It was jarring from the moment it was cued up for television viewers: Alan Pardew … coach Alan Pardew … dancing on the sideline moments after his Crystal Palace team took a 1-0 lead in the FA Cup final, the world’s longest-running competition in team sports. The goal came late … ish … in the […]

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When I was married, several decades ago, I remember my parents producing a lengthy list of their friends and associates who they thought ought to be invited to the ceremony and reception. I also remember thinking, “Hey, this is for the people getting married and our friends and relatives. … and why do we have […]

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First thought: This is no kind of team to give 88-year-old Vin Scully in his last season as the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. These are not The Boys of Summer. They are not The Big Blue Wrecking Crew. The Dodgers not quite awful but they certainly are not good — which you might […]

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Yesterday, we linked to a podcast reexamining what happened to the U.S. national team at the 1998 World Cup … and if we boiled it down one of the primary factors for the U.S. face-plant at France ’98 was the bad behavior of John Harkes, the team’s captain. So, it was a bit of a […]

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It would seem a bit late, as well as irrelevant, to conduct a post mortem of the U.S. failure to win a point from the 1998 World Cup. But Alexi Lalas, one of the best-known players on that U.S. team, and Steve Sampson, the U.S. coach, spend 40-plus fascinating minutes on The Mutant Gene Podcast […]

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  This is a little odd. City people, like us … who find it fascinating and even a bit soothing when the neighborhood’s flock of sheep come ambling and baa-ing along. Check the video!

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Ah, Quique Sanchez Flores. Here we are on Day 2 of My Favorite Soccer Coaches Roundup, which includes a certain Spanish player and coach who grew up wanting to be a sports writer. But more about that in a bit. I have been a fan of Quique Sanchez Flores from the moment he was named […]

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Bob Bradley is my favorite former U.S. Soccer national team coach. He is a square-jawed, straight-shooter kind of guy who radiates quiet passion for his work but is a model of steely decorum — and gets results. Whether it is leading the American team to the final 16 of the World Cup (South Africa 2010) […]

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The Russia of Vladimir Putin is not a nice place. It may rival Soviet Russia as a bellicose polity that wants to make the world darker and dirtier … one that will stop at nothing to promoting itself and its agenda. In sports, that means drugs. Lots and lots of performing-enhancing drugs (PEDs) for their […]

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Sometimes dog food smells … not awful. Maybe because dog-food producers strive to make dog-food look/smell like something we human shoppers almost could eat. Which makes sense, since Fido doesn’t carry cash. Serena Williams may have been turning that over in her head after a salmon-and-rice dish intended for her little dog, Chip, arrived at […]

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