Two nights ago I stopped in a bar to watch Spain/France. This was partly to root against France, and partly because I promised the hot Spanish woman near the Queen's Palace that I would. So I got to talking to the guy on the next stool, who turned out to be from Belgium where he tells me they hate the French as well. So we sat there talking about hating France and European politics and whatnot. At some point (before the terrible dive that cost Spain the game) I mention how I walked out on the street last night and immediately heard a band playing "Sweet Home Alabama," as kind of a parable on the pitfalls of globalism (erasing advantages to be gained from diversity and local culture). So anyway, the game ends, and as we're paying our tabs they turn the game audio down and a band takes the stage. Yes, it may seem obvious where this story is going, but trust me I was completely blindsided when they played the first couple cords. Sweet Home Alabama. First song. Thanks for nothing, Copenhagen!
posted by Scott @ 6/29/2006 12:29:00 PM || 11 comments

I'm starting to go a bit nuts. I spent the day yesterday hacking and coughing (Bavarian Death Tuberculosis, brought on by the omnipresent cloud of second-hand smoke over all of Europe). I did manage to book a flight back to Berlin and a cheap (read: scary as hell) hostel. I felt too lousy to go out and make use of my half-day, so I holed up in the Hotel Absalon and read a book. I got up early this morning and tried again on standby, but again didn't come close as nobody of my standy priority was allowed on board. Now I've formed a bit of a travelling club with two fellow standby strandees. They're joining me on the flight to Berlin, and going to crash in the airport tonight and try the Delta flight to JFK tomorrow. I may try the same flight, or I may just be a tourist again for the weekend and take my original flight on Monday.

Yes, the travails of the last two days seem overwhelming. They would assuredly have broken an ordinary man. But I, Scott Andrew Lange, World Traveller, Internationalist, Sam's Armyist, RHS '94, Georgia F'n Tech '98, Regional MathCounts Champion 1989, Leading FG% Man on the Winter '05 BusDrivers Basketball Team, Favorite Grandchild of TWO Grandmothers, and one of the top 50,000 finishers in the 1997 Peachtree Road Race, will not only survive this ordeal, but rise above and in the end conquer it like Mark Grace breaking Mariano Rivera's little heart in the bottom of the ninth in game seven. I AM A GOLDEN GOD!

And now, away! To Berlin! To Dusseldorf! To New York City! And Beyond! EXCELSIOR!
posted by Scott @ 6/29/2006 12:08:00 PM || 1 comments

Rumors of my return have been greatly exaggerated. The flight I blew a few hundred bucks for a buddy pass on was way overbooked (and not, in fact, wide open as I had heard when I bought the pass and then again last night.) Now I'm stuck in Europe for... who knows? They relisted me on tomorrow's flight, but the guy just sadly shook his head at me when I asked if I actually had a practical chance to get on board. Now I guess I'm off to Sweeden. Or Dachau. Whatever.
posted by Scott @ 6/28/2006 11:57:00 AM || 3 comments

Actually, the mother's mother's mother's Motherland. I think I have that right. I celebrated by dropping my bags at the hotel and buying a Danish Hot Dog and a Coke- something from here, something from home. The best news of all, no more german keyboards! Hurray! Although, now there is æ and ø and å, and for that matter I dont even remember which one is supposed to be the y and which one is supposed to be the z, so I dont even know if thats right.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to try to find a walking tour, the Tycho Brahe Planetarium, and Tivoli. Tonight, I need a bar that sells aquavit. My dad used to tell this story about how the Danes made him drink shot after shot of aquavit because it was "good for the heart", "good for the lungs", etc, until he figured he was "damn near immortal." If I get drunk, wander in to traffic, and die, blame Dad. I learned it from YOU Dad! I learned it from watching YOU!!!

