In light of the victory of Maccabi Tel Aviv over Real Madrid for the Euroleague champuionship last night, someone asked Rav Aviner if such a victory is a kiddush hashem and if it brings honor and respect to the State of Israel...

basically Rav Aviner's answer was that no, it is not a kiddush hashem and it is narishkeit. We should be proud of chessed or scientific discoveries... but not sports..
source: Srugim

I more or less agree with Rav Aviner, even though I am a sports fan, both enjoying to play and participate in many different sports as well as watching and following some sports (much less now than I used to). And no, I did not watch the Maccabi Tel Aviv game last night. Despite my loving sports, I know it is narishkeit to watch and follow a sports team (rather than participating in sports in which there are health benefits and learnign to be a part of a team, learning to deal with loss, learning how to win graciously, etc.)...

It is definitely not a kiddush hashem when one team wins over another. If it were, that would also mean the next day when the team loses it is a chilul hashem. It is just sports. As long as they play with sportsmanlike behavior and give it their best shot, that is good, but a victory or loss is not a kiddush hashem

But so many people, despite it being narishkeit, do follow sports. There is a sense of pride and patriotism when the team from your city or country wins. Is it worthless? Perhaps. I don't know. People like to be proud of their successes, the successes of their nation. Is it as important as a significant science or medical discovery? obviously not. Is it as important as a group of people who create a program to feed the needy and succeed in feeding thousands of destitute people a month? obviously not. But is it worthless? I don't know. Is patriotism worthless?

Maccabi Tel Aviv won the Euroleague championship game last night, and the QOTD will be three quotes in reference to the game..

1. You showed what stubbornness is, and the entire team fought like panthers and won like lions. And I almost had a heart attack.

  -- President Shimon Peres

2. The nation of Israel is making bonfires, and you burned up the courts in MIlan.

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

3. I am sure that in the merit of keeping the Shabbos, and also in the merit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, we won the championship. Many people accepted upon themselves in recent days to strengthen themselves in spirituality so Maccabi Tel Aviv would win. They promised to light Shabbos candles, they accepted upon themselves to lay tefillin and say Tehillim. All this brought the victory, with Heaven's help..

  -- Rabbi Yaakov Gloiberman, a Chabad rabbi associated with the team

Amare Stoudamire

Last year, before joining the New York Knicks, Amare Stoudamire traveled to Israel to search out his "Hebrew roots".

This year, there are rumors that Amare Stoudamire might be coming back to Israel, possibly for an extended stay.

With the possibility of a lockout looming in the NBA, rumors are spreading that a number of NBA players might be going to Europe to play ball, and Amare Stoudamire might choose to travel to Israel to play basketball for Maccabi Tel Aviv for the duration of the lockout.





The Forward reports that Stoudamire sent a tweet suggesting just that:

Amar’e Stoudemire asked fans on Twitter if he should play in Israel during the NBA lockout.
“Should I go to Israel and play for Maccabi Tel Aviv during the lockout?” Stoudemire, an all-star forward for the New York Knicks, tweeted July 8.
He included the championship-winning Israeli basketball team’s Twitter name at the end of the tweet and a Knicks hashtag.

Deron Williams, a star guard for the New Jersey Nets, has announced that he has agreed to play in Turkey if the NBA lockout continues.
Stoudemire visited Israel last summer on a spiritual journey after learning of some Jewish ancestry. He said at the time that he was Jewish “spiritually and culturally,” and that he was keeping kosher.
Stoudemire’s agent, Happy Walters, told the New York Post last week that the player was not considering playing overseas.

At the same time, The Sporting News reports that Stoudamire is staying put and will not be traveling overseas:

It was reported last week that Amare Stoudemire was likely to remain in the United States in the event of a prolonged NBA lockout. That looks more likely after a tweet by the New York Knicks big man.


“Europe teams are calling, I’m going 2 stay here in the states. My loyalty is with the State of New York and the NYK’s,” he wrote on his personal account Saturday.


Amare Stoudemire is likely to remain in the U.S. in the event of a prolonged lockout. The big man tweeted Saturday that he would stay in the states. (AP Photo)
Stoudemire was rumored to be interested in joining Kobe Bryant on a possible barnstorming tour through China, and was later considered a lock to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. The second move made sense because of Stoudemire’s 2009 trip to Jerusalem, where he studied religion shortly after signing his $100 million contract to play for the Knicks.


His decision to stay home might also be linked to his injury history. There was a question as to whether Stoudemire could obtain insurance during his stay abroad because of the injuries he has suffered in the past few years.

So will Stoudamire be playing for Tel Aviv? It looks unlikely, but we'd like to see it happen.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is the premier basketball team in Israel. They are the elite of the basketball league.

They started off this season with a new, young, coach; Oded Katash. Katash was part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv family, as he had played as a star on the team for a number of years. I think his playing career ended a few years ago after he suffered a foot injury.

I do not follow Israeli basketball too much, and I do not understand how the leagues here are designed. It seems the various teams each play in a few leagues - local, national, European, some others, and I cannot seem to figure it all out. So, I follow it as much as I understand from reading a headline that says Maccabi Tel Aviv won, or lost, last nights game. I do not know their record, I do not know stats, and I do not know details of the team and leagues.

The season started off pretty dismally. After paying a lot of money to field a good team on the court, including some top European players and a former NBA player (Marcus Fizer), Maccabi seemed to fizzle out of the starting block. They could not get the season in gear and did not play well. They lost a lot of games.

Oded Katash was fired. A former, older, coach was re-hired to coach the team through the rest of the season. Since hiring Tzvika Sharf as coach, Maccabi has played with an amazing record of 9 wins and 0 losses (I do not know if that is all in one league or if it is between a couple different leagues). The only reason I know they are 9-0 under Sharf is because they won some big game last night and the headline I read said they are 9-0 under Sharf.

Nothing has really changed since Katash was fired and Sharf hired. They did not change the players. Sharf has more experience than Katash did, so maybe he knew how to better utilize the players, but I have not read that he has made dramatic changes to playing style or to player makeup.

Sharf simply knows better how to motivate the players. He knows how to get them to perform. he knows how to make them play to their potential.

Having a coach isn't enough. To really succeed, you have to find the right person - the one who knows how to push your buttons, the guy who knows what to say and how to motivate you. That is the "make or break" of coaching. And it does not matter whether it is your basketball coach, your Rabbi, your counselor, your teacher, your wife, your husband, etc..

If you can motivate somebody properly, you can help bring out the best in them. If you can find someone who can motivate you, he can help bring out the best in you.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel's top basketball team, recently signed (former Chicago Bull) Marcus Fizer to a contract. Fizer spent last year playing in Spain, and will in the coming years, if he can stay out of trouble, play in Israel.

Fizer, in a "dis" to Tel Aviv, while claiming his colorful past is behind him, said, "in Israel I will do everything I can to live outside the Tel Aviv area, because quiet and peacefulness are very important to me."

Take that Tel Aviv! You are too busy for the likes of Marcus Fizer! You really must be "the city that doesn't sleep!"