It's a little unusual story, on the verge of delusional, but we had to: Gil Barak, the sports channel broadcaster, became the extension magnet for basketball games • In the funniest interview you read recently, he says: "The family knows that the fact that I start broadcasting at 9pm doesn't really guarantee I'm done. At 11pm "

• Lightning. Turning the ball on his finger is no longer his only hallmark

  Photo:

  Bernie Ardov

Referees ask him to make it short because they do not get an extra hour, coaches catch their heads as he enters the field and realize that a long evening awaits them and fans do not stop asking him how many extensions will be.

Gil Barak, the sports channel broadcaster, has in recent years become a synonym for extensions and dramatic games among basketball fans in Israel, and the data also explains why: There have been no less than 30 extensions in the last two games he has broadcast, including six games of double extensions.

Considering that two months a year (during summer vacation) there are almost no basketball games, that's 30 extensions in 20 months (!). Lightning broadcasts between 15 and 20 games a month, so its average is one extension in every ten games. Compared to other basketball broadcasts, this is an unusual phenomenon.

"I see it almost every day and everywhere," he tells "Israel Today," "People ask me what game I'm broadcasting and then tell me, 'Well, we'll go to bed for lunch because we're waiting for a long night.'" When I get to the field, the coaches and the players They say, "Whoa, what a game we expect."

In the age of social networking the issue has become viral. Recently, there was a proposal among broadcasters to open a contest that would show who "brings" the most extensions in 2020, and the surfers' reactions were not late: "Give the prize in advance to Gil Barak", "It's not a force, it's better to give up, don't make yourself laugh."

Lightning. Get used to the jokes around the extensions // Photo: Bernie Ardov

"About two weeks ago, I was celebrating a birthday, so people said - you will celebrate until 00:10, because you will have an extension for the birthday. "In the last year, it's become something that catches almost every aspect of my life."

Doesn't that bother you?

"Never. It's just good: more attention, more audience, and it gets the viewer out of the ordinary. As sportsmen, we like that there is drama and not that the game is over in half. Close games get the best out of me."

It all began in June 2015. Barak broadcast with "Israel Today" commentator Eli Sahar playing in the Italian League playoff series, which ended, please note, only after three extensions. "It's been a crazy month. Every second game I've aired has been an extension. Suddenly I started noticing that I was going to broadcast close games and big dramas, and no matter what league. Even when there were big differences during the game, there was a sense that the comeback was coming, that there was some karma in the air."

Barak, 46, has been working on the sports channel for 21 years. He is married and the father of four. "They know that the fact that I start broadcasting at 9pm doesn't really guarantee I'll finish at 11pm."

In recent years, he has been regularly broadcasting the BBC's All-Star All-Star Game and other major standings, such as the National Cup semi-finals. All of these are at our doorstep, so expect a hit and make the watches.