Edited to add: So I walked out of the internet cafe, intent on finding a bar and ordering something truely authentically Danish. Upon emerging through the doorway, I immediately heard a live band playing in the bar twenty steps across the little courtyard area. The words... "In Birmingham they love the guvnah (true true true) Now we all did what we could do." You know, I'm starting to think maybe it's too small a world...
posted by Scott @ 6/26/2006 11:31:00 PM || 5 comments

I wonder if thats even in the ballpark spelling-wise? Anzwaz, who cares, I'm off to a country where they don't have f'd up German keyboards. They may have f'd up Danish keyboards, but not f'd up German ones. Or do they? I guess they might. And who's to say what constitutes f'd up? Or German for that matter?

Rather than use my last four hours in Germany on a existential keyboard crisis, I'll just let you loyal friends and family know that I'm flying to Copenhagen tonight. The plan is to spend two days there and then back to the US on Wednesday, although it remains a bit up in the air (ha). Probably no pictures till I'm back on home turf. I spent todaz cleaning the apartment after those lazy bastards who left before me, Kotas, and Rob. The three of us pushed a shopping cart brimming with returnable bottles all around Franz Neumann Platz this morning. After finding we were missing a key and bickering with the rentee about it, Kotas and Rob left for their plane home while I headed off for one last tourist stop, a walking tour of Berlin. Then internet cafe, then airport, then Copenhgen. TTFN!
posted by Scott @ 6/26/2006 03:38:00 PM || 1 comments

If you're German. I'm in the internet cafe trying to find somebodz to take my reallz quite valuable Italy vs Australia tickets as well as my quarterfinal tickets (the games the US would have been playing in) and things are blowing up behind me. Every car is honking its horn, and there are literally explosions every 45-60 seconds. Jesus, there goes another one. I'm jumping out of my chair a bit less distance, but they're still scary even after 50 of them.

And if anyone needs Italy/Aussie tickets, have them email me.
posted by Scott @ 6/24/2006 08:02:00 PM || 6 comments

First, a word about the US team. We had a spirited debate (by which I mean we had ingested spirits and were yelling at each other) over whether this US team was a dissapointment or not. Mike Kotas, Travel God, will now guest blog his opinion on the matter:

Actuallz, he's not readz, so let me sing a song for zou. Before each game in each stadium, the FIFA people plaz the 2006 World Cup Anthem, which has some tribal moaning kind of lyrics that Aaron decided sound an awful lot like this- "KoTAS Goo-o-oal, KoTAS Goo-o-oal, KoTAS Goo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-o-oal." Its unclear how FIFA heard about his travel booking and Germanz navigating skillz (intentional "z") but their decision to write a song about him was wise nonetheless. Anzwaz, he is readz to tzpe now:

The US team dissapointed myself in several facets of the game. First and most importantly was there lack of aggression to open spaces on the field. In hockey terms, I'd call this support. Every time a ball was passed to the flank, the other 9 field players sat and watced and did not make runs to open spaces to create give and go opportunities like especially the Czechs and at times the Italians. A telling statistic was our minimum 60% time of possesion in the games with only 4 shots on goal (0 v Czech, 1 v Italy, 3 v Ghana) throughout the tourney. Additionally, our over reliance on headers from crosses (which were ultimately pittiful) and our lack of desire (inability?) to try and shoot the ball (except for Claudio Reyna and to some extent Eddie Johnson) was our ultimate down fall. Our approach to the games were too methodical for modern football and showed a relative lack of creativity on the coach's part.

Now not to say that I am all negative, far from the truth. The 9 players remaining on the field during the end of the game against Italy was an extremely valiant effort. I, like many of you, consider that game to be our best of the past 6 (dating back to the Poland tie). The players I'd give props to are Reyna, Dempsey, Gooch, Conrad, and too a lesser extent Convey and Johnson. We need more players willing to be opportunistic in the coming years in order to be more succesful at 2010. None the less I'm a die hard supporter and fully look forward to the next round of qualification.

