Doing Mitzvahs in Church!

St. James Church in Danielson, CT


Lots of people mis-translate the Hebrew/Yiddish word "Mitzvah" in English as "a good deed." Actually, the literal translation is "commandment," but since we're all commanded to do good deeds as much as possible, the two words have become a bit synomous. And that's a good thing.

I bring this up because it appears a couple of good deeds, that may not have seemed like good deeds, but more like welcome obligations, seem to have brought incoming freshman Sean Brackett to Columbia for next season.

According to Ron Coderre's piece this weekend in the Norwich Bulletin, Head Coach Norries Wilson first learned about Brackett from a local pastor just after Wilson spoke at the funeral of local athlete Phil Larrow... who was Wilson's wife Brenda's uncle.

Speaking at your wife's uncle's funeral is a real mitzvah, and so is pointing out a good athlete and student to someone who might be able to help him get into a good school. As the Talmud says: "One Mitzvah leads to another Mitzvah,"... even in Church, (or should I say "especially in a Church?").



Slingin' Sammy Baugh was Sid Luckman's greatest rival


Luckman's Memory Evoked

With the recent death of NFL great Sammy Baugh, there's a lot being written about Baugh's long-running rivalry with Sid Luckman. One of the more extensive pieces I've seen lately is this one by Gordon White, a former New York Times sports reporter who is now living in North Carolina.

The article doesn't say this exactly, but it's a good argument that modern football really was born at Columbia. Luckman was using the T formation successfully at Columbia and that's why George Halas grabbed him. When the Bears used Luckman in the T formation for the first time in the NFL Championship, Chicago ended up beating Baugh's Redskins, 73-0.

For all the talk about Yale's Walter Camp and his invention of modern football rules, there should be more discussion of Lou Little and Sid Luckman and the gift they gave pro football... which is the nation's No. 1 sport by far much because of its varied T-formation offense.