An open love letter

To the amazing men of FC Bayern, in light of their 5-1 trouncing of Bayer Leverkusen-

Thank you. I woke up Sunday morning tired and cranky, figuring that I was going to get up pointlessly early and be sadly disappointed once again by a draw or, worse, a loss. But I need to remember not to doubt you all (and not just in that last-minute, save-the-day kind of game manner, where the winning goal is scored in extra time and I've spent the previous 90 minutes worrying). Because Sunday, I fell in love with you all over again.

To borrow a phrase from the ever-fabulous Uli Hoeness, much of this season didn't seem to be very fun. But yesterday, it was fun all around (unless, you know, you were cheering for Leverkusen, which I doubt you were). And so, I write this open love letter, because I just can't not talk about that match. Oh, and apologies for the fact that most of this will be in English (as my German is still limited to things that are best directed at referees, I think I'll refrain from accidentally insulting any of you).

Young Mr. Muller, you were everywhere and it was brilliant to watch. Seriously. You kept creating chances and pushing forward, forcing the other team to make mistakes, and you looked like you were having a blast out there. Danke.

Monsieur Ribery, votre énergie et votre enthousiasme ont changé notre équipe pour le mieux. Merci. Et félicitations pour le but!

M. Van Buyten...Bienvenue à nouveau! Votre taille et votre ténacité ont été manquées. Merci.

Diego Contento, it's good to have you back. Seriously. You were ferocious out there and you made a certain Dutch former captain VERY proud with your tackling. Danke.

Senhor Gustavo, você tem certeza que você não é um zagueiro? Porque você foi brilhante. Obrigada.

Tymo, you are more than deserving of having a cartoon superhero alter ego (or is this your alter ego and you really ARE a cartoon superhero?). Love watching you play, love watching you slide tackle the heck out of people, and love watching you practice your "Who, me?" face. Again, Mark Van Bommel would be VERY proud. Спасибі.

Miro Klose...I know I'm often harsh on you when you're in a Bayern kit (and yet can't get enough of you in an NT kit), but you looked great out there and you were helping create chances. And did you happen to attend an MVB slide tackling seminar? Because you had a couple of Mark-worthy crunchers. Dziękuję.

Kapitan Lahm, what can I saw? You remain flawless, keep us attacking, and you're a heck of a captain. Danke.

Super Mario, can we go ahead and change the spelling of your last name to Golmez? Another hat trick, another day of you showing why you deserve that starting spot. If someone had asked me last season if I ever thought I would come to love you as much as I do, I would have said no. And it's not just about the goals (though, they are helpful); it's your presence and your humility and your utter fabulousness. Danke y gracias.

Basti (I do hope you'll forgive the familiarity), you are and forever will be my favorite player. Despite an injury, you were amazing. You make me love the game more and more with every passing week. I really don't have words for how much I love you. Danke.

And, finally, to the love of my footballing life, a certain Hans-Jorg Butt...You made me fall in love with the game and it is unspeakably good to have you back. I have missed you terribly, drive people crazy talking about you, and am so glad you're back to hold our back line together. I'm going to miss you when you retire. And, for the record, while I'm okay with signing Neuer, I wish we could have several more years with you. Danke.

And to all of our other players (even you, Pranjic, and yes, I realize I'm really harsh on you and might have called you the spawn of Satan on (more than) one occasion)...thank you for making the game fun. Let's keep this up.

Love,
A typical American who loves her typical Germans.