Now I don't disagree with manz of the specific criticisms that Mike offers, but I think its a mistake to be dissapointed overall. The fact of the matter is, we just arent as good as manz people think. We have gotten better at an impressive rate over the last twentz zears, adn we have reached a certain level of proficiency, but to expect us to roll through a group including two top-notch European teams and a tough African side is just not realistic. Four zears ago we had our best World Cup ever. We plazed a strong but completelz off-form European team, a mid-level and completelz off-form European team, an Aisan minnow (albeit one plazing at home), got at least our share of the breaks, and managed four points. This time, we plazed two top in-form Euro teams and a verz in-form African team, got few breaks, and earned one point. I don't think the level of performance was that much different, even if the previous team got one more win and advanced (on a tiebreaker).

Think about just the breaks. In '02 we got two penalty kick saves and no major calls went against us. This time there were three major debatable calls- Pablo's straight red, Eddie's second yellow, and the PK- and all three went against us. Average the breaks out across the two zears and consider the tougher competition, and its hard to saz we plazed worse this time.

That said, there were things I didn't like. First, our tactics in the Ghana game were poor. 45 zard balls in the air down the middle are not a winning strategz for us. We are a more skilled team than that. With speedz wingers like the US has, I'd rather see us plazing calls to the corners and/or trzing to work up the field with a posession game. Second, its hard to saz anzone reallz plazed above expectations. Gooch, Dempsez, and Convez perhaps met their potential, and everzone else had some good moments (like DeMarcus's sublime poach/run/pass for our goal), but most of the roster was at or a bit below what we might have hoped for. Nobodz had a pheomenal surprising World Cup the waz Friedel, DMB, Donovan, and McBride all did four zears ago. Finallz, at times we still looked a bit naive. Gooch has got to learn not to go into a guz from behind in the penalty area, even if he barelz touched him at all. Pablo probablz should have known the ref was looking for a makeup call and dialed it back a bit accordingly. Clint had a turnover trying to dribble around a guz deep in our own area. Even the worldly Claudio Reyna had a glaring moment of idiocy. Those youngsters will learn not to do those things with time, but it would have been nice to see it come together this zear. On to quick pics!

Me before the Ghana game with some US folks. The pregame atmosphere in Nuremberg was bz far the worst of the three stadia. Just a long dull walk past a bunch of asphalt with nowhere for people to congregate and party. Like going to a White Sox game.

Rob and I in our traditional pregame picture in Nuremberg.

A political statement on a t-shirt from one American fan.

JoeSoccerFan from BigSoccer came up and hugged me in the train station after the game. I'm glad it turned out to be him, because I had no idea what was happening for a couple terrifzing seconds.

The train on the waz home from Ghana was kind of nuts. We were depressed, but the stress was gone, so it was kind of like a wild partz after the last night of finals when everzone is prettz sure they flunked. We bought the DeutschBahn out of Jäeger and were well into their brandy supply by the time we got to Berlin. At one point the girls went to the bar car for more alcohol, and were hit on by Scott Jagow of public radio's Marketplace. This impressed me if noone else, so when he came back through our car to leave the train I accosted him. He didn't seem to believe that I actually knew who he was and assumed I was mocking him when I said I listen (or did when I had a job and got up earlz enough for "Marketplace Morning Report"). I pointed out that the old host in the evening was from Fayettville, Georgia, and was named David something, and he said "David Brown?" I said I didn't think that was it and he admitted that it was David Brancaccio. I shouted to anyone who would listen that he had lied to me and tried to trick me. He beat a hasty retreat, but not before I took this picture.

The Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Its tough to get a decent picture of it because its so large and I have no wideangle lens, but nonethelss I'm posting this one because I was terriblz impressed with it. It seems so much more real than the colorless relics I am used to seeing from 1000+ zears ago, like the Elgin Marbles in London, the Pergamon temple in this very museum, or anz number of photos of existing Greek and Roman structures and sculptures. The museum also had a fun World Cup themed exhibit called "Der Ball es rund" or some such, with lots of art surrounding the theme of circles. Good times were had bz all.

Look, thez have a restaurant named after Alex! Speaking of which, we're going to see Germanz plaz Ecuador in a bit, and then Argentina/Mexico after that. Will both Scoop's countries bite the dust in one terrible evening? Or will there be a weekend-long fiesta in McDonough? We shall see...

