Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com Sports, journalism and sports journalism Wed, 16 May 2012 22:30:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en The Demise of a Baseball Dope http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-demise-of-a-baseball-dope/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-demise-of-a-baseball-dope/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 22:30:45 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-demise-of-a-baseball-dope/ The Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher yesterday.

Lots of “oh, what a great guy” stuff out there, particularly from those in the sports journalism community.

And I say … bosh!

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-demise-of-a-baseball-dope/feed/ The Illegally Parked Submarine http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-illegally-parked-submarine/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-illegally-parked-submarine/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 19:32:20 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-illegally-parked-submarine/ Another one of those “only in the UAE” stories. Well, maybe in Qatar. Or Bahrain. But pretty much only here in the Gulf, where many regular Joes have more cash than common sense.

A Turkish businessman fell afoul of the law in Dubai (perhaps still the world capital of conspicuous consumption) … because he abandoned his submarine on a public beach.

No, really.

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-illegally-parked-submarine/feed/ Recycling: Lost in Translation http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/recycling-lost-in-translation/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/recycling-lost-in-translation/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 17:27:41 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/recycling-lost-in-translation/ Recycling is an idea the UAE is just now getting serious about.

Even now, nearly nothing is recycled. Not even the items that could be fairly easily separated out, or that have some value. Like aluminum cans. Newspapers.

Here in Abu Dhabi, they have distributed new, rolling trash cans in several neighborhood, with the idea of residents separating basic trash from recyclable items.

Pretty sure it isn’t really working out, for one really basic reason:

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/recycling-lost-in-translation/feed/ Manchester City and Abu Dhabi http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/manchester-city-and-abu-dhabi/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/manchester-city-and-abu-dhabi/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 15:40:38 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/manchester-city-and-abu-dhabi/ Is this well-known in the U.S.? I tend to think it is not.

The Manchester City football team that plays in the English Premier League … that just won the English Premier League … is owned by an Abu Dhabi sheikh, Mansour bin Zayed.

So when City was trying to nail down the Premier League championship today, ahead of Manchester United, it was a very, very big deal in the newsroom of The National, as well as in many quarters of the emirate, and even the UAE.

Such a big deal that the sports department was cheering.

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/manchester-city-and-abu-dhabi/feed/ How to Kill Time on the Pitch http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/how-to-kill-time-on-the-pitch/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/how-to-kill-time-on-the-pitch/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 14:20:09 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/how-to-kill-time-on-the-pitch/ No one can criticize UAE soccer players for a lack of imagination.

A year ago, the late Theyab Awana scored what must be the only back-heel penalty kick in an international game — a friendly with Lebanon. The audacity of the moment was jaw-dropping. (I was there and didn’t believe it even as I saw it, live.)

And last month, Ali Kasheif, perhaps the best goalkeeper in the country, came up with a particularly ingenious way to kill time … so ingenious it makes me wonder why I’d never heard of it before.

To wit:

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/how-to-kill-time-on-the-pitch/feed/ Lakers-Nuggets, and a Predictable Game 7 http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/lakers-nuggets-and-a-predictable-game-7/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/lakers-nuggets-and-a-predictable-game-7/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 14:27:52 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/lakers-nuggets-and-a-predictable-game-7/ I watch/cover a lot of sports, but I don’t often have a strong opinion on how an event will turn out, before the fact.

This is an exception.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets meet in Game 7 of their first-round NBA playoffs series tomorrow night, and I want to get on record with this — because I feel very strongly about it.

How will it turn out?

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/lakers-nuggets-and-a-predictable-game-7/feed/ Silent Spring http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/silent-spring/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/silent-spring/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 09:10:47 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/silent-spring/ A condition of living in a place with a long and oppressive summer … is how quiet things go.

We don’t always notice things that are not there. And what happens in the UAE is something like a literal silent spring (as opposed to the book of the same name). Though you don’t notice right off.

Eventually, you walk outside one day in April or May … and you realize that you don’t hear another human being. Not a whistle or a snatch of conversation. Not a giggle or a shout.

Why would that be?

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/silent-spring/feed/ On the Road Again http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/on-the-road-again/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/on-the-road-again/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 12:07:02 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/on-the-road-again/ I have driven an automobile more than 1,000 kilometers — more than 620 miles — in four days. Making it the most intense siege of driving inflicted on me since leaving California more than 2.5 years ago.

And the verdict?

I did not like it. At all.

I have decided that, like many other activities, commuting from behind the wheel of a motor vehicle becomes more taxing, more draining, the older you are.

My trips:

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/on-the-road-again/feed/ Water, Water Everywhere — For Now http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/water-water-everywhere/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/water-water-everywhere/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 11:26:50 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/water-water-everywhere/ To live and work in the UAE is to believe water is plentiful. A fair amount of green, especially in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Fountains. Plenty of the stuff streaming out of our taps.

Which is madness, because the UAE is on the edge of one of the driest deserts in the world, and the annual rainfall — just about anywhere in the Gulf region — is about 2 inches per year. Maybe.

Southern California is, by comparison, practically a swamp, with its 15 or 16 inches of rain annually.

Low-flow showers, toilets, dishwashers … essentially unknown here. And the UAE continues to try to raise its own food stuffs despite the staggering amounts of water needed to grow anything here. Some suggest that 80 percent of the country’s water goes to the puny agriculture sector.

The National has run numerous stories about the water profligacy coming to an end, and the dangers if it does not.

Some sobering statistics:

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]]> http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/water-water-everywhere/feed/ The Decline and Fall of Sharjah FC http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-sharjah-fc/ http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-sharjah-fc/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 08:13:14 +0000 Paul Oberjuerge http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-sharjah-fc/ Sharjah FC is one of the UAE’s most storied soccer franchises.

The club won the first domestic title in the history of the UAE, in the pre-history of 1974, and added four more after. They also have won eight President’s Cups, the second-biggest prize in domestic football, and those eight are the biggest total among UAE clubs.

And after three-plus decades of mattering — a lot — in local football, Sharjah is imploding this season, and may even be relegated.

Trying to think of a U.S. analogy for this. OK, how about: UCLA finishing last in the Pac-12 basketball standings? Or Alabama going 1-10 in football, deciding to de-emphasize the game and playing in Division II?

That’s the level of unreality that surrounds Sharjah, which has won two of its first 20 league matches and won zero of its 10 league cup matches.

I went to see them the previous night, because if things broke wrong — and pretty much everything has this season — they would be relegated with two games left in the season.

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