Maccabi will likely experience another disappointing campaign due to its own unrealistic expectations.
By ALLON SINAIAllon sinai 88(photo credit: Courtesy)
The problems Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club has encountered in the preseason go far beyond anything coach Effi Birenboim can solve.
Muriel James, the author of the 1971 bestseller Born to Win, didn't know it, but she perhaps described the club's predicament best.
"A loser seldom lives in the present, but instead destroys the present by focusing on past memories or future expectations," she wrote.
Maccabi has failed in the past two seasons and in all likelihood will experience yet another disappointing campaign first and foremost because of its own unrealistic expectations.
Between 2004 and 2006 Maccabi won two Euroleague titles and finished once as a runner-up, and just as importantly did so in memorable style.
With the once-in-a-generation combination of Anthony Parker, Nikola Vujcic, Maceo Baston and Sarunas Jasikevicius, Tel Aviv became the first team in 13 years to be crowned European Champion on consecutive seasons and, despite Jasikevicius's departure, came within a whisper of a three-peat the following year.
However, besides giving the club's fans endless pleasure, those seasons also set the bar at an unreachable peak.
Instead of becoming a source of inspiration, the extraordinary achievements have turned into a burden, with Maccabi's management and supporters clutching to the past and as a result destroying the club's future.
In each of the last three summers Maccabi has replaced its coach and about half of its roster, and unsurprisingly is once again desperately suffering from a lack of continuity and chemistry.
Croatian coach Neven Spahija, Oded Katash and Tzvika Sherf all lost their jobs because of the impossible pressure and after a mere few months it already seems extremely unlikely Birenboim will remain at the club any longer than his three predecessors.
In fact, the identity of the coach is irrelevant.
For as long as Maccabi's management and fans don't dramatically lower their expectations, the team will continue to chase an unattainable goal and inevitably keep falling short.
Allon@jpost.com
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