A reality of blogging: It’s bloody difficult to do one item a day, every day, for two blogs. And hold a full-time job. Try it sometime, and a year later let me know how it’s going. The second blog is my quixotic World Cup Countdown blog. And part of that deal is a promise to […]

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As I write this, many of the people I know back in the States are watching the Lakers play the Celtics. In Boston. If I were on that side of the Atlantic, I would be watching too. I grew up watching that rivalry, and suffering through it. Jerry West, Chick Hearn and I … well, […]

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If you’re a Lakers fan and you’re not worried about Kobe Bryant … you ought to be. Not because of the way he is performing. Of course not. He’s as good as ever. Three buzzer-beating shots for victories already this season. Which is more than any other team has. A scoring average of 30.6 points […]

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It was a more eventful decade than my initial thoughts indicated. “Wow. I have to come up with 10 good sports events from the 0-somethings? I’m not sure I can do that.” Turns out, a few minutes of cross-referencing years and sports, and it’s no problem finding 10. The trick is limiting it to that […]

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And I missed it? Sigh. Well, at least I caught up to it, here in Abu Dhabi. Three weeks later. I grew up in Long Beach. I went to Long Beach State. I edited the student newspaper there. And I have been following Long Beach State basketball since I was a sophomore in high school […]

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From the other side of the world, it looks as if the Dodgers and Angels are sort of melting away. The Angels let free agents Chone Figgins (Seattle) and John Lackey (Boston) join key rivals. The Dodgers have allowed Randy Wolf and Orlando Hudson to walk. But the Dodgers did something right today. Addition by […]

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Mostly, I just wanted to see how many “categories” I could have at the top of this item. Now let’s see if I actually mention something about all of them. Some interesting topics playing out in U.S. sports right now and, really, I’m aware of them. Not everyone back home seems to remember we do, […]

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This got a little weird, which apparently is par for the course in renting a place. In Abu Dhabi. In the UAE. In the world? Imagine all the trouble you have with real estate agents back in your country of origin … and then multiply them by three or four … and add in language […]

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This is one I have not heard. Not even by blue-skying Lakers fantasists. LeBron James … to the Lakers? Yes. The Lakers. LeBron. LeBron to the Lakers, to play with Kobe. Beginning next season. Who says so? Sam Smith says so. And Sam Smith is one of the most highly regarded NBA writers in the […]

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The Ron Artest Experiment is off to a rocky start. Think in terms of Professor Phil Jackson holding vials of unstable substances … and it they have blown up in his face, and his hair is all Einstein-like … as if he were drawn by the guys at Warner Brothers cartoons. After two games, neither […]

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