I missed the Super Bowl parade in Boston on Wednesday - way too much work to do on the day I was returning back to Israel. But here's a brief highlight film.
Let's go to the videotape.
By the way, appearances to the contrary, Wednesday was the warmest day of the entire time I was in Boston this trip.
And yes, I did manage to get a Super Bowl Champions T-Shirt (although the kiddie sizes weren't available yet - that will wait for next trip).
Participants on the trip say Brady was visibly
moved by what he saw and experienced. Shrage remembers a Chabad rabbi
who was close with Myra leading the group’s Friday night dinner.
“Everyone started to dance, and Tom soon joined in. To see Tom Brady
dancing in a circle with us, singing with us, that was really special.”
“I think he was enormously moved.”
The Krafts took Brady to an IDF infantry base
as well. Boston-born Netzach Yehuda battalion soldier Avi Sandler was in
basic training in the Jordan Valley. He had just completed a week of
field exercises and a forced march back to his base.
He was told to put on his beret and report to the Deputy Company Commander’s office.
“I was nervous, as at that point one only went
to his office if he was in trouble,” said Sandler.
“As I entered the
office and saluted, I saw two other soldiers with American backgrounds
already seated. We were told that a group of important Americans will be
visiting the base tomorrow and that we were chosen to attend as
representatives.”
Fellow soldier Label Garelik was sitting in
his room when his sergeant came in, and told him that there were some
Americans visiting who wanted to speak to soldiers who had moved to
Israel from the US.
“Some Robert Kraft or something.”
The next morning, the soldiers were bused to the firing range, where a weapons demonstration was prepared for the visitors.
“Quietly, on the side, my friend says, ‘Avi,
isn’t that Tom Brady?'” Sandler recalled. “Other than Mr. Kraft, we had
no clue who was visiting. I responded, ‘It looks like him but what would
he be doing here?'”
“‘We quickly turned to Brady and asked, ‘Are you Tom Brady?'”
“‘Yes,’ he responded. Our mouths dropped.”
One of the soldiers asked Brady if he wanted to play football with them.
“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” Brady joked.
The soldiers gave a demonstration of the
various weapons lined up at the range. Brady exclaimed “Damn!” as the
machines gun were firing.
The Patriots quarterback even took some target
practice at the base’s shooting range. “I was worried about the
recoil,” Shrage recalled. “We certainly didn’t need Brady hurting his
throwing shoulder shooting a rifle.”
Other New Englanders were given the opportunity to meet Brady at the Israel Museum at a Saturday night dinner.
Read it all. So whom are you rooting for today? GO PATS!
For which football team should fiscal conservatives root on Super Sunday
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
I'm still in Boston and tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, I'm invited to a Super Bowl party, and you can guess the team for which I am rooting. Yes, of course, it's Israel's football team, the New England Patriots.
But here's an aspect I never really thought about: For which team should you be rooting if you're a fiscal conservative?
Let's go to the videotape.
Yet another reason to like Bob Kraft.... And oh, yes, another 14 inches of snow now forecast for tomorrow night into Monday....
As many of you already know, I'm a big Patriots fan, so I hope you'll forgive me if I share this Saturday Night Live skit from last night regarding Deflategate (if you don't know what Deflategate is, you can go crawl back under your rock now).
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
