Füchse: Handball Champions

Boah, what a game that was! I only watched it on TV afterwards, as I had promised months ago to preach yesterday. So I gave my ticket to the handball Champions League game away. I mean, it was hopeless! The Füchse had lost in Leon with 11 goals, there was no way they were going to win.

But in the full house in Berlin they started playing tricky - taking out the goalie so they had 7 guys throwing goals. This so irritated the Spaniards, that they lost their footing. And the Füchse gained ground goal by goal. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7 goals ahead. The crowd was whipping them to a frenzy, Silvio Heinevetter seemed to know exactly where each ball was coming and had a foot or a hand or a rather sensitive part of his anatomy in the way. 8. 9. 10. The crowd was boiling! 11 goals ahead - the hall exploded, and the Spanish coach took his time out. The Füchse made one more goal, and then slipped back to 9 goals ahead. But the crowd wouldn't let up. Two minutes before the end they were leading by 11 goals and Torsten Laen got thrown out for a 2 minute penalty. One goal in 2 minutes with one man more on the playing field and a championship waiting - that is normally a simple exercise. But luck was with the Füchse, Heinevetter managed to deflect the ball, and the Füchse just played down the last 10 seconds.

WiseMan came home unable to speak and exhausted. Seems he screamed a lot ;)

So this means the Füchse, who have only been in the premier league for 5 years, are heading to the Final Four, the international championships. What a great team! So even if they don't win, they are champions for making it to the final round.

Better get my season tickets sorted out for next year. They are certainly in line for German championships. And much better than the Berlin soccer team, who is looking at playing in the second league again....

The upper leagues

I went to a refresher course in being a handball judge in October, WiseMan took the beginner's course. Our club has quite a number of successful teams that are playing in the upper leagues, and only licensed judges are allowed to keep time and score.

We still don't have our certificates back, but Saturday the handball captain of the club called to ask if we could not pleeeeeease work the game today? On account of it being the first Sunday in Advent, they couldn't get anyone else. We asked for there to be someone else with experience there - it would be a debut in the upper leagues for both of us. Luckily, another judge could be found.

We were judging the current boy's A-team, who are playing in the Northeastern Handball League. This is a league that spans 4 states - the players have a long way to drive for their games. The opponent was from Stralsund, a good 4-hour drive away.

We had wanted to get licensed in order to judge for this team - WiseKid used to play with them, WiseMan even was a trainer way back when. And I helped chaperone an excursion to a tournament in Sweden. They were such little boys back then - they are all grown up now, and I'm not sure that I would know who they were if I saw them on the street. Heck, one large guy came up to me, all smiles, knew my name, shook my hand, and I didn't have the foggiest idea who he was until he sat down with his parents. They have a few more grey hairs here and there, but still look the same.

The team from Stralsund got in late, we were thinking they might not show, seeing as how they are in last place and our team is in fourth place. All the formalities got organized, the whistle blew, and off they were. There were so many goals, I really had a hard time keeping track! I was glad that WiseMan had an extra pair of eyes for seeing which number got what.

At half-time then the secretary had to go into the umpire's locker room for the "inquisition". In the lower leagues we just sort of eyeball the list, but this had to be done formally. I had to reel off my list of guys with yellow cards, guys with 2-minute penalties, time-outs and goals. When the umpires agreed with what I had written down, I could leave the locker room. I wonder what would have happened if my numbers did not agree....

Anyway, I think we missed a goal - they were flying so thick and heavy in between the penalties at the start of the second half, I think we missed one. But the game ended something like 46-23, so at least it was not a crucial goal if we did skip one. The team is now in third place - way to go!

One goal is enough!

Puh, what a day of excitement!

First my handball team's game in the morning. Since we lost all games last year, sometimes by very bad margins, we swore that we would try to achieve 2 goals: no opponent gets more than 40 points, and we get at least 10. We didn't quite make it today, we made 9 goals. But the other team - a new one - only got 8, so WE WON! How wonderful! We were all in such bad shape, I even got to play for 15 minutes because everyone else was pooped.

Just home for some lunch, then off the Foxes game. One of the two upcoming teams was in town, Dormagen, and these young whippersnappers had already *tied* THW Kiel (the grand reigning emperor of handball) and *won* against Hamburg (the Crown Prince).

