More than most of the populated parts of the planet, the UAE sports season is quite condensed. Some of the indigenous sports — well, soccer, anyway, sometimes at barely a walking pace — compete for most of the year. But the heat is too brutal about seven months out of 12 for most anything else, […]

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In terms of global visibility, the biggest day on the calendar in Abu Dhabi is when the Formula One grand prix is contested here. As it was today. At no other time do so many influential people congregate in the UAE capital. Eleven heads of state (including King Juan Carlos of Spain, etc.), as well […]

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A county fair is a curious thing. Made curiouser by some stretch of time out between visits. Like, say, while out of the country for a couple of years. Deep-fried Snickers? Pig races? “Amazing” shower-door scum removers? A fair is probably as telling a slice of Americana as can be imagined, and as such is […]

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I’ve talked about this with sports journalism colleagues over two or three decades. What is the best sports assignment in print? Because I spent three decades in American journalism, the answers sometimes would be “covering baseball home and road” … or “being a major metro’s NFL writer” … and somesuch. Maybe “international sports reporter” which […]

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I’ve seen enough Formula One racing to know that leaders don’t get passed often. Or at all. Not unless their cars break. And some tracks are even less likely to produce a pass than others. Especially after the first few turns of the race. If you are fast enough to qualify up front, it’s just […]

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Isn’t this what so much of our lives is about? For good or (often) ill. Gaining attention? Personally. As a group. As a community. The city and the emirate of Abu Dhabi, it strikes me, are ready for their close-up. In the sense that they would like to be known, recognized by the Average Joe […]

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I was thinking about the Beijing Olympics, and realized that the U.S. men’s basketball team had zero Clippers on it. But then, neither did the Vancouver Olympics. Have any Clippers on the U.S. team. Though clipper ships presumably sailed to Vancouver, but not Beijing, it being too far from the ocean. Hong Kong? Sure. But […]

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This was easily the craziest sports story I’ve seen in a while. When I first saw the link to this story, I assumed some racing machine had gotten out of control and flown into the stands and killed this 13-year-old kid. No, it was far more insane than that.

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I was struck by this last year, and I am again: Paris has to be the world’s biggest city that cares almost not at all about team sports. For that matter, nearly the whole of France has escaped the maladie that is sports fandom. Which may actually be healthy, as well as unique. But it […]

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This is pretty good stuff, if I say so myself. However, I didn’t link to the Europe part of this, a couple of days ago, and South America is coming up for Tuesday morning. So let’s catch up with that. Got any guesses at our top three venues for Europe and South America? Let’s link […]

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