Monday's Musings on Sports - How to Avoid Shooting Yourself in the Foot

In the fall of 2008 I wrote at least two posts which were critical of Plaxico Burress for his personal conduct which led to his arrest and ultimately his two year prison sentence. After serving his time in prison, Burress rejoined the NFL and currently plays for the New York Jets. Two stories from this weekend's NFL games demonstrate how far he has come.

In Thursday's second NFL game, the Detroit Lions took on the Green Bay Packers. During the game, Lions' Defensive Lineman Ndamukong Suh, pushed a Packer player's head into the turf, before attempting to stomp on him. Suh's infraction was caught by the referee and he was ejected from the game. After the game, Suh attempted to apologize to the fans, but did not seem contrite about his actions. [He has since been suspended for two games by the NFL].

Suh has not been a player above controversy. In his short time in the league, the former 2nd pick overall has earned a reputation as a dirty player. After being fined numerous times by the league, Suh asked for and received a meeting with the league president earlier this year so that he could learn the proper way to conduct himself. Evidently, he did not learn very well and now he faces the prospect of missing important games during his team's playoff drive.

Another interesting event occurred during the NY Jets - Buffalo Bills game on Sunday. After scoring a touchdown, Stevie Johnson pretended to shoot himself in the leg, before mimicking the Jets touchdown celebration and diving to the ground. Johnson earned himself a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which (when added to a poor kickoff), gave the Jets a short field and resulted in the Jets scoring a touchdown.

[Johnson's misdeeds in blaming G-d for his inability to catch a potential game winning pass were highlighted in this post last year - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/12/mondays-musings-on-sports-little-stevie.html].

After the game, Burress was interviewed and asked whether he had any reaction to Johnson's attempt to make fun of Burress' self shooting which led to his incarceration. Burress responded that the "old Plaxico" would have met Johnson in the parking lot after the game, buyt he was not like that anymore.

The gemara in Shabbos (105b) teaches that one who become angry is akin to worshipping idols. The reason given for this comparison is that one who becomes angry is challenging or expressing displeasure for Hashem's decision that things should turn the way that they did. Through Suh's unchecked anger, he has hurt his team and himself and has earned the ire of the league and the fans. In contrast, Burress' maturity which came at the expense of his freedom has allowed him to accept the events as they happen and earned him respect of the fans.

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Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Black and Brew

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Black and Brew Coffee Stout.

Every year, breweries use their winter boxes as a means to introduce beers which they have deemed experimental. Occasionally, breweries will use the winter mix boxes to gauge the public's interest in possibly having one of these new beers become a regular member of the breweries lineup.

This year, Samuel Adams mixed together some of their most loved winter classics including Old Fezziwig and Holiday Porter along with its trademark Boston Lager and the underrated Winter Lager. To this predictable mix, Samuel Adams added last year's newcomer - Chocolate Bock and this year's experimental beer - Black and Brew Coffee Stout.

[Ed. Note - Last year the CRC published on their website that the Chocolate Bock was kosher dairy - chalav stam. The Star-K did not include the Chocolate Bock on last year's LOC, but they did verify in an email that the 2010 Chocolate Bock was kosher and was in fact dairy. This years Star-K LOC does not list the Chocolate Bock as certified kosher. I have e-mailed the Star-K and am waiting to hear back from them. Obviously, once the issue has been clarified, I will post the resullts here].

Much like its name (aka k'shmo kein hu) the Black and Brew is a stout which has been infused with coffee. The resulting beer is not as heavy as Guinness, but the added coffee flavor is noticeable. In the past I have tried beer with coffee additive, specifically the Lakefront Fuel Cafe Stout and have not been impressed. However, the Samuel Adams Black and Brew has balanced the beer so that the coffee does not clash with the hops. The result is a beer that went exceptionally well with our turkey dinner. Here's to hoping that the Sam Adams people will someday give this beer its own run in six packs.

Samuel Adams Black and Brew is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label. The kashruth can be confirmed by clicking on the link to the Star-K LOC here -- http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_6635_bostonbeercompany.pdf.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Black and Brew, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/74390.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Toldos

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand began by quoting a gemara in Makkos 24 which states that Yaakov was reluctant to trick his father in order to get the bechora. R Frand then made reference to a gemara in Sanhedrin which states that lying is akin to idol worship. So why did Yaakov do this? Rashi in Makkos states that Rivka told Yaakov that Hashem told me that you must do this. This was the reason that Yaakov did it.

This begs the question (as asked by R' Yaakov Kaminetsky) - since Hashem wanted Yaakov to get the berachos, couldn't He have found another way for Yaakov to get the brachos, short of lying? Yaakov had the middah of truth, surely there must have been a way for him to get the bechora without challenging his nature.

