The San Francisco FlameThrowers, a professional ultimate team playing in the San Francisco Bay Area, play their next home game on July 15, against the Seattle Cascades at 6  p.m. All FlameThrowers home games are played at the Laney College Football Field  in Oakland.  For information and tickets,  click here.
Dolich
7-3-17 - Israel Blue Lions
Jerusalem Big Blue Lions
7--3-17 - Israel
Israel Football League
Andy Dolich -- 2015
Andy Dolich

NFL Hail Mary in the Holy Land 

By Andy Dolich
A few weeks ago the NFL brought 18 Hall of Fame enshrinees to Israel for what was billed as the "Touchdown in Israel ll -- We are all Patriots."

The man responsible for this goodwill visit was Robert Kraft, owner of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. Kraft has been a sponsor of football in Israel since 1999, along with establishing a number of major philanthropic projects.
 
Kraft and NFL Hall of Fame president David Baker led a delegation of NFL legends, including Joe Montana, Roger Staubach, Lem Barney, Cris Carter, Dave Casper, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Joe Greene, Willie Lanier, Andre Reed, Mike Singletary, Bruce Smith, John Stallworth, Andre Tippett, Aeneas Williams, Ron Yary and Jerome Bettis.
 
The NFL has devoted a significant amount of time, money, planning and promotion to growing NFL football on a global scale. Simply said, the only two global growth sports are soccer and basketball. No matter how many fans show up for NFL games in London, you don't see school kids chucking around a football, wearing helmets or shoulder pads in the English countryside. NFL games have been played in Canada, England, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Australia, with China to come.
 
I applaud what Robert Kraft has accomplished in Israel but when I saw this story I wondered why the NFL didn't invite a contingent of past and present Jewish football players to join the Hall of Famers. Surely these Bar Mitzvah ballers would have added to the impact: Geoff Schwartz, Ron Mix, Igor Olshansky, Erik Lorig, Julian Edelman, Antonio Garay, John Frank, Harris Barton, Randy Grossman, Jay Fiedler, Greg Camarillo, Nate Ebner, Gabe Carimi, and Adam Podlesh.
 
You might not know that the Jerusalem Big Blue Lions are the current champs in the Promised Land, having won Israel Bowl X.

Other teams in the Israel Football League (IFL) include:
Haifa Underdogs
Tel Aviv Pioneers
Beersheva Black Swan
Judean Rebels
Ramat HaSharon Hammers
Petah Tikva Troopers
Mazkeret Batya Silverbacks
 
The NFL is a marketing machine. If Mr. Kraft and other NFL owners believe that Israel can support the game, they should expand the league and rethink team names for a marketing and merchandising push.

The reconfigured and renamed IFL could look like this:
Jaffa Ports
Dead Sea Scrolls
Red Sea Parting
Mount Ararat Ark
Dimona Desert
Kiryat Shmonifa Stars of David
Lod Bods
Tel Aviv Technology
Ramat Gan Diamonds
Jerusalem Wisemen
Beersheva Burning Bush
 
Only time will tell whether the NFL's plan for global growth will be able to bring all their various attempts at internationalism together in the First Global Bowl.

Dolich has worked in all four major pro sports leagues and currently heads a 
sports business consulting firm.

Pops
3-6-17 - Pops

Michael King (left), with an associate from USF (center), and Karla Granadino-King, are pictured at the Olympic Club in San Francisco,  proudly sharing with the world their  Pops Premium Rumpopo. A King family secret, Pops Premium Rumpopo is a  delicious rum cream liqueur recipe brewed in the family tradition.  The award winning recipe is a Belizean family favorite and now available at all Total Wine & More stores in California and Bay Area retailers.
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