You remember
Leon Feingold. He was the
professional competitive eater who pitched for the Netanya Tigers during the
Israel Baseball League's first season who became the foremost post-season apologist for the IBL management malfeasance and, along with self-professed "Peter Pan"
Eric Holtz, a leading critic of
Our Man Elli in Israel's reportage of the real story behind the IBL facade, hurling insults much harder, but equally as inaccurately, as his 33-year-old arm could muster.
Now Leon's back, and his fellow IBL players who've seen their paychecks bounce, their hard work gone unrewarded and their dreams urinated on by secretive back bay business, can't be too happy by what he has to say about the plans of the IBL's successors, the Dominican Republic of the Middle East Baseball League, to replace its four-team, 20-game, three-week momentum-keeping mini-season with an exhibition tournament in August.
And neither will native Israelis. Because now he's blaming them-- not Elli and not IBL founder Larry Baras for the failure.
“It will be the Israelis against the world, which is sort of what it is in real life,” the Long Island weiner-chomper
tells the Jewish Star of Nassau County, Long Island.
“The reason the league didn’t do nearly as well as it should have last season was because those who live there haven’t grown up with baseball. How can we expect to succeed with a product when no one in Israel has ever tasted it? Getting the kids involved is always the first step.”
The pie-eater said he and other players will run "youth clinics" coinciding with the beginning of the tourney at the Yarkon Sports Complex in the Baptist Village of Petach Tikva on Aug. 14.
“We’re also going to be doing a lot of PR work which, in my opinion, we should have been doing all along, with clinics and outreach programs in different cities in order to bring in more fans.
“I am very much looking forward to going, both in terms of going to Israel and in terms of playing at (the professional) level again,” the six-foot-six bean slurper said. “I am sure the experience will be different because the structure of the league has changed so drastically, but anytime I get to play baseball and travel to Israel, that’s a good thing.”
Our Man Elli in Israel reports that Jason Bonder, the 22-year-old pitcher for the IBL's Tel Aviv Lightning, is the "All-Star" who changed his mind and says he won't be joining David Solomont's baseball "show" festival that's supposed to be starting on August 14th.
El Presidente David Solomonte of the Dominican Republic of the Middle East Baseball League might want to think about adding extra security for his weeklong baseball “show” festival that’s being promised to replace an actual Israel baseball league season, beginning August 14th at the Yarkon Sports Complex in Petach Tikva.
The athletes who manned the IBL in 2007 never formed a labor union, but as in wartime or summer camp, formed a bond that was only strengthened when many returned to their native lands to find that their paltry paychecks had bounced!
Hey Leon, do you give a s--- about the rest of us who have been screwed again and again by the IBL? Who bounced my check again? And bulls--- me about getting me my money? And don't return my emails or phone calls? Who's paying your way to Israel? And why isn't that cash being used to pay everyone from last year first? What's the matter with you? Go choke on a schnitzel, jerk.
Today, posting as "bringheat" in our comment section, the man who lists both MENSA and Gluttonfest on his CV not only disowns the comment, but denies being an "apologist" for IBL management, while claiming that our reportage has libeled Larry Baras and other IBL executives. The Masonic lodge warden also asserts that none of the dozens of anonymous complaints in the Tabloid Baby comments section about bounced paychecks and unpaid bills is "legitimate," and wrongly assumes that many comments on this site were posted by members of the Tabloid Baby staff-- obviously misjudging the animus directed toward him and his actions in support of the IBL management on a site that has become a clearinghouse and anonymous sounding board for many IBL players and fans.
And neither will native Israelis. Because now he's blaming them-- not Elli and not IBL founder Larry Baras for the failure.
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!
"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.
