To fully understand who Kut is and his love for knishes, we must go back to the very beginning, some 36 years ago. Born and raised in the corn fields of southern Michigan, Kut grew up with a football in one hand and a flag in the other. His parents and teachers were only mildly concerned when he would wear the same football jersey every day. His first word was “Jewball” No one knew what to make of it, but it warmed his parents’ hearts to see him talk at such a young age. The years passed and he began going to school. During recess he could be found running around the playground playing tag, he loved to be “It” (no not from the movie) and would shriek gleefully as he would catch his classmates as they failed miserably to dodge his tags. During gym, he would always choose to play flag football, and would often find himself being picked first over the other children. Kut would have easily made the varsity team, sadly, his school did not participate in organized leagues and so Kut turned to his second passion, knishes. 

He tried all the different brands, he tried frozen, he tried fresh, from all the local bakeries, but none of them could pass his rigorous test. They needed to withstand half a game of football tucked neatly in his pants where it could keep his hands warm during the cold Michigan winters. It took many many years, until he was out of High school, until he found just the right knish. Now that he finished his quest, he could return to his first love.

Studying in Israel, he was recruited to play for PCM. (AKA Mir 2) During his tenor, his team won 2 AFL championships as well as the coveted Kraft Family Trophy. He departed Israel amidst great fanfare and bittersweet tears. Rumor has it that he was recruited by Bill Belichek himself, but Kut declined the offer in order to pursue his studies. He returned to Michigan where he would play weekly 3 on 3 flag football with his friends (and you thought Jewball was rough) It was at this time that one of his friends asked him to try out for the Wayne State University Warriors football team. (True story) But alas, most of the games were played on Shabbos and therefore would be extremely difficult for Kut to participate. As such, Joe (as he was known in college) took most of his electives in the athletic department; basketball, golf, billiards, and tennis and became friends with many of the student athletes who wondered why he didn’t join the team. Joe took advantage of another of his talents and would occasionally write for the university newspaper and tie in sports related activities. (it was a 3-credit class that met for one hour each week, would be stupid not to take it.) 

Life took its course, Kut got married and decided to move to Israel. Before flying off, Kut found himself in Cedarhurst on New Year’s Day, there was a local flag football game and Kut was recruited to play. (this was in 2008, before Jewball made its way to the 5 towns. Kut suited up, was having a decent game until about halfway through the game, something happened, a muscle was pulled, a back was twisted the wrong way and suddenly, walking and even standing straight became very difficult. Kut managed to finish off the game but needed to be helped to his car. With the assistance of a variety of medications, Kut was able to travel to Israel with his wife. (who was not very pleased with the injury) It took about 3 months for the pain to subside. (That and falling down a flight of stone steps, thus knocking back into place whatever was out of whack) To this very day, Kut wakes up almost every day with pain in his back and must stretch for quite some time in order to get moving. To appease his back and his family, Kut took a 5-year hiatus from football. It was a difficult time, to fill this void on Sunday mornings, Kut went back to school for his LMSW. Partially to become more educated, but mostly to figure out what was wrong with him. After much introspection and guarantees to his wife that he won’t get hurt, Kut went searching for a Sunday morning game. By some miracle and a variety of referrals, he found Jewball. 

And so, it was that on February 3, 2013 Kut joined Jewball! He also scored the first touchdown on the opening drive. (A beauty of a pass from Meir) Over the course of the next 6 years, Kut would play the game as much as possible, there were many weeks that the game just didn’t happen, not enough people was the excuse. It was a sad time and Kut could often be found in his backyard tying flags to the trees and then plowing into them at full force. (This quickly turned into a bad idea.) Kut even saw the temporary retirement of Jordan as Comish and DaveO stepping up as the savior.  During this time, Kut shifted from a receiver and shut down corner to an inside position. It was in the fabled season of 2017 when Jewball joined Croton, that Kut discovered his passion and giftedness for playing D-Line and terrorizing opposing lineman and QB’s. But that season ended and there was fear that Jewball would not survive another.

Enter 2018, A new hope arises, some gunslinger from Queens shows up with his motley crew of sidekicks. Jewball has a pulse again. But we’ve seen this before, it’ll last until Croton starts. Miraculously, the season continues to get better, more new talent joins. We see the return of Jewball legends, names that we’ve heard Jordan and Rabin say but just assume they are made up. (“Remember that game where Bulldog and Slimy came from a 431 to 18 deficit and won the game in quadruple overtime?! Man, those were good games!”) But the games continued, and the season rolled on. We managed to absolutely destroy North Woodmere park, our last safe haven, and by some miracle (Named Zezy) we were able to gain control of LHS turf. Kut continues to hone his talents on D-line but also assumes the role of Tight End. He learns the beauty of stiff-arming and that his speed, once thought to be gone, is still buried deep inside. He is overcome with emotion as the Vets finally beat the rooks in that coveted game. To put an emphasis on the season, in the final game, Game 20, which hasn’t happened in many years, Kut had a monster of a game. Sacking 2 different QB’s for a total of 9 sacks! (and a touchdown) (and some pivotal first downs) Kut takes home Jewball for the game. (at least he would have if the Comish didn’t get all worked up and teary eyed over what a great season it was.) 

Rumor has it that Kut has a strict exercise regimen that he will be following during the off season and will be returning even bigger and faster. (Definitely bigger, just a question if it’s fat or muscle.)