I Like Him Even More Now

The more I learn about Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, the more I love him. I've written several times before about his antics but a great article in Sports Illustrated shed even more light into his character.



Two things struck me about this article. First of all, Pearl is Jewish. I guess this is reverse racism, but I like anyone who is Jewish, at least a little more than I would like that same person were he or she not Jewish. And he's actually a practicing Jew who invited his whole team to his daughter's Bat Mitzvah. His name used to be Pearlmutter, but his parents shortened it before he was born.

Pearl was raised in Massachusetts but "when he could have joined the other Jewish kids at Brandeis or Boston University, Pearl chose to attend one of the nation's most famous Jesuit schools. 'One reason I went to Boston College was to break down stereotypes," he says. "I wanted people to find out I was Jewish and go, 'You don't look Jewish. You don't act Jewish.' And then for me to be proud to say, 'I am Jewish!' And then to talk about the Old Testament and have conversations about how the Last Supper was a seder. Jesus was a rabbi! Jesus was a Jew! We're brothers!'"

Interestingly enough Step On Me and Master Bates wanted to join the other Jewish kids and Brandeis and Boston University. I also feel that I have tried not to be a Jewish stereotype, but to be proud of being a Jew.

The article covered the audiotape incident that nearly got Pearl blackballed from coaching but not in depth.

But here's where I find a huge similarity between Pearl and me. He says "Don't pay attention to how I'm delivering the message, pay attention to the message." I feel that way a lot. I'm often misunderstood because I'm blunt and obnoxious but if you listened to what I was saying, instead of how I was saying it, you probably wouldn't hate me as much.