SubscribeWhither the Jewish Jordan?
Via JTA, a video feature from NBC’s Washington affiliate on Tamir Goodman.
Why is it that any high-profile MOT basketball player is referred to as “the Jewish Jordan?” No other sport does that. You don’t hear anyone calling Braun, Youkilis, and Kinsler the “Jewish Ted Williams” or Matthieu Schneider “the Jewish Gordie Howe,” do you? Just sayin’.
By the way, Goodman’s current team, the Haifa Heat won its game against Bnei Hasharon, 75-71, on Sunday night to remain alive in the BSL playoffs.
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Because the Jewish Jordan is alliterative and just flows…
The Jewish Gordie Howe doesn’t quite work…
It’s been my experience that many people in the sports media are lazy & not particularly intellectually curious. Over the years, I grew very tired of hearing about up-and-coming”Jewish Jordans” … just as I grew tired of the litany of “next Jordan” & “poor man’s Michael Jordan” flame outs (i.e., Dennis Hopson, Harold Miner, etc.).
Hilariously, some of the “Jewish Jordans” weren’t even Jews (exemplifying my contention that sports media people tend to be lazy). Former Minnesota Golden Gopher & Los Angeles Laker Sam Jacobson was hyped as the “Jewish Jordan” throughout Minnesota’s run to the 1997 Final Four, despite the fact that he was Catholic. But he had dark hair, his father was a surgeon & his name “sounded Jewish.”
Long story short: I Definitely won’t be bemoaning the end of the “Jewish Jordan” era.
Obviously, the “Jewish Jordan” is alliterative. But, in my opinion, media hype over “Jewish Jordans” was still the result of laziness by the sports media.
It fit with the theme — which was prevalent at the time — of comparing up-and-coming standout 2 guards to Michael Jordan (i.e., “the next Jordan,” “poor man’s Michael Jordan,” “Baby Jordan,” etc.).
If it were just about alliteration and fluidity when rolling off the tongue, there would be a “Kosher Kobe” and a “Levite Lebron” by now. But in the post-Jordan era, the national sports media has, more or less, stopped making preposterously overreaching comparisons of young athletes to established superstars (thankfully).
Again, I think intellectual laziness by sports media folks was the primary reason for all the Jordan comparisons (both Jew & gentile) that were made circa 1987-1997/98.