my teams

Well a few of my teams (or teams that I follow) played last night.

The Ottawa Senators, the defending Eastern Conference champions, lost at home last night to the Nashville Predators. Quite frankly, the city of Nashville has no business having an NHL team, being that they don't draw enough fans. In any event, the Senators are in a slump since their 14-2 start, they're 16-7-2, having lost to such powerhouses like the Islanders and Flyers in addition to the Predators. The reason that I like the Senators is that I feel that only in Canada is hockey truly appreciated. Yes we have Detroit, Philly, Minnesota and a couple of other hockey areas, but in Canada, it's hockey 24/7/365. For example, I went to a wedding in Toronto in August of 2004 and the front story of the sports section was the Canada Cup (or some other International Hockey tournament). It wasn't the Blue Jays or Raptors or even the Argos (CFL team). For more hockey coverage, go to http://battleofontario.blogspot.com or http://scarlettice.blogspot.com, coverage of the Senators by my good friend Sherry, who lives in Hamilton, I think.

Good news for Zag Nation, they went into Philadelphia, specifically Hawk Hill (home of St. Joseph's) and won 70-65 in overtime. At one point, the Zags had a 17 point lead. St. Joe's battled hard and forced OT, but the Zags won so I am pleased with that result. Maybe the Seahawks, who go to the Linc (Lincoln Financial Field) on Sunday to battle the Eagles, will also emerge victorious in Philly. Zags are 6-1, having lost last Friday night in Alaska to Texas Tech and the great TT coach, Bobby Knight. Texas Tech lost the final to Butler, another good mid-major Midwest team, like Southern Illinois and Bradley. Gonzaga's next game is tomorrow afternoon in Boston against UConn, the third of my least favorite teams in College Basketball.

Nice win on Sunday for the Seahawks in St. Louis at the Edward Jones Dome. Yes they were down 19-7, but battled back to win 24-19 and are 7-4. Couple that with the Packers 37-27 loss last night in Dallas and the loss of Favre, and maybe I am getting a little greedy, but with certain things breaking right, the Seahawks could not only win the division, but move up to the Second seed in the NFC, which would be enormous.

update

Well, there is a bit of sad news in the Chicago Jewish community. Rabbi Zvi Teller, of Skokie Yeshiva, passed away this week. While I didn't have him as a Rebbe, he did come to Seattle when I was in High School at the Northwest Yeshiva High School, to come and talk about Yeshivat Hakayitz. www.nyhs.com

On Monday night, I attended a mass Tehilim at KINS for the Jewish people in Israel. We recited five or six chapters of Tehillim and then Rabbi Pesach Lerner of the National Council of Young Israel spoke about the matzav (situation) in Israel with the Annapolis peace conference. The more we speak out, write letters to the editors, etc. the better.

Also, I regret that I missed a nice shiur on Shemittah given by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow. I think he's a Rabbi of a Yeshiva in Israel. He is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikvah in Israel.

other things

Let's take a break from analyzing the social scene in Chicago and New York and tackle some other issues.

1) Sports Recap: Bulls are 2-10 I think after the loss to the Knicks yesterday at the Garden. It is sad to lose to that team. I am surprised that Skiles' job is as safe as it is.

2) LSU and Kansas lost over the weekend so the front runners for the national championship game of college football are West Virginia and Missouri, if they beat Pitt and Oklahoma respectively next Saturday.

3) Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune had this silly idea that LSU's loss would open the door for Ohio State to play in the championship game (not so silly) and that Illinois would go to the Rose Bowl. If you're an Illini fan, the LAST thing you want is a game against USC in the Rose Bowl. USC would win by at least 10 points. Juice Williams isn't a good enough passer to overcome a good team. Take the Capital One bowl against South Carolina or Florida and win it and prepare to overtake Tressel and THE OHIO state university.

me

Here's a pic of me from a while back. Hope to have a newer one.

socializing part II

Note: This is a continuation of my previous post.

The reason why I think that singles who aren't Chareidi should make an effort to mingle with members of the opposite sex is because once you reach the age of 25, it is presumed that you have enough maturity and life experience to be an adult and a future partner. Maybe the ladies in Rogers Park do not have that maturity. However, in New York, they do (or at least in Washington Heights and the Upper West Side). I don't know other cities on the East Coast such as Baltimore and Boston, but I imagine that it isn't as pitiful as Chicago.

Some of guys work in downtown corporate environments where we work with other unmarried women who are either a) Non-Jewish or b) assimilated Jews who don't do a lot Jewishly other than Rosh Hashana and Hanukkah.
However, the more one is exposed to them, the greater the temptation it is to flirt with a member of the opposite sex, regardless of whether she fits into ones lifestyle.

Moreover, here's a question for all of you wonderful single women of West Rogers Park and Flatbush types: Besides hanging out with your married friends and family members, what else do you do for "fun or entertainment" when it isn't shabbos or Yom Tov or someones simcha?
I would love to hear your answers.

Thank you.

