I have written about this before. About the moral cowardice of coaches who dump the pressure of the final moments of a football game on the heads of often the smallest and most vulnerable members of their team.

Kickers. And, in the case of the celebrated Jim Harbaugh, a punter.

Harbaugh today, with 10 seconds to play, had his team punt the ball on fourth-and-2 at midfield. It turned into a 38-yard fumble return for touchdown and sudden victory for Michigan State, 27-23, over Harbaugh’s Michigan.

Ahead of the play, Harbaugh called a timeout. To talk over what he was going to do, giving himself extra time to come up with the wrong decision — which was to punt the ball.

Why was it a wrong decision?

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So, some time off, and we wanted to go to Europe and be somewhere with a bit of light and sun, and here we are on the coast of Spain.

It may not be the smartest choice, this time of year, given that the UAE finally is cooling off. But everyone in Abu Dhabi knows it can be unpleasantly warm right into November, and even Spain begins to be a bit chill in another month.

So.

How does one get to the Valencia area from Abu Dhabi? Take the nearly sold out Etihad Boeing 777 flight to Rome, which leaves at 2:45 a.m., fight your way through the crowded Fiumicino airport (which seems to be in the midst of a major rebuild) and catch the Alitalia flight to Valencia.

With a 90-minute drive in a rental car, the trip is about 14 hours, all told.

But it is seems worth it, when you pull in to the bustling seaside town where the sun is breaking through fluffy Euro-clouds and the rented apartment affords a great view of the church tower as well as the Mediterranean Sea.

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I have been watching soccer/football for six years, here in the UAE. Seen lots and lots of matches.

But very few big crowds. And very little passion.

That changed tonight. Perhaps because the teams involved were imported from Egypt.

Al Ahly and Zamalek, the two biggest and most successful clubs in Egypt, played the country’s season-opening match at the marvelous new Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain tonight … and it produced a near-capacity crowd of people who were, basically, going nuts for 100 minutes.

Why 100 minutes? Because the game was halted for 10 minutes in the second half when players began scuffling, and overwrought random people came off the benches to join the scrap, and officials escorted the Italian officials off the pitch for 10 minutes.

The whole of the match (won 3-2 by Ahly) was one long festival of excitement, exhilaration, shattering disappointment, sweet victory.

And the Emiratis at the match, as reporters or TV people, seemed almost amused at the concept, as well as vaguely jealous. “Look, someone who cares about their domestic league. How quaint … how fun.”

Our favorite Emirati sports correspondent, Omar Al Raisi, covered the match for The National, and he produced a piece that reflects the near-wonder felt by locals watching Egyptian fans lose their minds over a soccer game.

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This is the perfect sea vehicle for the UAE executive who has everything.

The Seabreacher, which can dive about 16 feet below the surface but also come out of the water with sufficient energy to sail into the air before returning to the surface of the water.

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I don’t know how it was that I became the town crier for “longest scheduled nonstop commercial flight in the world”, but it feel as if I have gone there.

OK, I do know how it happened: Airlines where I live, in the UAE, began making nonstop flights from Abu Dhabi or Dubai to Los Angeles, which is a really long flight. One of the longest in the aviation world, and I mentioned that a bit over a year ago.

The Etihad flight we took back then was the third-longest at the time (and at this moment) behind a Qantas flight from Sydney to Dallas (and vice versa) and Delta going from Atlanta to Cape Town South Africa.

And now it seems like some sort of global race for “longest flight” in under way.

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It is odd for me to follow the Dodgers in the playoffs.

When I am not paying close attention, when my subconscious is the ascendant, I am rooting for the Dodgers to win.

That is what I did during my formative years. I was a fan of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and Maury Wills and Ron Fairly, and pulling for the Dodgers is what I do.

Or what I did.

Because my brain can give my heart several good reasons why this team is not worthy of love. Or even fondness.

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This was the turning point of Game 2 of the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

And it was one of the most controversial moments in recent postseason baseball history.

The situation: Dodgers on first and third, one out, trailing 2-1.

Here is video of the event, which came after Howie Kendrick hit a soft liner up the middle that bounced before Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy could reach it.

Chase Utley of the Dodgers took off from first base and collided heavily with Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada near second base, but I think it was tactics and survival that was going through his head, not violence.

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This has been something of a flashback for me. The first Abu Dhabi Tour … the first Redlands Bicycle Classic. What do they have in common? Two-wheel bikes, whippet lean men, strange terminology and the same sports editor covering each debut, albeit 30 years apart.

Abu Dhabi being Abu Dhabi, it started its bike race at a much higher level of competition than did little Redlands, in 1985, and with a professional crew of Italians to run the event — fours stages in four days.

Abu Dhabi also brought in 106 riders and 18 teams ranging from competitive to formidable and among the riders was one of the six men who has won each of the Grand Tours (Vincenzo Nibali) and the current Vuelta a Espana champion (Fabio Aru) and the recent winner of the UCI World Road Race Championship (Peter Sagan). Among other guys with impressive resumes.

And today, I got up-close-and-personal with the bikes and riders, and with the surprise winner of a dramatic mountain stage.

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The UAE national team, the country’s best in 25 years, lost 2-1 at Saudi Arabia last night, and suddenly their chances of qualifying for the Russia 2018 World Cup are slim.

A team ranked 70th in the world by Fifa, fifth-best in Asia, may not get out of the second round of Asian Football Confederation qualifying. At the least, fans here thought the Emiratis would get to the final round of 12.

But a 90th-minute goal in Jeddah complicated that significantly.

I wrote about this for the Saturday editions of The National.

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Fast-food outlets are as common as gas stations in the UAE, in part because a Burger King or a Hardees or a Pizza Hut typically is part of the 7-Eleven style retail area a few feet from the pumps.

We try to avoid fast food here for the same reasons we would back home — fried food, sugary drinks, lots of calories, etc.

But one of us had a craving, this week, and there we were at the McDonald’s, global king of fast food, not half a mile from where we live, in Abu Dhabi.

One of us ordered fries and McNuggets. The other ordered something untested, the McArabia, meant to be the giant company’s nod toward regional cuisine.

And how was the McArabia?

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