China is the world’s most populous nation, with 1.38 billion people. India is second, at 1.28 billion. The U.S. is third, at 325 million. Indonesia is fourth, at 260 million. Further down the list, Pakistan is No. 6 with 203 million and Bangladesh is No. 8 with 158 million. Q: And what do those six […]

[Read more →]

OK, we can stop whining. A couple of hours of cursing and gnashing of teeth is understandable, but after that … time to move on. Weird things happened tonight and the U.S. national team is out of the World Cup for the first time since 1986. A 2-1 defeat at Trinidad & Tobago; Honduras and […]

[Read more →]

That’s what you say when the ball gets away and rolls into another court, in tennis or basketball. “A little help, please?” A request, not a demand. Which is what the U.S. national soccer team is asking of Mexico and Costa Rica. “A little help, please?”

[Read more →]

As the ultimate international sport, one might expect soccer would offer all sorts of odd and interesting connections. This guy played for that guy, and later became coach of this team that I covered … It really is rather amazing, in a sort of “three degrees of separation” way. And I have noticed a few […]

[Read more →]

I have come around on Yasiel Puig. Not because he has turned into the greatest player in baseball, because he has not. Not because he had a great 2017 season, because he did not. Not because he is a fundamentally sound ballplayer, because he is not. Why, then? Because he is a fun player to […]

[Read more →]

Some of us remember 1988 like it was yesterday. OK, not yesterday as much as it was like last week. Last month. Last century. Some of it is getting downright hazy. Gibson’s home run, sure, and Orel Hershiser’s two starts … and who else played on that team? Steve Sax, maybe? Also, some significant fraction […]

[Read more →]

The U.S. national soccer team has played in the past seven World Cups and qualified for six of them. The Yanks hosted the 1994 World Cup and did not have to qualify. From the outside, it looks like light work. A massive country of 300 million people needs only to finish in the top three […]

[Read more →]

By happenstance, we are in Barcelona, capital of Catalonia, a day or two ahead of what could be a momentous local decision — declaring independence from Spain. We had planned months ago to meet up with a friend here, a leading tourist destination a few hours south of the Spain-France border. We had no idea […]

[Read more →]

I already feel sorry for Lonzo Ball. What we can reasonably expect from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 19-year-old NBA rookie bears no resemblance to what most fans and even many “experts” seem to expect from him. One of those self-professed experts is his father, LaVar, who does Lonzo no favors when he suggests — well, […]

[Read more →]

You bet. Start worrying now, if you are not already doing so. Only four days till the U.S. national team plays host to Panama, only eight days until an away game with Trinidad & Tobago, as Concacaf hexagonal qualifying for the 2018 World Cup concludes. At stake, the U.S. streak of seven consecutive World Cup […]

[Read more →]