The Jewish Sports Report

 

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The Jewish Sport Report

Friday, January 26th, 2024 • By Jacob Gurvis

Good morning! Did you know there are (at least) five Jewish golfers on the PGA Tour? They’re all competing in the same tournament this weekend in San Diego.

We recently verified the Jewish identity of a fifth golfer, thanks to the investigative assistance of a Jewish Sport Report reader. If you want to kvell about an athlete who you think may be Jewish, always feel free to drop us a line! The more Jews in sports, the better 😎.

 

As a kid, Abbey Levy ‘never knew girls played hockey.’ Now she’s a pro.

Abbey Levy

Abbey Levy during a PWHL New York game against Montreal, Jan. 16, 2024. (David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

When Abbey Levy was growing up, hockey was merely a spectator sport.

 

By the time she turned 10, after watching her brother play, Levy decided she wanted in on the action. She started playing — initially on boys’ teams, then going on to play at a prestigious boarding school and two of the NCAA’s top women’s hockey programs.

 

Now she’s a goalie on the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s New York team. The league launched this month, and Levy is one of three Jewish players we’re aware of, along with Boston’s Kaleigh Fratkin and Aerin Frankel.

 

Growing up, Levy, 23, celebrated Jewish holidays — she has a traumatic Passover seder story to prove it — but she told JTA she hopes to explore her Judaism even more as an adult.

 

“My parents definitely tried to teach me around the holidays,” she said. “But I think as a kid I was a little brat sometimes. I definitely just stuck with hockey and that was probably always on my mind. And now growing up, I’ll probably have to go back and look more into the religion.”

Read our profile of the pro hockey goalie right here.

 

Halftime report

KRAFTING A NEW NARRATIVE. The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, the group founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced this week that it had purchased a 30-second ad during next month’s Super Bowl. The ad, possibly the first Super Bowl commercial to focus on antisemitism, is estimated to have cost the foundation $7 million, according to industry experts. 

 

REVENGE TOUR. The International Ice Hockey Federation’s U20 World Championship, from which Israel was briefly banned, is still underway in Bulgaria. Israel has won its first three games: 8-6 over New Zealand, 7-3 over Bulgaria and 16-1 over Kyrgyzstan. Next up is Turkey on Saturday. Check out all the tournament results here.

 

BEYOND THE BELTRÉ. The MLB welcomed three new Hall of Famers this week: Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton. None is Jewish, but Shawn Green, the last Jewish player to receive Hall of Fame votes, was teammates with Beltré on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and told the LA Times about how an injury early in Beltré’s career helped set him on a path toward Cooperstown. (Who could be the next Jewish player in the Hall? Check out our deep-dive here.)

JOCTOBER IN ARIZONA. Team Israel slugger Joc Pederson, who spent the past two seasons with the San Francisco Giants, has signed with the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Outfielders Kevin Pillar and Dalton Guthrie remain free agents.

 

Jews in sports to watch this weekend

🏈 IN FOOTBALL...

As it turns out, Green Bay Packers running back A.J. Dillon was not the only Jewish player left standing in the NFL divisional playoff round last week: Tight end Anthony Firkser joined the Detroit Lions in late December and has appeared in a handful of games, though he has not received any passes. The Lions face the San Francisco 49ers Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET in the NFC Championship game on Fox.

 

🏒 IN HOCKEY...

Abbey Levy and PWHL New York face Toronto tonight at 7 p.m. ET and host Minnesota Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Kaleigh Fratkin, Aerin Frankel and the Boston team host Minnesota Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. In the NHL, Jakob Chychrun and the Ottawa Senators host Adam Fox and the New York Rangers, while Jason Zucker’s Arizona Coyotes face the Carolina Hurricanes — both on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. (The Hurricanes returned goalkeeper Yaniv Perets to the minors.)

 

🏀 IN BASKETBALL...

Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards host the Detroit Pistons Saturday at 12 p.m. ET. Domantas Sabonis, who is converting to Judaism, and his Sacramento Kings take on the Dallas Mavericks Saturday at 9 p.m. ET.

 

⛳ IN GOLF...

There are five Jewish players competing in the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open this weekend in San Diego: Max Homa, who won the tournament in 2023; Daniel Berger; David Lipsky; Ben Silverman and Max Greyserman, who we recently confirmed was Jewish thanks to an astute Jewish Sport Report reader!

⚽ IN SOCCER...

Matt Turner and his Premier League club Nottingham Forest host Bristol City this afternoon at 2:45 p.m. ET in the FA Cup. (Tottenham’s Manor Solomon is reportedly nearing a return from injury, but is not yet back on the pitch.)

 

From our sponsor

Albert Von Tilzer, who was Jewish, composed the music for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which is second only to the National Anthem as the most-played song in the United States. Listen to the lyrics in Yiddish here.

 

Spring ahead

February is just around the corner, and with it comes the Super Bowl, the NBA and NHL All-Star games and the beginning of Spring Training. We can’t wait!

 

Know a sports fan who should read this newsletter? Go ahead, forward away! And tell them to subscribe: https://www.jta.org/sign-up-for-the-jewish-sport-report

 

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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