Day 15
Today is a make-or-brake (yeah, brake, not break) match for the USA. In order to make it to the next round, we have to win and hope that Italy beats the Czech Republic. It's going to be a tough match for the US because Ghana was the African champions last year and probably have the strongest squad of all African teams.
After waking up IN A CASTLE, we drove into Frankfurt to pick up Imran, then we were on our way to Nuremberg. The ride was pretty uneventful, at least for me, becuase I think I slept most of the way. This is our sixth day on the road, and the travel and excitement at all of the games is finally starting to catch up with me...I would say I'm getting too old for this, but that's not true...I think that it's just that I'm just not used to this. I'm sure with some practice, I could do this for a living...and become a trucker! Alright, not really, but sleeping in a different hotel every night has not been that ideal for my sleep pattern, and when I don't get a good night's sleep I tend to be a bit cranky and irritable, so I just keep my mouth closed.
We finally made it to Nuremberg, and found some parking. We arrived about 3 hours before kickoff, and Imran thought we were going to go straight to the stadium...oh no, we have to "get ready"! This requires the precise application of FACE PAINT! Unfortunately, I left the blue face paint at the apartment before we left, thinking that we had plenty in the bag from the US-Czech game. So Knuckles and I applied the red and white that we had...and someone told me that I looked like I supported Poland with half-and-half/red-and-white. Not wanting to be mistaken for a Polish supporter, Knuckles went in search of the elusive blue face paint. We struck gold about 2 cars down, and the lady was kind enough to apply the blue to my forehead in exchange for some q-tips (so she could apply it to her family as well). The end result:
See the wavy streaks on the side of Knucles' head (huh, huh, huh...knucklehead!!!), yeah, they made for quite an interesting tan line! Speaking of tan lines, check out the guy with his hand in the air...
they said it was from (american) football practice, but it looks almost like it was painted on. The funny thing about these guys was not so much the adult diapers, but the red, white and blue that they "painted" themselves with was actually permanent marker. Reminds me of the old college days and the first to pass out at a party...but I have a very bad feeling they weren't that drunk when they did the painting. It dawned on me that: who was the drunk guy to think that wearing adult diapers to the match was a "good idea"...and how drunk was the other guy(s) sitting there that had to agree was a "good idea"...and how drunk were they to wake up the next day and STILL THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA. We chatted with them before and during the walk to the stadium, and they explained that US Soccer is in its infancy...and we asked what would happen if the diapers didn't last the whole day, and whether they had someone bring some clothes for them, and they said...well, it might be the birthday of US soccer around the world, so don't be surprised if you see a birthday suit. Well, I knew right then that I hoped that they were sitting in a different section!
Inside the stadium, we found our seats in the corner section with all of the American fans. It was interesting because our section was blocked off from adjacent fan sections by a glass partition and looking up into the upper deck, we could only see the people standing in the firts row. This made coordinating any chants especially difficult. At one time, I heard 5 different US chants...doesn't really help much if everyone is saying a different thing. Even when we were "coordinated" on a common chant, it sounded more like a round with the "USA" portion seconds apart in each of the section of fans. Oh well, we still yelled, screamed, cheered, drummed to support our boys on the field. I really liked this banner, but it was taken down shortly after we took this picture, probably by those in charge of FIFA as being a "politically insensitive" statement...one that challended the ref's decision in the previous match (which saw Pablo, a US player, get a red card, meaning he was suspsended for this game against Ghana):
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed in a group of US supporters that continually chanted "nobody likes us, and we don't care." I thought that on a stage like this where the fans of every country have been friendly and looking to make friends that you wouild think of something so classless to chant. Classless, that's all I can say, and I hate to admit that they were part of our supporter's section. Barring that, the support for our team was tremendous. During the national anthem at the US-Czech game, I got goosebumps to hear so many people singing so loudly, but was completely taken aback at the sheer amount of noise we made this time singing our national anthem before the game! Amazing. It was worth the money for the plane/apartment/hotel/tickets to the game just to be part of, and witness, such a display for our national anthem. LOVED IT! It doesn't matter how bad of a singer anyone is, when they are combined with THOUSANDS of others in unison to sing praise to our country, I can't help but think that even the bad voices turn into a sweet, sweet sound in the end.
The game itself was a bit disappointing because we lost...on a call by the ref that should never have been made. Granted, our players could've played through it, and our fans were definately doing all we could to lend vocal support, but it just wasn't to be. The US team crashed out of the World Cup with a wimper. That has made me pretty grumpy, so it will probably take a couple of days to recover from what I expected to be another highlight of my trip - witnessing our boys advance to the second round. We left Nuremberg to head back to Frankfurt to pick up my friend John (the son of a partner at my former law firm) at the airport. He is flying in from Spain to watch the Spain-Saudi Arabia match tomorrow. After picking him up, we dropped Imran off at his apartment and headed back to the castle for another night.
