Who's on First?

Extra innings were inevitable, perhaps, after a piece about bush league baseball was heavily blogged before it was published in the international print journals that paid for a "non-exclusive" sports story on the fledgling Israel Baseball League. Veteran Israeli journalist, Alan D Abbey, examines the cries of foul on Poynter.org.

Meanwhile, Salon.com was getting plenty of hits with its own Jewish ballplayer feature scripted by Jonah Keri: "With bashin' boychiks knocking the seam off the ball this year, Salon highlights the greatest Hebrew hammers and fireballers to step onto the diamond." The legendary Sandy Koufax, pictured above, leads off the roll call of 18 Jewish athletes. The website cautions that

In the name of inclusiveness, we're counting players with one or more Jewish parents (even those not raised Jewish), converts to Judaism, and non-Jews who practiced the Jewish faith.

(cross-posted on Feral Beast.)

Jews on Ice

Relax- Hassidic ice capades this is not. While out of Israel for the past couple of weeks, Izzy has been trolling about New York City. She was able to peruse an amusing interview on Salon.com to learn more about a fictional Yiddish community's sub-Arctic antics which draws some parallels with contemporary Israel. Mostly it examines Jewish identity, and, er, Chassids as hobbits.
Click here to link to this wry exchange with author Michael Chabon.