Are you ready for some football?

In yesterday’s action:

• Adam Podlesh (Jaguars, punter) made five kicks, averaging 36.8 yards, including a 57-yarder.
• Igor Olshansky (Cowboys, defensive end) made one tackle in a 34-21 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• Geoff Schwartz (Panthers, tackle), made his NFL regular season debut in the team’s 38-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Sage Rosenfels (Vikings, QB) did not appear in the 34-28 win over the Cleveland Browns, and with Brett Favre on the team, don’t look for him any time soon.
• David Binn (Chargers, long snapper), has a game tonight against the Oakland Raiders.

And “welcome” to the tribe, Kyle Kosier. This is a name I had not come across before a mention on the Yahoo Jewish Sports Collector group in an article about Olshansky.

There’s still more to Olshansky’s story. He’s one of the few Jewish players in the NFL and, even though he says he’s not a strict follower of the Torah, he takes pride in his ethnicity.

“It’s who I am, it’s my culture, my roots,” said Olshansky, who sports a Star of David tattoo on each side of his neck. “But I try to keep it separate from football. You see lot of doctors and lawyers who are Jewish but not as many professional athletes. So I think it’s good for the young, Jewish kids to have a couple of pro athletes out there.”

Cowboys offensive lineman Kyle Kosier also is Jewish, something the two only discovered this past week during training camp.

“That’s kind of cool to have a teammate share the same faith that I have,” Kosier said.

For Olshansky, the feeling is mutual. It’s a connection that can only help him to fit in with his new team in a new city, where the glare of the spotlight figures to be brighter and more intense than it was in San Diego.

Kosier, a guard, is not listed as Jewish anywhere else I can find (Jewish Sports Review, etc.), and he’s no rookie; he’s a 30-year-old,  6’5″, 307-pounder who’s been in the NFL since 2002, mostly as a starter.

---

Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

Powered by WordPress | ElegantBlue theme by Nathan Rice