VOLVO VOLVO 'VOLVO VOLVO WIDIATO VOLVO '96 VOLVO LIQUIDATION SALE! Shooting Upward MSRP $34,850 OR LESS Doron Sheffer's NBA breakthrough gives hope to other aspiring Israeli basketball players. NEW 1996 VOLVO 960 Leather, Moonroof, Power Seating & Much More! LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT A THE 1996 VOLVO 960. LORDED WITH WHAT MATTERS. 1.1 Only Volvo offers 2 front air bags and 2 side air bags standard on every 1996 car. PLUS...Air cond., stereo/cass., ABS brakes, pwr. windows, pwr. locks, cruise, int. wipers, rear defrost & more! 0 uburban 643- 8500 0 Ia THE VOLVO STORE 1821 Maplelawn TROY MOTOR MALL t . O mi g t •Based on approved credit thru Volvo Car Financing until July 31, 1996. Down pymt. based on 40% of MSRP of $34,850. Finance option in lieu of cash incentives. ASK FOR ILENE ADLER! Assistant Manager •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • TOYOTA TOYOTA TOYOTA TOYOTA TOYOTA • • $0 DOWN $0 DOWN $0 DOWN • • • 1996 COROLLA 1996 TERCEL • • • • • • LEASE 15r9m° $ $ 185 ?49: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Power Locks CD Changer • 1996 CAIVIRY: • Power Windows Air Condition • • • Stereo/Cassette • Alloy Wheels • Wood Dash • • Spoiler • 2392?: $ • Gold Package LEASE • • • • SUBURBAN'S 2 SMART CHOICE PLANS • • • • • • • • • • 643-8500 = uburban 1921 Maplelawn • • TROY MOTOR MALL • T 0 IF O T A • 108 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • LEASE • • • • • CD Changer Alloy Wheels Security System Automatic Transmission Dual Air Bags • • • • Power Locks & Windows Wood Dash Air Condition Stereo/Cassette & More! • Stereo/Cassette • Cloth Interior • Rear Defrost C/3 LU C/3 w CC SMART CHOICE 1: $159 on Tercel $185 on Corolla $239 on Camry 36 mo. (24 mo. on 4x4 & T100) closed end lease w/approved credit. 1st pymt. $0 acq. ' 24 mo. closed end lease w/approved credit. 1st pymt., acq. fee, dest., tax, title, $30 down, plus ref. sec. dep. rounded to next $25 increment. Lessee rasp. for excess wear & fee, $0 dest., tax, title, $0 down, plus ref. sec. dep. rounded to next $25 increment. tear. 12,000 mi. per year. w/10C per mi. excess charge. Lessee has option to purchase at Lessee rasp. for excess wear & tear. 12,000 mi. per year w/100 per mi. excess charge. predetermined price at lease inception. To get total multiply pymt. x term. Subject to pre- Lessee has option to purchase at predetermined price at lease inception. To get total sale. Rebates to dealer. Sale exp. 7/31/96. multiply pymt. x term. Subject to presale. Rebates to dealer. Sale exp. 7/31/96. Lu LLJ SMART CHOICE 2: $199 on Tercel $245 on Corolla $289 on Camry SALE HOURS SERVICE HOURS Mon. & Thurs., 9-9 Tues., Wed., & Fri. 9-6 Saturday 10-3 Mon. 7 am-8pm Tues.-Fri. 7 am-6 pm Sat. 8 am-1 pm big Israeli TV audience for while basketball really belongs 1996 Olympic basketball to America. And Israelis have was always a given, but at been playing and watching soc- the end of June basketball cer throughout the century; fandom in the Jewish state took they've been basketball fans for a giant leap forward: The first Is- just a little more than a genera- raeli player ever was chosen in tion. the NBA draft. In grossly general terms, soc- Doron Sheffer, star guard for cer is the game of poor and work- the University of Connecticut, ing-class Sephardis, while was picked in the second round basketball is favored by middle- by the Los Angeles Clippers. It class Ashkenazis. Dr. Naomi was front-page news in the Is- Feigin, a sociologist at Netanya's raeli newspapers. Speculation Wingate Institute for Sport, was on how high he would go in the hard-pressed to provide a rea- draft had been a major preoccu- son for this, but she suggested pation of the sports pages for that "to play basketball you need days. (He ended up the 36th facilities — a court, a backboard player chosen.) Mr. Sheffer's and a hoop — usually found at mother was interviewed on TV parks, which are relatively talk shows. There were mazel scarce in poor neighborhoods. toys all around. But anybody can play soccer — Before going off to UConn, Mr. all you need is a ball." Sheffer played for the team that Israelis keep up with the NBA "made" basketball in Israel — on cable TV. (More times than I Maccabi Tel Aviv. In the 1970s, care to remember, Israeli guys, '80s and '90s, Maccabi won 23 upon learning that my name consecutive Israeli National was "Larry," would take to call- League titles. It rep- resented Israel annu- ally against the best European teams in the European Cup games. When Maccabi first won the Cup in 1977, fans leaped into the fountain in Tel Aviv's Kikar Malchei Yisrael (later the site of Yitzhak Rabin's mur- der, and renamed Kikar Rabin). Before a nationwide televi- sion audience, the captain of the team, former University of Illinois player Tal Brody, held the cup aloft and uttered the most famous line in Israeli sports history: "We're on the map." Now that Israeli National League and European Cup games are a fixture on tele- vision, the best local players command Doron Sheffer in action for University of Connecticut. yearly salaries in the low six figures, and one or two ing me "Larry Bird.") Israeli Na- popular favorites get to endorse tional League basketball, which Israeli candy bars, sneakers, soft has teams in all the major cities, is a far inferior game to the drinks and the like. Yet basketball is only the sec- NBA. The players are shorter, ond most popular sport in the slower, more conservative, country — soccer is first. Soccer nowhere close in talent. Im- incites much stronger passions. ported players are usually ex- State-sponsored weekly betting NBA also-rans, or, like Maccabi's pools, which can bring the win- Tom Chambers (formerly of the ner as much as $7 million (tax- Phoenix Suns), good players long free), are held only for soccer. past their prime. Yet after watching Michael Soccer is the world's mania,