Imagine the confusion in the Los Angeles Angels front office. They knew their 2017 team was bad. It was Mike Trout, Albert Pujols running on fumes, a slick-fielding shortstop … and a bunch of guys. Angels officials hoped the team might be just good enough that Orange County fans would still buy tickets. Mike Trout, […]

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Oh, for the comparatively sane salaries of American sports! The NFL gives out big contracts but rarely means it — most of the money is not guaranteed and often is not paid out. The NBA spends enormous sums on players but 1) the league has a salary cap, which taxes big-spending clubs and 2) its […]

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The United Arab Emirates national team came up big. On the same day I said the Emiratis would lose 3-0. And maybe worse. Needing a victory over Saudi Arabia to keep alive its ultra-slim chances of qualifying for the Russia 2018 World Cup, the UAE got goals from two of the greatest forwards the country […]

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It is time for the grape harvest, in the south of France. The summer has been fairly warm, and the grapes are ready to go — about a month sooner than they were a year ago. This is a big annual event in the Languedoc and surrounding regions, which produce a third of France’s win. […]

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Joey Votto made a bit of news today when he walked in all five of his appearances. That made for a 0000 “stat line” in the boxscore for the Cincinnati Reds first baseman, but if you look a little closer you can see the “5” for his quintet of walks. (A nerd thing. The boxes […]

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Major League Baseball has designated this “Players Weekend” … which is supposed to be about the players having fun — mainly by revealing their nicknames and wearing them on their jerseys. (Players probably would prefer an extra $1,000 in their paycheck, if MLB really wanted the players to feel special.) Anyway, nicknames. This does not […]

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Full credit to the author of that headline — which was used as the “lede” (the opening paragraph) in her newspaper story. Bravo, Shannon O’Connor of Southern California News Group. She has the story on a funky little place in the San Bernardino (California) Mountains, formerly known as Santa’s Village, now called “Sky Park at […]

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I don’t understand competitive eating. Seems like a good way to suffer immediate “death by food” — as opposed to death by food over a span of decades, which probably will kill most of us in the First World. And, eating something nasty, such as hotdogs (and hotdogs are certainly nasty after two) … seems […]

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Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor is something a four-year-old would come up with. One of those curious kids who out of nowhere says, “Who wins if Green Lantern fights Wonder Woman?” That’s what this … fight? … encounter? … scam? … feels like. Two competitors who have competed in different realms. Who have powers unique […]

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We will never forget Shaquille O’Neal. Even six years after his playing career ended. How could we, when the Big Pitch Man is appearing on television all the time? I count at least three advertising campaigns he is leading — for The General insurance company, for Icy Hot pain-killing lidocaine cream and patches (10 years […]

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