On Friday morning the editor asked me if this week's column would be dedicated to the Brooklyn Nets.
"All these ***. I'm tired of writing about them," I answered him on WhatsApp.
"Maybe we'll dive into the Warriors' weak start," I wrote to him, trying to maintain the tone of someone writing about, you know, basketball.
Oh, how great was the Mitzvot's surprise when, at the end of Shabbat, he discovered that... oops, sorry.
Because yes, I really, really wanted to return in League Pass to the third quarter of the champion's loss in Orlando and talk about the challenges facing Steve Kerr right now.
But then I found myself swallowing another video and another article, another video and another thread on Twitter - all around just one topic: the Brooklyn Nets.
No, no, sorry.
Not Brooklyn.
Kyrie Irving.
No, no, sorry.
Not Irving.
antisemitism
No, no, sorry.
Not antisemitism.
Fake news and conspiracy theories and misinformation.
and about the no longer existing difference between fact and opinion.
and about the destruction that social networks like Facebook and Twitter have wreaked on our society.
Steve Kerr
There will still be time to talk about the Warriors, photo: AFP
So no, sorry Mr. Editor.
I know this was supposed to be a basketball column in the sports section.
But who am I to argue with... myself?
With the fact that until three in the morning between Friday and Saturday he was busy with this, and not with Paolo Bancro?
The situation that Irving was dragged into and dragged all of us with him presents us with a unique possibility to use the prism of playing sports to talk about something really important.
And yes, the truth is that we tend to do it quite a bit.
From Colin Kaepernick to Robert Sarber or Britney Greiner - sports provide us with opportunities to discuss really important things more than once.
But I think it has never been so important, as now, to have a column in the sports section of a Hebrew newspaper in the Jewish state.
Because Kyrie's story (the current one, in general) is not only not about basketball, it's not even about the message of accepting responsibility.
Irving.
The behavior does not match the character, photo: AP
Irving, who without any explanation tweeted a link to an anti-Semitic "documentary", has behaved in the days since then like a grown baby, contradicting himself in every second sentence in an embarrassing and rather infantile way.
Then he refused to apologize, and continued to argue with the media.
He only issued an apology after being suspended for five games by the team.
But that's not the story. So what is he about?
Well, is it true that the NBA reacted slowly and gracefully to this case?
The same league just a year and a half ago kicked Myers Leonard's (white) butt after he used an anti-Semitic curse while playing online.
And is it true that LeBron James and Chris Paul - the "activists" whose every second tweet promotes some kind of social agenda - were completely silent on this issue?
And is it true that if it had been someone else tweeting a link to another racist movie, anti-black for example, the reactions would have been completely different?
So all this, it's not accidental.
And I won't completely spoon-feed here, but I will say the following: every time an African-American says "I can't be anti-Semitic (usually with the addition of "because I am Jewish/descendants of the Hebrews"), he is already echoing anti-Semitic concepts and beliefs that go hand in hand Hand in hand with aspects such as the denial of the holocaust, it is simply a fact that there is too much ignorance and caution around.
LeBron James.
Choose to be silent, photo: AP
And that — not even his "Death Con 3" tweet — was the most anti-Semitic thing Kanye West has said in weeks.
And it was the most anti-Semitic thing Kyrie, apparently trying to support the rapper this week, repeated.
And the fact that this is a statement that is based on other anti-Semitic beliefs and that incorporates additional positions - was somehow missed, and was completely ignored by James, Paul, and even in a sense the league itself.
So yes, it's funny when some American-Jewish stand-up artist says that "the worst thing you do to someone who says an anti-Semitic statement is to take him to a Holocaust museum".
But in the last week we have really seen how slowly the mills of justice grind when it comes to the protection of Jews.
Even in the USA. Even in the best basketball league in the world. And this is the most important message that Israeli readers should take from this story.
That, and that the world is flat, of course.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us