March 25, 2012 | 9:57 am

Fantasy Baseball Picks

Posted by Jeremy Fine

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TGR wants to help you draft Jews this year. Where are they on the list? Below are overall Yahoo projections for your 2012 Jewish MLBers (note: some players may be sent down to the minors).

Also check out JewsinBaseball’s Bill James projections HERE.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
- Jeremy Fine

March 20, 2012 | 2:33 pm

Interview: Haverford’s Senior PG Ian Goldberg

Posted by Jeremy Fine

So its college basketball season. So TGR is bringing you a college basketball player. Meet Ian Goldberg. Senior at Haverford. Had a stellar career, nice final season, and happens to be a big TGR fan.

I’m a Senior at Haverford College from New York City. I’m an Economics major and Anthropology minor. I finished my college career about a month ago and am in the midst of figuring out what I’m going to do next year. In the meantime, I’m focusing on my senior thesis and playing ball for fun.

I knew I wanted to play college ball when I was a much shorter and skinnier version of myself in middle school at Poly Prep. I had played a lot of different sports growing up like most kids and I’d say around 7th grade I really starting focusing on basketball. I made the biggest strides in my game between my sophomore and junior year of high school and that’s when I started getting some division 3 looks.  I attribute a lot of my success to my high school coaches and teammates who taught me the game and inspired me to work my butt off to be successful at the next level.

Overall, I am very fortunate and thankful for my four years playing at Haverford. I wish we could have had some more success, but the relationships I have formed have been incredible. My main objectives looking for a college were to find a top-tier academic institution and to find a team that I could play for. Although I had to have sports hernia surgery right before my sophomore season, I only had to miss one game during my career. My coaches and teammates placed a lot of trust in me to run the team and I tried to return to the court every year a better player.

My biggest accomplishment on the court was making it to the conference semifinals my junior season. With a few games left in the regular season, we got some big wins and clinched a playoff spot. We ended up winning the first round game by one, before falling to ranked Franklin and Marshall in the semis. Even though we lost that game by a close margin, I was extremely proud of my guys for battling and coming within striking range.

I haven’t spent much time pursuing the opportunity to play, but it’s something I have seriously thought about. I would definitely love to play somewhere if the right situation arose. It would be great to continue playing competitively in a new and challenging environment.

The best player I ever had to guard would have to be 76ers guard Lou Williams. For the past two summers, Haverford has been the only Division 3 team in the Delco ProAm league in Philly. We had the chance to compete against top NBA and Division 1 talent. Lou definitely got the better of me, but I drew a couple charges on him and got some buckets too. He is lighting quick. It was an incredible opportunity to play against him.

Yes, I have thought about both and would love to try out and get an opportunity to play in Israel.

Thanks to Ian and the Goldbergs for reading. Good luck to Ian and I bet there is an Israeli roster with you jersey waiting.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
- Jeremy Fine

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March 15, 2012 | 9:00 am

2012 Jewish NCAA Bracket

Posted by Jeremy Fine

Over the last 3 years TGR has been giving you the Jewish NCAA Bracket. In the first year we brought you a winner. Duke and Cornell helped produce those results. Last year we were in the middle of the pack. We used various methods from Jewish numbering, players, and Hillel sizes. But this year we tried a different method. We reached out to four rabbis, each one has a connection to the tournament regions. Each region was decided by the individual rabbi and then TGR picked the Final Four matchups and Champion. Below is a brief reason each rabbi was chosen and below that are the brackets. This is hoping that 5 rabbis can summon God and help you with your bracket.

Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz - Duke Hillel Rabbi. Duke is the #2 seed in the South Region.
Rabbi Efrem Reis - Last time MSU won it, it had a lot to do with Flint. Rabbi Reis was born in Flint.
Rabbi Erez Sherman - Rabbi Sherman was raised in Syracuse and they are the #1 seed.
Rabbi Ari Kaiman - Rabbi Kaiman is a rabbi in St. Louis that serves as host of the MidWest Region.

