Obviously, if this post is a shameless plug for The God Blog, that means that it is a shameless plug for young master Brad A. Greenberg.
You may recall that Brad vanished from GetReligion for quite some time at the end of the spring academic semester as he was crushed under an avalanche of law text books (again), during that whole dreaded First Year of Law School thing. However, while he was missing from this blog, he kept up his work with the award-winning weblog that he founded over at The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles -- that would be The God Blog.
Well, Greenberg went and did it again -- with The God Blog once again winning the best weblog by an individual writer award from the Los Angeles Press Club. Saith the judges comments blurb:
Calling The God Blog a "thoughtful look at religion and its pervasiveness ..." is only part of the story. Words like funny, insightful and unafraid should also be used to describe this effort that, through its humor, allows us to appreciate our differences while getting a good chuckle. Well done.
Greenberg (who was too shy to write this shameless plug, but contributed background info) was recognized for two days of blogging -- click here for that span -- that focused on some of his usual subjects, as in evangelical atheists, anti-Shylock laws, Carrie Prejean, academic comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and, of course, Jews in professional basketball.
Concerning that last item, click herefor a quick sample:
Every time I come home from playing basketball, I lament my physical stature. Short, skinny shooters -- that's what we consider ourselves: shooters -- can only get so far; even J.J. Redick is 6'4."
"This is ridiculous. Jews can't play basketball." Oh, the wisdom of Eric Cartman. And that look on Kyle's face? I know it. But what if there was an era when Jews dominated basketball, when the chosen game strategy was known as Jewball, when a guy who was only 5'4," barely taller than Mugsy Bogues ... and half a foot shorter than me, could be such an overwhelming force that he would be considered one of the greatest players in the game?
The key is that, when he is out on his own, young master Brad gets to just fire at will -- which is lots of fun. Meanwhile, it is great that he can also screw his thinking cap down tight and focus on the mechanics of journalism and the Godbeat, which is what we do here at GetReligion. I, for one, am glad that he gets to do both, in large part because he gets to keep both sides of his journalism brain going at the same time. Let's hope there continues to be enough room in that skull for all of that digital ink as well as (yawn) the fine details of law school.
After all, as actress Wendie Malick said when presenting the award (Brad says this quote is close to accurate):
Nothing has a bigger impact on our lives, but covering religion often doesn't get a lot of respect. Well, tonight it is getting some much-deserved respect.
Amen. Carry on.