Author: Rick Tenenholtz

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April 2, 2024: Preseason Update

Greetings, everyone! As we start getting ready for softball, I figured it was time for the first blog post of the season coming to you live from cloudy Hilton Head Island.  This will be the offseason version with the season preview coming next week. 

I hope everyone had a nice off season and is healthier than the Reds coming out of spring training.

First, and I’m sure there were a lot more, here are guys that celebrated birthdays since last year: (sorry if I missed yours these are the ones that came across my desk)

Jeff “the Natural” Weisbrot

Former league MVP, Mark”Big Blue”Tenenholtz

Rabbi Yitz

Former league all-star, Weezy Lefton

Everyone’s favorite sister, Brooke Fogel

Everyone’s favorite league wife and mom, Laurie Lefton

Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman

Scott “Shorty” Adams

AJ Goldhoff

Former league Commish, Ryan Kirzner

Duffy Wolf 

Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen

Dr. Bob Pelberg

Jimmy Lefton

Mark “Bruiser” Wolf

Alex Kraus

Matt “no, I am not Wes Miller’s Son” Miller

Mr. Fun, Gregg Harris

Danny Grefer

Handsome Sam Castellini

Josh Lisman

Greg “Follow the” Leader 

Corey Norris 

Z also celebrated a birthday 

Random league notes

I know this is way late, but thanks to all of you who ran in the Oy Vey 5K. We broke the record this past year and I hope to do it again next year. So, expect me to bug you all once again.

Jamey “the Rookie” Drennan welcomed a baby girl this off season. Congrats to Jamey.

David “D-Sol” Solomon also became a new dad this offseason.

And I believe Alex Kraus and Jared Kamrass did as well.

Way WAY Back at the end of UC’s football season, Cam Kirzner was selected for the kick for cash and he became only the 2nd person all year to make the field goal. $1,000 bucks for going to a UC game. Not a bad Saturday!

As we all know Albert Weisbrot likes to sing the National Anthem at sporting events around town. He’s a UC Season ticket holder, yet somehow still enjoys singing at XU games. I hope it was way off key like Carl Lewis back in the day.

Has anyone ever seen Mr. Mike and Pat McAfee in the same place at the same time? They look more and more alike by the day.

A big thank you to Rick Lefton who has been on the softball commission for 24 years on and off. Thanks for everything you do for the league and the JCC in general.

I was talking to a buddy of mine who lives in Atlanta and they have a modified fast pitch league there as well. He told me they have an 80-year-old pitcher, so Howie and Eppy you’ve got something to shoot for. 

Zach Michelson was the first person to sign up for the league this year. Not sure what that means other than that Zach was logged in and ready to go at 12:01. 

I have never rooted more for a player whose team I have zero interest in than Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Can she teach the UC point guards how to pass like she does? 

It’s going to be even MORE Fun this year to watch OSU with all the Yankee money they spent on NIL this off season still not win the National title and still finish 4-5 in the country. (Although I am a little bitter about losing Caleb Downs) 

Going to Opening Day is fun and we all love seeing GABP packed but when it’s two outs and the top of the 9th and I’m the only one standing in my entire section to get the last out since no one there even realized that it was the 9th, I could do without those “fans.” I did enjoy the guy in the Puig signed jersey sitting in front of me betting on his phone all game. And yet Pete is still suspended. 

Am I the only dad of a little leaguer who finds it insane to spend $300+ on a bat? I love Jacob, you guys all love Jacob, but he isn’t the next Joey Votto.

Speaking of Votto, I wish we could banish to Pittsburgh or maybe the South Side of Chicago all of the Reds fans who don’t understand why the Reds let him walk this off season (with $7 million dollars). He wasn’t good the last two years, they have no place to play him, and they want to get younger. It’s as simple as that. Father Time never loses.

Finally, if you are ever fortunate to get a call from Roger make sure you have a good 10-45 minutes to talk. And that includes listening to his messages. Roger is like the guys in the Progressive commercials who are turning into their parents but without kids or parents. He’s just that guy 🙂 But that’s why we love him. Don’t ever change, Roger!!

