Someday, perhaps as early as this fall, USC fans will look back at the Pete Carroll Era and … sigh. Let’s think about this: For most of a decade, USC fans didn’t just hope for a national-championship contender, they expected it.  And they got it. Seven consecutive BCS bowl teams. Seven consecutive No. 4-or-better national […]

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It was the cool of a winter night, and only 10 p.m., so I went for a jog around the neighborhood, and just at the end I witnessed a cricket pick-up game disaster. Three guys in their 20s … I decided they were Pakistani, because of their clothes, but I could be wrong … were […]

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Let’s assume that Landon Donovan will remember this day for a long time. When he made his debut in the English Premier League … and played at Emirates Stadium in north London … during a steady snowstorm … on a day when his match was the only one at 3 p.m. (and, thus, seen by […]

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And not on purpose. Have to say I’ve never seen this before: A mushroom growing in my kitchen. Not in a planter. Not in a pot. Out of the floor. Does that look creepy, or what? That perhaps begins to tell you about the quality of construction here in Abu Dhabi.

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No pressure … but the next 10 weeks could define Landon Donovan on the global stage. Donovan joined Everton of the English Premier League earlier this week, on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, and the ramifications are enormous. For better or worse, unfairly or otherwise, Donovan’s career could turn on how he performs in […]

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So, I stepped outside the Teeny Tiny Apartment© (which Leah has posted some photos of on her Facebook page) … and I was headed to the li’l dumpster that serves as our community trash can … when I was intercepted by a guy in a green-and-reflector-orange jump suit. I mention this for two reasons — […]

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I was walking past Khalifa University, just a block from the apartment. It was the warm-down lap after my jog-slog. Inside the fence that surrounds the schools (they are big on security, here) a dozen Mitsubishi-brand buses were idling. Most of the buses were filled with students. Guys. I decided they were going off to […]

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The Burj Khalifa opened tonight in Dubai. It’s the world’s tallest building, at 828 meters or 2,717 feet. It knocks a building named Taipei 101 down to second place on the tallest building list. Blows it out of the water, actually, by 319 meters. I’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building, or […]

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The emergence of Yemen and Somalia as havens for the recruitment, training and export of terrorists … hammers home a geopolitical reality we in the United Arab Emirates prefer not to dwell upon. We live in a very rough neighborhood.

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If you’re a Lakers fan and you’re not worried about Kobe Bryant … you ought to be. Not because of the way he is performing. Of course not. He’s as good as ever. Three buzzer-beating shots for victories already this season. Which is more than any other team has. A scoring average of 30.6 points […]

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