A curious aspect of life in the tower we have lived for nearly two years … is how many residents are convinced that some of the little guys who work in the halls of the 20-or-so stories … sleep on the roof. I am not sure I believe it, but I certainly wonder. Would it […]

[Read more →]

The Asian Games. Held every four years … somewhere in Asia. The biggest world’s sports event that isn’t the Summer Olympics. Something like 10,000 athletes, and closer to 13,000 people involved, when coaches and staff are counted. The Asian Games are almost as big as the continent. And the 2014 edition opened offically tonight, with […]

[Read more →]

The Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-0 tonight, and when Texas got six in the ninth to defeat Oakland 6-1. the LAAA (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) had clinched the American League West. Which should also mean that Mike Trout has clinched the AL Most Valuable Player award. The turning point of their season would […]

[Read more →]

These words came out of my mouth tonight: “Mahmoud Khamis is with Nasr! That’s where he went!” Which is revealing, in this sense: I know way too much about the Arabian Gulf League, which began play in the 2014-15 season tonight. Good times!

[Read more →]

This has to be one of the most difficult rules in sports to enforce. Cricket’s 15-degree rule. The world’s top-ranked one-day international (ODI) bowler (pitcher) was suspended indefinitely today because studies of his bowling “action” find him breaking the 15-degree rule. Which is … ?

[Read more →]

This seemed a little bold when it was announced today. The 2014/15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, the nine-month, round-the-world exercise by the most intrepid and hardiest of sailors, plans to have all seven entrants sail the entire distance. As opposed to the previous Volvo race, three years ago, when the prevalence of piracy […]

[Read more →]

We have been joined in San Gimignano by an Italian couple and their two young children. After a dinner (barbecued sausages and a half-dozen skewers of meat and peppers) and some very nice wine our visitors brought us, we sat down in the living room to talk about life in the UAE … and it […]

[Read more →]

Modern travel is fairly astounding. When it works, of course, and it generally does.  Far more than it did in the past. Wake up in Abu Dhabi, and two cab rides, one six-hour flight and an 80-minute train ride later … you can be checking into your friend’s hotel in Florence, Italy, in plenty of […]

[Read more →]

Twice in a year the UAE has hosted a world Under 17 sports event. Last fall it was the Fifa U17 World Cup. This month it is the Fiba Under 17 World Championship. Fiba is the international sanctioning body for basketball. And this basketball tournament has been more interesting than was the soccer tournament. Even […]

[Read more →]

So, a young man who works in sports at The National … On Wednesday last he got his UAE drivers license. It’s not a difficult process, for an American to get a UAE drivers license. A little cash, you display your U.S. license, you produce a “no objection” letter from your employer, and you can […]

[Read more →]