If fans of the U.S. men’s national soccer team felt an unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation in the solar plexus tonight, 30 seconds from watching their team advance to the final 16 of the World Cup … well, it was both. Unpleasant? That goes without saying. A 2-1 victory over Portugal takes the Yanks to the […]

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The hardest bit of staying up all night is the hour before dawn. Well, maybe when it is the second time in two days you have reached that hour before dawn which, in Abu Dhabi this time of year, is a bit after 5 a.m. But that was required of anyone who wanted to watch […]

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This was the idea of one of our graphic artists at The National, Alex Belman. As part of our three-week buildup to the Brazil 2014 World Cup … a five-part, clip-n-save-n-reassemble graphic of the World Cup trophy. You know the one … gold-plated, with all the hands grasping the soccer ball. And today was Day […]

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A few days back I posted an entry about how I doubt I will be able to cheer for the U.S. national team at the coming World Cup, because I have developed an animus towards Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach who dumped Landon Donovan. That provoked some reaction, some of it more than a bit tart. “We don’t […]

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This has nothing to do with Spain. Or Germany. Or Brazil. Or any of the global soccer powers. This is about the United Arab Emirates which, until tonight, had the longest unbeaten streak in international soccer. Yes, the UAE, which draws its national team from a mere 1 million citizens. (The other 7 million of […]

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In the wake of Jurgen Klinsmann‘s cavalier treatment of Landon Donovan, I have arrived at a crisis point. Do I support the team Klinsmann will coach at Brazil 2014? Or do I withhold my love until he is gone? I am leaning towards the latter.

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At times, it seems as if one of the primary impulses in the UAE — and the Gulf, for that matter — is discovering innovative ways to spend astonishing amounts of money. “Gold” class is not enough. It must be “platinum”. The new watch, the most expensive car, the hotels that declare themselves to be […]

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The Mackinaw peach is an invention of the sitcom Seinfeld. But I could not avoid thinking of the fake fruit when reading this story in The National about a real fruit: The Alphonso mango, also known as … the “king of fruit”.

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If you are going to transit through the Gulf, some words of advice. Don’t get drunk in public. Don’t insult anyone based on their religion. The drummer of the German heavy metal band Scorpions, an American named James Kottak, ran afoul of both concepts, and is about to complete spending a month in a Dubai […]

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I suppose the people involved with any news website come to know their audiences. And how unpredictable, capricious and utterly inexplicable they can be. Why no “hits” on this local story? Why scads of hits on this non-local or semi-local story? At The National, for instance, we can get a nice number of page views […]

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