You’re heard the expression “cover-your-eyes awful” or something near to that? I understood the concept. I had never lived it. Until tonight … while watching the movie starring (and written by and directed by) Simon Helberg — Wolowitz, of TV’s successful Big Bang Theory. About halfway through We’ll Never Have Paris, I literally was covering […]

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I love the Asian Cup. Such a big continent. So many cultures. So many stories. Like this one: About how Iranian soccer players have been told not to allow female fans to take “selfies” with them in Australia — or face the consequences.

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Rain here produces a reaction rather like snow does in Southern California. “Oh, cool! Come over and look at this! Wow! … Hey, wait. … This is not comfortable to be walking around in. I don’t have the right clothes. And it might even be dangerous to drive in …” It rained real rain today […]

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The things you learn by living in a place. Eventually. Until today, I had not noticed that “praying for rain” is a Muslim thing. But why wouldn’t it be?

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The more a person pokes around Asian Cup history — and the 2015 version of the event is ongoing — the more curious it gets. Lots of political interruptions and upheaval among various states. Sounds like it is time for another list. Herewith, 10 curious facts concerning Asia’s quadrennial soccer competition:

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Talking Abu Dhabi the emirate, now. The big city has the same name as the emirate, but the emirate has one other major population center … and that is Al Ain. Al Ain is perhaps best known, in the region, as the home of the UAE’s most decorated soccer team. Eleven league championships, one Asian […]

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This is a big pat on the back, a career “attaboy”, for Landon Donovan, newly retired soccer player who spent nearly all of his career in Major League Soccer. The league’s Most Valuable Player award will henceforth be known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award, it was announced by the MLS today. (Follow the link […]

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I was in China’s capital for about three weeks in 2008, before and after the Olympics, and I was deeply impressed by how awful the air was. The sun was, as I wrote back then: “a pale rumor in leaden skies.” Like nothing I had ever seen in Los Angeles, where I spent my first […]

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First, the irony. World soccer governing body Fifa won’t tell you how its two-dozen executive committee members voted after they hand out the World Cup … But Fifa gives us chapter and verse on how the voting goes for the Ballon d’Or, the player-of-the-year award. Which Cristiano Ronaldo won tonight, as he should have, for […]

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I am still ticked off at ESPN. They had a fairly significant presence in the Middle East and Europe, and they just quit on us. Gave up. Pulled the plug on July 31, 2013. And as SportsCenter went dark, we lost the most convenient access to baseball, the NFL, college basketball and, crucially, college football. […]

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