The league preview will drop sometime this weekend can’t wait to see everyone out at the field next week.

Marc

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October 23, 2023: Banquet recap

Last night was our end of the season dinner and awards night. A fun time was had by all at the JCC. For you guys that never come, I encourage you to come next year. It’s the final night you are with your team and we all get together until next spring. 

The winners were:

Ron Rose Rookie of the Year – “Pistol” Pete Brownell

Offensive player of the year – Matt “the Bobcat” Brodof

League MVP – Wes “Who Dey” Wolf (more on that later)

Comeback player of the year – Jack Cohen

Gold Glove Winner – Zach Mayer

Tournament and ASG MVP – Jeff Finkelstein

Frank Harkavy Goodwill Ambassador Award – Micah Kamrass

Markus Kruke Good Sportsmanship award – Pat “Sunshine” Feldman

Once again, a huge thank you to Ryan, Rick and Mr. Mike for all of your hard work to make our league what it is. 

Off season league notes

I am sure that I have missed a few but here are guys that celebrated birthday’s (that I know of)

Jeff Cohen 

Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus

Drew “Kung Fu” Brown

“The Special One” Mike Rothstein

Eddie Gallop

Zach Mayer

Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner

Albert Weisbrot

Joel “Sparky” Fogel

Mark Weisser

If I missed your birthday, sorry 

Last month, Evan Gildenblatt and Ben Barnett’s mom won the Kovot award at the JCC annual dinner. It was an honor for me to present it to her.  Also at the meeting a plaque was dedicated to the JCC for friend of the league, Jeff Elkus. Make sure you check it out the next time you are at the JCC

Eric “Jeter” Goldstein and his wife, Anne, celebrated their anniversary this month

“Handsome” Sam Castellini and his wife had their first baby. Congrats to you, both

Speaking of babies, Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan and his wife are expecting their second daughter in November.

More Evan Gildenblatt news…he got engaged since the end of the season

Scott “Why can’t we be?” Friend started a new job at UD. Congrats, Scott.

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim is a man about town. You can find him on TV promoting one of his events or dressed in all white for others. And I guess I can’t even tease him about the 2-3 loss OSU team since I don’t think they lose until they play Michigan. 

Wes “Who Dey” Wolf has had an eventful offseason: Get married-check; go on long European honeymoon that the rest of us are jealous about-check; start new job with the Bengals in their digital sales department; check and check. Good luck with the Bengals, buddy. Who dey!

Roger is selling random old hockey programs. Not sure who is in the market for a 1998 Toronto Mapleleafs yearbook but I guess someone is. He also has a Billie Jean King teach your kid tennis book from at least 1976. Actually that one I might find interesting

David “the Doctor of Style” and I will be co-GM’s of the Reds next season. Between the two of us we can figure out how to get a starting pitcher better than Luke Weaver, what to do with Joey Votto, and why we should trade Jonathan India. Stay tuned for that.

Recently retired after 50 that’s right 5-0 years in the league, the Salsa king, Alan Lessure, has volunteered to help coach a team next year in the Ron Rose honorary role. He also said he will always bring his glove and catcher’s gear if any team needs a sub. 

In a random bit of Jewish Geography, Eric “The mouth of the Midwest” Gruen a couple of years ago worked with US Gymnast and all round Jewish hottie, Aly Raisman, on a platform for P&G. My neighbor’s daughter recently got engaged to her brother. When asked to comment, Eric said she (Aly) is a bit crazy but overall was a nice person to work for. Unfortunately, just like Seinfeld when he dated the Russian Gymnast, Aly didn’t offer to use Eric as the pommel horse.  

For those of you with Netflix, I suggest a couple of sports movies that I watched. One is Called The Swimmers, a true story about a couple of Syrian swimmers who escaped before the Civil War and made their way to Germany. A really amazing story. The other is the St. of Second Chances, a story about Mike Veeck. If you don’t know who Bill and Mike Veeck are, just google them. While the ending is sad, the majority of the story is really funny (this is a documentary).

