SPORTS

Playing On Yom Kippur:
An Athlete's Dilemma

HARLAN C. ABBEY

Special to The Jewish News

May The Coming Year

Be Filled With'

Health And Happiness

For All Our

Clients, Friends & Family

PROTECTED ACCESS
SECURITY SYSTEMS, lila

Happy New Year!
from the
Sales Staff
of

VOGUE

FINE MEN'S EUROPEAN FASHION

18

29475 Northwestern Hwy.
Southfield, MI 48034

(313) 352-7660

S

hould a Jewish pro-
fessional athlete com-
pete on Yom Kippur?
Ideally, no. But this isn't an
ideal world.
Although there probably
are more Jewish athletes at
the professional level now
than ever before and more
Jewish coaches at the profes-
sional and major college level,
the probability is that most of
them will be on the field or
the court rather than in the
synagogue on their religion's
holiest day.
Much depends on their
sport and their rank among
their peers.
As Steve Richmond, a
journeyman hockey
defenseman told me, "If
you're a 'Sandy Koufax' you
don't have to pitch on Yom
Kippur."
Which means that if you're
a star player, you get treated
one way. But if you're a fringe
player on the roster, one who
can easily be replaced, you'd
better not ask for any special
favors. Most of today's Jewish
team sport professionals, un-
fortunately, are fringe
players.
It also depends on the sport
the Jewish athlete/coach
engages in.
Football, with its shorter
season magnifying the impor-
tance of every game, is the
sport which probably has the
hardest games for the Jewish
coach or player to miss.
The most visible Jewish
sports figure today is Mary
Levy, coach of the Buffalo
Bills, who have advanced (and
lost) to the past two Super
Bowls. Because of the
pressure-packed routine of
practices, strategy sessions,
and analyzing game films
and all the rest, Levy cannot
take Yom Kippur off.
Of the four Jewish NFL
players, only offensive
lineman Harris Barton of the
San Francisco 49ers is close to
being a "star" — if any offen-
sive lineman can be called a
star — and getting special
treatment.
An All-America at North
Carolina, Barton has been a
starter since he was a rookie
and already has two Super
Bowl winners' rings. Barton
led a B'nai B'rith tour to
Israel this past summer; his
housemate, 49ers quarter-
back Steve Young, also made
the trip (Young is not Jewish).
The other NFL players are
offensive linemen Ariel

Solomon of Pittsburgh, Alan '-
Veingrad of Dallas and tight
end Brent Novoselsky of Min-
nesota. None is a consistent
starter.
Novoselsky said he'd prefer
to be in temple on Yom Kip-
pur — given the choice — but c
probably would play if the 1'
Vikings had a game. "Sad to
say, the game must take
precedence," he admitted. "If
you're not a star, the coach
won't say, 'Don't play.' "
Solomon, who battled his
way onto the regular roster
and then started two games
in his rookie season with the
Steelers last year, reasoned if—,
this way: "I don't feel I do
everything else that religious-
ly, so I would play on Yom
Kippur. Our coach at the
University of Colorado was
very religious, and we practic-
ed on Christmas Day.
"You don't want to jeopar-
dize your spot on the team. In
football you don't play that
many times; every game is
important. In some of the
other team sports, one game

Much depends on
their sport and
their rank among
their peers

may not be that important."
Importance may also
change as the athlete moves
ahead in his sport. Stan
Noskin didn't play on Yom
Kippur when he was a high
school star in suburban
Chicago in the mid-1950s.
When he was the University `:--)
of Michigan's starting
quarterback, he did.

In addition to the "impor-
tant game" pressure, the
Jewish athlete also is con-
fronted with the lessons he
has been taught by every
coach starting with the little
league level: The team ethic,
all for one and one for all;
sacrifice individual glory for
the team's benefit; don't let
the team down, and so on.
Bruce Mesner, a reserve
defensive lineman for the
Buffalo Bills in 1987-88,
recalls the peer pressure put
on him by his University of
Maryland teammates, which
was greater than that of his
coaches. He and his room-
mate and back-up missed
Maryland's 1984 game
against arch rival Penn State,
and Maryland lost by 2
points.
"The year before (1983), we
also played Penn State on