Maybe this is a sign that I have been out of the country for too long. Or maybe for long enough. I really don’t care what happens in the National Football League.

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I knew Pat Haden, a little, more than three decades ago. I covered the Los Angeles Rams for four seasons for the San Bernardino Sun, and Haden was in his second season when I got on the beat, in 1977. Haden was great to work with. Bright and accessible and honest. And, of course, a […]

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… out of mind? Presumably scores, even hundreds of print and electronic journalists turned up for the Lakers’ media day, today, many of them interested in Kobe Bryant, above all else. But it would appear as if no one asked him about his long trip to the UAE and back. I would just like to […]

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I hope Kobe Bryant got paid for this. And I am certain he did. He arrived in Dubai on Wednesday and was three hours late for a press conference (plane delayed, apparently, and most every press conference in the UAE starts at least an hour late) at which he talked about healthy living, and staying […]

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One more bite of the apple here … (did you know Brits say “bite of the cherry”?). Some links to interesting post-America’s Cup stories.

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Two weeks ago I pronounced Oracle Team USA dead, in the America’s Cup. Ready for a burial at sea, with Emirates Team New Zealand presiding. I also expressed my dissatisfaction in racing multihull versus monohull boats, and the amount of time America’s Cup contenders spend in court, fighting over this, that or the other. Then […]

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Jorge Fossati has been around. He began coaching soccer teams in 1993, and been employed pretty much nonstop, in a very volatile field, including time in his native Uruguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. When he was hired by Al Ain, that made five countries he had coached in, three here in the Gulf. And […]

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The Los Angeles Lakers open camp for the 2013-14 season on Saturday, with a media day. If Kobe Bryant is there at all … he will be the bleary-eyed guy suffering from jet lag. Why? Because the night before, Kobe will have coached a celebrity team. In Dubai. On the other side of the world, […]

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I may have mentioned this. I am, in theory, an Arsenal fan — if I am a fan of any Premier League team. (Though I could perhaps be talked into Fulham, now that Michael Jackson is leaving the premises.) Anyway, during this long, long time as an Arsenal fan — it’s been at least a […]

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Abu Dhabi? Or Dubai? This is an ongoing debate in the UAE. Which city is preferable/better, and on what levels? To most people who live in Dubai, this is no contest. Theirs is the bustling metropolis with conspicuous consumption and enormous towers. A movable feast. Or a movable party, anyway. However, for many of us […]

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