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Entries from February 2018

Afternoon Tea … in San Diego

February 18th, 2018 · No Comments · Uncategorized

I made it through several decades unaware of the veddy refined British tradition of “high tea”. Or, as it sometimes is also known, “afternoon tea“. (The difference is explained here). The idea behind it is a mid-afternoon snack. To bridge the span between lunch and a late dinner. Quite sensible. Starting with tea, of course. […]

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Chasing Bad Air Around the World

February 17th, 2018 · No Comments · Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, The National, The Sun

This dawned on me the other day. Even before we made the drive up (and back) through California’s Central Valley. I have spent nearly the whole of my life breathing bad air. Polluted air. Sometimes thick enough to taste. Sometimes particulates so tiny they never come back out a person’s lungs. Didn’t plan it that […]

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Tumbling into the Generation Gap

February 16th, 2018 · No Comments · Uncategorized

Pulling into Modesto around 8 p.m., looking for a place to have a beer and maybe a salad. We found a brew pub named “Commonwealth”, which apparently is quite popular in this Central Valley outpost, because nearly every stool was taken at its long/seat-yourself tables. We spotted facing open spots near the bar, and asked […]

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Visiting the U.S. and Encountering Sticker Shock

February 15th, 2018 · No Comments · France, Spain, Travel

We once lived decades in southern California. We feel like we know the place pretty well. Certainly from the Mexican border to, say, Sacramento. We had been outside the country for more than a year, and what we found here on our return yesterday has been … astounding. When did California prices get out of […]

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Lonzo Ball and the $199 Autographs

February 14th, 2018 · No Comments · Basketball, Kobe, Lakers

Two things I believe about sports autographs. 1) No one past the age of 12 should ever ask for one. Adults don’t ask for the signatures of other adults — unless they plan to sell them on for more money, which is vile, and another good reason why adults should not ask for autographs. And, […]

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Who Gets to Claim Chloe Kim as a ‘Local’?

February 13th, 2018 · No Comments · Landon Donovan, Olympics, soccer, Sports Journalism

Not that it matters much anymore, with print journalism in collapse, but for fun we can revisit a topic that would have been of great interest to sports journalists of 10 or 20 years ago: Where is “home” to the latest great athlete? Like, say, Chloe Kim, snowboarding gold-medallist at the Pyeongchang Winter Games? Chloe […]

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Victory for the Status Quo: What Now for U.S. Soccer?

February 12th, 2018 · No Comments · Fifa, Football, soccer, World Cup

A former colleague who is involved in grassroots soccer may still be in mourning. He was adamant that the U.S. Soccer Federation needed new blood at the top … but the presidential election over the weekend went the way of the two establishment candidates, with the former federation vice president and Goldman Sachs partner (no, […]

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Elfrid, Meet Absalom

February 11th, 2018 · No Comments · Basketball, NBA

Elfrid Payton is a point guard drafted out of Louisiana Lafeyette by the Orlando Magic with the 10th pick of the 2014 draft. Last week, the Magic traded him to the Phoenix Suns in a move from one bad team to another. Payton is best known for one thing: His comically long hair. Which is […]

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Somewhere, Bonny Warner Was Smiling

February 10th, 2018 · 2 Comments · Olympics

I first interviewed Bonny Warner in February of 1984, a week before the Sarajevo Olympics. She grew up in Mount Baldy Village, a hamlet on the shoulder of the mountain, and went to school in San Bernardino County, where our newspaper circulated. So we snapped to attention when we realized that a college kid from […]

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Cold and the Winter Olympics

February 9th, 2018 · No Comments · Olympics, Sports Journalism

It ought to be, right? Cold. Plenty cold. Unpleasantly cold. It’s the Winter Olympics and we have sports based on snow and ice. Opening Ceremonies for the Pyeongchang Games were held tonight, in South Korea, and it did not look like a shorts-and-T-shirt sort of event, no. Well, duh. It seems the current generation of […]

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