Lebron sinks one as the shas clock runs down!

April 1, 2009 5:17 PM

My April 1st spidey sense was tingling like crazy, but I guess it's true if it was in Time Magazine, that bastion of serious journalism, where Time 100 nominee LeBron James nominated Ohio businessman Jay Schottenstein for the next Time 100 because he, "supported the translation and elucidation of the Talmud Bavli into English, Hebrew and French." Now if only Jews could play basketball...
posted by ericbop (35 comments total)

French?
posted by box at 5:20 PM on April 1, 2009

I am old enough to recall that some of the best teams in basketball were NYU and City College. I had read an anti-semitic tract that said that Of course Jews were good at basketball because it was a game that required stealth, sneakiness, deception. What do your write now when so many great players are black?
posted by Postroad at 5:32 PM on April 1, 2009 [4 favorites]

That they're all from the Ten Lost Tribes?
posted by greatgefilte at 5:43 PM on April 1, 2009

It's also possible that Lebron James picked Schottenstein because he is, I'm assuming, the man whose financial support laid the groundwork for the Schottenstein Center, where Ohio State plays all of their basketball games. And maybe the part about his support of translating and elucidating the Talmud was added by an editor. Maybe.
posted by billysumday at 5:43 PM on April 1, 2009 [3 favorites]

I wonder if Doug Gottleib of ESPN will have an opinion. Formerly of Oklahoma (and famously "left" Notre Dame after accusations of professionalism) Gottleib is currently on high rotation as one of ESPN's college basketball analysts so he comes to mind readily as a former Jewish athlete in the sport, and current talking head, that might have something to say on the matter. On the other hand, however, ESPN is owned by Disney, so probably not.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 5:50 PM on April 1, 2009

I wouldn't expect Lebron to care much about Ohio State's basketball stadium. He's from Akron, which is a couple hours away from Columbus, and he went straight from high school to the NBA.

Schottenstein's also a billionaire, which might, uh, be another aspect that James finds interesting.
posted by box at 5:56 PM on April 1, 2009

Whoa whoa whoa.
Gottlieb = not a jew
And he got tossed from ND from stealing from his roommate.
And he is a terrible commentator
posted by JPD at 6:00 PM on April 1, 2009

Lebron made a underhanded half-court shot in one take on 60 Minutes last week.
posted by Poolio at 6:01 PM on April 1, 2009

I wonder if Doug Gottleib of ESPN will have an opinion.

Have an opinion on...what exactly? I'm thoroughly confused by this post.

I wouldn't expect Lebron to care much about Ohio State's basketball stadium.

True. I guess I was just trying to say what you mentioned in your second paragraph - basically, Schottenstein is a billionaire from Ohio. The fact that he's supported OSU by funding their arena is sort of only tangentially related to Lebron's basketball career. Still, that fact seems slightly more relevant than Schottenstein's efforts to translate the Talmud. Now, maybe Lebron really did put down Schott because of the works mentioned in the Time article, but I doubt it.
posted by billysumday at 6:04 PM on April 1, 2009

I correct myself. He is Jewish. But he did get tossed from ND for stealing his roommates credit card.

There is another prominent Basketball player with an amazingly Jewish sounding last name that is not.
posted by JPD at 6:07 PM on April 1, 2009

What is my reaction to this supposed to be? A young black basketball player couldn't possibly be interested in anything other than roundball and fried chicken so it's definitely a Jewish billionaire plot? Is that it? I guess it's time to be outraged that the world runs on money.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:08 PM on April 1, 2009 [5 favorites]

Is this a sixcolors post?
posted by desjardins at 6:10 PM on April 1, 2009

There is another prominent Basketball player with an amazingly Jewish sounding last name that is not.

Carmelo Anthony?
posted by billysumday at 6:14 PM on April 1, 2009 [2 favorites]

French?

France and Canada have the third and fourth largest Jewish populations in the world.
posted by decagon at 6:16 PM on April 1, 2009

Dirk Nowitski?
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 6:17 PM on April 1, 2009

Dirk Nowitski?

LOL!

