Hoping for a home run

October 2, 2009 - 10:57 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Sports 

red soxIt’s October, and in Israel that means many things – lots of holidays for one, as we’re heading into Succot and building up to Simchat Torah next week.

But for some Israelis, October in Israel also means lack of sleep, and a reshaping of priorities. That’s because the Major League Baseball playoffs are here! And things like families and careers need to take a back seat for a while.

That’s because unlike the prime time atmosphere in which the games are actually taking place, here, they’re on TV beginning anywhere from 1 am to 4 am, which means they could end after the sun comes up. For baseball diehards, that means alot of bleary-eyed mornings, and angry remarks from employers and wives.

Of course, as a Boston Red Sox fan, there’s a silver lining to the inevitable sad ending to their 2009 season. My life takeover and sleep deprivation won’t probably last as long as fans of those teams who are likely to end up in championship series or the World Series. Take that, Yankees fans.

Still, I’ll be ready to root for the team that back ended into the playoffs, winning the wild card slot by losing six games in a row. As anybody who’s witnessed modern day Israel can attest, miracles still occur.

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National pastime

October 2, 2008 - 9:36 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Sports 

As the Jewish calendar enters the High Holiday period, the weather in Israel is beginning to feel a bit like autumn. Cooler nights, high clouds and even a couple downpours have indicated that the season is changing, and always triggers in my mind an October connection between the ‘hagim’ and the weather.

Another perennial October connection is getting up in the middle of the night to watch the Major Leagues baseball playoffs and World Series. Or if a game’s on the West Coast at night, then it means sleeping in til about 5 am.

With my team, defending world champs The Boston Red Sox, making the playoffs for the millionth time in a row, we’re entering the sleepless night phase. All three playoff games played on Wednesday were on TV here – if you have cable, on Fox Sports and ESPN – or, of course, always available on your computer through a subscription to MLB.com.

I’m not enough of a fanatic to stay up all night and watch all three games, but I did set an early wakeup call for 5:30 to watch the Sox take on the Angels in Anaheim. I’ll be missing some games, as they invariably fall on Friday nights or on Yom Kippur. But following baseball is light years more advanced than it was during my first decade in Israel.

Then, it was two-day late scrawny wrap-ups in the International Tribune, and occasional overseas phone calls to get more details. It had its advantages though, as I was pretty much out of it when the 1986 Bill Buckner debacle took place, and didn’t feel the rage and sorrow that the rest of the Red Sox Nation went through.

But with their recent resurgence in the 2000s (did someone say dynasty?), it’s reassuring to know that the Sox are just a TV station away – as long as you don’t mind burning the midnight oil. There’s plenty Red Sox caps and t-shirts on display on the streets of Jerusalem these days, in English and Hebrew. So I know I’m not alone in setting the clock for 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, and receiving rolling eyes glances from their spouses. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all part of being Israeli.

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