Happy Hump Day. It's rainy, it's yucky, and I've got two boys at work with me today since it's Veterans' Day. Here's a five-pack of Israel-related sports goodies to get you thinking about something other than November weather, and three video clips straight outta the late 1980s/early 1990s. What's better than that? Nothing.

A Not Excellent Adventure

To paraphrase Bill and Ted, strange things are afoot at the Menorah Mivtachim basketball arena in Tel Aviv, as perennial powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv has sputtered out of the gate with a 3-2 record in the Winner League and a 1-3 record in the Euroleague. The terrible start was more than enough for management, who jettisoned head coach Guy Goodes earlier this week with the hopes of righting the ship heading into Thursday night’s Euroleague showdown against Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul at home.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Speaking of terrible starts, more bad news out of Haifa as Maccabi Haifa lost to Beitar Jerusalem at home 2:0 to drop them to 13th place in the 14-team league, with a lowly 9 points, and 7 goals, from their first 10 games. Conceding two late goals to their rivals is definitely not the way to move in the table. This disappointing season is only getting worse.

16 Games And Counting

In the League Championship, Brighton & Hove Albion beat MK Dons 2-1 on Sunday to secure 3 points and second place on the table, while remaining undefeated at 9-7-0 after 16 games. Tomer Hemed remains the scoring leader for the Seagulls, with 5 goals, and they trail first-place Hull City on Goal differential, +18 to +9. Next up for Albion is a November 22 match against Burnley at Turf Moor.

Some Celtics Are Better Than Others

In the Scottish Premiership, Nir Bitton and Celtic FC are off to a hot start, as usual, solidly in 1st place with an 11-2-1 record, 6 points ahead of Hearts. The 24-year old Israeli midfielder has been a staple in the starting XI and has netted 5 goals in 22 games in all competitions, including a goal last weekend at Ross County in Celtic’s 4:1 victory.

Dabour’s Hot Streak Continues

Over in the shadow of the Swiss Alps, Moanes Dabour has continued on his scoring bonanza for Grasshoppers, scoring in 4 of the past 5 games, giving him 11 goals in 18 appearances for club and country this year. Transfer talk should start heating up as we head towards the winter transfer window.

Bonus Video

November Rain. Duh.

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