R' Kaminetsky explained that each of the avos symbolized a different middah. Avraham was chessed - he looked at Hashem and saw that the world reflected Hashem and he brought people to recognize G-d by emulating the chessed he saw. But Avraham's tests were opposed to the middah - he was told to leave his father. He was required to send away Hagar and Yishmael. At the top of the pyramid was being told to slaughter Yitzchak. After spending a lifetime doing chessed, he was told to sacrifice his son. This is why it was a test - Hashem was saying - if you want to prove your devotion, then go against your nature and leave your father, send away Hagar and sacrifice your son. If you do these acts, I will know you are doing them because you are devoted to Hashem.

Yaakov saw a similar type of test. Yaakov's midda was emes - truth. Hashem said to Yaakov, I want to see if you are devoted, so I will test you by challenging you to go against your natural inclination of emes.

R' Kaminetsky asked - what is Yitzchak's test? It can't be the akeidah because his midda was gevura and he used gevura to follow his father to the akeidah! Rather the source can be seen in a gemara in Shabbos 89b, where R' Shmuel Bar Nachmeni states that in the future Hashem will come to the Avraham and say - your sons sinned and Avraham will respond - punish them. Hashem will come to Yaakov and he will react similarly. But when Hashem comes to Yitzchak and says your sons sinned, Yitzchak responds - are they only my sons and not Yours? When they said na'aseh v'nishma you called them Your sons - now they are only mine?

The gemara then goes into an analysis of people's lifetime wherein it gets parsed down to only 12 years that a person could have sinned. Yitzchak says to Hashem - I will split them with You - You take 6 and I will take the other 6 years.

R' Kaminetsky explains that this is Yitczhak's test. He is forced to against his midda of din and save the Jews. Although his natural inclination is justice, when the Jews need it, Yitzchak will go against his nature and save the Jews.

R' Frand closed by saying that all of us have our nisayon, our own akeidah. Our souls according to the Gaon have gone through a gilgal process and we have returned to fix the errors of the past. How do we know what we should be fixing? What we find difficult is the prior error and this is what we must work on. Be it a problem with anger or freely spending on tzedakah. Now that a person is here a second time, he should review his deeds and see where he stumbles - this must be what is needed to pass our nisayoin, our akeidah.

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Sunday Night Suds - Lake Placid Hefeweizen

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lake Placid's Hefeweizen.

I know that summer is long gone, but sometimes I get a craving for a summer type beer. So looking at my beer shelves before shabbos, I eyed the Lake Placid Hefeweizen that I had bought during the summer at Beverage World in Peekskill. I put the Lake Placid in the fridge with the intention of having it shabbos afternoon and then promptly forgot about it. Midway through shabbos, Mrs KB reminded me that we were invited out for a birthday party by a friend who likes good beer, so I mixed a sixer of the better beers from my refrigerator and brought them over to P&P.

Which brings me to this evening when I sat down to review the Lake Placid Hefeweizen, only to discover that I had given away the brew I had intended to sample over shabbos or this evening. After triple checking the fridge, I remembered that I had given the beer away, but I did not panic because Hefeweizen are equally good cold or room temperature (no I am NOT British).

As an intro to Hefeweizen, I present the style definition at BA, which explains that it is:

A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance. Poured into a traditional Weizen glass...

Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

The good folks at Lake Placid (OK, the Saranac people, since all the 12 oz bottles of Lake Placid beers are brewed at the Matt plant in Utica) have kept a firm hold on the traditional Hefeweizen style. The beer has an instant snap of banana/clove which lasts through every sip. Unlike some other "doctored" Hefeweizen brews, the Lake Placid version is not overwhelmingly spicy and holds its dryness well - perhaps another reason why it can be consumed equally well when served at room temperature.

Lake Placid Hefeweizen is under the kashruth supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and bears a kosher certification on the bottle. For the experts' take on Lake Placid Hefeweizen, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1888/11786.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Chaye Sarah

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

This week's parsha discusses the first burial in the Torah. Although we know that Adam and Chava are buried in Ma'aras HaMachpeila, this week's parsha is the first time that the concept of burial is discussed.

R' Frand asked a question - why do we show respect for the body after death? The body is only holy while the person is alive, when the body possesses a neshama. After the person dies, the body is an empty vessel - so why do we care about the niftar? However, the halacha requires that the deceased be treated respectfully.

R' Frand quoted a sefer called Machat Shel Yad which answered the question by drawing a distinction between tashmishei kedusha and tashmishei mitzva. Tashmishei kedusha are items which have holiness due to their proximity or use in conjunction with holiness. These are items like the mantel on the sefer torah or the boxes of the tefillin.

On the other hand there are tashmishei mitzva such as a lulav or esrog or tzizis. These items are used to accomplish a mitzva, but do not retain holiness. We may have minhagim to destroy them in conjunction with another mitzva (such as using the lulav to burn the chametz) but there is no obligation to destroy them respectfully.

What is the difference between these two items? Since the tashmishei kedusha were used in conjunction with Torah, they are forever imbued with Torah, even after they are no longer being used to support Torah. In contrast, the esrog was only used to accomplish a mitzva and when the mitzva is done, it can be disposed.

