Mexico 2, Ecuador 0; Portugal 2, Croatia 1; predictions

Still he was a pius man in his way and found relief in prayer.

(Daisy Ashford, The Young Visiters)

We lost because Mexico was the home team. It pretty much boils down to that.

Mexico shouldn’t have hosted this tournament, but that’s a topic for another day.

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To my dismay, I’ve been driven very close to embracing a conspiracy theory.

Not because Ecuador lost, but because of how Portugal beat Croatia. A penalty kick was bogusly awarded to the Portuguese; later, Croatia’s tying goal was disallowed due to a tiny spike on a chart. The spike indicated an otherwise undetectable touch registered by a chip inside the ball.

Not even video review could corroborate it.

It’s not that I don’t believe the technology works. It’s that I’m not convinced that this chart isn’t a fabrication.

(It doesn’t help that this technology’s only other beneficiary has been Real Madrid, for a notorious judgment that decided a Champions League series.)

Or, to retreat just a little, a Croatian who chose to doubt the chart would be within his rights.

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Enough lamenting (for now). These are my predictions for the rest of the tournament (see the bracket). I may revise them after the round of 16, should Spain lose to Portugal, Norway to Brazil, or Colombia to Switzerland.

The Belgium/​USA match is hard to predict, too, but its winner shouldn’t last longer than one more round.

Morocco over Canada

France over Paraguay

Belgium over the USA

Spain over Portugal

Norway over Brazil

Mexico (at home again) over England

Colombia over Switzerland

Argentina over Egypt

France over Morocco

Spain over Belgium

Norway (unless undone by Miami’s heat) over Mexico (no longer at home)

Colombia over tired-looking Argentina

France over Spain

Colombia over Norway

Spain over Norway (or vice versa; it’s just a consolation match)

France over Colombia

Seahawks 29, Patriots 13

A Super Bowl for connoisseurs of defensive football. I’m not one. I understand what’s happening when a DB breaks up a pass or a lineman beats his blocker and troubles the QB. But os and xs, zonal coverage, disguised coverage … I know these things exist, but I can’t perceive them – not in real time.

I like Kenneth Walker’s running. Dude calmly glides toward his blockers, awaits the defenders’ removal, scoots past them. Elegant. Not unlike slow-roll penalty taking (in soccer).

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My Facebook friends signal their politics by praising or condemning Bad Bunny’s halftime show.

What a stupid time to be alive.

I’ve not previously listened to Bad Bunny.

The sugarcane is good décor. The dancing is uncouth.

So are the lyrics. I learn them only by reading them online. (I can’t understand them sung; I have trouble with Puerto Rican Spanish.)

The apagón song stands out because I know what it’s like to endure frequent apagones (power outages). One extended passage in that song is reminiscent of, if not quite ideologically aligned with, The Vagina Monologues. Is it included in this Super Bowl performance? I’m not sure. I can’t make out enough words, and I’m distracted by utility-pole dancers.

One of those perfunctory blog entries I warned about

Indifferent to the NFL draft, I still couldn’t help wondering: Where does the name “Shedeur” come from? (As in: Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son.)

By coincidence, I found out. It’s a Hebrew name. Numbers 1:5 identifies Shedeur as the father of Elizur, who was a leader of the Reubenites.

Now I know.

The cook, the QB, the babe, and their father

We ate dinner at church and everyone got to look at Baby Abel. They sent us home with two trays of lasagna.

Samuel was inspired. During our nap-time, he broke into the fridge and gathered ingredients.

“Today we are making goldenberry lasagna. Fresh and squeezy!”

My subconscious registered this and yanked me out of my slumber. Oh, no, you don’t.

This is what I found:

Ingredients: (a) goldenberries; (b) iced tea.

It could have been worse. It has been worse. Tonight we caught him trying to put something into the oven.

Absolutely not, I told him.

Absolutely yes, he said.

Watching cooking videos with a five-year-old isn’t a good idea.

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Right now, I’m watching Monday Night Football, with Eli and Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick. Daniel stands in his diaper in front of the TV and pretends to be the quarterback. He stamps his foot and calls out numbers. One! One! Two! Two! Three! Three!

The sodfather; a warm day; a blood test; blurbs

Man ends 80-year career when bureaucrats tick him off (USA Today).

“They can’t tell me what to do anymore!”

… says the “Sodfather.”

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Wednesday: so warm, so dry, I let Samuel and Daniel have the run of the back yard. In shorts. We had a lovely time.

As of this afternoon, there’s snow-slush everywhere.

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Daniel went to his one-year checkup. They gave him five injections and poked him to test his blood. Seems a bit much, doesn’t it?

Anyway, he has too much lead in his blood.

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These are the best blurbs I’ve seen upon one dust jacket.

Re: the book:

“No summary or catalogue of details

will do it justice.” (Age)

Re: the author:

“Brilliant.” (Australian)

“Inspired.” (Sun-Herald)

“Irresistibly entertaining.” (Time Out New York)

“The genuine article.” (Australian Book Review)

“Gutsy.” (Australian’s Review of Books)

“Fast, funny, fabulous.” (The Adelaide Advertiser)

“World-class.” (Canberra Times)

“A cracker.” (Australian Bookseller & Publisher)

“Towering achievement.” (Guardian)

“Stone classic.” (Independent [UK])

“Top-class.” (Telegraph [UK])

“Startlingly good.” (Sydney Moring Herald)

“Powerfully economical.” (Bulletin)

I read the book. It truly was all of those things.

P.S. Australians are savage.