Israeli basketball TV magazine show debuts this month

Inside Israeli Basketball premieres November 12-17 on U.S. cable stations

The transition of San Diego high school phenom Jeremy Tyler to pro basketball in Israel will be a featured segment in the premiere episode of Inside Israeli Basketball, a 30-minute magazine show to be seen monthly in the U.S. on Comcast Versus, the YES Network, SUN Sports, and Jewish Life Television.

The program debuts Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. ET on Versus, with additional airings on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 pm (re-airs at 10 p.m.) on YES; Thursday, Nov.17 at 6:30 p.m. on SUN Sports, and Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. on JLTV, with repeat episodes throughout the month. There will be six more episodes, aiting monthly, running through the spring conclusion of the season.

Inside Israeli Basketball focuses on the Maccabi Haifa team, which received international attention when it signed Tyler to a pro contract after he chose to skip his senior year of high school and improve his game before eligibility for the NBA draft.

Maccabi Haifa, owned by Jeffrey Rosen of Aventura, FL, was the surprise runner-up in the Israeli Premier Basketball league last season, and features a number of U.S. players, including Davon Jefferson of Southern California, Todd Golden, a former St. Mary’s of California product, and Jesse Pellot-Rosa of Virginia Commonwealth.

Check here for weekly television times.  A promo for the show can seen at here.

Happy Birthday, Richie Scheinblum

The former Major Leaguer turns 67 today.

From BaseballLibrary.com:

The switch-hitting Scheinblum frustrated his managers by being a slow starter. “Never in my career have I batted over .200 the first month of the season,” he once said. A perennial prospect with Cleveland, he batted just .186 in 1969, was sold to Washington, and was soon back in the minor leagues. After he led the American Association with a .388 batting average and 108 RBI in 1971, he was purchased by the Royals, for whom he hit .300 as an everyday right fielder in 1972. That November, Kansas City sent him to Cincinnati in the trade for Hal McRae. He batted .222 for Cincinnati in the first 29 games in 1973, was traded to California, and batted .328 the rest of the way – .371 after the All-Star break, and .419 in September.

After leaving the Majors in 1974, he played two seasons for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, becoming the first Jewish player to play for a Japanese franchise. He hit 45 homers and batted .295 during that period.

According to Howard Megdal in The Baseball Talmud

Anytime Scheinblum got the chance to settle into a full-time role, he hit. Unfortunately, teams often make player evaluations on small samples. They are statistically unreliable, and in Scheinblum’s case, they probably cost him a career as a regular.

More World Series thoughts

Speaking of prognosticators, I hope no one put down money based on my own predictions. I had the Phillies. As Kornheiser might ask me says, “How’s that workin’ out for ya?”

* * *

Kudos for the Star-Ledger and their sidebar for separating World Series records from the rest of the post-season pack.

Derek Jeter now has 50 hits in the World Series, which moves him into  fifth place. Andy Pettitte has five wins, good for forth place with a bunch of others.

I bring this up because there has been, in recent years, a move to lump all post-season statistics together, which is obviously unfair to those who played prior to the divisional system.

In the good old fays, the post-season consisted of a maximum of seven games; now it’s 19. Obviously a player like Jeter can put up “better” numbers given the increased opportunities. Yogi Berra, who leads all WS batter with 71 hits, played in “just” 75 games over 14 Fall Classics. By contrast, Jeter has 175 hits in 138 games, which includes 28 “series” (13 AL Divisional, eight League, and seven World).

Come on, statkeepers. Let’s not be lazy!

* * *

So now begins the long off-season. I look forward to seeing what the MLB Network has to offer. The “awards season” is about to get under way. I doubt that Kevin Youkilis or Ryan Braun will get much MVP consideration, but I’m pulling for Phillies’ general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. for NL Executive of the Year. His moves to acquire pitchers Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee certainly helped propel the team into the World Series.

As Steve Martin used to say…

“But the most amazing thing of all: I get paid for doing this” (the closing lines for one of the comedian’s songs during his heyday in the late 1970s).

I bring it up because, once again, it goes to the folly of using sports pundits as a source of reliable information. At least when it comes to betting on games.

One of these days, I’m going to host a website that annotates Pardon the Interruption, to fill in the missing gaps and explain the references that might escape the casual viewer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, but people like Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon come across as so adamant in their pronouncements that it’s almost funny to deconstruct. Of course this comes after the fact, but even so. (Fill-in host Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe will frequently end a prediction by calling it the “lock di tuti locks,” which is kind of funny since I presume he’s Irish.)

