Herzl Magic Bracket: Round 4, Vanegba Region
April 22, 2010 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Uncategorized.
By Danny Soshnik
What the NCAA can do in a matter of two days has taken us 4 months. At long last, the final region of the first round. The Vanegba Region has some great matchups. The #1 seed will be tough to take out, but outside of that, I think the region is up for grabs. But don’t accept what I think. Let me know where you stand. I want you votes, stories, criticism, and even insults.
1 Friday Night Song Session
16 Intimidating Kitchen Staff
Friday Night Song Session is amongst the most memorable times of the entire session. I’m assuming this one will advance, so I’ll save commentary on it for later. I will say that the one thing that always irked me was the dancing to the Circle Game. Mellow folks, mellow. Brandon and his gang made the Ozrim shake in their flip flops. G-d forbid a kid go the wrong direction through the doors into the (old chadar) kitchen. Don’t even think about going up for seconds before the Tossefet sign is up. Some camps have a scary caretaker, some a mean, stern director. We had our kitchen staff. How has this changed in the new Chadar/post Brandon era?
8 The Birthday Song
9 Israeli Scouts
I remember the first time I heard the birthday song, “…misery is in the air…”. I thought they had said “Missouri is in the air” and assumed the girl was a fellow Missourian and thought it was so cool that the birthday song was tailored to the individual whose birthday it was. Over time the song has grown. And grown. And grown. Dayeinu already, right? The Israeli Scouts were never my thing. People got so excited when it was the Scout evening program. Me, I’d rather have had another go round of Capture the Flag. Then there were permanent scouts on staff. That was cool; I like Herzl diversifying its staff base. I still don’t exactly understand what a scout does. Is it bad that I said that? Toss up for me.
5 Saturday Cinnamon Rolls
12 Chugim Follies and Policy Schtick
I loved waking up first thing Saturday morning (what kid needs to sleep in?) and get in line for a roll. I always brought a hat and sweatshirt, so that I could theoretically sneak through the line in disguise to get seconds. But the combination of me being a huge wimp and the #16 seed (see above) kept me honest. I will say that I never mastered the trick of getting the perfect roll. Week after week, I’d opt for the one that looked like it had the most frosting – I always ended up feeling like I got the dry one. Maybe, in retrospect, they were all the dry one. The follies and policy schtick were way more fun as unattached staff then they ever were as a camper. I always liked the “no walking around without shoes” policy skit the most. I imagine that, until the new version of Willy Wonka came out a few years ago, the Oompa Loompa song was lost on the kids born in the late 90s. I like the cinnamon rolls, but am predicting a big upset here.
4 Slow Flag Songs on Final Shabbat
13 Roof Ball
The slow flag songs are great. Who doesn’t relish the chance to self celebrate and go into early mourning days before going home. I remember when groups decided not to do this – like the 97 Ozrim, who rapped to P Diddy (Puff Daddy at the time) rather than sing some sappy Journey song. You guys had to be different, didn’t you. Way to go. I just played roofball in St. Louis this weekend. No joke. Played with my nephews and brother in law, who went to Ramah. He’d never heard of the game. Is it a Herzl original? I never thought so, but it is such a ridiculous sport that it very well may be. The best roofs for roofball have to be 20-22. Though the North Haks can be fun too, due to the low roof. Great game. This is a tough, tough matchup. I give the nod to the flag songs, but man do I love to jump, pump fake right, and throw a four square ball to the left on a decrepit roof.
6 Kadimah Play
11 Ozo Wakeups
The Kadimah Play launched such careers as Bryan Greenberg’s (played Joseph in 1992). Who can forget Lee Touchfarber’s voice cracking as Harvey Johnson in Bye Bye Birdie in the 1993 play? (By the way, I am quite positive that Lee Touchfarber has no idea who I am, and if he were to read this, he would think I’m some weird internet predator). In short, the Kadimah play is, in my opinion, the greatest thing about the Kadimah program (ahead of the wall and canoe trip). The Ozo wakeups are legendary. Tipping kids out of the top bunks. Lots of brooms banging on metal. Insanely loud music. My favorite – no question: Papa Corey Friedman had an alarm clock in 1995 that he used to wake the Ozo boys. It was a two cacti, who kept saying “Hey, Hey. Don’t wake up. Sleep. Manana. Manana.” All the while “La Cucaracha” plays in the background. Was by far the most annoying clock in the history of the world. You’ve got to check it out. I might just buy it. http://www.salemclock.com/item/The-Cactus-Kids-Musical-Alarm-Clock-367
I like Corey’s alarm clock. But I love the Kadimah play.
3 Hot Cereal
14 Toran Wheels
This is a classic matchup. Has all the makings of a closer-than-it-should-be 3 vs 14. Hot cereal tastes good. Hot cereal is a nice change of pace from the norm. Hot cereal feels hearty. But that’s not why hot cereal is on the list. Somewhere along the way, people started dancing and rapping about hot cereal. How come? Why don’t we sing about lasagna? This is one of the world’s great mysteries. Regardless, there is no breakfast more fun than the hot cereal. Toran wheels are the closest thing that you get to having responsibility. I love some of the assignments, like taking out the trash. Do any of you remember the year we decided that by calling them “Toran Wheels”, we were over emphasizing the negatives of being Toran, thus making kids miserable? We made a strong push to rename the Toran Wheels “N’kayon Rotational Charts,” in an effort to disguise the negativity of being Toran. Somehow I don’t think it stuck. My Prediction: Hot Cereal, Hot Cereal, Hot Cereal. Break it down now. H-O-T Cereal. (Jesse Simon, start beat boxing now…)
7 I’m Going to That One
10 Shower Parties
“I’m going to that one” isn’t just a phrase. It’s an ideology. It says, “Yes. Even if I don’t listen to you as you explain your Shabbat Sicha, I’m still going to support you and commit to your group…until the next group presents.” Again, this is one where I don’t know where it originated. In my mind’s eye, I picture Marc Warren thinking of something really witty and bellowing out, but would love to know who thought of it. In the modern era, there is only one sicha that is done, so no matter what, you are, in fact, going to that one.
Shower parties. They’re fun. They’re different. They’re the only way you can get that smelly I-shower-only-once-a-session camper to clean him or herself. With the addition of stalls in the North Haks, even on the boys’ side, I don’t know what the status of shower parties is. In their heyday, they were a great opportunity to Israeli dance, listen to music, and see how your puberty progress was stacking up. Danny: That sounds like a classic tournament matchup: “I’m going to that one!”
2 Songs at Friday Lunch
15 Pooping at South Haks
The Friday picnic lunch is the opportunity to sing your song. Way back when, the only songs that were sung were the Ozo songs, Kadimah songs (as well as N’divim/B’yachad/Maba/Herzl songs, which didn’t change). So you really got a chance to learn the songs, and even got to know the songs from years past, even if you weren’t there. Now there are so many groups that it has to be impossible to learn the words to all the songs. But it still is a great opportunity to reunite with your old group, even if it is just for 3 minutes. I love everything about pooping in the south haks. They’re underutilized (read: clean). The maintenance staff always used to leave the disinfectant spray in the haks (kills 99.9% of bacteria – very reassuring). There are no stalls, so in an ideal world, while you’re taking care of your business, an unsuspecting young camper will walk in, see you, and walk out. It never gets old. My guess is with the new Chadar being so far west and the East Haks (you know what I’m talking about) being so close by, the South Haks are used even less now. I sincerely hope that they are not affected by the new capital campaign. I have to give the nod to the 15 seed taking out #2.
There you have it. Next month, we handle the entire round of 32. That’s when it will get interesting. Until then, happy commenting…