Imagine that you've just flown to visit one of your closest friends. Despite landing at an ungodly early hour, when you arrive, he's ready for the day. And that's when you inform him: for the next two hours, he's going to have to deal with the fact that Bayern are playing their biggest rivals and the Champions League is on the line and, well, you're not missing the match.
And that, friends, is more or less what happened last weekend. I had warned him the day before, but I'm not sure my friend was prepared for the screaming, yelling, overly-involved mess that is me when watching a Bayern match. Thankfully, the match went well, because I was thisclose to cussing in German on several occasions, and he was spared my full Schalke-related vitriole. I think he's still worried that I'm a little TOO passionate about the game.
But I can't help it. I love this team. Even when they're frustrating me, even when I can't make heads or tails of why certain people are playing (Pranjic) or playing out of position (half the team). I can't not care. Especially when we're playing Schalke. I realize that my hatred of Schalke is somewhat irrational (and it was weird to cheer for them in the CL...I felt dirty). But I really do hate Schalke.
That said, I'm not upset that Neuer is going to (almost certainly) be joining us. He's an incredible keeper, he has experience playing with quite a few Bayern players (as they're all on the German NT together), and he doesn't hurt the GQ factor.
More exciting, the love of my football life has extended his contract another year and will be our #2 keeper. Even for a keeper as experienced and decorated as HJB, there's nothing shabby about being Neuer's number two. And I also hope that this means the Jupp Heynckes will realize that, on occasion, it's okay to rest players. And I'm not just talking about Holger when it looks like he needs a nap...I'm talking about the fact that Basti has pretty much had no break for the past three years. Just saying.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The witching hour is nigh or: Early Morning ramblings of an over-caffeinated under-rested student of the medical sciences
As I sit here burning the 2 a.m. oil (midnight has long passed), trying to cram even more neuroscience into my brain (I think I am starting to have visual hallucinations, either that or my hair really does look like spiders), I realize the end to this very traumatizing season is almost near! May is almost upon us, I am 3 exams away from finishing an equally traumatizing, but fun, year.
So I suppose one thing I can ask of Bayern is, can you do me a solid and get to #3 and give me hope that I CAN DO IT here?
I will give you a hint: no more of that possession football shit, it doesn't work and insanity is repeating the same activity expecting a different result. Stop it.
I would go further with this but I realized I am without my pink and yellow highlighters, both of which are very crucial and that I just spent the last two minutes contemplating the reality of underwear gnomes and sock elves. This is probably a good sign that I should stop.
Cliffs Notes version: Win or lose, Bayern, I will love you. But a Win would feel like a really nice hug or something. Mia San Uli, etc. etc.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Ouch.
Anyone feel like sharing their "Bayern, sometimes you drive me to drink!" pictures?
At least we salvaged a point...
Monday, April 18, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Luka Robben: Great Mascot or Greatest Mascot?
This is Luka Robben, yes, the actual son of Arjen Robben (not to be confused with his pitch-side progeny from him and the continually missed Mark van Bommel - Holger Bieber Badstuber). He is a cheerful little tulip whose demeanor is only hindered by an oncoming Bernie. We can all pretend that the last time he encountered Bernie ended up with Luka getting ambushed by Mark van Bommel after taking the bait of a seemingly innocuous bathtub full of the Bayern mascot.
The next match is an away match but we can hope that we'll be seeing more of this right footed toddler before the end of this season!
I trust that the other ladies on this blog can write a more constructive match reaction post, but having just watched the match as a study break and knowing the outcome, well... this is as good as it's gonna get.
Also please click the links or this post is going nowhere.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
"Please close your eyes and tell me where I'm touching you" or: your third blogger has lost it
Yes there is still a third blogger here! I just finished Medical Physiology last week, sang way too much "Forget You" in a band and in an a'cappella group, became a Belieber for all of five minutes, got asked for my autograph, mildly inebriated and am almost at my first Medical Neuroscience exam and so I have brains on the brain. Are you still following, because naturally this leads me to a mini-feature I like to call:
Inappropriate Stress Responses of the Week
+ Bayern shows LvG the door: Uli finally tells us how he really feels.
