When Jason Dufner shot a 63 in the second round of the PGA Championship, which we over here in the UAE follow with some interest, given that parts of this country look like Palm Springs with a shoreline … I looked at the photos of the guy and tried to remember why he seemed familiar. […]

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On June 21, the Dodgers lost 5-2 to the San Diego Padres to fall to 30-42, last in the National League West and 9.5 games out of first place. Clayton Kershaw had been roughed up a little, and the Dodgers hitters didn’t get much going against the parade of relievers the Padres used that day […]

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It is a rough time of year for television. U.S. or foreign, back in the States or the astonishingly varied (and multicultural) offerings on cable, here in the UAE. Re-runs of bad TV, mostly. So, we have been buying movies online from iTunes. Two new releases purchased, in recent days … both of them with […]

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Last week, a letter arrived at the offices of Al Ain club, here in the UAE. It contained an invitation, extended by the English Premier League club Arsenal, to Omar Abdulrahman, by consensus the best soccer player in the country, to join the London club for a one-week trial. Not long ago — maybe even […]

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A kid from Iran this week won 1 million dirhams — or $272,000 — for playing video games. Maybe that will make his mother back off with all those “and who will pay you to play video games?” complaints. Turns out, the government here in the UAE will pay him — for winning a big […]

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A few years ago, we splurged on the slightly slicker version of the cable TV package. The one with all the Al Jazeera sports stations and, more important, the one with three ESPN stations. Yes, here in Abu Dhabi. ESPN, ESPN America and ESPN Classic. Those three were the primary lifeline, in the UAE, back […]

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From a blog entry I wrote for The National … (I will return at the end of the item.) The US television network NBC has purchased the rights to air the English Premier League in the American market, and has turned to the new and fictional Tottenham Hotspur coach Ted Lasso to help explain “football” […]

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We came to Abu Dhabi, almost four years ago, with four bags. Two of them of some size. Seems fair; we were coming here to live. But right this moment … we must have eight bags. Accrued over time. Not here. But in Europe and the U.S. And they seem to be taking over the […]

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No, this is not about taking that civil engineering degree overseas. Still thinking about the Clint Dempsey move from Tottenham to the Seattle Sounders. Giving up a very prominent club for one hardly known inside the U.S. — even if the Sounders have great fans. So, mulling this a bit more, and I decided to […]

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This is a story that probably has lots of states-side soccer fans wondering, “What the hell?” Clint Dempsey, Tottenham Hotspur forward, maybe not their first choice to lead the line (as the Brits say), but a solid player who would get a lot of time again this season … giving up the world’s greatest league […]

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