Author: The Commissioner

 

April 20 Recap, Part 2

By Marc Brafman

 

And finally, a recap of the Zawatsky-Weisser game by Captain Z…

 

First, I want to say what beautiful words Howard Schwartz, Ken Groh and Jeff Weisbrot spoke during our pregame memorial for our leaguemates/friends/brothers, Ron Rose and Jason Faust.  Ron and Jason will surely be missed.  It is times like this when I realize our league is more of a Brotherhood than a softball league.  

 

Wednesday night was a game of many firsts for me.  It was our first game of the season.  It was the first time my son Eli played in the league as he subbed for our team.  It was my first game being a captain.  

 

I could not have dreamed of a better start to the season.  

 

In the first inning our first five batters got the scoring going.  Wertheim started off with a triple.  Next, Groh hit an RBI single.  Meisner hit into a fielder’s choice and he ended up on first base.  Commissioner Silverman hit a line drive double.  Zawatsky (that’s me) hit an opposite field double, scoring 2 more runs.  I heard Wes Wolf call my hit a dinker.  If I can hit a dinker double each time up, I’m okay with that!  At the end of the first we had a 3 to 0 lead.

 

The second inning we scored 5 more runs.  Gollin got a hit, Newman got a hit, Groh got a hit, Meisner got a hit and Silverman got a hit. All five of these players scored that inning.  End of two Zawatsky 8 Weisser 0.  

 

We scored 2 more runs in the top of the fifth inning.  With great Pitching by Groh and almost error free defense, we ended up shutting out Weisser in five innings by a score of 10 to 0.

 

Bring on Team Lefton!

 

 

April 20 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

Mother Nature FINALLY smiled on us last night as the season started three weeks late. After a very nice tribute from Howie, Ken Groh and Jeff Weisbrot talking about our friends Ron Rose and Jason Faust, it was time for the games to start. 

 

On field 1 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Grefer.  (Brafman won 12-11)

Team Brafman took control of the game early and broke out to an early lead. The top of the order led the way with Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley, JZ, Fink and Anton producing the big hits. “Handsome” Sam Castellini and Marc Brafman also drove in runs. While Grefer chipped away, they could never get closer than a couple of runs. But things changed for Grefer in in the top of the 6th. Big hits from Zach Michelson, Gary Grefer and others tied the score at 10. When Team Brafman failed to score in the bottom of the inning, Grefer took their first lead of the game in the top of the 7^th, 11-10. With the top of his order up Capt. Brafman felt good about their chances going to the bottom of the 7th. “While I was disappointed we couldn’t hold our big lead, I was 100% confident we’d pull through.” And that is what they did. JZ led off with a double, and after an intentional walk to Anton, who had been 3-3 at the time, Fink hit a LOOOONG ball into the gap in RC that Kyle Grefer ran down and made a nice play on. Both runners advanced on the catch. And this is where the game got interesting. Believing that Capt. Brafman was a lesser hitter than Sam Castellini, Grefer walked Castellini, setting the stage that every boy dreams of. That’s right, I was up with the bases loaded tying run on 3rd go ahead run on 2nd. And just like everyone dreams about, I hit a medium fly ball to LC which was caught. JZ tagged up at 3rd to tie the game and when the ball got past the catcher Anton scored the winning run for Team Brafman who won 12-11. “Do we even celebrate a win like that,” Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen said post game? “I guess I have to go pat Capt Brafman on the back for at least hitting the ball in the air.” Besides the offense, team Brafman also won this game on defense with Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, David “Lenny Harris” Snyder, “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman and Alex Kraus all making nice plays. 

“A good overall team win,” Brafman said post game.  

 

Over on field two it was Team Rosenthal vs. Team Kamrass (Kamrass won 16-15 in 8 innings)

 

Roger checks in for the losing team first:

 

KUDOS GO OUT TO……the entire team for not quitting, but players of note are the following….

