I bet on sports, basically, never. I’ve never placed a bet in Las Vegas. I haven’t spent one minute in/at a sports book. I don’t know a bookie. (Or, at least, I don’t think I know a bookie.) I can’t tell you what the point spread is on any game I’m not covering, and I […]

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We’re taking the “funemployment” thing to the next level. A couple of months ago we were sitting in the Long Beach apartment, and I had a sudden inspiration. “Hey! Why can’t we sit around and do nothing … somewhere else … as well as we can here? Like, say, in Paris?” And I picked Paris, […]

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I was at a soccer practice not long ago, and the subject turned (as it so often does in any spare moment at any sports venue), to the print journalism implosion. And all the people who have been fired or will be soon. We were talking about those still getting paid, and how nerve-racking it […]

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I’ve never tried this. But I will today. Just because. To see if it is possible. Or sensible. Or useful. Running commentary! I am going to watch the Confederations Cup soccer match between the United States and Spain, which begins at 11:30-ish … and bang in entries every few minutes. Now, it seems to me […]

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A major component of journalism is asking questions. We want to know. We have a source or an authority or a witness in front of us, and we need information from that person to improve our stories, or even to make them possible. Generally, journalists are in a hurry. Often, their time is limited. The […]

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It looks like it might be a good job. A print journalism job. Titled. Overseas. Maybe a real salary. The sort of job any of the thousands of print journos thrown out of the business in the past couple of years might find attractive. The ad is for a pair of openings at the China […]

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Interesting reader “poll” on the espn.com home page. Which only reinforces how many of us are most impressed by what we have seen most recently. It asks readers to vote on “which is the best team right now in the NBA conference finals?” A week ago, I’d guess that this vote would have come in […]

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May have to move quickly on this. ESPN.com may go back to its regular home page sometime today. Or will, if and when the execs there recover their scruples/ethics/sense of shame. Here is the link to the Web site, if you don’t want to type it in. Have you seen it? Talk about whoring out […]

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Espn.com is pretty much the go-to Web site for sports fans. We all know this. Yahoo.com may do some business, attract some eyeballs, and so do cnnsi.com and cbssportsline.com … but espn.com is the gold standard of the industry. But the site is doing its best to tarnish that reputation … and drive at least […]

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I am sitting about 10 feet from my refrigerator. Hanging from the upper part of that fridge, fixed by a magnet to the metal of the freezer door, are four Dodgers tickets. And not just any Dodgers tickets. But to a day and a game I very carefully and specifically picked out. July 22, a […]

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