Twenty years ago, right about now, I was 22 and had been married for almost four months. Living in Kew Gardens Hills and had discovered that Sundays in the summer meant pick-up basketball at Park Drive East. When winter of 2000 rolled around, as has been recorded in the chronicles of Jewball, a few KGH guys tried to play some football. There were six of us, trying to make a game on a short grass field, puddles iced over causing us to slip and slide – the game was dumb, but I’ll never forget it. Me, Charlie, JK, Mosey, Fine, and Hands. We tried this for a few weeks here and there, but we knew there had to be more out there. JK, was only a year removed from being the MVP of the entire Israel league. He was in the paper every week. I used to walk the streets of Israel with him and kids would stop us. So….if our small band from KGH could latch onto an existing game, we knew would bring value. One day, closer to spring, Grushko and Fine took mercy on us and told us about another game. It was a pretty well established game in Flushing Meadows Park, they said. They had played there before. They seemed to not want to let us in on the secret. They themselves were outsiders so they likely didn’t feel right bringing other people down. Showing us the map to the game was perhaps not their place. But they did tell us. So JK and I drove to Flushing Meadows almost 20 years ago and found the parking lot off 108th and saw the guys playing football, passed the trees and down the hill, with Terrace on the Park looming on the eastern horizon. What struck us was the amount of people playing. Was it 6s…7s?! WOW! How did they organize so many people! And they had cones set up! My God! REAL ORANGE CONES! Where do you even get those??? They had really planned this thing! 
I recognized some people playing. Knew some of their names. Avi Spira was one. Rabin and Brian Sigman were there, but didn’t know them really. Don’t think Kenny was in that week. But, either way….JK and I stood on the sidelines and watched. We did not get in. Don’t think we were welcomed or invited to come back or anything like that. But we kept showing up Sunday mornings (back then….showing up at 9am was the way the game was organized pretty much.) Eventually we got in. Reluctantly on their part at first, but we were consistent and reliable and we found our place. The comfort level grew. I was never a sports guy – and did not play much football before getting married. I learned the game and cared about getting better at it. As people moved on, I started bringing people. Rabin and I talked about it more and more – organizing it together – trying to keep it alive. We moved it the 5Towns and created an email list. The rest is history.
20 years of Jewball in the rearview. Hard to face the reality that I have many many more games behind me than in front of me. But, those contemplations are for another day. Because today is today – now is now. Every Single Season is a Blessing. Every Single Game is a Blessing. Every Single Play is a Blessing. Strapping up your cleats on a Sunday morning is a blessing. Picking out your jersey is a blessing. Stretching on the field before the game in the cold and sunshine is a blessing. Fetching the cones after a game is a blessing. This is where my mind is and must be after 20 years of Jewball. Seize the day. Also – Appreciate the day. 
The days of me hyping Jewball to wake the slumbering Jewballers to gear up for Week 1 is loooong over. We are all revved up and ready to take our talents to the LHS turf. To fill the stat sheets, recaps, and record books. To create new stories and legends. To build upon the legacy of this great game. To be the magical place where twenty years from now someone writing to a bunch of Jewballers remembers when and where, for him, it all began. 
Who wants WEEK 1? (Early, Late, Both)