 

 

*JAMES “THE ROCKET” SWAN who led off and got on all, but once and played a stellar outfield…..

 

*RAFI “MAN MOUNTAIN” GOLDFARB who played a stellar SS and got some key base knocks….

 

*DAVID “MR. POSITIVE” SOLOMON for playing well behind the plate and keeping the team in an upbeat mood…..

 

*JIM “PRICE GUIDE” BECKETT for a huge hit in extra innings…….(Brafman notes Price Guide Beckett is a great nickname. Well done, Roger) 

 

 

 

 

QUOTES after the game……

 

 

CAPTAIN ROGER ROSENTHAL…..

 

“I wasn’t happy about the final score, but was happy about how we fought back the entire game and put ourselves in position to win.”

 

“I wish I could have a DH (designated hitter) the whole season for me. I stink at the plate.”

 

“I’m not one to argue with the umpire and blame him, but there was a horrible call that led to five runs. If I get fined, that’s ok. I’ll just have to.” 

 

 

GARY FISHER…..

 

“Am I in or out?”……this is in referral to whether he was in the field or not.

 

And now from winning Capt. Micah Kamrass:

 

In a game that likely set a JCC Softball record for the oldest combined age of the two pitchers, Team Kamrass edged Team Rosenthal by 1 in a game that took an eighth inning to decide.

Eppy was in mid-season form. In addition to strong pitching, he hit well and even went first to third on the base paths.

The Tenenholtz men ate their Wheaties. Mark ripped one over the fence, and Rick had a big blast over the heads of the outfield.

Adam Heldman and Riley Able played a great outfield and had some key hitting at the top of the order.

Danny Gilbert returned to shortstop and made some great plays in the field and added some big hits. 

Scott Raskin made his league debut with a few nice hits and a strong glove at third base, and Mark Levine returned after a long hiatus from the league and did some damage at the plate. 

Eric Goldstein anchored the defense at first base. 

Jason Esterkamp and Jared Kamrass were both missed and will make the team stronger next week.

“It’s nice to start the season in first place in the standings,” said Captain Micah Kamrass.

A tip of the cap goes to Team Rosenthal for making us really earn the win. Howie somehow continues to age better than Tom Brady does. 

 

Field 3-Team Z vs. Team Weisser-Team Z won 10-0. Blog update pending

 

Field 4

Team Fogel took on Team Solomon. Fogel won 17-13

 

Team Fogel took the field in Week Three (one) eager to get in the win column in the managerial debut for the second Fogel captain in the family. The bats came alive early and stayed active often with strong showings from top to bottom through the lineup. Jamey had a strong showing on the mound and was backed by a robust defense from all positions. Through and through, it was an impressive showing from the Men in Navy Blue. A strong performance from Bob “The Professor” Feldman propelled the offense forward with a clinical showing of how to hit, driving in what seemed to be every run on a muggy April night. When Pat Feldman was asked if he was surprised by Bob’s performance, he had this to say.. “Not one bit. Bob taught me everything I know out in the backyard with a fungo bat and a tennis ball.”

 

Please send your thoughts to Andrew Gage who had to leave the field in the fifth inning yesterday after a bloody nose. Team Doc expects to have him back at full strength next week. It was a back-and-forth game between Fogel and Solomon with Fogel coming out on top by a score of 17-13. The Men in Navy Blue are hopeful to keep the bus moving next week.

 

Stat of the game:

·  Jamey is halfway to his season-long pitching prop of 2 strikeouts, getting one in the season open

 

Stu Solomon had this to say post game:

A hard-fought game against a wonderfully coached team. There were a lot of positives and a few negatives for team Solomon. 

 

We had several great defensive plays throughout the game. A nice diving catch by team captain and ” heart and soul” of the team, Stuart Solomon. A great diving stab to his right in RCF from Jeff Weisbrot. For those unaware, he was drafted in the 5th round because he is old and washed up. And finally, a great diving play to knock down a ball and make the out at first from Tyler Stansbury. Corey Norris had a great pitching performance, but there were too many errors to keep the game close. 

