On this most holy of Jewish holidays, we here at Dos Minutos would like to say "Sha'na tov'a" to our Jewish friends and family.
It seems appropriate to mention here that, of course, many Jews were amongst the earliest great basketball players in our country. Here at the Jewish Basketball Hall of Fame ( http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/Catalogue/films/jewishbasketball.htm) many of the early greats are remembered.
It seems criminal, though, that Dolph Schayes would be on the list, but not his son Danny Schayes, who enjoyed an 18 year NBA career.
It would tough to make an all-time Jewish team from the list of greats at the website, if only because I only know who about three of them are. I am going to go with Dolph Schayes at center, use my half-Jewish heritage to make a discretionary selection of Danny Schayes at the power forward, and put Irv Bemoras at the other forward spot. In the backcourt I will go with Irwin Blumenreich and Scooter Barry.
Also seems appropriate to mention the firing of Elgin Baylor from the Clipper organization. Players like Baylor built their careers by dunking on less athletic Jews, and eventually forced them out of the game. Unfortunate but, still, in light of thousands of years of serious, serious oppression this is the least of our problems.
First televised Heat pregame today, 2pm, vs the Nets from Paris. Tivo set, full report tomorrow.
