This is an important journalism skill outsiders rarely think about. Posing post-game questions. This is not the same as asking a question in an interview situation. At best, a one-on-one with flexible time limits. More likely something in a controlled environment, like a press conference. Asking post-game questions in a clubhouse littered with laundry and […]

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  The wind blows sometimes, here in the south of France. In the summer, that can pose problems with slamming doors, because we like to keep the windows open throughout the season, when it can be a bit warm. And gusty. Thus, we prop open the doors with compact and heavy things lying about. An […]

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“Not getting” as in “not partaking” but also as in “failing to understand” what podcasts really do for news organizations. Podcasts, you may have noticed, are a hot thing. Seems like just about everyone has one now, which could be an example of “other sites are doing it; we better, too”. The herd mentality being […]

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(Above: A statue to a bullfighter, in Seville.) Passing references have been made on this site to our tour of the Iberian Peninsula. Normally, more of that would have appeared here, as we went along, but the Dodgers were in a seven-game World Series — which vied for attention on this blog — originally intended […]

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Scott Wolf has been covering USC athletics seemingly forever. He writes for the L.A. Daily News/Los Angeles News Group, and in an era where nearly everyone else lost their jobs, Wolf kept his. Mostly because he generally breaks all significant news coming out of his alma mater’s athletic department. Readers, and editors, have picked up […]

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It’s time for a list. A lot of information and opinions banging around out there about the U.S. loss at Trinidad and Tobago, and subsequent failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Let’s see if we can pick out a few of the most interesting notions — and maybe introduce a few new ones.

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As the ultimate international sport, one might expect soccer would offer all sorts of odd and interesting connections. This guy played for that guy, and later became coach of this team that I covered … It really is rather amazing, in a sort of “three degrees of separation” way. And I have noticed a few […]

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Catalonia took another step on the road to sovereign status in a referendum today. And, as we typically do in reflecting the world of sports, we make it about us. To wit: “If  Catalonia leaves Spain … what does this mean for FC Barcelona and the Spanish league and the Spanish national team?” The short […]

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For all I know, journalists covering major sports events these days have an ID chip in their arms. Nobody gets into the media areas unless the sensor picks up your biometric data. At minimum, credentials for an Olympics or World Cup  or French Open, over the past decade or two, have featured increasingly sophisticated and […]

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We cannot know what it is like, at the remove that is the TV in your living room. Radio can convey some of the noise but little of the energy. Even inside the stadium, the nervous tension does not always register up into the seats. To gauge the real impact of a big and painfully […]

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