Ladies Night, An Evening With Hadassah
Adam has scheduled another speaking engagement in his hometown of Livingston, NJ. He’ll be speaking to members of the Livingston chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organization, on Thursday night, January 22 at 7:30 PM, at Temple B’Nai Abraham, 300 E. Northfield Road. Adam’s novel, Coaching Ira, is loosely based on his teen years growing up in Livingston, so he’ll talk about the influence the township had on the story, as well as read a few passages. For more info, contact Adam.
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You’re an up-and-coming pro athlete yearning for superstar status in your given sport. A very important game is coming up, where if you do well, it could mean big-time bucks, talk shows, kids wearing your jersey and the admiration of millions…not to mention your own teammates. But wait! You’ve just checked your PDA (or your publicist has) and realized that there is a conflict – in more ways than one! This crucial game is to be played on the holiest day of your religious calendar!
Quite the dilemma. So, what do you do? Do you surrender all the wealth, fame and fan adulation to spend the day in a house of worship, observing the faith to which you are so devoted? Or, do you skip the holy day – play instead of pray – in order to bring home the big check and make the fans and your teammates happy?
This question was posed to the bright and responsive group of high schoolers who make up the membership of Fair Lawn/Glen Rock USY. My November 9th speaking engagement was part of USY Awareness week, a program designed to increase the awareness of United Synagogue Youth – the international Conservative Jewish youth group that inspired my novel, Coaching Ira.
As expected, I got a mixed response from the crowd. Some of the kids figured one Yom Kippur away from synagogue was no big deal for all of the career enhancement you could get from playing on the Jewish holy day. Jewish athletes voicing this kind of sentiment, kids and adults alike, are not alone. Jewish football players like offensive lineman Lenny Friedman and baseball players like Boston’s Gabe Kapler and the Dodgers’ Shawn Green have played on the most sacred days of the Jewish year. Green, however, has since benched himself on Jewish high holy days very much aware of his role-model status to young, Jewish athletes.
Other kids in the group went the “Sandy Koufax” route, claiming they would not partake of sports on the high holys regardless of the bounty they would receive at day’s end. Religious observances and spiritual well-being aside, these teens felt that by being in synagogue instead of in a stadium on the Day of Atonement, they would look better in the public eye; their uncompromising devotion to their faith and their non-negotiable decision to observe it would make a better story, and in time all the other aforementioned rewards would come.
After this rousing debate, we cooled off with some Jewish sports trivia, which I purposely made neither too Jewish nor too sports. Multiple choice made things a bit easier as well. Winners received Israeli Soccer Team t-shirts and an encyclopedia of Jewish athletes published by the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (courtesy of event coordinator Harry Melzer). Afterwards, Adam signed copies of his “Jewish basketball novel,” Coaching Ira, the story of a quirky team of USY basketball players which is based on the author’s own playing days.
Fair Lawn/Glen Rock USY is an exceptional group of kids and their enthusiasm during the discussion was overwhelming. Best of luck to Chapter President Melissa Zeevi and Religious/Education VP Danielle Montag in their future plans, and thanks to Harry Melzer, Miriam Zeevi and advisor Darin Gaba for inviting me to speak.
Buy VantinAdam hits the road!
The author of Coaching Ira tries on the lecture and book signing circuit with two engagements for the month of November. On the 18th, Adam will be visiting Princeton University’s Hillel (Jewish Student Union) for a talk on Jews and Sports Culture. On the 26th, it’s a Coaching Ira book reading and signing at the New York offices of the American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Those interested are welcome to attend either event.
Buy Ceftin onlineSigning/Talk Official
The plans are set for Adam’s talk and book signing at the Fair Lawn (NJ) Jewish Center on Sunday, November 9. The 7 PM event will be a joint function of both the Fair Lawn and Glen Rock USY chapters. USY and its basketball league inspired Adam’s debut novel, Coaching Ira, the story of a Jewish youth group basketball team and their hapless coach. Adam will discuss the great and little-known Jews of Sport, the genesis of Ira, and host a sports trivia contest. Most importantly, there’ll be snacks.
For more information contact USY advisor Darin at FLGRUSY@aol.com.
Buy Viagra onlineThe Ira Tour, Second Leg
After taking a much-needed summer hiatus from the road, Adam resumes his tour to promote Coaching Ira. Adam’s next appearance will take place at the Fairlawn (New Jersey) Jewish Center on the night of Sunday, November 9th. His talk will be part of a celebration of USY awareness week. USY is the Jewish youth organization featured in Coaching Ira.
Keep checking back for specific times and details on this event as well as future events.
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Call this event my “Super Bowl”. It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting.
Congregation B’nai Israel (Rumson, NJ)’s state champion USY basketball team was having a dinner to honor its legacy of the last five seasons. They asked me to speak to their gathering. It took all of a millisecond for me to say ‘yes.’ This year, Rumson USY took home the crown with a victory over (ahem) Livingston (the team for which I played in my USY days. Don’t think I didn’t hear about it.).
The Rumson Jewish Basketball Machine is a serious one. The synagogue has its own gym! With banners from past successful seasons! Like the ol’ Boston Garden! My childhood synagogue had one hoop with a ratty, rusty chain net. Miss a shot, and you were running into the rabbi’s office to chase down the carom. I asked if anyone sneaks into the gym on Yom Kippur for a little Day of Atonement shootaround. I was informed the gym is used for services on Yom Kippur.
Yah, “services”. But really, I jest.
