Red Sox postpone opener for Passover

[snopes]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/redsox.asp

[Sister Ray]

I'd comment further on this, if I understood a word of it. (besides snopes' title, of course)

Sister "translate into english or spanish, i can read both" Ray

[Johnny Slick]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

I'd comment further on this, if I understood a word of it. (besides snopes' title, of course)

Sister "translate into english or spanish, i can read both" Ray

Translation:

OMG JEWS ARE TAKING OVER MERKA! WAKE UP MERKA!

[snopes]

Aren't the schedules set by MLB, rather than the teams themselves? I don't think a team can alter its schedule without approval from the league and/or commissioner's offices.

[Four Kitties]

Passover 2009 begins April 9th and goes through the 15th.

The Sox home opener is April 6th against the Rays. They will play the Rays at home again on the 8th and 9th; then the 10th, 11th and 12th on the road against the Angels; then the 13th, 14th and 15th on the road at Oakland.

Doesn't sound much like taking time off for Passover to me.

Also, the Sox don't have three Jewish starters, only one: Kevin Youkilis. They had two bench players, Gabe Kapler and Adam Stern, who are Jewish. The only time all three started together was for one game the first week of August 2005. Neither is currently with the Sox: Kapler temporarily retired after the '06 season but is now with Tampa Bay; Stern was traded to the Orioles in October '06 and is currently with Milwaukee in the minors.

Four Kitties

[Sister Ray]

Originally Posted by Four Kitties

Also, the Sox don't have three Jewish starters, only one: Kevin Youkilis. They had two bench players, Gabe Kapler and Adam Stern, who are Jewish. The only time all three started together was for one game the first week of August 2005. Neither is currently with the Sox: Kapler temporarily retired after the '06 season but is now with Tampa Bay; Stern was traded to the Orioles in October '06 and is currently with Milwaukee in the minors.

Four Kitties

You know, it never occured to me that this was about the players. Of course, unlike the writer of this e-mail, I'm more concerned with how they can throw, hit, or catch a ball rather than their religious persuasions.

Sister "maybe I was better off not understanding it" Ray

[snopes]

I heard that Walt Disney once postponed Passover because it conflicted with the opening of one of his animated films.

[Johnny Slick]

In fairness, this email was probably written in 2005 and has only been forwarded to snopes now. Although it's true what Terry Pratchett said about how a lie *can* travel the world twice while the truth puts its boots on, it's also the case that lies can move really, really slowly if they want to.

Anyway, baseball isn't about to let a team take an entire week off in the middle of a season (well, the beginning, but still) for a religious holiday. This is the same league that wouldn't take *any* time off for the death of RFK.

[Four Kitties]

You think the three Jewish starters in one game in '05 started it?

The next Passover after their start would have been April 12-19 2006. The season started at the Rangers on the 3rd. The Sox home opener was against Toronto on the 11th, first game of a 10-game homestand (three Jays, four Mariners, three Rays). So once again, they played every single day of Passover.

Four Kitties

[Johnny Slick]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I don't think there's any truth to the notion that the Sawx got to skip 10 days in the middle of the season. As noted, MLB wouldn't have allowed that in a million years. It's worth noting that on occasion, the league *does* take scheduling concerns into account (for example, both the Democratic and Republican convention coincided with long road trips for the home teams of the cities the conventions were at). Occasionally, individual athletes will sit out games due to holidays (Sandy Koufax missing Yom Kippur being a prime example, although Hakeem Olajuwon would also miss fast days during Ramadan when Ramadan conflicted with the NBA schedule, and there have been many, many more ballplayers) (another guy I can think of is Danny Thomas, nicknamed "The Sundown Kid" because his religion required him to stop partaking in manual labor from sundown Saturday night until sunup Monday morning). But entire teams? Nope, no way. Not a chance.

[Simply Madeline]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

Although it's true what Terry Pratchett said about how a lie *can* travel the world twice while the truth puts its boots on,

Terry Pratchett? I thought that was Mark Twain.