Josh

btw, if anyone in Lakeview has any good answers to these questions, you are free to let me know.

socializing (or lack thereof) among Orthodox singles

Today, I am going to write about the lack of socializing among singles in Rogers Park and why I think it is a poor reflection of a person's character. For purposes of this discussion, I am only referring to single women between the ages of 25-40 and have some independence in their living.

I understand the need for Shadchanim today and I don't expect to have a deep discussion at a kiddush at one of the shuls in the neighborhood. What I don't understand is your lack of wanting to have anything to do with the single guys in your neighborhood. Are we a bunch of misfits or ogres? Maybe we work in similar fields. I don't know but you won't let me or my fellow single males know this fact.

Why do you want to wait for a Shadchan or Shabaton? Are they so successful?

Is conversation of "non-traditional frum topics" something that you are incapable of? Prove me wrong and I will be happy to change my opinion.

Hawks-Bears

Yes one of the pics is from Monday night's game, but this is a Hasselbeck theme.

Anyway, maybe the Hawks and Cards can both qualify for the playoffs, not that Fox or ESPN would want two western teams in the playoffs.

Pics of Senators and Seahawks

various things

Well the work week was good last week. The weekend was nice, went to Sephardic Congregation and ate at one of my friends' friends. It was nice. Motzei shabat was a nice surprise party (and a preview of what I need to do in a month or so.)

Now onto Sports

Illini won convincingly over Northwestern or Northworstern, 41-22 and are 9-3. Hopefully they'll be in a New Year's Day bowl, but Michigan is 8-4 and is a big name and will travel well. That means there are a ton of Michigan alumni who will shell out big bucks to go to a bowl game, figure at least 2-3 thousand between airfare, tickets, hotel accommodations, etc.

In any event, at least my new state has a bowl team, unlike Washington. WSU lost by a lot to the Beavers 52-17 and we can say bye bye ty and so long Doba (Cougs coach).


As far as today's Bears-Seahawks game, I saw the last quarter and a half because of davening and figuring that 3 hours of Matt Vasgersian is too much. Heck an hour of Dick Stockton and Brian Baldinger is too much. Seahawks won (yeah!!) but they could have won by at least 14-17 points. Maybe I am greedy, but I see the Packers and Patriots burying teams and that's what I want to see.

Hockey: Ottawa won at home on Thursday over Buffalo but was shut out last night at the ACC by the Leafs 3-0. The ACC is NOT the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the Air Canada Centre. Note the correct spelling for Canada, as they use British English.

sports stuff

For all Gonzaga fans east of the Rockies.

http://kennelconnection.wordpress.com a good Zag blog, obviously written by someone closer to the program than I (or experts like Dick Vitale).

www.gozags.cstv.com is the official Gonzaga athletics website.

I hope to see either a Wolves or Blackhawks game this year. Hawks are 10-7 after sweeping the Central teams at home (jackets, blues and wings).

Meanwhile Ottawa is 14-2 and ruling the East. Go Senators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jewish related post

On Thursday night, at 8 PM at KINS, a Rabbi from Israel, Rabbi Yuval Cherlow is coming to speak to the Jewish community about Shemittah and all of the halachic issues involved with it. It should be interesting. For more information go to www.congkins.org or www.torahmitzion.org/chicago
Then on November 30-December 1st is a Torah Mitzion Shabaton with Rabbis Balsam and Matanky speaking.

It is unfortunate that the only singles related programming is largely Baal Teshuva related. Gila Manolson was here yesterday speaking about relationships for CTN, but my personal experience is that is not my kind of event. Ask me offline why.

picture from last year and other things

Here's a picture in downtown Chicago during Super Bowl mania. Won't see this this January.

Well my shabbos was nice. Got to rest up and inform friends of my recent good fortune.

Anyway, Northwestern beat Indiana to be bowl-eligible. Illinois had the shocker of the day, beating previously unbeaten Ohio State 28-21 in Columbus.

Bulls lost again and Bradley lost to UIC. That's a shame. I like Bradley and their coach, Jim Les.

Washington lost to Oregon State last night 29-23 and lost QB Jake Locker for the season because he was hit by a guy on his helmet and sprained his neck. Washington State won 33-17 over Stanford.

college basketball preview

Here are teams I think will do well.

ACC: North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, NC State and Clemson
SEC: Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi State
Big 10: Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State and Illinois. Yes Mr. Illinitalk, I have your team in the NCAA tournament.

Big East (aka Big Least): Marquette, Georgetown, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, DePaul.

Missouri Valley: Bradley, Southern Illinois, Creighton
Horizon: Butler
Pac-10: UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Washington, Stanford
WCC: Gonzaga (St. Mary's NIT bound).
Big 12: Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Texas Tech (yes I love Bobby Knight) and maybe Missouri
Mountain West: BYU, UNLV (San Diego State is a sleeper).
WAC: Nevada, New Mexico State.
Atlantic 10: Xavier, George Washington, St. Joseph's. Watch out for St. Louis. The Billikens are coached by Rick Majerus, formerly of Ball State and Utah.