 

On the offensive side of the ball, we have to start with Tyler. He hit a monster two-run homer to Left Center Field. Dan Green, our spiritual guru and the only mortgage broker I would ever use, had several hard hits. Corey Norris helped himself with two hits as well.

 

Rookie of the Year Watch: Ryan “the One Man Gang” Marcus had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s and handled 3rd base well. While he is a good player on the field, he is even better person off the field. 

 

League notes:

As Ryan pointed out last week one of our guys is hurting this week. Zack “The Wild Horse” Zakem lost his dad last week to cancer. Zach has been on my team the last two years, and I got to know his dad a little when he would come and watch us play. A really nice guy who will be missed at Triple Creek. We are all thinking of you and your family, Zach

 

David “The Doctor of Style” Weil had a very interesting point on social media this week. The powers that be in Cincinnati who are in charge of restaurant week sure picked a great week for it. Out of all the weeks of the year they picked a week that has not only Passover, but also Ramadan in it. So, I’m sure the restaurants in Cincy are packed with people this week. Well done, city.

 

Congrats goes out to Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz on the birth of his daughter earlier this week. Congrats, Pete.

 

While he might be distracted from following the 4th or 5th best college football team in the country OSU full credit goes to David “Slim Shady” Wertheim for his continued great advice on things to do in Cincy on Doc’s TML blog each Wed. This weekend he suggests we go out to Moonbird to check out the band Doghouse or is it go to the Doghouse to check out the Band Moonbird? Either way, keep up the good work David. 

 

While this has nothing whatsoever to do with David “D-Sol” Solomon, I’m mentioning it anyway. His sister Abby, who most of us know is the Director of Camp Livingston, took time out of her day on Sunday to walk around camp with me and my daughter Maya who, to put it mildly, wanted nothing to do with going to sleep away camp. That is until after she took the tour. Now she can’t wait for the summer and for camp. If your kid is on the fence about going away, talk to Abby and she will set them straight. 

 

Please keep Rick Lefton and his wife Betsy in your thoughts and prayers. Betsy’s sister has been battling cancer for a year or more and is now entering hospice 

 

My Reds update this week is they stink and this entire mess can be traced back to the end of the 2013 season. If you’d like to listen to me rail on them, find me next week. That said I’m super excited to see Hunter Green in person tomorrow night.

 

Finally, like Ryan mentioned I will be sharing stories about Ron Rose and Jason Faust all year. This week, Joel Fogel shared one of the funniest Faust stories this morning, and I was on the field as Jason was my pitcher when this happened. We were on field 4 a few years ago and Jason showed up exactly at 6:15 when our team was taking the field.  He pulls up, gets out of his car with an extra large UDF milkshake and runs straight to the pitchers mound.  He puts the shake on the ground, picks up the game ball and realizes he doesn’t have his glove.  He picks up his shake, starts drinking it and yells to a few fans that were in the bleachers behind the backstop to get his glove.  He tries to chuck his keys to them but they don’t clear the backstop.  He then ran, picked up the keys and went to his car.  He also safely secured his milkshake on the bench.  In a nutshell, that’s Jason.  He will be missed!

 (in my memory of this story, he got out of the car with it still running but Joel’s version is right) 

 

See everyone next week!

 

Pre-Season Notes

April 6, 2022

By Marc Brafman

After a long and sad off-season, it’s time to get back out to Triple Creek. The first order of business every year is the annual player draft. Let’s take a look at each team and preview the season.