Cheers,
Rocco
After waking up IN A CASTLE, we drove into Frankfurt to pick up Imran, then we were on our way to Nuremberg. The ride was pretty uneventful, at least for me, becuase I think I slept most of the way. This is our sixth day on the road, and the travel and excitement at all of the games is finally starting to catch up with me...I would say I'm getting too old for this, but that's not true...I think that it's just that I'm just not used to this. I'm sure with some practice, I could do this for a living...and become a trucker! Alright, not really, but sleeping in a different hotel every night has not been that ideal for my sleep pattern, and when I don't get a good night's sleep I tend to be a bit cranky and irritable, so I just keep my mouth closed.
We finally made it to Nuremberg, and found some parking. We arrived about 3 hours before kickoff, and Imran thought we were going to go straight to the stadium...oh no, we have to "get ready"! This requires the precise application of FACE PAINT! Unfortunately, I left the blue face paint at the apartment before we left, thinking that we had plenty in the bag from the US-Czech game. So Knuckles and I applied the red and white that we had...and someone told me that I looked like I supported Poland with half-and-half/red-and-white. Not wanting to be mistaken for a Polish supporter, Knuckles went in search of the elusive blue face paint. We struck gold about 2 cars down, and the lady was kind enough to apply the blue to my forehead in exchange for some q-tips (so she could apply it to her family as well). The end result:
See the wavy streaks on the side of Knucles' head (huh, huh, huh...knucklehead!!!), yeah, they made for quite an interesting tan line! Speaking of tan lines, check out the guy with his hand in the air...
they said it was from (american) football practice, but it looks almost like it was painted on. The funny thing about these guys was not so much the adult diapers, but the red, white and blue that they "painted" themselves with was actually permanent marker. Reminds me of the old college days and the first to pass out at a party...but I have a very bad feeling they weren't that drunk when they did the painting. It dawned on me that: who was the drunk guy to think that wearing adult diapers to the match was a "good idea"...and how drunk was the other guy(s) sitting there that had to agree was a "good idea"...and how drunk were they to wake up the next day and STILL THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA. We chatted with them before and during the walk to the stadium, and they explained that US Soccer is in its infancy...and we asked what would happen if the diapers didn't last the whole day, and whether they had someone bring some clothes for them, and they said...well, it might be the birthday of US soccer around the world, so don't be surprised if you see a birthday suit. Well, I knew right then that I hoped that they were sitting in a different section!
Inside the stadium, we found our seats in the corner section with all of the American fans. It was interesting because our section was blocked off from adjacent fan sections by a glass partition and looking up into the upper deck, we could only see the people standing in the firts row. This made coordinating any chants especially difficult. At one time, I heard 5 different US chants...doesn't really help much if everyone is saying a different thing. Even when we were "coordinated" on a common chant, it sounded more like a round with the "USA" portion seconds apart in each of the section of fans. Oh well, we still yelled, screamed, cheered, drummed to support our boys on the field. I really liked this banner, but it was taken down shortly after we took this picture, probably by those in charge of FIFA as being a "politically insensitive" statement...one that challended the ref's decision in the previous match (which saw Pablo, a US player, get a red card, meaning he was suspsended for this game against Ghana):
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed in a group of US supporters that continually chanted "nobody likes us, and we don't care." I thought that on a stage like this where the fans of every country have been friendly and looking to make friends that you wouild think of something so classless to chant. Classless, that's all I can say, and I hate to admit that they were part of our supporter's section. Barring that, the support for our team was tremendous. During the national anthem at the US-Czech game, I got goosebumps to hear so many people singing so loudly, but was completely taken aback at the sheer amount of noise we made this time singing our national anthem before the game! Amazing. It was worth the money for the plane/apartment/hotel/tickets to the game just to be part of, and witness, such a display for our national anthem. LOVED IT! It doesn't matter how bad of a singer anyone is, when they are combined with THOUSANDS of others in unison to sing praise to our country, I can't help but think that even the bad voices turn into a sweet, sweet sound in the end.
The game itself was a bit disappointing because we lost...on a call by the ref that should never have been made. Granted, our players could've played through it, and our fans were definately doing all we could to lend vocal support, but it just wasn't to be. The US team crashed out of the World Cup with a wimper. That has made me pretty grumpy, so it will probably take a couple of days to recover from what I expected to be another highlight of my trip - witnessing our boys advance to the second round. We left Nuremberg to head back to Frankfurt to pick up my friend John (the son of a partner at my former law firm) at the airport. He is flying in from Spain to watch the Spain-Saudi Arabia match tomorrow. After picking him up, we dropped Imran off at his apartment and headed back to the castle for another night.
Cheers,
Rocco
posted by Rocco at 1:01 PM
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