Here is my take on the online fantasy sports sites: People who use them are gamblers, not sports fans. Real fans do not need the lure of winning money by defeating strangers in daily fantasy competitions sponsored by rapacious, apparently-not-quite-ethical companies.

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The Dutch are among the tallest people in the world. Some suggest they are the tallest, citing an average male height of 6 feet. This is hard to be sure about. Poke around, and you can find web pages that insist Serbs and Croats are the tallest, others suggesting the Nilotic people (the Dinka, the […]

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It’s time for Americans to do themselves a favor: Take the national anthem out of U.S. sports events. We have plenty of good reasons to do so, and as soon as possible. To wit:

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I was critical of the U.S. women’s basketball team yesterday. It underwhelmed me in a semifinal victory over France. Then I saw the men play Spain tonight … And they were just as ragged as were the women … while playing significantly more competent opposition. Which means they are in a much more dangerous situation. […]

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I have seen more than a little women’s basketball. I covered WNBA games. I traveled to Arizona to sit down with Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury. I reported on women’s college basketball games and more than a few girls prep basketball games. I covered the U.S. women’s team in an Olympics or three. But […]

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Rio 2016 is the first Summer Olympics I will not attend since Moscow 1980. Yes, it was a good run. I made it to eight consecutive Summer Games. Beginning with Los Angeles 1984 and continuing with Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. The first four with […]

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This disappoints me, and I assume it disappoints NBA fans, as well. Kevin Durant signs a two-year contract with the Golden State Warriors. Happy Fourth of July, hoops fans! Durant was a free agent, and could join any team he chose. He hosted presentations in the Hamptons, an upscale region near New York City, and […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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