Two major religion-based events coming up this week in this part of the world: 1. The end of the fasting month of Ramadan, during which Muslims are not to eat or drink from dawn to dusk — 14-plus-hour stretches, this time of year. 2. The start of Eid Al Fitr, one of the biggest holidays […]

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Yes. Real basketball, involving Duke University, a serious American college basketball team. In Dubai, in the UAE. Almost an out-of-body experience. Coach K sitting at courtside. Austin Rivers, Doc’s highly regarded son, starting for the Blue Devils. A plethora of Plumlees. ESPN cameras. A near-capacity crowd to see Duke win 86-66. Never thought I would […]

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Rather a strange turn of events, even by UAE standards. Duke University’s men’s basketball team running and dunking at a small, stuffy gym at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai as Mike Krzyzewski conducted an impromptu coaching clinic with about 30 guys sitting in the stands. “Sorry, I’m a little hoarse from yelling at […]

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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 […]

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I don’t know how much attention Mohamed bin Hammam got in the United States. His run against Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency was a big deal in much of the soccer world, and particularly here in the Gulf, where the idea of a Qatari as boss of Fifa planet was a major news story. […]

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Lots of weirdnesses in UAE soccer. A handful of foreigners are counted on to score most of the goals. Players are paid well despite tiny crowds. No one in the UAE pays much attention to the league except for Emiratis, yet every game is nationally televised. No admission is charged to see games, you can’t […]

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I don’t remember if I commented on this a year ago. Probably did. It certainly is strange to get up one day and realize … a bunch of people have left Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Just … gone.

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At 8 p.m. Sunday night, Theyab Awana was not particularly well-known even in the UAE. A 21-year-old right-side midfielder for the Baniyas club, a rising player but not quite there yet, he was getting some playing time with the UAE Olympic team and had just made a breakthrough onto the senior national team, though not […]

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Good to know the country still has a few million bucks to spend on silly extravangances, aside from Diego Maradona and the Getafe soccer club. My paper, The National, last week reported that the world’s most expensive car, a custom-made Bugatti L’Or Blanc, has been purchased by an unidentified businessman in Dubai for $2.4 million. […]

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I’ve gone all in on the Women’s World Cup the past two days. Yesterday I cajoled my cricket-loving British co-workers into tuning the big-screen TV from the England-Sri Lanka series-deciding cricket match … to the England-France women’s quarter-final … and then watched Japan shock Germany, after I was done for the night. Then I wrote […]

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