The Baptist Village of Israel lies about an hour northeast of Jerusalem. The grounds are reminiscent of a peaceful summer camp. Orange trees surround cabins and dorms and picnic tables. There's even an olive tree. In just a few weeks, on the Baptist Village football field, the very first Israeli national team will face Maranatha Baptist Bible College of Wisconsin in a game of American football.

We're not used to hearing much happy news from the Israel in America. We hear about the mounting tension with Iran and its nuclear program. We hear about bombings, rocket fire and missiles. We don't hear much about sports, about friends getting together at the end of the week to learn, laugh or let off steam with a few vicious tackles on a football field.

That's why David Hartstein, an Austin, Texas-based documentary filmmaker, had to make the trip to Israel in March 2011 when he heard about the growing Israeli Football League. Every news story he read or heard about Israel was usually something bad. But football? This stood out. Now Hartstein has hours of unedited film of hundreds of stories from the men who started from scratch to build a culture of American football in the tiny State of Israel. As of now, it's called "Untitled Israel Football Project."

"One the one hand, you could say, 'It's just football, who cares?' But there's a lot more going on,” Hartstein says. You've got missiles flying overhead ... and this is a great outlet for them.”

Not only will the May 17 game against Maranatha be the first official game for the newly formed national team, formed of the best players from the 10 teams in the Israeli Football League, it will be the first time the Israelis have played 11 on 11 (they're used to playing 8-on-8) on a full-size field. They're hoping the international matchup draws a little more attention to the slowly growing emergence of the game. Only seven years ago, they were playing without pads.

In 2005, 14 men got together for a pickup game, not knowing that they were planting the seeds of the IFL. More players joined every year. They were surgeons and engineers, students and garbage men, lawyers and soldiers. They were Israelis, Americans and even Palestinians. Although Israel has had touch and flag football teams since 1989, soccer reigns supreme and many had never touched a football.

By 2007, they had some protective gear, in large part thanks to New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a steadfast supporter of Israel and now, the financier behind the IFL. The football stadium in Jerusalem's Saker Park is named for the Kraft family. The Patriots logo is painted in the grass.

"We love the game of football, we love the state of Israel," Kraft tells Hartstein in one scene of the film. "So merging special things in our lives has always been what we’re about. Our family has tried to build bridges in anything we do and I think the game of football is one of the best building of bridges for a community that I've ever seen."

Israel Bowl I was held in 2008. The media had begun to take notice, especially when they caught wind of the camaraderie between Israeli and Palestinian players. Of course, there’s no denying the gravity of how a sport of any kind can cause people to ignore one of the most significant social, political and religious conflicts of the last 100 years. It’s part of what makes sports so great.full story >>

A lot has happened in the New Orleans Superdome since the terrible thing. With every passing celebration in the Superdome, the distance slowly grows between what is and what sadly was. But what was still lingers, in the water lines refusing to fade on so many houses, in the houses that will never be rebuilt. More than six years after Hurricane Katrina, and only six weeks ago, the very last FEMA trailer left the city.

Though few probably noticed what lingers this weekend during the NCAA Final Four and national championship, the first one New Orleans has hosted since the storm. (The last was in 2003.) Tens of thousands of basketball fans ate some of the best food in America, heard music they'd never hear anywhere else. They wandered from their hotel rooms to the bars and restaurants of the French Quarter, to the Superdome and back. It's highly doubtful many visited the Lower 9th Ward, though a few might have brought it up in conversation.

Tens of thousands of tourists reveled in the food, music and bon temps and will return home and tell their friends and family that New Orleans is doing fine. Maybe they'll come back for Jazz Fest, a bachelor party or just a weekend away. Do they need to understand that New Orleans still has a ways to go, or is it better that they don't?

Nothing can truly take the place of real awareness of the city's continuing problems, namely the highest murder rate in the nation. But as improvements are made to infrastructure, more students enroll in charter schools and more small businesses open, New Orleans is looking good. A long lineup of major sports events in the coming months doesn't hurt either.full story >>

Golf is often a game of embellishment, played fairly from tee to green, then exaggerated upon at the clubhouse bar afterward. That's where a made 10-foot putt suddenly becomes 20. It's where the braggard of the group constantly finds a way to re-tell the story of when he or she got to play No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass and dominated the island green. Well, this is the story of a golf hole that will shut them all up.

Meet the world's longest par 3.full story >>

Sure the Chicago Cubs can't compete with the Red Sox most seasons, but a fan of the lovable losers just pulled of a World Championship move in cyberspace.

Boston's beloved baseball team is moving into JetBlue Park this spring in Ft. Myers, Fla. The new crown jewel of the Grapefruit League cost an estimated $78 million to build ... but they probably wish they'd spent a few more bucks.

A resident not far from the new ballpark owns the most likely web domain name for the Red Sox new spring home. Eric Engelman purchased the site last year.

"It was kind of funny to me because I couldn't believe nobody checked it first," Engelman told WINK TV. "I just went on to godaddy.com and typed in jetbluepark.com and its was available. So I went ahead, searched out a coupon online and bought it."

So for a grand total of eight dollars, Engelman bought JetBluePark.com. But since he's not a Red Sox supporter, he figured he'd have some fun with fans of the New England team.full story >>