The Oy Vey 5K is coming up in two weeks. Please sign up and if you can’t do that, do me a favor and share the link on your social media pages for me. 

https://mayersonjcc.org/event/oy-vey-5k-2/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=278510081&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–I5mLeMtBkgJeZJPr768WiZ4oRnci5u56JvC55raMwNinrUNPyeu7kzD_EFk6m8e5jdiFFnoddA3euIhuaVxD6lPUSpQ&utm_content=278510081&utm_source=hs_email&fbclid=IwAR3fnmgb9xm2Jx4RGiCVpJl6YtNrsMpqMaOxRfbWWGPzvu2XB39WbVhyanc

Finally, not all the news was great this offseason as both Rick T’s brother died and just this week former long time player Mike Kadetz’s mom died. So sorry for your loss, guys. 

Let’s all keep all the guys in the league that know or have family in Israel in our thoughts. 

If you ever want me to post something in the blog drop me a line mbrafman14@gmail.com

Talk to everyone soon.

Marc

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August 30, 2023: All-Star Game Recap

On the final Wednesday night of the year the Commish, Ryan, not only dialed up another perfect night but also managed a couple of hits and made a nice catch in the field in the ASG last night. 

Now, I watched the game last night and beyond the score being 10-1 in favor of Team Wolf/Harris I couldn’t tell you more than a couple of things about the game. Joey Hiudt made two great plays in the field, one in RF and one at 2nd base. Griff Harris (with constant heckling from his sister) pitched a couple of innings (as did Tyler Stansbury) and Stu Solomon, channeling his best Dan Bilardello, dropped a pop-up behind the plate. And like I mentioned somehow Team Wolf/Harris scored 10 runs. It wasn’t a homer or balls in the gap, it was more hits here and there and stellar defense from them to keep Lefton/Eppy off the board. I will say when you have 20 of the best of our guys out there the quality of play is pretty impressive. I’d put our talent vs. any in the city.  Jeff Finkelstein, fresh off his impressive performance in the Tournament finals, won MVP of the ASG with 5 innings of one-run softball and a couple of hits. 

A great time was had by all and we look forward to next year. 

League Notes:

After the game, at the Spring House, we were talking about all the fathers and sons that have played in the league over the years and how special it is for all of us who play with our dads or sons or both. Which leads me to sad news as former player and Dad to our beloved Jason Faust, Marty Faust passed away earlier this week after a long battle with cancer. It shows how much this league meant to him that when Jason died last year, Marty asked for his signed  jersey so that he could hang it in his house. Forgetting winning and losing, that is the real legacy of our league. 

One of the all time JCC Softball families suffered a loss as the Hiudt’s lost their grandmother last week. We are all thinking about you guys.

Adam Cronstein’s father-in-law also passed away. He seemed like a great guy from what I read and how bad a guy could he be if he accepted Adam into his family?

Ben “Weezy” Lefton’s daughter Ellie is one of the all time leading scorers at her college in Lacrosse. Congrats to her.

A big shout out to rookie, Landon Krantz, for his work on school suicide prevention. That is what he has been studying for over the last couple of years. Keep up the great work, doc.

Roger celebrated both his birthday and his anniversary over the last couple of weeks. Roger’s wife is a bigger saint than any of us know for putting up with him all these years. Let’s hope he gets her a couple of bobbleheads for her birthday.

The Special One, Mike Rothstein, also celebrated an anniversary.

My favorite random headline of the week: Mikvah discovered in basement of former Polish Strip Club. A building that was a Mikvah before WWII was then turned into a strip club and the basement was closed or boarded up for years. New owners found the basement and the water was still in the pool. 

