I thought about this again while on the tour bus working its way through Helsinki, capital of Finland. Among the sights pointed out were three major theaters, the Finlandia concert hall, a building for the Finnish national opera and another for the Helsinki music center. And along the way the narrator recited a list of […]

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A few days back I posted an entry about how I doubt I will be able to cheer for the U.S. national team at the coming World Cup, because I have developed an animus towards Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach who dumped Landon Donovan. That provoked some reaction, some of it more than a bit tart. “We don’t […]

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A year ago, a couple of Harvard kids decided to visit all 30 major league ballparks in 30 days. By driving from one city to the next — to the next and next and next. It made for the road trip from hell. The sort of trip better as an amusing concept than a punishing […]

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I like to think I am good with geography. I have studied maps and globes since childhood. For fun. At this moment, I own three globes, here in Abu Dhabi, two of them about five inches wide, the third about 10. One of the little ones, which is quite nice despite its size, sits on […]

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This has nothing to do with Spain. Or Germany. Or Brazil. Or any of the global soccer powers. This is about the United Arab Emirates which, until tonight, had the longest unbeaten streak in international soccer. Yes, the UAE, which draws its national team from a mere 1 million citizens. (The other 7 million of […]

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Landon Donovan had not scored a goal in Major League Soccer this season. Which was a part of the cover given to Jurgen Klinsmann when he tossed Landon off the U.S. national team’s World Cup squad. Landon rejoined the Galaxy, was in the lineup for the home match with Philadelphia last night, and what happened?

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In the wake of Jurgen Klinsmann‘s cavalier treatment of Landon Donovan, I have arrived at a crisis point. Do I support the team Klinsmann will coach at Brazil 2014? Or do I withhold my love until he is gone? I am leaning towards the latter.

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I will be writing more about Landon Donovan and Jurgen Klinsmann, and his monstrous remake of the U.S. team but, meantime, here are a couple of videos you might enjoy. The first is Andres Cantor’s call of Donovan’s goal in the waning minutes of the game with Algeria at South Africa 2010, the one that […]

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It wasn’t right. It wasn’t smart. But anyone who says they didn’t see this coming had not been paying attention. Landon Donovan, booted from the U.S. national team. He will not play in the 2014 World Cup … and the average American fan is aghast. Yes, this is the Landon Donovan who is the leading […]

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Each time we land back in Abu Dhabi, it’s like discovering a new international airport in the midst of a tear-down/build-up. We have an idea of what it looked like when we first arrived — one sort of antique-looking terminal, an Arabesque style, built in the round, with about a dozen gates. That was enough […]

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