• Thousands of crybaby Syrians gathered in Damascus to whine about U.S. soldiers entering their country and killing people.
• In what could be a hint of things to come in other countries that refuse to dabble in treif, Pakistan is overrun with wild boars.
• The New York Times ran a hard-hitting report on how to rid one's house of ghosts and other supernatural undesirables.
• Microsoft has gone Ol' Yeller on Windows Vista.
• The suicide rate among U.S. soldiers is rising, but remains lower than that of the civilian population.
• The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, last night to clinch the franchise's second World Series title in its 125-year existence.

 

Unless it turns out that Dioner Navarro is secretly a Marrano, the 2008 World Series is set to become the first Fall Classic since 2003 in which there is nary a single tribesman on either championship roster. First, the failure of Bob Melvin and the Diamondbacks, Scott Schoeneweis and the Mets and Ian Kinsler's Rangers to make the postseason limited the number of Jews in the pool. With the subsequent elimination of the Cubs (Jason Marquis), the Brewers (Ryan Braun and Gabe Kapler), the Red Sox (Kevin Youkilis), the Jewish presence in baseball has faded along with the number of teams still contending for a title.The Jews will pull the strings in traditional behind-the-scenes roles in this year's World Series

The Rays pulled a sick fakeout with non-Jew Gabe Gross getting regular at-bats in right field and off the bench, while the Phillies have several false positives in Brett Myers, Jason Werth and the almost perfectly named R.J. Swindle. For the past several years, the Chosen  have been represented in the World Series by the likes of the aforementioned Youkilis (Boston, 2007 & 2004), Jason Hirsch and Ryan Spilborghs (Colorado, 2007), Marquis (St. Louis, 2006 & 2004), and Dartmouth-grad Brad Ausmus (Houston, 2005).

While no Jews will be on the field during this year's Fall Classic, the tribal presence will still be felt through traditional behind-the-scenes roles. Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg hails from Brooklyn and counts team president Matthew Silverman and general manager Andrew Friedman among his employees, while the Phillies will enter Wednesday's Game 1 with assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. in tow.

Too bad number 18 was already takenToday comedian Billy Crystal fulfilled the fantasy of every short, aging Jewish male in America -- he played baseball before a sold-out stadium during spring training. The Yankees signed Crystal to a two-day contract to celebrate the long time fan's 60th birthday. He joins the ranks of Jewish baseball greats like Shawn Green, Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. "I’m the D.H. — designated Hebrew," Crystal commented in the Times. “It doesn’t matter. I’m so jazzed. It’s the greatest thrill ever.”

Show some pride for your tribe: and your team

Possibly seeking to escape the performance-enhancing drugs controversy, New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya recently traveled to the Holy Land. (He envisions making baseball a global sport that can unite Israeli and Palestinian youths.) While there, Minaya hung out with Olmert, Peres, and other Israeli politicians, but left before President Bush arrived to meet with the prime minister.

However, Minaya informed and instructed Olmert: “[Bush] doesn’t call me Omar. He calls me O. Tell him you talked about baseball with O and he’ll know what you’re talking about.”

Olmert responded, "Dude, you stole my nickname!"

Former Yankees player Ron Blomberg will be present at a press conference to announce the launch of an Israeli baseball league tonight in New York. In addition to Blomberg, professional Jewish players Ken Holtzman and Art Shamsky are also heading to Israel to manage three of six teams.

Blomberg, who will be managing the Blue Sox team in Bet Shemesh, said of the experience:

I think it's wonderful that I have been chosen in my later years to go there and bring the game of baseball to the Israeli people.

I'm a very proud Jew, and being able to go over to Israel, where the promised land is, and introduce the game to Israelis, is going to be fun," he said. "Israel is where the world started, where my family started. What goes around comes around. I feel that God wants me to go over there and help teach baseball to the Israelis."

Blomberg had been asked to visit Israel before by Moshe Dayan and former Prime Minister Golda Meir, but declined the invitation due to political instability at the time.