Even 15 years ago, keeping track of a U.S. sports team from the other side of the world would have been a dicey proposition. The first sport-specific bloggers were just firing up. (This was even before Bill Simmons.) Not every newspaper paid close attention to its website. (I worked at a place where the managing […]

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Anyone who has edited copy has pet peeves. “Ironically.” Split infinitives. “Stamping ground vs. stomping ground” and “gauntlet” vs. “gantlet.” Well, and “pet peeves” is more than a little worn, isn’t it?
Many of these peeves we editors share. Some are primarily personal.
One of mine:
The reckless use of the word “surreal” — a back-formation of “surrealism” […]

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day in 2009, October 15, a Thursday, when we got on a plane to leave the United States.
We have not been back since.

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Interesting concept, Ramadan. And one I knew about but, clearly, had never experienced.
One full month of fasting during the day. From sunrise to sundown. Nothing to eat. Nothing. And it gets more difficult than that.
No smoking, either. And here is the really tough one: No liquids. Not even water. From sunrise to sundown.

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Yes, I said it about two weeks ago.
“Even I’m ticked off at Brett Favre.”
This was after all the reports, early this month, of him calling officials and players of the Minnesota Vikings and telling them that his ankle wasn’t sound enough for him to play … that he was going to have to retire.
And it […]

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I believe I mentioned here previously that, at The National, we conduct nearly all newsroom business in English. We just can’t always be sure that’s what it is. English. I mean, there’s a reason “Trainspotting” had subtitles in the U.S.
When the Scots get going … it’s a major matter of “excuse me?” For the Yanks, […]

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Great day … I am back in sports journalism.
I have transferred from the news desk at The National, here in Abu Dhabi, to the sports department. And so far it’s been rather like going home again.
Even if “home” now includes quite a lot of cricket and rugby for what is, at heart, a British sports […]

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After traveling all day down the mountain-spackled length of Italy — and no, you can’t find a dozen places flat enough to plow 40 acres anywhere south of Rome — finally some time to do my tiny bit on UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, the most important sports figure in Southern California over the last […]

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At the office the other day. A weekend day. Things are slow. Room is quiet.
And then, those mechanical sound. The sort of ambulance siren … with scratchy needle-on-LP thing … and yes … someone is playing Pacman on the google.com home page.
Someone turned around and gave the co-worker — a person with a title, actually […]

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This is Part 1 of this topic. With Part 2 to come … eventually. Once I get around to compiling a list. And I think about it every day. Really, I do.
Today, we address the following phenomenon: In a newsroom where everyone speaks English … why are about half of all declarative sentences answered by […]

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