Max Kellerman's Monday Musings Vol VI - Wrestling Tournament, Interviews Galore and How the Yankees Sustain All of Baseball

Today's Max Kellerman show was broadcast from a New York baseball landmark - Mickey Mantle's Restaurant. Because the show was broadcast on a live set (as opposed to from the studio), it allowed for people to ask questions directly to Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny. Or to paraphrase Max, "instead of ignoring callers I can ignore the people in the restaurant." But of course he didn't ignore them.

Working backwards through the topics that the show touched on, there were questions asked of Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny by various marines who were in the restaurant. These included some marines who had no opinions on baseball (prompting Max to ask for them to pass the mike to someone with an opinion) -- to marines that said that they had stopped following baseball after the strike. This provoked what sounded like a well rehearsed dissertation by Max and Brian as to how the owners got greedy and as a result the players needed to strike in order to get what they deserved.

Oddly enough, the discussion actually closed the circle from a topic which started the show off, as to how the nation is not appreciative of the Yankees. Max and Brian developed a theory that the game of baseball and more particularly the small market teams are being subsidized by the New York Yankees and that without the Yankees, these teams would not be around. This point was new and innovative to me as I had not heard it phrased in the same manner.

The problem with the theory is that when applied to the strike, it actually proves that the players do not properly appreciate the owners (not that I love ownership either, but...). If the players could command whatever salary they desired without limits, non viable teams would fail and the league would contract and there would be less jobs for the players. In my opinion, the end result is that whereas eight hundred players now make an average of over a million dollars a year, after contraction there would still be the same team salary structures (some players making more than others) but less players in the game.

The concept of lack of understanding of how we benefit from the actions of the few has its roots in Torah as well. The gemara in Berochos 17b, mentions R' Chanina Ben Dosa and the fact that the whole world was fed in the merit of R' Chanina Ben Dosa while he subsisted on one kav of carobs a week. I can't say that Max Kellerman, in discussing how the world should be Yankee fans (because they support all of baseball) was specifically making reference to R' Chanina Ben Dosa as this would be a stretch even for me. But his novel analysis of the lack of appreciation for the actions of the few and how their actions are responsible for the continuation of the (baseball) world's existence has its parallel in the world of Torah as well.

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Sunday Night Suds - Redhook Winter Hook

Tonight's beer review is the Redhook brewery's winter seasonal entitled Winter Hook. The Redhook brewery is not very well know in these parts. I have visited many beer stores where the proprietors have either assured me that Redhook is a local Brooklyn Brewery that went under or that it is simply not available on the East Coast. Neither of these propositions are correct.

Redhook brewery is based in two locations - Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Woodinville, Washington (yes they brew on both coasts). Interestingly, the bottles carry both cities on their labels, so I have never been able to ascertain which coast's brew I am drinking. One of my goals is to try to get the same variety from each brewery and see if I can taste the difference. While the yeast, hops and barley are probably identical, the water should make a difference. Of course, this presupposes that I could taste the difference, but it would be fun to try.

Redhook is not very easy to find on the East Coast, but it does have a presence. I have been able to purchase ESB and Blonde Ale (my friend Yehuda F has become quite fond of this variety and asks me to pick up a six whenever I can find it) on Queens and Long Island. I was able to locate the Winter Hook by chance at Bridgeview near the Bayonne Bridge in Bayonne, New Jersey. For reasons I can't explain, Bridgeview has never made it to the Beerfly on Beeradvocate. I wish I passed near it more than once a year.

Winter Hook (also known as Winter Ale) is a ruby-copper colored Ale that has some similarities to Pete's Wicked Ale, but with a little more sophistication in its flavor. The aftertaste is a little like caramel, maybe even a little nutty, but not as over the top as Saranac's Season Best. The Winter Hook goes well with meat dishes, especially cholent (a meat and potato stew that simmers for about 20 hours before it is served).

Redhook is under the kosher supervision of the OU. To see the experts' take on Winter Hook Winter Ale, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/153/27875 .

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

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Friday's Family Photo

THE YESHIVA BOCHER IN TRAINING MAKES HAVDALAH

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Shemini

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his parsha shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In this week's parsha, the Torah discusses the kosher laws and more specifically, delineates which animals, fish, birds and insects are permitted to be eaten. Within the context of this discussion, the Torah states at Vayikra 11:42 that a creature that crawls on its belly is not Kosher. The word that the Torah uses for belly is "Gachon." In writing the actual word, the Torah makes the letter Vuv in Gachon longer than the rest of the letters. This is done so as to demarcate that this is the midway point of the letters in the Torah.

Rashi on the word Gachon comments that the creature that the Torah is indicating is a snake that creeps and falls on its stomach. Rashi's choice of word is interesting as well. While belly would be normally translated as Beten, Rashi uses the word Meyav or intestines.

