Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sports, "Hunt's Grunts"

Jewish athletes—not an oxymoron

Ever since the Georgia Theatre in Athens suffered extensive fire damage earlier this summer, there’s been a sports-music column brewing in my noodle...

Rick Stewart/Getty Images
Former San Diego Charger Igor Olshansky, who signed with Dallas in the offseason, is one of the top Jewish players in the NFL today.

By Hunt Archbold

Ever since the Georgia Theatre in Athens suffered extensive fire damage earlier this summer, there’s been a sports-music column brewing in my noodle, partly because one of the final events I attended at the famed music hall was “midget wrestling.” (I know “little people” is preferred, but that’s how it was billed.) “Puppet’’ brought the thunder that night, in a way that would’ve made “One-Armed Steve” most proud.

But then last week there were the highlights of enraged Boston Red Sox player Kevin Youkilis charging the mound to take down the Detroit pitcher who had just beaned him, and it reminded me of another column idea that’s been sitting on my desk—Jews in sports. When I mentioned this to my Jewish friend Mandy—a former standout shortstop and MVP of her high school softball team—her reaction was, “Is it covering minorities month? … I think your audience would love an article on [Little People] wrestling.” Maybe another time, girl.

The topic of Jews and sports is not an oxymoron. The stereotype of the un-athletic Jew who doesn’t care about sports is fading away. Sort of. You may well remember the scene in the 1980 movie “Airplane,” in which a passenger asks for some light reading and the stewardess offers her a pamphlet on famous Jewish sports legends.

There are, of course, some famous Jewish sports legends, with names like Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, Sid Luckman, Lou Boudreau, Mark Spitz and Amy Alcott among them. But the list is short—although that doesn’t mean it won’t grow. 

Did you know that last June, Omri Casspi became the first Israeli to be selected in the NBA’s first round, when Sacramento made him the 23rd overall draft pick? There were three Jewish Major League Baseball All-Stars selected last month: Youkilis was joined by Colorado (and former Braves) pitcher Jason Marquis and Milwaukee slugger Ryan Braun. Had Ian Kinsler of Texas not been narrowly edged out in the final days of fan voting, history would’ve been made with four Jewish MLB All-Stars, and each is 30 or younger.

Still, the fact remains that anti-Semitism remains a horrific part of our world, and the sporting arena is no different. Last month, Bernie Ecclestone, president and CEO of Formula One racing, was quoted in the Times of London as saying that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done.” He later apologized, but can you imagine what the public outcry would be if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said such a thing?

Last spring, Israeli tennis players were banned from participating in the Barclays Tennis Tournament in Dubai—that is, until American Serena Williams stepped in and took a stand against it. There are numerous other recent examples from across the sporting globe, but the question remains, how does this stuff still exist?

Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate Jews: 1. Economic: because they possess too much wealth and power. 2. Chosen: because they arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people. 3. Scapegoat: because they are a convenient group to single out and blame for our troubles. 4. Deicide: because they killed Jesus. 5. Outsiders: because they’re different from the rest of us. 6. Racial Theory: because they’re an inferior race.

Obviously, if you have a heart and are of sound mind, you understand that these are sad and cheap excuses. Yet since athleticism symbolizes strength, the stereotype promoted by anti-Semites is that Jews are physically weak, and they will continue to be portrayed as such by this sick group of losers.

But nothing could be further from the truth. When I was a junior in high school, the best player on our hoops team was a Jew, and he went on to excel on the court at a small college in Virginia. But he wasn’t even the best athlete in his family: That honor belonged to his older brother, Harris Barton.

Barton was an All-American at North Carolina and went on to a standout 11-year career in the NFL, twice earning All-Pro honors and helping anchor an offensive line for a San Francisco team that won multiple Super Bowls. There are some who contend the former Atlantan was the greatest professional Jewish athlete of the ’90s, but that’s now how he saw himself.

“I think sports are a great equalizer,” Barton told the Oakland Tribune three years ago when elected to a Northern California-based Hall of Fame. “Nobody ever looked at me on the field as a great Jewish player. I was a great player who happened to be Jewish.”

If only everyone would take that approach.

Happy times … and Tzeth'a Leshalom VeShuvh'a Leshalom! SP

Sportopia® “Good Luck on Enforcing Those Rules” Wish of the Week: The Southeastern Conference

Sure, the big bad behemoth that is the SEC, with its $2.25 billion deal with ESPN, wants to go to extremes to protect its digital rights. But its new policies, designed to drive online traffic to SEC schools and the new SEC Digital Network, are just a tad bit out of whack. TV news broadcasts will be allowed to air highlights for only 72 hours after the conclusion of games. That means if, say, Georgia did find a way to upend Florida this fall, WSB’s Chuck Dowdle could still show highlights the following Tuesday, but not the next night. And it’s not just the press who are being restricted, as the new policy “forbids fans from taking photographs or sharing accounts or descriptions of the event.” OK, SEC, you mean your loyal and rabid fan base can’t twitter from Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium or shoot camera-phone video of a game-winning play from Death Valley in Baton Rouge? Come on, SEC folks, limiting how people can find out about your sporting events doesn’t make them more engaged, it makes them less engaged. And our ownership society beats on.