I’ve been away. I may have mentioned that. The last time I was at Staples Center probably was 2009.  Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals. The Nokia Theater was complete, before the jump to Abu Dhabi later that year. But I don’t remember much of anything around it. Most of the rest of […]

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It was noted here, a few days ago, that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in the country. Today, he was in the building — the offices of The National here in Abu Dhabi. It created a bit of a stir, even though most people in the UAE are not familiar with the former Laker and Bruin, the […]

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The Big Fella, the Captain, the master of the skyhook, is in the UAE capital. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, leading scorer in NBA history, UCLA and Los Angeles Lakers star, arrived in Abu Dhabi tonight, flying in on that new Etihad nonstop from LAX to AUH. He got off the plane and Tweeted, from @KAJ33: “Best service […]

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It was just one exhibition game, but Kobe Bryant scored 27 points Thursday night. After the ruptured Achilles and then the broken leg … I wasn’t sure he would score 27 again in a backyard game, let alone against an NBA team.

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The Los Angeles Kings tonight wrapped up their second Stanley Cup championship in three years. And though I, like most native southern Californians, am not a hockey fan, we must concede this: Los Angeles would be confronting a potential championship drought, about now, if the Kings had not had not turned into world beaters.

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So, watching the boxscore from the Oklahoma City Thunder versus Memphis Grizzlies playoffs game tonight, with the Clippers to come next … and I had a flashback to the media work room at Staples Center in Los Angeles. And the anxiety produced when the game before the game dragging on too long.

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Even baseball fans who have been following the game for more than a decade may wonder about the fuss surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers. Three million tickets sold nearly every season, a huge local TV contract, continued popularity in the City of the Angels. Perhaps the only concepts Angelenos can agree on are their preferences […]

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I have not paid close attention to the Los Angeles Lakers this year. I may not have even if I were not 10,000 miles from Staples Center. It became clear early that they were not going to be very good, and when Kobe Bryant’s brief return from Achilles surgery was interrupted by a broken leg, […]

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Who knew? I did not. I knew that Pau Gasol was a polite and intelligent guy, from my days of covering the Los Angeles Lakers. A Catalan, from Spain, but whose English was very good. Parents both involved in medicine. And the 7-foot thing, with a small man’s dexterity. I knew that teammates liked him, […]

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I concede I thought Kobe Bryant could beat this, too. I covered the guy for more than a decade, and I saw him come back, time and again, from injuries that would sideline the average athlete. “Badly sprained” ankle? Kobe would be back in a week, or sooner. He would keep playing right through things […]

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