Here’s a discussion I had last night. If your favorite baseball team was playing in the World Series on the night of Kol Nidre, which one would you choose? If you aren’t some bandwagoner who roots for the Red Sox or Yankees, chances are your team won’t be back any time soon. Who knows…This might be the only time in your entire life that your team will ever be in the World Series. So, would you miss it for Kol Nidre? And don’t give me that “I’ll TiVo it” excuse. You know that isn’t the same.
The thing is though that the scenario will never happen. #1, your team sucks and it will never make it to the World Series (I’m looking at you, Jeremy Moses fans from Kansas City). And #2, Major League Baseball would never be dumb enough to plan a World Series game on Yom Kippur. They wouldn’t even plan a regular season game.
Take today’s news for example. The always highly anticipated (except if you’re me and you just want a seat on the B/D train going home but they are all taken by Yankee fans) Yankees-Red Sox series is being slightly rescheduled as to not interfere with the holiest day of the year. What was supposed to be a night game has been moved to a 1:00 afternoon game.
Does MLB and ESPN have no respect for people who want to watch baseball but also need to go out and slaughter a chicken before Yom Kippur? Jeez…
Also, the answer to the first question is Kol Nidre. You’d feel so guilty watching the game knowing that you’re missing Kol Nidre that you wouldn’t even enjoy it.
Kol Nidre
Pronounced: kohl NEE-dray or kohl nee-DRAY, Origin: Aramaic, literally “all vows,” this is the name for the service and central prayer on Yom Kippur eve, which is considered the holiest night of the year.