Howards End (the book)

Emelec beat Delfín to win the Ecuadorian championship. Barcelona failed to qualify for next year’s Copa Libertadores.

The Oakland Raiders, whom I’ve been casually following this season, came within inches of scoring the touchdown that would’ve kept their playoff hopes alive. Rather than score, they did this.

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The good news is that my health is much restored. My cold lingers but no longer pains me. I’ve been resting at home, drinking water and tea and dosing myself with Mucinex.

Karin, who’s been tending to me, is a little sicker now.

Last Friday night, we went to a birthday party for my dear grandpa (his ninetieth).

Today, the air was rather warm, and I walked for half an hour by the river. I wore a coat that one of my fellow tutors gave to me on the last day of the term.

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My newest reading project is Howards End by E.M. Forster. This is the book of the Wilcoxes vs. the Schlegels: the materialistic English vs. the romantic “German” English. The book also depicts a few representatives of the hapless English poor, whose role is to be the grass trampled upon by the two warring upper-class factions.

Raiders vs. Chiefs

Due to the harm it causes, football shouldn’t be played or viewed – especially not the NFL’s Thursday night games, which have been criticized of late. On Thursdays, the players are lethargic. They’re insufficiently recovered from their Sunday games. Thursday games are lousy to watch (or so the critics have been claiming).

Well, this year, I’ve been viewing Thursday Night Football through Amazon Prime Video. Last week’s game was very good. This week’s game was one of the best I’d ever seen. (At least, the two offenses played well.) The Chiefs aimed to preserve their lofty standing. For the Raiders, the stakes were higher: they were obliged to win in order to save their (hitherto) disappointing season.

It was all very dramatic.

There were seven lead changes. Each quarterback flung the ball farther than three hundred yards. One of them did so with a broken back.

The Raiders missed two field goals. Their star running back, Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, was ejected for shoving an official.

One of the Raiders’ pass defenders dropped an interception. The ball was caught by a Chief receiver, who scored with ease.

On the game’s last drive, the Raiders needed a touchdown. They maintained possession with an unlikely fourth-down catch. Another catch brought them within a yard of the end zone.

With fewer than ten seconds remaining, the Raiders had no timeouts. “Beast Mode” wasn’t eligible to carry the ball for them.

View for yourselves what happened.

I had never, ever seen anything like this. (Another game summary is here.) Even Karin was overcome. “This game is incredible,” she said, and she was in another room.