R' Frand quoted the Vilna Gaon as having explained why Rashi uses the word Meyav instead of Beten. He explains that since this is half the Torah in letters, by its very nature it is also the midway point of Rashi's commentary on the Torah. The first Rashi (in Bereshis) begins with the word "Amar" that begins with Alef. The last Rashi on the Torah ends with the word Sheshibarta that ends with a Tuf. By using the Meyav word for stomach, Rashi is showing that the Torah is Emet (true) as the commentary begins with an Alef, has a Mem in the middle and a Tuf at the end.

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Wednesday's Weird But True Cases - Vol V

In honor of opening day, tonight's weird but true legal case is Sparks v. Sterling Doubleday Enterprises, 300 A.D.2d 467, 752 N.Y.S.2d 79 (2d Dept. 2002) a matter wherein a child (Sparks) was struck and injured by a ball hit during batting practice at Shea Stadium. Sparks had been invited to Shea Stadium to perform with his school's marching band. While he was in an area of the stadium that was not protected by screening, Sparks was struck and injured by the ball.

In October 2001, the Supreme Court, Suffolk County dismissed the lawsuit. On appeal to the Appellate Division, Second Department, Sparks argued that the Mets were negligent in that they had not properly protected him. The Appellate Division disagreed, citing to an earlier decision of the Court of Appeals in Davidoff v. Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc., 61 N.Y.2d 996, 475 N.Y.S.2d 367 (1984) wherein New York's highest court determined that a baseball stadium satisfies its duty to protect its patrons by erecting a screen behind home plate (the area where most foul balls are hit) and providing adequate seating in that area for all the fans that reasonably would have wanted protection from foul balls. Based on Davidoff, the Appellate Division ruled that the Mets had adequately protected Sparks by erecting the screen behind home plate and that they were not required to "be an insurer of the safety of spectators who choose to occupy unprotected areas."

An interesting postscript to Sparks is Cohen v. Sterling Mets, 17 Misc.3d 218, 840 N.Y.S.2d 527 (Sup. Ct. Queens Cty. 2007) a matter involving a vendor at Shea who was injured when he was struck by a fan who was diving for a t-shirt that had been launched into the stands. In dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Hart of the Supreme Court, Queens County, ruled that launching t-shirts into the stands was similar to a baseball player's tossing a ball to the fans and that a person who was present in the scrum (vendor or spectator) assumes the risk of being struck by people who are scrambling to catch a souvenir - ball or shirt.

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Tuesday's Thoughts On The Daf - Nazir 4

Although today's daf is Nazir 5, I thought that the following story from yesterday's daf (Nazir 4) could offer a little perspective on the Tractate of Nazir.

By way of introduction, the Gemara in Nedarim (9b) views a vow of nezirus as a vow of the wicked. The negative view of becoming a Nazir is self evident in two respects: (a) the vow can be taken on as a knee-jerk reaction to seeing a Sotah in her degraded state that resulted from the abuse of alcohol (Nazir 2a); (b) the Nazir (because of his vow) loses the ability to perform certain positive commandments, such as making kiddush or havdalah on wine.

Another negative aspect can be seen in relation to a Nazir who either intentionally or accidentally becomes impure by exposure to a dead body. In the event that this exposure occurs, the Nazir is required to bring an asham (guilt) sacrifice and recommence his period of observance of the Nazir laws. The Tosafos on 4b comments that the Nazir, who having fulfilled some of the time of his Nazir period, must recommence the observance after having been purified from exposure to the dead body. The Tosafos theorizes that this person may come to regret his acceptance of the Nazir vow, thus making the asham sacrifice less than sincere.

In connection to this asham sacrifice, the Gemara tells the story of Shimon Hatzadik and in so doing frames how rarely a person becomes a Nazir for altruistic reasons. The Gemara relates that Shimon Hatzadisk stated that he never partook of the asham offering of a Nazir who became impure (under the reasons laid out by Tosafos above) with the exception of a certain man. This individual came to Shimon from the South of Israel, with beautiful looks and neatly arranged hair. Shimon asked the man - why would you like to destroy your hair (as the Nazir is required to shave it off at the end of the period of Nazirus). The man responded that he had taken a flock of sheep to water, when he observed his own reflection in the water. In so doing, he noticed how attractive he looked and felt that his evil inclination would push him to go out and use his looks to engage in immoral acts.

Aware of his feelings, the man responded to himself - this is not my world, why am I acting so conceitedly when in the end I will eventually become worm and maggot fodder. The man immediately declared that he would become a Nazir so that he could cut off his beautiful hair for the sake of Heaven. Shimon Hatzadik was so taken by the man's story, that he praised the man and indicated that since he acted with such sincerity, Shimon would eat from his asham sacrifice.

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