But seriously, I think it's Dikembe Mutombo.
posted by billysumday at 6:19 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

jimmythefish - um, what?

99% of JEWS wouldn't be able to pick Schottenstein out of a lineup, much less identify him as the funder behind a major Talmud translation.

This has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with the fact that it's at least mildly (if not wildly) unusual for anyone who is not a Talmud scholar to choose Schottenstein out of the WHOLE FUCKING HUMAN POPULATION to nominate for recognition. It could have been an Albananian NHL star, and it still would have been interesting.

Now go crawl back into your troll-hole.
posted by ericbop at 6:19 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

So, how bout them Knicks...
posted by stavrogin at 6:27 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

Where is Albanania?
posted by gman at 6:39 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

This has nothing to do with race

I agree that's it's weird enough to be nearly noteworthy, but there's simply no way to frame a post like this without sounding equally weird and vaguely-but-not-quite racist.

French?

Yeah, Jewish people and Montreal go together like bagels and lox.
posted by GuyZero at 6:41 PM on April 1, 2009

Yeah, Jewish people and Montreal go together like bagels and lox.

Even as a native-New Yorker, I have to admit that I like these bagels better.
posted by ericbop at 6:55 PM on April 1, 2009

supported the translation and elucidation of the Talmud Bavli into English, Hebrew and French

Hebrew?
posted by Flunkie at 6:56 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

it's mostly in aramaic.
posted by ericbop at 7:07 PM on April 1, 2009

Even as a native-New Yorker, I have to admit that I like these bagels better.

And suddenly I can't support you anymore.
posted by inigo2 at 7:24 PM on April 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

The New York Times had a little piece on the superior bagel.
posted by gman at 7:31 PM on April 1, 2009

Somewhat surprisingly, there's a pretty good bagel place outside Little Rock. Everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese, that's my jam.
posted by box at 7:36 PM on April 1, 2009

It's just you.

I'm pretty sure it isn't me, anyway. Might be that guy over there.
posted by ook at 8:00 PM on April 1, 2009

Huh?
posted by Bango Skank at 8:09 PM on April 1, 2009

Is the Schottenstein edition of the Talmud really used by two million people worldwide? I'm actually a little surprised that *any* edition of the Talmud is used by two million people worldwide. I guess more people study Talmud than I had realized.

I dunno. I think it's kind of a cool pick. James has a lot of money, and this suggests that he's thinking about interesting things that you can do and support if you have a lot of money. I don't think the world would be worse off in any way if extremely rich athletes decided to spend some of their money supporting obscure scholarly pursuits that appeal to them.

And yes, the way the post was framed was a little weird.
posted by craichead at 8:21 PM on April 1, 2009

Did you mean me? Because it definitely wasn't me.
posted by !Jim at 9:15 PM on April 1, 2009

I demand a duel. Weapon is the rock, time to be determined.
posted by Cathedral at 10:26 PM on April 1, 2009

I wouldn't expect Lebron to care much about Ohio State's basketball stadium. He's from Akron, which is a couple hours away from Columbus, and he went straight from high school to the NBA.

Most Ohioans who care about that sort of thing are OSU fans. I attended a high school between Akron and Cleveland which played OSU fight songs over the intercoms during the day of the OSU/Michigan game.

He's said before that he's a buckeye fan. So, it's not really unexpected for him to support Schottenstein.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 3:22 AM on April 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Former NFL quarterback Andre Tippett is an African-American convert to Judaism. Perhaps LeBron James is thinking of converting as well.
posted by jonp72 at 6:17 AM on April 2, 2009

wtf?
posted by ph00dz at 7:52 AM on April 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Okay, I think that what you're trying to say in this post is this:

Lebron James picked prominent Ohio entrepreneur and philanthropist Jay Schottenstein as his nominee for Time magazine's "Top 100 People" or whatever.

This makes perfect sense, as Schottenstein has done a lot for Ohio sports, which would be well-known to James. However, Schottenstein's people wrote a bizarrely inappropriate press release which implied that James was a big fan of Schottenstein's Talmud-translation philanthropies and what-not.

Is that it?
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:47 AM on April 2, 2009