Not Quite "Bend it Like Beckham"

Since there wasn't anything worth watching as I did my cooking yesterday before leaving for Jerusalem to watch my son play American Tackle Football, I pulled out a DVD.  Yes, I ended up watching Bend it Like Beckham, which is a fantastic movie about a young gifted Indian woman in Great Britain who plays soccer against her family's wishes.

It's of the genre of members strict religious cultures and how people assimilate to the new culture and society they live in.  The Jazz Singer is of that genre.

Actually I chose that movie, because it wasn't too long.  Even though I've seen most of our movies many times, I didn't want to have to leave home before the movie was over.  But as I got into the story I enjoyed the irony of the situation.  I was about to go to a game which is very American, but my son plays on an Israeli team.  Many of the players on the team are strictly religious, keeping kosher and Shabbat.  If they were living in America they couldn't play on this level.  Granted the level here isn't all that high by American standards.  There aren't any Shomer Shabbat, Sabbath observing tackle football leagues in America if I'm not mistaken.

When IFL founder, Steve Leibowiz, first started American football in Israel, he was thinking less about Shabbat and more about bringing his favorite bit of America to Jerusalem, football.  Today American football is played all over the country.  And there aren't any league games on Shabbat.

Last night, starting close to 10pm the Jerusalem Lions took on the Beersheva Swarm at Kraft Stadium. and the game was over around midnight, Lions 80-Swarms 44.