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Originally Posted by SBXVII
Did any of you hear this or see this on PFT?
Jets Complain About Scheduling Conflict With Jewish Holidays
Posted by Mike Florio on April 16, 2009, 6:47 p.m.
On Tuesday night, a reader in New York pointed out that the Jets’ first two home games conflict with the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
According to the New York Daily News (via ESPN.com), the Jets complained to the league office about the scheduling quirk on Wednesday.
The Jets are due to host the Patriots on September 20, the final day of Rosh Hashanah. They also host the Titans on September 27, the first day of Yom Kippur.
Though Yom Kippur doesn’t begin until sundown on September 27, the Titans-Jets game is scheduled to commence at 4:15 p.m. EDT.
The complaint from the team apparently resulted from complaints to the team.
“The Jets are hearing from their fans,” Howard Katz, NFL senior VP of broadcasting, told the Daily News. “There was miscommunication between the Jets and the NFL office, for which I take full responsibility. All we can continue to do is look and see if there is a solution to this.”
The easy solution would be to move the September 27 game against the Titans to 1:00 p.m. EDT, and perhaps to move the September 20 game against the Jets to prime time, since Rosh Hashanah ends at sundown that day.
Another alternative would be to flip-flop the Pats-Jets games, with New England hosting on September 20 and the Jets hosting on November 22. But such a move would give the Jets four straight home games in November, with a bye week after the first one.
It would also put the Patriots on the road for four straight weeks.
UPDATE: We tried to allow comments to this one, but realized that it was impossible to screen out the anti-Semitic remarks. I love this audience, but some of you who choose to post here can be real assholes. (And, no, I’m not just figuring that out tonight.)
Perhaps I'm missing something or am not as simpathetic as I should be but are the Jets a Jewish team now? I just don't see the significance. Are the people worried about drinking alcohol on the Jewish holiday or is it they want to eat pork in the parking lot prior to the game? One would think they would be excited about having a game on a holiday.
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New York City has by far the largest concentration of Jews of any place in the country. Hence the seed of the sensitivity.
The problem is that both games are happening during the High Holy Days, the most sacred part of the Jewish calendar. During this period Jews are expected to be solemn and reflective, not out partying. This is especially true for one of the games which falls on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Starting at sundown this day and running through sundown the next day, Jews are expected to reflect on their sins and ask God for atonement in a very serious, reflective way. They are supposed to apologize to anyone who they have wronged in the last year. Going to a football game is seen as inconsistent with this quiet reflection.
The game on Yom Kippur has been moved from 4:15 to 1:00 to accommodate this. The earlier kickoff allows Jews to attend the game and still get home before sundown start of the day of reflection.
All this having been said, my guess is that most Jewish Jet fans will be reflecting more on the game they just lost than on their sins.