Stupid idea #2359853

I've got my ticket booked for Stuttgart. That means I'll be spending Sunday with English fans. I'll try not to get arrested, but I'm not going to promise anything. haha Who knows how rowdy they might get if England lose? :) Saturday it's either Leipzig or Frankfurt depending on how adventurous I want to be... what will I do with myself when World Cup is over? :)

Not quite the Quidditch World Cup, but close...

Best… weekend… ever… I went to Kaiserslautern to watch the USA/Italy game at the fanfest area, since I couldn’t actually score tickets without selling my soul. For the first time in four months, I was able to walk around and act American without feeling like a jackass. I knew it was okay when I saw this sign:

I got there around noon to meet my new friend, Erika. I have now resorted to international harassment to get people to do things with me, as she met me there from France. Thanks, Trisha, for supporting my wannabe hooliganism. On the train from Frankfurt I met a guy that works for ESPN who ended up hanging out with us for the day. He seriously has the coolest job ever. He spent a month in France for the French Open, scored a ticket for the World Cup during his 5 days off, and will be going to London for the next few weeks for Wimbledon. That’s the kind of job I want!

I also found out where I want to go on my next vacation: Trinidad and Tobago. Those people rock, though they sent some crazy blue devils after me during the parade/carnival (see below). I just wish I had a video of the freaky dance thing they were doing. I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but that… was… awesome! I’m ticked off I couldn’t find a good T&T shirt before I left. (In fact, I didn’t get any souvenirs, which is quite disappointing considering I was there for 16 hours.) They didn’t really have much and THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT WEEKEND! Hopefully I’ll be going to Stuttgart to hang out with the hooligans and watch England beat… Germany? Tomorrow is a crucial day in the planning of Tara’s weekend…

It was all fun and games until the match started… That’s when international friendliness flew out the window. After Italy’s goal, the moron about 5 feet from me decided to light off a flare. This is not an intelligent idea when there are pissed off looking German security guards 50 feet from you, though I don’t know that they ever caught the guy. He lit it and bolted… I thought a brawl was going to start when an American put it out with his beer. Also, not a good idea… and seriously: why waste beer!?! I also enjoyed when an American got on his buddy’s shoulders to wave his flag around. Italian guy decided he would like to do it too… and then proceeded to start a flag jousting match. I’m good at picking the troublemakers in the crowd. What better way to make it on to ESPN?

Two or three red cards later and it was really on. I am soooo glad there was a draw or there might have been some craziness. I knew it was bad as soon as the riot cam showed up after the first goal. For those that don’t know, the riot cam is the helicopter that’s sent out for crowd surveillance. I will not comment on the officiating of the game. I will only refer you to this article, which properly displays how much the USA got screwed (notice it’s British, which means impartial): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4853182.stm

It’s fun having crazy Italian guys talk to you in babbly Italian… I would always turn to my friend, who speaks Spanish, as if that were the same thing and she would instantly translate. Those Italians sure are kissy. Jebus.

It’s great how you meet people at these things. I know Erika met her soulmate when a guy who had been peeing on the side of a building asked us to hold his beer while he zipped his pants. I let her take that one… Ends up this fool hangs out in Frankfurt and told us where to go to meet up with him. Yeah, I’ll get right on that.

About 6 hours after the game was over, we finally got on our train home. That was certainly a highlight since we were in the last car near the bathroom. One would think that a train leaving at 4am would not be full. Wrong. I’m just glad I got a seat (actually, I’m pretty sure we stole them from some Italians—you steal our game, we steal your seats, bitches). Let’s just say there was never only one person in the bathroom and God knows what was going on in there most of the time.

Everyone likes to harass me about my newly developed love of beer, but it helped me make new friends (well, the kind you talk to for awhile and never see again, but still…) Even Australians with kangaroos on their heads! I had many people ask me if I actually drank the 5 beers in the cups I was holding. Of course! I was thirsty and fizzy water sucks! It got me talking to 3 British fans, who scored tickets for the game from someone they met at a bar! The sad thing is they had extra tickets that went unused… They entertained me for an hour on the train and 90 minutes in Mannheim—they got extra points for saying that everyone in the stadium thought the US got screwed by the refs on multiple occasions. I learned a lot about English football and they helped me narrow down my choices for which football club I’ll follow next year. J

Amusing British quote in reference to the Mexico/Angola game: “We’ve never seen so many Mexicans before. It was amazing… Was the border empty?” Wow. I didn’t know Europeans could make jokes like that!!

Tara’s English chant education: “Two World Wars and One World Cup” (to be used by English fans when playing Germany… or at any time to annoy Germans.)

Getting home at 8am and having a mild sunburn might suck, but this was definitely the best weekend I’ve had since I’ve been in Germany. Too bad I couldn’t put it all on here. J It might have beaten out DC too… But that’s not hard considering I’m a nerd.

Anyone up for South Africa in '10? And please, no comments on the hair. I know it was bad that day.

World Cup Random Thought: Nummer 1

As I sat here watching the England/Paraguay game, I began to wonder how the Germans fans would let English hooligans show them up on the noise factor. My conclusion? Only Budweiser is sold at the games because no German beers stepped up to take one for the team and make a cheap bid. I think the German fans were calm because they couldn't lower themselves to drink bad beer and therefore did not have enough alcohol to make them properly boisterous.

You may be asking why I'm at home instead of partying it up in Frankfurt with the hooligans that I'm so desperate to meet. Simple answer: the Army sent out a warning that there would be 30-50 THOUSAND English hooligans (presumably drunk) cruising the streets and that "clashes were likely to follow". I still was all about going (in fact, it may have encouraged me more), but apparently soldiers get barred from going. Ah, what a tease this weekend has been... I still have one trick up my sleeve, but I will reveal that at a later time just in case it falls through. :)

What will I be when I grow up?

Thanks, Amie. I wish this was actually true... I could use a good nap.