 

We’ll start with Team Weisser. Before the draft, Capt. Mark Weisser was his normal cheerful self and seemed pretty excited to have a high draft slot. “I have been reading my draft guides, listening to ESPN8 (The Ocho) podcast and everyone has been giving me their advice on who I should take.” When he selected the Wolf family no one seemed all that surprised in the room. “I see Scott every day at work. Why not on the softball field?” Weisser said. With the Wolfs, Brad “The Human Rain delay” Wagner and Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz in the middle of the order, Team Weisser will definitely bring the thunder each week. They also might lead the league in inter-team arguing and bickering, which will also be fun to watch. “I think having ‘Easy’ Eddie Gallop and ‘The Dr. of Style,’ David Weil on my team will help ease the friction that some of the guys might feel this year,” Weisser said. ”I’m excited to see how many bombs (both f and real) we hit this year.”  Fun fact that may only interest me: in the history of JCC softball no team has ever had as many guys with the same last letter of their name on the same team. Nine of the 12 guys on Team Weisser start with “W.”

 

Continuing their theme from last year, the Lefton’s once again employed the “WE are family” approach to drafting taking the Harris (Griff and Dee) group along with the Kirzners (Reigning rookie of the year, Cam and the ageless wonder, Jerry “Doc” Kirzner). “Nothing wrong with half our team being related to each other,” Rick said post draft. “Remember in the mid-90’s when the Reds started an infield of the Boones and Larkins? They won, didn’t they?” Didn’t they? “This is an interesting team I’ve got,” Jimmy said post draft. I have three of the fastest guys in the league in Griff, Cam and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem and some big-time hitters like Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum and Matt Brodof. But we also have station to station guys like myself, “The Special One” Mike Rothstein and Alan “Sauce” Lessure. A special bonus for all of us this year will be listening to Rothstein direct Alan on where to play in the field this year.

Fun prediction that may only interest me: Jeremy Fogel will throw out at least one, if not two of Team Lefton’s runners from the outfield trying to get to 1^st base when they play this year.

 

Moving along to Team Kamrass…the out of the blue winners of the second half of the season last year are back for more this year. “We proved we could win with Eppy last year so why not try again?” So for the second year in a row, Eppy and the Brothers Kamrass will be partners. “I’ve been in the pool, in the weight room and in the wing eating contests all winter to prepare,” Eppy said. I’m looking forward to beating the odds once again. Eppy has a lot of help around him with Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz coming back this year along with Danny Gilbert, Jason Esterkamp and Adam Heldman. “We hope our big hitters and the rookie Scott Raskin can blossom into a star for us,” Micah said. Plus, it’s always fun to play with Riley “The Big Man” Able once again.

Fun random game that would only interest me: We need to time Eppy this year running from first to home, then take that time and see if he could polish off a plate of wings faster post game.

The first rookie captain makes his appearance next. After spending a number of seasons as one of the chattier catchers in the league, Steve “Z” Zawatsky has stepped up to captain. “I got tired of always listening to guys talk about their teams and I figured it was time for me to step up and captain my own team. I wanted to get youth and speed at the top of my order which I did by drafting David “Slim Shady” Wertheim and Harry ‘Hood’ Meisner. I just have to keep Wertheim off his phone and focused. He’s so all in on OSU that I need to make sure he can stop covering the 4-5 best team in college football each year long enough for him to hit and field.  I’ve caught Ken Groh before and I know what a solid player he (and not being a captain will help him this year), plus I got the new Commish, Ryan and his crew (Phil and Oren). When you toss in Rabbi Yitz, new/old Rookie Bradley “Monkey” Swillinger and the rest of my team I’m ready to go!” Most of the talk around the draft room was that Z did very well for his first time drafting and has a well-prepared team.

Fun future fact about Team Z-we are only a couple of years away from getting a 10^th team in the JCC league made up of Rabbi Yitz and his kids. Forget the Wolf clan. Very soon it will be the Yitz pack ruling our league.

