From matzo balls to footballs, two Jewish brothers recall their journey to the NFL By Victor Wishna
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (JTA) – At 6-foot-6 and 340 pounds, veteran NFL
offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz isn’t just a force of nature, but a
product of good ol’ Jewish nurture.
“My size comes from a childhood that included an excess of matzo ball
soup, latkes, and tons of white rice,” the 30-year-old jokes. “But of
course my brother’s similar physique suggests that genetics had plenty
to do with it.”
That would be his (only relatively) little brother, Mitch, 27, the
Kansas City Chiefs’ newest starting right tackle, who stands 6-foot-5
and weighs in at 320 pounds.
As it happens, Geoff and Mitch Schwartz aren’t the first pair of
Jewish brothers to play in the National Football League — they’re just
the first to do so since 1923.
“Once we heard the stat, we realized just how rare this really is,”
said Mitch, standing at the edge of the Chief’s indoor practice field
after morning drills. “So we both thought it was important to share
our story — for Jewish kids, and in general, about how we both wound
up where we are.”
Indeed, the story of how two nice Jewish boys grew up to be a couple
of “hogs” (an endearing and decidedly non-kosher nickname for
offensive linemen) could fill a book.
Now it does.
The cover of “Eat My Schwartz,” by Geoff and Mitch Schwartz. (Courtesy
St. Martin’s Press)
“Eat My Schwartz: Our Story of NFL Football, Food, Family, and Faith”
lands in stores and online September 6. Co-written by the brothers,
with novelist and humorist Seth Kaufman, it’s a lighthearted memoir
about all the topics in the subtitle and how often they intersect.
Sports fans will find plenty of insider info on the NFL and
major-college football (Geoff and Mitch played for Pac-12 contenders
Oregon and Cal, respectively). But from the opening pages — a scene of
the brothers frying up latkes on the first night of Hanukkah,
following their bubbe’s recipe — their Jewishness is front and center.
“The people who know us know that’s a big part of our identity, but I
think it was important to share as much as possible in the book,”
Geoff Schwartz told JTA from Detroit, where he spent the preseason as
a member of the Lions. “I mean, my whole family — we’re proud to be
Jewish and to be raised in the tradition and going to temple.”
Growing up in West Los Angeles — and attending Adat Shalom, a
Conservative congregation — the brothers were always involved in
sports. But neither started playing football until high school, in
part because their parents didn’t want practices and games to
interfere too much with Hebrew school.
In the book, the brothers quote their mother, attorney Olivia Goodkin,
on her eventual acceptance of her sons’ football fate, given that each
stood well over six feet tall at his bar mitzvah.“‘I started out
worrying that they were going to get hurt — but then I realized it was
the other players I should be worrying about,” she said. “‘They were
like trucks hitting small cars. And I started to kind of feel like
maybe this was their destiny.’”
As for their father, Lee Schwartz, a business consultant: “I just
kvell,” he told Los Angeles’s Jewish Journal in 2012, on the eve of
that year’s NFL Draft, in which Mitch would join his brother in the
league when the Cleveland Browns took him early in the second round.
“It’s a surreal experience to see my kids on the field, on TV.”
Mitch credits his (slightly) bigger brother for paving his way on the
field, in the kitchen and in life. Geoff was a seventh-round pick in
2008, and he’s a study of resilience: He’s endured multiple injuries
and various ups and downs, from getting relegated to a practice squad,
to getting cut, to getting signed to a big contract, to getting
released again just before this season starts.
Meanwhile, after the Browns selected him with the 37th overall pick,
Mitch started every game over four seasons in Cleveland. This spring,
free agency landed him a five-year, $33-million deal with the Chiefs,
making him one of the highest-paid right tackles in the league.
Whether tackling football, their faith or food, the Schwartzes write
with the interested but uninitiated in mind — readers will learn the
finer points of proper blocking in one chapter, find a primer on the
lunar Hebrew calendar in the next. And if you’re hungry, just refer to
the appendix of family recipes for step-by-step instructions on
applying the perfect schmear (“Don’t overdo it; too much cream cheese
will melt and run on a just-toasted bagel”).