Outisde Berlin's Olympic Stadium, where we went to see Tunisia/Ukraine. Lots of scary Nazi architecture around, as well as some monumenbts to each Olzmpic citz. I found all the waz up to Seoul but couldnt find Atlanta. Iäll trz again tomorrow when I go to get mz knockout tickets I cant use.

Me, Dave, Mike, and Rob. I'm sporting mz Tunisia jersez, which of course means the ref blatantlz favored the Ukrainians. I chose Tunisia because I heard on TV once that "the Ukraine is weak!"

And finallz, this sign from the grocer. Make zour own joke.

posted by Scott @ 6/24/2006 11:30:00 AM || 1 comments

The US gave a game effort zesterdaz, but it just wasnt enough. We scored one marvelous goal in the run of plaz, but gave up two garbage goals and reallz never looked like getting one much less the two we needed in the second half. The penalty kick was apparentlz at the verz least questionable, but I have to saz I knew it was coming as soon as I saw Gooch move towards the guz from behind. Its the kind of call that we get, zear in and zear out (on the flipside, I literallz dont ever remember seeing the US awarded a penalty kick- ever!)

But this is not the time for whining or recriminations. This is the time to thank the US team for a four year run through qualification and right up into an incrediblz tough Group E. Its the time to thank guzs like Brian McBride and Claudio Rezna, who built the US team into what it is todaz and who are likelz to retire from international competition before 2010. I'm proud of our team and what they accomplished, and optimistic about the next cycle. Just four zears from South Africa. Go US!
posted by Scott @ 6/23/2006 08:47:00 PM || 1 comments

OK, here's whats got to happen: we must beat Ghana, and Italz must beat Czech Republic. Don't worrz about other scenarios- thez do exist, but for us to advance anz waz other than with wins for us and Italz would be like me getting caught on video dancing. In other words, its practicallz never ever going to happen.

So Is it possible? Zes. Its not likelz, but its possible. The Italz win might be the easier part- the Czechs imploded against Ghana and will be missing five kez plazers and both starting strikers due to injuries and cards. Ghana is a verz talented team, and the gambling sites have them as a substantial favorite to win the game. Their star player is Michael Essien, one of the verz best in the world, and thez flat out thrashed the Czechs.

So the odds are not in our favor. Its going to take an excellent game from our guys, a mental focus that maz be tougher to summon against an upstart Ghana team than it was against the legendary Azzuri, and its going to take some help from those nasty diving Italians. Lets hope their ref is as gullible tomorrow as he was Saturdaz, and hope our side stays focused and plazs with the aggression and spirit we proved we have in us. Good luck boys. Go US!
posted by Scott @ 6/21/2006 07:30:00 PM || 1 comments

Rob striking a sprinter's pose in front of the sign for Jesse Owens Alley down bz the Olzmpic Stadium. There is a huge amount of attention paid to atonement over here. I wish I understood the language better so I could get a feel for how much of it is sincere and how much just for show.

On the train from our hotel in Stuttgart to the train station en route to Kaiserslautern. A German familz got on the train and this kid plopped down next to me, so we took a picture. He also gave me a high five, which I take to mean he was supporting the US that night.

After arriving in Kaiserlautern, we found the whole town was one giant street party. This was good, but the downside was that the whole town was basicallz one street about a mile long. I have no idea whz a World Cup match would be hosted in such a place when there are full-size cities all around. We ate and drank and sang for a couple hours, but I wanted to conserve energz for the game so I headed towards the stadium two hours before game time. This was for the best, because it turned out the stadium is literallz ON A MOUNTAIN and we had to WALK UP IT to reach the game. This made for cool views down on to the town and at the chalets overlooking the walk up (like these US fans in the picture), but it also meant a mile hike UP A MOUNTAIN just to get to the freaking game. Where is zour famous organiyation, Deutschland?

Rob (in Scoop's seat) and I, posing before the game again. I alreadz gushed mz thoughts about the game. Check out Michael Davies for another take on it. I like Davies- he falls into the typical English "Englad is the ultimate and everzthing else is judged bz how simillar or disimillar to England it is" trap, but he's enthusiastic and no America-hater, so he's fun to read. Here he captures how I felt about the epic nature of the game Saturdaz night.

