Euroleague

The Euroleague final was played Sunday night between Maccabi Tel Aviv and CSKA Moscow. I can only assume that acronym is some kind of secret Russian police. The game was a huge deal in Israel, though I had a hard time getting worked up about it. Maccabi's roster is stocked with failed NBA players and college ballers who couldn't make it professionally in the states. Even so, the moadon of the dorms was packed with people to watch the championship game, and I came along for the experience.

It was a strange one indeed. First of all, the game play was weak. Maccabi got smoked by CSKA, falling 91-77. It wasn't as close as the final score would indicate either. Watching these teams play was like watching Big Ten basketball - not a compliment, believe me. If your interested, the postmortem is available here. Usually, I'm the one in the room with a ton of knowledge about the game, the competitors and the history of the teams. Not Sunday night. I was like THAT guy who shows up to a Super Bowl party, and then asks which team is wearing the lighter colors during the halftime show. Except I knew better and just kept my mouth shut.

The strangest thing about the whole thing was the way the room was divided down the middle. I was sitting on a bean bag chair on the floor, surrounded by people on couches, so I couldn't see across the room. Everyone in my area was cheering for Maccabi and groaning when they would mess up. It was the opposite way around at the other end of the hall. Someone was definitely cheering for the Russkies. I asked my friend Omri, expecting him to tell me that they were ex Soviets who had made aliyah but were still supporting their home squad. "Nope," he would tell me, "it's the Arabs." Apparently, just because it's Israel on an international stage, they have to cheer against her. It was really annoying some of the people sitting by me, but nothing came of it. What a fucked up country this is sometimes.

El Al showed a commercial during the game that really should be a part of the state's hasbarah efforts. It began with Israelis from all sects of the country singing individual lines of the national anthem: A black Jew, a couple of Mizrachim, some religious Zionists, Europeans, children, Druze... Then they all joined together in harmony for the last couple of lines of Hatikva. They really ought to show this ad in the states. Just bring together 150 or so wealthy American Jews, put them in a room, serve them bagels and orange juice, and show this 45 spot on a projection television. They would pull out their check books and practically beg to give their money away. So are you listening, Israeli government? There's some free money out there for you, and I know how you can get your hands on it.