THE FIRST GAME

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"...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwRiDvoIVsQ&feature=plcp]

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...