It has been a rough, oh, coupla-three decades for Long Beach State alumni who care about the major sports. The football program was killed, and the basketball program, which was one of the nation’s best for a half-dozen seasons straddling 1970, generally wasn’t very good.
So, as a 49ers alumnus, I was quite pleased to read […]

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I was aware of this, a bit. I clearly remember, X number of years ago (during that short period when the proudly clueless Dutchman Ruud Gullit was coaching the Galaxy), having this pointed out to me.
Gullit was talking to a few of us after a practice session, and he just launched into a Jeremiad about […]

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When you are the visiting team in Beirut, you know your night did not go well when some of the local citizens let off a few rounds of celebratory gunfire after the score goes final. It probably also was not a good night when your coach is fired about 90 minutes after the game.
Which is […]

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Yes. Real basketball, involving Duke University, a serious American college basketball team. In Dubai, in the UAE.
Almost an out-of-body experience. Coach K sitting at courtside. Austin Rivers, Doc’s highly regarded son, starting for the Blue Devils. A plethora of Plumlees. ESPN cameras. A near-capacity crowd to see Duke win 86-66.
Never thought I would see any […]

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Rather a strange turn of events, even by UAE standards. Duke University’s men’s basketball team running and dunking at a small, stuffy gym at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai as Mike Krzyzewski conducted an impromptu coaching clinic with about 30 guys sitting in the stands. “Sorry, I’m a little hoarse from yelling at […]

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I was walking down the street to the tiny apartment hard by Airport Road, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, and a thought popped into my head about high school. Happens, sometimes. People tell me I have a good memory. Or maybe I just remember remembering, and I tell them stories about themselves that I […]

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For the first time since 2007, we have an NBA Finals without the Lakers in it. Seems a bit strange. Almost not-quite-real. But we may have to get used to it — Kobe isn’t a kid anymore, and Mike Brown doesn’t seem like an inspired hire as coach.
So, Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks?

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I may have done this before … just turned over a blog entry to the analysis of a former colleague.
In this case, it pertains to the Lakers, who are down 2-0 to the Dallas Mavericks and look unlikely to survive this round.
How can they be losing to a one-man Dallas team? That is the question […]

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Now that the U.S. is on daylight savings time, we here in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, are eight hours ahead of EDT, 11 hours ahead of PDT.
So, late afternoon/early evening sports events in the U.S. are right in the middle of the night, here, and those that I will get up to see are […]

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Wow. What do we call him? The “president ‘n’ chief prognosticator?”
No matter your political orientation, we have to concede that Barack Obama apparently knows something about college basketball.
The president went 15-1 today to run his two-day record in the NCAA basketball playoffs to 29-3.
Yes. 29-3.
Where does that put his bracket among the 5.9 million brackets […]

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