A HISTORY: Liverpool vs. Manchester City. Man City is the runaway winner of the Premier League, and Liverpool cannot buy a solid defense — aside from big Virgil Van Dijk. Expect a heaping of goals with a side of heartbreak.
The Day: April 4, 2018. The Time: 2:45, EST. The Location: Medford, Mass (or: Liverpool, UK)
Approx. 1:45: I get a notification under my desk alerting me of the starting lineups. I can’t believe it: where is Raheem Sterling, the former scouser who’s now a thorn in the side of the Liverpool faithful? The day is looking bright.
Approx. 2:45: Lecture has ended, and I see a barrage of texts from the Daily. Can you put in the other quotes soon? Where did you find this source? Can you clarify the highlighted section in the fourth paragraph? In the heat of my excitement, my article about sailing was swept to the back of my metaphorical headspace.
Approx. 2:50: Clutching my phone which is boasting a laggy and barely visible stream — courtesy of Tufts Guest WiFi — I stumble my way to Tisch. Working with my wunderkind editor YJ Chee, I set out to sort the article as quickly, but accurately, as possible. With Wordpress in one tab and soccerstreams.net (or something like that) in another, I was set.
2:57: My phone buzzes. Certainly, it’s a goal, and certainly, my screen is lagging. Of course.
2:58: Aware that a goal is imminent — just not sure in which net — a Roberto Firmino shot is saved before Mo Salah calmly chips the Man City keeper to make it 1–0. Pandemonium in Liverpool, pandemonium in my headphones, dead silence in Tisch.
3:05: See 2:57.
3:06: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. From outside the box. YJ, a Manchester United fan, isn’t impressed.
3:12: Somehow, the article is finished. I can tell when I’m pushing it whenever I use expressions such as “up the East Coast a ways” or “despite their transglobal trip,” but it was no time to be nitpicky at this moment.
3:16: While in line for a meatball sub at Hodgdon Food-On-The-Run in the most first-year fashion imaginable, Salah plays in a delicious cross to find an unmarked Sadio Mane at the far post. 3–0. Unbelievable scenes. I resist the temptation to give random high-fives.
3:33: Halftime. The first half should not have ended, as the songs of the Liverpool faithful only crescendoed as the evening went on and did not need a referee’s whistle to halt the excitement.
Approx. 3:50–4:38: Second half. Just a matter of holding on.
4:38: More pandemonium. They held on. And now only need to do so for another 90 minutes in Manchester next week. I’m in dreamland.
