing. This is a crying shame as I would almost want Baras back after this Solomont doofis
get ready for some disappointing, and unsurprising news.
"I would almost want Baras back" - Wow, now there's a scary thought. Then again, he never left.
I just cant wait for Thursday night. I am getting goosebumps.
But why has it not been advertised on even the IBL website with details?
Are all the players on the way?(With real rountrip tickets)
Was the Israeli team even notified?
Were the player debts paid?
Is the new money that came in going to pay for this festival? Or past debts such as the Kfar ? The busdriver? Come to think of it , anybody whether a player or other that supports this behavior is an out and out jerk.
It is very interesting that we never hear from Dan Rootenberg, Eric Holtz or even Jason Benson anymore. The only guys man enough to go on record are Alan Gardner and Leon Feingold.
We also have not heard from our current master of ceremonies David Solomont or our founding father Larry Baras in quite a while.
Is there a man amongst you?
the israeli team hasn't been notified...
we don't have our team here,
alon is in the mlb academy , daniel maddy weizmann is going to collage, moish lewis is going to collage as well and more...
mr. hardlee hearing- do you also expect to hear from bud and wendy selig? actions speak louder than words!
burt is gonna wet his pants
hey, does anyone out there talk to scott perlman?
isn't he the guy in charge of group ticket sales?
hey, scott, come on and throw us a bone...how many advance sales have you made? 0? 10? 50? 100?
and are you getting paid by this dude solomont while some of us are still getting hosed up the ass? how's it feel to screw your "friends"?
Actions speak louder than words
Hmm , Ive seen the actions of all these guys. Pathetic.
COUNTDOWN
two days 9 hours 58 minuts 11 seconds to what????
The new festivus tee-shirt is hilarious. It has a picture of Baras Berger Solomont . It will be a priceless momento guaranteed!
Hardlee Heering-Obviously, you are a moron-If Noone has heard from Rootenberg,Holtz or Perlman-think there may be a reason? In many cases actions do speak louder than words and guess what-They must not have been happy either-Get a life
Moron? Me or you? Or are you just one of those guys friends defending them. How about Holtz who called on guys to man up and use their names if they wanted their questions to him to get an answer. People did and big man Holtz has been hiding under a pile of unsold uniforms without giving anyone an answer yet. Dan got screwed and disappeared. Why isn't he speaking out about what he saw? Perlman's still listed as their ticket sales guy. Maybe he could tell us why since his friends are still getting dicked over by these people. And if he's not, why not say so...PUTZ.
Hardlee-I know for a fact Holtz never typed on this blog. Someone used his name to try to get a response. It worked-He is honest and I am sure if he could have done something he would have, but as I said Silence can be much louder than words at some junctures. Perlman has not been involved at all since they posted him on there, so the one you need to ask would be Solomont,Berger or Baras-Obviously Rootenberg did not like what was happening, and they do not come better than Root
Can someone please explain to me and the rest of the un-paid players how solomnt can pay for flights and living arrangments for players but does not have the money to pay us first?
"Can someone please explain to me and the rest of the un-paid players how solomnt can pay for flights and living arrangments for players but does not have the money to pay us first?"
He has no connection to last year, so I bet he doesn't feel any obligation. Clearly wrong, but still...
If Holtzy reads this, let us know where we can buy the unused jerseys. i'd be down to pick up a couple.
Nobody said Holtz was dishonest. But why cant Root,Scotty or Holtz come out and say what is really going on,to the masses?
That is all I am saying!
Meanwhile ,we are two days away . Are they really coming to Israel?
Is there an Israeli team?
Will there be any fans from Israel which has no information at all!
Whether Holtz was dishonest is open to debate - he vocally supported the corrupt IBL regime for the whole year, and he is now supporting them with his silence. If it's not dishonesty, he is certainly complicit in allowing the fraud and scam to continue, when he knows what's really going on. That complicity enables the IBL to maintain the facade of business as usual, which by definition prevents any real chance of baseball happening in Israel in 2009, or possibly ever. Show some sac, Holtz, and hit one, and raise that average from .092. You could even end up the MVP, if you step up to the plate now.
"In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man" (Ethics of the Fathers, 2:5)
Damn! Let's here it for the Pirkei Avot!!!
Hey, Holtzy, who's your daddy?
Dude, you are barking up the wrong tree! The person doing the deception is DAVID SOLOMONT. The only person who knows what is in his head is him (if even that is true).
What deception is David Solomont doing?
Not being forthcoming is a custom of the IBL.Just ask Larry. Which hospitals are the players going to visit? Where will the youth clinics be?
TB what do you mean he has no connection to last year??? You've been on top of this story to long for a response like that. He's the "incoming" president. So by his rational if a person takes over a business and that business owes money to former employees he doesn't have any obligation to them because doesn't feel like he has a connection since he didn’t hire them? It's his company now. Whether the debts are his or not, they are the company's debt. No one forced him into being president of the league. The fact that he can buy plane tickets for former players, who he doesn't have a "connection" with, and bounce checks to other is ludicrous. And you tell me he feels like he has no connection....But he has enough connection to hold a festival for former players in which he didn’t hire or ever see play! So TB please give me/us something a little more though provoking then he didn’t have any connection to us!
Dude, its a business, a NEW business in fact.
TabloidBaby has said they are bringing in scabs (look at all the players who said 'heck no' to going back to play), under Solomonts command, so clearly they are trying to clear out anyone with animosity against the league. Solomont wasn't a part of last year, so I'm sure he's a part of a new LLC created for bringing in new investors and himself, so that he and other new investors are not financially responsible for the previous seasons debts.
When it comes to investment, why would you cover someone elses debts if you didn't have to?
I didn't say it was right, you're just overemotional. Chill the f*** out bro.
Any players who are going back probably don't read this site, and from what I hear, are out of contact with even the 'league' itself. I'd bet Feingold and Pinchuk are the only ones who know the continuance of the issues. And if the only way for some of these dudes to get money or a job is to go to Israel, respect that choice they make.
Feel free to bash Baras, Berger and Solomont for their actions, but leave people of character like Root, Holtz and those players out of it. Otherwise you yourself have no character
IAB scared to let players play against IBL players incase of embarresment
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