SOUTH REGION - Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz
Round 1 - Kentucky, Iowa State, VCU, Indiana, Baylor, UNLV, Xavier, Duke
Round 2 - Kentucky, VCU, Baylor, Duke
Sweet Sixteen - Kentucky, Duke
Elite Eight - Kentucky

WEST REGION - Rabbi Efrem Reis
Round 1 - Michigan State, Memphis, New Mexico, Louisville, Colorado State, Marquette, Virginia, Missouri
Round 2 - Michigan State, Louisville, Marquette, Missouri
Sweet Sixteen - Michigan State, Marquette
Elite Eight - Michigan State

EAST - Rabbi Erez Sherman
Round 1 - Syracuse, Kansas st, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida Statw, West Virginia, Ohio State
Round 2 - Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Florida State, West Virginia
Sweet Sixteen - Syracuse, Florida State
Elite Eight - Syracuse

MIDWEST - Rabbi Ari Kaiman
Round 1 - North Carolina, Creighton, Temple, Ohio, San Diego State, Belmont, Saint Marys, Kansas
Round 2 - North Carolina, Temple, San Diego State, Kansas, 
Sweet Sixteen - North Carolina, Kansas
Elite Eight - North Carolina

FINAL FOUR - Rabbi Jeremy Fine

Given all #1 seeds (Thanks Rabbis for being creative) here are the TGR Picks

Michigan State over Kentucky
North Carolina over Syracuse

North Carolina over Michigan State


And Let Us Say…Amen (and Good Luck).
- Jeremy Fine

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March 15, 2012 | 8:53 am

NCAA: Who is IN (and Already Out)

Posted by Jeremy Fine

Here are the Jewish Men in the various postseason tournaments:

NCCA
Josh Bartelstein - Michigan
Jake Cohen - Davidson
Josh Elbaum - Vermont
Nate Lubick - Georgetown
Brandon Reese - Syracuse
Scott Greenman - Georgetown Assistant Coach
Greg Gottlieb - California Assistant Coach
Jason Levy - Loyola Marymount Assistant Coach (unconfirmed)
Josh Pastner -Memphis Head Coach

NIT
Bryan Cohen - Bucknell
Ben Resner - Stoney Brook (Out)
Keith Dambrot - Akron Head Coach

CBI
Zach Gordon - Penn
Zach Rosen - Penn

CIT
Brian Katz - Yale

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March 15, 2012 | 8:50 am

Last Minute Final Four Picks From TGR “Experts”

Posted by Jeremy Fine

We looked to some people from within the game for a little insight to help our readers. Here are some of their Final Fours.

Portland Assistant Coach Mike Wolf - Kentucky, Michigan State, Florida State, Kansas

Former Wash U Point Guard Sean Wallis - Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Ohio State

Haverford Senior Guard Ian Goldberg - Missouri, Baylor, Ohio State, North Carolina

Host of “Jumpshots with Jasmine” Jasmine Marcus - Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio Ststae, North Carolina

The Great Rabbino - Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio State, North Carolina. UNC over MSU

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March 13, 2012 | 9:48 am

Interview: Ultimate’s Matt Baum

Posted by Jeremy Fine

1) Tell TGR a little bit about yourself?
My name is Matt Baum.  I am a 20 year old Jewish student at the University of Connecticut, and I grew up in New Rochelle, New York.  I began playing rec league basketball and youth league baseball at a young age, and I’ve always been a pretty athletic kid, but loved playing music more than anything.  I began taking piano lessons at a young age, and in elementary school began to play the saxophone.  I played sax all through middle school and high school, and I am now a Jazz Studies major at UConn.  I have also taught myself guitar, and I constantly think about music in everything I do.  Being brought up around sports though, I always had that athletic outlet in basketball and baseball.

2) When did you get involved with Ultimate Frisbee?
I actually began playing frisbee in middle school during lunch recess, but did not start playing ultimate until I got to high school.  My junior year of high school, I saw a poster for the start of an Ultimate Frisbee Club.  I went to a few meetings and practices, and immediately became obsessed.  I wasn’t great in high school, but it was a good way to start playing the sport.  I got involved with the Ultimate team at UConn (Our team name is GRIND) as soon as I began my freshman year, and have been playing ever since.  I also played for the club team “Slow Children” this past summer, which gave me a ton of experience with high level ultimate.

