Hurrah. The Dodgers have moved back into a tie for first place with the Arizona Diamondbacks atop the National League West, and now it’s clear they could win the division and make the playoffs. Meaning the urge to “do something” to make an imperfect team better … will be profound. Get another hitter. Find a […]

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I was chatting a few weeks ago with Fernando Lozano, an economics professor at Pomona College — and huge soccer fan — when the Mexico City native said an interesting thing: “The first big Mexican-American star for the U.S. soccer team will be huge. Huge. There hasn’t been one. But when there is … “He […]

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Ran across this story just now, and it speaks to some of the discussion that came after an item, farther down on this blog, on Landon Donovan and the U.S. team and the Beijing Olympics. A point of contention among those who commented was … do club teams have to allow their players to go […]

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It was one of those classic “too good to be true” stories. It involved the Clippers. So of course it was. Too good to be true. A week after come to terms with Baron Davis, adding a blue-chip point guard to the Clippers lineup, the team apparently has lost its best interior player, Elton Brand, […]

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I saw some of these in person. Which means I’d like to see them again. The others, I’d like to watch for the first time. What prompted this line of thinking was hearing from the Dave Brett guy (davebrett.com) who has the huge library of U.S.-related soccer tapes/DVDs. I was looking at his list … […]

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This barking hound, the first outfielder I took in our fantasy league draft … with the 54th (!) pick overall … probably will suddenly find his stroke now? Why? Because I just dumped Andruw Jones off my team. So he can continue to screw with my mind … by going on a homer binge.

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Maybe soccer wonks already know about this guy and his site. I found out just the other day, when he introduced himself via e-mail, and I’m actually quite excited about it. This guy Dave Brett (find his site here) has collected hundreds (thousands?) of recordings from matches pertaining, in the main, to U.S. soccer. Both […]

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Not just name-dropping here. Trying to establish something vaguely resembling tennis credentials. A lifetime ago, back when Gannett News Service, and its sports boss, Jerry Langdon, were ambitious and had money to spend … I got help with expenses for the 1985 tournament, and even more help in 1986. I had a local-local reason for […]

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Rafael Nadal just defeated Roger Federer in the longest championship match in Wimbledon history, and it had the feel of a torch being passed. From the former tennis king to the new one. Nadal has been whittling away at Federer’s supremacy, beating him now and then … to beating him regularly on clay … and […]

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What’s the over-under here for Nomar Garciaparra’s body exploding? I say three games. Sunday, that is, if he starts all three in San Francisco. I don’t think he gets through Sunday without tearing/ripping/breaking/snapping something in one of his legs. The poor guy, who is 34 going on 54, has been going on the DL every […]

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