I love the World Cup. But I’ve covered it. Four of them, actually,  from Italy 1990 through Japan/Korea of 2002. Grand event. But if we think in terms of “doing something I haven’t done before”, these are the two soccer events I would like to see, in person: 1. The Africa Cup of Nations. 2. […]

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I love this kind of stuff. I’m not completely into numbers, but I do tend to count things. To measure things. Scores stick in my head. Historical dates. (December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. June 18, 1815; Battle of Waterloo.) We have a batch of fun numbers coming up […]

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Funny. I’ve been exposed to so much soccer in the past three years, I might actually go to Galaxy games as a fan, now. Though I would rather get paid to cover them, of course. Anyway, the club recently has been making news pretty much all over the spectrum involving some names well-known in the […]

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I wrote about the BCS championship game for the Monday editions of The National. Keep in mind, probably 90 percent of our readers are unclear on the concept of American football … never mind college football … not to mention the states of Oregon and Alabama. (How many Americans know where Sussex is? Or the […]

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Seattle Seahawks 41, New Orleans Saints 36. Like anyone else who didn’t see the game live (or doesn’t live in Seattle), there was a shock factor when I saw that score. But once the jolt of “what the …?” subsided, my next thought was one word: “Pete!”

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The opening match in the Asian Cup was tonight. Qatar, the host nation, played Uzbekistan. And as I watched Qatar play — and, mind, they’re not very good — I was favorably impressed by about four guys. Two of them were born in South America and another was born in Africa. Which brings us to […]

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Landon Donovan is the 2010 U.S. National Team Player of the Year. At least according to the Futbol de Primera organization, which annually canvasses 200-plus journalists, including me, who vote for their top three players on the national team during the previous year. So of course Landon won it. He deserved it. Those two goals […]

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Doesn’t it seem as if only about two regions in the world produce guys who can score? South America and Africa. The stray European, sure … but if you want a guy to put a ball in a goal, you want a Brazilian or an Argentine or an African, generally. I did a piece today […]

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North America is the only major continent that doesn’t have a really fun continental soccer championship. Probably because the U.S. and Mexico dominate things so thoroughly … well, of course that’s it. Where’s the fun in that? Mexico or the U.S. have won nine of the last 10 championships, with Canada slipping in there in […]

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Actually, I have a batch of resolutions for the new year, but I’m going to mention only the one I might have a chance of achieving: Reading one book per week in 2011. Fifty-two books by the end of the year. Already have one down, and I’m only three days into the year.

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