Time to dust off those blogging shoes....

Hey everyone, remember me? It's been awhile, but I come bearing gifts.

In the last week, we have seen the return of Arjen Robben, suffered a defeat against Borussia Dortmund, and qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League thanks to the three men you see in the picture to the right. Things will only get crazier from here on out. We have important games against Werder Bremen and Stuttgart swiftly approaching, the (meaningless) game against Manchester City, which Toni Kroos insists we won't just "roll over" (though I would gladly roll over for Herr Kroos) and the possibility of us drawing Manchester United in the early stages of the Round of 16. To this I say, tut tut and may FC Basel steal away any chances of the satanic club from qualifying!

Where was I going with this? I'm not sure. So we lost 0-1 to Borussia Dortmund, which kind of sucked. But revenge reared it's ugly head in the form of Thomas Vermaelen yesterday in BVB's game against Arsenal. Sven Bender is out for the rest of 2011 with a broken face. Number of times I watched the lesser Bender twin get completely Verminated: 7. Götze came off early as well, but I don't care enough to be informed to be quite honest. Should be interesting for the Ruhrpott Scum Derby this Saturday. Draw or Die! We're 2 points ahead of BVB and Gladbach, 3 or so ahead of Schalke and we face a relegation-zone team on Sunday. BRING IT ON. Wir holen die Meisterschaft und den Europacup und den Pokaaaaal den holen wir noch einmaaaaaaal. Clap clap clap clap.

We've had to deal with the loss of Schweinsteiger (who, by the way, can drive a car again), but I feel we've coped nicely. Tymo is suspended in the league so I believe a Gustavo-Alaba partnership will be our answer for the games against Mainz and Bremen. Or we can all petition for the use of Kroos there. Or our underrated Croatian superstar, Danijel Pranjic. (I sense my co-bloggers clutching at their hearts). By the way, if you google Croatian Superstar, one of the results is Pope Benedict XVI.

This is where I talk about how Ribery is in the form of his life, Robben wants to stay in Munich ("Ich möchte am allerliebsten in München bleiben."), Marco Reus would look better in red dancing to 'Ai Se Eu Te Pego,' Schalke sucks, and today is Thanksgiving. Fill in the blanks yourself, it's turkey time!

(I couldn't find pictures of any Bavarian turkeys. Funny how I just found pictures of Hamit Altintop. So I shall leave you with Papa Bayern serving himself some wurst.)

oh, uh?

as far as blogging consistency goes, I bear a rather strong resemblance to the sort of stereotypical absent parental figure that would create great issues for a whiny television character. I hope none of you are getting a complex.

I apologize for my absence - senior year and GREs have eaten up both my time and my sanity, and yet onwards I march.

I think we're all going a little stir crazy during the international break, as per usual. I can't speak to the Germany vs Ukraine match, on account of the fact that I didn't watch it, but I've been told that the Bayern players who were there put on the strongest showing on the pitch. Yes, allow that smug, arrogant, uniquely Bavarian feeling to wash over you, my friends.

But wait! It's not over! A recap of what you might want to watch tomorrow:

Ukraine vs Austria (2 PM EST)
Germany vs Holland (2:45 PM EST)
France vs Belgium (3 PM EST)

as for myself, I shall be either a) taking a nap and hoarding precious amounts of sleep or b) watching the United States vs Slovenia.

have a good week, Bayern fans!

German phrases you never wanted to learn...

Schluesselbeinbruch: clavicle fracture (or, if you want to piss Chary off, collarbone break).

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably already know that Bastian Schweinsteiger fractured his clavicle in the 50th minute of yesterday's CL match against Napoli. He'll be in the hospital until tomorrow and in two weeks, he'll be allowed to start jogging and work his way back to training. He's expected to be out at least 6 weeks and likely will not play again this calendar year.

Clearly, this is a blow to the team and to all of us, but mostly, I'm heartbroken for him. He lives and breathes the team and it's clear that it's harder on him to be out and not playing than it is for us to miss him. And I think it's fair to say that, if something goes terribly wrong in the next few weeks, he'll be hard on himself. But we can all hope for quick and uncomplicated healing.

As for the rest of the match...the first 45 minutes were not bad at all. Mario Gomez scored a(nother) hat trick and passed Michael Ballack to become the all-time German scoring leader in the Champion's League (well deserved, Mario!). We had some moments of flair and brilliance (I'm starting to wonder if Toni and Franck and Basti are able to bi- and tri-locate sometimes).

And then the second half started and things went...not well. Let's be honest: it was a disaster on many levels. Holger should not have been sent off. The ref...yeah. I'm not even going to go there.

All said, we won, we top the group, and it puts us in good position to win the group and make the Round of 16. This weekend, we take on Augsburg. I, for one, am hoping that Toni Kroos will take Basti's spot as playmaker in DM. I have faith in Toni.

Mia san Bayern, mia san mia. AUF GEHT'S BAYERN!