They sure gave the Foxes a run for their money. There was never more than 3 goals between the teams, it went back and forth, the last 15 minutes either tied or one team one goal up. They also won by one goal (although they had some really, really bad plays). I was exhausted after all the shouting - and then I still had church and Wikipedia (both with rather long distances to walk). I hope I can still move tomorrow!

Another Year of Top League Handball!

It wasn't a pretty game, the young referees were rather indecisive and made a lot of bad calls, but they were equally divided between the teams this evening. There were lots of fouls on both sides, but the Füchse came out on top of Ballingen and now have 21 points - enough for another season in the top German Handball league.

I will definitely purchase the same seats again for next season!! Still a few more games to go, THW will be in town in two weeks, no chance for the little foxes against the giant zebras, but whatever. The team was so happy that they made it through tonight, and they thanked their fans profusely. I suppose it does rather help, having thousands roaring for you - and booing the bad calls of the refs.

Handball Final Four 2008

Ahhh, another wonderful handball festival, although I had the impression that the stadium in Hamburg (called "Colina" by the locals, as they hate the official "Color Line Arena" in which the "Lufthansa Final Four" was held for the "Toyota Handball Bundesliga". What will they sell next, air?) was much fuller this year.

We had usual seats behind a goal, but real bleachers this year, not the folding chairs they set up to get more people packed in. It really is quite something when all 12.800 or so people are cheering!

The official propaganda (regurgitated by the media) was that all the seats had been sold out in 7 minutes. Hogwash. The system broke down after 7 minutes :) It took us 45 minutes to score our seats - and there was barely anything left, so we of course ended up with rather expensive seats. But a friend managed to get tickets on eBay with a 12,5% markup, and the shills were selling tickets as we got off the bus.

Saturday my favored THW Kiel (extra points for those who know what THW stands for, no fair peeking in the Wikipedia) met up with the Rhein-Neckar Lions, who had an axe to grind. They have been snapping up "aging" stars and had some of the great world champions (Henning Fritz, Christoph Schwarzer, Oliver Roggish) on the floor. You couldn't be mad when Fritz managed to fend off a goal or Blackie did one if his flying goal stunts from the circle. But the THW Zebras stomped all over the Lions.

Then Nordhorn met up with HSV, the local team in Hamburg. Both were determined to win, and neither gave up. Holger Glandorf for Nordhorn (another world champion) was just a whirling dervish of a goal getter - he made 13 goals all by himself! It wasn't enough, though, the stars from HSV were better.

So the final was the "local derby" between the rivals Kiel and Hamburg. We were in a restaurant for dinner out in the sticks (but handball is really big in the north) when some drunken HSV folks came in for a smoke or two and food. Yes, a smoke. The largest room in the restaurant is the smoking room, there are a few tables up front for the non-smokers. Since we were so many people, we had to sit in back. We toasted to THW, they answered with more comments and an occasional tröt of their blaring horn.

Got to the stadium early, I scored a new training set for only 20 € and in the color I wanted, WiseMan managed to get a T-Shirt he had been looking for for a long time (He collects them. Don't ask how many he has.....). WiseKid liked the food and decided to cheer for Hamburg, since the oldies were for THW.

It was a close game, with HSV in the lead at half-time. But the THW coach must have said some magic words, because they came back fighting in the second half. It was - literally - quite a fight. The referees had their work cut out for them getting people to settle down and not be so aggressive. There were two serious injuries, both on the HSV side, including Bertrang Gille, what I pity, I love to watch him play. The new guy, the flying Dane, did a few of his magic goals for HSV, but it was not enough, and they gave up 2 seconds before the end as they were 2 goals down.

It was such fun to see the faces of the Kiel team, even though they have won so many titles, they are just as excited about each new one as if it was the first one! One down, two more to go for the Triple Crown again for Kiel!

We are the Hostages of TV

Tuesday evening was a wonderful handball game, Füchse against Minden, and the Foxes won nicely. Tuesday?!? The game was supposed to have been on Sunday, as usual, at 5 pm.

But one of the two major TV sports channels, DSF, purchased the rights to this "cellar fight" (Minden is in last place and fighting to stay in the league). We were informed just the game before that it had been moved up, all the other games are Sundays and a few Wednesdays, and the Wednesday ones start at 8pm sharp.

As a group of students pointed out with a big poster that they unfurled (in the dark, unfortunately, so not exactly visible for the cameras) - if they like handball and come to the game, they will get home late-late-late and fall asleep in school tomorrow.

