This is always a bit tricky. Putting out newspapers on December 24 and December 25. Even in the Middle East, where Christmas this year was “Wednesday” … not much goes on. End of the year, a batch of sports taking a few months off … that happens even in Arabia. December 24 is the slowest […]

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Bizarre story of the day: One of Australia’s top cricket batsmen, flush with success in the ongoing Ashes Test series, is considering taking up baseball. David Warner has pummeled the English in the five-Test series, which Australia already has clinched by winning the first three Tests. It must have been one of those “new worlds […]

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I have been impressed, since arriving in the UAE — which is only a few air hours from the subcontinent — at what we Americans do not know about India. And vice versa. Take, for instance, Sachin Tendulkar.

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This was a bit of a scandal, here in the UAE: The South African cricketer found tampering with the ball. Yes, they mess with the ball in cricket, too. Meaning it is a story that baseball fans can relate to. First, have a look at television footage showing South Africa’s Faf du Plessis attempting to […]

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Andy Murray won the “gentlemen’s” singles championship at Wimbledon today, the first Briton to do so since Fred Perry in 1936. Yes. Seventy-seven years ago. And there went another great losing streak. I am on record expressing support for the continuation of all prominent losing streaks. They give context and shape to teams, people and […]

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Since moving to Abu Dhabi, nearly four years ago, I have returned to the U.S. on three occasions. Each of those three times … I saw a baseball game within a few days of clearing customs at LAX. In this case, the Angels and Red Sox, at Anaheim Stadium. As usual, I found it a […]

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I have held my tongue for more than 3.5 years. I have been working in the UAE for all that time, and have been immersed in cricket throughout, and I am now ready to say it. Cricket is failed baseball. Baseball’s origins probably were in the British games of cricket and rounders, and all three […]

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What is the U.S. perception of Pakistan? Not particularly good, it seems safe to say. In theory, an ally of the U.S., but a very shabby ally. Apparently, Osama bin Laden hid out in Pakistan for much of the period when he was hunted by the U.S. military, and was in Pakistan when he finally […]

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This is a fairly big deal, over here in the Old World. Well, at least in the parts of the Old World that care about rugby, and that would include the British Isles and (go figure) France and Italy. Each winter, they stage a Six Nations competition in which six “national” teams play each other, […]

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For months, I’d seen the kid in the newsroom. Maybe 26. One of our drivers, waiting for an assignment. He always wears a baseball cap. Backwards. Jauntily. With “Chicago” in script on the front of the hat — which puts it on the back of his head. It is not a look we commonly associate […]

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