So I’m listening to the podcast of yesterday’s PTI in which the lead story is about Game Six of the World Series (Congrats to the Yankees, by the way).

Here’s the transcript, with my footnotes for ease of reading:

TK: Game Six starts in just a little bit from Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte is pitching on three days’ rest, the great Pedro Martinez,¹ pitching on five days’ rest. Wilbon, you don’t like pitchers on short rest, so I assume you’re going to take my boy, Pedro.

MW: Yes, Tony, yes I am. Pettitte’s 37 years old, right? Thirty-seven?

TK: Well, Pedro’s got to be 37¹ also…

MW: Okay, fine, but Pedro’s not pitching on three days’ rest. My point is, if you’re 37 years old and you’re going through whatever Pettitte’s career — I mean a distinguished career of 15, 16 years…

TK: Fabulous post-season record… ²

MW: …you don’t do this thing, okay?  You are not a hulking left tackle of a man like CC Sabathia, who seems to be able to, initially, pitch on three days’ rest. Why are you doing this?

TK: Pedro is much smaller than Pettitte. ³

MW: Pedro once again: not pitching on three days’ rest, pitching on five days’ rest.

TK: I think the critical factor is not so much the amount of rest, although that’s part of it. The weather is going to be in the 40s and these guys are almost in their 40s. I don’t think either pitcher will go five full [innings].

MW: Wow.

TK: I think this is going to be one of those 9-8 sorts of games⁴ and I think the bullpens will be in early and the bullpens on both sides aren’t very good until you get to Mariano Rivera⁵, and I don’t know that the Yankees will be able to get to [him].⁶

MW: That scenario makes sense, given the weather. But, Tony, if Pedro Martinez, having talked all the smack he’s talked and … to have been as great a pitcher as he’s been, I expect Pedro to go out there and get a quality start of seven innings, two or three earned runs… ⁷

TK: Seven innings!

MW: Yes.

TK: He’s like 90!

MW: Five days’ rest, Tony.

TK: I’m telling you, I don’t think either guy gets out of the fifth.⁸

MW: Pedro has been selling woof tickets {editor’s note: ?] for a week.

TK: I like him, but I don’t think he gets out of the fifth.

MW: Let’s see him pitch.

Later in the show, Kornheiser and Wilbon repeat their predictions to guests Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, the announcers for the broadcast on FOX, who have their own opinions, which I won’t go into here (you can listen to the podcast on iTunes).

So can we take away from this? Basically, in the majority of instances, these guys can’t forecast the outcome any better than you or I. Except they get on the air and are often paid handsomely for getting it wrong.

---

¹ 38, actually.

² 18-9 with a 3.90 ERA in 40 games. Pettitte appeared in one National League Divisional series, 11 ALDS, seven AL Championship Series, 1 NLCS, and eight World Series. Not too shabby.

³ Pettitte: 6′5″, 235. Martinez: 5′11″, 170.

⁴ The Yankees broke out to leads of 2-0, 4-1, and 7-1 before winning 7-3.

⁵ After Martinez and Durbin allowed the seven runs, four Phillies relievers combine for no runs (which, although statistically correct, is misleading since Happ was not penalized for the two inherited runners he allowed to score). Meanwhile, the two relievers preceding Rivera allowed just one hit.

⁶ Yes, they did, even bringing him in in the eighth inning, to record the final five outs. While the four run lead, however, he did not earn a save.

⁷ Martinez did not have a quality start, which is six innings or more allowing three earned runs or less. He was gone, as Kornheiser predicted, by the fifth.

⁸ Pettitte didn’t get a quality start either, but he did pitch into the sixth inning.

Getting to know you: Sam Fuld

The most excellent Baseball Prospectus ran this interview with Sam Fuld, the defensive whiz for the Chicago Cubs. Strictly a “trade” Q&A, no personal stuff or anything.

Fuld strikes me as a very mature young man, given his profession (he turns 28 on Nov. 20). He is a graduate of Stanford with a degree in economics, so he’s quite comfortable discussing numbers.

A couple of interesting points in the interview, which was conducted by David Laurila:

DL: Using data to improve performance is one thing. Using it to assess performance is another. Do you see value in looking at your numbers for the purpose of better understanding your own game?

