Haifa, Nov 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Jeremy Tyler was among the top ho shots in American high school basketball, and was widely tipped as a future first-round NBA draft pick. But he was too impatient to wait till 2011 when he would be able to play for NBA, as he was too young now, so he looked overseas and signed a one-year, $140,000 deal with Maccabi Haifa, which is a team in Israel’s top division.

He thought that he had taken the best decision of his life and that his life was settled in a good way, but he isn’t too sure now. He is beginning to doubt his decision as he struggles with life and the society in Israel. “I only make history if I succeed. I didn’t come here to fail,” Tyler, sounding both frustrated and determined, said after playing a scoreless 40 minutes in a Haifa victory this week.

Plus adjusting to a new culture and the Muslim way of life isn’t too easy either. He got a rude shock few days after he came to Israel when a neighbor complained that he was listening to loud music on Yom Kippur, which is a major blunder on the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar. Tyler said he was clueless about his mistake and that he didn’t mean to offend any society by his ways, but his action was a hot topic for days on end in the Israeli’s sports pages.

“He’s an 18-year-old kid playing in a men’s league. All of the sudden it’s very difficult for him. He’s not the best player on the court for the first time in his life,” said Simi Riger, about Jeremy Tyler.