This is a grand occasion, here in the UAE, and we should have observed it with greater fanfare. The Turning on of the Water Heater. Note the date:

[Read more →]

I consider this one of the turning points on the UAE calendar. Like, in the U.S., where July 4 marks the start of serious summer and Labor Day the end. Here? It was still May when … I turned off the water heater for the shower. This is when you should be devising ways to […]

[Read more →]

Been donkey’s years, as the Brits would say, since I did a list. It’s time. This one is going to be a little apples-and-oranges. My favorite road trips as a professional sports journalist. Some considerations: –What is more important? The travel? Or the event I was there to cover? –Or will we almost certainly get […]

[Read more →]

It wasn’t only because we found meals in Vienna to be expensive, compared to nearby cut-rate European capital cities Prague and Budapest, that we avoided Vienna’s restaurants for most of our stay in the Austrian capital. Though that was much of it. Another major factor? A chance to binge on American-made movies in VO (version […]

[Read more →]

I must have missed this. Some time over the past year or two London has become a post-cash society. Yes, a few holdouts can be found, mostly among immigrant-run businesses that don’t like the idea of credit cards. Such as the Chinese noodle house on Wardour Street, in Soho. A pot of tea had already […]

[Read more →]

If a person has a chance to go aboard an aircraft carrier, he or she pretty much has to go. For a long time “aircraft carrier” was a byword for enormous. Both in size and in military impact. The seagoing aircraft carrier retains its ability to project power but it has lost its monopoly on […]

[Read more →]

An important part of fantasy sports leagues is how it brings a fan improved awareness of the players — particularly those on his or her team. Some “owners” even do a sort of scouting of players — just like the professionals! Huston Street of the Los Angeles Angels was the third of four relief pitchers […]

[Read more →]

We saw Argo, the Ben Affleck/Iran hostages movie, last night. (It came late to the UAE.) And if the film resonated back in the States, magnify that by two or three for those of us living about a 30-minute plane ride from Iran. Our concerns, here in the UAE, that we are at special risk […]

[Read more →]

Seems like time for a list. I’m pretty sure I’ve noted on this blog that I am among a rapidly shrinking fraction of Americans who have seen every Super Bowl. Either in person or on television. Do the math. The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967. Even if we cast a wide […]

[Read more →]

The weather is the No. 1 topic of discussion in the United Arab Emirates at the moment, and not for the usual reasons. Instead of this being one of the hottest places in the world … we are struggling to deal with Arctic temps. Arctic, I tell you. Like 56 … 55 … 54 … […]

[Read more →]