World Cup

or: How awesome soccer is when you’re not in the US

I’ve never been particularly interested in televised sports.  For a long time I wasn’t interested in sports AT ALL.  And then I went to a Gator game and I was hooked.  It was nothing like the Colorado high school football games, which I had previously used to gage weather or not I would enjoy any sporting event.  No, this was something entirely new, and I began to enjoy live sports.
I am still not fond of watching any sport on TV.  I like the excitement and energy of being amongst a roaring crowd of fans.  It pumps me up.  I’m into the game.  I get to drink beer (I know I could do that at home too, but it’s not the same).  Watching a game on TV simply does not hold my interest.
That is, until I lived in Germany during the World Cup.
As you well know, outside of the US soccer is known as football.  It’s fans are beyond anything I’ve ever seen in US football, and the World Cup brings with it an energy all it’s own.  No matter where you were, if there was a game going on, it was on the TV.  We watched every US game and nearly every Germany game, and while I was present, I only half-watched.  I was easily distracted by other things, but I would look up if everyone tensed up and leaned in, anticipating a goal.  I would cheer along with our friends and high-five Cody when we were alone.  I was following the goings on, but not NEARLY as dedicated as those around me.
We knew that we wanted to go to at least one public viewing and we decided to go to Nuremburg for the championship game.  There were public viewings closer to home but we wanted to be in a big city.  The day of the game the excitement among our friends was palpable and only grew as the day went on.  We filled the time by face painting and super-fanning up.  Red, yellow and black was everywhere, we wore flags as capes, Jerseys, German flag press-on tattoos, German flag face paint.  Cody and I even had German flag shoelaces!  We had horns and drums and even an enormous flag to wave when a goal was scored! 
When we arrived, we blended right in with the massive crowd.  It was a sea of red, yellow and black.  The screen was huge and could be seen from anywhere and the beer was flowing.  As the night went on I found myself completely engaged in the game.  The crowds tension as the game lingered on without a single goal was my own.  And when Germany scored it was chaos!  No beer was safe from being joyously thrown high into the air.  I was high-fived by strangers, and when they one, I was kissed and hugged and high-fived by strangers! Friends hoisted each other onto their shoulders and sang the German national anthem. They sang for nearly two hours. 
Anyone supporting Argentina was patted on the back and playfully teased, but never with hostility or vehemence.  Even with all the beer being consumed, not once did I see an inkling of a fight.  It was as if everyone managed to remember that it was, after all, a game.
As we walked back to our car the celebrations continued with every passing car singing, chanting, waving flags and hollering “Deutschland!”  By the time we made it back to the car my feet were sore and we were all tired, but that won’t ever be a detail I recall when I remember this years from now.  I will however, remember that in all the celebration and ruckus, my camera fell from Cody’s pocket and is gone forever and that is why there are no pictures of this fantastic event in the post.
Tschüss!