His bar mitzvah: “I don’t think at the time I really understood what it meant. Now, looking back on it, I feel like I have come a long way in regards to maturity and becoming an adult. I think it helped me do that.”

Let’s hope that maturity shows up after his poor showing at the annual Combine, a (faux) event where college players strut their stuff for NFL scouts. Evidently, Mays didn’t do too well.

I’ve written a few pieces on Veingrad, who appeared in the 1992 Super Bowl as a member of the Dallas Cowboys, but once you’ve tasted fame in the Times, there’s no turning back.

On the menu for this year’s football finals: Abeles & Heymann frankfurters, Italian sausages, and knoblewurst, as well as grilled salami sliders.

Yum.

Tablet Magazine published this piece today on Sage Rosenfels, the Vikings’ back-up quarterback who must have tied some sort of record by going through an entire season, uninjured, without appearing in a single game.

Marc Tracy writes, “To his credit, Rosenfels is a mensch about this: he told the AP it was still a fun year, because he was able to learn so much from Brett.”

So maybe Rosenfels can be a diplomat when his playing days are over.

So did the Vikings treat Rosenfels (left) like his uniform number?

The Vikings’ loss means that there are no Jewish players left in the mix. It got interesting when Brett Favre — who was knocked down on numerous occasions (if this was a boxing match, they would have called it) — sustained a foot injury. I was thinking, “This might be it! What a moment for Sage Rosenfels to make his season debut and be the hero,” completing forgetting about Travaris Jackson, who would have come into the game had Favre not returned to action. Condolences to Vikings’ owner Zygi Wilf, too.

Was halfway hoping to see San Diego Chargers’ long-snapper David Binn in the Pro Bowl, but, no.

With losses to the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, the only Jewish NFLer still in the mix is Vikings perennial backup QB Sage Rosenfels. Anyone care to calculate the chances he’ll see any action before training camp (if then)?

Igor Olshansky has one tackle and an assist in the 34-2 debacle. Kyle Kosier also played in the “contest.” Chargers defensive tackle Antonio Garay had three tackles and an assist and David Binn was once again the long-snapper.

By the way, Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding missed two “easy” attempts plus a long-shot (36, 40, and 57 yards, respectively). For those watching the game on TV, didn’t you just know when they flashed the fact that he had not missed three chances in a game since Hector was a pup, that he was going to choke? Or do you think they’ll find a way to pin the flubs on Binn? Lousy anti-semites. They should read Lee Jenkin’s piece about the Chargers in the Jan. 18 issue of Sports Illustrated in which he says Binn “might be the best long-snapper in history, if a metric for such a thing existed. ‘I’ve been here eight years,’ says special teams coach Steve Crosby. ‘I haven’t seen him make a bad snap yet.’”

Here’s the breakdown.

And they call baseball slow? Would love to see a comparison among the major sports.

Antonio Garay of the San Diego Chargers is such a person. Despite numerous injuries, he has soldiered on, working on practice squads — most recently for the Jets — and chomping at the bit for another chance to get back to the NFL.

He got his wish when the Chargers signed him off the Jets practice squad in December. Garay — a 30-year-old, 6′3″, 303 pound defensive tackle — played in two games, making five tackles.

By a quirk of fate, the Chargers face the Jets this weekend in an AFC Conference game. Jewish Jets fans will be in a quandary as to where to place their allegiance; Jewish Jets fans from Jersey (say that ten times fast) have the added element of Garay being a local product (Rahway).

Joey Seymour wrote this in-depth profile for the San Diego Jewish World. With luck, the Korner will post an interview with Garay over the next couple of days.

Quick: Which one is the pro football player?

No. 1: San Diego Chargers (David Binn, Antonio Garay)

No. 3: Dallas Cowboys (Igor Olshansky, Kyle Kosier)

No. 5: Minnesota Vikings (Sage Rosenfels. Since he didn’t play much, we’ll attribute this to strength of character.)

And just to round off the MOTs, the Carolina Panthers (Geoff Schwartz) were # 17 and the Jacksonville Jaguars (Adam Podlesh) were #23.

Meanwhile the NY Jets upset the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-14 and will face David Binn, Antonio Garay, and the rest of the San Diego Chargers in an AFC divisional contest.

So, how hamishe is it for Jews to spend their time devoted to football? I guess it’s okay, as long as there’s a lesson to be learned from it, as deconstructed in this essay I found on Achas L’Maala V’Sheva L’Matta, a blog about “Everything you always wanted to ASK about the Chareidim [Ultra Orthodox] (but were afraid to KNOW).”

An interesting look at faith and sports, via the Kosher Beers blog.

Included in the list:

• Jerry Bodenheimer, president of ESPN/ABC Sports (No. 3)
• David Stern, commissioner, NBA (4)
• Bud Selig, commissioner, MLB (7)
• Gary Bettman, commissioner, NHL (12)
• Robert Kraft, owner, New England Patriots (13)
• David Levy, president of sales, distribution, and sports, Turner Broadcasting (21)
• Adam Silver, deputy commissioner, NBA (27)
• Steve Bornstein, executive vice president of Media, NFL; President and CEO, NFL Network (31)
• Casey Wasserman, chair and CEO, Wasserman media Group (32)
• Michael Levine, co-head, CAA Sports (37)
• Jeremy Jacobs, owner, Boston Bruins (41)
• Michael Weiner, executive director, Major League Baseball Players Association (49)

As Adam Sandler said in his famous Hanukka song, “Not too shabby.”

You can read the entire piece here.

Thanks to Korner reader Ari Eden for his note:

…[J]ust wanted to drop you a note to let you know of a story you may have missed, as I didn’t see it posted yet.  Jewish coach Marc Trestman of the Montreal Alouettes has led his team to the Grey Cup championship.  No, it’s not the NFL and the Vince Lombardi trophy, but it’s pretty prestigious nonetheless.  Trestman has a pretty impressive coaching resume and finally received his first HC job in Canada last season.  He led the team to the championship game his first season and won it all….  There is considerable talk that he will get a shot at an NFL HC job this coming offseason, with the Raiders, Browns, and Bills being listed as possibilities.  Ironically, his career path is very similar to former Bills HC Marv Levy (probably my all-time favorite coach), who also won big in the CFL before getting a late start in the NFL, though he certainly made the most of it.