Robbie old news as Peace threatens to break out in LA

IF the US isn’t feeling the tremors of the Robbie Keane deal as much as Crumlin and north London, then it’s because American sports fans have enough of their own want-away stars to contend with as it is.

The NBA lockout has forced basketball’s biggest stars to consider a cultural exchange in the top European leagues and China, the hoops equivalent of the Irish captain abandoning the Premier League — if not being abandoned by the league — in favour of regular playing time in an interesting city for decent pay.

The people of Los Angeles are less interested in the former Liverpool and Spurs player riding in on a fanfare of confusion than they are bemused by the LA Laker hollering from the rooftops about his dream move to a quaint college town in the north of England.