Kobe Bryant ranks third in the NBA in scoring, so far, at 26.4 points per game. But the Lakers are 4-4, and are beginning to have the feel of a .500 team. Are these concepts related? Well, yes. In that the Lakers have managed to win four games … but have contrived to lose four. […]

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I can’t believe I’m writing a blog post with the “Kardashian” name in the headline. But this is about sports. Really. A news item last week revealed that Kris Humphries is the most-disliked player in the NBA, according to recent surveys of the American public. Fifty percent of all respondents identified Kris Humphries as an […]

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I didn’t really plan to watch the Lakers in their season-opener on Christmas Day. The game didn’t start until 2:30 p.m. in Los Angeles (which was early December 26 here in the UAE), and I prefer my sports-from-the-other-side-of-the-world to end about that time. Not start. But the night kinda dragged on, and when I got […]

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Generous of me, yes, to allow the Clippers to have Chris Paul — since the trade is already made and I’m not the erratic and capricious commissioner of the NBA who can step in and quash a deal. Lakers fans will be agitated about this trade, for two reasons: That Chris Paul will not be […]

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Huge day for sports in greater Los Angeles. The Angels signed Albert Pujols to the second-biggest contract in baseball history and the Lakers traded for Chris Paul — only to see the NBA commissioner kill the deal. But being “big news” doesn’t mean also mean it is “good news.” One of these stories is bad […]

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Casper Ware, the star point guard at Long Beach State, the kid who scored a career-high 28 points in the 86-76 spanking of 10th-ranked Pitt on the Panthers’ home floor … … is getting a shout-out from a significant website.

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I believe the 2011-12 NBA season should not happen. At all. It’s not as if the NBA is missed, which is probably pretty damning. Do you know anyone — anyone — who is talking about how the lack of NBA games is tearing them up? Or even vaguely disturbing them? That, then, is a league […]

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I was aware of this, a bit. I clearly remember, X number of years ago (during that short period when the proudly clueless Dutchman Ruud Gullit was coaching the Galaxy), having this pointed out to me. Gullit was talking to a few of us after a practice session, and he just launched into a Jeremiad […]

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For the first time since 2007, we have an NBA Finals without the Lakers in it. Seems a bit strange. Almost not-quite-real. But we may have to get used to it — Kobe isn’t a kid anymore, and Mike Brown doesn’t seem like an inspired hire as coach. So, Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks?

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I love relegation. I knew about it, of course, long before I got off the plane in Abu Dhabi in the heavily Euro-influenced UAE. But seeing it in action … brings home what fun it is and how the NBA, the NFL, MLB could all be improved. Not that I expect this ever could happen. […]

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