Feb 15, 2009

My First European Futbol Match

Hello Everyone,

Things have started to get a little mundane here. The only thing that happened this week was it snowed twice. This reminded me a little of Indiana. It has not snowed but a couple times in Kolobrzeg. Now in the middle of February it snows multiple times.

We headed to Turow on Thursday for the game that would be played Friday. The trip was about 6 hours and we stopped outside of Berlin for burger king. We cut through Germany on the auto-ban since the town Turow plays in is real close to the boarder. We stayed at a pretty nice hotel with BIG beds and great wireless internet (the two most important things). They also had some great food for us, with chicken and fish the first night. The gym they play in is smaller then it looks on television, but they packed that place. The fans were loud the entire game with chants and cheers.

We came out and shot ourselves in the foot early again with missed open shots and turnovers. We went to halftime down 12. We made a run to get back in the game and cut the lead to 4 a couple times. It seemed like every time we would get close they would knock down a big shot or we would make a mistake on defense. I had an ok game scoring 11 points 2-6 from three. I still have been struggling a little bit from the outside missing some open threes I don’t usually miss. I got some confidence back after knocking the 2 down in the second half.

They are a good team in a tough place to play. I defiantly thought we could beat them with the good week of practice we had. Every team has raised their game up now with the season coming to an end and playoffs approaching. We are defiantly going to have to raise ours up. The good thing is the team below us helped us out by loosing. So we are still in fourth with 3 home games coming up. I hope we can get a lot of loud fans to come to the game as we need some big wins.

Drew and I came to Berlin after the game with coach. We just wanted to have a weekend away and see something different. We booked a pretty cheap hotel that coach thought was in the red light district. Luckily it was about a block outside of it. It looked very shady from the outside when we pulled up. It turned out to be a steal. The room is pretty big and the location is awesome. I guess there is something to be said for a little time and patience on the internet.
On Saturday we were heading to some citadel to look at when we ran into a bunch of soccer fans on the train. They said they were heading to the Hertha Berlin vs. Munich match. The game was sold out as it was 2nd place vs. 3rd place, winner takes first. We decided to go and try to scalp some tickets. Turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. The game goes into the top 5 funniest events I have been to. The tickets were right in the middle of the “crazy” fan section. They were waving the flags all game, chanting, and singing. Hertha won 2-1 which is who we were cheering for if not for the simple fact we did not want beer poured on us. It was a great game in a great atmosphere in a great stadium.

I was surprised to see that tailgating in the parking lot was not done here. We were at the game about 2 hours early, and of course there are a lot of people there, but they are just buying from the vendors. Then I realized why, most Europeans take the train to the games, where as in America every one drives their gas guzzlers to the game which allows for that tailgating scene I’m used to. Of course this is only one game I have been to and it could be different at other stadiums and other countries. The thing that surprised me the most was just how dedicated the fans our. After the victory we saw 2 grown men crying, and the fans stay 30 minutes after the game to perform more chants and dance with the players as they came over to the section. It was really a cool scene. Little did we know, the real adventure was starting after the game.

When you sell out a stadium with 70,000 plus people they have to go somewhere. Like I stated above most of these people took the train to the game. As you filtered down to the train station you saw security trying to control the flow, but with no luck at all as people were pushing and weaving there way through. When the trains did come everyone then played “how many sardines can I get in the can”. Drew and I finally shoved our way on to a train and headed to find dinner.

We were walking through Potsdamer Platz, which is a main shopping and entertainment scene in East Berlin, trying to find dinner. We stumbled upon one of Drew’s favorite, a small kiosk grilling up bratwurst. We grabbed one of those for the walk while we kept searching out for a restaurant. We ended up eating at a place called “house of 100 beers”. They had some authentic Berlin dishes, or at least that is what it was advertised as. I had some great French onion soup, and pork schnitzel with mushroom sauce. It was a great meal and relatively inexpensive for a big city.

We are going to try and catch the movie “international” tonight and enjoy some Tony Roma’s, Mmmm steak and ribs!

I will hopefully be able to upload some pictures and video from the trip on Tuesday or Wednesday so hang in there till then!

Until next time!

This is BC gone for now

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

No stupid comments from me, just really sorry about your loss. Have a good week.

Anonymous said...

Brandon,

enjoyed your update

hang in there and keep playing hard

Big Al

Anonymous said...

"I had an ok game (...)"
Really? Over 21 min., 1 reb., O assist, 1 turnover, EVAL 7.
We want more - Kotwica's fans.

Anonymous said...

0 steals, 40% (for 3)

Anonymous said...

don't worry BC!
We're with you no matter what!
true Kotwica fan.
eM

Anonymous said...

Hi Brendan,
Great read. Since your every entry is about food you ate or are about to eat,to some extent:)I wonder how come you haven't gone 250lbs+ till now:) Share your secret:)
With all cuisine experience you'll have gained during your playing days I think your future lies in restaurant business:)
While talking food, Brandon, what do you think of Polish bred and milk? Do you find it any different than in America? Do you like it?

Keep up the good job you've been doing both on the court and in the net.
Good luck.
Michal (other)

Anonymous said...

So sorry about messing up your name, BRANDON. Didn't see it in time. Sorry.
Michal (other)

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the latest addition.Seems to me, we Americans want to know "Where's the best place to eat in this town?" Many memories come from family gatherings & food.So, what's on the menu?", hoping our favorite foods made the list.
Take good care of yourself. See you when you get home.
~~Miss K~~

Anonymous said...

Pamiętaj Brandon,
Na Pomorzu Środkowym w Polsce rządzi jeden klub koszykarski - AZS Koszalin!

powodzenia
AZS Fan

SADO said...

Hey BC you can post here Kotwica Kołobrzeg main site. I think lot of new people watch your blog now so: www.kotwica.kolobrzeg.pl/index.php
Seeya at Kotwica-Stal

SADO said...

Do AZS FAN: Zapomnij o tym. Póki co AZS jest niżej wa tabeli więc nie potwierdza się twoja teza;] Dziwnym trafem zawsze tak jest było i będzie.