We get visitors, here in the UAE, this time of year. Many of them are Europeans who show up with soggy clothes and dripping noses, beaten down by months of short days and foul winter weather, seeking some sun and dry land before they lose their minds. That is how, this week, the UAE becomes […]

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This is a topic that comes up fairly often, in this part of the planet, sometimes referred to as the Mena (Middle East/North Africa) region: Who is the Arab world’s greatest footballer? At the moment, a case often is made, by pundits, for an Egyptian striker named Mohamed Aboutrika, who today made his debut in […]

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David Beckham signed with Paris Saint-Germain today, and in my humble opinion he missed an opportunity to end his career with a dramatic and daring flourish. Signing with PSG is consistent with Beckham’s peregrinations since leaving Manchester United in 2003 — big clubs in world cities. He could have done it in a far more […]

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We are into Month 2 of our car rental. For our first three years here, we made do with taxis and the occasional one- or two-day rental, nearly always job-related: A car to get me to a match in Al Ain or Dubai, for example. However, after we moved to the new place, further from […]

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I am considered an analog guy. Most of the young people in the newsroom are amused by the wall calendar I have posted to keep track of vacations in the sports department. “How retro.” But the newspaper has no easy electronic system to track vacations, and certainly not one that allows anyone to see whoever […]

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By the time the UAE national football team made the final of the Gulf Cup, last week, I concede I was wondering what sums of money might be directed their way if they won it. I recalled that the president of the country gave each player on the Under 23 team Dh500,000 (about $136,000) when […]

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I have always liked the notion of a 24-hour race. Le Mans, of course. And here in the UAE, we have the 24 Hours of Dubai. The annual UAE event began today and finishes tomorrow, and we talked in the office about when the toughest part to drive for 24 hours might be … and […]

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I find the notion of “2013” awkward. It’s the 13. Not a felicitous number. Though it does sound more like a football score than anything we have had in a while. Which is good. Moreso than 20-10 or 20-09, certainly, or even 20-07. Just looking at it, it seems as if it is a prime […]

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In yesterday’s post, I noted how difficult it is, in the Western world, to have good newspapers in the final week of the year. Parliaments are not in session, stock exchanges take days off, sources are out of town, fewer games are scheduled. At newspapers, one of the bits of enterprise often used to fill […]

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This was a story that developed overnight. Or perhaps it is more correct to describe it as “speculation that morphed into quasi-news” overnight. This out of Argentina: The Iraqi Football Association was about to hire Diego Maradona as coach of its national team, which remains in contention for a 2014 World Cup berth. This out […]

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