I have lived outside the United States for most of the past 12 years and I can vouch for this: Over that much time your sports interests mutate. Perhaps significantly. Some sports pretty much disappear from your mind. Thinking all high school sports; just can’t keep track of any of them, so I lost track […]

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For much of my sports journalism career, being part of a good showing in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors competition was a big deal. Even now, in an era of shriveled and under-staffed newspapers, most sports editors want to see their sections make a mark. The APSE contest is the industry Oscars, after all. […]

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It was a preposterous bit of “news” in the offices of The National newspaper, based in the United Arab Emirates. Diego Maradona had signed a two-season contract to coach the Dubai club Al Wasl FC of the UAE Pro League. (Sure, and Pele was going to come with him as an assistant.) However, as that […]

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People tend to say that ahead of various big events. Especially the breathless folk who work in media relations or advertising. It also sometimes can be heard, chanted, during a demonstration against the authorities. The whole world is watching. It pretty much is never true. Sober and realistic is the way to approach this. John […]

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Honestly, I do not enjoy dwelling on the failures of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were the first sports team I followed, as a first- or second-grader. I have been watching them ever since, even from my six years in Abu Dhabi and our five years in France. That devotion may stem from growing up […]

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It was madness. A moment of weakness. Impressed by Manchester City’s stampede through the Premier League. League, League Cup, FA Cup. So, on May 12, I had a shout-out, on this blog, for the club and its players, and the owner back in Abu Dhabi. Big mistake, in retrospect, especially with the publication of a […]

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In 2008, when Manchester City Football Club was sold to a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, it hardly warranted intense foreign interest, let alone surprise. Man City was a middling-to-lower-middling club in the English Premier League, and foreigners already were buying up English soccer teams. Two of the biggest brands in English soccer, […]

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I have some history with Jonathan Wilson, going back to when I was in Abu Dhabi working for The National, the emirate’s English-language newspaper. Wilson was one of our European soccer correspondents, contributing a couple of pieces per week. He often took on topics focusing on what he perceived to be significant trends in the […]

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This will seem crazy, to many readers, but when we get some time back in the States, I inevitably think about having a meal at … … one of my favorite Mexican outlets … or enjoying dim sum at Capital Seafood in Irvine … or savoring some Lebanese, which we used to eat at least […]

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In 30 prep football seasons, through 2007, I reported on … I’m going to make an educated guess and say … 300 games. In the 11 seasons that followed, I reported on … zero prep football games. Not because I lost interest in the high school games, but because I was out of the business […]

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