If there is one consistent thing to say about Stu Solomon’s teams year after year it’s that he drafts guys that can hit. This year is no different. Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury, Adam Cronstein, Stu and rookie Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus make up the top of his order. (No pressure Ryan, but Mike “Flash” Creemer thinks that he will lead the league in homers).  “In our league if you can’t hit you can’t win and this year, I am going ALL in on big boppers. Not only that, I have a pissed off Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot ready to show that he is all in and back to form this season. Did you guys see Joey Votto last year? Well, that is the level of locked in-ness Jeff is going to bring this year. He is going to forget that his kids have games and come out each Wednesday ready to hit.”  With rookie full time pitcher Corey Norris on the hill and a couple of rookies “Mr. Wonderful” Max Orloff and the mysterious Mike Wagner holding down the fort along with Mark “Bruiser” Wolfe, Team Solomon should be a team to be reckoned with this year.

Fun Dad fact that Stu shared with me on Sunday. I bumped into him at Marx Bagels at around 9:10 on Sunday morning. All I did was drop my kids off at Sunday school. Stu informed me that with his kids 2^ndbirthday coming up later that day he he already gone to Target, Cosco, Party Source, cut the grass, walked his dog, hired Eric the Clown as entertainment and was now at Marx Bagels picking up food. I don’t miss little kids at all.

 

Our next captain was following the trends set by first Tony LaRussa coming back to the White Sox, Sean “Nothing to see in Arizona” Miller coming back to XU and finally Thad Motta returning to Butler. We of course are talking about Roger Rosenthal. Roger was a captain so long ago that the Reds weren’t even begging fans to come to games with bobbleheads…they were actually trying to win. Roger wasted no time in making a big statement by grabbing Howie and Rafi. Along with Michael “Chatterbox” Askin and James “Lynn” Swan, this team is going to have a lot of speed in the outfield. D-Sol behind the plate brings a great bat and a good target for Howie.  Roger drafted for experience and he sure got it with “Stormin’” Norm Frankel, Jim Beckett, Keith Kombrinck and Gary Fisher. “My team will be ready to take on any and all comers this year,” Roger said. “I’m in the process of ordering team bobbleheads as we speak.”

Random fun contest for team Roger: Will Roger talk more in one inning than Michael Askin talks all season? My money is on Roger

Team Grefer coming off the league title last year picked up right where they left off on draft day. Taking a couple of rookies, Taylor “F$%^ the” Police and AJ Goldhoff were bold moves that I think will pay off for them. Josh Rosen brings team speed and solid defense in the outfield. Mike “Mr. Cub” Gray will keep them in any game, and the recently buff Ben Margolis is poised for another breakout season. “We change with the times,” Kyle Grefer said post draft. Last year it was all about the Wolfs and established players and this year we went with the young guys. Of course, I don’t know half my team but I’ll meet them on Wednesday. I just know they can play. Rounding out the team, Chris Kunkel and Mike Margolis are looking forward to proving their worth this year.

Fun fact about Team Grefer. If we were starting a basketball team Team Grefer would be a great place to start. With Danny and Kyle, Kunkel and Zack Michelson all being well over 6 feet tall this team would give the 69^thranked XU team a good run for their money

 

The last of the three rookies, Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel took time away from his Ben Roethlisberger shrine to get up to speed on the draft.  Like Team Grefer, he took a little gamble by drafting a rookie high when he took Pat “Sunshine” Feldman’s family early. “We are counting on Tait Cunningham (Pat’s cousin) to really be a big-time player for us. If he plays half as well as his girlfriend looks, we have the rookie of the year.”  We have a strong team with Scott “why can’t we be” Friend, The “Macho Man” Andrew Gage, and Bryce “The Gunslinger” Aslinger part of the team. After my trade with Team Brafman we now have two quality pitchers in Jamey Kurtzer and Eric “Spuds” Zied along with great quality guys like Scott “Shorty” Adams and Mark Franklin. “Having my dad help me out was a big plus this year. I value his opinion and he’s never steered me wrong (The rest of us disagree with that statement since he did turn you into a Steelers fan).

