Amar'e Stoudemire Lights the Menorah? (and other weekly questions)

O.J. Simpson is still not a Jew, but if the newest New York Knick star, Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire, has his way, he may be considered for Adam Sandler's next "Hanukkah Song". Stoudemire says that he may have some Jewish roots on his mother's side and wants to find out more about them.  If you follow Amar'e on Twitter, you may have seen some odd tweets recently about his pilgrimage to Israel and his search for his "Hebrew" roots.We may have to change his Twitter handle from "Amareisreal" to "AmareIsrael", especially considering this interview he filmed with an Israeli news station (H/T Ian):



So what is this all about? Well if it was just a ploy to make himself more marketable in New York, it's certainly working. People have been talking about his Israeli journey. But as Alan Hahn wrote for Newsday (mobile version linked to avoid pay wall), "this is a man who is a deep thinker and is extremely curious about life beyond the typical bubble an NBA player prefers to remain in; the comfort zone."

I think it's awesome that Amar'e is taking this journey and don't really care his rationale behind it. If it's a passing fad, so be it. But if he's really serious about studying the Jewish religion, learning Hebrew and observing the holidays, I have to say בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא to the newest--and perhaps most unlikely--member of the tribe in New York.

A few other questions:

• Why is autotuning the news so goddamn funny? (Deadspin)
• Why are Kenny Powers and Jeremy Shockey working out together? (Mediabistro)
• Why are Steve Carrell and Zach Galifianakis so angry at each other? (OfficeTally)
• And can we get some more "Even Stevphen"? (Huffington Post)