Reprinted from the article "Openly bisexual Jewish-American basketball player tries out for Maccabi Haif" in the English-language edition of the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz by Oren Kessler published on August 31st 2008

Maccabi Haifa is reportedly eyeing Jewish-American forward Zach Puchtel, who came out as bisexual while playing for Harvard University last year.

The 24-year-old transferred later in the season to the University of Minnesota, where he averaged 2.3 points and 3.2 rebounds a game. Last week, Puchtel attended a training camp in Miami run by Maccabi owner Jeff Rosen, and the team's management expressed satisfaction with the American's performance.

Puchtel, who has told U.S. media he also dreams of a career playing football in the NFL, is reportedly examining the possibility of obtaining an Israeli passport to play for Maccabi.

The 6-foot-6 Jewish-American forward played both football and basketball in high school and was originally recruited to Harvard to play tight end for the Crimson football team. After leaving football after his freshman year, he transferred to Minnesota where he won a walk-on spot on the basketball team.

If Puchtel does play in Israel, the former Big 10 player of the week will surely become a media sensation, as the first-ever openly bisexual player in Israeli sports history.

In a post on his blog "The Search", Puchtel wrote "I am sexually attracted to men and women, and I enjoy being with women in intimate relationships. I think human beings are beautiful, and I try not to differentiate due to sex, race or any other minute detail. We are all humans, we are more than 99.9% similar in every way, and we all share this life together."