Fun future altercation that might happen. With a member of the First Wives club of JCC softball Barb Fogel coming to watch each week, we now have worry about her getting into arguments with the umps. “My mom is not used to me being in control, so I’d better make sure she controls herself each game.” We don’t want her to get tossed out of Triple Creek arguing plays in the field. She’s been known to curse like a sailor when a call goes against me or my dad, so now we have to try and control that fury.

 

Finally, we come to Team Brafman. “I feel we have a good mix of speed and power. I’ve got two former Rookie’s of the year in Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley and JZ. Fink with a year under his belt as a pitcher is poised to take that next step up. You know what you are going to get each year with Anton and we have a couple of returning players who missed a year or two in Alex Kraus and “The Mouth of the Midwest” Eric Gruen primed for breakout seasons,” said Brafman post draft. “Joel and I are happy to be back in the league,” Gruen said. “Who wants to play golf when you can swing a softball bat each week?”  “With cagey vets like David “BP” Synder, Dr. Bob and “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman we should lead the league in compliments around first base this season as well. I can’t wait for the season to start,” Brafman said. Let’s play ball!

Fun Passover food fact. If you guys are hosting Passover this year or going over to someone’s house and are in the market for  baked goods that actually taste amazing, please track down Sam “The Hitman” Hecht and Sweet Butter Bakery. I promise you will not have better baked goods anywhere.

 

League Notes:

Congrats to Scott Sadler on getting married. Either it happened this week or it’s going to very soon

Some wedding anniversaries over the last couple of weeks…Scott Friend, 13 years and me and my wife, 21.

When he and David Wertheim aren’t talking about the 4^thor 5^th best football team in the country year in and year out, Griff Harris has found a team at OSU that actually wins National Titles. I’m talking of course about the women’s hockey team. Griff posed for numerous pictures with the ladies (some of whom actually have their own teeth still) and seemed very excited to be whatever a guy groupie would be called. Way to go Buckeyes.

A great article last week in everyone’s favorite weekly newspaper, the Israelite, about Mike “Flash” Creemer and his coaching of girls Blue Jays basketball. We talk about it a lot, but man Mr. Mike really does have a huge influence on all of our kids who have been through the J. (In a similar vain last week my son, Jacob, and Zach Huidt’s son, Noah, played against each other in a select baseball league game. Both of us coached them at the J) So keep up the good work, Mike.

If you can stomach watching the Reds in person for one game come to JCC/Jewish night on June 7^th. It’s always a fun night even if the Reds won’t be that much fun.

Congrats to Roger on XU winning the NIT. The game started during the draft and to his credit Roger kept his eyes on the prize and drafted a good team all the while claiming to not want to know how XU was doing. He was surprised, though, to get a cease and desist letter from the Xavier marketing department when he tried to sell We love 69! T-shirts. He didn’t (and still doesn’t) understand why that’s a bad thing.

Ryan sent this out last week but here it is again. If you would like to record a memory of Jason Faust for his kids please click on this link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=jnfLkqeLNE-gEUum5zZplqT8j1Q87klFkPrAWSKljr1URFdJVUY5TExGNkZNT0xVTFJXT0FVVjZDUy4u

And last but not least Roger listed a 2016 Reds team baseball card set for $10 on his web site. This, mind you, is the same Reds team that finished 68-94. I think he should pay us $10 to take them off his hands.

 

Can’t wait to see everyone later today (if Mother Nature permits it)

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-Season Review (March 24, 2022)

By Marc Brafman

 

Welcome back, everyone, to the softball blog. It’s been a tough offseason for all of us with the deaths of our close friends and players, Ron Rose and Jason “The Mad Hungarian” Faust. This year we will dedicate the season to both of them. I’ll be sharing stories and memories throughout the year for both guys once the season starts. 

