A sort of silly string of posts stretches through this blog, going back to 2009, in which I ponder the great question of our time: “Which English Premier League soccer team should I support?” This is a weighty and defining decision in large parts of the world, increasingly including (of late) the United States, which […]

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The last time I spoke with Brian Goff, I was a little annoyed with him, or so I thought. Really, I was annoyed with myself. See, Brian Goff did not annoy people. He was polite to the nth degree and seemed to have no enthusiasm for drama in the workplace. Or raised voices, for that […]

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I have always liked that journalistic convention … on how to handle a “dateline” when traveling via water. You write “aboard” and continue with the name of the ship. Such as “the USS Enterprise” or “HMS Victory” or “RMS Titanic”. A few decades ago, the dateline also would have included the day a story was […]

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Living in western Europe, the assumption by most Americans, including this one, is that professional soccer teams must not be far from any point on the maps of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. That assumption would be wrong. Where we live, in the Occitanie region (previously known as the Languedoc) of southern France, plenty […]

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The world over, sports action tends to cluster around weekends. Friday-Saturday-Sunday are the heavy days because that is when more people have more time to spend paying close attention to whatever athletic endeavor matters most to them. Monday-through-Thursday … not nearly as fun or hectic. Usually. Then there is European soccer, which 12 weeks a […]

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We made a fuss over the statue of David Beckham unveiled a couple of days ago at the former StubHub Park stadium. The first at a Major League Soccer stadium. It should have been Landon Donovan; he put in more years, scored far more goals won more championships. For Beckham, the Los Angeles gig always […]

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The LA Galaxy on Saturday afternoon will unveil what is thought to be the first statue of a former player to be displayed at a Major League Soccer stadium. The club said it will be No. 1 in “a series of statues” that will stand just outside the stadium in the new Legends Plaza at […]

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St. Louis, you can have them back. What’s that? You don’t want them? You don’t traffic in stolen franchises anymore? Good call. That was Super Bowl 53 we watched yesterday, and Rams fans (such as they are) can’t un-see it. I’m old enough to have watched every Super Bowl ever played, and your Los Angeles […]

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That was my feeling, moments after the New England Patriots completed their 37-31 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football Conference championship game 14 days ago. “This is a worst-case scenario.” “This” being the Los Angeles Rams playing the Patriots for the Super Bowl trophy. And why, pray tell? Because the […]

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For those of you who have little or no recollection of this game, which was played in January of 1980, there is something you need to know: Despite the final score, this was one of the two best Super Bowls of the first 15 played. (Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17, in 1976, was the other.) It […]

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