1 SPORTS

-

IT'S ONLY

2

;C

But you wouldn't
know it from
the way Rotisserie
League e nthusiasts
go at it.

HOWARD ROSS

Special to The Jewish News

)
D

n ofs Southfield
an C olh way
will a
the hostile stares he
drew one night at Tiger
Stadium when he stood up
and cheered Kansas City
Royals third baseman George
Brett.
How could he not show his
support for Brett, a likely
Hall of Famer who always
seems to play his best games
against the Tigers?
"I own him," Cohn ex-
plained. On his Rotisserie
team, he meant.
Rotisserie League Baseball
— a make-believe game based
on real players and their ac-
tual statistics — is also the
reason Alex Bensky of Detroit
hopes his beloved Tigers beat
the Boston Red Sox 10-9, with
Red Sox player Ellis Burks
driving in all nine runs in a
losing cause. Yes, Burks is a
valued member of Bensky's
Rotisserie lineup.

Bensky's hope for the
unusual and Cohn's devotion
to the point of risking
physical danger aren't all
that unusual among
Rotisserie enthusaists, whose
legions are increasing each
season since the game's birth
10 years ago.
In fact, it's been difficult
this summer to walk into an
office in metropolitan Detroit
and not find a small,
animated clique of workers
talking Rotisserie baseball.
Especially the person who
had the foresight to draft
Cecil Fielder for his team
last spring, long before the
then-unknown Tiger began
hitting the ball over stadium
roofs at a thundering pace.
A small group of New
Yorkers is generally credited
with devising the game and
its rules during dinner at the
Manhattan French restau-
rant that became its
namesake.
Nationally, Rotisserie
League players count writer

Daniel Okrent, one of the
founding fathers; NBC-TV
"Today Show" host Bryant
Gumbel and syndicated col-
umnist/television commen-
tator George Will among
their ranks.
The game's increasing
popularity has led to the crea-
tion of nationwide computer
statistical services for those
too busy to compile their own;
how-to-win guides on book-
store shelves and special
"Rotisserie League Updates"
on local and national baseball
telecasts and sports news
shows.
Rotisserie baseball's appeal
is at once simple and com-
plex, according to a sampling
of Detroit-area players.
On one level, there's the ego
trip of imagining yourself as
a major-league team owner,

said Doug Dovitz, 36, of West
Bloomfield. The game ex-
ploits every fan's desire to
carry on like a Tom
Monaghan or a George Stein-
brenner. Well, maybe not
Steinbrenner.
"It is a little bit of an ego
thing," Dovitz, an attorney,
said. "You want to show that
you know how good the
players are."
But, he added with a
chuckle, "Don't judge me
based on my team this year."
The Flying Squirrels, Dovitz's
entry in the Boris Badenov
League, is struggling. "Most-
ly it's been (bad) pitching, but
I also took (New York Yankee
first baseman) Don Matting-
ly, who's had a bad back all
year and is only hitting .250."
For Barry Goodman, a team
owner along with Bensky in

Dan Cohn tallies the
stats for his Cohn
Heads.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

59