Which sport do Americans like most? It was the same in 2013 as it was in 1985, and every year since. The National Football League. Duh. We like our danger and violence, and we like our color and strategy and cheerleaders, and tidy three-hour blocs mapped out on Sundays and three nights a week. The […]

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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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I concede I thought Kobe Bryant could beat this, too. I covered the guy for more than a decade, and I saw him come back, time and again, from injuries that would sideline the average athlete. “Badly sprained” ankle? Kobe would be back in a week, or sooner. He would keep playing right through things […]

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I cannot recall if I always loathed all things Boston. Perhaps I did. Being a Lakers fan in the 1960s would have been enough to sour a right-thinking person on Boston. The Celtics: Good, but also really lucky. If I were ambivalent about the Boston Red Sox, the Boston (now New England) Patriots and the […]

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… 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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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 never really believed Dwight Howard would leave the Lakers. Right up till it leaked today that he would do just that. Who leaves the Lakers? Especially when leaving them means walking away from the extra $31 million in guaranteed money the Lakers could pay? But I also never thought committing $118 million to the […]

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I love this concept. Love it. Even if it’s sponsored by a company that makes caffeine-laced sugary drinks that can’t be good for you … It’s just a very clever idea. The Red Bull King of the Rock. Start with a global 1-on-1 basketball tournament. Five-minute games, tournaments set in 25 countries to winnow the […]

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Watching American sports live, from the UAE, takes some extra effort. Not that things are not available. They are, if you pay a little bit extra — maybe $50 a year — to augment your basic cable package (most of which is not in English) with a set of stations that includes ESPN, Fox and, […]

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