Yossi Aboksis is introduced as the coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv/photo: Niv Aharonson.
Video editing: Nir Chen
One morning Patrick Beverly was informed that he was moving from Philadelphia to Milwaukee.
It is neither new nor unusual for an NBA player to suddenly discover that he is required to leave everything tomorrow and move to a new city, but the case of Beverley amused quite a few NBA fans since he ended up on the team of Damian Lillard, a player with whom he had a personal rivalry, which at first consisted of just routine trash and turned into curses Ugliness, really enmity.
Will this prevent the two from playing together, forgetting everything, and who knows, maybe becoming good friends?
No way.
God forbid.
Why would rivalry and personal grudges get in the way?
We are in professional sports.
One day it's here, one day it's there, and we're still surprised.
Rodrigues/Liron Moldovan
Jose Rodriguez left Hapoel Tel Aviv this week and moved to Turkey.
Many were surprised how the actor who defended Israel so much on social media after October 7th, deleted all the tweets and moved to the most Israel-hating country in Europe, the one that supports Hamas and our destruction, the one that removed Shagib Yehezkel just because he mentioned the number of days in which innocent men and women are kidnapped in dark tunnels.
But Rodriguez, with all due respect, is a professional athlete.
And as professional athletes say, the career is short, and you have to make the most of it.
And what is the best?
maximum money.
What's nice is how sports fans are surprised time and time again by this adaptability of athletes, who for a moment seem committed and total to the place, and a minute later adapt themselves to a new reality like a chameleon.
So Beverly and Lillard will apologize, because they have no choice.
And Rodriguez will play in Turkey, because that's what suits him now.
A player who played in Maccabi Tel Aviv, after that in Maccabi Haifa, then in Hapoel Tel Aviv, without any problem, and people are still surprised by the way he turned his back on the previous station, and started on a new path.
Nowadays when a player is informed that he is moving to a new team, the first thing he (or his agent) does is scan past posts on social networks.
Historical Dalit.
Delete record.
Eliminate all traces of the past, when it was the wrong color.
to check that he didn't mess up his new team, that he didn't go down on some opponent who today is supposed to be his best friend, the shoulder to lean on in the war.
In fact, in such a reality, when moving from city to city and erasing the past is standard, when an actor knows that he has to adapt the values of Robert De Niro in "Heat" - to be ready to leave everything within 10 minutes - it is better for the actors to say nothing.
Don't celebrate too much, don't say too much, don't get involved.
It's a tactical mistake to get attached to some club, to express your commitment.
Professional not attached.
Who knows what offer awaits in the summer, and where it will be tomorrow.
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Considers himself a "professional", but football is much more than that.
Aboxis celebrates with a Beitar scarf/Maor Alxalsi
This week Yossi Abuxis said "Understand, I am not part of the rivalry between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv". Abuxis was just trying to say that he is total wherever he is, whether it is Beitar, Hapoel or Sakhnin.
that he gives everything to the team he is signed to, the one that pays him a salary.
This is of course the right thing to do.
That's the only way a professional should behave.
are you paid
Be committed, give it your all.
But what Yossi Aboksis doesn't understand, or understands very well and chooses to suppress (or try to confuse us), is that with all due respect to professionalism and the business world, this business is still built on emotion.
Obviously money drives everything, but the heart of football is still the local leagues, which are based on the same long-standing rivalries, which are based on a fan's emotional connection to the club, on passion and love and commitment, on enmity and revenge.
It is especially strange that these things come from Abaxis, who as an actor used to get swept up in the heat of events and always gave extra in his commitment.
He played as if he knew it wasn't just a game.
He always liked to annoy his opponents, to argue, to take them out of their ways, to tease them, and yes, also to get dirty and mow, if that's what it takes.
This is what made Aboksis a "player that fans love", just because of the knowledge that he is all inside.
So how can one come to terms with the knowledge that he is only committed to himself, to his professionalism, that for him the main thing is victory and it doesn't matter what color the shirt is?
How does he separate himself from the competition?
After all, what is a rivalry, if not memories and charges, of which Aboxis was a significant part?
And more than that, how does Aboxis deny his part in the rivalry, which turned him on and ignited him and brought out the best in him?
Is it any wonder that the only one who can visit him is Eli Ohana?
Aboxis/Official website, Hapoel Tel Aviv
It's just another transition ("cynic"), another small and sad moment in the world of football, and as mentioned, no one is surprised or upset anymore, and few in the media have the luxury of criticizing Aboxis, except for Eli Ohana, an athlete from a different generation, who said "It's an act It will not be done."
The majority move on, even the fans, who feel another small scratch in their scarred heart, which as the years pass, stops being excited.
But we, innocent as we are, still remember everything.
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Yossi Aboxis