Isn’t it grand when someone writes a piece taking a position you wholeheartedly endorse?

Especially when you begin to wonder if you are the only one who feels that way?

That is what happened today when a staffer at The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, published a commentary pointing out the “dark arts” (that is, cheating) involved in Barcelona’s “best in history” (choose your own superlatives; none are too you extreme) Champions League victory over Paris Saint Germain last night.

Barcelona was down 4-0 before the match, the second leg of the last-16 stage of the tournament.

It ended 6-5 on aggregate, in Barcelona’s favor, thanks to three goals in the final seven minutes of action, sending the blissful masses of Barca’s global fans into paroxysms of ecstasy almost beyond human comprehension.

The reality of how that comeback was made possible was instantly overlooked by the Barca Front-Runner’s Society.

To wit: The two penalties Barcelona received and converted were made possible only by its players’ endless attempts to deceive the referee.

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What a cultural intersection this is for me! National anthems, the Middle East and military bands.

I lived in the United Arab Emirates for more than six years and I covered a lot of international soccer. So I was exposed to the UAE’s military band more than once, just ahead of a game pitting national teams.

The UAE band would march out, about 40 guys, looking as if they were well into middle age, some of them spilling out of their uniforms.

And then they would play, and not particularly well. I remember thinking “I hope this doesn’t get on TV” for the visiting country.

But it seems clear to me now that the UAE band was made up of skilled and drilled professionals, when compared to Egypt’s military band.

Have a look/listen.

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Well, yes, it appears Landon Donovan’s soccer playing career has ended without a formal declaration, which we suggested last month when a deal to play for Real Salt Lake fell through.

Donovan now seems interested in the business side of the game, which would mark an obvious, prominent and perhaps lucrative move for him as he transitions away from the pitch.

According to a Facebook Live post, Donovan has joined FA Investors in a drive to bring a Major League Soccer team to San Diego.

It makes sense, for several reasons:

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In the summer of 1975, my little brother and I drove across the United States to Washington D.C.  And back.

We returned to Southern California via a less-direct route, one that took us to Gettysburg, Niagara Falls and Canada and across the I-70, rather than the I-40, which we had taken heading east.

We arrived in Gettysburg early one night and checked into a motel in the dim light south of the town center.

The following morning, I opened the curtain covering a sliding door and just behind the room — like, a matter of a couple yards — were acres and acres of head stones belonging to the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

And I was creeped out. I had slept all night yards away from thousands of dead people.

Had I known what was out the back door, I would not have stayed at that motel.

Which I recalled as I watched tonight, on Chasseurs d’Appart (the French version of House Hunters), as a young French couple choose to purchase a new house in the northwestern city of Rennes …

With the town cemetery inches behind their back fence.

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Eleven years ago, I made the 320-mile drive from Southern California to Phoenix to see the U.S. play Canada in Pool C competition of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

I should have stayed home.

Dontrelle Willis was torched and the U.S. lost 8-6 to Canada in the “world cup” of the stick-and-ball game.

Which it hasn’t been and is unlikely to become, but the WBC keeps lurching along, and tomorrow the fourth edition of the tournament begins, in South Korea.

(No, I will not be driving to Seoul.)

And I have only one question for organizers of the WBC.

Why bother?

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Or fastest over 40 yards, anyway. In a run that began with a human starting the clock.

John Ross, a receiver out of the University of Washington, was timed at 4.22 seconds today over the NFL’s preferred test distance, breaking an NFL Combine record of 4.24, set by running back Chris Johnson in 2008.

(Johnson in 2014 raced a jaguar over 100 meters for National Geographic. The jaguar won. Easily.)

Ross, 22, already has had an interesting career.

He was coached by rapper/sports fan Snoop Dogg in their hometown of Long Beach, California … Ross was third in the 100 meters for Long Beach Jordan High School in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 final (running a 10.66) … he had major surgery on both knees while at Washington, sitting out the 2015 season … he caught 76 passes for 1,122 yards and 17 touchdowns last season … he set a combine 40-yard-dash record … he confirmed he will have shoulder surgery later this month … and he missed a chance to win an island because he was wearing the wrong shoes.