+ Kraft bumbles against whoever it was we played last Saturday: I think I made myself a bowl of pasta (irony level would have increased if it was macaroni and cheese)
+ Bastian Schweinsteiger and I become contralateral ankle ligament sprain twins, I laugh and say "what more could go wrong? haa haa ha" Edit: Apparently even more! Franck had to end practice early because of a tight hamstring
+ Watching practice videos during a dinner study break, all I could notice was Jonker's considerably fit physique and that I very briefly missed the awkward pauses on LvG's rotund belly.
+ Hole in the midfield? I know Nerlinger said "No" but I want Mark van Bommel to say "Yes" in the form of a slide tackle (though I won't mind if he at least wins the double in Italy)
+ Pranjic continues to be an option.
And now, something that has been going around school since the second years are studying for their board exams after the jump (and no, it is not oral herpes)
Inappropriate Stress Responses of the Week
+ Bayern shows LvG the door: Uli finally tells us how he really feels.
+ Kraft bumbles against whoever it was we played last Saturday: I think I made myself a bowl of pasta (irony level would have increased if it was macaroni and cheese)
+ Bastian Schweinsteiger and I become contralateral ankle ligament sprain twins, I laugh and say "what more could go wrong? haa haa ha" Edit: Apparently even more! Franck had to end practice early because of a tight hamstring
+ Watching practice videos during a dinner study break, all I could notice was Jonker's considerably fit physique and that I very briefly missed the awkward pauses on LvG's rotund belly.
+ Hole in the midfield? I know Nerlinger said "No" but I want Mark van Bommel to say "Yes" in the form of a slide tackle (though I won't mind if he at least wins the double in Italy)
+ Pranjic continues to be an option.
And now, something that has been going around school since the second years are studying for their board exams after the jump (and no, it is not oral herpes)
Murphy's Law
Anyone else starting to feel like Murphy's Law is in effect? *shakes head* Okay, so what we know about the match on Sunday...
*Robben is out for two matches thanks to his red card.
*Basti has an ankle injury (right ankle ligament sprain, according to fcbayern.de). He's questionable.
*Daniel Van Buyten and Daniel Pranjic are both questionable, too. I'll refrain from cheering on the latter, but hopefully the former will be fit enough to play.
*It's looking like Jorg Butt will be back in goal. To me, this would be the best news of the week, but until I see him between the posts, I'm not putting money on it.
*We can safely assume that Lahm, Gomez, Ribery, and Muller will start. It's been confirmed that Tymo will start at DM. If LVG were still coach, I'm pretty sure he'd take the remaining positions he has open and figure out how to play his remaining players completely out of position, but who knows whether Jonker will put Gustavo at DM or at CB.
*Holger's out because of yellows. Contento may get the start at LB, but who knows.
In other words, our formation and line-up are somewhat in the air, we're facing the number 2 team, and we desperately need a win. Should be an interesting Sunday morning.
*Robben is out for two matches thanks to his red card.
*Basti has an ankle injury (right ankle ligament sprain, according to fcbayern.de). He's questionable.
*Daniel Van Buyten and Daniel Pranjic are both questionable, too. I'll refrain from cheering on the latter, but hopefully the former will be fit enough to play.
*It's looking like Jorg Butt will be back in goal. To me, this would be the best news of the week, but until I see him between the posts, I'm not putting money on it.
*We can safely assume that Lahm, Gomez, Ribery, and Muller will start. It's been confirmed that Tymo will start at DM. If LVG were still coach, I'm pretty sure he'd take the remaining positions he has open and figure out how to play his remaining players completely out of position, but who knows whether Jonker will put Gustavo at DM or at CB.
*Holger's out because of yellows. Contento may get the start at LB, but who knows.
In other words, our formation and line-up are somewhat in the air, we're facing the number 2 team, and we desperately need a win. Should be an interesting Sunday morning.
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