Last Saturday I heard Modi Bar-On for the last time.
He gave narration and his angle towards the final between Real Madrid and Liverpool.
Beyond a voice that did not really mention his voice, I searched between the lines, with all my might I searched, for the familiar, playful, bouncy, moody, with the implicit two- and three-faced statement, the smiling, enlightening wink.
I waited and Moody did not come, and I realized that maybe Moody came to us for a moment from his world, just to make one last voice and say goodbye.
Photo: Sports Channel
Leaving at 59 is a piece of departure that resonates and shakes his family, friends and sports channel, his main workplace for three decades.
His walk is mostly a huge loss to Israeli football, which is so lacking throughout its years and seasons the same characters that give it its specific, wide-ranging cultural value.
Moody Bar-On.
Separated at the age of 59, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Moody was almost a rose among thorns, like a suitcase that had accidentally emerged from the trunk of a British plane, and dropped on the conveyor belt at the crowded and sweaty Ben Gurion Airport.
A "heavyweight" professional came to Israeli football.
His cart was full and his canvas wide.
The TV series he worked on - all people, "Tel Aviv-Yafo, the kibbutz, Highway 90, Shaike Ofir, Dzigan and Schumacher - made him the main voice of Israeliness.
Modi was not a presenter or a broadcaster or a commentator - but an actor whose camera and screen were so mesmerized by his cluster, that in every position he sat - the tie-dyed, cool and prestigious Champions League studio, or when the Israeli Premier League had to be mediated - he did it from the documentary and stand-up comedian , And managed to succeed without also sweating Fabio Capello on Wednesdays, and Eli Tabib on Saturday or Sunday.
Bar-on on the lines.
Made one last and separate voice, Photo: Alan Schieber
He played all over the field, all-around player.
On the set he respected everyone, every depressed interviewee brought a smile, and managed to maintain the same required distance.
Sometimes he did not speak because he really did not have to.
The ability to play, the facial expression, the wink of the eye, the gestures of the body and the hands - conveyed the message in full.
As he sat among his commentators, coaches and past players - he did not try to compete with them in their understanding and proficiency - but he knew how to ask at eye level what Ms. Cohen from Hadera also wanted to understand.
Moody sat there to entertain them.
And when I think about what his great success was - I know what it is.
He mostly managed to make Israeli football everything it is not - entertaining, full of humor, naughty, festive and happy.
Were we wrong?
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