Rory McIlroy is in Abu Dhabi this weekend for European Tour event, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which brought to mind a piece from a few weeks ago. About McIlroy, 24, becoming engaged, on New Year’s Eve, to Caroline Wozniacki, 23, his girlfriend of approaching three years. And my “bah-humbug!” suggestion is that these […]

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It really is a curious thing, the shootout. In many ways it is an independent event from what went on for the previous two hours, at a soccer game. Same guys participating, same ball, same concept of trying to put the ball in the net and the goalkeeper trying to parry it. But it is […]

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We don’t talk much about the many and profound difficulties in being a professional athlete. It’s like we rarely get past the “you get paid a lot of money to play games” part of this. It’s all gravy, once you have reached the big league. Of course, it is not easy. Lots of down sides. […]

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So, the Hall of Fame vote came around, and three players — Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Fran Thomas — made the grade, appearing on 75 percent of all ballots cast. Good for those guys. I would have voted for all three. But, again, we have the “what about the druggies?” kerfuffle. Which in part […]

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A few of these surprised me. Starting with No. 1. Other surprises came from the cities not on the list. These are the 10 most heavily traveled routes, leaving from Abu Dhabi, per Etihad Airways, the government-owned, Abu Dhabi-based carrier — which just had a record year, as this National story notes, by number of […]

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The FA Cup. Few in North America have a clear idea of what this is about. Aside from hipsters or kids who studied abroad for a year and now believe they are entitled to make generalizations about European “football” to their oh-so-sheltered friends back home. Anyway, the FA (Football Association) Cup is a soccer tournament […]

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I was never really a fan of 2013, the year. Not that 2013 did anything to harm me, far as I know. The number was awkward. That was the main thing. It might have helped if a number that awkward were a prime; that would give it some cachet. But no. It is divisible by […]

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The UAE is oriented towards the sea. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Qawain and Ras Al Khaimah face west to the Gulf. Fujairah faces east to the Indian Ocean; Sharjah touches both bodies of water. The explanation for the waterside population centers is easy: Between those bodies of water is not much more than […]

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This is interesting and a little strange. The Major League Soccer club FC Dallas has announced its intent to travel to the UAE in late January and stay in Abu Dhabi for nearly two weeks as the team begins preparations for the 2014 MLS season. Apparently, FC Dallas in recent years has gone to Cancun, […]

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This is always a bit tricky. Putting out newspapers on December 24 and December 25. Even in the Middle East, where Christmas this year was “Wednesday” … not much goes on. End of the year, a batch of sports taking a few months off … that happens even in Arabia. December 24 is the slowest […]

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