THE COLD SHOULDER

I am no maven when it comes to figure skating. I can barely keep from falling on my tukhas standing still on ice skates. But I know a deliberate shafting when I see one.

Last month, 16-year old Emily Hughes of Great Neck, Long Island placed third in the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships, traditionally the venue for earning one of three coveted spots on the United States Olympic Women's Figure Skating Team. The two other winners were Sasha Cohen of California and 16-year old Kimmie Meissner of Baltimore, MD.

But for Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes, her ticket to the 2006 World Olympics in Torino, Italy was voided by committee. She was bumped by an executive committee decision, and replaced by Michelle Kwan, a delightfully talented skater, who did not compete, allegedly, because of an ankle injury.

I am not berating Kwan or suggesting any negative behavior on her part. I don’t believe she engaged in any underhanded effort to build up sympathy to be "appointed’ to the American team. However, she did not earn her berth and fair and open competition and should have had the grace to tell the United States Olympic Committee she shouldn’t go and that the committee should stick with Hughes.

Kwan is a nine-time national champion and two-time Olympic medalist. However, her first medal was silver, and the second was a bronze, one-step lower. Even so, Olympic officials "awarded" her the opportunity to skate in her third Olympics.

Ironically, when grace and good sportsmanship were called for, Emily stood up and praised the Olympic Committee’s decision as a good one. She even went on NBC’s "Today Show" with Katie Couric and although prompted to open up her feelings, she told the television audience, "I feel really good. I skated at the nationals really well. I improved my performance from the last time a total of 40 points, so I'm really looking forward to the next competition."

Not once, that day or since, has Hughes, or to my knowledge, any member of her family, bad mouthed the decision or, what I feel, has been an injustice.

Another irony in this situation is the position that Kwan has been placed in. With all her past successes and well-deserved accolades, if she doesn’t win at least a bronze medal at Torino, she will suffer a major fall from grace. Reporters — and we can be a mean lot — will rip her and the USOC apart if she fails to perform more than well; to medal.

In the meantime, we — Jews — can look forward to potentially dazzling performances by Cohen and Russia’s Irina Slutskya. Certainly, measured by past standards, one, if not both, will stand on the medalist platform at the end of the figure skating competition.

The Olympics begin this weekend with opening ceremonies Friday night on NBC.
(Ed. Note. Skaters of Jewish descent took three of the top four places in the women's figure skating competition at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Then 16-year-old Sarah Hughes upset the favorites to win the gold medal, while Slutskya took the silver and Cohen finished fourth. Kwan took the bronze medal for her third place finish.)
 

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, "Veni, Vidi, Vici," ("I came, I saw, I conquered," and then I disappeared.
That could well describe Dov Henefeld, Doron Sheffer, Uri Cohen-Mintz and a dozen or so other Israeli basketball players, who became instant college basketball phenomenon’s in the 1990s and then returned home to play professionally in Israel.

Henefeld, the first of the group, played one-year for the University of Connecticut and became a defensive genius using the mid-court and sidelines to trap opposing point-guards and force turnovers. But after one-year, Henefeld, to the chagrin of UConn and Jewish basketball fans everywhere, decided to return home to play basketball professionally for Maccabi-Tel Aviv.

Undaunted, UConn coach Jim Calhoun continued to exploit his Israeli connections bringing three more Israeli’s. One was Gilad Katz, followed by the sensational Doron Sheffer and 6-foot-11-inch, Uri Cohen-Mintz, the latter, a son of Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Israel’s first European Basketball All-Star and a general in the Israeli Air Force.

Sheffer played three outstanding years for the Huskies and received national recognition teamed up with guys like Brian Fair and current NBA star Ray Allen. He was also drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers, but refused to play for them without a guaranteed contract.
Cohen-Mintz only stayed a year. Although he stood within an inch of 7-feet, he was considered a "small forward." He was exceptionally thin and lacked the physicality to go with his height.

Since then, there have been a couple of handfuls of Israeli’s playing in the states, but most of the present crop have played either Division II or III, which is basketball’s equivalent of playing Shakespeare in Dubuque, Iowa.

But now comes a new Israeli, Nir Cohen, who is playing at the Roman Catholic-affiliated University of San Diego.
This Cohen is four inches shorter than Cohen-Mintz, but a whole lot more muscle and body size. He is 6 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs in at 245 pounds. In basketball jargon, he is an aircraft carrier, using his body size and wingspan to force opponents driving the basket to pass off or change direction.

Called the Toreros, the USD team is 15-7 (as of Thursday) and has played a good schedule including a one-point loss to Number 5-ranked Gonzaga University.

A native of Migdal HaEmek, Cohen began playing basketball at 9-years old.

"Basketball is my life," he told Hank Wesch of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "By the time I was 15 or 16, I got the idea of playing college basketball running in my mind. It was my dream."

Cohen’s journey to San Diego began with his discharge from the Israeli Air Force and then two years at Monroe Junior College in Rochester, N.Y. "He was spotted by USD assistant coach George Tuttle at a JC jamboree in Florida a year or so ago. Tuttle liked what he saw.

‘"George saw his strength, thought he was pretty skilled and we wanted to sign another big man this last spring,’ Holland told Wesch.

"Religious affiliations were of no concern either way.

‘"When I found out it's a Catholic school, my first question was, ‘What's the difference between a Catholic and non-Catholic school?'"
There isn’t a big difference. He has adopted to his school and is having no problem with it "

Said Holland: "We're a Catholic university, but you don't have to be Catholic to attend here. I think Nir is very comfortable here. Everybody really likes Nir, and I think we've adapted to Nir well and he has adapted to San Diego well."

Wesch says Cohen is the first or second big man off the Torero’s bench, depending on whether Holland is looking for muscle or finesse against an opponent. The 24-year-old junior has played in all 22 games, averaging 6.0 points per game and 3.6 rebounds.

"One of the reasons we really liked Nir was his strength and his bulk. He is the strongest guy on our team," Holland said. "He provides muscle for us inside, and that has been important."

The high point of Cohen's season came when he scored 12 points, going 2-for-3 from three-point range, to spark a 75-69 come-from-behind victory over Santa Clara on Jan. 16. The low point came five days later when Cohen's basket with less than 30 seconds remaining gave USD a 63-61 lead over Gonzaga only to have the Zags win on a three-pointer with eight seconds to play.

"I don't know if it was the toughest loss ever for me, but it was in the top five," Cohen said. "I didn't think about (being the hero), but when their man hit that three, everything just went dark for me."

The Toreros are a salving 4-1 since.

"Our team is doing well, and that's the bottom line," Cohen said. "The important thing is, we're getting wins."

COLLEGE SHORTS

In other college basketball news, Dan Grunfeld, son of former New York Knick star Ernie Grunfeld is having a solid senior year at Stamford University.

Grunfeld missed most of the 2004-05 season with an injury, but has come back to start all 19 games for the Cardinals (3rd place in the PAC 10). He is averaging 30 minutes a game, scoring 12.7 points per outing, with 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks.

Meanwhile, 400 miles or so down I-5, in Los Angeles, Jordan Farmar is averaging 13.6 points per game for the UCLA Bruins, having played in 21 of the team’s 23 games this season. His minutes per game average are just under 31. He has garnered 5.8 assists per game with 1.2 steals and 2.9 rebounds.