Yes, they play basketball in the Middle East

In case you didn't know, there were a lot of international players taken in last night's NBA draft. Nine to be exact, which is a good number, but not a ton. Two of them (Omer Asik and Semih Erden) are from Turkey but the player I'm focused on is Asik, who was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers before he was traded in a three-way trade to the Chicago Bulls for three second round picks.

It's a little bit of a hefty price but he's well worth it if, and that's a big if, he comes to the NBA. Jonathan Givony of draftexpress.com ranked him as one of the top European big men in this year's draft, but he "is in discussions right now with his Turkish team Fenerbahce about ripping up his current contract and signing a 5-year deal."

Apparently, this contract is supposed to be binding, meaning he can't even be bought out. That means the Bulls have to wait until he is 27-years old before they even get the opportunity to sign him. That's pretty old for a rookie, even for an international player coming to the U.S. Even after those five years, there's always the chance that he stays with the team so this is quite a gamble.

The nice thing with Asik playing in Turkey is that it's only 400 miles away from Israel. That's like the distance from Chicago to the Iowa and Nebraska border, which by plane isn't too long and by car is probably around seven hours. I'm not sure how I'd get there or if this is even feasible, but it would be nice to see the potential Bulls center of the future playing in Europe.

Speaking of Middle-Eastern basketball, I got to thinking about some notable players from Maccabi Tel Aviv who I'm looking forward to seeing. If you're looking at it from a Chicago Bulls fan perspective, you have to start with Marcus Fizer who was probably the defining draft choice in the Jerry Krause post-Jordan era. Glad to see he's made a home in Israel though. Anyone know the Hebrew word for bust?

Looking at the rest of this roster, there's Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin who were selected in the 2006 draft. I'm not sure on what the status with either of them is, but I imagine at least Eliyahu will stay with the team since he didn't get a whole lot of minutes and struggled all season from what I read.

Another interesting player is 6-8 Omri Casspi, who could potentially enter the 2009 Draft. Givony currently has him as a mid-first round pick, while ESPN Draft Analyst Chad Ford is not yet convinced, saying he needs to have a stellar year in order to get into the first round. Given how much talent Maccabi has, I wouldn't be surprised if Casspi sits a lot next season, but that hasn't stopped NBA General Managers from drafting them (See Alexis Ajinca from this year, who averaged four minutes a game).

Clearly, it seems like I'll be close to plenty of good basketball to survive being thousands of miles from my Chicago Bulls. Hopefully I'll find someone as interested in international basketball as I am.

No turning back

I just finished the essay and submitted my application to TAU. Unfortunately I forgot to check the box that says, "I need housing." Oops. Either way, I paid the application fee so I guess that's the official start of my study abroad plan. Anyway, the admissions representative said it doesn't really matter that I didn't check the box since I don't officially get asked until I get the acceptance packet.

Fantastic, it's like applying to college all over again.

All I need to do now is get a physical and get my transcript sent. I'm told that it will take about three weeks for them to make their decision so I'm not going to deal with them for awhile since I want to be at school when they send me the information.

Once I get accepted, I'll be doing a few scholarship applications. The situation financially is looking pretty good for second semester so I'm not sure I'll actually need but I might as well go for as much as I can because Jewish organizations like sending Jewish kids to Israel. Here's how sophomore year will shape up:

Semester at UMass
Tuition for a semester: $10250
Housing: $1080
Meal Plan: $2090
Total: $13,420

Semester at Tel Aviv University
Tuition for a semester: $6,400
Language program: $1,200
Housing: $2,000
UMass study abroad fee: $750
Total: $10,350

Back when the dollar was worth more than four new shekels, I'm sure there was much more than a $3,000 difference in the price range. Although I've been told I can take off $3,000 because this program called Masa will fund all Jewish students going to Israel (as I said, Jewish organizations like sending Jewish kids to Israel). Can't complain with that.

Well this changes everything...

I just found out I was recently accepted to the BDIC (Bachelor's Degree with Individual Concentration) program. This means that I have permission to create the major that I requested (International Sports Marketing) because I was accepted to the proposal writing class. The Journalism major stays, Communication and Middle Eastern Studies are no more.

What does this mean for studying abroad?

It means the class selection won't be quite as restricted but I have to figure a few things out. First off, I now only need nine credits from Hebrew instead of 12 although I still think I'll end up with 12. Either way, I am supposed to have an additional nine credits of Middle Eastern classes that will complete my Global Education Requirement in Regional Study.

Now the interesting part is that I'm going to have an additional six credits apply to the BDIC. It's a little tricky because I have to have all 300-level classes and there aren't a whole lot available at TAU that would be feasible. There's a class called "State and Society in the Middle East" that should work and is 300-level, but I can't find anything else. Here are the three other options I have. Ideally, it should be poli-sci, historical, or something that could apply to marketing. I don't see any of the following three as fitting that description.

343-2 The Zionist Movement From A Vision To A State Mr. N. Barak Dr. S. Geva
344-2 Introduction To The Religion Of Islam Dr. A. Hakim
411-2 The Middle East From Printed To Digital Press Dr. L. Handelman-Baavur

Either I'll have to be flexible and find something that sort of works or they'll make an exception.