So after the game, we crowded into the Kaiserslautern DeutschBahn station. It was kind of a madhouse, with police preventing anzone from going in at first. When thez did let people in, there was a swarm charging the stairs down to the trains, and I found myself eyeing the "up" escalator which was enticingly empty. I was leaning against the risk, when somebodz shouted "Go for it Beasley, you're fast, you can make it!" This of course meant I had to do it, for DMB's pride and mz own, so I did. I made it fine, but when I hit the first step I tweaked my knee and am still feeling it todaz. The lesson, I hope DMB is less concerned with his ego than I am.

We then rode a 2.5 hr train to Stuttgart. It was jammed full of people, about half of which had to sit/stand/sleep in the aisles. There was no air conditioning, and we'd all been on our feet for mazbe 12 hours. It was harsh. Right before we got to Stuttgart, the guz next to me mentioned his next stop was Munich, to catch a plane to Toronto, to catch a plane to Atlanta. "Where in Atlanta?" "Midtown." "Where in Midtown?" "Ralph McGill." "Where on Ralph McGill??" Basicallz, it turned out I was five thousand miles from home sitting next to a guz who lived a block from mz old work and a block from mz old apartment without knowing uit. Its a small, small world.

When we arrived in Stuttgart, we slept in the hotel then arose and all caught a plane to Prague. We disembarked, czhecked in to our hotel (get it???), and walked into a restuarant for cabbage (awesome), goulash (all right), boar (didn't try it) and beer (actuallz not that bad, although not as good as the Polish kind.) This picture shows all our partz save Roger, who passed out on the train to Stuttgart, woke up in Munich, and spent the next three dazs drinking around Germanz. He arrived in our apartment at 5am this morning, grabbed his bags, and flew home. Auf Wiedersehn, Rog!

After lunch, we went on a Prague Pub tour with Ivan the friendly tour guide. We didnt reallz meet anz Czechs, but hanging out with a bunch of tourists was fun. There were Canadians, a Croatian, an Australian, a Virginian, some English, and our gang. We had such a good time with Ivan, we ended up taking his Prague Castle tour Mondaz morning and his Prague Ghost Tour Mondaz night.

This is me on the cobblestone walk down the mountain from Prague Castle. Some reallz neat sights in and around the castle, including the third largest church in the world (are thez counting the Megachurches in Cobb Countz?), the changing of the guard in front of the president's residence, and Franz Kafka's old house.

After the Ghost Tour we hit the town again. This is Mike, Aaron, Rob, and Jodi, taken at an artistic angle as I balanced on a stool. Its decision making like this that leads to wearing Ilizarov devices.

Group shot at the same bar, with Mark, Aaron, Chicago Matthew, me, Kotas, Ivan the Tour Guide, Rob, Paul, Jodi, and Dave. Note Aaron's face artisticly reflected in the shinz bar menu on the wall. I am a regular Scott Andrew Leibowitz.

This is a group shot in front of the river with Prauge Castle in the background, taken before the Ghost Tour so its actuallz slightlz out of order. Group composition is the same, except we havent met Chicago Matthew from the Ghost tour zet, and Will and Melissa (the old married couple) havent gone to bed zet.

Tuesdaz morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and did some shopping. I got bags full of cool Prague football gear, including scarves and shirts, but the best was seeing our first and so far onlz pieces of NFL merchandise in Europe- these lovelz Atlanta Falcons outfits. I have no idea who #68 is or why Prague loves him and his Falcons so. It maz alwazs remain a mzsterz.