Rumson Jewish youth hoops is truly a “program”, in the truest sense of the word. They even have a farm system — yes, a minor league club in the Kadima league. Kadima is like USY but for middle school kids. Rumson Kadima also had a heralded year, finishing first in their respective league. The only dilemma for these kids? To stay the course at the next level (USY basketball) or go pro (high school varsity). Ah, the adulation of cheerleaders and the bright flourescents of the high school gym. Tempting.
My talk focused on the inspiration for Coaching Ira. Why did I write it? For whom did I write it? My answer was sitting out in front of me. I shared some of my USY hoops war stories with the group and read a passage from the novel that we could all relate to. (It had to do with poor sportsmanship among league participants — namely the coaches.)
When coaches Barry Lewin of Rumson Kadima and Barry Isanuk of Rumson USY reflected on their storied seasons, I was amazed at how their teams’ experiences paralleled my own. The camaraderie, the family element; the desire to win but not at all costs.
I don’t know if Sports Illustrated is planning to release the commemorative, hardbound souvenir honoring CBI-Rumson’s stellar year (I haven’t seen a commercial on cable yet, and I do watch a lot of TV), but the program’s accomplishments deserve saluting. Congrats! And keep up the tradition!
Special thanks to CBI-Rumson for the invitation. You did not send me home undernourished, emotionally or physically — I’m still trying to polish off the bottomless tray of ziti.
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Adam had one of his most rewarding talks in Rumson, New Jersey, on Sunday, May 4. He addressed the crowd of Rumson USY champions at Congregation B’nai Israel. USY Hoops is the same organization that inspired Coaching Ira, Adam’s novel about the adventures of a Jewish youth basketball team and their reluctant coach. It was a night of sharing great USY hoops memories…and tons of baked ziti.
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On Sunday, May 4, Adam will join former Duke and NBA great Bobby Hurley, Jr. at a dinner to honor the last five season of Rumson, NJ, USY/Kadima basketball teams — the same USY Basketball upon which Coaching Ira based. At the Sunday evening dinner, to take place at Rumson’s Congregation B’nai Israel, Adam will reminisce about his own USY playing days and talk about the origins of his novel. Hurley will likely discuss his storied basketball career, but not before spellbinding the crowd with the milk-in-the-newspaper trick.
For more info contact Barry Lewin, 732-842-1800.
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Just call him Crazy Adam! Now you can buy a signed, personalized copy of Coaching Ira direct from the author — for a considerable discount no less! Visit the Buy Adam’s Books section of this site for the full lowdown.
Buy generic FeldeneLeaving Scottsdale
So it’s the end of the trip and my wife Michelle and I are disembarking from our plane in Newark. We were welcomed back to the area by 34 degrees, snow, slush and freezing rain — the very snow, slush and freezing rain that delayed our flight by 45 minutes. Why we didn’t take that as a sign and head back to Scottsdale, I’ll never know, but cranial tests are being conducted as we speak.
I turned to my lovely female and said, “Honey, just this morning we were shielding our eyes from the sun during brunch on the patio. Then we walked amidst the palm trees and the co-eds at Arizona State with their year-round tans and flip-flops.” At that moment I was wrestling my North Face jacket out of my suitcase like it was a floatation device so necessary for my survival. “And now we return to the Winter that Wouldn’t End.”
If you sense a Northeast weather resentment in this piece, you can at least consider yourself warned.
Not only is Andrew Flynn the designer of this site and the founder and managing editor of Hoopville.com, he is also a good friend. The latter was enough to shoot 2500 miles to see him exchange vows with the charming and wonderful Marcia Bosio. The Desert Botanical Garden is a pretty remarkable place even without a wedding and I urge you to stop by next time you’re in the Phoenix area.
I searched desperately for indigenous creatures of the area, as well as a dictionary so that I could spell indigenous, but came up nil on both counts. I was later informed, by a rather unreliable source, that the scorpions, rattlesnakes and buzzards were actually displaced to clear out land for the flora and fauna. Forced retirment, you might say. I can just picture a scorpion and a buzzard sitting down for a game of canasta while waiting for their 4 o’clock feedings.
The wedding was a heck of a time — the ceremony under sunset at the gardens, the party indoors after dark. We swung to the hep sounds of The Swingtips. The highlight of the night (or lowlight as the case may be) was me attempting to slide across the dance floor, then realzing abruptly that the dance floor was too dry for sliding. I still have scuff marks on my thighs.
The following morning I brought my presentation (and my limp) with me to Beth El Congregation in Phoenix. First, the congregants and I brunched, because you can’t present on an empty stomach. Bagels, lox, tuna — I was almost homesick. I then presented the warm and friendly Beth Ellers with a presenation on Jews in Sports Culture, which mutated into a talk about kosher slaughterhouses in Iowa that could have gone on for hours. How we got off course, I still don’t know, but it just so happens that sports and slaughterhouses are two of my areas of expertise. (Read the book on Postville, Iowa or The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and you too can be a butchery aficiando!)
Fortunately, Beth El executive director David Brook transitioned us smoothly to a book signing. Regardless, I greatly enjoy talks like this, where the congregants feel comfortable enough to dive right into the conversation. And dive they did!
Special thanks once again to David Brook for his kind invitation.
My next talk/book event will take place on May 4th at Congregation B’nai Israel in Rumson, NJ. I am greatly looking forward to this event as it honors the past five seasons of Rumson USY/Kadima basketball teams. USY basketball is the very program that inspired Coaching Ira, so I’ll be talking to my target audience. Former Duke champion and NBA guard Bobby Hurley, Jr will also be on hand. I can’t wait to tell him that I used to harass his dad (St. Anthony’s High School coach Bobby Hurley, Sr.) by asking him tons of innane questions while I was a reporter at WGHT-AM.
I hear Bobby Jr.’s already asking to be seated at the other side of the dais.
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