By Mark Halliday
In the huddle you said “Go long—get open”
and at the snap I took off along the right sideline
and then cut across left in a long arc
and I’m sure I was open at several points—
glancing back I saw you pump-fake more than once
but you must not have been satisfied with what you saw downfield
and then I got bumped off course and my hands touched the turf
but I regained my balance and dashed back to the right
I think or maybe first left and then right
and I definitely got open but the throw never came—
maybe you thought I couldn’t hang on to a ball flung so far
or maybe you actually can’t throw so far
but in any case I feel quite open now,
the defenders don’t seem too interested in me
I sense only open air all around me
though the air is getting darker and it would appear
by now we’re well into the fourth quarter
and I strongly doubt we can afford to settle for
dinky little first downs if the score is what I think it is
so come on, star boy, fling a Hail Mary
with a dream-coached combination of muscle and faith
and I will gauge the arc and I will not be stupidly frantic
and I will time my jump and—I’m just going to say
in the cool gloaming of this weirdly long game
it is not impossible that I will make the catch.
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I had no vehicle on Monday, since Paul took one to work after dropping Adam off at NIH and the other was waiting to be seen by the Toyota dealership, so Alice and her son Avery very kindly came to visit and take me out! We went to the Original Pancake House (I had no pancakes, I had eggs and hash browns), then to Cabin John Park to walk around. Avery convinced me to try a Pokemon Go raid against a Flareon that was way too big for the two of us to take down with no one else participating, and I still need potions to heal my Omastar and Kabutops, but it was fun being in a raid with someone else! I spent the rest of my spare time finishing a Shutterfly photo book about one of our Seattle trips, no thanks to Shutterfly whose site did not want to allow me to upload photos at a reasonable speed.
When Paul and Adam returned, we went out to Giant and did chores I couldn't have done with no vehicle, had tacos for dinner, and watched the second-to-last episode of Genius since Adam missed it due to traveling. We then watched the final inning of the almost-amazing end of the Nationals-Cubs game, during which the Nats went from 5-0 to 5-4 but could not manage to win the game! From one year ago today, here are photos from the Virginia Historical Society's Gridiron Glory football exhibit, including several items belonging to Richmond's own Willie Lanier like his Super Bowl IV ring, and far too many uniforms and artifacts of the Washington Redskins (who now do their spring training in Richmond), for which I apologize but they were my team growing up and I knew my dad would appreciate this:
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