Good-bye New York Yanks

Well, it's happened. It hasn't happened in over 20 years. The Detroit Tigers have WON A PLAYOFF SERIES. They hadn't been in the playoffs since 1987, and they hadn't won a playoff series since 1984; when they last won the World Series. And, AND, against the New York Yankees!!! They didn't just beat the Yanks. THEY DECIMATED THEM!!! Since losing the first game, and then tying the game in the second, they held the Yankees to 20 scoreless innings. This is a team with names like Jeter (who went 5-5 in the first game), A-Rod, Sheffield, Cono, etc, etc. The Detroit manager called the Yankees line-up "Murder Row + Cono". And, they got nothing. They lost game 3 by a score of 6-0 and then lost the deciding game 4 by a score of 8-3, where the Tigers scored 2 home-runs in the 2nd inning alone.

I'm very excited for a number of reasons. First of all, the Tigers are just two years away from having lost 119 games, the second most in league history. I mean, the late 90s and through this year, the Tigers weren't just terrible. They were downright abysmal. Their horriric playing defies words. I was only 2 the last time the Tigers won the World Series, so it's been a while. Second of all, Detroit is in pretty bad shape right now. My home-town is starting to regress back to its 80s horror days with Devil's Nights fires and abandoned blocks of crack houses. Just to put it in a little perspective, the national unemployment rate is standing at 4% right now. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is now standing at 7%. Detroit now has the unfortunate status of being the poorest city in America. Things are not good there. Detroit needs this right now. The income of the playoffs for surrounding down-town restaurants and businesses keeps the cities and people's livelihoods alive. Then, last night, I saw something so special; something I had never seen before in all my 20+ years of watching sports and playoff action. The Detroit Tigers players know and fully understand their terrible history and the dire straights of the city of Detroit. So, instead of just going into the club house and celebrating amongst themselves, they came out of the dugout with bottles of champagne and celebrated with the entire stadium. They jumped into the stands and sprayed every-one with some liquid joy. It truly was a celebration for the whole city, and yes, it did bring tears to my eyes. I may have left Detroit 6 years ago, and I may call Israel my home, but my home-town is where I grew up, and it will always have a special place in my heart no matter how much I dog on it. READ THE REST...

Another reason that I'm excited about this is because of the time difference. Bear with me here, and I'm sorry to release this information. One of the members of my family is a little, shall I say, "bitter" or upset that I made Aliyah. They don't like the fact that I'm here. I believe it's for two reasons. Firstly, I do believe they miss me, and making up reasons for why Israel is a bad place to live is their way of expressing it, and I totally understand and sympathize with it. I miss them too, and I just wish they would come out and say instead of relaying it in a round about way. Secondly, I think they feel guilty. They have made up reasons and excuses for why it's "impossible" for anybody, especially an American, to live, succeed, and even thrive in Israel. They feel good just paying at the Appeals on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, and they've contributed their good deed to Israel for the year. They're the ones who feel that Israel must and should exist as that ultimate back-up plan, but, realistically, until it's absolutely necessary, there's no reason for THEM to live there. They support Israel. They go to the rallies, and give money, but they would never think of actually living here. Then, when they see a family member, one who never had any past known inclinations of living here, moving here, thriving, and not even lacking a thing that any American has, it shatters that protective bubble. "Wait, it's possible to live there?!? It's possible to move and not lack a THING that we have in America?!? CRAP!!! Then, what're my reasons for not living there???"

One of the ways this family member has expressed their dislike for my living here is by pointing out my perceived lack of sports. "Well, don't you miss watching the Wings? You can't watch football there, can you?" It's silly, of course, because any Jew who wouldn't move to Israel or stay there simply because they couldn't get the full MLB sports package has some serious problems. In any case, when I told them that, actually, I do get a lot of the football, baseball, and hockey games here with ESPN, FOX Sports, and METV, they have nothing left to say. So, last night, the Yankees-Tigers game 4 started at 4:00 PM (EST), which was 10:00 PM (we already turned the clocks back). So, as I watched the Tigers hit their first home-run in the bottom of the 2nd inning, I realized that that specific family member wasn't watching the game. It was still Shabbat in the States. I got this thought. I'm going to call this person and leave a message on the answering machine, basically bragging that I'm watching the Tigers kick butt, but they couldn't because it was still Shabbat and Yom Tov there. It's still Yom Tov there today, so they couldn't even watch the end of the game when Shabbat ended. I wanted to call and say, "See, you said that by living in Israel, I couldn't watch the games. Well, I just watched the Tigers hit 2 homers. It's still Shabbat AND Yom Tov by you, and Yom Tov is already over by me. HAHAHA. In your face."

Something silly and juvenile lije that. Well, as silly and juvenile as they had been with me. As I was walking toward the phone, my husband and my FIL were both egging me on to do it. Then, I stopped. I decided that I wasn't going to stoop down to this family member's level. I wasn't going to be as mean as they were being. It just wasn't worth it. Also, calling some-one up and saying that it's worth to live in Israel because I DO get to watch baseball and not miss sports is really stupid. Yes, I would be sad, but I would still live in Israel even if I couldn't watch any sports. That's what the internet is for. It's stupid. Anyways, I just wanted to share this. I know there may be some others our there experiencing this same problem. Don't get too down about it. It's guilt and just plain missing you that makes family member some-times turn to assinine comments and remarks in order to make YOU feel guilty about making Aliyah. Don't bite that bait. It's not worth it. Bring it on Oakland!!

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