Before the Dodgers’ game tonight with the New York Yankees, they had Cristiano Ronaldo of the Real Madrid soccer club throw out the first pitch. As often is the case for non-ballplayers … it did not go well.

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Most of July has represented a busy intersection of soccer teams in the UAE trying to complete their teams and begin training … and the fasting month of Ramadan. As soccer clubs here become increasingly media savvy, more formal opportunities to meet with clubs and players are staged, and this is the time when clubs […]

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The annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held yesterday, in Cooperstown, and the gala event may have been the strangest in the history of that institution. All three of the men who became Hall of Famers … were born in the 19th century. Each has been dead at least 70 years. I had […]

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The time difference between California and the UAE is 11 hours. In the winter, when California comes off daylight savings, the difference is 12 hours. Which means your body clock is turned upside down, when traveling from one to the other. As we did a week ago. I know what time it is, mentally. But […]

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Companies tend to be like living beings — their first impulse is to stay alive. So we can understand how Sauber, the struggling Formula One racing team, came to make a midseason agreement with three Russian firms to get the cash to continue racing. (Rumors had been circulating that Sauber was not paying suppliers or […]

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Landon Donovan has five goals and seven assists in five games so far in the 2013 Gold Cup. He has been the best player in the tournament. He has played all but about 20 minutes in five victories ahead of Sunday’s final. And we still are discussing whether he should 1) be recalled for World […]

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It has been a long, dry spell for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On a couple of levels. The more historical is their inability to win a World Series over the past quarter-century. You have to be at least 30 years old to have even a dim memory of 1988 and Orel Hershiser and “look who’s […]

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This is a sort of coals to Newcastle story. It seems perverse that someone left Dubai, on the edge of one of the world’s hottest deserts, and flew nearly halfway around the world to Death Valley to run in an ultramarathon. You want sand and blinding heat? In the UAE, step outside and you are […]

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OK, so we have a royal baby. Who still doesn’t have a name more than 24 hours after being born. That would be (name here), Prince of Cambridge. So, what should this kid’s name be? Let’s think this through.

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I woke in the middle of the night — like, literally, midnight — in the throes of jet lag. I fired up the laptop, and on the New York Times home page I saw two stories, one above the other. Royal baby born! Ryan Braun suspended for rest of season! Guess which one I read […]

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