And so it was - the game didn't start until 8.15, because they wanted to make sure that people who watch the 8 o'clock news religiously could see the game from the first throw. And the break drew on forever, the refs only gave the starting whistle to the second half after a nod from the TV production boss on the ground. Of course, have to get all the ads in. So the game was not over until almost 10 pm, at which time the subways and buses begin to thin out. We just missed both the train near the stadium and the bus connection, adding an extra 20 minutes to travel time. We didn't get home until 11pm.

But who is to complain about being held hostage here? The teams made money on it (I hope), Konny Wilczynski - the league top scorer - hammed up some really, really great goals, and the folks at home got to see something other than THW-HSV-Flensburg.

And at least the trains were still running. From 3am Wednesday Berlin is without subways and busses and trams, Monday the S-train goes on strike as well. This is about as close as we get in Germany to a general strike. More on that, stay tuned.

Women's Handball World Cup 2007

Insanely busy these past few weeks, but there is another handball World Cup on, this time the Women's.

Germany has made it's way to the semifinals, to be fought Saturday afternoon against Norway. That will be a tough game, and the way the German team is looking (losing balls, hitting the post, giving away stupid stuff) they don't have much of a chance.

But what the heck - Eurosport TV is even reporting over 800.000 viewers for the games, so with € signs lighting up their eyes I really hope that they start showing more handball on TV, period!

The view count for my blog has shot up these past few days, I finally got around to checking the log. Handball, everyone is reading my handball stuff, the men's World Cup at the beginning of the year. I have tons of hits from Romania - so to all the Romanian, and perhaps Norwegian fans: welcome!

The Baby Foxes

What a painful handball game. It looked like the A-youth playing the national team, the game between the Berlin Foxes and the Rhein-Neckar Lions this evening in Berlin.

The Lions bought up lots of national players who are considered "old". Didn't see much of that tonight, Andrej Klimovets weighs in at 105 kilograms, but flies through the air, grabbing balls and depositing them in some far corner of the net. Christian Schwarzer may be the elder statesman of the troupe, but is always just where he needs to be. And Oliver Roggisch, with a good 90 kilos on his almost 2 meter tall frame, just towers above the little Fox players. They can't throw over him, around him, or underneath him. He is impermeable.

The game finished somewhere around 17-31, the "baby" Foxes only managed 4 (four) goals during the first half. That must be a record of some sort, a sad one.

They let the hero of the World Cup, Henning Fritz, take a few 7m throws. The crowd cheered him when he took the floor. The first time the Foxes Konny Wilczynsiki met him he was very flustered and missed (something he rarely does, he is in the top 10 of the league for goals). Fritz went up to him and rubbed his hair, just like you would do to a 15-year-old who just missed this chance. Konny did get even, though, getting the rest of his 7m past Fritz and Szmal.

Oh well, still a lot of games to play, can't give up hope yet!

Stay slim by doing sports - not!

What a juxtaposition of news! Today the German goverment decided that Germans, especially kids, are overweight. Okay, this is visible, even if they are not as bad as Americans. Yet.

So now we are to eat healthy stuff and get plenty of exercise to save our insurance companies lots of €. Okay, I've been playing handball for over a year now, run myself ragged for 90 minutes, trying to catch and throw a ball. I even made a few goals in training this evening, and during the game really threw myself at a ball - falling didn't hurt as much as I expected it to, must be that tad bit of extra "cushioning".... Got compliments from the team for really going for the ball.

Coach informed us, however, that the City of Berlin, in its infinite wisdom, has set up new contracts with the school custodians in order to save the city money. They used to pay the custodians extra money to stay home during the week and lock up the gyms after the last group left. See, we train in the school gyms. Dual use, all that stuff.

Now the city is saving lots of money (maybe 100.000 € a year?) by refusing to pay the custodians for any work done after 5 pm. So guess how many school gyms will be open until 10pm? Right. So where, now, is it that we go to to get rid of our extra pounds?

We debated how much whiskey it will take to bribe our custodian, a wonderful Scottish man, into letting us use the hall once a week and whether we can afford this, in addition to our club fees.

I think I need a clue stick for the Berlin government as well...

Final Four 2007: The Game

Oooh, this is going to have to be in installments. I went to the Final Four without my laptop and feel I have material for at least 5 blog posts, we'll see if I get past one....

Good news to start off with: THW Kiel is the Final Four Pokal Champion 2007 - for the fourth time since this competition first started! And my nerves have calmed down and my voice is slowly returning to its normal pitch. After three nerve-wracking and exciting games, I am as tired as if I had played a game myself. (No, I was not let into the showers to photograph the guys, this is a link to the picture on the THW home page!)

