Rays Aim To Rebound From Wild-card Loss To Guardians

People may not be arrested for showing the first signs of non-heterosexual behaviour, though who knows how the authorities might use the hi-tech surveillance system I was shown in the Nasa-like command centre that will monitor the eight World Cup stadiums?

The teams entered the postseason heading in opposite directions, and that trend continued in Game 1. Tampa Bay has lost six straight games while the American League Central champion Guardians have won 25 of their last 31 games.

Telling me the story of her mother's trailblazing emancipation with evident pride, she seemed to epitomise a new generation of enlightened Qataris: just the type of woman the emir and his clan purport to admire.

Tampa Bay will look to bounce back behind right-hander Tyler Glasnow (0-0, 1.35 ERA in the regular season), who rejoined the team's rotation last week after missing nearly 14 months because of Tommy John surgery.

Less than two months later, Kane is said to have taken the watch for appraisal in Miami, only to learn it was a fake and that Brown had purchased it from Dubai, alongside three other Richard Mille fakes for less than $500 a piece from a dealer. 
Both are arrivistes. The story behind the inexorable rise of Brand Beckham, an empire now spanning fashion and beauty, sport and electric cars, not to mention the couple's choreographed image rights, is well-known.

Bundchen, who along with Brady is said to have hired a lawyer ahead of a seemingly imminent divorce, is seen in the picture smiling with her arms wrapped around Brown after Tampa Bay beat Kansas City in the 2021 Super Bowl. 

The hacker, who also claims to be behind a cyber incident at Uber last week, posted a message on the forum about seeking to 'negotiate a deal' with Take-Two Interactive Software, owner of Rockstar, which publishes the GTA games. 

'We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto,' Rockstar said in a statement. 

Grand Theft Auto VI will feature the video game franchise's... Sony officially reveals 'the future of gaming' with its... Zuckerberg claims new 'mixed reality' headset will 'bring... Do YOU suffer from 'gamer rage'? Over HALF of people who...

On Monday, however, the former England captain had an appointment with a very different kind of ‘spice girl': a 60-year-old woman whose homespun entrepreneurship has made her an icon for progressive women throughout the Middle East.

One day after ending an eight-game postseason losing streak, the Cleveland Guardians will look to record another milestone when they face the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the best-of-three American League wild-card series on Saturday.

‘A lot of people who get to his level of wealth [the Beckhams' combined worth is estimated at approaching £380 million] want a sense of purpose — to leave the world a better place,' he told me from his exiled home in San Francisco.

But what, then, of Gary Neville, another of his former Manchester United cohorts, who was also revealed this week to have leapt into bed with the Qataris by signing a deal to be a World Cup pundit on its state-run sports channel?

The feelings returned on Wednesday, when I toured the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, where England will play Wales. Its an undeniably impressive venue, though hearing boasts about its low carbon footprint as millions of barrels of Qatari oil befouled the planet seemed rather ironic.

At the Al Wakra Souq Hotel, where the England team will stay during the tournament, one of Beckham's many adorers — a Qatari businessman — told me he was even prepared to forgive him his 65 tattoos, though decorating one's skin goes against Islamic teaching.

Having secured an astonishing deal, reportedly worth £150 million over ten years, to act as a global ambassador for the wealthiest state on earth, he was there as the ‘face' of the World Cup, Info which opens here — amid huge controversy — on November 20.

Unlikely as it seems, the avowedly metrosexual Becks — who has declared his pride in being called a ‘gay icon' — struck up a rapport with the abaya-clad Qatari spice chef and this week he returned for another PR shoot.

His is a cruel, miserable existence, though he didn't say as much. Rather, he was at pains to point out the generosity of many Qatari people, who fetch him food and water when he works near their houses.

Beside them London's Docklands — now 50 per cent Qatari owned — would look like a Lego model. Almost all the 3 million population — some 90 per cent of whom are poor migrant workers — live in and around the capital, and the emirate is growing at an astonishing rate, eyed suspiciously by Saudi Arabia, the only country with which Qatar shares a border.

Every man has his price, as Sir Robert Walpole is reputed to have said, and richer men than Beckham, 47, would doubtless have been drawn in by the offer of £150 million. But why were the Qataris so eager to hire his services?