Don’t Hate the Player

This week on Unorthodox, El Al helps herd biblical sheep to Israel, and we call the Jewish math teacher and unconventional sperm donor who says he’s sired more than 20 children.

Our Jewish guest is Matthew Futterman, senior special writer for sports at The Wall Street Journal and author of the newly published book Players: The Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries Who Fought To Create a Revolution. He tells us how NFL quarterbacks used to sell real estate in the off-season to support themselves, plus what he’s looking forward to at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio and why water polo is an underrated Olympic sport.

Our Gentile of the Week is longtime book editor Ann Patty, whose memoir, Living With a Dead Language: My Romance With Latin, tells the story of how she decided to learn Latin after leaving the publishing industry. She tells us about the Vassar students she met in her introductory Latin class four years ago and the weeklong Latin camp she’s attending this summer.

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Unorthodox is a smart, fresh, fun weekly take on Jewish news and culture hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.