 

Since we haven’t had a blog in a while, grab some coffee, sit back and relax

 

You know the season is getting off to a great start when last night at the new player practice we realized no one had a bat with them to take BP with. Lucky for us, Stu Solomon was about to get one from his car. But for a while it looked like the new guys would be hitting with one of Mike “Flash” Creemer’s Blue Jays bats…

 

Our condolences go out to Alan Lessure who lost his mom this off season and Jeff Weisbrot who lost both of his in-laws.

 

Not all the news was bad as Riley “the Big Man” Able,  Jacob “orthodontist to the stars” Stadiem and Mr. Sunshine, Zach Mayer all welcomed babies to their households. Congrats, guys!

 

Speaking of kids, Ben “Weezy” Lefton’s kids are both playing sports in college. One baseball and the other lacrosse. 

 

As much as it pains me to say this, a late congrats goes out to Scott “why Can’t we Be” Friend on UGA winning the national title over my Crimson Tide. As I gave Scott a ride home from the game, I give him credit for not rubbing it in too much, although he couldn’t hide the smile from his face the entire trip home. 

 

A lot of us made it out to some Bengals playoff games or even the SB. Shorty, The Lefton’s and I’m sure more that I missed. But no one enjoyed the games like the brothers Kamrass who were in the high-cotton suite seats for at least the Raiders game and maybe more. I heard they used the line “Hey, we made it to our own title game with Eppy as our pitcher so our run is more impressive than yours” 

 

Speaking of the Lefton’s since this is the 45th anniversary year of when the Ohio River froze, they shared some pretty cool pictures of them walking across it as kids earlier this winter. Lucky for all of us they didn’t fall in.

 

If you happened to watch any UC basketball games this year you may have noticed that Rookie of the Year Cam Kirzner was always sitting front and center in the student section and always seemed to find his way onto TV. Maybe it’s because he took the Skyline Chili costume that my office gave him to wear at College Game Day and never gave it back. He will tell you it’s a good way to meet girls. But when it comes to his job as a Rally Cat at UC, don’t ask him to play music on his portable speaker since he seems to have a problem with remembering to charge it before events.  

 

Bryce Anslinger celebrated his dad making the Miamsburg school hall of fame. A very cool story that I’m sure he will be happy to share with you this summer

 

Another guy celebrating this year so far is Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf and his company, Urban Blooms. If you haven’t seen his work at the new Madtree inspired restaurant in OTR, check it out. It’s amazing!

 

If you would like to help out David “BP” Snyder and his family please consider donating to their meal train at this link: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/yvg7ze/updates/ David’s son was diagnosed with cancer so please help if you can. 

 

Also, the Hillel at UC is doing a fundraiser to help out former player Justin Berg and his wife, Lauren. https://www.cincinnatihillel.org/campussuperstar-tickets

 

If you want a fun way to live vicariously through someone, check out Brooke Fogel’s blog as she travels through Italy. Oh, to be 21 and in college again.

 

And if you want to know what’s going on around Cincy, make sure to read Doc’s Morning Line Blog each Thursday. That is when our own David “Slim Shady” Wertheim writes a blog post each week on what is going on around town. He also has started a blog or podcast talking about the 4-5 best college football teams in the country, OSU , which I’m sure is great if you want to learn more about the 4th or 5th best team in the country. 

 

If you are like me, and I hope you aren’t, every once in a while you look someone up on Linked in or Facebook and realize they know someone in the league. That was the case with a future client of mine who was linked in with Danny Grefer. So being the good salesmen I try to be, I reached out to Danny to ask how he knew her and if they keep in touch. His answer to this day still makes me smile. His exact words to me where “Wow, I haven’t through of her in a while. I didn’t know her that well, but I did used to sleep with her roommate in college.” 

