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Entries from August 2018

Harvest Time for the Rural Expanse of France

August 29th, 2018 · No Comments · France, Languedoc

(Photo credit: Domaine de Arjolle ) When most of the planet’s people hear “France” they think “Paris”. Certainly that is the case for Americans.  And I don’t see why it would not be true across the spectrum of humanity. France and Paris, Paris and France … a duo. But only about one-sixth of French people — […]

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Premier League: Stop Elder ‘Water Torture’

August 27th, 2018 · No Comments · English Premier League, Football, London, soccer

It rained in London yesterday. Not just a little. A lot. Steady, pelting rain nearly the whole of the afternoon. And especially during the Crystal Palace-at-Watford match, staged in a London suburb. The players were soaked. The officials were soaked. The fans, those of them who stayed in seats not covered by the partial roof […]

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Offering Dodgers Options for Explaining DL Moves

August 23rd, 2018 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

Its a “thing”. The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of those teams … and perhaps the ultimate example of that sort of club … in “working” the disabled list. Basically, they have a pool of 10-15 relief pitchers and now, in the second year of the 10-day disabled list, the club moves those 10-15 guys […]

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The Slob in the Chelsea Dugout

August 19th, 2018 · No Comments · English Premier League, Football, London, soccer

Chelsea opened Premier League play last weekend, and I could not have been the only viewer puzzled by the presence of a grizzled old … bum? … sitting among the Blues’ coaches. It looked like the guy had not shaved in a while, and he had the sort of buzz haircut he might have done […]

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Dodgers Need Bullpen Help, and Fast

August 12th, 2018 · No Comments · Baseball, Dodgers

Every baseball fan knows the situation in Los Angeles. The Dodgers have not won a World Series since 1988, and fans can do the math: That’s 30 years ago. The Dodgers owe it to their fans, who lavish a lot of money on one of the richest clubs in Major League Baseball, to push, hard, […]

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Our Long, Long Soccer Nightmare Is Over

August 10th, 2018 · 1 Comment · English Premier League, Football, France, soccer, World Cup

What are we? The proverbial “red-headed stepchildren”? We just went 26 days without an elite soccer game being played anywhere in the world. It was on July 15 that France defeated Croatia 4-2 to win the 2018 World Cup. And then planet soccer went cold turkey. None of the big European leagues in action. No […]

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Ohtani: Give Up Pitching, Focus on Hitting

August 5th, 2018 · No Comments · Angels, Baseball

It was when Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs in a game at Cleveland two days ago that it became clear to me. The rookie from Japan should stick to hitting. His dream of becoming the first player since Babe Ruth, nearly a century ago, to be a regular Major League starting pitcher as well […]

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‘Cooking’ in France: 100 Degrees Fahrenheit

August 4th, 2018 · No Comments · France

The French call weather like this the canicule — which pretty literally means the “dog days” of summer. But this round of heat packs a particularly nasty bite. France, like much of Europe, is going through what may be the hottest summer on record. The nearest big city to where we live is Montpellier, and […]

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England’s Idle Dream of Displacing Qatar in 2022

August 2nd, 2018 · No Comments · Football, Russia 2018, soccer, The National, UAE, World Cup

How many times has global soccer gone through this over the past 30 years? Three times? Four? England, standing prepared to stage, on short notice, what appears to be a possibly amateurish — or scandal-tainted — World Cup. Most recently, it was Russia 2018. This time it is Qatar 2022, the World Cup that has […]

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‘Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich’

August 1st, 2018 · No Comments · Books, Germany

World War II ended more than 70 years ago, and it is rare to find a new analysis of key events. But a German journalist named Norman Ohler has managed it, in his 2016 book Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich — which I have finally gotten around to reading. Ohler generally prefers the blunderbuss […]

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