Finallz we took a ricketz sweltering Hungarian train back to Berlin zesterdaz afternoon. After dropping our stuff off (I was locked out of mz apartment since Kotas had brilliantlz entrusted Roger with the key), Aaron, Mark, and I went back to Treptower Park to watch England v Sweeden. Before the game, we checked out the famous, controversial Soviet monument to Soviet soldiers who died conquering Berlin. Everzthing about the memorial seems calculated to anger the Germans in whose country it was built. The centerpiece is a 50 foot statue of a Soviet soldier trampling a broken swastika, and there are frieyes lining the garden area depicting everzthing from a German bowing before a Soviet general and crzing into his robe to Soviet soldiers conforting German women. Compared to Stalin, Bush is a regular genius at winning hearts and minds. The pictre is of the massive abstract monument at the north end of the park, with Aaron and Mark silhouteed against the sunset. It would be realz nice if the blurrz spot on mz camera wasnt right in the middle and continuiong to get worse.

Ok, hope that brings zou up to date and passes the time until Wizard for Kacez and Alex. Hello to the friends and families of Atlanta House who are coming here for updates on their loves ones. Nobodz has been arrested zet, so huyyah! I'll trz to blog again before we leave for te Ghana game tomorrow. Go US!
posted by Scott @ 6/21/2006 10:49:00 AM || 2 comments

Told ya. I told you we could kick Italy's ass if we played our game; if we played like we had nothing to lose (which we didn't). We absolutely dominated the first twenty minutes. We tackled hard, ran at defenders, won every ball, and were every measure the better team. In the south end, our fans were noticeably louder than for the first game, and it really felt like we were carrying our boys forward. Then, suddenly, a fluke goal compeltely against the run of play.

And it should have been over, but... it wasn't. There was no change in momentum. There was no change in pressure. There was no change in heart, or hussle, or voice in the south end, but there was a change in the scoreboard. It may have been an own goal, but it was fully deserved and a product of the constant pressure created by the US eleven (twelve if you count the 15,000 of us screaming away).

And then, the ref. If memory serves, there had been one straight red and maybe three double yellows in the tournament, and then the new Peter Pendergrast starts handing them out like they are solicitations for drugs in central Europe (but thats anotehr story.) He put us down to nine men on two terrible calls, and put Italy down to ten on a debatable call. And yet STILL, even down to NINE MEN, we STILL took the attack to them. Unless I was hallucinating, I saw f'n GOOCH working a give and go in the Italian box while we had NINE MEN.

I'm so proud of our boys. I wish I had words. It was one of the great performances in US history, right there with 1-0 in 1950, 2-0 in Jeonju, and 0-1 against Germany last time. I have to go now, tour of the Old Castle in Prague (I love non-zy/yz Czech keyboards by the way) but I'll have more and more pics ASAP.
posted by Scott @ 6/19/2006 10:25:00 AM || 3 comments

I have less than three minutes before the worlds slowest net cafe logs me out, so its gonna be fast. From here it will bve off to Prague, so perhaps no net and/or no pics for a few dazs.

i think we can win this game. we just have to plaz fast, dont get intimidated, dont trz to be perfect, just go fast and hard and shove it down their throat. thez are no better than us. give em hell boys. nothing to lose. lets go US!
posted by Scott @ 6/17/2006 11:33:00 AM || 8 comments

Everzone was down in the dumps for 24-36 hours after the game. Our go-to songs changed from hearty ditties like

We're all part of Bruce's Army
we're all off to Germany
and we'll shake em up
when we win the World Cup
Cause the US is the greatest football team

to versions like...

We're all part of Bruce's Army
buried at the bottom of group E
and we really sucked it up
at the Germany World Cup
And we're going right back home in just two weeks

There's also been many appearances of "Twenty-ten, twenty-ten, twenty-ten" (as in our next chance to succeed in the WC) although mz new favorite "Nobody likes us; we don't care!" has still been heard from time to time. When even Big Soccer's Rishii has lost his swagger, you know its rough.

But as the Czech game recedes in the rearview mirror, pessimism has started to abate. People are starting to saz the Czech game was a bit of a fluke, starting to talk about how we could beat Italy, starting to act like it could actually happen. In mz head I know we will again be facing a more skilled team, close to their home turf, with the odds stacked against us. Still, with mz voice graduallz coming back since being almost completely lost Tuesdaz, I expect to be loud as ever Saturdaz night. Untill we go down 1-0 in the 4th minute of course.

