Hector nodded eagerly, gesturing with his cigar while he alternated steering and shifting with one hand. "The curse continued, even after Xochitalco’s suicide. In 2053 the captain of the Guadalajara Acoatl had a heart attack the day after the final game and died on the operating table. The next year Ortega, captain of the Eagles, got drunk and fell off a ledge during the awards presentations in the adjoining teocalli and broke his neck. And the captain of last year’s winning team—the Mérida Mariposas—died in a motorcycle crash two months after the finals. They say he hit a highway sign and was instantly decapitated. The sign, of course, bore the national symbol."