Letters to the Editor
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In TERRIBLE Taste...
(this comment, that is)
Can we see a "Best 10 Nazi Athletes of All Time" too?
(PLEASE NOTE: This is what is known as a "tasteless joke." The author of this joke has no actual desire to read an article about Nazi athletes. I just saw so damn many REFERENCES to Nazis in the comments here that I figured this is the one time in my life I'll have any rational justification for such an egregious crime against good taste everywhere.)
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The Daily Show
Jon Stewart and Denis Leary were discussing the very same topic a few weeks ago...I wonder if that's what sparked the idea for the article?
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Native American athletes
To the person who wrote: "As someone of Native American descent, I'd be just as disinterested in seeing a similar list regarding us Injuns. . ." let me reply. . .
There are LOTS!!!!! of similar lists of Native Americans who are or have been accomplished in sports, or music, or scientists, or the law or other fields. I can't believe you haven't seen any of these lists yourself. Do you attend any tribal events? Are you active in Native American organizations? Have you never heard of the Native American Sports Council?
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The lesson
Be prepared for lots of flak anytime anyone says anything positive about Jews. The thought that anyone would have a good thing to say about any Jews just sends some people over the edge.
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A Disservice To Jews...And, Everyone Else
Congratulations to the brissed-set: you, indeed, do have great athletes...just like all the other groups of people. Problem is, do you really want to be known as Jewish first and a great athlete second, or third, after your gender or even fourth, after your sexual-orientation? I wouldn't.
That's why this article...whether intended as humor or not...is actually a disservice to Jews...and, everyone else. To mark such an achievement by referring primarily to a race, religious group, ethnicity, gender or sexual-orientation diminishes us all. As individuals, sometimes we achieve certain goals, reach milestones and win plaudits and kudos AND sometimes we also fail to achieve those same results, as individuals.
For, if we applaud someone Jewish for his/her athletic win primarily as a Jew, its just as easy to slam someone as a lousy Jewish athlete...primarily as a Jew.
God knows, the last thing we all need is an excuse to belittle or single out someone for blame...or praise...based on whether he/she is a Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist, White, Black, Brown, Gay, Straight or Bi FIRST rather than simply a fellow member of the human race FIRST.
By calling yourself a "Jewish athlete" first rather than being known as an athlete who happens to be Jewish, you certainly set yourselves up for a fall; for every Mark Spitz, there are a hundred Isadore Goldbergs/Shlomo Liebovitzs/David Fines who will be singled out as "that Jewish kid who didn't perform".
You sure you want to go there?
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Another Hebrew Hammer
Gabe Kapler, formerly of the Boston Red Sox (now retired I think), was nicknamed "The Hebrew Hammer" due to his impressive physique: he was a former amateur bodybuilder.
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This is an article about unexpected achievement
There is a context to this article, and that context is that society on average has stereotypical ways of thinking about different ethnic groups. It is fascinating to me that a) there may be some element of truth to these stereotypes and b) that despite this, individuals can achieve "against type". So we do see these lists, as a way of letting people know, that yes, this underrepresented group can achieve, and so maybe you too, little Timmy, one day will be a ball-player, or scientist or whatever, even if your parents and grandparents had no affinity for that activity, or weren't encouraged by their family or society as a whole to pursue it. Many ethnic groups have stereotypical representations that are propogated by society and the groups themselves. These representations end up limiting individuals, because they limit the possibilities that they see for themselves. I don't think that people are getting that aspect of this article. Society has placed a stereotype on a group, and this list goes counter to that stereotype. There is a larger theme here that you may learn something from, if you can get past the fact that this is an article about Jews.
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@ Contemplator
Even though your letter makes total sense and I don't find the article offensive per se, I do find it really pointless and certainly not worthy of being a FEATURE article in Salon (esp. when I pay good money expecting good/relevant/thought-provoking journalism). I would have no problems with it if it's in the sports section as an interesting article for baseball fans (including myself!) who love statistics and lists. (BTW, I also thought the Youkilis clip and the discussion between Leary and Stewart VERY funny.)
I am of Asian descent. And similar to Jews, we Asians are not known for our "athleticism." Taking your argument then, Asians would certainly deserve a comparable article from Salon. But I really don't see the point in having some list of the top 10 Asian athletes or whatever to make me feel better. I like the Red Sox and I like Hideki Okajima who is a great mid-relief pitcher. I would never think of him as an Asian or Japanese ballplayer first. He's a Red Sox player, a great reliever, period. Same for Coco Crisp -- i.e., great defensive CF, not great AA CF.
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The Two Percent
Jews represent about 2% of the American population. Jews are overrepresented in the learned professions, the arts, entertainment, science, elite business circles, and politics. Internationally, the number of Nobel-prize-winning Jews is astonishingly disproportionate to their numbers.
I wonder if their numbers in baseball, and generally in professional sports, are about equal to their percentage of the American population. If anyone has done a study on this, I'd be curious about it.
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Sportswriters' picks & Hank Greenberg flicks
Ok, we get it. There were some Jewish ballplayers who didn't suck. Who cares?
But I mean that about sports lists in general. Why do sportswriters feel compelled to tell us who they think is the 14th best [sport and/or position] of [time period]? It's pure fluffery, especially when the athletes listed were playing before the lister was born.
Also - my parents dragged me to see the Hank Greenberg documentary in the theater in the Jewish stronghold of Newton, Mass.
It was just a bunch of stereotypical old Jews talking about how awesome Hank Greenberg was. I understand that, in addition to being Jewish, he was a player of some legitimate historical significance. But significant enough to ask anyone to sit through a boring feature-length documentary? No way.