I have never liked the Manchester City club of the English Premier League. This is not a lifelong thing. No, this is about events and behavior and performances observed during my great Premier League awakening, while working in Abu Dhabi at the start of this decade. That is when I decided that for better or […]

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It is the nature of sports fans to crave a connection to star athletes in some (typically obscure) way. Chelsea fans had, until today, a pretty good statistic that they could bandy about. In eight Champions League matches versus the London club, Lionel Messi had never scored. That drought ended in his ninth Champions League […]

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A former colleague who is involved in grassroots soccer may still be in mourning. He was adamant that the U.S. Soccer Federation needed new blood at the top … but the presidential election over the weekend went the way of the two establishment candidates, with the former federation vice president and Goldman Sachs partner (no, […]

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I missed it. I have no trouble saying it. I was sure the New England Patriots would defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52. And I first wrote that nearly three weeks ago, ahead of the conference championship games. Not so sure, however, that I did not watch Super Bowl 52. Not so sure […]

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When I decided that, oh, what the hell, I was a fan of Arsenal FC, the English Premier League club … I was concerned at being branded a front-runner. Straddling the turn of the century, Arsenal won the Premier League three times in seven seasons, and this was when Alex Ferguson, the knighted coach of […]

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Alexis Sanchez, an attacking player recently of Arsenal FC, moved to Manchester United today, as his deal to switch Premier League teams was completed. That meant it was time for an “unveiling”, as the Brits inevitably describe an “introduction” … typically with stiff and anxious new player behind a table, with a club executive nearby, […]

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Here are the kickoffs for the NFL’s conference championship games tomorrow. That is, if you live under the umbrella of Pacific Standard Time. New England at Jacksonville, 12:05 p.m. Philadelphia at Minnesota, 3:40 p.m. Convenient, as a viewer, no? Well, yes, and you should know it is not like that everywhere. If you have lived […]

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I am, at turns, amused and exasperated by sports gamblers. How can they participate in a system in which the “house” never loses? How do they convince themselves that they are smarter than most other gamblers? How can they witness how totally random NFL games (well, just about any game ever played) can be? Take, […]

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When Landon Donovan first retired, in December of 2014, his U.S. National Soccer Team record for international goals seemed unassailable, at least in the short-to-mid term. And I wrote that. His closest pursuer was Clint Dempsey, and the Texan was on 38 goals, 19 behind Donovan’s total. Then, Dempsey went on a scoring spree, banging […]

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I was made aware today of this video, which is based on the Barcelona midfield standout Andres Iniesta showing “There is a first time for everything” by trying something new — American football. It is an advertisement for an online foreign-exchange trader known as UFX, and the notion of the elfin Iniesta (5-foot-7, maybe 130 […]

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