Apologies for there being no post on Thursday; I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday packing and preparing for my move to Manhattan. Mostly, I spent Thursday watching 3 very dedicated and skilled movers do some really fast lifting. Thoughts on my new home in NYC, and the disgusting Joe Paterno, coming Monday…
I begin Good News Friday with a story that I’m sure will upset/inflame some of my fellow Jews who read this blog.
But I believe it’s a “good news” story.
There are those of us in the Jewish community who blanch at any positive story involving the word “Palestinian,” whether there’s any political overtone to it or not. People who simply do not want to hear about a Palestinian doing anything good.
I am not one of those people. So I am writing today about a pretty remarkable young man named Maher Abu Rmeileh (above right), a 28-year-old Jerusalem resident who has become the first-ever Palestinian athlete to qualify for the Olympics. Rmeileh’s event is judo.
He is simply an athlete who sells head scarves in his family’s shop when he’s not training or competing; he is not a symbol nor a reason for hatred.
Jon Wertheim of SI has the fascinating story of Rmelileh’s journey.
**Parodies of the infectious yet irritating song “Call Me Maybe” have been around for a while, so I’m sure you’re as sick of them as I am.
However, when it involves Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” doing the singing, well, then I must sit up and pay attention. And laugh pretty hard.
Take it away, Mr. Monster…
**Finally today, a story that we all secretly dreamed, as little boys, would happen to us as we got older.
We always think when we’re collecting baseball cards as a kid that decades from now, those Danny Tartabulls or Ron Roenickes will be worth millions.
Well, a man named Karl Kissner of Defiance, Ohio (I’d love to live in a city called Defiance!) was cleaning out his grandfather’s attic recently and came across an old shoebox.
Containing 37 cards from a set in 1910, including rare cards of Christy Mathewson, Connie Mack, Ty Cobb and Cy Young, which collecting experts say could be worth $3 million. Can you imagine, that kind of life-changing money just sitting in a box for decades?
Wish my grandpa had an attic. As do my future children.