SF: Yes, I think so, but ultimately it comes down to what the people who are employing you think. If they’re not aware of it, it may not be too beneficial for you to worry about it. If they’re more worried about the basic statistics like batting average, slugging percentage, RBIs, and runs, maybe that’s all you need to worry about as a hitter. Ultimately, they’re the ones who make the decisions, so you have to worry about what they care about, essentially.

You hear about this a lot when it comes time to negotiate salary. If the guy is a line drive hitter, the club says, “yeah, but you didn’t hit for power.” If he’s a power hitter, they say, “yeah but you struck out too much and didn’t get on base often enough,” etc. (Players’ agents spend lots of time working on statistical reports to prove the value of their clients. In 2008, Roger Clemens’ team infamously published a 49-page document meant to somehow prove to Congress that their client came by his talent naturally and not through pharmaceuticals. That, in turn, led to this rejoinder from the Freakonomics blog in The New York Times.)

The other minor quibble  goes to the expression, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

BP states that Fuld led the Cubs in On-Base Percentage. While this is technically true — Fuld’s mark of .406 topped his teammates — he had only 115 plate appearances. Compare this with Derek Lee’s .393 in 615 PAs and I think you get my point.

Still, kudos to BP for the piece. It’s always nice to find some intelligent discussion out there, rather than the “my team is great, yours sucks” genre.

We’re off on the road to Tampa

And when I say “we,” of course, I mean “I.”

Yankees Fantasy Camp is less than two weeks away and I feel woefully unprepared. I have a history of not taking these things seriously enough, although even to pair the word “seriously” with “fantasy camp” seems silly.

According to the 12-week pre-camp training program I received, at this point I should be

• making 60 throws from distances of 60, 75, and 90 feet. Since I have no one to practice with, I simulate throwing with a five-pound weight.
• taking 45 swings. Can’t find a batting cage around here, so I just swing an old wooden bat I have left over from camp days.
• fielding 45 ground balls. Basically, if there’s room in the gym I just do a few short lateral dashes.
• 15 sprints of 30, 60, and 90 yards. This is pretty easy. After a half-mile warm up on a track, I do these. There’s also a ball field out back of my office, so I can actually run the bases: a set to first, a set to second, and a set to third. I’m even practicing glancing to right field on my way to second, then picking up the phantom third base coach.

There are a couple of Yankees Fantasy Camp groups on Facebook, but it seems pretty dormant.

Booked my flight via Expedia, but all I got was a simple piece of paper with my with my ticket number on it. Doesn’t look like an E-ticket; no bar code or anything. Should I be nervous? Can anyone out there confirm that this is the way it works?

More, later.

Here’s something you don’t see every day

Ebbets Field Flannels, an outfit for nostalgic jerseys and caps, recently introduced this replica 1929 t-shirt:

According to the brochure,

Hakoah (”The Strength” in Hebrew) was formed by members of the original Vienna Hakoah club that toured the U.S. in 1926, drawing 46,000 to the Polo Grounds. The original Vienna club was closed down by the Nazis following the Anschluss in 1938. The Amwerican Hakoah team survived in various forms until the late 1950s.

DVD review: The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg

Beliefnet published this review as a tie-in to the World Series.

The more things change: college sports edition

The recent High Holy Days caused a bit of a commotion in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League, as both hustled to change scheduled games in deference to their Jewish fans. But as we have seen, the same considerations do not seem to apply to more junior levels of competition. Here’s another piece, written by a thoughtful Jewish athlete at Swarthmore College about her own experience.

Omri Casspi: Day One (and beyond)

The Jerusalem Post published this assessment of Omri Casspi’s debut for the Sacramento Kings.

Last night, Casspi scored 15 points, including 3-4 from three-point range, to help the Kings win their home opener, beating the Memphis Grizzlies in overtime, 127-116, to pick up their first victory of the young season. He also had two blocked shots and two steals.

As Jason Jones reports in today’s Sacramento Bee, “Its not taking long for Casspi to shine.”

As for that meeting between Casspi and Hamed Haddadi,the grizzlies’ Iranian-born center (from Interbasket.net):

So much for the gesture of international peace, after playing in each of the three previous games, Hamed Haddadi of Iran registered his first DNP of the season, in a game against the first Israeli NBA player Omri Casspi. Read into that how you will. Haddadi had previously mentioned that he was open to reaching out to Casspi before the game to shake his hand; I’m not sure if that happened.

Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

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