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April 9, 1999/23 Nisan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 28
Let 'Jewish Jordan' be a teen
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Enjoy him. Cheer for him. But don't put the weight of representing an entire religion on his shoulders. No 17-year-old should have to face that kind of responsibility.
Maybe you haven't heard, but Tamir Goodman is a committed basketball player and a committed Jew. He is a rarity in a faith better known for its intellectuals rather than its athletes.
Yet Goodman is so good at basketball, that he carries around quite a nickname: Jewish Jordan.
It's no surprise that Jews are on his side, thrilled that Goodman, a 6-foot-3-inch, observant Orthodox Jew, can do a 360-degree dunk while wearing a yarmulke.
"He is a trailblazer," Harold Katz, Goodman's high school coach, told a Charlotte, S.C., newspaper. "But he is not a freak show. He's a basketball player who just happens to be religious."
Meanwhile, non-Jews stare in amazement, their eyes affixed to the ever-present yarmulke, their doubts twisted into a new understanding.
"Automatically, you think he should be doing your taxes," Katz said of the redhead with alabaster skin, who wears wire-rimmed reading glasses.
Goodman is a junior at the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore, an Orthodox boys' high school near his hometown of Pikesville, Md. He adheres to an Orthodox lifestyle, follows strict dietary laws and observes Shabbat. Basketball is the school's only sport, and Goodman has taken to it big time, averaging 37 points per game.
Since word got out about Goodman, his life has not been the same. Last season, more than 1,000 fans crammed into the school's gymnasium on some game days. They sat in folding chairs or stood in the gym just to catch a glimpse of "J.J." Attendance got so out of hand that the school limited the number of fans admitted to games to about 750 - a definite first for the school.
His notoriety has forced him to face above-average pressure for a high school athlete. After all, most teenage basketball players don't find a Sports Illustrated writer waiting in the wings after a game, ready to feature them in a four-page spread.
But what may appear glamorous for this teen athlete could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Since his talent was discovered and broadcast around the country, Goodman has had to deal with persistent attention on and off the court. Many of his schoolmates probably look at him either as their hero or as their target of envy. At games, fans critique his every move, sometimes shouting words of support, sometimes lambasting him with jeers such as "Air ball!" when he fails.
Goodman is on display. If it isn't basketball fans or peers watching his every move, it's his fellow Jews. They seem to expect him to prove to the world that athletic talent really does exist in those who practice Judaism.
This past January, Goodman verbally committed to attend and accept a basketball scholarship to the University of Maryland. He made his highly publicized commitment under a single condition - a condition that could alter game schedules and even change NCAA playoff dates. Goodman will never play basketball on Shabbat.
This sort of religious commitment is something to respect in a teenager. However, Saturday happens to be one of college basketball's showcase days. Maryland, including its coach, Gary Williams, is petitioning the conference to limit its Saturday matinees to accommodate Goodman.
But it is unlikely that other college teams will agree to this change. If they do, other teams and fans will no doubt feel contempt for Goodman and his beliefs. If a college basketball tradition is changed for the sake of Goodman, he will be expected to demonstrate that he's well worth the hassle.
We can only hope that this attention will not change Goodman. What we do know is that he will continue to play basketball on the days he can play, and will do so with his yarmulke firmly in place. And there may be nights, somewhere on the road in an opponent's gym, when he will be taunted for it.
"I think we've gotten beyond the point of taunting because of race or religion," said John Feinstein, noted basketball author and college basketball expert. "But he will be under a tremendous amount of pressure."
Goodman will be under the pressure of redefining the boundaries of what a bright, Orthodox Jew can do athletically; the pressure of knowing that if a game is rescheduled, it is because of him, and that others may resent this; and the pressure of being an Orthodox Jew in a secular world.
Jews should embrace him, yes, but don't look to him as the key to opening a locked door, or as the savior responsible for reversing decades of misperception. Give him room to breathe, room to grow, room to fail.
"My priorities," Goodman told ESPN, "are to be a basketball player, and at the same time, be a God-fearing Jew."
Exactly.
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