SubscribeIn this corner…
Decisions, decisions:
In this corner we have rabbinical student and WBA champion, Orthodox Jew, and rabbinical student Yuri Foreman.
In this corner we have a bar mitzva party.
As luck would have it, both seem to be scheduled for the same time and place: Yankee Stadium on Saturday, June 5 (which happens to be my birthday, too! In lieu of presents, send gifts).
Foreman would face Miguel Cotto in a late evening bout, to allow for Orthodox fans — not to mention the Shomer Shabbos shuffler himself — to attend the “festivities.” A Ken Belson item in The New York Times noted that “A card including Foreman, who is Jewish, and Cotto (34-2, 27 knockouts), who is Puerto Rican, would have obvious appeal because of the large Jewish and Puerto Rican communities in New York.” So, presumably millions of people could be affected.
But speaking of festivities, wouldn’t you know that the “hall” has already been booked by Jonathan Ballan, the lead bond lawyer for the financing of Yankee Stadium, for his son’s party.
From Richard Sandomir in today’s Times:
In addition to providing lounges, the Yankees promised to give the Ballan party access to the stadium’s giant scoreboard in center field for 30 minutes.
But now the Yankees are negotiating with Arum to hold the first boxing event at the new stadium on…. The 30,000 or so fans expected at the bout would probably not enjoy seeing a montage of Ballan family photos on the scoreboard….
The Yankees are negotiating with Ballan and expect to reach an agreement by the end of this week. The price of the bar mitzvah is at issue, Arum said.
To sweeten the deal, Arum offered everyone in the bar mitzvah party seats for the fight. Foreman has agreed to meet the bar mitzvah boy in his dressing room before the fight. Arum said the Yankees would give the bar mitzvah boy and his friends autographed baseballs. In effect, the most powerful team in professional sports and the country’s most prominent boxing promoter are negotiating with a bar mitzvah boy.
Don’t get me started on the whole issue of excess when it comes to these celebrations. It makes me think of a scene from Entourage or some other program when they want to show how outrageous and out of hand these things get.
Rabbi Jason Miller, an occasional guest columnist on the Korner, has this to say on the subject.
I actually feel sorry for this kid.
I love the Billboard! This kid is being offered the deal of his life…
For any updates on Yuri, you can join his facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/YuriFans
Here’s a video of him winning the world title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baECvLpO1EI&feature=related
Enjoyed the youtube video of Foreman. Pretty awesome having a Jewish boxing champion, at least in this day and age. We did used to have a pretty good hold on the sport, believe it or not (read “When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport”. As for the Bar Mitzvah excesses, agreed, it’s probably best not to get started on this topic. The omision states the obvious.