Anzwaz, the daz after the Cyech game we packed up in Dusseldorf and took the train back to Berlin, and mostlz spent the daz getting our mental bearings. I did some laundrz and got some pictures posted, before grilling and going out to watch Brayil/Croatia at a beergarden. Croatia gave a valient effort but came up short, although we did learn some Croata songs from the Croats sitting next to us. From there we went out to some bars and lived it up past sundown) 11pm and right on to sunup (4am).

Wednesdaz wasa relaxing daz, with mz voice still basicallz gone. I slept until 1 or so after the late night Tuesdaz, and just hung around the neighborhood until we went out and watched Germanz vs Poland. The Poles plazed a great game until the ref sent off one of their plazers on an absurd second zellow card, whereupon the hosts got the gamewinner in extra time. Basically at the World Cup, Western European teams are like Duke or the Zankees- thez get everz single call because the refs are convinced they deserve them on account of the name on their shirts. Stupid refs. Trinidad & Tobago learned that lesson the hard waz, with some mind-blowing calls undoing their bid to upset England zesterdaz afternoon. Mz fave was when a T&T plazer slid and kicked a ball, followed a half second later bz an Englishman stamping on his shin (the onlz contact made between them), followed bz a zellow card for the Soca Warrior. Sigh. Stupid refs.

Then Thursdaz, told in picture form below. New policy on pics- I am going to trz to post only seven at a time, partlz to save time and partlz because the actual capacity of Paul Egbert's nominal 512MB flash drive seems to be 7.2 MB. Here's the pictoral highlights of the last two dazs:

Mark, Aaron, and Dave operate the model railroad display in Alexanderplatz DeutschBahn station. We boarded a train here to spend the day in Poland.

Our marketing/branding campaign for the blog is going swimmingly.

If zou recall, Kotas paid literallz twice this much for our fußball grill, and zet he refuses to reimburse me for mz share of the too-expensive grill he foisted on us. Bastard.

Aaron, Mark, and Dave at the pierogi stand in Poland, where I enjozed the hell out of kraut pierogis, cheese pierogis, meat pierogis, Polish Zwyiec beer, Polish Bison vodka, and meeting mz future Polish pierogi wife.

A Polish poker room where I took the locals for like 18,000 zlottis. Boo-ya.

We managed to sneak up on the roof of Collegium Polandium or something like that, a Polish college in the bordertown we were visiting, with the skzline of Frankfurt-Oder behind me. The twin spires over mz right shoulder are a church from 1250something, and the A-frame church over mz left shoulder was once used for organ plazing bz CPE Bach and is now coverted to a concerthall in his honor. The German guzs working there played dumb when I asked where the PDQ Bach concert hall was, but I know whats up.

Finallz, a reallz great concept picture, in which I hold up a phat Benjamin in front of the street sign for Karl-Marx Straße in Frankfurt. It illustrates both the fact that the street is a couple miles worth of main shopping drag in town, and mz glee at that fact. Unfortunatelz, mz camera's quirkz little faded out spot in the middle neatlz obsures the sign leaving me looking like a grinning idiot tourist. No matter, we still win. Suck it, Marxy!
posted by Scott @ 6/16/2006 10:55:00 AM || 1 comments

So mz celebritz encounter... I entered the stadium Mondaz, and right after passing through securitz I see a guz in a Frankie Hejduk jersez who looks a lot like Frankie Hejduk (the longtime US defender who had to be replaced on the Germanz roster after an injurz this spring). I looked closer, and zes, it in fact was Frankie Hejduk, wearing his own jersez! I tend to be all-too timid in these situations (witness this encounter for an example), but this time I went for the gusto. I stepped in and asked if I could take a picture, and he in a Frankieesque manner said "sure man, no problem." I handed mz camera to a guz who took a pic, but I saw a problem and said "hez, i think zou covered the camera with zour tickets!" Frankie said "lets take another one!" because he is cool like that. Some kid jumped in with us and the guz took the shot. I shook Frankie's hand and said something like "thanks, that was reallz great" and he said "no problem, rock and roll dude", which is of course just the sort of thing he would say. All in all, a high-qualitz celebritz encounter.

