La copa del sabático

A colleague said to me in the throws of celebrating Spain's victory in the World Cup: "Nice job, SJB!  You picked the right field!"  Yes, in my mind, watching La furia roja's run-up to the copa was in-depth cultural research, accompanied by beer.  And now I can toss off the relevant names -- Iker, Xavi, Pedro, David Villa, Iniesta, Del Bosque, etc. etc. -- like a pro.

[June]

Day #36: Cleaned out old grad school papers, and remembered how much fun that Galdós class was.  Not.
Day #37: Spain vs. Portugal.

[July]

Day #39: Finished revising a journal article that 2 out of 3 anonymous readers found redeeming.
Day #40-43: Decamped to Brooklyn for heatwave and Manhattan for air conditioning.  Urban high culture attained.
Day #41: Spain vs. Paraguay.
Day #44: Finished reading La voz dormida, a novel about imprisoned women and the post-Spanish Civil War resistance movement, and The Holocaust in Spanish Memory, a book that led directly to my prolonged game of phone tag with an eminent German historiographer who lives in Buffalo.
Day #45: Spain vs. Germany.  Celebrated Spain's win with an imported vermouth on the rocks with a twist of orange.
Day #49: Spain vs. Flandes aka los Paises bajos (aka The Netherlands): ¡Gol! ¡Triunfo!  ¡La copa del mundo!
Day #50: I finally got a card for Northampton's Forbes Library (home of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library), took advantage of reading areas and the in-house tea brewing machine, and celebrated at Northampton's most highly-lauded new frozen dessert establishment: GoBerry Frozen Yogurt (aka Noho froyo).
Days #55-69:  On vacation.  Off the grid.  Do not disturb.