About the island …

The German sportswear company Adidas had offered an island “as soon as reasonably possible” (or, $1 million) to any player who broke Johnson’s record at the combine — if that person was wearing the 2017 Adizero 5-Star 40 cleats, when he was timed — and then agreed to endorse the shoes for the 2017 season.

Ross was wearing Nike shoes.

He didn’t seem too broken up about the island, telling reporters in Indianapolis: “I really can’t swim that well. And I don’t have a boat, so, you know, I had to run in Nikes.”

Nike reportedly signed him to an endorsement contract later in the day.

For speed wonks … in the NFL 40 an official clicks a hand-held device once the runner raises the hand that had been on the ground in a three-point stance. An electronic eye tracks the finish time.

And yes, any timing involving humans tends to return a faster time that a fully automated run.

But, still, Ross was the fastest of the receivers by a 10th of a second — which is a fairly large gap and would suggest he really was the fastest guy in the group.

He probably made himself quite a bit of money, with that performance — the NFL tends to turn the fastest-in-the-40 guys into first-round draft picks.

If he recovers from shoulder surgery, as expected, Ross will become a millionaire before the summer is out.

This was a day when the strains inside the Buss family came out in the open and were shown to be a clear and present danger to the stability of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise.

Jim Buss, who ran the basketball operations side of things for the Lakers, last week was fired by his sister, Jeanie.

Today, according to reports in the L.A. Times and ESPN, Jim and older brother Johnny struck back, attempting to set up a board meeting that could have ended sister Jeanie’s control of the team and returned it to Jim.

Jeanie Buss responded with a restraining order, and the brothers backed down from what has been described as a “coup” attempt. But that may not end the palace intrigue.

As the attorney for Jeanie Buss said: “This is no doubt the beginning and not the end of the legal game-playing.”

Which is bad for the Lakers. Not just that Jim wants back after three-plus miserable, out-of-the-playoffs seasons, but because it suggests that the franchise remains in chaos — which can’t help attract talent during a rebuild.

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By the time the Rams left Southern California for St. Louis, ahead of the 1995 NFL season, they had shifted from their traditional white-and-blue uniforms to a blue-and-gold look.

In St. Louis, it got more so, with the blue trending toward a dark blue, producing a uniform that looked as little as possible like the team’s traditional look. And why not? “Traditional” was Los Angeles, particularly during the George Allen era.

That meant gold “horns” instead of white (no!) on the best-in-football helmets.

Now that the Rams are back in greater Los Angeles, the notion that they should move back towards their traditional white and blue of the 1950s and 1960s … well, it makes sense for SoCal fans.

And so they have done.

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A former colleague and I were talking about the rash of injuries to NBA big men, especially the seven-footers who would have been so valuable as focal points in Basketball As We Knew It of 20 years ago.

That is, back when games often were dominated by massive centers scoring on dunks or layups or putbacks, and keeping the opposition from doing the same at the other end of the court.

This would have been during the long era of walk-it-up basketball which typically looked to get the ball close to the rim, where the big guy could throw it down.

What we have now is, clearly, a game in which speed has become paramount and the three-pointer has become a shot at which even a seven-footer is supposed to be adept.

And how is this taking a toll on centers?

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Reading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time. Loving it still; almost depressed that I an nearing the end.

And finding new appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien’s plotting and narrative skills. Books 3 through 6 are marvels of elastic storytelling, with the author shifting among as many as four plot lines.

Three of the plot lines come together in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields where (spoiler alert!) … good King Theoden of Rohan is killed.

Which set me to thinking … that has to be one of the best ways for a king to exit this mortal coil. Killed in battle.

As opposed to watching and then running (looking at you, Darius III) or getting sick and dying in your tent at age 33 (hello, Alexander) or watching and running and later caught and executed (yes, you, Charles I).

Eventually, I came around to the question: How many kings have been killed in battle? Real kings, not fictional. And yes, there is a wiki page for that.

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