This is the day when World Cup coaches had to submit to FIFA their preliminary World Cup rosters. That included, of course, U.S. coach Bob Bradley, and he sent along a list of 30 names, 23 of whom will actually go to South Africa next month. The list has generated real interest among U.S. soccer […]

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Colorful words. Beefcake and cheesecake. Interesting. Odd. One is guys with most of their clothes off. The other is girls. But what about cheesecake makes you think of women? Maybe guys can be beefy, but can’t they also be porky? Why not porkcake? But I digress. In this case, we are in the beefcake realm. […]

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I’ve seen a lot of big-league baseball games in person. Maybe 500? No, that sounds low, at my age. Maybe 700. I was never a traveling ball writer, but I covered the Angels for a few years when I went to nearly all their home games, and between drop-in games during my time as a […]

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But, no, this has nothing to do with the Dodgers. At least, according to the Dodgers … and to many Dodgers fans who believe they can separate the club from the quarreling weasels who own the team. (Or is it just Frank who owns the team?) The latest: A judge has ordered Frank McCourt to […]

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To recap … The United Arab Emirates, a collection of seven tribal-based entities on the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula … has two cities that matter. One is Dubai, the New York City of the UAE. The other is Abu Dhabi, the Washington D.C. of the UAE. Dubai has the arts scene, the restaurants, […]

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If you live long enough, and pay some attention to the news and even to people around you … you realize that few of us are completely normal. Actually, 100 percent normality is so rare as to be massively abnormal. Most of us have moments when we make decisions, say things, act out … that […]

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Cinco de Mayo in the United Arab Emirates … well, it’s May 5. The end. The day after May 4. The day before May 6. Cindo de Mayo does not exist as any sort of holiday here because Mexico may as well be on the moon to the overwhelming majority of people who live in […]

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This is Part 1 of this topic. With Part 2 to come … eventually. Once I get around to compiling a list. And I think about it every day. Really, I do. Today, we address the following phenomenon: In a newsroom where everyone speaks English … why are about half of all declarative sentences answered […]

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We interrupt our Abu Dhabi travelogue to strap into the Wayback Machine and check in on Don Markham. For those of you looking for United Arab Emirates material, come back tomorrow. For generic observations about Southern California, same deal. Or maybe the day after. Today, for one day only, we go back to the Inland […]

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Time for a list! I didn’t do a survey on this. This is a hunch sorta thing. Who are the 10 best-known active American athletes in … the United Arab Emirates? Who travels? Who rates? Who stirs interest? Who plays a sport that a country that is mostly Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Filipinos and Britons (in […]

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