Saturday was the semi-finals day. SG Kronau-Östringen (soon to be know as the much more pronouncable Rhein-Neckar Löwen) gave the hosts HSV a good run for their money - and ended up winning the game. They squeaked by HSV, the reigning champions, 29:28, and just shocked the crowd in the arena - how could this middle-of-the-league upstart beat the HSV machine?? Well, they did, by sheer will-power and determination and some really, really good handball.

THW and SG Flensburg-Handewitt then had a go at each other - one of about 3 or 4 they will have in the next few weeks. THW started off just wiping the floor with Flensburg, and went into half-time 7 goals ahead. The Flensburg trainer instilled a fire in the breasts of his team, and they fought their way up to undecided. THW was finally shocked into action - Karabatic threw goals left and right, and they there was some problem with the timekeeping system, so they had to revert to the analog backup system! Flensburg was unhappy with one goal given that had crossed the line of the goal, knocking the goalie on his back, he retaliated by hitting the ball out of the cage with his head - but it being across the line counts, it doesn't have to hit the ground. When the timekeepers said the game was over, it was 34:33 for THW - and I had practically lost my voice....

So it was the Lions against the Zebras today, and the Lions started off with a roar - they got off 5 (five!) goals before THW finally scored there first one, and at one point were leading by 6 (six!) goals. But the THW machine finally came to life in the second half. They were down 4 at half time, and by 15 minutes left into the game had managed to tie up the game. The THW fans just went screaming wild mad (and I, of course, joined in), and they pressed ahead, now one goal ahead, now two.

There were 7-meter penalties and 2-minute penalties galore, but THW even got in a goal with two men out on penalties, it was really glorious to watch! As the last two minutes started with THW up two goals you could see the steam disappear from the Lions. They were exhausted, and there was no way they could get any more goals, and THW took it home 33:31. Karabatic (who was voted most valuable player) had something like 12 goals in this game and 13 in Saturdays game - the moment that man get within 9 meters of the goal with a ball in his hands, he shoots - and usually gets it in.

For some of the players like Zeitz and Klein, it was the second title this year: first world champion, now DHB Pokal-Champion, and there are two more titles to win: the Champions League Cup and the major league (1. Bundesliga). THW is poised to bring home the last two as well and to have a triple crown - I wish them luck! Karabatic (Nr. 22 in the picture from Handballwoche above), who plays for France and was so bitterly disappointed during the world cup, was so happy to have won this title, his victory scream is really something!

After the World Cup

Something's missing..... the anticipation of the next game, will we make it, will we win? Is anything left of the Handball World Cup?

Well, NDR did broadcast the entire game THW Kiel vs. HSV, including a pre-game show repeating the player's talk show appearances and a half-hour profile of the trainer, Heiner Brand. Very nice.

The World Champion Players, three to a team (Henning Fritz, Christian Zeitz and Dominik Klein for THW Kiel, Pascal Hens, Thorsten Jansen and Stephan Schröder, who didn't get to play but was ready and waiting, for HSV) were given a flower and a cake before the game.

The cameras are learning how to broadcast handball, unfortunately they don't pan fast enough to get the THW Kiel first wave goals. Oh well, it was a great game, back and forth, Pascal Hens was really hot and that old fox Christian Zeitz was digging for balls and throwing quite fancy goals. It ended 33:33, pretty nice actually, and a big plus for HSV, who have never won in Kiel since they moved from Bad Schwartau to Hamburg, so they split the points - meaning THW had to move down to second place in the standings.

Oh, and I got me a nice souvenier: a piece of the floor in the Köln Arena on which the final game was played. Proceeds to go to handball youth work, I am a sucker for stuff like that, I ordered one right away. I'll post a picture when it comes.

Handball Public Viewing - Part 2

So Germany made it to the semi-finals in handball, and the country is beginning to realize that something is happening. The paper noted this morning the Mercedes-Benz would be having a public viewing this afternoon, so I decided to give it another try. I would leave the lab early and hope for a parking space.

Today everyone at least knew why I had black/red/gold on, and wished the team good luck. Or maybe it was because I decided to get decadent and actually hung that German flag on the window of my car. It's not bad, really, I can't see it when I drive :)

There was plenty of parking - I also had the wrong street and had to walk a good ways. The car showroom is very fancy (orchids all over the place), but the screen is very big, there are two levels and there is food and drink to be had. And it is not raining. You have to get a flag crayoned on your face to get in, but otherwise it is free.

