Prepare for a Friday morning nuclear blast in Israel.
Metaphorically, of course.
Right about now, Our Man Elli's atom bomb of a story on the disastrous first season of the Israel Baseball League is rolling off the presses of the esteemed Haaretz newspaper-- a paper known as The New York Times of Israel. Soon the paper will be delivered to newsstands and hundreds of thousands of homes across Israel and the Middle East. Elli's story will take up the entire Page 4. (It will also appear in Jewish weeklies across America-- and we predict that it will soon be appreciated as brave, clear-eyed journalism at its best).
While the unblinking report has been hurtling through cyberspace since we ran it exclusively on Tuesday, this is the first time a version will be appearing in cold, hard, smudgy newsprint-- to be debated over in cafes, screamed about in buses, or in utlimate anger, behind closed doors, used as toilet paper!
By sun-up, Elli Wohlgelernter will surely be the most hated man in Israel. If it were a choice between aiming for him or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the dunking booth at an Israeli County Fair, many local sports fans would give pause before throwing the baseball at a target.
(UPDATE: Read the Haaretz article, 'The Boys, and Oys, of Summer,' here.)
The article by Elli Wohlgelernter was excellent. The natural instinct is to have total uncritical support of the IBL. It is such a positive and well meaning sports venture. But the problems are real ones and lest anyone forget, investors are putting money behind the IBL and have every right to ensure that it is well managed. This is not just a philanthropic league. Like any business, it is intended to make money. Although some of the mis-steps are to be expected, others obvious and serious ones. There is no harm in full disclosure and quite frankly Mr. Wohlgelernter may have only scratched the surface of some of the issues.
ReplyDeletewell written!
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying the truth!
From the Netz Minyan