Author: rommel

A long afternoon of football, and not all of it kind. Portugal could only manage a draw against Congo, and Ronaldo will have to wait for his moment another day. England came through Croatia four to two, Modric’s craft not quite enough to turn it. Ghana edged Panama on a fine strike from Yirenkyi, the…

A full day of football, and the favorites mostly held: France saw off Senegal, Argentina put three past Algeria with a Messi hat trick, and Haaland took a brace as Norway ran over Iraq. Austria beat Jordan 3-1, with a penalty in the hundredth minute rounding out the score, but Jordan were the surprise of…

A day of draws at the World Cup, the table refusing to settle as match after match ended level. The result that stays with me is Cape Verde holding Spain, a country of half a million standing toe to toe with the champions and giving nothing away. There is a lesson in it about the…

Another day given over to the World Cup. Germany put seven past Curacao, though the goal worth remembering was the one Curacao took back. Ivory Coast edged Ecuador by a single strike, Sweden ran out comfortable winners over Tunisia, and the Netherlands and Japan traded blows to a fine two-all draw, the match of the…

The morning’s small victories came first: the rings closed, and another first-place finish in the Gran Turismo power pack series. I watched George Russell take pole at the Circuit de Catalunya, then surrendered the rest of the day to the World Cup, and it gave back more than its share. Qatar pulled level in the…

A day given over to the World Cup, and I made no apology for it. The match worth keeping was Canada against Bosnia, where the better side somehow settled for a draw; they carried the run of play and came away with a point, which is its own small lesson in how rarely the deserving…

The twenty-four-hour Le Mans challenge is behind me, and I will not pretend it was anything but exhausting. I had meant to see it through in one sitting, but a mandatory update seized the machine half an hour from the finish and stalled the whole effort; I picked it up again this morning and was…

The night before the World Cup, and the waiting is its own kind of work. Tomorrow I cross into Tijuana to watch the opening match in Mexico with my grandmother, which is the part I keep returning to; the football is the occasion, but she is the reason. The day’s last task is the driving…

The halfway mark of the twenty-four hour Le Mans run came and went without ceremony, twelve hours down and twelve still ahead, the body settling into the long discipline of it. The fitness holds its course as well, four pounds lighter than when I began, with the line under two hundred now close enough to…

Six hours into a 24-hour endurance run at Le Mans in the simulator, with the better part of a full day’s racing still ahead. There is a particular discipline in committing to a thing whose only real obstacle is its length, and I find I respect the format more the longer I sit with it.…