Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball with JPost's Allon Sinai, and more!

I was pleased to open the show with Allon Sinai from The Jerusalem Post, and we discussed Maccabi Tel Aviv’s huge win in game 3 of their Euroleague quarter finals series against Panathinaikos of Greece 65-62! Game 4 is Thursday evening back in Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv and it should be a cracking match!

 

Allon & I also talked about one of the hottest topics in sports in Israel right now, Racism. In his terrific new column: “Sinai Says: Riots, racism and the future of Israeli soccer” Allon goes into the crux of the matter of racism at the stadiums around the country and also has an exclusive interview with Jimmy Turk, the first Israeli-Arab to play for the Israel National Team.

 

We ran down the weekend results and focused our attention on Beitar Jerusalem and their huge win in Ramat Gan over Maccabi Petach Tikva 3-1, as well as Kiryat Shemona’s disappointing loss 1-0 at home to Bnei Yehuda. Kiryat Shemona had tried to sew up the league championship but will now have to wait another week and face Hapoel Tel Aviv. So check Allon’s work out at JPost.com!

 

Ed Coleman (23:10) the New York Mets beat reporter for WFAN joined me to give us an update of what has been going in in Mets camp in Florida before the season opens up next week. Ed, a consummate professional who knows the Mets inside out also shared his feelings on R.A. Dickey the veteran Mets pitcher who just released a brand new book entitled: “Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball”. Dickey, a standup guy details how he was sexually abused as a child, a topic that not many athletes or any person would discuss. So check out this great interview with Ed Coleman!

 

I then had the great privilege to welcome on board Lawrence Baldassaro (31:31) author of a great new book, “Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball”.

 

Larry & I discussed not only Joe DiMaggio, The Yankee Clipper, but many other Italians who have played baseball. We also looked at players like Ernie Lombardi and Mike Piazza along with those who have served as executives and managers such as A. Bartlett Giamatti and Tommy Lasorda.

 

Jon Scheiman (1:14:50) of True Hoops NY then joined me to discuss the latest in the NBA from the New York Knicks to the Chicago Bulls as we head into the last month of the season. We also looked at stories around the game such as the possibility of putting ads on NBA Jerseys in order to increase revenue both for the clubs and the league.

 

Doc Ike (1:40:49) and I closed out the show breaking down the latest in the NHL. We looked at the possibility of former Montreal Canadiens star Patrick Roy coming back as the coach for next season along with the other potential candidates. We also analyzed the playoff races in both the Eastern & Western conferences.