And there are more than 9 people here.

Of course, that is because the Berlin handball team, Füchse, are there. Such young, quiet, shy, good-looking, tall guys - not like when they are out on the floor. People actually come streaming in, the place fills, but is not overcrowded.

The game begins, the moderator from the Füchse finally shuts up and turns on the TV sound. People are genteel - these are very refined surroundings. But as the game proceeds, the camera people milling about finally get what they want - fan emotion. In a way the cameras are a nuisance. But then, they will be getting publicity for handball, which is what it really needs right now.

Half-time. Get up, walk around, stand in line for refreshments, take part in the drawing, shake the mascot's paw.

And back to the nail-biting game. It ends, dramatically, in a tie. While the teams rest a few minutes before overtime, the moderator at the public viewing tries to interview people. He shoves a microphone in the face of the Füchse trainer, asking him for his opinion. He tells the moderator to leave him alone, and everyone claps.

As the overtime begins, we are suddenly a crowd of fans - celebrating each and every goal for Germany, groaning and cursing at anything good that happens to the French. Every referee call that the crowd feels is wrong is booed. The TV shows a section at the stadium that gets out flags with the symbol for the blind on them. Everyone has a good laugh at that.

It comes down to the wire, still tied. Marcus Baur gets a 7-meter attempt, I can't look! He sinks it, and everyone goes wild!!!! But now the French have to be blocked for a minute or so. Fritz manages one, the French flub around with suddenly one player too many on the field, but still get to throw the ball those last three seconds - and fail. The crowd erupts - almost wanting to hug each other, but we are refined and genteel and stop just short of falling in each other's arms.

On the way home I am suddenly overtaken by the desire to drive up and down the Ku'damm, hanging flags out the window and honking my horn. Where does this come from???? Well, doing it alone will surely get me some police attention, so we'll wait for Sunday. One more game to win, and then Project Gold has been a success,

Two More Games to Win

It was nothing for weak nerves. Germany met the reigning world champions in handball, Spain, for the quarter finals. Who ever loses is out.

It was not really a pretty game. I often joke about handball being just an organized gang fight (and since Germany is so good at organizing stuff, they are good at handball). This was not an organized fight, this was an out-and-out knock-em-down-drag-em-out. I can't find a picture to link to, but he had a black-red-yellow welt under his eye after the game from one of the not-so-cuddly Spaniards.

Of course, the Germans were no choir boys, either. Spain has this big lump of a player, Rolando Urios, who just barges through the defense like they were feathers and puts in one goal after the other. The paper this morning has a nice picture of two Germans trying to tackle him, he is shaking them off like they are flies.

So Germany wins, 27:25, and we eat dinner in anticipation of the next games. Both next games, France vs. Croatia and Denmark vs. Iceland, are going to be broadcast in a back-and-forth mode (with commercials at every switch) on the sports channel. So be it.

The focus was going to be on the France vs. Croatia game, because the winner will be the opponent for Germany on Thursday. Boooooooring. The half-time score was 10:9, they were just bouncing the ball around, the goalies were knocking everything out, and it went back and forth. We kept getting glimpses of the Denmark/Iceland game, lots of goals over there and very close.

So France won, and we got to see the rest of the Denmark/Iceland game - what a nail-biter! Iceland was 4 (four!) goals behind, when they gave it that last ounce of effort and Iceland actually tied the game in the last seconds. Overtime is not an often occurence in handball. So they got some rest and went into overtime. Back and forth, goal for Denmark, goal for Iceland. Goal for Iceland, goal for Denmark. Then Iceland began slipping, tied it back up with 30 seconds or so to go, and Denmark went for it, Lars Moller Madsen throwing the winning goal just seconds before the gong.

Snorri Gudjonsson from Iceland had scored 15 goals (I mean, my team sometimes doesn't get that many goals *total* in an entire game....), but it was still one goal too few.

Anyway, it was a great game, and no one expected Iceland to get this far. The trainer, Alfreð Gíslason, said that he was „Stoltur af íslenska liðinu“, proud of the Icelandic team. They sure did a great job.

What a shame, I would have loved to see Germany and Iceland in the finals :) Now we hope for Germany vs. Denmark....

