deutschland mannschaft

to translate:

deutschland = germany
mannschaft = team (you guys have dirty minds)

while germany has never been on the top of my list for travel destinations, attending a world cup has. i have not been disappointed. football hysteria is at full force here. although we couldn't afford tickets to the actual game in hamburg, there was a "fan fest" area set up for the rest of us. amazing. literally throngs of people of all cultures gathered at hamburg's largest world cup party. 50,000 people in 80,000 square-meter area (hey i'm in europe now, gotta use the metric sytstem). every country that participated in the world cup each had a food/drink stand giving it a very diverse atmosphere. what was at the american tent you ask? spare ribs, hamburgers, and ben and jerry's. ha! bunch of fat-asses.

what made this more exciting is the fact that germany is still in the world cup. of course, there are a handful of argentinians and british fans hanging around (american fans are m.i.a.--suprised? no.), but you'll mostly see a sea of red, yellow, and black. so siva, matt (siva's friend who is working out here), and i donned our deutschland faux-hawks and joined the party. swilling german beers, eating currywursts (brats withh curry ketchup), and singing chants. the intensity and excitement of the german vs. argentina match we watched came to a climax when germany won the sudden-death, penalty kick overtime. the crowd erupted.

soccer/football brings the world together like nothing i've ever seen. personally, i believe two things can be considered international languages: music and sports. while i've been to international jazz fests and rock concerts where any nationality can appreciate a growling saxophone or air-ripping guitar, there's something about football that everyone can relate to...except us americans. i can't figure it out. is soccer too boring/methodical? not enough stimulation for our ADD society? too much technique and finesse for our brute force mentality?

the oft-mocked slogan of this world cup is "a time to make friends," but it carries an essential truth. we've bonded, we've cheered, we've jokingly talked shit...at least to anyone who can speak a little english.

on tuesday, we're celebrating america's birthday by hopping on a train to berlin and watching germany take on italy at another "fan fest." it's going to be crazy.

my problem is who do i root for? during the last world cup in 2002 (see previous post), i was living in italy for the summer trying to learn italian through my college. this is where my world cup fever first started. i still have an affinity toward italian culture: the food, the wine, the women, the midday nap,

really, you can only scarf so much bockwurst, bratwurst and various other wursts on the run before you realize there's a reason you don't ever go to german restaurants back home.

but do i really want to get my ass-kicked wearing my italia jersey in the middle of berlin? we'll see.