Life

Tel Aviv Taxi Driver Etiquette at MSG

By Josh Nathan-Kazis October 19, 2009

Maccabi-Tel Aviv brought that special Israeli attitude to Madison Square Garden last night, where the visiting team’s 106-91 loss to the New York Knicks was overshadowed by the sideline antics of Maccabi coach Pini Gershon, right. After accumulating two rapid-fire technical fouls, officials attempted to remove Gershon from the court.

Like a Tel Aviv taxi driver in a minor traffic dispute, Gershon wouldn’t budge. It took eight minutes and the intervention of Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, the organizer of the exhibition game, to get Gershon off the court.

“I say to him this game is not a regular game,” Rabbi Grossman told the New York Post. “This game is for the children and the children watching, I don’t want them to see a fight.”

Gershon made no comment to the press.

Watch the video here.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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