 

No blog post of mine would be complete without a Reds update. No need to rehash the offseason or all the moves they are making that make zero sense to anyone other than maybe the Big Man in the front office and Nick Krall. But one guy who did want to get his two cents in was Scott “Dire” Wolf who got into a Twitter battle with the newest Red hoping to be the next Eddie Milner, Jake Fraley (one of the stiffs we got for Jessie Winker). Keep up the good work, Scott, as I am sure that both Griff and Mark Tenenholtz are going to have much better seasons than that guy. By the way, only the Reds can trade away two All Stars and get back a guy who hit .200 a pitcher who MIGHT be a 3-4 starter and another pitcher who they knew had a bad arm. How in the world do you trade for a pitcher who you knew had a bad arm? 

 

Finally, if all goes well this weekend Roger will be selling WE ARE 69! t-shirts for XU winning the NIT. That is after he sells his soul for the return of Sean Miller. 

 

Hopefully mother nature will cooperate, and we will be out at Triple Creek next week. 

 

Marc

 

November 9 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

The most recent edition of the JCC fall softball season came to a close on Tuesday night. Thank you to all the players and captains for making our first fall trip in a long time a fun season. Without further delay the winning captain, Greg Leader, who took time out of his Mensch on a Bench decorating (it’s never too early in the Leader household) to report in. 

 

Team Leader entered championship night winners of six straight games, but needed to scratch, claw and fight from behind in both games to secure the title.

 

Team Solomon gave Team Leader all they could handle in the semifinals. Mike Gray pitched a fantastic game and Solomon’s crew came ready to hit. Team Leader entered the bottom half of the fifth inning down by a run. Two hits later, the game was tied with the winning run on second and nobody out. Team Solomon intentionally walked the next two batters (Anton and Rafi) to load the bases. Ultimately, the winning run was scored on a bloop hit by Matthew Leader to advance Team Leader into the championship game.

 

Like Team Solomon, Team Fogel came ready to play and their big bats plated six runs in the top of the first inning. Team Leader scored three of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The story of the rest of the game was stellar defense by Team Leader, allowing only one additional run in the following four frames, and their bats coming alive. Fueled by a big offensive fourth inning, Team Leader pulled away and won the championship game 14-7.

 

After the game, Leader was overheard urging teammate and future commish, Ryan Silverman, to make the fall season a dynasty league and keep the teams the same as this year. “Just think about it, okay?” Leader asked. “Every team reached the semi-finals this season. Why mess with that kind of parity?”

 

Congrats on a great season, Team Leader. 

 

First, some sad news. Former player, Ben Sandor, lost his wife to her long battle with cancer last week. Please keep him and another former player, his dad Doug, in your thoughts. 

 

In much happier news, shout out to rookie, Camden Kirzner, who is one of the bigger rally cats at UC. He dressed up in the Skyline Coney outfit all day on Saturday at UC’s game day and during the game. Not sure if he got free food out of it but he was all over Twitter and Gameday. 

 

A big thank you to Pat “Sunshine” Feldman, David “The Dr. of Style” Weil, Ryan “Hi-Ho” Silverman, Mark “Eddie Harris” Weisser, Rick Lefton, Mr. Mike and winner of the softball division of the race, Adam Cronstein, for your participation in the Oy Vey 5K race. We broke the race participation record this year so next year I’d like to see more of you out helping to support the J.

 

Evan Gildenblatt will now be the best dressed lawyer in the city as he officially became a lawyer this week. Way to go, Evan. 

 

It’s heartbreaking to see Jacob’s reaction each day when I tell him about the Reds moves this offseason. Watching the World Series, I was thinking, “Huh, maybe his kids will be able to experience the Reds winning since we sure won’t any time soon.” 

 

Finally, in college football this week I’m going to have to hold my nose and root for OSU to win out. Also, and this really pains me, UGA to beat Bama. I’ve seen 6 national titles. I can handle Bama not winning one this year if it means UC makes it to the final 4. SO, for you Bearcats fans, it’s pretty easy. Root for Utah, OSU, UGA and anyone beating Oklahoma. That’s all.

 

Don’t forget, registration for the Spring league is only 7 weeks away.  Hope to see you all in April!