Tamir Signs With New Maryland Hoops Team

 Tamir Signs With New Maryland Hoops Team

Former T.A. star signs with Maryland Nighthawks.

Phil Jacobs
Executive Editor

When he was a Talmudical Academy junior, Tamir Goodman had his own section of groupies who would follow him from game to game, cheering him on.

That group pretty much remained intact when he transferred as a senior to play at the Takoma Academy. And then, for sure, his fans were there at Towson University for his short stay there.

Mr. Goodman, 25, the Shomer Shabbat player wearing his kippah, would go on to play in the Israeli professional leagues for some five seasons before deciding to come home to Maryland.

On Saturday evening, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m., his fans from Baltimore will be able to travel to Georgetown Prep High School’s 1,500-seat Hanley Center for Athletic Excellence, to see the once-dubbed “Jewish Jordan” play against the Wilmington Sea Dawgs in the opener of his team’s 20-game Premier Basketball League schedule.

The PBL includes teams from Reading, Pa.; Jacksonville, Fla; Wil-mington, Del.; Dallas; Rochester, N.Y.; Arkansas; Chicago and other locations.

Besides Mr. Goodman, another known player is the 7-foot-9 Chinese player Sun Ming Ming.

Sitting in his parents’ warm and cozy Upper Park Heights dining room on a wet, cold night last Sunday, Dec. 2, Mr. Goodman seems happy to be home. When he won the MVP in the Capital Classic several years ago, the media attention followed up to the “front door” of his career.

But when he hit the key shots in a Givat Shmuel win in Israel, about 1,000 fans came to his front door to sing songs and celebrate throughout the night.

And that is a difference in basketball life that he is looking forward to changing. “This league here is going to be fan-friendly, competitive, pure basketball,” he said, “There will be lots of clinics and family participation.”

Mr. Goodman added that with the exception of maybe one game, there will be no conflict between his Shomer Shabbat requirements and the team’s schedule.

“I want the Jewish community to help support the Nighthawks,” he said. “What they are doing is such a kiddish HaShem [sanctification of God’s name], especially for Jewish children and their families.”

Nighthawks co-owner Tom Doyle said he is excited about Mr. Goodman’s joining the team.

“We’re offering affordable family entertainment where kids can touch the athletes,” he said. “It’s going to be like what pro sports was like 25-30 years ago, where they signed autographs. We don’t see our competition as the Wizards or the Redskins. Instead, we are in it for families and children.”

He said having Mr. Goodman on the team is also part of the Nighthawks’ international objective, to broadcast games on the Internet all around the world. The schedule, he said, was for now kept to 20 games because minor league basketball can get caught in a trap of playing too many games.

As for Mr. Goodman, he added, “It’s a win-win for us, and for Tamir to do the thing he does best, to teach the kids. And you’ll see the kids want to be around him. We will set up some camps with this in mind.”

For Mr. Goodman, it’s all too perfect. “I play for a different reason,” he said. “I play for HaShem, that’s it.”