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An Elections Night Wonk

June 23rd, 2016 · No Comments · Sports Journalism

Could have seen this coming.

Not that the United Kingdom would vote to leave the European Union … but that I would last long into the night watching results come in.

Like, 3:45 a.m. late.

Watching the BBC‘s coverage of Britain’s national referendum on whether to stay in the EU or exit it — the so-called Brexit.

Turns out, I don’t need an American election to stay up all night watching returns come in.

I blame this on my sports background.

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The $5,000 Dodgers Fantasy Camp

June 22nd, 2016 · 1 Comment · Baseball

It’s the time of year for frustrated ballplayers (21 and older, who have a few thousand dollars in cash lying around) … to sign up for the annual Dodgers Fantasy Camp!

Here is the announcement of the 2017 camp, to be held January 15-21, and formally known as the Dodgers & White Sox Fantasy Camp, since the teams share a spring training site in Glendale, Ariz., and run their camps concurrently.

Basically, it’s for overgrown kids who wonder what it would be like to wear the big-league uniform, play a few games with other civilians at a Major League training facility and hobnob with former players, who in theory will be coaching the amateurs.

And you can live it … for $5,000 or so.

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The Fete de la Musique … in Our Town

June 21st, 2016 · No Comments · France

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It is a fine notion: Make live music available, at no charge, on a given night every year. Taking it to the masses, that is.

I first encountered the results of that notion in Paris a decade or so ago, and it was reprised tonight across France, including in our little Languedocienne town.

In France, La Fete de la Musique brings people outside every June 21, and that was how it worked here, too, on what often is the first day of summer.

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I Wish LeBron Hadn’t Done That

June 20th, 2016 · 1 Comment · Basketball, NBA

It’s true that many basketball fans and pundits thought LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers had almost no chance to win the NBA Finals.

It’s true that a prominent ESPN talking head said, before the Finals, that LeBron would surrender the NBA “King” title to Stephen Curry, if Curry and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cavs.

It’s true that over the past two seasons some journalists suggested LeBron did not really get along with his Cleveland teammates or his former coach, and certainly someone in Miami must have said his departure from the Heat for the cold of Cleveland was a bad idea.

But for the two-plus weeks of the Finals, LeBron was sphinx-like, on the topic of being second-guessed on his decisions and analyzed as a player on the back side of his career.

When it was over, and LeBron was the catalyst for a stirring comeback from a 3-1 deficit to victory in Game 7, the lasting image — or so we thought — was LeBron weeping tears of joy after winning a championship — for Cleveland, for his team, for himself. Which would have been a perfect way to be remembered.

And then he went and screwed it up in an Instagram post today.

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Cleveland Over Golden State, in Hindsight

June 19th, 2016 · No Comments · Basketball, NBA

Now that it’s over, with the Cleveland Cavaliers overcoming a 3-1 games deficit to win Game 7 in the NBA Finals, what does our 20-20, after-the-fact vision tell us?

Lots of things we did not believe just a week ago.

To wit:

–Stephen Curry was the unanimous regular-season MVP, but LeBron James remains the league’s best player. That new-sheriff-in-town rep Curry built up in most of two MVP seasons was atomized by LeBron. In the Finals, Curry wasn’t even his team’s best player; that was Draymond Green.

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Battle of Waterloo on Its Way to Being Forgotten?

June 18th, 2016 · No Comments · France, Lists

If you come across one of those 10 most decisive battles in human history lists … the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, invariably will be in there.

It was a victory for a coalition of forces, mostly British and Prussian, that marked the end of Napoleon’s bloody attempts to bring the whole of Europe under French control.

A year ago, the 200th anniversary was recognized with a large reenactment of the battle.

But the 201st anniversary? Not so much.

Waterloo still bears remembering, especially by the losers.

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Oops! Two Corrections of Bad Assumptions

June 17th, 2016 · No Comments · France, Travel

This is a bit embarrassing, but it shows what happens when you make assumptions about a place new to you.

One enormous blunder. One not as ridiculous. But each could have been avoided had I asked around before I hit “publish”.

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Stephen Curry and Halo Slippage

June 16th, 2016 · No Comments · Basketball, NBA

Perhaps no professional athlete in this century has ridden the crest of a popularity surge the way Stephen Curry has, for the past two years.

Remember, ahead of the 2013-14 NBA season the Golden State Warriors shooting star was widely considered something of a one-trick pony, an interesting player with one good season, one playoffs season and no all-star games to his credit.

He solidified his status as his team’s best player, in 2013-14, but the Warriors went out of the playoffs in the first round of the playoffs, at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Since, then … it’s been all Curry all the time. A semi-frail, long-range bomber who led the Warriors to record heights and “changed the way the game is played”. Twice an MVP. A champion last season.

And a great guy, too … modest, a family man, kind to animals and journalists, beloved by fans, almost a regular-looking guy, like the rest of us. His No. 30 jersey the top-selling jersey in the NBA, displacing LeBron James at the top of the heap.

And then came Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and the Steph Curry momentum machine ran off the road.

To wit:

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Ichiro Suzuki and Not Really Catching Pete Rose

June 15th, 2016 · No Comments · Baseball

Ichiro Suzuki had two hits yesterday, and by one form of accounting that gives him one more hit in his career than Pete Rose had while setting the Major League record — with 4,256 hits.

It seems some are going to suggest that makes Suzuki the MLB “hit king”, displacing Rose, but that is not accurate for one very simple reason.

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Euro 2016: Too Expensive for Casual Fans of Iceland v Hungary

June 14th, 2016 · 1 Comment · Fifa, Football, France, soccer, Spain

France is host of the ongoing European Championship.

We live in France.

We have never been to a Euro tournament match.

A few matches are being held in Marseille, the closest game site to where we live, in the Languedoc. One of those Marseille matches is Saturday and involves Iceland and Hungary, two long shots to last long in this tournament.

Maybe we could buy a ticket, here a few days ahead, and make the 2.5-hour drive over to Marseille and see a Euro match. An added bonus: Iceland and Hungary fans are unlikely to riot.

But then came the sticker shock.

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