Ottawa stuff

Go to www.team1200.com for the official station of the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators are 12-1 and have given up the second fewest goals in the NHL. It's a good combination tough defense and good offense, worked 20+ years ago in Edmonton.

mixed feelings

One of my friends recently got engaged and moved from Chicago to Florida. The good news is that he found the right woman, the bad news is that means there is one fewer single guy in Rogers Park.

Sportsmanship and running up the score. Last week, various sportswriters got on the New England Patriots for running up the score against Washington, when they won 52-7. They were being bad sports. Yesterday's Seahawks-Browns game is a perfect example of why a team should run up the score. The Seahawks had a 21-6 lead in the second quarter and lost the game 33-30 in overtime. No, I can hear, the Seahawks should not have tried to embarrass the Browns, just controlled the clock. Football today is too high scoring to sit on a 15 point lead. Maybe 20-35 years ago they would have done that, but not today.

Girardi bad choice

In my humble opinion, the Yankees made a bad choice by selecting Joe Girardi as their new manager over Don Mattingly. Mattingly is a lifelong Yankee and isn't viewed as the new Showalter, which is Girardi's reputation, at least based on one year in Florida. The fact that he was fired after one year is telling.

things happening

Some good things are happening, which will keep me away from the computer but that's okay.

Shabat was nice and relaxing. Got to share some photos and see some nice people.

Sports: Ottawa won again last night to improve to 11-1. Best team in the NHL for sure.

Hawks won in St. Louis to improve to 7-6. They host the Predators tonight at the UC.
Illini thumped the Gophers 44-17 in the Metrodome, which I call the Homerdome. At 7-3, they've clinched a bowl bid for sure.
Bears are off, Bulls are 0-3 and the Irish lost to Navy. Too bad.

Next Monday, Mark Messier who was the Rangers captain in 1994 when they won the Cup, will be inducted into Hockey's Hall of Fame. That should be fun.

http://www.hhof.com/
for more information on the Great weekend with Messier and Scott Stevens being inducted into the Hall of Fame

Big game at 3:15 in Indy between the Pats and Colts. I like the Colts. Too much attention given to the Patriots and not enough respect shown to the Colts, who are the defending champ.
Check out http://www.patspulpit.com/ or http://www.stampedeblue.com/ for more information on this epic matchup.

some Gonzaga Pictures

Here are some Gonzaga pics to get Zags Nation excited for 2007

sports stuff

First of all, let's start with my five college basketball teams that I love to hate.





5. Arizona, the U of A basketball team has been a thorn in the side of the Washington Huskies since 1984, when they made the tournament for the first time under Lute Olson. They have made Four Final Fours, 1988, 1994, 1997(won title) and 2001 runner-up to the #1 team on this list.





4. U-C-L-A. As a Gonzaga fan, I still have nightmares of the Bruins stealing the ball four or five times in the last two minutes of the Sweet Sixteen game in Oakland. Oakland is not a place for Mariner or Gonzaga fans. They are almost always good, now they've made two straight Final Fours and have made the most trips to the Final 4 (17).





3. Connecticut. Nothing as a Westerner annoys me than an arrogant team in the Northeast corridor. The UConn Huskies fit that description. Two National Championships (1999, 2004) add to that as well as their presence in the state of Connecticut, which guarantees that even if they're poor, they'll have one or two appearances on ESPN (aka the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network).





2. Syracuse. The Orange fit the above description, and although they only have one championship (2003), what puts them ahead of UConn is their coach, Jim Boeheim, who complains a lot and who never schedules tough non-conference road games, and the Gerry MacNamara controversy in 2006, when an SI poll of college players said that he was the most overrated player in the Big East. If G-Mac was white, he wouldn't be considered scrappy and other adjectives attributed to David Eckstein, Dustin Pedroia and Craig Counsell.





1. Duke. The New York Yankees of college basketball. There's a reason why a certain announcer at ESPN is called Dookie V, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How many games does Duke have that aren't televised, especially by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ABC? Not too many.





Honorable mention: Nevada (for beating Gonzaga in 2004 and not reaching the Sweet Sixteen after that year. Memphis, for having John Calipari be their coach.





Now let's focus on the 2007-2008 season for Washington and Gonzaga.





Unfortunately, they don't play each other anymore.





Gonzaga is ranked fourteenth in the preseason coaches poll. Washington isn't ranked.


Washington is in the preseason NIT. If they do well, they will make it to New York and then Dick Vitale (aka Dookie V) will actually see a Washington game.





Other good non-conference games for Washington. Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh


and LSU. LSU and Ok. State are road games.








For more on Washington sports, go to http://www.udubdish.com/





Gonzaga's good non-conference games are at St. Joseph's (Philly), Connecticut (in Boston), at Memphis, Tennessee (in Seattle), Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City, Western Kentucky and a couple others in Alaska in the Great Alaska Shootout.





Gonzaga information, courtesy of http://gozags.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/gonz-m-baskbl-sched.html



Heytvelt is back. Zag fans, accept him with open arms. He served his punishment and it's a new season. No more high off the court jokes.



HOCKEY: Ottawa is 9-1 and off to a great start.

Senators blogs: http://battleofontario.blogspot.com, http://scarlettice.blogspot.com