This is an earworm of the worst kind. The inescapable, empty-headed, athletes-flogging-stuff, music-based advertisement that turns out to be nearly inescapable. I despise it, but it for weeks now it comes up ahead of every video clip shown on espn.com. I go to a story, and I have to hover over the “pause” key for […]

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At 11 a.m. yesterday, Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks joined his teammates for a shoot-around in Westchester, N.Y. Sometime between 1 and 2 p.m., the onetime MVP flew to Chicago without telling anyone in the Knicks organization. Which was a problem because the Knicks had a home game that night. Knicks coach Jeff […]

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And you thought it was difficult to keep track of 32 World Cup teams … Starting with the 2026 tournament, Fifa will give Planet Soccer 48 national teams for its quadrennial event. If it seems like overkill, it is. Nearly one in four of Fifa’s 209 members will be at the 2026 World Cup, which […]

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With only marginal fanfare, one of the most interesting players in modern tennis history retired two weeks ago. Ana Ivanovic, 29, had twice been ranked No. 1 in the world and won the 2008 French Open as well as 14 other WTA titles. How the willowy Serbian managed to do that seems almost beyond explanation, […]

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I am not a huge fan of brew or breweries, but I like a good dark beer. I’m the guy ordering Guinness stout on tap. One of the wine shops in the nearby town also sells craft beers, and that interested me, for that one night in 10 I feel like a beer would be […]

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Ah, memories. This collection seeped into my consciousness when prompted by the discovery that the Oakland Raiders are playing at Houston on Sunday … and remembering I had covered an NFL game in Houston. At the Astrodome. While covering the Los Angeles Rams. In 1978. A long, long time ago. And I was pretty sure […]

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We expect some chilly weather here, given that we are further north than 90 percent of the continental U.S. But this batch of weather has been the coldest we have seen in more than a year in the south of France. Tonight? A low of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, below freezing. Tomorrow night? A forecast […]

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If it were possible for me to feel sympathy for the Oakland Raiders, and it is not, I might feel bad about what has happened to them. And what is about to happen to them. They were one of the big surprises in the NFL this season, along with the Dallas Cowboys. The Raiders were […]

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It took me a long time to realize the clarinet is one of the nastiest instruments in the composer’s toolbox. And for most of that time, I was playing the clarinet. Started in fourth grade, played through 12th grade. That’s nine years of honking and blarting, interrupted only by the occasional ear-piercing squeak. What was […]

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Wow. It had been that long? I covered at least 15 Rose Bowl games, maybe 20, and  should have known this. But I may have mentioned I’ve been away. What I know for sure is that USC is supposed to 1) be in the Rose Bowl more often than this and 2) win the Rose […]

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