38 | DECEMBER 21 • 2023
J
N
SPORTS
T
he Brotherhood-Eddie
Jacobson B’nai B’rith
bowling league has
reached the halfway point of its
season.
Each of the four first-half
division winners in the weekly
24-team league took a different
route to their title and earned
a berth in the post-season
playoffs at Country Lanes in
Farmington Hills, the league’s
home base.
Uncle Miltie (Eric Foreman,
Andrew Cohen, Andy
Rosenfeld and Kevin Elbinger)
won the Pete Weber Division,
becoming the first team in
league history to win a division
title with a sub-.500 record.
Uncle Miltie went 143½-144½
during the first 12 weeks of the
season.
The defending league
champion 600 Club (Mike
Lieberman, Rick Woolman,
Rob Greenfield and Hassan
Fatouhi) went 197-91 and won
the Earl Anthony Division, so it
will get a chance to make it two
league championships in a row
come next spring.
The Manute Bolers (David
Herskovic, Brandon Achtman,
Jason Cox and Sam Mauch)
also were dominant during the
first half of the season, winning
the W
.R. Williams Division
with a 179-109 record.
Then there’s BBB, which had
the best record in the league
during the first half of the
season — 204½-83½ — as the
champion of the Mark Roth
Division.
BBB was the most unlikely
first-half division champion,
and it earned the No. 1 spot in
the league’s power rankings,
compiled by league secretary
Gary Klinger.
Four bowlers compete for
each team each week. BBB has
had a vacant spot in its lineup
since the start of the season
because of a pre-season injury
suffered by Bob Franklin.
Subs have filled in for
Franklin, who could return to
action as soon as just after the
first of the year.
League newcomer Bernie
Goodstein, Jerry Isenberg and
Stu Vinsky have picked up the
slack admirably for BBB in
Franklin’s absence. Isenberg
was averaging 184, Vinsky 183
and Goodstein 174 going into
league competition Dec. 11, the
start of the second half of the
season.
“We’ve been lucky. We’re all
bowling well at the same time,
”
Isenberg said.
Isenberg is bowling particu-
larly well. The retired business
executive from West Bloomfield
said he’s having his best season
in his 45 years in the league.
“I took some lessons and
I’m using a new bowling ball,
”
Isenberg said when asked for
the secret of his newfound
success.
GARY KLINGER
Four first-half division champions in
the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson
B’nai B’rith bowling league punch a
ticket for the playoffs.
These Teams
Are On a Roll
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN
Meet the BBB bowling team. From left are Stu Vinsky,
Bob Franklin, Bernie Goodstein and Jerry Isenberg.
Slowly but surely, planning is coming
together for the 2024 JCC Maccabi
Games which will be held July 28 through
Aug. 2 in Detroit.
Three information meetings will be
held in early 2024. A meeting for athletes
will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at Temple Emanu-
El, 14450 W. 10 Mile Road
in Oak Park. Meetings for
host families and volun-
teers will be at 7 p.m. Jan.
17 at The J, 6600 W. Maple
Road in West Bloomfield,
and 3:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at
Temple Emanu-El.
Jewish athletes ages
12-16 as of July 31,
2024, are eligible to participate in the
2024 Maccabi Games. Basketball, base-
ball, dance, golf, ice hockey, soccer, swim-
ming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball
are offered in Detroit, along with a star
reporter experience to cover the Maccabi
Games. Girls ice hockey is new this year.
Coaches must be at least age 21.
Assistant coaches must be at least age 18.
About 800 visiting athletes are expect-
ed to join about 150-200 local athletes in
Detroit. About 350-400
host families are needed
(there’s a minimum of two
athletes per household)
along with 800 volunteers.
This will be the seventh
time Detroit will be a host
for Maccabi Games, the
most of any city. Detroit
previously hosted in 1984,
1990, 1998, 2008, 2014 and 2019.
For more information, go to jlive.app/
organizations/365.
Josh Nodler Finishing Strong
with Bowling Green Falcons
The final stop on Josh Nodler’s college hockey career
has been a productive one so far. The former Michigan
State and UMass player from Oak Park had four goals
and seven assists for Bowling Green through 18 games
this season.
His 11 points ranked No. 3 on the Falcons team. In a
recent game at Ferris State, Nodler’s
two power-play goals led Bowling
Green (7-11, 5-5 Central Collegiate
Hockey Association) to a 4-3 win.
Before arriving at Bowling Green,
Nodler had 15 goals and 24 assists for
39 points in 126 collegiate games. His
best season was 2021-22 at Michigan
State, when he had seven goals and
eight assists for 15 points.
BOWLING GREEN UNIVERSITY
Josh Nodler
JCC Maccabi Games Meetings Scheduled