Thing about surveys, they can be interpreted in lots of directions. Including one released last week ranking 157 countries of the world on the basis of “happiness.” Denmark is No. 1, sad Burundi of Africa is last. The Reuters story, linked above, seemed keen to fixate on the United States ranking 13th — which actually […]

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If you are interested in brand-name entertainment in this part of southern France you pretty much have to go to Montpellier, the region’s big-ish (270,000 people) city. For example, want to see a touring group from the Cirque du Soleil acrobatics/circus company? Montpellier is for you. One Cirque group played the city this weekend, bringing […]

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Most of us know almost nothing about anything. We get things wrong all the time. We jump to conclusions. We get facts mixed up. We hear it wrong in the first place. But compared to professional weather forecasters, we are all prophets inspired by Providence. In theory, we long ago entered an age in which […]

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With just more than three-and-a-half minutes to play in their NCAA West Regional tournament game today, Cal State Bakersfield was inbounding the ball in a game against Oklahoma that it trailed only 69-65. That would be Big-Dance-First-Timers Bakersfield. That would be In-D2-a-Decade-Ago Bakersfield. A team with one starter taller than 6-foot-4. The ball was inbounded […]

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Just the other day I was thinking about how remarkable it is that nation states that don’t like each other often manage to go on playing soccer matches. I was thinking in particular of the Asian Champions League, which this year has three groups that include clubs from both Saudi Arabia and Iran — which […]

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This is when fans of Cal State Bakersfield athletics say: “It was worth it after all!” Ten years ago, the Roadrunners gave up a fine reputation as one of the best programs in NCAA Division II … and made the bold/scary/expensive decision to make the climb to Division I, where the big kids play. That […]

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U.S. soccer coaches and fans have often wondered who was going to win the ball and who was going to score, but one part of the field they never worried about was the man between the posts. Until now. The long line of often unbeatable U.S. goalkeepers may be at an end. The two veterans […]

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I spent six years in a newsroom that included a lot of Canadians, and if I ever doubted Canada’s preoccupation with ice hockey, those six years straightened me out on that. Which makes the current sad state of the National Hockey League’s seven teams based in the Great White North of particular interest. If the […]

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Paris Saint-Germain clinched the French Ligue 1 soccer championship today, which would be fine if the season ended in the next week or two. As it turns out, the 20 teams in France’s top division have another eight games to play. Meaning the French league will go two months playing league matches that matter little, […]

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Consider this another example of the widely held notion that the French will eat anything. In the seaside city of Sete, near to where we are staying, the town put on a two-day event called L’oursinade — which roughly translates as the Sea Urchin Festival. The notion that a person would want to eat the […]

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