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From: mms1646@acf4.UUCP (Michael M. Sykora)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Sports and Jews (sidetracked discussion)
Message-ID: <1560077@acf4.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Jun-85 14:25:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: acf4.1560077
Posted: Thu Jun 13 14:25:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Jun-85 02:40:19 EDT
References: <422@unc.UUCP>
Organization: New York University
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>/* fsks@unc.UUCP / 12:06 am  Jun 12, 1985 */

>Fanatic as Spectators or participants?  The traditional Jews I knew in N.Y.
>followed all the major teams, because they enjoyed gambling on the outcomes.
>But as for sports participation -- most considered sports to be merely
>a way to pass the time, when you had nothing better to do (a rare occasion).

Both.  However, I realize I may have spoken hastily.  I think the sports
fanaticism of the Jews I grew up was perhaps an attempt to assimilate.
This fanaticism may in fact have been significantly less intense than for
the average American community, but it struck me as insane nevertheless.

>The non-Jews I grew up with in Palatka, Florida, on the other hand,
>considered athletic prowess to be the prime measurement of manhood.

Among the Jews I grew up with here in the ghetto (:-), athletics were also
considered as such, as were the abilities to tell jokes and to make money.

>No?  Then what is your definition of "ethic group",
>that American Jews do not qualify?

Jews don't seem to be single ethnic group, but rather several, tied together
by a religious bond.

>	Frank Silbermann

						Mike Sykora