The conversational memoir flows from one milestone to the next —
personal, professional or often both. There’s October 27, 2013: “The
Schwartz Bowl,” the brothers’ first and so far only on-field meeting
when Geoff, then with the Chiefs, faced Mitch and the Browns in Kansas
City. Then there is the weekend in 2014 when two life-changing moments
coincided: Geoff’s wedding — a traditional Jewish affair on the beach
at Santa Monica — happened at the height of NFL free agency frenzy.
Only hours after signing his ketubah, Geoff would sign the largest
contract of his career.
The brothers also grapple with some of the compromises they’ve had to
make in pursuit of their careers. “I’m very clear that when I have to,
I choose football over the [high] holidays,” Geoff said. “Some people
have a hard time with that concept. I don’t.”
But he does fast on Yom Kippur whenever possible, an act of atonement
to which he devotes several paragraphs in the book. “Toward the end of
a fast I usually feel great, like I’ve achieved something,” he writes.
“I feel lighter, not physically, but mentally. I’ve endured, and I
feel energized and clear.”
In the book, Mitch recalls a visit he made in the first weeks of his
rookie year to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. He
encountered a group of Orthodox teens who, upon learning he was a
Jewish football player, started peppering him with questions and
begging for autographs. “I think it takes experiences like that to
make you realize just how much bigger it is than you think it is,” he
said of being one of a handful of Jewish players in the NFL.
Of course, the brothers understand the special appeal they have to
Jewish fans — after all, they’re Jewish fans themselves. The book
traces their own family’s fascination with Jews in sports, from Hank
Greenberg and Sandy Koufax to Mark Spitz and Dolph Schayes.
Mitch delves into the lesser-known history of brothers Ralph and
Arnold Horween, the Harvard All-Americans and stars of the Chicago
Cardinals backfield, in whose NFL footsteps the Schwartzes eventually
followed. He learned that the Horweens actually played under an
assumed name — McMahon — which raises questions as to whether they
were guarding against anti-Semitism in football, or perhaps feared
disapproval from other Jews for playing football.
Though Geoff recounts a few blatantly anti-Semitic comments, many
players they meet simply don’t understand, or misunderstand, what it
means to be Jewish, he said. “People think it’s more complicated than
it really is,” Geoff explained. “So we let them know how
not-complicated it is.”
Geoff, left, and Mitch Schwartz at synagogue. (John Solano)
When trying to explain their traditions to teammates who might have
“never been around a Jew before,” they find that food — like latkes
and matzo balls — can be a good access point, Mitch said, “especially
for linemen.”
Part of the motivation for the writing the book, according to Geoff,
is for the brothers to, well, start writing their own next chapters.
“You don’t know how long you’re going to play — certainly not
forever,” he said shortly before the latest cut. “And there’s a lot we
want to do after football.”
For Geoff, that could be a career in media or writing — this book is
only his latest foray in communications. He co-hosts his own podcast,
“Block ’Em Up,” and this summer guest-wrote the popular “Monday
Morning Quarterback” column on SI.com that’s usually penned by
National Sportswriter of the Year Peter King.
Yet, the ultimate ambition is for the Schwartz brothers is to finally
team up — as co-hosts of their own cooking show.
“Cooking has become a creative outlet for both of us, something we
enjoy exploring and experimenting with. We love the improvisational
element of cooking, and the social element, too,” Geoff writes. “Food,
which is so important to us as athletes — it fuels our work — provides
the forum for us to create meals that look good and taste fantastic.”
The brothers already prepped a “sizzle reel” of them interviewing a
Beverly Hills chef and then whipping up some saffron seafood risotto
at home. The book details early talks with TV execs — it’s unclear
whether the Food Network or the NFL Network were more interested — but
“we’re definitely still working on it,” Geoff confirmed.
Two Jewish brothers in the NFL makes for a great story. But two Jewish
brothers in the NFL with their own cooking show? That’s never happened
before.http://www.jta.org/2016/09/01/life-religion/from-matzo-balls-to-footballs-two-jewish-brothers-recall-their-journey-to-the-nfl
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