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Title: On The Map Post by: ER on February 24, 2017, 12:04:41 PM Almost every year I go with a friend of mine and some of her friends to the Israeli Film Festival here in town, and while I bought tickets for the entire series, I ended up only making it to the closing presentation, last night, to see a documentary called On The Map, which told the story of Israel's own dream team, the 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball squad, total underdogs who got little notice of respect, until they started winning almost every game they played within the European Basketball League, where often these little-paid semi-pros went against teams made of up still-skilled former US NBA athletes, and in one case, the Soviet Red Army's elite basketball players, beating them.
Against staggering odds, Tel Aviv won the European championship, which was such a big deal in Israel the transition from one Prime Minster to another was actually put on hold so it wouldn't pull attention away from the title game! I don't usually go for sports films but this one had such a feel-good vibe to it, and the pride Israelis felt and still feel for this team was contagious, so if you ever get a chance to catch the documentary, it's worth an hour and a half. |