Today is 34 days, which is six days and four weeks of the omer: yesod she’b’hod. Today is the third Red Sox player I’ve highlighted (which I don’t love because I really do want to get to every team and baseball already skews too much towards the big money/market franchises). I chose the first was because he was Ted Williams and the sefirot were gevurah … Continue reading day 34: big papi
Today is 33 days, which is five days and four weeks of the omer: hod she’b’hod. Today is known as Lag Ba’Omer, an acronym of the Hebrew letters that add up to 33, lamed and gimmel (לַ״ג). The day has a couple of associations relevant to this project. The first is that it is understood as the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the purported (though not) author … Continue reading day 33: steady eddie
Today is 29 days, which is one day and four weeks of the omer: hesed she’b’hod. Intra-state rivalries are real in Texas: UT vs. A&M, Rockets vs. Spurs, Texans vs. Cowboys (actually not sure about that last). But even now that the Astros are in the AL, I just don’t care about the Rangers. Never have. Even though the Express decamped to Texas from Houston. Maybe … Continue reading day 29: el koja
Today is 28 days, which is four weeks of the omer: malchut she’b’netzach. It’s not an accident that, after only one in the first 20 days, four of the seven players in this week of netzach are pitchers. The position is a bit of a contradiction. On the one hand, pitchers are in the game relatively infrequently. In the modern era, starters usually only pitch once every … Continue reading day 28: wilbah
Today is 27 days, which is three weeks and six days of the omer: yesod she’b’netzach. Besides loyalty to team and small ball (y’all are really getting to know my baseball preferences), there’s nothing I love more than a good nickname. Even better if that nickname comes from literally nowhere. And that’s what you get when you enter the major leagues at age 19 and get … Continue reading day 27: catfish
Today is 25 days, which is three weeks and four days of the omer: netzach she’b’netzach. Though perhaps not technically an essential part of of this project, I am trying to make sure there is variety in my picks — in team, league, position, race, era, etc. There are certain players (i.e., Astros and their traditional big rivals, formally the Cards and Braves, now the As … Continue reading day 25: the pride of peoria
Today is 23 days, which is three weeks and two days of the omer: gevurah she’b’netzach. It’s not because he’s an Astro — because really, it’s only been half a season, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about him. Plus, he’s #21 in Houston! Rather, pitcher Zack Greinke (the second player profiled without a nickname — no, seriously, this year on Astros Players’ … Continue reading day 23: greinke
Today is 22 days, which is three weeks and one day of the omer: hesed she’b’netzach. First, go read the guest post for today by my former classmate Joey Glick. It moved me to tears. (And then come back.) Three-time Cy Young Award winner, six-time All-Star, four-time Golden Glove Award winner, three-time AL wins leader, two-time AL ERA leader, and three-time WS Champion? Eh. Secret … Continue reading day 22: cakes
Today is 20 days, which is two weeks and six days of the omer: yesod she’b’tiferet. I got to know Boston’s Kevin Youkilis at exactly the right time, during the 2004 season. I was living in Raleigh, N.C., at the time, teaching Latin at a boarding school, and one of my fellow dorm staff was a serious Red Sox fan. We tried to get off-campus as much … Continue reading day 20: yooouuuk
Today is 16 days, which is two weeks and two days of the omer: gevurah she’b’tiferet. For my money there’s really only one #16 who demonstrates true “strength through beauty,” and that is one of the greatest athletes of all time, Kansas City Royals outfielder Bo Jackson, a man who played both professional football and professional baseball simultaneously. Jackson ended up playing in nearly 700 … Continue reading day 16: bo (the player, not the parshah)
Omertime 