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 grateful, at least, that my progress had been spared. A long way to go for a finish line, but a finish all the same.
The better part of the day belonged to my grandmother. We watched the opening ceremony together in Tijuana, and Mexico took the first match two to nil over South Africa, a tidy result made strange by three red cards. Korea followed, edging Czechia two to one; the closer side on the scoreboard, the better one on the pitch, and I had half expected a draw until the end. There was a quiet pleasure in hearing the Mexican crowd in Guadalajara throw its voice behind Korea. The empty seats throughout were harder to ignore, and say plainly enough what FIFA has made of the thing.