The body of a Jew has the same holiness. At one point it was used to speak words of Torah and say words of praise to Hashem. Although the soul has left the body, the body still has holiness because it was previously used for Torah.

R' Frand then connected this concept with a gemara in Sotah which asks - why are women zoche to reward? The gemara answers - because they assisted their husbands to learn Torah and brought their children to yeshiva to learn.

The Chafetz Chaim asks on this gemara - don't women have merits on their own? Women give tzedakah, and daven and do many other mitzvos - why is their reward only from the acts in support of their husband or children?

The Chafetz Chaim answers that the gemara is not talking about olam haba. Women will absolutely merit olam haba based on their own actions. However, the gemara was talking about Techiyas Hameisim. In order to merit Techias Hameisim one needs Torah. Lulav and esrog will get a person to olam haba, but to get to Techias Hameisim one needs Torah.

With this insight we can ask - what is the gemara's question? The gemara is really asking how can women get olam haba if they don't sit and learn. The gemara answers that the women get olam haba because they are enablers of Torah and as such they should receive a greater reward. R' Frand remarked that the men learning Torah and the kids in school are enjoying, but there is no enjoyment in driving car pool or staying up late to wait for the husband to come home from learning. The reward for their actions is derivative of the Torah learned by their husbands and children and as such they merit olam haba by being a supporter of Torah.

And if you have ever met my aishes chayil, you will know what a true selfless enabler of Torah is. Or in the words of R' Akiva - what is mine and what is yours, is truly because of her...

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Monday's Musings on Sports - What Happens When No One Keeps Their End of the Deal?

Well before I met Mrs KB, I was a big fan of Mike Ditka. When he was a coach of the Chicago Bears he always seemed to give great quotes and his image as a coach was larger than life. Once Ditka retired from coaching (the first time) he began to dabble in broadcasting and thus had a greater venue for airing his unique views on sports and life. After making the mistake of returning to coach the Saints in 2001-2003, Ditka retired from coaching for good and became a network fixture and earned the nickname "America's Coach."

One of Ditka's regular weekly appearances is on the Mike & Mike in the morning program on Monday mornings. The hosts have joked on more than one occasion that on Mondays the show should be renamed the Mike & Mike & Mike in the morning show. During the Monday morning spot, Ditka usually comments on the previous day's NFL games and opines as to the outcome of the Monday Night game.

During this week's morning spot, Ditka was asked about the Eagles' benching of WR DeSean Jackson. For those unaware of the story - the thirty second version is that Jackson missed a team meeting, so the team left him off the active roster in their game against the Arizona Cardinals. While the game was expected to be a cakewalk for the Eagles, they wound up losing the game to the Cardinals. Adding injury to insult, they lost other WRs for part of the game and really could have used Jackson.

Ditka speculated as to the real reason that Jackson was suspended. He mentioned that Jackson was unhappy with his contract and that Jackson may have been vocal or disruptive in an attempt to force the Eagles to renegotiate or extend his deal. After giving this opinion, Ditka explained that when he played football (Ditka was also a HOF Tight End in the 1960s), players had one year contracts and if they performed well the contract was renewed. Ditka opined that if someone signs a contract they should honor the contract. To quote Ditka "Once the contract ends, you can go in there with guns in both hands and hold them up for a better deal...but when you are under contract you need to honor the deal."

My problem with Ditka's take on the scenario is that the owners often times do not honor the contracts. Unlike many other sports, most NFL player deals are not guaranteed. As such, often times a team will cut a player before the contract expires so that they can save the team from having to pay a bonus or a few years of contract on a player who has seen better days.

The fact that an owner can terminate a player at will while the player is vilified and punished for holding out or "faking" an injury is an interesting study. I have heard countless commentators pontificate about why most fans sympathize with the NBA owners and feel that players are greedy. I have no answer as to why fans favor the NBA owners, (although this may be due to the fact that personally I would not really care if the season was cancelled).

The owner vs worker scenario plays out in a story in a parsha we will read in a few weeks. Yaakov wants to marry Rachel and asks Lavan to permit the marriage. Lavan agrees and Yaakov works for seven years, but Lavan backs out on the deal and gives him Leah instead. Yaakov is then forced to work another seven years for the right to marry Rachel. However, Yaakov is not left defenseless in his battle with Lavan. As part of their deal, Lavan agrees that Yaakov would have the right to all spotted sheep, while the pure unblemished sheep would go to Lavan. Yaakov manipulates the scenario with the tools available to him by placing spotted sticks in front of the sheep while they drink so as to influence them to give birth to spotted sheep. Once Lavan sees that the spotted sheep population has increased, he reverses the deal, but Yaakov then withholds the spotted sticks and the sheep only have pure unblemished sheep. Each side attempts to work the leverage they have available to them and everyone (or no one) is truly happy with the result.

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