I have been writing this blog now for 4-5 years and it finally dawned on me that I should include what’s going on around the JCC: So in a new feature that I will include from now on here is what is coming up around the JCC:

Here are some upcoming things you could highlight:

And here are some Sports & Rec things that they might be interested in:

In another new segment called Marc’s book review I just finished a book called “The Jews of Summer.” No, it’s not about our softball league, but is instead a history of Jewish summer camp. For anyone that ever went to Jewish summer camp I found it more interesting than good if that makes sense. My favorite chapter was on co-ed camp and why most if not all co-ed camps encouraged dating so that Jewish kids would date other Jewish kids. This goes back to the 50’s and continues to this day.
Our final Reds bitch session: It’s amazing that the Reds fell ass-backward into two quality waiver wire pickup’s like Harrison Bader and Hunter Renfro since our cracker jack front office “Liked our team” at the trade deadline so much they didn’t improve the team at all except to wait for Hunter Green and Nick Lodolo, who won’t pitch at all the rest of the way. We need a RH bat, sure, let’s just use Stewie Fairchild, TJ Hopkins or Nick Mr. Tin Senzel. Does it matter that none of them can hit RH or LH pitching? Not to our front office. But, of course, now that we can get guys for nothing, all of a sudden these guys aren’t good enough, which was true two months ago. And last point, if the front office message is we are year ahead of our plans and we don’t care if we make the post season or not, why not shut Abbott down now? I would rather lose this year than hurt his arm. But what do I know? This is an organization that ran Luke Weaver out for 4 months when Howie or Fink are better pitchers. 
Once again it’s been a pleasure doing the blog this year. Hard to believe the season is over this quickly. Next year I’m sure once again we will need an Ark to get around Triple Creek. Thanks to Ryan, Rick, Mr. Mike, Jerry Kirzner for the schedule, Eppy for the wings and everyone else who makes our league what it is. Next April can’t get here quick enough. Stay healthy everyone. Talk to you soon…and sign up for the Oy Vey!

Marc

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August 27, 2023: Tournament Final Recap

What a season that came to end on Sunday. Big shout out to Ryan, Mr. Mike and Ricky Lefton for another outstanding job of coordinating the season with Triple Creek and Angel Hernandez, award winning umps. (I kid, I kid) 

While League Notes will return with the All-Star Game blog, let’s wrap this up with the final Tournament game.

We had the Big Wolf Machine looking to match the 72 ‘Fins and go undefeated vs. the upstart Team Kamrass.  

Let’s get to the recap:

Breaking: in the biggest game of the year, a team was finally able to defeat Team Wolf. Congrats to them on an incredible season and winning the first and second half. However, the Tournament Championship this year belongs to Team Kamrass after an 8-5 victory in the playoff final.

After allowing 3 runs in the first on a monster shot from Matt Brodof, Fink settled down and was virtually unhittable the rest of the game. He got out of jams when he needed, including a key strike out in the 5th and a late caught stealing to end a run scoring opportunity.

In the third inning, Team Kamrass began with the bottom two in the order and plated five with a series of well placed singles, including another big one from Michael “cramps” Margolis and a rocket from David Solomon. Solomon also proved his fortitude by overcoming a foul ball that was later dubbed “the cup shot heard around the world.”

In the bottom of the 7th, Team Wolf threatened with two on and one out and the top of the order getting ready to come to bat. Fink induced a beautiful game ending 5-3 double play from Skinner to Raskin, and the team celebrated in true Reading Blue Devil style with a cooler of hard Mountain Dew. As the only college student, Ben Margolis was the favorite to win the shotgunning championship, but David Solomon was true to his Reading roots, and finished in first.

After the game, Captain Kamrass had this to say. “Tip of the cap to Team Wolf on winning the first and second halves, and also for their graciousness in defeat as we were declared the Tournament Champions. The year the Giants won the Super Bowl, the Patriots still had a lot to be proud of. This was a special group of guys. 15-4 and a Tournament Championship is as good as it gets in this league, and we did it all while having a lot of fun and enjoying our summer.”

Thanks to everyone who made it another great season for the league. Tip of the cap to Commissioner Silverman on dialing up great weather.

