First and second generation Jewish immigrants could not understand the American fascination with sports. When their children got involved, incomprehension sometimes followed.
Mindy Portnoy recounts:
One of my favorite immigration generation stories is about football, believe it or not, rather than baseball [here one may detect an allusion to Getsl]. Sid Luckman, of Colombia University and Chicago Bears’ fame, in the 1930s and 1940s, had a father who was – what else—a tailor in New York. He rarely got to see his quarterback son play football, but one Sunday the Bears were in New York playing the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Luckman arranged for his parents to have seats on the 50-yard line. For most of the first quarter, things went smoothly. But then on one play, the Bears’ pass protection broke down.
Giant defenders rushed in, and Luckman had to scramble, to dodge the tacklers before they could get to him. As he was running back and forth, trying to avoid these great, big linemen, his father’s voice suddenly called out from the sidelines, “Sidney, let them have the ball. I’ll buy you another one.”