THE FIRST GAME

17 Sep

Team Israel played it’s first game yesterday.  A scrimmage against Miami-Dade College.  We won 5-2.

There is a lot going on.  We are in the midst of a small media frenzy, a PR storm if you will, thunder and lightning, cameras rolling, flashes flashing.  There are reporters from the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Details Magazine, and a documentary film crew with the team all the time, on the bus, in the clubhouse, and at the games.  It is madness.  And there will be a streak of stories coming out soon about the team.  Not the least of which is this blog.  KOJB over 7,500 readers!  And the team has made it a mission to get 1 million views before the end of the tournament.  Again, because I do not have much time to write, I will mostly show you what we are doing using magic and video as opposed to telling you with what were once called “words”…

Game time was bumped back to 1pm because of rain.  I caught in the bullpen until the 7th inning, and then it happened, Brad told me to go into the game.  I was not expecting to play.  But all of a sudden there I was, on the field, playing 3rd base, my old position before I became the World’s Greatest Bullpen Catcher.

My spot in the batting order came up in the 8th inning and I, the King of Jewish Baseball, after 8 months of imagining this moment, well, almost this moment (my fantasy it is a bit more grandiose, as fantasies have a tendency of being), walked to the plate.  The at-bat felt a bit rushed.  The count went to 2 and 2.  I stepped out of the batters box and reminded myself to be present, and then I lined the next pitch back up the middle.  A single.  Base knock.  Here’s the video…

So we are officially rolling forward towards Wednesday.  Opening night.  Jews– nay, all mankind, will dance in the streets.  Children will sing.  Birds will fly high in the sky.  And, if only for a moment, all human and plant and animal life on earth will exist in perfect harmony as Team Israel, the Greatest Jewish Baseball Team ever assembled, takes the field…

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