Post-Game Notes:

I’m sure all of you have heard of the Minnesota Stars forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game after breaking his leg. Why do I bring this up? Because it has come to League Notes attention that winning Capt. Micah Kamrass played in Sunday’s game with a fractured arm. “I go by the mantra, ‘Rub a little dirt on it and all the owies go away,'” Kamrass said yesterday (It should be noted that like all the Reds injuries, Kamrass first went to Dr. Kremcheck who, of course, told him it was “just a bruise” before going to a real doctor who told him he had broken his arm). When informed of this story last night League Note’s wife said and I quote “You idiots and your softball!”

Once again, congrats to everyone on another great season. Team Wolf deserves a ton of credit for what they did as the first and second half champ and a big shout out to Team Kamrass for winning on Sunday. 

Hope to see everyone tomorrow night at the All-Star Game and at the Spring House.

Marc

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August 16, 2023: Tournament Semifinals Recap

On yet another picture perfect Wednesday night, two of the best games of the year took place on Fields 2 and 4. Could team Brafman knock off the Wolf Red Machine? Who would win the pitcher’s battle of “the Living Legend” Howie vs. Fink. Let’s get to the recaps to find out who is playing for the Youk trophy next week.

On Field 2 we had Team Brafman vs. Team Wolf

In a tight, well-played game from start to finish, Team Wolf came through in the end to continue their amazing run 7-6 in 8 innings. “Three times this year Team Brafman has tested us and each time we do just enough to win,” Wes said post game. Tonight was no exception. We had to battle back all game. Team Brafman jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a couple of bunt singles, some good base running and a two out single by Ryan “the Hebrew Hammer” Baum. Eppy kept Wolf off the boards for the first couple of innings as Team Brafman led 3-1 into the 4th. The middle of the Wolf order finally got a couple of runs when Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz drove in a run with a single. Team Brafman pushed across another run to make it 4-2 going to the 5th. Wolf added another run on a sac fly to pull within one. Both teams played great defense all night. For Team Wolf, Wes as usual made every play at SS, Matt “The Bobcat” Brodof was a rock at 3rd and Mike Gray fielded his pitcher’s spot like he has all season. 

For team Brafman, Baum in LF made a couple of great catches, Griff, AKA Kelly Leak, in LF caught everything and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley was fantastic at SS. 

Going to the bottom of the 6th, Wolf trailed by 1 before getting two runs to take a 6-5 lead going to the top of the 7th. Griff led off with a JCC double and was driven home by Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan. Then the fun started. A bang-bang play at first went against Team Brafman followed by a missed call at the plate (on a very good play by Brodof and “The other” Brian Goldberg) kept the score tied at 6. Neither team scored in the bottom of the 7th or the top of the 8th.

Wes led off with a double and got to third when the ball got past Team Brafman’s RF (Who will remain nameless) which forced Eppy to walk Tyler and Brodof to bring up Soltesz. Pete lifted a fly ball to RF deep enough to score Wes with the winning run and get Wolf into the title game. 

“We gave it our all a dejected Brafman said post game. This game will stick with me all off season.” Tip of the cap to Wolf they found a way to win. “I’m so proud of our guys Scott “Dire” Wolf said post game. We had to fight once again all game, but in the end we did just enough to win. 

Team Wolf improves to an amazing 18-0 and tries to run the table for what most believe will be the first time ever. Who will they play to try to be the ’72 Dolphins? Let’s find out.

On Field 4 it was Team Wagner vs. Team Kamrass

There aren’t words to fully encapsulate the craziness of the Team Kamrass walk-off win against Team Wagner. The game was tight all game because Fink and Howie were both lights out. Great pitching, great defense, and very little hitting best describe the first six innings. Team Kamrass came to the plate in the bottom of the 7th down one run. Team Kamrass was able to plate the tying run quickly, and had bases loaded with one out and a chance to walk off the game. Instead, Team Wagner turned a double play to send it to extras.

