OyChicago blog

After I graduated from Miami of Ohio with a degree in psychology, I began working as a Life Enrichment Coordinator at The Weinberg Community in Deerfield, Illinois. I had just moved to Chicago, and of course, I was looking for a nice Jewish boy. My father kept saying, “I’m sure one of the bubbes will set you up with their grandsons.”

On a daily basis, I would kibbitz with the residents at Gidwitz Place and Friend Center, and they’d say their grandsons were menches. A typical conversation began with, “Oy, do I have a grandson for you!” They each raved about how handsome, smart and tall their grandsons were. I was flattered, but not really drawn to any of these matchmaking efforts.

I established many meaningful relationships with the residents both at Gidwitz Place and Friend Center. But, the relationship I had with Esther was very special. She was a yenta, and we talked everyday. One day, Esther informed me that she had a grandson who would be perfect for me, but unfortunately, he was still a senior in college. To appease her, I told her to let me know when he graduated.

A year passed, thinking Esther had forgotten about making a match, I didn’t expect her to find me and say “My grandson just moved to Chicago, you need to meet him. Take his number.” I was caught off guard but, I thought to myself, what do I have to lose if I contact him?

That evening, I looked him up on Facebook. I could not believe how cute he was. Bubbe was right! I sent him an email, and we talked back and forth for a couple of weeks over email and the phone. Eventually, we decided to meet up in a group of friends. From that first encounter we’ve never been apart.

On October 30, 2009, Danny and I went to visit some friends in Denver and Boulder. Colorado had just had a huge snowstorm so hiking didn’t seem so appealing to me, but Danny insisted we hike up the flat irons. While up the mountain, Danny swung me around and got down on one knee and surprised me with a proposal! It was the most beautiful moment of our lives.

We have found our beshert. We’ll always be grateful to Esther and her special eye that brought us together.

Emily Langendorf, from Urbana, will be graduating this spring with an MSW from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Langendorf and Daniel Mysel plan to marry in the fall in Evanston.

Oy!’s Jeremy Fine, a.k.a The Great Rabbino, caught up with Colt Cabana, Chicago native and Jewish wrestler, to get his picks for this year’s Wrestlemania. Colt has been traveling the country wrestling and performing his comedy. Big thanks and shout out to the funniest man in the wrestling business:

Colt Cabana: Hello all my fellow Heebs. It's me, you're favorite Jewish WWE wrestler of all time, formerly Scotty Goldman, Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana.

Currently I'm traveling around the world as a professional wrestler and semi-professional comedian. I can be seen every Monday night wrestling for  Ring of Honor  (ROH) on HDNet.

This weekend I'm going to be having three giant shows in Phoenix, Arizona. Friday and Saturday will be a great ROH doubleshot and Saturday night I'll be on stage telling wrestling jokes with Mick Foley for Total Extreme Comedy (totalextremecomedy.com). The biggest event of the weekend though, of course, is WWE's WRESTLEMANIA 26.

Jeremy Fine, The Great Rabbino himself, gave me a call. He wanted to know if I could bless all his fine fans with my Wrestlemania 26 picks. I consider it a mitzvah to do it—all I ask is you don't blame me when you lose all your gelt money when I get the picks wrong! Here you go...

WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match
John Morrison & R-Truth vs. The Miz & Big Show
CC: I think this one's easy. Morrison & Truth have kinda just been thrown together. I think they've done a great job on TV lately though trying to tell you that they're a legitimate team, but a strong bet would be SHOWMIZ for the win.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs.Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston
CC: I'd love for it to be my old roomie, Evan Bourne. He's definitely gonna be the highlight of this match in many ways. In my mind it's a toss up between Christian and McIntyre. Since they're pushing Drew as the "star of tomorrow," I'm gonna say Drew McIntyre wins and makes his push as the next WWE champion.

Triple H vs. Sheamus
CC: Sheamus doesn't stand a chance. HHH by a landslide.

Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase
CC: Some interesting ways to think [about]this one. I would hope that Ted DiBiase would get a solid definitive win here and establish himself as the next breakout star. Unfortunately, I've got a feeling Randy Orton beats them both up the whole match and then grabs himself an easy Wrestlemania victory.

WWE Title Match
John Cena vs. Batista
CC: I wanna make a lot of funny jokes about this one, but I won’t. I'm gonna say John Cena stands tall at the end of this one.

World Heavyweight Title Match
Edge vs. Chris Jericho
CC: Edge has really never won the title in a straight up fashion. I think at Wrestlemania 26, Edge gets his first clean championship win. SPEAR!

Career vs. Streak Match
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
CC: I think Undertaker's not quite ready to give his streak up. Shawn will "retire," go vacation in Hawaii, and come back with Marty Jannetty for one last Rockers Reunion.

No Holds Barred Match
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon
CC: Bret with a Sharpshooter.

Street Fight
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
If Mysterio loses, he must join the Straight Edge Society.
CC: I look forward to this one as it's my boy Punk's first high profile Wrestlemania match. Punk's going to win and Mysterio will join the straight edge society.

Those are my picks. Maybe they'll be right on, maybe they'll suck.
Let me know on TWITTER at @DRColtCabana.

Enjoy all of Wrestlemania weekend and if you're out there, stop by either TXC or ROH and say hi.
Thanks
COLT

And Let Us Say...Amen.
-Jeremy Fine