HARRY KIRS BAUM

Staff Writer

I

t took a lawsuit to delay what
became the season-ending base-
ball games for the Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit.
West Bloomfield's JAMD beat
Inkster 17-2 before losing to ,
Southfield Christian 11-1 in the
Division 4 high school baseball finals
on Monday, June 7.
The games were originally scheduled
for Saturday, June 5, but JAMD went
to Oakland County Circuit Court to
get the date changed.
According to Michigan High School
Athletic Association rules, a game date
can only be changed due to inclement
weather.
The tournament schedule was set up
with Saturday dates earlier in the sea-
son, said John Johnson, MHSAA
communications director. JAMD real-
ized it would have to play on Saturday
when the team won a pre-district

unforeseen circumstances, such as
weather, forcing JAMD to go to court.
The team may have lost the final
game, ending a 13-3 season, but the
court fight will go on.
"Figuratively and literally, we're now
a player," said Rabbi Lee Buckman,
JAMD head of school. "I think all the
[athletic] associations we're a part of
really need to consider the fact that
they have a competitive Jewish high
school that's in the league."
Bob Shoemaker, JAMD athletic
director, said, "This still has to be
resolved, if [the MHSAA is] unwilling
to bend. We haven't gotten to the
point where we can go to the kids and
say we've done all that we could."
Added coach and incoming JAMD
president Larry Garon, "Jewish people
have been put in a situation in this
country to make a choice. In our case,
we were asked to forfeit. That's an
untenable situation for anyone to be
put in.
"When we were backed against the
wall, we thought that we owed it to

0

0-

•

•

,

Left: Eric Awerbuch, 16, of West BloonOeld
Above: Coach Gag Yashinsky instructs his players at

Jewish Academy
sues to reschedule game.

6/11

2004

16

game June 1.
"There had been some discussion
earlier to move the ganie to a Friday,
but it requires approval from every
school [playing] in the district," said
Johnson. The five schools involved
could not reach a unanimous decision,
he said.
When Southfield Christian agreed
to move the game to Monday, the
MHSAA ruled against the request,
because they only move games due to

Wa171211p.

ourselves, our kids, our people and,
frankly, people of other faiths to test
the system."
Garon said JAMD, based in West
Bloomfield, will continue to seek a
change in the rule through the court
system.
Johnson responded that the
MHSAA will "vigorously" defend the
rule. "We'll see where it goes from
there," he said. "Beyond that, we don't
comment on ongoing litigation."

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