Handball Public Viewing

For the Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006 you couldn't hardly find a restaurant without a TV screen or two, and there were all sorts of public viewing areas set up. Summer sun, a cool beer, hoards of happy strangers - the Germans loved it.

But I mean, who wants to watch a bunch of guys kick around a ball for an hour and a half, and maybe get one or two goals - yawn. Handball is much faster and *loads* of goals, so much more exciting.

So I wanted to attend a public viewing area for the Handball World Cup. Except that I couldn't find one in the capital city of Germany. I called a sports bar - are you showing the game? I mean, it is being shown on the second German channel! Naw, we have soccer on today.

Okay. The Berlin minor league team, the Füchse (foxes) had a page on their web site that there were going to be two public viewing areas, one at the agricultural fair (Grüne Woche) currently being held in Berlin, and one next to the Reichstag. I chose the latter.

My first clue should have been that I got a parking place right at the Reichstag when I drove past to see where this Berliner Pavillon was located. I didn't hear any cheering or anything, but it was still another 10 minutes until game time. I walked in - and the place was festooned with flags all over the place. A lone family of three sat at one of the tables.

I paused - driving home now would mean that I would miss the first part of the game. The mother said "Hi, now we are four!", so I sat down and had a coffee. Just before the game a group of 5 came in - now we were 9.

There were some tourists who wandered in who didn't really understand what was going on. One father and son stayed for the first half, but they didn't seem to enjoy the game. Others just ordered a beer, drank up, and left.

The restaurant owners were being so nice - made me a cheese sandwich even though it was not on the menu. I felt so sorry for them - they were probably expecting a full house.

So where is everybody? Sitting at home with chips and beer? I really do think the DHB could have made a teensy, tiny bit more of an effort to promote the games. Just selling out all the tickets is not enough.

Handball World Cup 2007

The other World Cup in Germany has started - handball. Since the tickets sold out to fans the first day they went on sale last year, the handball officials have not thought they needed to do any publicity. This leads to the strange situation of very few people actually knowing what is going on at the moment. A survey in Berlin showed only 10% of those asked knowing that there was a World Cup on.

No chance of that during the soccer World Cup - there were flags all over the place, people wearing black-red-gold all over the place, everyone talking about what was happening and gathering in public viewing areas to watch and discuss the games.

But handball? Called the public transit to ask if the World Cup tickets included public transit tickets, since most concerts and games do. The guy on the phone was confused: what World Cup? Never heard of it. No, the tickets are probably not good for public transit.

I left in good time to get to the stadion, they were saying that there would be no one let in late because of the spectacular pre-game show. I donned my red and gold scarves from the summer (already had a black shirt on), got my THW Kiel fan scarf out and took off in the pouring rain and wind.

I was the only one on the train decked out like that, and was glad I couldn't find the black-red-gold makeup stick. I felt silly. I pulled my coat over my scarves and my hat down in my face and read.

I got off at Bernauerstr. to take a tram up to the stadium. As I trudged through the gusts of rain I saw a police car escorting some cars - and recognizing the logo of the World Cup and some German team players inside I opened my coat, pulled out my scarves and gave a thumbs up sign. I got a wave in return. The punters lined the streets to greet the German soccer team last summer. The handball team gets greeted by one oldish lady bundled up against the cold and rain.

You weren't supposed to take in cameras, but I wanted a picture or two, so I planned a diversion: took a bottle of water for them to confiscate. We ended up having to be frisked out in the rain, and although I got to keep my water bottle, I had to hand in my pocket knife. Got a little number on my ticket, same number on my knife. Rats, I wanted to pare my apple with that. But I got the camera in. Here's a shot of the thing the winner gets. Kind of strange.

Inside you immediately realized we were in the former East Berlin - nice young ladies passing out flags (Winkelemente in Eastern German) so the crowd would look nice for the cameras. The flags were free, so I took one before climing up to my seat - a great seat, row one up on the top level.

Christian Zeitz was having a great evening, as were Pascal Hens and Florian Kehrmann and Markus Baur. But the team was kind of nervous, throwing stuff away and making some stupid moves. I mean, this was Brazil, they were supposed to win by at least 10 points! Anyway, they made it by 5. So a shaky win starts it off.

On the way home I wasn't the only one decked out in black-red-gold, even after spending over an hour at a restaurant near by waiting for food. We sort of snuck glances at each other and nodded to each other - but no chanting or such. I guess that will be left for places where the city actually knows what handball is: Kiel, Hamburg, Magdeburg, ....

Oh, and I got my knife back.