… out of mind? Presumably scores, even hundreds of print and electronic journalists turned up for the Lakers’ media day, today, many of them interested in Kobe Bryant, above all else. But it would appear as if no one asked him about his long trip to the UAE and back. I would just like to […]

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I hope Kobe Bryant got paid for this. And I am certain he did. He arrived in Dubai on Wednesday and was three hours late for a press conference (plane delayed, apparently, and most every press conference in the UAE starts at least an hour late) at which he talked about healthy living, and staying […]

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Jorge Fossati has been around. He began coaching soccer teams in 1993, and been employed pretty much nonstop, in a very volatile field, including time in his native Uruguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. When he was hired by Al Ain, that made five countries he had coached in, three here in the Gulf. And […]

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The Los Angeles Lakers open camp for the 2013-14 season on Saturday, with a media day. If Kobe Bryant is there at all … he will be the bleary-eyed guy suffering from jet lag. Why? Because the night before, Kobe will have coached a celebrity team. In Dubai. On the other side of the world, […]

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I may have mentioned this. I am, in theory, an Arsenal fan — if I am a fan of any Premier League team. (Though I could perhaps be talked into Fulham, now that Michael Jackson is leaving the premises.) Anyway, during this long, long time as an Arsenal fan — it’s been at least a […]

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Abu Dhabi? Or Dubai? This is an ongoing debate in the UAE. Which city is preferable/better, and on what levels? To most people who live in Dubai, this is no contest. Theirs is the bustling metropolis with conspicuous consumption and enormous towers. A movable feast. Or a movable party, anyway. However, for many of us […]

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This car may be cursed. After five days, a dead battery. Two weeks later, a right-front tire, with plenty of tread, that mysteriously went flat. Which brings to mind the Stephen King novel Christine — about a car apparently inhabited by a “vengeful spirit”. At best, the Audi is proving to be a money pit. […]

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It has been explained here how difficult it is to follow college football, and what little of it could be seen, easily, is now gone. Leave the country for four years, you realize most of college football you can get along without. With some exceptions. Your own team. Maybe your team’s league. A few of […]

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An annoying reality of life in Abu Dhabi, especially at the south/east end of the island, is the horn-honking drive-by drivers. In several neighborhoods here, guys pull up in their land yachts and wait for employees of coffee shops, restaurants and even groceries. That leads to gridlock in the streets outside those businesses, many of […]

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We plan to visit a semi-exotic country semi-soon, so we presented ourselves at the “Disease Prevention and Control” building near the biggest hospital in Abu Dhabi. This is where you go to get the mandatory HIV and tuberculosis tests, when you first arrive in the country. Everyone in the city, then, has been there. And […]

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