Arts &s Entertainment 'natty SeAttintp c gadtpcettening911eatt/ 3:30 pm • 5:30 pm Mon-Thurs "Our New Assaggi Menu" On The Tube Yiddishe Kop A fast-talking sports maven holds his own on ESPN—and learns the language of his grandparents on the side. BILL CARROLL 30005 ORCHARD LAKE RD. SOUTH OF 141 EE gp. FARMINGTON HILLS 15 °/0 Off 2480932e9999 146 CENTRE ST. NORTHVILLE 248.735.'0101 Any Lunch or Dinner Bill with this ad • expires 5/31/03 Also: CLINTON TOWNSHIP SHELBY TOWNSHIP VW° V of Welding Cbristian, A cborca an d inber Hebraic to rente d. text s de pa,rte piece" t be ng Thomas Beikridgei - Yiz or Reilu 'movi , " V* h ely Seattle Sympony ed A n extrern .fie experience stay listener long kith tbe e concert e Washington Post after ti A 161Rackham Symphony Choir 4 Suzanne Acton, Conductor presents: Yizkor Requiem by Thomas Beveridge Cantor Stephen Dubov, Tenor Alaina Brown, Soprano Kathleen Segar, Mezzo Soprano Special Appearance by Composer Thomas Beveridge Sunday, March 30, 3:00 pm Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church (East Jefferson at St. Antoine) Tickets $15 in advance, $18 at the door Call 313-272-0334 — Credit Cards Accepted 505 S. Lafayette Royal Oak MI 48067 3/14 2003 82 Call Simone at: 248.544.7373 Website: simonevitale.com Email: irdoesimonevitale.com 670180 Special to the Jewish News 0 Max Kellerman comes across as a slick, quick-tongued, gruff-sounding moderator of a fast-paced, no-holds-barred daily sports talk show and commen- tator on the weekly boxing matches. He holds his own in a mainly non- Jewish world of athletes and sports- writers. Behind the scenes, at age 29, he's a "nice Jewish boy" from Manhattan and an ardent student of Yiddish language and Jewish history who was very close to his bubbie and zaydie. He's doing his best to perpetuate the mother language, and wants to make sure Yiddish secular Jewish culture continues to thrive in this country. But he's vociferously verbal when it comes to sports, too. Kellerman is one of the rising stars of TV sports programming who seems to fit in nicely among the dynamic, young Jewish executives who are running cable TV's popular ESPN sports networks. His brash, outspoken style is refreshing, and necessary to keep the interest of remote-control-wielding TV fanatics in the often topsy-turvy world of sports. Kellerman has captured the atten- don of boxing fans for his work as a studio analyst on Friday Night Fights (9:30 p.m. Fridays on ESPN2), ema- nating from the network's headquar- ters in Bristol, Conn. He's also the host of one of the newest shows on ESPN, Around the Horn, a 30- minute program (5 p.m. Mondays- Fridays) that was launched in November. The show features passionate opin- ions, witty comments and some good-natured teasing by sportswrit- ers — and the host — on the day's hot-button sports issues. n television, Blossoming Referee Kellerman seems to call on knowl- edge gained from many years of watching boxing referees for his role as moderator of Around the Horn. He often has to break up verbal exchanges among a panel of four noted sports columnists from news- papers around the country, who are beamed in by satellite from their newsrooms to ESPN's Washington, D.C., studio. Discussing pre-arranged topics, he gives them points on the strength of their remarks, and the points award- ed or deducted have a direct correla- tion' to how much time they get for closing "arguments." He sometimes ends the show with the snappy line: "We're now taking a 23 I/2-hour break." "I guess you could call Around the Horn the Sesame Street or MTV of the modern generation as far as TV show popularity goes," quipped Kellerman, who has received glowing comments from critics and viewers for his work and the show's content. Especially popular among male viewers ages 18-34, Around the Horn has increased ESPN's ratings 43 per- cent over last year in the 5 p.m. time slot. Kellerman, who is single and has a steady girlfriend, maintains apart- ments in both Manhattan and the Washington, D.C., area to keep up his hectic TV pace. But he loves the tumult and excitement, and seemed destined to become a boxing analyst and glib talk-show host based on his back- ground and early career. Devoted To Yiddish Kellerman and his brothers, Sam, Harry and Jack, were raised in the New York area in a secular Jewish atmosphere by their parents, Linda and Henry Kellerman — she's an artist, he's a practicing psychiatrist. But young Max started learning Yiddish and Yiddishkeit from his father's parents, who came to America from Ukraine. "As secular Jews, we had our bar mitzvahs in a hall, not a synagogue,"