Wir Sind the Champions... Almost (So Close)

The final game of the European Cup was yesterday, and Germany lost to Spain. We watched at a bar that was stuffed to the gills with Germans, and it was a silent, solemn crowd that walked home in the rain (literally) after the final seconds passed and hope was officially gone.

I think I've mentioned in the past that I don't enjoy watching sporting events (Olympics excepted of course. Arrgh! It's still killing me that I'm going to miss them!). Heading over to the bar then, I knew that the highlights for me would be the playing of the national anthems and the end of the game. With ugh, 90 minutes of sport in between.

As it happened, I had a better time than I expected. It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement of a crowd of füssball-crazed expatriates. It was also hard to miss the sexiness of the team. Rawr!

To begin, a couple players. Here's Michael Ballack, a national sex symbol in Germany.


Another: Christoph Metzelder. Do these pictures do them justice? I don't think so. To get the full effect, you need to see them running around the field like little warriors while a nation goes crazy behind them.


It wasn't just the players. Even the coach, Joachim Löw, had me a little flushed. Having grown up in the time and place of the two Mikes (Ditka and Holmgren), a stylish, physically fit coach kind of catches me off guard. Look at that hair! And that scarf. Where's the Starter jacket? The paunch? The mustache? Maybe I've got a warped view, but to me, Germans all seem so stylish! Curse you, sophisticated Europeans. You make me so aware of my yokel-ness.

Strangest of all, I was even a little captivated by the team doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt. The doctor! What is he, 60? Still...just look at him (center below). At one point an injured player had to leave the field for a minute and the doctor walked with him. Maybe it was the drama and excitement of the moment, but he looked like a jungle cat. He had this lithe step to him, and the bright lights caught the shadows in his craggy face as a faint breeze stirred his (beautiful) hair.


It all made me, for 90 minutes, want to move to Germany.

It also made me anxious for my upcoming 15th birthday.