You think your national soccer team has problems?
(Well, if your team is China, it does.)
The UAE fell out of contention for the 2014 World Cup today, November 11, 2011 — three-and-a-half years ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Done. Out of it. Can’t survive the second-to-last round of Asia Confederation qualifying.
That’s right. UAE fans of […]

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Yaaaawn. That’s the reaction to the World Series from over here.
Well, that or just generic befuddlement. A significant number of people in this part of the world, Arabs and subcontinenters both, know basically nothing about baseball. I mean, they may not even know the game exists, let alone that Americans and some other random people […]

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When I reported on the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, I made a point of going over to the Plaza Monumental to see the bullfights. How I found the 2-3 hours of waking daylight to escape to the corrida, during a Summer Games … I don’t clearly remember.
It was my first afternoon at the bullfights, and […]

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One of the standards in the doldrums of summer print journalism has long been “the series.” Find a couple of people on the staff who aren’t on vacation, and have them spend a bunch of time reporting, and get the graphics people involved, and the photo editor …
And let’s put on a show!
Let’s fill several […]

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I was thinking about the Beijing Olympics, and realized that the U.S. men’s basketball team had zero Clippers on it. But then, neither did the Vancouver Olympics. Have any Clippers on the U.S. team.
Though clipper ships presumably sailed to Vancouver, but not Beijing, it being too far from the ocean. Hong Kong? Sure. But not […]

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Part 3 of the series in The National about the best sports venues in the world. Broken out by continent.
In Monday’s editions: North America!
Interesting, how the voting went.
I will tell you who won: Augusta National. Even the Brits in the room know about “the course like no other” or whatever it is network TV gets […]

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After all the Winter Olympics I went to, and chased around American teams that averaged about two medals every three days … and I miss one for the first time since 1988 … and the U.S. is apparently going to win more medals than anyone.
Have you been talking about this, back home? How big a […]

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It was a more eventful decade than my initial thoughts indicated. “Wow. I have to come up with 10 good sports events from the 0-somethings? I’m not sure I can do that.”
Turns out, a few minutes of cross-referencing years and sports, and it’s no problem finding 10. The trick is limiting it to that many.
And […]

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Mostly, I just wanted to see how many “categories” I could have at the top of this item. Now let’s see if I actually mention something about all of them.
Some interesting topics playing out in U.S. sports right now and, really, I’m aware of them. Not everyone back home seems to remember we do, in […]

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Wow. That was harsh. As jarring as one of those “better than the boys” right hooks that Michelle Obama told the IOC that her father taught her.
Chicago 2016, one (vote) and done. First of the four bid finalists to be excused from the competition, today in Copenhagen.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the vote, with Madrid […]

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