In the top of the 8th, Team Wagner scored 3, highlighted by super sub, Jeremy Fogel, putting a ball over the fence (Congrats to Jeremy, although it should have been caught).

After a huge single from David Solomon, Team Kamrass found itself with one on and two outs and Michael “Cramps” Margolis at the plate with the season on the line. Adam Heldman boldly predicted, “When Margolis gets this hit, we are going to win this game!”

What ensued was magical. First, Margolis came through with a single to left to make it two on with no out. James Swan had the hit of the season, with a triple over the head of both Fogels. He scored to tie the game on a single from Adam Heldman. With the game tied and Heldman on first, Zach Mayer came to the plate and ripped the ball over the head of the right fielder to score Heldman and end the game.

It was the best game I’ve ever been a part of in the league. This team keeps finding ways to win. We’re ready to conclude the season by scoring more runs than Team Wolf to claim the title.

The title game date is TBD at the moment as Team Kamrass is going to the FC vs Messi game next week. Stand by for the update on the championship game.

I encourage all of us to come out and cheer both teams on for the Youk. 

League Notes

The ASG is Wed. Aug. 30. please come out and support your teammates. We can all go out after the game for the final time. 

Since we got rained out last week, a sad start to league notes as Oren Shmoel’s mom (Also Ryan’s Mother-in-Law) passed away. While I didn’t know her, I read about her and she sure sounds like about 90% of the Jewish moms in the league. Oren and Ryan, we are sorry for your loss.

We’ve had a number of birthdays and I’m sure I missed a couple but Griff and Ryan Baum both celebrated birthdays over the last couple of weeks. 

Former Softball player and all round dad pun guy Drew “King Fu” Brown met Bruce Springstein last week in Chicago. Not sure how that came about, but pretty cool.

A big shout out to Mr. Mike and Anne Goldstein (wife of Eric “Jeter” Goldstein) who led the youth of Cincy to Florida for the Maccabi games last week. As usual the Cincy team brought home a lot of medals. Once again, please support the Blue Jay’s program, which brings me to your favorite note of the week.

The Oy Vey 5k is back again this year. Please mark Sunday, November 5th down to come and support the JCC and the all the programs. I/(we) will be sending out more info on this coming up. 

It’s Jewish Heritage night at FCC on October 4. For those that go to the Reds game this is always a fun night. I encourage you to sign up. To purchase tickets for this promotion, use this link: https://fevogm.com/event/JCN23.

You know you are old when, while at a party, the conversation turns to when you are scheduled to get a colonoscopy.

Sad news from the music world as on the same day Robbie Robertson of The Band and Rodriguez of Searching for Sugar Man fame died last week. I encourage all of you to listen to Music From Big Pink, The Band, Rock of Ages from the Band and the soundtrack to Searching for Sugar Man to get introduced to him  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bK5dx5RVuc

Good luck to all the guys going back to school (and their parents). It’s fun seeing all of the pictures.

Bryce last week went to both games of the Reds/Pirates Doubleheader. That is a lot of baseball for anyone, but his son loved it.

Finally, the Reds…It’s amazing how poorly you can play when your front office lets you down. Nick Krall had one job. Get anyone better than Weaver. He couldn’t or won’t pull the trigger. Meanwhile, Michael Lorenzen tosses a no hitter, Weaver loses all 3 of his starts since the ASG and, to make it worse, was asked twice to be the stopper of losing streaks. He didn’t and the Reds lost more ground. What I don’t understand and will never understand is why keeping prospects for 3 years down the road is more important than winning now. For every Matt McClain and Andrew Abbott there is a Nick Senzel and Taylor Trammell (Remember him? Yeah, neither do I). My point is I really don’t care how a Reds minor league AA player will be in 3 years for another team if the guy they trade for him can help the Reds now. When the history of this season is written and if the Reds don’t make the playoffs the total lack of any moves by the front office will be the headline. And the most sobering thought of all is what if Elly is “The Punisher III”? 

Hope to see everyone at the ASG on Aug. 30 and the finals when it is announced. 

Marc