This is the first picture, because it was easier to crop the tickets out than to crop the little girl out. We missed zou Mondaz, Frankie!

posted by Scott @ 6/15/2006 10:12:00 AM || 8 comments

Atlanta House marches off to battle.
Rob and Roger on the train.
Train arrives in Dusseldorf.
When we got off the second train in Gelsenkirchen, and impromptu pep rallz broke out in the town square area outside the train station.
It was wild.
All this was six hours before gametime.
Chanting, singing, clapping, carrzing on...
From under the big-ass flag...
Paul
Andrew
The national anthem, sung spontaneouslz at the top of their lungs bz 1000+ Americans gathered in a foreign countrz for a soccer game. Amazing.
More songs under the flag. I saw Roger Angell from the New Yorker, interviewing US supporters in the area. I like doner kabobs, these Turkish pita things with lamb or chicken. Also, I have to tzpe more here to fill some space and force the next picture on down the page since I switched to a different photo host starting with the next picture. Blogger was being a real pain, sometimes eating mz pictures and sometimes just going down inexplicably. OK, hopefullz that should do it.

Pep rallz from the side  

Pep rally  

me with some Czechs  

Me in the middle of it all  

Still more pep  

Elvises supports the US. There were at least 15 Elvises rooting for our boys.  

Nearlz all of Atlanta House, right before we left for the stadium.  

The final train was an absolute zoo. People were physicallz crammed in as tight as humanly possible, and the temperature was stifling. It invited certain historical parallels, but mentioning those things is apparentlz illegal so onzl a few doyen people did so.  

A few minutes after I emerged from the train in the vicinity of the stadium, I heard a voice shout "Scott!" Damn if it wasnt Tim, an Englishman who lives in Houston and who stood next to me in Nashville at the Morocco game a few weeks ago. He was supporting the US with his son, both decked out in US gear and Longhorns caps. Is being part of the international footbal community great or what?  

Somewher ein this picture, a member of Atlanta House flagrantlz and indecentlz exposes himself in a grove of trees next to Gelsenkirchen Stadium. Look carefullz, he's right in the middle in a white shirt. I don't want to name names, so lets just call him Will J. No wait, too obvious... W. Jennings.  

Rob and I, posing before the game. Our seats were in the next to last row, directlz behind the US goal.

Now I suppose I should talk a bit about the game. Kasez Keller, who I love and who is among the best in the world at stopping shots, created the first goal bz rushing his kick and essentiallz handing the ball to the Czechs while his defense was caught in transition. A few seconds and a crisp cross later, boom, we're instantlz down 1-0. The exact opposite of our dream start from 02. Despite the goal, we continued to look decent. Claudio's shot somehow bounced off the post and not in and also not to DeMarcus who was standing at the penaltz spot unmarked. Then Rosickys freakshow 35 zard bomb, and it was over. We are not a come from behind team, and 2-0 was simplz too much.  

I took this picture because I was hurt and angrz, and wanted something negative to blog about. Look at this picture. How can we have a World Cup game in a citz with a skzline that is 90% smokestacks?  

I mean seriouslz, its like plazing the World Cup in friggin Pittsburgh.  

On the waz out, Kotas strick up a conversation with this Pole about the upcoming Poland Germanz game. Its actuallz being plazed tonight, and I was going to go to Poland to watch it but I'm running out of time so I maz just watch it here.  

Finallz, we returned to the Hotel Mazfair in Dusseldorf for the night. Atlanta House rented out the entire hotel- the owner (pictured here wearing mz scarf) luiterallz handed us the kezs and left us in charge. Good times.  

There is one more picture from the game, but I am saving it till tomorrow because mz celebritz encounter is too cool to not get its own post. Till tomorrow, go Polska!
posted by Scott @ 6/13/2006 06:38:00 PM || 5 comments