I am a fan, more or less, of the English Premier League club Arsenal and the American football team from UCLA. It occurred to me today why it is that I settled on each of them: My own appreciation of skill and style … ahead of the more significant essence of physical and mental toughness. […]

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Anyone who follows the English Premier League knows it has coughed up two big stories, so far this season. –The rise of Leicester City. –The fall of Chelsea. The former, last season, nearly was relegated (sent to the second division) before a sprint to the finish raised them to 14th place in a 20-team league. […]

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After six years on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean, I can safely identify two additions to Sports Competitions I Follow. The English Premier League … which is a subdivision of the ultra elite European Champions League. This is where the world’s most famous sports teams come to play because, really, we must concede […]

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Is this just me, or does anyone else find a rooting interest in every sporting contest ever invented? Seems a bit odd, now that I think about it, but that’s how it works. And not just with teams I know. Within five minutes of watching a match between teams I do not know … I […]

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If Satan played soccer, he would look and behave exactly like Diego Costa. He would cheat. He would taunt. He would be sneaky evil. He would be a player with some skills who still chose the dark side. He would scratch and push and kick when God wasn’t looking. He would subvert the rules of […]

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I am a sort of Arsenal fan. Not a live-and-die fan. I would never say that. Not when I was only vaguely aware the club existed for at least the first half of my life. Not until we spent four months in Hong Kong, 2008-09, did I consider the concept of having a preferred Premier […]

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It was one of the most absurd moments in recent English Premier League history. Arsene Wenger, 64, advancing on Jose Mourinho, 51, on the sidelines of the Chelsea vs Arsenal match yesterday — and shoving his rival manager in the midst of Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Wenger’s Arsenal. It was silly on a number of […]

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It has been remarkably, really. The number of elite European soccer clubs who have been in the U.S. this summer is … astonishing. Real Madrid. Bayern Munich. Manchester United. Manchester City. Liverpool, Arsenal. Atletico Madrid, Roma, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Monaco, Olympiakos. Those names look like most of the final 16 team in the European […]

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Watching a team fall to pieces in European soccer is unlike seeing an American sports club go bad. The fall-into-ruin can drag out three months, easy. In baseball, teams can blow big leads, and it may seem forever, but it generally is a month, maybe two. In the NFL,  a collapse can be measured in […]

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The most genuine of UAE sports events is a domestic football match. Perhaps the national team is a bigger deal than the upper-tier clubs … but not always. Especially when it is a leading rivalry, like Al Jazira home to Al Wahda, Abu Dhabi rivals whose stadiums are about three miles apart. When opportunities like […]

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