December 19, 2001--Yesterday, Zhanna Pintusevich-Block finished second in the voting for the European Athletic Association Waterford Crystal 2001 European Athlete of the Year Trophy.

December 14, 2001--Tamir Goodman, the much hyped "Jewish Jordan" who started a majority of last season's games at Towson University, has left the team and will seek a transfer. Last week, his father mentioned the possibility of a New York area school in Goodman's future.

December 11, 2001--Purdue RS Freshman QB Brandon Hance is disappointed with losing the starting job 9 games into the 2001 season and is planning to transfer, perhaps to a school closer to his Southern California roots such as UCLA or USC.

December 11, 2001--According to the Baltimore Sun, Towson guard Tamir Goodman has filed a complaint with police, alleging coach Michael Hunt assaulted him after Saturday night's game. Goodman was not injured in the incident, but he did not travel to the team's game tonight versus Maryland-Eastern Shore and has indicated a desire to transfer. We'll continue to monitor this story.

December 10, 2001--Since his horrific day vs the NY Jets three weeks ago, Dolphins' QB Jay Fiedler has not thrown an INT and the team has two big wins over Buffalo and Denver. He leads the team into a big division matchup with Indianapolis tonight.

December 3, 2001--University of Cincinnati C Joshua Shneyderov was chosen as the team's recipient of the John Pease Award as the best offensive lineman. Shneyderov is a 6-2 295 sophomore from Indianapolis by way of the Former Soviet Union.

November 28, 2001--Eight athletes and sports personalities have been elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Honored Americans are boxer Harry Lewis, volleyballer Eugene Selznick, fencer Julia Jones Pugliese, and Joseph Shane, known as ``the father of tennis in Israel.'' Other Hall of Fame members are Ukrainian gymnast Tatiana Lysenko, Soviet ice hockey goalie Victor Zinger, and Kenneth Gradon, who served for almost two decades as president of Maccabi Europe and of Maccabi Great Britain.

November 20, 2001--Maiya Chard-Yaron (P/1B/OF), a JCC Maccabi alumna, has signed with Columbia University to play softball.

November 18, 2001--Michigan K/P Hayden Epstein kicked a 31 yard FG to seal a 20-17 win over Wisconsin yesterday at Badger Stadium.

November 18, 2001--Earlier this week, Dan Grunfeld, the 6'6" son of Bucks' GM Ernie Grunfeld, signed a letter of intent to play at Stanford. He averaged 17 pts and 6 boards last year at Nicolet HS in Glendale, WI.

November 15, 2001--Israeli national team member Ortal Oren has committed to the UCLA women's basketball team. She averaged 25 poins and 10 rebounds last season in high school.

November 13, 2001--David Bluthenthal, an All-America candidate at USC, begins play tonight in the Preseason NIT vs Wyoming. Elsewhere, Tamir Goodman, the Orthodox PG from Towson University, tips off his sophomore season Nov. 17th at Coppin State.

November 7, 2001--Brandi Butler, a 5'9" PG from Elkins Park, PA, and an alumna of the JCC Maccabi Games, signed with Hapoel Galil-Elyon in the Israeli 1st Division. Butler is a 2000 Richmond graduate.

November 6, 2001--Gabe Frank, who played last year for the Rockford Lightning of both the CBA and IBL has re-signed with the team and is hoping to improve on his 7 ppg average from last season.

November 4, 2001--Californian Deena Drossin was the highest placing American woman in today's NYC Marathon with a time of 2:26:58. It was the first ever competitive marathon for the US Cross Country champion.

November 4, 2001--Agnest Keleti, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who later won 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, was recently inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Keleti won her medals at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics and later moved to Israel.

November 1, 2001--In mid October, Michelle Feldman claimed her second PWBA championship of the season and eighth of her career when she defeated Tammy Turner, Ogden, Utah 206-191 at the $50,000 Three Rivers Open.

October 28, 2001--The Israeli national soccer team played to a 1-1 tie with Austria and failed to gain a spot in the European playoffs of World Cup Qualifying.

October 18, 2001--Doug Gottlieb, the 6-1 PG who led the nation in assists as a junior at Oklahoma State in 1998-99, signed to play with Maccabi Raanana of the Israeli 1st division. Gottlieb played last season in Russia for Ural Great, as they won the NEBL Championship. He was named MVP of the 2001 Maccabiah Games after hitting 7 three-pointers in the US team's last two gamesl.

October 16, 2001--San Jose Earthquakes defender Jeff Agoos was honored today as the MLS Defender of the Year for 2001. The 33-year-old veteran anchored a back line that yielded a league-low 29 goals in 26 games.

October 11, 2001--Ortal Oren, a 5'9" point-guard from Rishon-Lezion , Israel, has given an oral commitment to attend UCLA for the 2002-03 season. Oren will graduate Kiriat-Sharet High School in June and then get an army deferment. She is an incredible ball-handler and led her school to the national championship last year.

October 11, 2001--Herb Brown was named assistant coach of the Portland Trailblazers. Brown assisted his brother Larry last year taking the Sixers to the NBA Finals. In July he led the USA Maccabiah squad to the Gold Medal. Also in NBA news, Barry Hecker has been named the Director of Player Personnel for the LA Clippers. Last year Hecker coached the Las Vegas entry in the now defunct IBL.

October 4, 2001--Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma awarded Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, The Grand Duchess Olga Award, which is the highest award a woman can receive from the government of Ukraine. The award is given for outstanding contribution to development and advancement of Ukraine.