das schöne Spiel - the beautiful game
saturday night dan and i went to the italy vs. usa game in a stadium! it wasn't the stadium, where they were playing. it wasn't even a real stadium, if you want to get technical about it. we went to watch the match in a mini-replica of olympic stadium just outside the reichstag: the adidas world of football.
it's been said (on CNN) that the ticketless millions - those without ticket to the actual events - are just as important and involved as those with tickets. i know a few people here with tickets to the games and i would say they are less involved than the rest of us. having a ticket, in almost every case, means having a lot of money - like from owning a company. for every ticket you get to the game, a valued customer and his wife comes with you. my friend nina has attended several games and has not actually seen one yet.
so for us it was the best possible situation. dan's co-worker knows someone at adidas so we easily got tickets to the mini-stadium. these are not expensive tickets, but for us they were free. sure, i went as a wife of a co-worker, but we had no one to impress. we watched the game and made small talk as we wanted, not as business manners dictated. we even screamed the odd expletive at italian fans when we liked, and were joined in our efforts by dan's coworkers.
the mini-stadium holds about 10,000 people, including 2-3 people on the "premiere network" couch. the night we went three insane italian fans were given the sofa - and the crate of beer, coke and mcdonald's that come with it. they made a nice little living room, making drapes out of their italian flags and using their giant hats as throw pillows. each time italy did something good they ran around the circumference of the "field" hugging and jumping on each other. every time the US did something good, they would lay down on the ground and play dead.
on either end, just like in a real stadium, was a big screen TV. on the floor was a tiny soccer field with the couch in one of the goals. and uncomfortable seating rounded the field in a two tier set up.
dan and i were surrounded by italian fans - almost 80% of the fans were for italy. in the end, the US tied italy, which stunned and greatly upsetted several italian fans. for all of the expectation surrounding an italian win i would have expected more trash talk and disrespectful behavior. but everyone was nice - cordial almost. dan and i were just so happy we didn't lose we almost forgot our usual distaste for americana, and gleefully showed our team USA pride by jumping up and down.
i felt like a part of the world cup just by watching the game on TV with lots of other people. after our experience as one of the ticketless millions - i think i am pretty glad to be one of them. there's a positive energy going on in germany that is long needed. i will be sorry to leave this behind on thursday when we come home. perhaps i'll feel differently after the germany/ecuador game taking place down the road tomorrow afternoon... sleep is still a priority for me, after all.
it's been said (on CNN) that the ticketless millions - those without ticket to the actual events - are just as important and involved as those with tickets. i know a few people here with tickets to the games and i would say they are less involved than the rest of us. having a ticket, in almost every case, means having a lot of money - like from owning a company. for every ticket you get to the game, a valued customer and his wife comes with you. my friend nina has attended several games and has not actually seen one yet.
so for us it was the best possible situation. dan's co-worker knows someone at adidas so we easily got tickets to the mini-stadium. these are not expensive tickets, but for us they were free. sure, i went as a wife of a co-worker, but we had no one to impress. we watched the game and made small talk as we wanted, not as business manners dictated. we even screamed the odd expletive at italian fans when we liked, and were joined in our efforts by dan's coworkers.
the mini-stadium holds about 10,000 people, including 2-3 people on the "premiere network" couch. the night we went three insane italian fans were given the sofa - and the crate of beer, coke and mcdonald's that come with it. they made a nice little living room, making drapes out of their italian flags and using their giant hats as throw pillows. each time italy did something good they ran around the circumference of the "field" hugging and jumping on each other. every time the US did something good, they would lay down on the ground and play dead.
on either end, just like in a real stadium, was a big screen TV. on the floor was a tiny soccer field with the couch in one of the goals. and uncomfortable seating rounded the field in a two tier set up.
dan and i were surrounded by italian fans - almost 80% of the fans were for italy. in the end, the US tied italy, which stunned and greatly upsetted several italian fans. for all of the expectation surrounding an italian win i would have expected more trash talk and disrespectful behavior. but everyone was nice - cordial almost. dan and i were just so happy we didn't lose we almost forgot our usual distaste for americana, and gleefully showed our team USA pride by jumping up and down.
i felt like a part of the world cup just by watching the game on TV with lots of other people. after our experience as one of the ticketless millions - i think i am pretty glad to be one of them. there's a positive energy going on in germany that is long needed. i will be sorry to leave this behind on thursday when we come home. perhaps i'll feel differently after the germany/ecuador game taking place down the road tomorrow afternoon... sleep is still a priority for me, after all.
posted by jordan at
7:34 PM
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