By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Back in the days, Zvi Serf and Pini Gershon were friends. But on 1994 Gershon, then coach of the U-22 national team of Israel and also a TV color commentator, criticized Zvika, then national team coach, during the telecast of a game.
Since then, they have been bitter enemies, until now. They decided to ally against Anver Koppel, Israeli league commissioner and also president of the basketball federation. He offered to both of them a place without any pay in the professional federation committee, which takes important decisions, like appointing the national team coach. Both of them refused and Koppel attacked them on the press.
So now Serf wants to run for federation’s presidency and he has the support of Gershon. Yes, the same guy who Serf called a liar in his newspaper column back in 1996, a guy from whom “nobody would buy even a used car”. On the other hand, about the same time Gershon, as the coach of Hapoel Jerusalem, provoked Serf, then boss of Maccabi Tel Aviv, when he was asked about their upcoming “battle of coaching master minds”. “Who’s the other mind?” was the answer of Pini.
However, this is the past. Pini is hosting Zvika on Thursday night in his TV show, named “One on one” and a long time feud is coming to an end. Here is the link if you want to see more of it.