3) What is the American Ultimate Disc League? How did you get involved?
The AUDL is a new league that was recently formed, with the main goal of making Ultimate more accessible and spreading the sport to take it to new heights that the sport has never been to before.  The AUDL is doing a ton of promotion and marketing with the main goal of making the sport more mainstream than it has ever been before.  I got involved after hearing a little bit about it from my teammates, my coach, and other Ultimate players.  When I first heard about the league, I did not think too much of it.  I really did not think that it would be as big as it is today.  A few weeks ago, my UConn coach, Dan Saipher, insisted on a bunch of the UConn guys going to the open tryouts that the Connecticut Constitution were holding.  We had nothing to lose, so about fifteen of us went.  4 of us were invited to the second round of tryouts, and 3 of us were invited back to the third and final round of tryouts.  Those 3 players (Myself, Ben Weyers, and Kamil Skwarek) all ended up making the team.

4) What are the Connecticut Constitutions chances of winning it all?
I think that the Constitution’s chances of winning it all are really good!  Next to all of the pure athleticism and talent that we have, our team chemistry is like nothing I’ve ever been a part of before.  Every single guy on the team is incredibly nice, supportive of each other, and has a desire to win that is unparalleled by other athletes.  I could not think of a better and more talented group of guys to play with.

5) How can more people get involved?
More people can get involved by coming to some of the clinics that the Constitution will be holding throughout the season and by contacting the team HERE:

The absolute best way to get involved though is to come to a game.  Our schedule can be found HERE:

Our home field is Arute Field at Central Connecticut State University in New Britatin, CT.  Any other information about the team and league can be found on our website through one of the above links.

6) Where do you think the league will be in 10 years?
In ten years, I see the AUDL becoming huge.  I can see this league blowing up and become a national thing.  I’m thinking specials and full games covered on ESPN or some other national network.  It definitely has the potential to become that big.

7) What are your aspirations for yourself an team?
I always aspire to become a better player in every aspect, but as a team, I would love to see us win the championship in the inaugural season of the league.  I know that I am part of something special here, and I am really looking forward to an incredible experience.

8) Where can we find out more about AUDL?
People can find out more about the AUDL HERE.

Also, check out the Connecticut Constitution’s website HERE and be sure to follow the team on facebook as well.

Thank you to Matt. And Good luck.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
- Jeremy Fine

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March 8, 2012 | 1:45 pm

Farmar Hits Game Winner

Posted by Jeremy Fine

Last night Deron Williams gave up the ball and found Jordan Farmar for a huge game winner over the Clippers.Check it out below:

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March 8, 2012 | 1:39 pm

A TGR Purim

Posted by Jeremy Fine

In honor of Purim, I thought we would decide the best costumes for some of our Jewish sports heroes. Here is the list below:

Omri Casspi as an Israeli Solider - Who else would I want “defending” our country.

Jordan Farmar as the number 64 - The combined number of points he and Deron Williams scored Sunday night.

Lawrence Frank as Larry Brown - Maybe that would get the Pistons to win.

Jake Cohen as Stephen Curry - Hopefully leading Davidson to an Sweet Elite Eight.

Sam Fuld as Super Sam Fuld - He wears the cape the Rays gave out last year.

Theo Epstein as a Goat or Steve Bartman - Hopefully, the tradition continues.

Ryan Braun as a Syringe - Laughing at all his haters.

Igor Olshansky as Dennis Rodman - He already has the tattoos.

Julian Edelman as Wes Welker - Come on when Brady throw Welker the ball sometimes you think is Edelman.

Taylor Mays as Mr. Universe - He is just that strong.

Gabe Carimi as a Teddy Bear - After his injury he will need a lot of hugs.

Colt Cabana as Scotty Goldman - That would just be hysterical.

Let me know if you have any others. Chag Sameach! Happy Purim.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
- Jeremy Fine

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