DECEMBER 17 • 2020 | 41

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quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

Bowling establishments 
across the state were ordered 
by the Michigan 
Department of Health 
and Human Services 
to close Nov. 18 to help 
stop the spread of the 
COVID-19 virus.
The shutdown was 
supposed to end Dec. 
8, but it was extended 
until at least Dec. 20.
That has left the 
Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson B’nai B’rith 
bowling league season 
in limbo. It appears the 
Downtown Fox-MLZG 
B’nai B’rith bowling 
league season is a goner.
“We’re planning to start 
bowling the first week in 
January, but that’s way up in 
the air,” said Brotherhood-
Eddie Jacobson spokesman 
Gary Klinger.
If the season happens, 
the league will bowl Monday 
nights at Country Lanes in 
Farmington Hills, returning 
to its longtime home after 
bowling the last two years at 
the 300 Bowl in Waterford 
Township.
Justin Kaplan, Downtown 
Fox-MLZG president, sent 
this message to league 
bowlers on the league’s 

Facebook page just before 
Thanksgiving:
“So much has changed 
in a short period of time 
-- the world around us, 
our neighborhoods, 
gathering spaces, 
places we work and 
call home. Life in the 
midst of COVID-19 has 
sparked fear, frustration 
and anxiety all around.
“Now, more than 
ever, we must focus 
all of our energy on 
defeating this pandem-
ic and the challenges 
associated with it.
“Nothing is more 
important than ensuring the 
health and safety of our mem-
bers/bowlers and your loved 
ones. That is why at this time, 
it’s not looking promising for a 
partial 2021 bowling season.”
The league planned to bowl 
once again on Tuesday nights 
at Hartfield Lanes in Berkley.
Each league was shut down 
in March because of the pan-
demic. There were 18 teams 
in the Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson league and 16 
teams in the Downtown Fox-
MLZG league last year.
Klinger said he’s hoping 
there will be 12 to 14 teams 
this year “if we do start.”

B’NAI B’RITH BOWLING LEAGUES 
FACE UNCERTAINTY

Gary Klinger

Justin 

Kaplan

GARY KLINGER
JUSTIN KAPLAN

FORMER JCC MACCABI GAMES PITCHER 
IS A WORLD SERIES CHAMPION

Sammy Elias didn’t throw 
a pitch for the Los Angeles 
Dodgers this season, 
but he contributed to 
the Dodgers’ World 
Series championship.
Elias, who pitched 
for the fourth-place 
Kaplen JCC on the 
Palisades (Tenafly, N.J.) 
baseball team in the 
2008 JCC Maccabi Games 
hosted by Detroit, is a base-
ball operations specialist for 
the Dodgers.
The New Jersey native was 
featured in a Nov. 26 story in 

the Jewish Standard, based in 
Teaneck, N.J.
Elias was a Division III 
All-American pitcher at 
Wesleyan University in 
Connecticut. He wasn’t 
drafted by a major 
league team, but his 
degree in economics 
and passion for baseball 
statistics and analytics 
landed him a job in early 2019 
in the Dodgers’ front office.
He was promoted to his 
current job nine months later. 
He specializes in defensive 
positioning.

Sammy Elias

SAMMY ELIAS

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